Complaint Review: Take Shape For Life- Medifast Diet Food

I wish they would not put so much artificial sweetner in the foods.  The foods taste way too sweet and the artificial sweetners are not good for health.  I know they are trying to appeal to people who are hooked on sugar by putting so much sweetner in the foods, but personally, I think they could ramp down on the sweetners and still capture that audience.  For overall health, people should be weaning away from sweetners in their taste buds anyway...could they make a line of food that does not have all that fake sugar?  Maybe some foods with a little stevia?  I would be willing to pay more for higher quality foods with less sweetner.

The food is actually quite good.

Taste changes as well as sugar addiction is eliminated.

I was able to return food for a refund as well as exchange things from boxes with one or two meals gone for a full box of different meals.

I also lost 80 pounds on the program. What made it different was that I had a free Health Coach supplied by the company who worked with me every step of the way.

I don't know what happened with this person but I had a completely different experience.

I see a lot of complaints about Take Shape For Life, which uses Medifast as meal replacements.  I can't speak to money issues as I haven't returned anything.  Nor can I speak to being a health coach for them and not getting paid money owed.  However, I can speak to how the "diet" works and how the food tastes.  There is currently 70 food items to choose from.  I'm currently 45 days in and will be placing my third food order in a few weeks.  The first order I went with a list that my health coach and I came up with.  I didn't love everything ordered.  However, I did like most of them and believe me...I'm a picky eatter.  I've figured out now what I like and I what I don't.  The meal bars are all very good.  I have a few friends at work doing TSFL as well and we all agree the meal bars are very tasty and filling.  I like the cereal a lot.

The strawberry crunch tastes almost exactly like apple jacks.  The oatmeal is quite good and I think is the most filling of all the food choices I've had.  I was squeemish about the eggs, but after trying them I think they are the most like "normal" food you can get on this diet.  I love the Ziti and the Veggie Sloppy Joe.  I add a few drops of Texas Pete(zero calories) and it really makes this stuff taste even better.  The Chicken soup is also pretty good.  The pudding is good.  The soft bakes are all excellent.  They also now have a few "lean and green" meals that you can buy instead of cooking on your own.  Thus far I've only had the Turkey Meatballs and they are pretty decent.  Usually I just make a salad for my lean and green meal.  I am very much a bachelor and don't really have much cooking skill at present.  I can throw together a salad with a big handful of regular grocery store bag salad and 6 oz of chicken strips(from costco) in about 2 minutes.  I use balsalmic vinegar and olive oil for the dressing.

Ok, now for the results.  After 45 days I'm down 25 lbs.  I'm male, 6'4" and my starting weight on Nov 25th was 315lbs.  Today, Jan 4, it's 290.  I cheat on some days with peanut butter, sometimes hard candy or maybe more than 6oz of chicken for my lean and green.  I do drink at least 3 liters of water a day(which I always add Mio to for flavoring).  I have found that the more water I drink, the more weight I lose.  It also helps quite a bit with keeping hunger feelings away.  It took me about a week for my sugar cravings to dissappear.  I was drinking 4-5 diet mt dews a day.  I no longer desire them.  Frankly I can't handle more than one can a day now.  It's just too sweet to me now.  For caffeine, I drink a 5 hour energy  about mid morning, no coffee.  Also worth mentioning is exercise.  To date, I have done nothing.  This diet doesnt' want you to work out for the first 3-4 weeks anyway.  I will be starting to workout again this week.  I'll let you know how that goes energy wise.  

In short, if you want something that works and that is easy to do, give this a shot.  You could also just buy Medifast meals off Amazon if you wanted to give the food a try without commiting to a whole month at once.  I remember feeling apprehensive to blow $300 when I didn't even know if I'd like the food or if it would even agree with me.  I am lactose intollerant and one of the foods didn't sit well(beef soup).  Everyting else I've had has been fine.  

