Any Optifast users out there?

kellie2013
kellie2013 Posts: 7 Member
edited November 12 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello Everyone. I am recently new to using the Optifast weightloss method, and would like to have some friends on here using Optifast. I have 75kg or about 150 pounds to lose. Any and all encouragement is welcome!
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Replies

  • lester_wilson
    lester_wilson Posts: 2 Member
    Just started on optifast myself, will add you as a friend. Now on day 3:-)
  • kellie2013
    kellie2013 Posts: 7 Member
    thanks!
  • backinaction
    backinaction Posts: 28 Member
    I am 17 weeks in and have lost 85 pounds. It has been a miracle for me.
  • butterflygirl17
    butterflygirl17 Posts: 8 Member
    I'm on day Day 4 of Optifast and am wondering how I'll be able to keep this up for the long term (12 weeks of full meal replacements) any others with ideas/encouragement...would love to have advice of others! thanks!
  • Gotmilk9579
    Gotmilk9579 Posts: 3
    Thinking about kicking this off next week. Would love to find a support system of others (especially other guys) on here.
  • Maidofmer
    Maidofmer Posts: 908 Member
    I am 17 weeks in and have lost 85 pounds. It has been a miracle for me.

    that's incredible. what is it? surgery? just googled and it said surgery and shakes
  • buzzcockgirl
    buzzcockgirl Posts: 260 Member
    I started Optifast back on May of last year-- 8.5 months later I'm down 72 lbs.! I did the full meal replacement for 16 weeks, then slowly phased food back in over the course of another 4 weeks. Now I am on full food (though I still use 1 shake a day for breakfast because it's so fast, so easy, no need to make a food choice!)... and I've been good!

    I did it thru Kaiser, and feel like it's SUPER important to have support and education, because without learning new eating habits and learning about food, our bodies, what triggers us, why we eat the way we do, etc... I agree with the above poster, the weight will probably return. I've learned so much, and totally changed the way I look at food-- I am a completely different eater than I was a year ago. And of course, exercise is MAJORLY important! I started exercising and now I do some sort of cardio every single day. Gotta keep moving!

    I believe it can be a helpful tool to get things started, but you will eventually start to eat 'real' food again, and you'll need to have changed your eating habits to maintain the weight loss. Plain and simple. Good luck!!!!
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,333 Member
    My mother did the optifast diet..then she got breast cancer and died. I know i can't blame the diet...but i do. She didn't eat a meal for a year or more. It is crazy desperate stuff.
  • disawell
    disawell Posts: 102 Member
    I've been doing the celebrity slim shakes and they have been helping till I went "what the hell" just today when i realised how much sugar I was consuming in them. if i have 4 in a day, then that would be almost 4 times what MFP recommends as a sugar goal. I think optifast is similiar. I've tweaked most of my days now back to real food within the MFP guidelines to ensure that i'm close to meeting my sugar and iron requirements (to within about 10 grams) Good luck but please just check the sugar content and decide if you are ok with that. (i no longer have pre-diabetes so I am aware of sugar)
  • kellie2013
    kellie2013 Posts: 7 Member
    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 =)
  • KizzyDee
    KizzyDee Posts: 3 Member
    I'm on day 4 of Optifast. So far it's been good. No cravings or much hunger. As with any diet plan, you must commit to learning how to eat healthy and incorporating physical activity. I'm very well aware that if I don't change my eating habits then the weight will return, plus more. Everyone is different, so please respect other's choices for doing this diet. I'm looking for support on this site, and for those who are currently on Optifast, hang in there and lets support each other.
  • feellikerain
    feellikerain Posts: 46 Member
    I was on the Optifast program last year and it was a great start for me. I lost a lot of initial weight, got great information from my doctors, and made a slow transition back to eating real food. Except this time I learned to eat healthy food in healthy portions. I learned how to control my hunger and have been able to not only maintain the weight loss I achieved through the Optifast program, but I've continued to lose weight since being on my own.

