Optifast 800 calorie diet

[Bonnie]

Took 5 weeks of vacation and back on plan! I was down to 157 in Sept, only to go to Hawaii and celebrate a big birthday for a month! I knew I wasn't going to be following the plan and would take it back off once home. TODAY'S the day! I'm at 171 and hitting fast 100% and hope to have this "party" weight off by Christmas and hit my goal of 145 in the new year. It works - just stick with it and transition smartly.

[Rebecah]

Ruben, maybe what you overhead was her talking to someone who is doing Optifast somewhat differently? In any case, I am now doing what you did, eating nothing but Optifast, five or six items per day. On some days, I really need six so I have a nutrition bar.

So many are like me and can't do Atkins due to digestive issues. I would become ill, I think. I've been surprised that I've had no lightheadedness or jittery feelings at all. I used to get that way from going too long without eating. I feel energized and 'lighter'. I'm goint to push through this week and my goal is 3-5 lbs lost, any more is icing on the cake.

In order to succeed during transition and on maintenance, I have to incorporate eating habits into my life permanently, just as I do brushing my teeth/flossing 2-3 times per day. It has to become a given; something I don't vary from. I'll have to think every day about what I'm eating, how much and when, for the rest of my life if I want to maintain. A person who did Optifast through my clinic has maintained her ideal weight for seven years now with no relapses.

Bonni, so you are saying you planned ahead to go off plan then go back on? Glad you're back on, but it made me think about the health warnings out there, and that we've also received in group, that yo-yoing in weight is dangerous and in many cases less healthful than being moderately overweight for life. I don't know all the dynamics of how that affects health, though.

I told my group leader about wanting to go to Applebee's today for the free meal for veterans, and she said if I did that, even if I stayed on Optifast perfectly the rest of the week I would be sabotaging my efforts for the entire week. Stimuli narrowing is a major factor we discuss each week. Limiting our choices and flavors to only Optifast is a vital part of my clinic's program. In other words,'bland and boring' can even be good during this phase, as we reset our taste meter, so to speak.

[Rosemary]

Hi, folks. I'm really enjoying all of the postings. I have a question. While I've lost over 42 pounds, I notice my slacks don't feel as snug, and am down maybe one size. But I have definitely NOT noticed that much of a change in my appearance. My face & neck hasn't slimmed, and my stomach doesn't seem to be going down very much.(In recent years, I had really gained around my waist..am now an 'apple'). When am I going to start seeing some results in the way I look, and how people perceive me? I'm starting to think people I work with think I'm no longer on this plan, or I'd look a whole lot different. Is that part a slow go for some people? Another lady my age lost 35 pounds in 12 weeks and her face and body had completely changed! I'm feeling a little blue about it. Why not me?? I want people to come up to me and say "Wow..have you been losing weight?" and so far, very few have done that.

[Bonnie]

Rebecah~
You're right - I planned on "relaxing" for the month on vacation - but didn't gain so much as to call it yo-yoing. Over my life time though I have done just that and know it's certainly not healthy. Up 50 lbs. and down again. I'm hoping that this time will be my last at losing it and have lots of motivation to keep it off. My secret is planning events out months in advance that I want to be fit for. Next trip Scottsdale in Feb. Hope to reach goal by then.

[Marya]

Rosemary,
I think it depends where you start.
If you weighed 342 and you are now 300, I don't think there would be that much difference for other people. Also I think sometimes people are afraid to mention weight when someone is that size.
If, on the other hand, you started at 242 and are now down to 200, people should notice that.
I read once that when you are close to your ideal weight a clothing size change happens about every 10 lbs. That definitely is not the case when you're a good bit overweight, as I'm sure all of us are (otherwise we wouldn't be on Optifast).I have gone down 40 lbs., and I'm still wearing the same clothes....although they are getting a little baggier. I just think of how I'm saving money on clothes now, because the closer I get to goal....the more often I will HAPPILY have to replace my clothes! Patience is definitely a virtue I have to work on though!:)

[Rosemary]

Thanks, Marya. I totally needed your good words. What you said made a lot of sense, and it helped me out a lot. I just need to get my head straight and not let my blues make me fall off the plan.

Tonite, folks, on my weekly support conference call, one of the transition participants mentioned that she has ordered from a business online called Walden Farms. They have all kinds of sauces, dressings, etc. for zero cals, zero fats, zero sugar. I know! Hard to believe, but check it out. http://www.waldenfarms.com/index.html The lady on the call said she uses the BBQ sauce and Ranch dressing and they are 'to die for'. I may have to just check out some of their products.