Also worth mentioning is that I am a type 2 diabetic.  When I started TSFL, my a1c was 9.1 and I was taking almost 100ml of insulin a day, plus metformin.  I was barely keeping my blood sugar under 160 even with all that insulin.  After just 2 weeks doing this diet I haven't needed any insulin at all.  Zero!  I also haven't needed metformin.  Zero!  My morning blood sugar has been between 100 and 110 every day for the past 4 weeks.    I understand my results may not be normal, but d**n...how much is your health worth to you?  It's worth a shot if nothing else is working.  Before this I had done The Zone, South Beach Diet, Atkins and Weight Watchers.  All worked for a few weeks but I couldn't stay on them.  Too much counting too much guesswork.  TSFL works for me and I see no reason why I can't keep this up until I hit my goal weight.  $300 a month sounds like a lot, but when I look at how much I was spending on groceries and going out to eat I'm actually saving money on a per month basis.

I am not a health coach for TSFL nor am I getting paid to say any of this from anyone.  I just wanted to share my opinion.  I hope it's useful to some of you.  Good luck!

One, there is a BIG differrence between TSFL and Medifast.   If you would have had a coach, from TSFL, they would have assisted you with this whole process.  The company actually has very high integrety, both the coaching network and the client services staff.  They have a very clear return policy and the month of food is supposed to have you set up with enough to get started, get the routine down, and set up what you would like best for your next month.  If you need to exchange items you might need to have your next order adjusted so you dont run out of food.  In addition to that, thier return policy is fantastic!  you can return any box of food that you try (1 item gone out of the box of 7) and if you dont like it, you can exhange it for a whole new box (7 full items) that you do like!  

Also, they have tons of options to choose from, everyone has different taste buds and there is are A LOT of great things.  I lost my wieght years ago and still use them in my daily routine to stop cravings, eat healthy and maintain my weight!  I can tell you coming from a family that lost a lot of weight on this plan, if you do not like the taste of the food... how do I say this nicley... you probably do not have the best eating habits in place right now.  :-) I think thats a nice way to put it.  Plus IF you have any issues that come up in the rare situations they have a full nutritional support team you can contact with your coach if they dont already have solutions for you.

So in short, from my experience and many of those around me.  If it didnt work out for you, it might be user error or lack of being informed.  I encourage you to learn more, if you reach out to one of thier health coaches, you probably could find answers to all of these questions.  but most importatntly, you have to be ready to make a change, its not magic food.  it takes work and determination, but the plan is easy and works!

You probably should have joined Take Shape For Life. There is a free health Coach who works with you through every step of the process to help you loose weight on medifast and stay healthy beyond. He/she would have guided you to success. Sounds like what you did was attempt a Medifast diet you thought would solve your health problems, with no support or change of thought process. That's why temporary diets just don't work.

I feel the information provided is not accurate.  First of all not all the product is just a gross product.  There is 70 varieties to choose from and 99% of the people like the food.  Also, you have plenty of time within that 30 day period to send back the food for an exchange.  You are eating 5 medifast meals a day so if you are trying all 20 out you could try them all within 4 days.  You are going to know whether you like something after trying it one time and the company will take back the box to replace it with something else and so you get to  try it out for free.  They do have a money back guarentee but you need to pay attention from the start to make sure you follow the guidelines.  Obviously, you didn't do that.  I am a consumer and have found the company has been 100% in integrity and I love the food. Also, the 5th week is free to you.

I've been using Medifast and TSFL for 7 months and have lost 60 lbs and am nearly at my goal weight. Guess what, it's tough on the budget whenever you try to eat healthy; whether it's buying organically, investing in a share from a farm co-op, and yes, even to purchase foods that Medifast has designed for you.  I find it incredibly inaccurate for people to post on here that the foods are all powdered and taste bad as there are many that I actually enjoy. Not all of them arrive in powder form, there are breakfast cereals and bars and crackers and chips! My favourites are the mixed berry cereal, peanut butter crunch bars and puddings.

Aside from this, the reason why any of us try this programme is because we're unhealthy at the start. Of course, the food isn't going to taste great in comparison to the foods that made us unhealthy in the first place.

I feel like people who are complaining are those who continue to make excuses for why they can't be healthy. I've been one of the biggest excuse makers during my time and still fall off the wagon from time to time. The difference now is that I've trusted in the programme, allowed myself to see what it can offer and have benefited from that experience.