    If you stick to the program, understand that it's not an easy fix, and commit to making a lifestyle change, then you CAN be successful. :wink:
  • marthamk
    marthamk Posts: 1 Member
    I am on Optifast week 17 (next week will be the 4 month mark) and have lost 63 pounds so far. Like others that have already posted, I have learned a lot and fully understand that the real work begins in keeping the weight off. I exercise a lot (prior to starting Optifast) and will continue to do so. For me, taking a break from food was a good way to work on everything else and prepare for my transition back on real food (which will most likely be next month sometime). I would only do this program under intense doctor supervision - it is nothing you want to mess around with on your own, even though I think you can order it on Amazon. You need bloodwork done, EKG's, etc. You need psychologists and dieticians to teach you skills to make behavioral changes for the long term. My life has changed in so many ways. I can run a mile without stopping now. My sleep apnea has disappeared. My blood pressure is down to normal. I'll get my cholesterol and triglycerides re-tested next month and I expect to see an improvement. It is is drastic but, for me, it has been pretty easy. You need to be 100% committed to the process though.
  • cathie1601
    cathie1601 Posts: 1
    Hi there,
    I am on week 3 of Optifast. My husband & I are doing this together. He has 100+ to lose, I have 40lbs to go. We wanted to do the plan through Kaiser but cost was too high. So, we order product from Amazon. I am frustrated! my weight lose has all but stopped :( Only 5lbs in two weeks. Help anyone!!

    Thanks!
  • PHF58
    PHF58 Posts: 23 Member
    ninerbuff: But my understanding with optifast is that you transition to regular food...not stay on all liquid (which would be crazy). The point is to gradually rresume eating in a new balanced way....
  • PHF58
    PHF58 Posts: 23 Member
    cathie1601; Are you drinking enough water? Like lots and lots of water, 8 glasses per day, around 64 oz per day to help move things along. I have hit plateaus since starting on dec 27 (needed xmas sweets!) that last for 3 days at a time but I vary my treadmill use (to tweek my metabolism) , and make sure to watch the water consumption and have succeeded in pushing along. I have added in one meal and dropped 1 shake and no bars now. Get some fiber too from celery or raw spinach! You have to eat enough calories to not go into starvation mode where your body would "hold on" to all calories ingested. Keep motivated but get as much info as you can- you will need to add in food some time after 2 months...MFP has been helpful for me in addition to optifast.
  • lexijonahaddison
    lexijonahaddison Posts: 11
    i'm of week 2...struggling a little bit this week...does this get better? not excited about the limited varieties of food for the next 10 weeks.
  • tonitass
    tonitass Posts: 22 Member
    These are not nay-sayers or negative comments. These are people who are genuinely trying to help you. I have about the same amount of weight to lose and have already had lap band surgery with little results because the band did not teach me how to eat to live instead of live to eat. I have been on MFP with a personal trainer for 25 days and I feel like I already have a new outlook on food.