[Marya]

I'm glad I could help, Rosemary. I've been looking on here from time to time to make sure you got my message! It can be hard to stay motivated sometimes when you have so much to lose, can't it? I'm just looking forward to getting into ONEderland!! I still have a ways to go though.:(
Walden Farms is being sold at my Optifast clinic, but it seems to me that I've seen salad dressings by them at the grocery store.....I'll have to check when I go shopping tomorrow and let you know. It's being pushed pretty hard by the dietician, so I'll definitely have to check it out when I start transition. Hopefully it's not TOO processed and fake though. I really want to stick with healthy stuff.

[Rebecah]

Rosemary, a woman in my group has lost 45 lbs, and is still wearing the same clothes as when she began; they are just slightly baggy. Don't give up; this is a different road for each individual and each body will respond differently.

Bonnie, thanks for explaining your 'plan', hope you reach goal by Scottsdale time.:)

I have heard of Walden Farms and I do believe I have seen that brand in the stores.

Two lbs down since Tuesday! Sticking to the plan WORKS!

[Frank]

This diet worked for me. Lost fifty pounds in fifty days then lost ten more over the following five weeks. Kept it off for nine months then got lazy and fell off. Gained thirty lbs in five months. Restarted the diet this week.

[Ruben]

Hey there Frank. Glad to read you here. I have a question for you. During your 50 in 50 did you ever think that you would stop losing or hit a wall? Ever since I stopped the popcorn and sugar in my coffee I have been losing about 1 lb a day. I wonder how long this can last. I started at 272 and have lost 26 in 5 weeks. Any other tricks that you did? What was your workouts like? Thanks and good luck. Ruben

[Frank]

It was easy at first but then it was uncomfortable. I got dizzy when I would stand up. Doctor changed my plan because I was losing too fast. Something about blood volume decrease. No tricks. I was just strict on the five shakes and no food. So the doc added food. Four shakes and a lean cuisine. Two lean cuisines on weekends. Workouts was just walking one mile each night. Felt too fat to jog. I could only jog a few houses. But each day I'd jog the last few houses of my mile. A few more each night. By the end of the fifty days I was jogging the whole mile without much difficulty. Not fast but for me I felt great about the new ability. Altogether I went from 262 to 195 in about 3 or 4 months. It stayed off so long as I kept exercising and didn't eat junk. But then I felt too confident. Looked good gelt good. Started goingvout more. Beer and good meals. Then fell down completely and went back to fast foods. Didn't exercise much. Gained a bunch back as stated above. Called the doc and got back on the program earlier this week.

[Angie]

After reading that Frank has lost 1 lb a day makes me feel really unfair that we, ladies are unable to achieve this rapid weight lost despite we did the same things. Guys are so lucky when it comes to losing weight. Good luck Frank, hope you succeed this time round. :)

[Ruben]

Thanks Frank for the info. I take 6 shakes a day. My left side has been a little sore the last couple of days. I don't know if I pulled something or if it's inside. I will speak to the nurse about it when I go in on Monday for my visit. I am very proud of myself tonight because I went to the movies for the second time in my life without getting popcorn. It was hard. lol

[Rebecah]

Ruben, lol. I loooove popcorn, even with nothing on it. I understand what it took for you to go to a movie and not get popcorn. My arm would have been doing the hand to mouth thing on autopilot, lol.

Frank, hope it goes well for you this time, too.

No cheats at all this week, and I'm weighing in tomorrow rather than Tuesday, since I'll be out of town then.

My home scale is accurate and I'm now down to 230. I was discouraged at losing nothing last week, but today it hit me; I have lost 13 lbs in 20 days. Nothing to complain about!

[Marya]

Rosemary,
I checked with people in my Optifast center....there are a LOT of Walden Farms products there....including DIPS! What a great thing for the holidays if you are transitioning, right??
I talked to one lady there who also said the BBQ sauce was spicy and amazing. Some people there said that they had seen Walden Farms at Bilo, Publix, etc. Check around at the grocery stores in your area to see what they have before you order it online. I THINK I saw it where the salad dressings are...but you may want to ask.

[Yazmin]

Hi all, I'm living in Singapore. I'm enrolled in a weight management clinic and the doctor advised me to consider Optifast as an alternative to bariatric surgery which I had previously wanted to do. My 3 mths of full-fast will only start after December as the dietitian wanted the holiday season to be over first before getting me engaged fully on the program.

I'll be able to buy from the clinic soon but i feel it's not soon enough. I'd like to try out several shakes first to see if I could commit myself to it as it's not very cheap, for lack of a better word. Thus, I'm hoping to purchase several boxes of the shakes to try out first(not full fast, just a meal replacement for lunch and dinner, for example).

Angie, I'm also living in Singapore...may i know how u manage to get Optifast delivered here? Reading previous posts, I understand that u get orders from overseas to be sent to a Vpost PO Box address before getting it sent to Sg. Which seller would you recommend?

[Angie]

Hi Yazmin, firstly you can purchase online from australia. Either www.optifast.com.au or from mychemist.com .au. But the formulation of the products will not be the same as the one from US.