I get so frustrated when people post on here about incorrect things which then becomes fact to smudge the good name of a respectable institute all because a few people were not cured.

Firstly, Take shape for life is the coaching arm of the Medifast company, so it is Medifast that your taste issues should be directed towards and not the coaches who are your support system.

secondly, they recommend 20 boxes for a 1 month period, that is exactly the amount needed for a full month of 5 products a day. 20 boxes, if you tried one packet from each box would take 4 days... how can you possibly say that in a 30 day refund policy you could not try all 20 boxes of product? that is poor management on your part and not a fault of the company who are always willing to refund my stuff.

You also received 8 boxes free with the BESLIM membership over a 2 month period In addition to your monthly amount to allow for any products not liked and returned so you could stay on program.

thirdly, if your gripe truly is with Take shape for life over Medifast, then you would have had a coach, why was your coach not involved in your ordering and issues before you decided to rip them apart on the web? That, if anything should be your complain about Take shape for life, that your coach was ineffective.... in which case there are plenty of other coaches on hand.

As for it being disgusting, that i am afraid is all down to personal preference, and why do you feel entitled to a refund of a product you don't like? Can you walk back into Food Lyon and demand your money back because you opened their canned tuna and didn't happen to enjoy it much? Hardly.

I feel like those people who are not successful with Medifast or TSFL are simply making yet more excuses, I have been on plan for 5 months now and have lost over 70lbs. My coach is amazing and I have never been better, If you are ready to make your life better, you will eat dirt if it saves you.

Did you ever consult your starter kit, the TSFL magazine, the Medifast magazine, articles, your personal coaches site, feeds, facebook, your DR A. "Habits to health" book, the Vlogs, blogs, posts and threads... not to mention the countless number of youtube posts about food reviews and alternative uses for the foods?

Probably not, it just wasn't the miracle tasty cure you hoped for, and so somehow that is the companies fault.......

Especially to those who came on here to dispute the issues people have with Medifast.

I've seen that they should do their homework...here's mine
http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/medifast-diet/reviews

And there are other sites reviewing the diet that give it mediocre ratings..it's not a real healthy way to lose weight as you will see. Every so called diet has it's positive and negatives...but the people likely paid my medifast or whatever to dispute here have no credibility when they are attacking consumers. Like saying that's why you are still fat. And Medifast has a lot of work to do on their claims and also the customer service.

You're still fat...

You're so focused on the food not tasting like steak and lobster tails rather than creating permanent health in your life. This program saved my life and I am now medication free, at a healthy weight, and exercising daily! All thanks to the medifast meals and TSFL. If you are looking for excuses you'll find them. Misery loves company so I'm not surprised when reading some of these comments.

I am sorry, but I am confused. So you mean to tell me that you were thinking you were signing up for a program where you lose 2-5 pounds a week, get down to your goal weight in an appealing amount of time, AND have the food taste like the food that you are used to??

This is a diet program. Medifast truly tried to make this experience as easy as possible for those who are willing, but easy has its' boundaries. Sure, there are going to be things that you just cannot seem to get down, but that is in all diets. It's a DIET. It is restricting you from what you want, and teaching you new ways to enjoy life without clogging your arteries. 

I rarely see diet companies go out of their way to get such a variety of flavors. I couldn't be more excited to have found a diet where I can lose up to 100 pounds in less than a year, AND eat cookies, brownies, mac & cheese, chocolate, and so much more.  

It might not be a slice of pizza, but the result is my slice from heaven.

Same scenario with me.  Food is too awful to swallow and sooo spicy yes, terrible after taste of dry spicy yuck.  Must return 30 days AFTER ORDERING.  Call customer service and good luck with that.  They don't give the return auth code when you e-mail them.  You are put you on an automatic shipment and even though you e-mail not to, they will ship.  CALL AND DOCUMENT WHO YOU SPOKE WITH> E-mail and keep for your records.

First, your general opinion of the food is irrelevant. If you don't like it, fine - there are ways to deal with that. The problem you had is that you did not fully look into all of your options. Did you consult with your health coach about proper preparation of the food/alternate suggestions? (I had some issues when first trying to prepare certain foods, too, until I got some advice from my coach) Some of the food is definitely bland without a bit of seasoning.

