Any Optifast users out there?

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  • mexicook
    mexicook Posts: 8 Member
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    I've just enrolled in a one year program that includes the use of optifast shakes for twelve weeks. The remainder of the program consists of breaking old habits, learning how to properly fuel your body and maintain a healthy weight. The shakes don't start for another 4 weeks, they start by reducing us to a 1200 calorie day to help prepare our body for the change. We'll be following the optifast 900 plan.

    I can see the psychological effects if not administered properly, hopefully this program will prevent such things from happening.
  • KrzyGal
    KrzyGal Posts: 139 Member
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    wow just saw there were a few rather negative comments to my post. not sure what attracted the nay-sayers here, but what i am actually looking for are positive and happy people who are on this same journey. like minded people if you will. support and encouragement are vital and if there are any optifast users out there who would like to be pals on here send me a request, i would love to share support with you =)

    Nay-Sayers are everywhere. It's up to you as far as how you use the feedback you're getting. No matter the post, the negatives seem to find their way. Sometimes it's the way the reader takes the words; it may be words of encouragement to try other alternatives.

    Good luck with your journey.
  • iheidibefitt
    iheidibefitt Posts: 80 Member
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    wow just saw there were a few rather negative comments to my post. not sure what attracted the nay-sayers here, but what i am actually looking for are positive and happy people who are on this same journey. like minded people if you will. support and encouragement are vital and if there are any optifast users out there who would like to be pals on here send me a request, i would love to share support with you =)

    Nay-Sayers are everywhere. It's up to you as far as how you use the feedback you're getting. No matter the post, the negatives seem to find their way. Sometimes it's the way the reader takes the words; it may be words of encouragement to try other alternatives.

    Good luck with your journey.

    I had a nay sayer on a post about why do you drink a gallon of water in a day. They asked me if their answer was good enough for me. Some people on here, they amaze me.
  • rokhoundsejm
    rokhoundsejm Posts: 1 Member
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    Hi Memo,

    I am currently in the Kaiser program as well (week 29). My class was told to watch out for excessive exercising due to the fact that the more you exercise on a very low calorie diet the more lean muscle you will burn, not just fat. I know it seems counter productive but I see that this is the case. I have started exercising slowly (20 minutes of walking a day) at the beginning of the program and have worked my way up to 45 minutes of walking and a day or two of strength training. Most of this increase happened after I transitioned back to real food since your calorie intact increases as well. I have experienced a steady weight loss of an average of 2-3 lbs per week (currently down 82 lbs!). Other classmates went the other direction and exercised hard for 60 or minutes per day while on meal replacements. They initially had great results, but many of them have now been at a plateau for several weeks. The facilitator thinks they are not consuming enough calories to support the physical activity so the few calories the do consume are packed on as fat while their lean muscles are burned instead. I recommend that you should follow the plan laid out for you by your program. Just work closely with them on what your goals are and they should help guide you. Best of Luck!!
  • mexicook
    mexicook Posts: 8 Member
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    Hey Kevin!

    we started product 3 weeks before Christmas. It was hell!!! but it DID get easier...

    My tips for newbies - (based on Optifast 900)

    WATER WATER WATER!!! The brain cannot recognise the difference between hunger and thirst!!! You are getting your nutrition from your shakes. You should be aiming for 3 litres a day and that includes the water you use for your shakes.
    use at least 16 oz to feel fuller. And you don't want to get constipated as there is not a lot of fibre in the shakes...you might want to consider psylium fibre capsules - (not a laxative!!) but please talk to your doctor.

    TIMING- NO MORE THAT 4 HOURS BETWEEN SHAKES- in order to maintain ketosis, you have to keep your blood sugar level as level as possible. and drink that extra water in between

    extras - 20 calories a day max- can include milk for your coffee ( A BIT! everything counts...) diet pop, artificial flavorings for your shakes, low cal and sodium broth, but don't over do it. Follow what ever your plan recommends.

    FLAVOUR!! shakes getting boring?? throw some flavoring in!! coconut or orange flavoring in a chocolate shake will blow your mind!!! (but remember the 20 calorie cap!)

    EXCERCISE - DONT OVER DO IT RIGHT NOW - you are already shocking your body enough- worry about muscle toning later.

