This post is based on the Different types of Optimal Health Optavia Diet Plans and How to follow them perfectly.
Optavia is a diet in which one encourages to eat a combination of prepackaged and homemade food by limiting the number of calories. In this program, one can intake 800-1000 calorie, low carbs food while opting for healthier packaged food items.
The recommended brands for the Optavia diet are Optimal Health Fuelings and Lean and Greens meals that produce low carbs packaged meals.
The Medifast, a meal replacement company, promotes weight loss by introducing the Optavia diet plan include consuming pre-purchased snacks, portioned meals, low carb home-prepared food, and regular instruction diet coach.
Different Types of Optavia Diet Plan:
There are different versions of the Optavia diet that one might adopt. In Optavia, diet plans include two different versions and one weight maintenance diet version:
5&1 Optavia Diet Plan
This version of the Optavia includes eating five prepackaged meals from Optimal Health Fuelings and one homemade balanced meal from Lean and Green each day. This diet plan is the most popular diet program and adopted by many people for their weight loss programs.
4&2&1 Optavia Diet Plan
This Optavia diet plan is for those who like to have flexibility in their diet and alongside like to follow a weight loss program. This plan can let you eat more calories and have more flexible food choices than the 5&1 plan. In 4&2&1, one can consume four prepackaged Optimal Health Fuelings food, three balanced homemade meals from Lean and Green, and have one snack each day.
3&3 Optavia Diet Plan
This Optavia diet is designed to maintain the overall, and one can consume even those who have moderate weight issues or want to maintain a healthy body.
Optavia diet programs provide some additional tools and time to time suggestion to aid the weight loss and maintenance program. These include daily tips through text messages, weekly support calls, community forums, and app that help to set meal reminders and track your food intake activity.
The Medifast has also organized specialized programs for providing nursing to older adults, mothers, teenagers facing excess weight issues, and diabetic patients to maintain their health goals.
Despite benefits and specialized Optavia diet plans, it is still unclear to say whether this diet is safe and effective for people who are suffering from certain health issues. A complete study and research on this diet plan are still left.
However, the nutrients that breastfeeding mothers and growing teenagers required are not contained entirely in the Optavia Diet, hence it is recommendable to ask an expert dietician before starting any Optavia Diet.
How To Follow Optavia Diet Plan?
As soon as you start following any of the Optavia Diet Plans, you start having a conversation over the phone with your assigned coach, who helps you to decide which Optavia diet plan is appropriate for you and how to follow it. The coach also helps you to set your customized weight loss goals and daily guides you about the program.
First Step:
For those who opt for weight loss programs, Optimal Weight 5&1 Optavia Diet Plan is best suited for them. In this diet, one eat 800-1000 calorie each day that promises to shed 12 pounds of weight in just 12 weeks.
If you follow this plan, you can intake five meals from Optimal Health Fuelings and one homemade balanced meal from Lean and Green each day.
In this, you eat one meal every 2-3 hours and can perform a moderate exercise for 30 minutes alternate days of the week.
The homemade balanced meals are designed with high protein and low carbs food. One meal of Lean & Green offers 145-200 grams of protein, 2 servings of healthy fats, and 3 servings of non-starchy vegetables.
Last Step:
As you reach your desired body weight, then you will enter the transition phase for 6-weeks that allows one to gradually increase the intake of calories up to 1550 per day. Now you are allowed to consume a wide variety of foods that are made from whole grains, low-fat dairy products, veggies, and fruits.
After 6-weeks of the transition phase, you entered the Optimal Health 3&3 Optavia Diet Plan, in which one consumes 3 prepackaged food from Optimal Health Fuelings and 3 homemade meals from Lean and Greens plus Optavia tips and instructions regularly from the assigned coach.
Pros of the Optavia Diet
the biggest and rapid benefit of following optavia is rapid weight loss for people who need to lose only a significant amount of weight. Here are some of the common benefits of following optavia fuelings.
Convenience
Buying packaged foods and pre-portioned meals make diet plan easy and all you need to do is just count the carbs or calories. Also, the simple formula for creating your won lean green meal at home is pretty convenient.
Instead of counting calories of your healthy diet, you will be counting the portions of any specific food which will make the tracking a whole lot easier.
Reduced Risk Of overweight & obesity
there are two benefits of losing weight fast: people lose weight faster and tend to keep it off at least some pounds. if you are required to shed pounds, getting off quickly will improve the chances of long-lasting results.
Being obese or overweight increases the risk of many diseases like heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure, osteoarthritis, and many types of cancer. Just by losing 5% of body weight, all these risks can be reduced and overall health will be improved.
Improved cholesterol levels & blood sugar
According to health experts when you lose weight gradually between 1 to 2 pounds per week is recommended while some chose faster weight loss results.
