Crazy Weightloss on Optifast, and New Scale

Hello guys and gals,

I hope you're all having a nice day!

I am on Day 11 of Optifast and can already notice a change in the way my body is feeling.  My face seems to have come down, especially around the jaw/neck area, which is great.

I was having problems with my old scale (still am).  I can step on them 10 times in a row and get 7-10 different results.  I was taking the highest number that repeated more than twice as my weight.

My starting weight, taken at the surgeon's office on Jan. 10th, was 304.  Today, my old scales say I weigh anywhere from 287 to 292.4. My new scales, which are supposed to be very reliable, say I weigh only 285.8.  I literally weighed myself 10 times on the new scales and it always said 285.8.  Which is a 1.2 Ib difference from my old scales lowest weight, which I guess isn't bad, but I've never trusted the old scale's lowest weight and always chose the highest weight. The thing is, if I go upstairs now and weigh myself on the old scales 5 more times, I'll get a new range and new numbers, so it's clearly not reliable. The new scale gives me the same number each time but it's just lower than I was expecting.

According to the new scale, I've lost, ok, 304-285.8=18.2 Ibs.  18.2 Ibs in 11 days; is that crazy or what?

I've lost 12 Ibs in one week before, on Atkins, but then the next week was just 2 Ibs for a total of 14 Ibs lost in 14 days.  That's the most I ever lost.  Is it even possible to lose 18.2 Ibs in 11 days?

I haven't cheated one bit since I started Optifast, but still, 18.2 Ibs in 11 days seems crazy.

The new scales are Bios Glass Electronic Scales from Best Buy and are supposed to be very precise and accurate.  Someone on the forum here recommended them when i was asking for advice on getting a good scale because i hated seeing so many different weights in such a wide range on the old scales.

What do you all think?

It is so easy to get obsessed with scales. I used to get angry when someone moved my scale from the'skinny' tile. You should weigh in morning only. Our weight fluctuates during the day. Usse your new scale. What was your wweight att clinic? My home scale was aboutt a pound off.

LOL about the skinny tile :-).  I do only weigh in the morning; my old scale gave me a range of weights just from stepping on and off again within the same few seconds.

My starting weight at St. Joe's was 304, on Jan. 10th.  Now according to both scales, I've lost a lot, but more on the new scale, which at least seems more reliable and always gives the same weight (when I tested it and got on and off it over and over again within minutes, not throughout the day).

It's time to throw the old scale away. Clearly it wants to play mind games. lol

Congrats!!!  That is awesome news. I am on day four and find it easy to be on opti. I am not a chocolate girl so I am loving the vanilla. I've only had 1 cup of veggies on 2 days and can only manage to get 3 Optifast in a day.

Great job, keep up the great work.

You're doing great, Veronica.  I was so hungry for the first week, like crazy stomach growling, empty feeling hunger, but I'm good now.  I eat my greens every day but don't always have my broth. 

Congrats on your weightloss! It's totally possible with a very different diet. 

Kathy I don't want to burst your bubble, but what you have lost is not all fat.  A good portion is fluid.  One of the reasons you are on Optifast is to shrink your liver to make surgery safer.  The liver holds glycogen which is glucose bound with fluid.  The liver stores this for when your sugars are low.  After your surgery you may gain a few pounds from the surgery and any IV.  Don't worry about any of this, you are doing great.  Like others have said, your weight will fluctuate throughout the day and from day to day.  Making a specific day your official weigh in day (like Mondays) will help save your sanity and allow you to see the trends.  Also take your measurements for those times when you stall.  Once again you are doing great.

I think I lost 10 lbs in 4 days on Optifast and by the end of 3 weeks it was 27 lbs.  First week is mostly all jus****er loss and then you slow down and lose slowly.  Time to throw the old scales out.  I would start using the new ones and just count the weight from them as your actual weight.  I never care what the weight says at the clinic as I am fully dressed, been up for hours, already had a shower and eaten etc.  I just use my scale at home as the official weigh in scale.  Unless you plan on packing your scales to take to surgery with you, you won't know how close to the ones at home are to the hospital and then if you use their weigh in as your start then you will never get weighed there again anyway so why bother.  You can use it to know what you lost on optifast sorta but then again they won't use the same set of scales as your pre-op since you won't be in that department so the scales could be off again.

Wow, 27 Ibs in 3 weeks.  That's amazing.

Yeah, I know it's mostly water but I don't care; it's nice to see the weight going down.  I've been drinking 6-7 bottles of water a day, plus several cups of hot lemon water, so I'm making sure I get enough water to make up for the loss; don't want to get dehydrated. 

I don't weigh myself throughout the day, only in the morning. The only reason I kept weighing myself repeatedly was to compare the scales, and to see if the new one gave me consistent and reliable results before i toss the old ones. 

I actually weighed 2 Ibs more when I came home from the surgeon's office but I figured it was water weight because I didn't take my water pill for 2 days because I was worried about needing to pee on the plane, lol.  If I count my home weight, then I've actually lost 2 more Ibs, :-).

Both of my parents are sick and I'm praying they will get better, and that I won't catch it.

Awesome loss.  Weight is weight - no matter if it is water or fat - you are doing GREAT!  Keep up the good work and throw the old scale out.  Can't wait to hear more of your success.