    DISTRACTION - GET OFF THE COUCH or PVR through those commercials....good time to clean spring clean those cubboards...break your old habits now!!!

    chew sugarless gums (watch the calories - no more that 20 cals a day)

    NUTRITIONAL COUNSELLING is a must. The program I am in offers 26 weeks of weekly classes (12 weeks of full product, 5 weeks of transition, and 9 more weeks of what they call maintenance....but we are all still losing :) this is essential!! after that we have 4-6 sessions of our choice (nutritional, behavioral, or kinesthetic) over the next 6 months.

    now we also had blood work done and ECGs every 2-3 weeks (part of our program)

    TRANSITION- I will tell you about that later - there are too many peeps on her right now that are not ready to hear about food and I don't want to add to their stress....but get used to journaling on MFP because you will need to keep track of those calories anyway.

    exercise now? - walking class, aquafit, strength training and I am a nurse so I am always tearing around. Consider a activity tracking bracelet and use apps like mapmyfitness.com or fitbit.com

    Take one day at a time - don't rely on the scale, rely on how you feel, and take measurements....

    You can do this!!!

    Deb!!!

    @sanzza - I was a non-insulin dependant diabetic and it have completely reversed with my weight loss!! My sugars and HBAIC are completely normal!!

    Great info! I'm about to start a 52 week program, first four weeks it's a 1200 cal/day, then for twelve weeks we follow optifast 900. We then transition slowly, with 3 shakes/1meal, 2 shakes/2meals etc.

    I'm happy to have found this thread!

    Anyone who would like to add me, please do! Looking for all the support I can handle!
  • memostyle78
    memostyle78 Posts: 2 Member
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    Hello Roc hound.
    thank you for your advice.
    wow 82 lbs is amazing...congratulations
  • Michifan
    Michifan Posts: 95 Member
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    Hi Memo,

    I am currently in the Kaiser program as well (week 29). My class was told to watch out for excessive exercising due to the fact that the more you exercise on a very low calorie diet the more lean muscle you will burn, not just fat. I know it seems counter productive but I see that this is the case. I have started exercising slowly (20 minutes of walking a day) at the beginning of the program and have worked my way up to 45 minutes of walking and a day or two of strength training. Most of this increase happened after I transitioned back to real food since your calorie intact increases as well. I have experienced a steady weight loss of an average of 2-3 lbs per week (currently down 82 lbs!). Other classmates went the other direction and exercised hard for 60 or minutes per day while on meal replacements. They initially had great results, but many of them have now been at a plateau for several weeks. The facilitator thinks they are not consuming enough calories to support the physical activity so the few calories the do consume are packed on as fat while their lean muscles are burned instead. I recommend that you should follow the plan laid out for you by your program. Just work closely with them on what your goals are and they should help guide you. Best of Luck!!


    That kind of advice is way to general to give to a class.

    I am on a very very low calorie diet, and started just walking because I knew that if I pushed myself I'd need more food-energy and I wanted my body to get used to the low calories. I've held 700-800 calories every day for a month and a half and am now walking 4 miles every day at a 16:00 pace and riding 10 miles per day on the weekends at a 5:00 pace. I have a ton of energy, I don't feel hungry and I'm stronger than I was when I started - and down 40 pounds in 45 days.

    The thing is that when you are on a low calorie diet, as long as you are getting sufficient nutrients and protein, you won't burn muscle over fat in any measurable amount. The bigger issue is whether you can really, honestly push your body to perform strenuous exercise at that caloric intake. I think that only a small small group of people have the constitution or physical make up to really do strenuous exercise at a low caloric intake.

    I hate the classes where the person is giving instructions like they are afraid of being sued. We are all different and I believe that everyone starting a medically monitored diet should be treated as the individual they are. I don't know or care if anyone else can do my program with the same ease as I am doing it. But my body is doing well, every scientific and unscientific measure is positive and its a result of treating myself as a individual - not following generic advice which wouldn't be applicable for me.

    Again - Optifast is really yummy. It is amazingly convenient and it worked for me. I just don't believe in it anymore - for me - because I think it became a crutch and I wanted to learn to control my nutrients through real food. I also desired more protein and fiber and the drink was digested too fast and I needed 20 minutes before my body didn't feel "hungry".
  • christygb
    christygb Posts: 84 Member
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    Hi Rockhound,

    That was exactly my experience with Optifast. I saw and read about many people who jumped on the exercise bandwagon too soon and with too much intensity, and sadly, many of them plateaued, got discouraged and some dropped out. It was sad to see but I took it as a cautionary tale.

    I approached the program with weight loss my #1 priority. I walked each week, but nothing crazy. Now that I'm entering maintenance I'm loving my increased exercise and developing new routines. This is what worked for me, so I can't speak for everyone. Congratulations on your wonderful success with the program and I wish you the very best!

    Christy
    optifastadventurer.blogspot.com
  • misspebbles
    misspebbles Posts: 1
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    I also have an appointment with the doctor at the end of Sept.
    I have had good success with mfp but I'm stuck. . I appreciate all the feedback
  • Metamorph1959
    Metamorph1959 Posts: 15 Member
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    Day 3, and I feel Really Awful. The hunger is one thing -- the dizziness is another. I'm not actually doing an Optifast program but rather one that has been devised by a local doctor, whom I think is in it more to make money off the sales of the product than on a genuine interest in helping his patients. Envious of the support others are getting...

