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Medifast, a weight loss company and parent company of Take Shape for Life,  a network of independent “health coaches” who help customers use weight using the Medifast products, has announced that they will open their first franchisee owned Medifast Weight Control Center.

The new Medifast Center will open in Baltimore Maryland, just a short distance from the company’s headquarters in Owings Mills, MD.

The company has worked hard to expand their business throughout the United States, trying to claim a piece of the ever expanding diet and weight loss industry. The company has opened several company owned clinics, and is continuing to spread by allowing others to open franchise locations.
Currently, the company operates 20 corporate owned clinics in Texas and Florida, this marks the first clinic of any kind in the state of Maryland. Five more clinics are expected to open in the next year.

Medifast and Take Shape for Life have seen a definite upswing in profits over the last year. The company has managed to take advantage of the economic situation, growing their number of distributors due to an increase in those looking for supplemental income. IN addition, many say that during times of economic hardships, the number of those seeking to improve their health and self image tends to grow. Medifast has been profitable now for 35 quarters. 3rd quarter results are set for November. The addition of franchise owned centers, should only help increase their sales.

Mr. Michael S. McDevitt, Chief Executive Officer of Medifast is pleased at the expansion of business and looking forward to the future, despite hard economic times. “In light of the extraordinary financial environment currently confronting the country, Medifast wanted to provide an update to our long-term shareholders. Our business continues to operate at a very high level and we expect financial results for the third quarter to be strong,” added Mr. McDevitt.

McDevitt is also pleased at their direct selling operation, “Our Take Shape For Life direct sales segment continues to exhibit strong growth as the number of Health Coaches increases month to month. This increase in Health Coaches is being driven by the unique market potential for our products combined with our strong field organization and the recent tools and the training that we have made available to our coaches

The new franchise owner will have the right to open future locations of their own in the state of Maryland for the next 2 years.

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Medifast - a portion controlled weight loss program, along with their direct sales division, Take Shape for Life, have just announced a challenge for all of their customers to drop extra weight to win some great prizes.

The company is challenging current customers, and all dieters to join in on the Medifast 5 $1 Plan. The new plan consists of 5 small portion controlled meals, plus one lean and green meal. The plan goes hand in hand with the current dieting philosophy that the best way to lose weight is to eat 5 small meals a day, constantly keeping your metabolism running and burning fat. The 5 meals keep you on a strict 800-1000 calorie diet.

To ensure success and healthy dieting, Medifast and Take Shape for Life, is sold through independent distributors who are also called “coaches” and help clients navigate the program.

For their newest challenge, the company is asking everyone to not only give the program a try, but keep track of their success, make a video to “Express Your Success” and send it in to win one of several great prizes, including a cruise to the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, Nintendo Wii Fit, IPod Touch and Visa gift cards.

You can check out all the rules and regulations, plus find out how to enter the contest, by visiting, http://www.medifastcruise.com. The company will except videos until March 1 2009 and then allow the public to vote on the entries beginning March 9th-22nd. Medifast and Take Shape for Life will announce the winner on the website as well as feature individual stories to inspire everyone.

Here is a look at a previous Medifast Cruise which looks pretty cool.

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Medifast (NYSE: MED) released results for the second quarter, 2008. Medifast reported pretty good numbers overall with revenue growing 25% percent over second quarter 2007. Medifast operates through retail sector as well as their Direct Sales subsidiary, Take Shape for Life.

For the six months ending June 30, 2008, Medifast reported revenue of $52.7 million, which was a 25% percent increase over last year, and net income of $2.9 million which was a slight increase over the $2.3 million in net income for the same period in 2007. The company also reported that gross margins increased to 75.8% from 75.6% for the second quarter of 2008, which they attributed to new machines which have increased efficiency.

Take Shape for Life grew 79% percent year-over year and represented 44% percent of overall second quarter revenue. Take Shape operates using “Coaches” who work like distributors helping provide customers with both product and advice on their weight loss and nutrition issues. The number of “coaches” grew 87% percent to 2,800 compared to only 1500 last year. This increase could be partially due to the struggling economy which has forced people to find ways to earn extra income.

“We are pleased with the results of the quarter; particularly in the face of the difficult economic environment,” commented Michael S. McDevitt, Chief Executive Officer of Medifast, Inc. “Our strategy of offering the clinically proven Medifast program via multiple distribution channels continues to gain significant traction.

Medifast is making their entire report available to interested parties on their website.

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Medifast, a direct sales company that focuses on health and diet products, announced that sales (NYSE: MED)for the first quarter of 2008 were more than $25 Million, a record number for the Maryland based company.

Net income for the company was $1.4 million, or 10 cents per share, which was a 25% percent improvement over the same period just a year ago. Those numbers slightly surpassed what analysts expected the company to do in its first quarter.

The Take Shape for Life division, which is their direct sales branch, saw the biggest growth over the past year. Sales for Take Shape grew 63% over 2007.

Medifast continues to expand their product selection in order to maintain growth. In 2007 the company released new meal replacement bars and nutritional supplements. This year, the company expects revenue growth of 8 percent to 10 percent this year, and earnings per share growth of 30 percent to 35 percent.

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