Have you ever logged into your account? Frankly, you don't even need to in order to access their return and exchange policy, found here: http://www.tsfl.com/faqs/return_policy.jsp The statement of yours claiming that "There is no money back guarantee of any kind." is outright false, and as a former health coach, I am offended, but that is of no real concern. Even if you could not find that page of the website on your own, your health coach could have guided you to that info, or upon calling the company, the same would have been told to you.

Assuming you ordered the standard amount of 20 boxes (and received the bonus pack, if applicable), you had more than adequate time to sample everything and return or exchange what you didn't like, according to their policy. (The bonus pack is ineligible for any refund/exchange, but seeing as you did not pay for it, you cannot complain. Don't like it?...Give it away!) The average customer rarely orders 20 different items (which if you sampled one of each during each of your meals until you tried them all, would take only 4 days out of the 30 you claim to be insufficient!). If you received multiples of the same item, but found it distasteful after the first sampling, the one opened box would be exchanged for another product and the others would qualify for a refund.

All things considered, even if it was your health coach who placed your initial order for you, which is common, as a consumer spending a considerable amount for goods & services, it is ultimately your responsibility to fully research the company (and any independent business owners it compensates) and look into its products and policies in case you're not fully satisfied. Take Shape For Life is a reputable company who hides nothing and fully discloses all of its nutritional information, prices and promotions, numerous medical trials, business policies, etc.

Your health coach is there to help you, but you cannot expect to be spoon-fed everything you need to know either. Bottom line: it's your money, common sense says to fully research any company you do business with...if you cannot take the time for that, you are not even ready to make the serious commitment of changing your lifestyle habits for weight loss, which was why you came to them in the first place. While I'm sorry you felt you were "ripped off" by Take Shape For Life", you, as a consumer, simply did not do your homework, which is sadly quite common.

A person would come on this website only to file a rebuttal against something negative that was said about Medifast, why are they on this site? Information is to help other consumers be wary of of fradulant business practices by companies. No one said they didn't lose weight with Medifast, only that what the company claims and then practices do not line up well. This is a true fact. My experience with about 10 people who are close freinds who have also done this same diet have been this, 2 only had positive things to say about Medifast, 8 had similar difficulties as I and the other people who have taken the time to discuss these issues on this site. The people who had nothing but positive things to say also had health coaches as friends or collegues and didn't have to worry about their orders being shorted and were able to return food without anyone hassling them.
One of the eight others mentioned had a coach who continually hounded her and her husband several nights a week to see if they were staying on track and who ordered food without their okay and had billed their credit card for the food, she had so much food left and could not return it, she had met her goal and was stuck with a lot of food which she said she would eat a little at a time but had to tell her health coach she was done with Medi Fast just to get him to leave her alone. She was not morbidly obese, I think she needed to lose 60 pounds and this guy would not leave her alone.
I can understand if a person has gained so much weight that anything that helps them lose enough weight to allow them to get off of medication would be wonderful for them. The fact is, Medi Fast has a lot of problems they need to address. These issues are not menial at all, they are just as important to those of us who have not had good experiences with Medifast as good experiences are to those who have had better service than others. I guess I could also say that the rebuttal is pretty menial in itself since that experience this consumer claims to have had is supposed to be what all of us should have had as well. Apparently that Doctor is not charging that person, but mine would have if I had gone thru her, that's why she told me to go online and order myself and she doesn't check on my progress. Most Doctors won't do it for free, I have checked in my area and none will provide free weight loss monitoring that promote this weight loss system. Maybe they have an honest health coach, some of them are not. They are representing Medifast as a company are they not?

I would hope that anyone wanting to start Medifast as a weight loss solution would gain from the comments made on this site. They will at least know what they should watch out for when ordering food from Medifast.

Reading this report is interessting and nothing like my wife or I experienced.

We tried every packaged diet program we could find including those who are not packaged.  Agreed, some peoducts are not to my liking.  My wife has different tastes than mind. 
The idea isn't to live like a king or queen but to live!  People who are morbidly obese cannot dictate their diet the same as they currently are doing.

