I'm starting on Optifast today after a regain of 44 pounds. First impression is that it leaves an awful taste, but I'll just have to buy some gum. D:

Question: Can you drink diet sodas while on this program?

The rules on this sort of thing seem to vary by clinic. In my case, diet soda is okay but it either has to be caffeine free or, if it has caffeine, it has to count as my 8 oz. serving of caffeine per day. And it doesn't replace any of my water. I've heard some people even mix it with shakes sometimes (diet orange plus vanilla = creamsicle, for instance) but I've never gone down that road.

I agree about the aftertaste, blech. As much as I'm not otherwise a water drinker, I do find that drinking a lot of cold water after a shake helps with the aftertaste a lot.

Hi There,

I'm brand new to this forum (this is the first thread I've read and the very first post I've written).

So while new to the forum, I've been on Optifast since July 2015 and have lost just over 66 pounds. (I'm in Australia so that's 30+kilos metric).

There is only a small forum support for this in Australia (which is great, don't get me wrong) but after such a long time, I'm really struggling not having a larger group to talk to about the program. Which is why I've searched around until I found this one.

Anyway, just wanted to jump in and establish contact:-)

Hi everyone, I just started Optifast today. I'm looking for support also. I started a thread called My Optifast Journey, where I hope to post everyday to document my journey!

I'm doing this program through Kaiser, and we were given a book on different ways to change up our shakes which include diet sodas and different extracts. Today I put 1/4 tsp. imitation vanilla in the strawberry shake and it tasted better! :)

hi Tshrshelli -- I'm scheduled to start Optifast through Kaiser on Mar 3rd. How are you doing so far?

Hey everyone, I thought I would check in. i have finished the 15 week full fast and am now on the second week of transition. I get two meals a day at 200-250 calories each plus product. To be honest, I am kind of struggling. I was so used to the 960 calories and no decisions. Now, I have to decide what to eat and I don't like it.

I just started Optifast 16-weeks (with options to extend up to 12 weeks) on Friday, so I've done three days. I'm very heavy, and when they did my BMR analysis they saw I was at 2300 calories. They say they aim for half the calories per day, so I'm at 1100 calories a day. That's six products, plus a 'small meal' (where their definition of 'small meal' is much different than mine -- 3 oz of meat and 1/2 cup of cooked veggies).

So far has been absolutely fine hunger-wise, I haven't been hungry at all except for normal 'hey, I just woke up, time for breakfast' hunger. Gastrointestinally has been a bit difficult, as I've been having problems with diarrhea. I'm not sure if it's the products or the fact that my go-to seasoning is curry powder, though curry powder normally sits fine with me. This weekend I had problem getting all 7 eating times in and just did 6, but added 1-2 extra ounces of chicken to the 'small meal' to at least try to make up a little.

Energy-wise it's hard to say. I've been sleeping 8-10 hours a night, but the weekend is usually when I catch up on sleep. I'm still walking about 7000 steps a day with no problem and hit 10000 today out of stubbornness.

The drinks are pretty gross, IMO. However, anticipating this I stocked up on eight (soon to be nine) different flavors of sugar-free syrups, and that has helped immensely. I've been mixing caramel into the chocolate, and have added different things to the vanilla: strawberry, raspberry, gingerbread (surprisingly good!), and hazelnut so far. I still have vanilla, chocolate, and Irish cream (which I might skip and bring into work for people to have with their coffee), and 'cookie dough' flavor is supposed to come eventually.

The chicken soup wasn't much good either, but I've found adding curry powder to it helps immensely. Chocolate bars are okay. Peanut butter bar is my favorite.

Oh, and I broke down and bought an immersion blender for mixing things up better. The shaker cup just wasn't doing it for me, though I'm trying a different 'on the go' one with a steel ball inside to see if it blends better. Drinking the shakes or eating the soup with little chunks of powder in it is definitely disgusting.

changling2015, how much weight did you lose in the 15 weeks? And were you exercising during it?

I lost 45 lbs and that was with exercise.

One good thing I have gotten out of this program is that I actually like moving my body. When I miss a day that the gym during my work week, I actually miss it.

