Ideal fast..favourite flavours??

So, I will be starting my 2 week liquid diet next Tues. My Dr is recommending Ideal fast shakes..they come in chocolate, vanilla and strawberry flavors. Since the shakes and veggies are the only things I can eat for 2 weeks, I would like to choose the most preferable flavors.

I am wondering if anyone has used the Ideal fast shakes before surgery, and which flavors they liked the best or recommend. I know everybody's tastes are different but any feedback and opinions may be helpful.

Thanks so much :-)

Hello, for my experience I preferred the chocolate one but I have took 2 box a vanilla, 1 strawberry and 1 chocolate and I was ok with that, I took 1 strawberry, 1 vanilla, 1 chocolate and 1 vanilla

I'm leaning more towards the chocolate as well. Not too sure about the vanilla. Thinking 3 boxes of chocolate and 1 box of strawberry.

I have to do the liquid diet for 2 weeks. I know other people had to do it longer due to a higher BMI. How did you and or others find the liquid diet experience? Did you feel full during the day? Were more days difficult than others? How much weight was lost during this pre-op phase?

The first 5 days are tough, it takes that long to kick your carb addiction.  You might feel irrationally hungry (like right after a shake) and you might have headaches for a few days.  But it's really important to stick with it and get past these first few days ... if you slip up and eat something you will just end up prolonging the difficulty.  I didnt try those specific shakes, i was on optifast.  But dont discount the vanilla ... if you have some flavoring like the tonani/davinci syrups or packs of crystal light ... they can be pretty versatile. I had 4 shakes a day, so between those and drinking tons of water, i didnt really have time to be hungry.  I was also allowed steamed low carb vegetables if i got stuck (brocoli was my savior a few times!).  Also chicken broth (I didnt like the actual broth but i did like making a cup-a-soup and straining out all the chucks and noodle with a fine mesh stainer)

As for weight loss, please remember that pre-op diet NOT really about losing weight.  It's about reducing the size and inflammation of the liver and preparing your body for surgery.  Stuff like surgars, carbs, grains, fats, oils .. these cause inflammation.  They also result in  your liver (and muscles) to store glycogen and the associated waters (this makes your liver big and hard to manipulate).  When you do the pre-op diet, you will lose a bit of fat just around the liver and other internal organs, but the majority of the weight loss will be your glycogen, storage water, and inflammation fluids.  How much you lose depends on how much muscle mass you have.

I started my pre-op diet at 366 lbs and i lost 16 lbs over the 2 weeks.  Some people lose nothing, some people lose 30lbs.  The 2 weeks after surgery, when i was eating hardly nothing, i lost 14 lbs.  pretty big numbesr because i started so big

Hi! Congratulations on  your surgery coming up. I am in Ottawa and the preop diet is three weeks of Optifast. I took vanilla and they are horrible!!!! BUT they can be rescued by making them with decaf coffee and ice or 2 tbsp of cooking cocoa. Most people seem to prefer the chocolate and lord I wish I had chosen chocolate too!

 

 

I am sooooo happy I didn't take the vanilla ! Every time I have ever tried any form a nutritional shake in Vanilla it was also horrible! Glad you were able create a concoction that makes it bearable :-)

I took 2 boxes of chocolate and 2 boxes of strawberry. Each on their own were not bad, however when I decided to mix half chocolate half strawberry..delish!!

Surgery in 6 days!! woo hoo!!

Congrats to you too on your upcoming surgery..Good luck !