    Please be careful and aware of using fad diets for instant fixes to lifelong issues. MFP is a great tool for a real change in lifestyle, and there are people on here who really know what they are talking about. Just be careful.
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  • PHF58
    PHF58 Posts: 23 Member
    I agree that how you lose the weight is less the issue because you definitely need to change your attitudes about eating and food. Optifast has given me a break from the food and now I am slowly transitioning back after 6 weeks of 5 liquid shakes and 1 bar/day. I feel much, much lighter and motivated to exercise and to use MFP...I wasn't willing to really look at my eating before I started loosing weight thru Optifast, it was an extreme measure for me but I had been so stuck. So I stopped thinking abt food for a bit and got some results, drank LOTS of water to ensure my body's flushing properties were all working and have actually noticed the benefit of being hydrated. Drank coffee and diet soda before so hurray for the cleanse!
    I like the MFP calorie counter and exercise logs and I find them very helpful in sticking to my plan.....
    I also bought this workbook by J. Beck, abot Training your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person - love it, but it's abt seriously taking yourself on...so it's hard too.
  • CalMom60
    CalMom60 Posts: 3 Member
    I started on Optifast through Kaiser on Feb 26. 3 weeks in I was down 18 lbs. The required weekly two hour group session is critical to learning how we have abused food and how to relearn healthy habits. I am on full fast with 5 shakes a day for 20 weeks then a maintenance program that will gradually reintroduce healthy foods and support new healthy habits. I feel very good!
  • chikapika
    chikapika Posts: 1
    Day 3 of optifast 5x daily powder shakes. Lost 5 pounds so far :D
  • red1259
    red1259 Posts: 4
    Hi all, started optifast two weeks ago and am down nine lbs. I start out great, but find myself depressed over how long it will take to get off the 75 I want to lose. Words of motivation, please!
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
    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 =)

    If you post something..you'll get all kinds of responses not just the feel goods. And some of those will be truths you don't want to hear.
  • garber6th
    garber6th Posts: 1,890 Member
    Can't emphasize it more....................there are lots of weight loss shakes and eating plans, but unfortunately they all work the same way................calorie deficit (with some at LARGE calorie deficits).
    If you don't intend to eat with Optifast the rest of you life, the chances of weight regain is usually going to happen.

    I encourage you to save you money and utilize MFP's calorie counting system and learn how to change the way you eat for a LIFESTYLE change and not just a temporary change because of a large calorie deficit.

    Doing this for more than 28 years, you can trust that I've seen practically every diet plan out there and know that statistically only about 10% of all users maintain after the diet plan. The other 90% regain weight back because they return to actually eating whole food again.


    I have done a medically supervised Optifast type program TWICE in my life. I wish I would have learned my lesson from the first go-round. It was a waste of time and money. It is amazing while you are doing it - the weight drops like crazy and you feel like a million. I had classes and workshops weekly on nutrition, and how to eat when you go back into eating solid foods. The minute you start putting solid food back into your mouth, the weight starts coming back. In the program I was in they even told us to expect it. It does not give you the real world experience you need to lose and keep it off. I really wish I didn't waste the time and money. I am only sharing my own experiences, I do wish everyone who is doing it luck, but I am sticking with MFP and changing some eating habits because clearly it works.

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  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Hi all, started optifast two weeks ago and am down nine lbs. I start out great, but find myself depressed over how long it will take to get off the 75 I want to lose. Words of motivation, please!

    4.5 lbs a week is a good start, the rate will drop off but I guess you're going to do this for 6, 8 12 weeks before transitioning towards more normal foods ??

    In general anyone looking to lose 75 lbs is probably facing a year or more of effort. It takes time to add fat and time to lose it.
  • red1259
    red1259 Posts: 4
    Yarwell, yes thinking about doing for about twelve weeks, then transitioning to real food. I had done a similar program in my 20s and lost about 110 lbs on it, so I know it takes awhile. When I did that, I kept the weight off for 15 plus years. Now that hit menopause, need a jump start to get back on track. Making the lifestyle changes needed as well. I just forgot how long it takes to lose, especially once you hit a certain age! Lol
  • backinaction
    backinaction Posts: 28 Member
    @red1259, the success of the program is to make sure you see it is "one day at a time". Every 75 pounds lost is made up of losing 1 pound 75 times. The key to being successful on the diet is to not expect to lose 75 pounds in one week but losing it by making it the right choices over a sustained period of time. The program will work scientifically if you follow the diet and exercise plan. It is worth the investment and can change your life forever. I lost 112 pounds since September on Optifast and I am now in the maintain phase and it continues to help me control my appetite and know my behaviors with food.

    Please note that I am an employee of Nestle, makers of Optifast. My opinions expressed are mine and not necessarily that of my employer.
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