I speak with the company when I need to order additional products.  Never have I spoke to a rude service person.  The best way to determine this is a first-hand experience, not to take other's word for it.

We have been on the diet since last May15th.  I have lost 140 lbs and my wife has lost 76 lbs.  What else can I say about this program than it is the best.  Our physician placed us on it and saved
our lives.  We have a free physician, RN, nutritionist and health coach for the price of the food.  I save $600 a month on medication alone.  $280 is a paultry amount, relatively speaking.

The complaints I see here are menial relative to the merits of this company.
100% approval would be great.  But, this is life and there will be "issues" with any firm.
I went on this plan to obtain longer life and HEALTH.  This has been accomplished, with the help of Medifast.

I am responding to the person who said you should have done your homework. I also researched Medifast and did find that I could order in quantity of 1 meal, and I did so, but it also tells you to order enough food to last you 2 weeks at least so that you don't run out of food. So that is how I ordered, because if I am going to spend $100 sampling the menu to see what I can eat, I don't want to start the diet for that kind of money and run out of food. They make it pretty clear that it takes a while to get more food. I understand why the person who wanted to start her diet would want to get as much value out of her purchase as she could and not run out of food, wasting valuable time on the diet. Much of the food is very bad tasting, so bad that after forcing my self to go ahead and eat every meal I bought that after 2 weeks much of it was dumped down the drain after taking a bite or two.
 
YOu also pay more for 1 serving. Maybe the person who responded has lots of money to burn, but I do not, and most people do not. The medi fast and take shape for life websites do tell us as consumers how good the food is(very misleading, false advertising), so the lady from Missouri ordered with trust, and that does count for something in legal terms dear person who replied and said she should have done her homework ( my brother is an attorney with one of the biggest law firms in the midwest, being made a partner) I think that Medifast and Take Shape for Life have a good product in the bars and the ready to drink shakes, but that is about all, the rest is pretty bad, the eggs aren't bad tasting, they just make you sick to your stomach and cause extreme painful gas. I have lost 40 lbs on the diet, so I did stick with it, even though I have had numerous problems with my orders and do not get responded to when trying to resolve. In fact, I just turned over to the BBB this week for that problem. I have tried calling about 6 times to resolve being shorted more than once on my orders(and they always short the same item every time and it's the most expensive item they carry).  You can't get through to them in the evenings..it's nearly impossible, the wait time is well over 20 minutes, and one time I did get someone to answer, it was only because they were telling everyone to call another day as the computers weren't working. They don't have good customer service at all, I figured up how long it took me to get a reply and I spent about 8 hours in a little over a months time trying to get the orders I was shorted on resolved with numerous phone call attempts and emails, I still don't know that they will replace the items even though they said they would when I finally got someone to answer the phone today, guess will wait to see. I do agree that they are in it to make money, less about the people and more about the money, after all, I have been on this diet since January, I think by now I know what I am talking about. But can't say I am surprised, that is how most companies are.

Take shape for life does not require you to purchase any minimum quantities of their foods. In fact, you can order single size samples of most (if not all?) of their products.

I personally find their food palletable in comparison to other meal replacements that I've tried. The products are soy-based so they do have a slightly different flavor than what you may be used to.

I think you could have avoided this situation if you would have taken time to research the product and the company policies before making your purchase.

Take shape for life does not require you to purchase any minimum quantities of their foods. In fact, you can order single size samples of most (if not all?) of their products.

I personally find their food palletable in comparison to other meal replacements that I've tried. The products are soy-based so they do have a slightly different flavor than what you may be used to.

I think you could have avoided this situation if you would have taken time to research the product and the company policies before making your purchase.

Take shape for life does not require you to purchase any minimum quantities of their foods. In fact, you can order single size samples of most (if not all?) of their products.

I personally find their food palletable in comparison to other meal replacements that I've tried. The products are soy-based so they do have a slightly different flavor than what you may be used to.

I think you could have avoided this situation if you would have taken time to research the product and the company policies before making your purchase.