For instance, rapid weight loss helps in improvement with glycemic and lipid profiles.
Losing weight faster for people with blood sugar or cholesterol problems is better to avoid any life-threatening risks.
However, achieving optimal weight at slow rates is suggested better for people with any kind of harmful disease.
Coaching support
Optavia plan offers a coaching program that is beneficial for many users who are new to this. Coaching support will also keep you on track of maintaining your optimal weight and thereby reducing chances of weight gain.
Cons of the Optavia Diet
With the good comes the bad, similarly the lean and green meals of optavia also come with a few side effects:
Nutrient deficiency
Although optavia diet helps to create a healthy habit of eating your lean and green meal and non-starchy vegetables, it also restricts calories which can cause nutrient deficiency.
As there is a restriction on food items like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains which contain minerals and vitamins, there is a high risk of nutrient deficiency in your body.
Reduced sports performance
Faster weight loss to achieve optimal weight can reduce overall sports performance. Although reducing weight is a part of every athlete’s journey, doing it faster can have a negative impact on performance while posing a threat to health.
When you follow a low-calorie diet it does not go well with the rigorous training program of an athlete. It’s best to reduce weight during the off-season so the training pressure is less.
Cost
Optavia plans can be expensive for some people. Five optavia fuelings can cost around $17 exclusive if shipping and tax charges.
Hunger
this way of losing weight can be uncomfortable to some people and may not show sustainable results meaning you can regain weight.
Very-low-calorie diets can cause extreme fatigue, hunger, and many other undesirable symptoms. When you feel hungry at all times you will be tempted to eat outside of your diet plan.
FAQ’S
How to Prepare the Optavia Diet?
like other meals replacing diets, Optavia diet provides the users with a wide range of branded products. The users on Optavia eat five fuelings along with lean and green meal every day.
Optavia plans include 3&3 plan and 4&2&1 plan. These Optavia plans are designed for people who wish to lose weight faster.
Lean and green meals include 5 to 7 ounces of cooked lean protein along with three servings of non-starchy vegetables containing two healthy fats serving.
Every week you will be consuming a minimum of two servings of fatty fish loaded with omega-3 fatty acids.
You can consume your lean and green meal at any time you desire. Just remember to keep a gap of 2 to 3 hours between every serving.
Once you have reached your desired weight goal you can keep adding low-fat dairy, fruits, and whole-grain servings to your meals.
How does Optavia help in weight loss?
Optavia meal plans rely on restricting calories to encourage weight loss. Most optavia fuelings have daily calories of 1000 every day.
Optavia program is considered one of the best fast weight loss diets for losing weight effectively. it not only helps in achieving short-term weight loss but helps in sustained weight loss with promising results.
the diet includes eating meals and snacks made of 100% whole grain bread, nuts, pulses and legumes along with lean and green meals, low-fat dairy, poultry, eggs, low carb veggies, lean proteins, fresh fruit, ground meat, lean beef, and seafood which makes it difficult for the body to regain the weight.
How does the Optavia diet work?
Optavia diet works on the idea of eating small meals up to two servings during the morning and so on for lunch and snacks and dinner leading to sustainable weight loss and healthy eating habits.
instead of eating three huge meals in a day divide them into six to seven small servings with nutritious and filling meals so you never get extremely hungry to end up overeating.
What drinks are allowed on Optavia diet?
When on Optavia diet healthy drinks include drinking at least 64 ounces of water every day. although it is best to consult a healthcare provider for the right water quantity. Ystyou can also consume carbohydrate and calorie-free beverages like tea and black coffee. Alcohol is off-limit on optavia diet.
How much does Optavia cost?
essential optavia fuelings are the cheapest of all the other brands and costs around $400 per month. This cost is exclusive of what you will spend on lean green meals.
Here is an average optavia fuelings cost
- 5 & 1 Plan: 119 servings for $414.60
- 4 & 2 & 1 Plan: 140 servings for $457.95
- 3 & 3 Plan: 7 servings for $19.95
the Agriculture department of USA estimates that the average optavia cost for a woman between the age of 19 to 70 could spend $171.90 per month on groceries and follow a nutritious diet plan following the right lifestyle habits like cooking all meals at home.
How does Optavia compare to Atkins?
Optavia Diet and Atkins are similar in focusing more priority on high protein as a fuel source to promote weight loss. although optavia diet includes more packaged foods as compared to the Atkins diet.
Is Optavia & Medifast similar?
Medifast INC. is like the parent company of Optavia. It also operates and owns the Medifast program of the ’80s and ’90s in which doctors used to prescribe meals to clients along with wellness tips.
Optavia diet includes using the same kind of foods which are nutritionally equivalent and clients can also plan their meals to achieve their goal weight.
Read more for: What is Optavia Diet and Benefits of Optavia Dieting Plans