    Confession: I managed to talk him out of making me use Optifast 900 -- I was averse to a product that contained 2600 mg of sodium (the maximum recommended daily intake for people at risk of CVD is 1500 mg). I wasn't keen on the aspartame, but even more so, there is sugar (fructose and maltodextrin) in addition to the aspartame! The website conveniently leaves out the grams of sugar in it's nutritional facts, and given that there is absolutely nothing fibrous in the ingredient list, I imagine that most of the 16.8 g of carbs is sugar. And yes, the absence of fibre... To make a long story short, I talked the doc into letting me use a combination of Vega One plus some unsweetened and unflavoured whey protein to make up the calories, a total of 800 instead of the 900 I would have been on. It only just registered with me that the doc's insistence on the Optifast and his reluctance to discuss fine-tuning my program may be because he is getting paid only for the visit and not for the product as well... Hoping I'll be able to hang on. I have a lot of weight to lose.
  • Metamorph1959
    Metamorph1959 Posts: 15 Member
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    As for exercise, I really want to continue what I was doing, which included strength training and a short by quite high intensity hike that I did regularly irregularly. (My little joke based on heart terminology -- I do the hike 1-3x/week but not on a regular schedule.) Sure couldn't do anything yesterday, and not sure I can do anything today, either. I hate this.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Day 3, and I feel Really Awful. The hunger is one thing -- the dizziness is another. I'm not actually doing an Optifast program but rather one that has been devised by a local doctor, whom I think is in it more to make money off the sales of the product than on a genuine interest in helping his patients. Envious of the support others are getting...

    Confession: I managed to talk him out of making me use Optifast 900 -- I was averse to a product that contained 2600 mg of sodium (the maximum recommended daily intake for people at risk of CVD is 1500 mg). I wasn't keen on the aspartame, but even more so, there is sugar (fructose and maltodextrin) in addition to the aspartame! The website conveniently leaves out the grams of sugar in it's nutritional facts, and given that there is absolutely nothing fibrous in the ingredient list, I imagine that most of the 16.8 g of carbs is sugar. And yes, the absence of fibre... To make a long story short, I talked the doc into letting me use a combination of Vega One plus some unsweetened and unflavoured whey protein to make up the calories, a total of 800 instead of the 900 I would have been on. It only just registered with me that the doc's insistence on the Optifast and his reluctance to discuss fine-tuning my program may be because he is getting paid only for the visit and not for the product as well... Hoping I'll be able to hang on. I have a lot of weight to lose.
    As for exercise, I really want to continue what I was doing, which included strength training and a short by quite high intensity hike that I did regularly irregularly. (My little joke based on heart terminology -- I do the hike 1-3x/week but not on a regular schedule.) Sure couldn't do anything yesterday, and not sure I can do anything today, either. I hate this.

    Why are you doing this to yourself?
  • christygb
    christygb Posts: 84 Member
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    Hi Metamorph,

    I've tried lots of diet programs. Sometimes I've quit programs due to the amount of plastic and wrapping involved. I felt bad about filling the landfills with processed food rubbish. In hindsight, my 9 months on Optifast has been worth the short term exposure to artificial nutrition. After the first week I felt just fine. Yes, it was an adjustment, and most on VLCD will tell you that it is the most difficult week on the program. Now that I'm at my goal and transitioning onto food, and tackling that process, I feel like my new vitality and positive health benefits were worth it. But I had to trust that it would work, and put my full faith effort into it.

    It might be difficult for you to trust a certain program. I've done that before, too. If you feel like your skepticism about a program (or if you are worried about possible adverse physical reactions) will prohibit you from fully committing yourself, then it is probably best that you keep looking for a weight loss strategy that you'll be able to put your heart and soul into. Ultimately, that is what it will take. Complete surrender, complete compliance. Lots of people on MFP have successfully lost weight a number of different ways, and believe completely in their strategy. What they all have in common is complete dedication to their path.

    I wish you the best in finding your path.

    Christy
  • Metamorph1959
    Metamorph1959 Posts: 15 Member
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    Thanks, Christy. I've researched VLCD diets enough to trust in this process, and I'm actually okay with the Vega One powders, even though I don't care much for the taste or texture. I do wish for more supportive medical supervision; it's only a hunch that my decision not to go with Optifast has influenced the doc's care, but I also know that a lot of people aren't particularly comfortable with him. However, I've decided to commit to this diet at least until my blood work is normal, and then I'll reassess and see what I want to do about the remaining weight I'm sure I'll still have to lose. I have confidence that once I'm in a better weight range, more mobile, and more organized (I'm actually looking forward to not shopping, cooking, or cleaning the kitchen for the next few months and getting other stuff done in my life), that I'll be better able to sustain the good eating habits that I'm quite capable of in the short term.

