Optifast Help

I'm on day 12 of Optifast and it was going swimmingly until yesterday. Now every time I try to drink one of the shakes, I start gagging and vomiting. Suddenly they've gone from relatively non-offensive, to the most vile concoction ever created. I've been mixing them up in a blender with ice and cinnamon or just shaking them with ice water in a blender bottle.

I have 16 more weeks of Optifast to go and I don't know how I'm going to make it. At this point, the thought of drinking 368 more of these shakes makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry. I do not qualify for the surgical program here in Ontario because I don't have any comorbitities, so the medical program is the only option for me now. I was so excited to do this and haven't had any significant hunger or craving issues.

Does anyone have any suggestions for getting through the Optifast? I hate artificial sweeteners, so flavourings with aspartame or splenda are out.

Did anyone experience a sudden (and hopefully temporary) revulsion towards Opti?

Oh, that sounds awful. I'm so sorry.

I haven't tried opti yet; I'm not at that stage yet. I have heard of people mixing it with decaf coffee (or just coffee if you're allowed caffeine). I used to brew and refrigerate coffee for shakes I used to do, and that improved them immensely. I added the coffee, milk (I'll need to do water for opti) and ice.

Good luck! I'm sure others will have suggestions.

Thank you. Coffee sounds like a good option. I'll try that today.

You must be tall then because I qualified with just my bmi. I drank mine the same way as you...ice and cinnamon...it had to be cold.

My BMI right now is 36.2 at 5'8".

Yep you are tall...i am only 5'3". I know someone who was very successful with the opti weight loss program. You got this!!

16 more weeks?! Yikes. That's a challenge for anyone I think. Which flavour are you drinking? I know I struggle with texture so I'm dreading the shakes as well and I also don't like to use sweeteners. Maybe try vanilla extract or coconut extract along with the caffeine free coffee mentioned above. Hang in there!

I added instant decaf coffee to mine. Blended it with lots of ice. I also used a large cup with a lid and straw so that I didn't have to smell it. I drank it fairly quickly. The shakes are sweet enough, so you can go and buy flavour extracts that have no sweetener (Bulk Barn has lots of these). Some people made optifast pudding, but I don't think that would have worked for me. Hope this helps.

I had to do opti for 18 days and what I liked the best and I tried all kinds of ways was, a teaspoon of decafe coffee, coconut extract, and couple dashes of cinnamon! I actually still crave one till today and I'm 11 weeks out! Hope this helps and best of luck!

Oh ya I forgot the ice, it's so much better ice cold! U can also add a bit more water than stated, it's not as thick this way that may help!