Optifast help

I have to be on optifast for 4 weeks prior to surgery! !! Has anyone out there had to be on it this long? If so, how did you survive when we're used to eating and that's why we're in this situation.  Anything on optifast that you just loved?

Several years ago I did Medifast for 26 weeks.

I was mentally prepared for the first few days to be really hard.  I had a new hobby project to start .. To distract myself from being hungry.

I took long, hot baths in the evening, with a good book .. And then went to bed early.

I stocked in some flavored herbal tea, because warm tea was soothing and helped with hunger.

I especially liked to mix the Chocolate shake with a little coffee to kae a mocha flavor.  I also always felt that making my shakes warm made them seem more like a 'meal', but some people like to make a big, icy shake ... Whatever works for you.

Expect headaches for the first few days, limit your exposure to other people's eating as best you can, just put your head down and push through it.

Thousands of others have gotten through this, you can too!!!

HThanks! That's what I just need to keep telling myself. 

I've done Optifast in the past. The first three days for me were the worst. I agree with the recommendation to have lots of herbal tea on hand. I was also allowed hot chicken broth by my nut, which really helped me. After the first 3 days, I had no physical hunger, but I still had a lot of cravings. Unfortunately, I also had a boyfriend at the time that was not at all supportive, and actively tried to sabotage my progress by bringing junk food into the house, guilting me into going out to dinner with him and drinking my shake while he sat there and enjoyed a huge meal, etc. I think if I had more support, it wouldn't have been as difficult.

the vanilla optifast is good for this reason..... You can make it and freeze it to make ice cream types slush. Get flavor extracts in the baking isle. They have root beer, orange, cherry and many others. I think variety is the key to make it better. Add unsweetened coco powder and heat in microwave for hot coco. Just have to get creative and keep it from getting boring. If you can get the bars the chocolate one tasted good if you keep it in the fridge cold. Warm, not so much.

only the first couple days are bad. I snacked on apples and carrots if I really needed to munch.  my thought was better to cheat with something healthy than to grab a burger and blow it all together. 

but optifast is expensive. Really expensive. See if you can use other products as long as the calories are kept the same. 

I'm almost through 3 weeks of Opti and I've actually found the anticipation of going without food much worse than the reality. The only time I've felt real stomach hunger is if I've gone too long between shakes. I use flavourings to offer some variety and the Magic Bullet does a great job mixing it with crushed ice..

Best of luck on your journey!

What type of flavorings?

Extracts...like the vanilla extract you put into cakes. They have so many different flavors besides vanilla. The orange tastes like orange cream pops when mixed with the vanilla. Yum. There are also flavored liquid stevia drops you can get to add to water and turn into slushies for 0 calorie snacks in between shakes. It is all about tricking the brain. 

I bought several different ones from the baking aisle...rum, almond, raspberry, maple, mint, coconut and I've used cinnamon too. At least it gives a little variety. 😊

thank you for all the suggestions!