Are you a teenager or do you have a teenager in your home who needs to lose weight? If you’ve used Medifast yourself, or seen the Medifast commercials on TV, you may be wondering, “Can teens use the Medifast diet to lose weight?”
I hope you’ll be pleased to know that teenagers can use Medifast too. However, you’ll want to check out the teen program, because it’s not the same as the adult diet plan.
The diet program for adults is called the 5 and 1 plan. In this plan, you eat five Medifast meals each day, as well as one additional meal that they have called the lean and green meal. This is the only meal you eat outside of Medifast and your portions are restricted to lean protein and fresh vegetables.
Teen plans, however, have much more regular foods and reduced the number of Medifast items eaten throughout the day. The teen weight loss plan includes three Medifast meals per day, instead of five.
Because teens have different nutritional needs than adults due to their growing and changing bodies, the Medifast Teen Diet includes whole grains, fruits, and dairy products. These are things you won’t see on the adult plan, but are crucial for teens.
Of course, the teen plan also includes lean proteins, like lean meats and meatless proteins (like beans and tofu), and plenty of fresh vegetables. The fruit and vegetable portion of the diet follows the standard guidelines, five servings per day. Also, there are some differences between the teen and teen plans, as the kids plan adds some extra amounts of whole grains and fats.
A great aspect of the teen plan is using the Medifast plan to make a lifestyle change, so there are plenty of tips for eating a healthy diet and how to fit better meals into a teen’s day. Also, exercise and being outside are also important, so there are suggestions to add more activity each day. An hour a day of exercise or some type of sports activity is the usual recommendation, but for sedentary teens, you may want to start by adding 30 minutes of exercise three or four times a week, and add more time each week.