And this is the link to the ebay seller that I have purchase from US seller http://stores.shop.ebay.com.sg/isell4less2you...

This seller offers free shipping within US, so I only have to pay vpostusa base charge and shipping charges. However I got the soups and bars from US bcos it is not available in Singapore. I ordered them on 2 Nov and managed to receive it today.:p

I am paying SGD$22.90 for a box (7 packets of optifast milkshakes). It will be 2 times the price if you purchase from US for the same products excluding the shipping charges!

If you are really determined, I suggest you request your dietician to let you start your optifast immediately and not when the holiday season is over. This is bcos after Xmas, there's Chinese New Year in Feb! It will be neverending.

Before I started this optifast, my dietician did give me a sample to try out. I think you can also request your dietician to give you just one packet to try out. In addition, you need to undergo blood tests and urine test before you will be given the "go" for this full fast.

BTW, which hospital did u go ?

[Thom]

Thanks to all who have posted in the last 6 months. I'm transitioning to PFE's now and have used your comments for motivation each week. 5 more pounds to go! Although I don't usually post, I wanted to express my gratitude for helping me lose 141 lbs since May. Man do I feel great. Stick with it! It is worth all the sacrifices your making. The worst part for me was thinking there would be 6-7 months until my goal. Now, looking back, it really did go fast. There where weeks were I lost a pound, and weeks where I lost 7. Just hang in there and try to get to the root of the issues that got you there in the first place. Don't think of it as a penance, but as a time away from a poor diet to regain control.
Tried the Walden Farms salad dressings and really like them. Going easy with them at first. Haven't tried their other products, but they have a website at: http://www.waldenfarms.com/
Good health!

[Pat]

Hi Everyone. One of my friends in my OptiFast Clinic here in Greenville, SC gave me the link to this site and I am so happy to be here. I started the OptiFast program 13 weeks ago after going to educational classes on both the Gastric Surgery and the Non-Surgical program (OptiFast). It didn't take me too long to decide that I didn't want to have to face the surgery, so I joined OptiFast. While signing on the dotted line for the 21 week program, I was hopeful but also scared to death that I wouldn't be able to completely give up any food for 12/13 weeks (before starting transition) and only have the OptiFast products. My first day in the evening got a little rough from withdrawals and the next morning was still a little bad, but by noon the second day, I was feeling good, upbeat and determined to follow this plan. I just took it one meal at a time and I was doing 6 meals every 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Got through one day and on to the next and finally am amazed that after being on the program for 13 weeks I have lost an amazing 56.5 lbs.

During this 13 weeks so much has changed in my life. I am more confident in myself than I have ever been in my 65 years. I am walking striving for and most of the time getting my 10,000+ steps each day. Last month my steps were the equivalent to 157 miles. That is a miracle as before this program, I could barely walk across the floor without getting winded. I had just been put on oxygen 24/7 and now I only need to sleep with it at night as I am a very shallow breather and my saturation level drops a little too much for them to be comfortable with. I am a diabetic that was taking 4+ shots of insulin a day and 2 diabetic pills. I am now COMPLETELY off of my insulin & down to 1 diabetic pill per day and yesterday my Dr. gave me a prescription to half the strength of that pill. I am completely off another pill from my Cardiologist. So my health is getting better and I am so grateful to the good Lord for His strength to help me stay completely on this program.

My hint for this program is do EXACTLY what they tell you to do. They take you on a gradual scale of increasing your steps each day. That is important and crucial to your weight loss. Please, please do your steps.(and DRINK your water) I have remained on 6 meals the entire time of my program. My Dr. said my weight loss was so good that she didn't want to fix anything that wasn't broke, so she didn't reduce my meals to 5.

As I said, I am on transition right now and it is scaring me a bit. For the first time since my first 2 days of starting this program, I have some hunger and I don't like that. I am hoping that it will get better as I get a little further into transition. I am going to take my transition slower than what they normally do with a client, but it has been okayed by my nutritionist and my Dr. I want to loose another 50 - 60 lbs, so I will continue to stay on my program with only one or possibly two regular meals and the rest with OptiFast. My Dr. said as long at I stay between 1,000 - 1,100 calories per day, they will be ok with that.

I have been so inspired by all the posts that I have had a chance to read so far. This is a wonderful place for us all to get encouragement and to give encouragement. I am so happy to be here and hope to be able to check in each day to see how everyone is doing.

God Bless,
Pat, Greenville, SC

[Pat Greenville-SC]

Oh I forgot to tell you all that I have tried a lot of the Walden products and they are good. The BBQ sauce is wonderful. The dressings that I have tried are, Italian, Creamy Bacon Ranch, Ranch, Raspberry Vinegeriette, Coleslaw dessing, Balsamic Vinegeriette. Some of mine I put a little Splenda over, because I like a sweet/sour taste to my salads. I've done this for years with regular Ranch and Baslamic vinegar.
Pat