    I do wonder about the exercise, though, while on a VLCD. I hear such contradictory things. I've heard that it's okay to continue with an exercise program you've already established -- and I really want to believe that -- but it seems that yours and others experiences have been different. I find the exercise really helps me deal with emotional issues, and I don't want to give it up for three months or more. I don't get the same effects with just walking, which I don't enjoy at all.

    I'm feeling a bit better than earlier in the day, too, which is reassuring. I've also heard that for some people adjusting to this diet can take as long as two weeks, and I'm hoping I"m not one of those. Yesterday and this morning were bad enough...
  • christygb
    christygb Posts: 84 Member
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    Way to go Metamorph, and I wish you a good run with the Vega One. I've never heard of it and will have to Google :-)

    I was able to go to a aqua aerobics class once a week and do some walking. It felt fine with some nice walking. Now that I'm doing it daily, I completely understand the wonderful affects on my outlook. Maybe you'll be able to keep moving on your diet.

    Cheers to you,
    Christy
  • Metamorph1959
    Metamorph1959 Posts: 15 Member
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    Day 7, and I'm doing better, though I'm gagging on the shakes... My very rapid initial weight loss (9 pounds so far) has slowed, but that isn't unexpected. About to head out on a short hike on this gorgeous autumn day and very glad I have the energy to do it.

    Have been plotting how to maximize vegetables when I get back to real food. Nothing like the anticipation of being on shakes for weeks on end to make one really appreciate good food!
  • Flying_Joe
    Flying_Joe Posts: 15 Member
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    I'm at the transition phase now for Optifast, after a successful 6-7 month process in losing weight that way.

    I'm looking for some new MFP friends who are at this stage of the weight loss process to help share on this critical step of our process to living well. I think I need a circle of people who are thinking about this next phase to help keep me grounded here as well...

    And of course all my best wishes to everyone still on that journey. I can't say enough how helpful the Optifast approach had been to me. I have never felt healthier, slept better and been more energetic than the whole time I was on this diet. I had compliments every day of the last 5 months from people all around me.

    It gets better! :)
  • erubs87
    erubs87 Posts: 3
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    I just started the Optifast diet 4 days ago and made the mistake of posting about it on a general blog (holy negativity!). My biggest issue is the temptation: I never realized how many fast food and restaurant commercials were playing on tv! I'm doing well, besides the psychological cravings, and my boyfriend is incredibly supportive.. but after getting all that negative feedback I am yet again feeling discouraged. Anyone have any positive advice or unique experiences they are willing to share? I am worried about the gull bladder issues the physician brought up (as I am insurance-less until November so I haven't started the prescribed mediation).. the last thing I need is surgery during all of this!
  • Metamorph1959
    Metamorph1959 Posts: 15 Member
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    Erubs, I've researched VLCDs quite a bit, as I was very skeptical about them, and I've concluded that for anybody seriously obese, they are an effective -- and relatively safe -- way to lose the weight. The negativity is based on "common wisdom," much of which is not backed up by science. This is not a lifestyle -- it is a medical treatment, and it works better for shedding the pounds than any other method (except for bariatric surgery) . As for the rate of regain, it's no worse than any other diet; maintaining is hard work no matter how you lost the weight.

    As for gallbladder issues, I had a chat with my doc about that when I saw him last week, and he was very reassuring that the numbers are not as high as you may have heard. I also believe -- if I'm understanding things correctly -- that many of the problems in the past were because the shakes did not have enough fat, which they do now. And last but not least, gallbladder problems will show up much farther down the road, so they're not to worry about right now. My doc does not prescribe the meds. He seemed to be quite negative about them, actually...

    Hope this helps. I'm just a newbie (beginning Week 2), but I'm a bit of a nut about not eating processed food -- believe me when I say that I didn't jump on the bandwagon without checking it out as much as I could.
  • erubs87
    erubs87 Posts: 3
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    Thanks for the feedback! I did a low calorie with 4-6 days a week of cardio/weight training and it just wasn't getting the results I needed. I gained all the weight while in a terribly controlling 4-year relationship (like, essentially unable to leave my house controlling) and I miss being as active as I was before. As much as I hate to admit, I am definitely impatient so this program just kind of spoke to me. I have about 80 to lose.. had a co-worker lose about 50.. just ready to start feeling my jeans be loose again!

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