I have my orientation on Feb 8th, with an anticipated program start date at end of march. I am in Ontario, so it is with the optifast 900, shakes only for 12 weeks and then transition for 6 weeks. I am so nervous and excited. I am nervous because I do all the cooking in my house. Im trying to figure out how to make that work.

I was nervous before starting too! They asked me how I was feeling when I started, and 'excited' and 'nervous' and 'scared' were all options she suggested, so I take it that's common.

I luckily am the only one at my house so I control the food there. But work is where my overeating triggers, there are TONS of snack foods around. Just now there are two trays of pastries, two containers of cookies, a big jar of jelly beans, a drawer full of every candy imaginable, tons of cheese in the fridge, and more. I have actually had an okay time so far not being bothered by it, but it makes me a little nervous that some day I might snap and eat like 2 pounds of cookies all at once!

By the way, I'm not fond of the shakes but I've found that getting sugar-free syrups and mixing them makes it better and adds variety. Torani makes a line of sugar-free syrups that are sold in some stores, and online at Amazon, here in the States. I got NINE different flavors so I can experiment. So far I like the strawberry and the raspberry and, strangely, the gingerbread mixed in the vanilla shakes the most. For chocolate I go with hazelnut or caramel. I also have chocolate (I use it in the vanilla shakes because I like the results better than the chocolate itself), and vanilla (which I haven't figured out a use for), Irish creme (which I don't like and took to work for the coffee drinkers), and chocolate chip cookie (which I haven't tried yet).

Hey Everyone!
So I start my optifast journey on Wednesday and I couldn't be more excited! I cant wait to see the change. I have lost about 40 pounds on my own so far, but I am needing help, because really my life is on the line being this heavy. So that's how I got to Optifast. I work full time and I was wondering how much your energy gets affected the first few week? Like are yo so tired you can't move? Or just fatigued but able to be up all day?
Thanks <3

I am on an 1100 calorie version of Optifast based on my BMI. Some days I don't get in my last shake and I am closer to 950-1000. I get a lot of water in, and less caffeine (though still more than the doctor wants but c'mon, I'm already working on other massive lifestyle changes, I think dropping from 6-8 cans of diet coke a day to 2-3 is pretty good!).

My energy levels have been the same or even better. I worried I would lie about lethargically all day, being grouchy and hungry, but for me that hasn't been the case.

I started exercise a couple of weeks before Optifast. Right now I am doing about 45 minutes of walking a day (split into 2 or 3 segments to split up my workday), and going to the gym three times a week for weight training. I was even more active than normal my second weekend. (My first weekend, I had my typical marathon-nap on Saturday to catch up on sleep.)

So I'm sure it can vary but for me, absolutely no negative effects on energy levels.

Starting Soon
 

Hi All! I am starting 2/18 through Kaiser. I did my blood test and EKG today. I see the doctor on Monday to get final clearance.

This is a spiritual journey for me - I have a huge fear of losing weight and almost get completely freaked out when I do. So . . . doing this plan will eliminate the food part of this journey so I can face my fear head on.

I started doing the Cize program this week and will have three weeks of workouts before the program starts so this should help.

I have 80 pounds to lose and hope to get 35 to 40 pounds off during this fasting time and then plan on transitioning to their next more moderate program until I get the next round of weight off. Well, that is my plan for now.

I look forward to all the support on this group as I pretty much plan on being reclusive in this time period.

I had my second check-in yesterday. Lost 11 pounds in two weeks. Now, I am starting from a pretty high weight, but this is twice as fast as I usually lose weight, so it's pretty motivating. I just hope I'm not destroying my muscle mass losing so fast. I know I'm not in ketosis (where you are much more prone to burn fat over muscle). I've just been trying to do resistance training to build muscle while I lose, and hoping for the best. They'll do another body composition study in 2-4 weeks to see how my muscle mass compares to before.

You should ask your doctor about the risk of gallstones in fast weight loss, especially if you're prone to gallstone problems in your family. Losing weight fast (like on Optifast) increases their likelihood. There's medicine you can take twice a day for three months to lower your risk. I opted out, because I am really bad at remembering to do medicine twice a day (I just finally got diligent about once a day) and because of the side effects, which include diarrhea, which I already have minor issues with as a side effect from Optifast itself. Plus there's no gallstone history in my family. So I'm just hoping for the best.