Several years ago, Genie Francis burned up daytime TV as Laura on General Hospital. Her wedding to Luke is among the most watched moments on daytime TV. But, over the years, motherhood and running her antique shop took a front seat over maintaining her weight. As of a few years ago, Genie was up to the tune of over 35 pounds.

As Genie tells it, Medifast contacted her agent because they felt that she would largely appeal to the company's target audience. As Genie, now 45, had been wanting to lose weight, she felt it was a nice fit and signed on.

Since that time, Genie has lost over 35 pounds and is back down to a size 6. She is on the five plus one plan, which means she eats five of the plan's meal replacement meals and one "lean and green" meal that she prepares herself.

Genie told Soap Opera Digest that she particularly likes the shakes, scrambled eggs and oatmeal. She uses the ready to drink shakes because they require no mixing or preparation. They are essentially in a juice box type container for adults.

She does work with a trainer and prefers working out on the treadmill and jogging. She can now run a twelve minute mile which she says was unthinkable to her before.

I can tell you from personal experience that even a small amount of movement or exercise can really make a huge difference in the amount of weight lost and the speed in which you lose it. I power walk (sometimes with a weight vest) several times per week, but even this little bit makes a big difference.

Initially after she lost the 35 pounds, Genie went on the maintenance phase of the diet, only wanting to maintain what she had lost. Recently though she has made the decision to go for ten more pounds. She wants to return to the weight she was in her twenties. Her research has indicated that women can return to their lowest weight if they held that weight for 4-7 years.

Looking back, Genie says she can now see that sugar and carbs were a big problem for her before medifast. She says even now if she cheats and has a lot of sugar, she immediately notices a difference in how she feels and her intense cravings return.

One fortunate thing about medifast is that although you get to eat snack and carb type foods, you're really eating a high amount of protein and a low amount of carbohydrates. I have to agree that this really does help with cravings.