New on Optifast

Hi Everyone,

I'm new into Optifast 900.

I was told 4 per day and 4L of water.

Ive started on Wednesday, Oct 18. So only a few days in.

This is not easy, I'm finding it hard to get my mind off craving food, I'm not hungry but really want that piece of cheese or pickle or tomatoe.

How do you all defeat that craving and does this get better? Also I'm finding it hard to drink that much water..

my goal is to lose this weight and keep my life on the good road.

Thanks all

I'm not going to lie, Opti is hard. One of the reasons they want us to do it is to shrink the liver so that surgery is safer. Drinking lots of water will keep you hydrated before surgery. Treat these things like they are your job.

Switch up your Opti with no calorie flavouring. I used decaf coffee crystals to cut the sweetness. I also used water enhancers to get my water down. Whatever you need to do to keep you on track go for it. One person here made a task jar. Whenever they thought of food they would go to the task jar to do a task for a distraction. It could be as simple as calling a friend or family member, cleaning a closet, wiping down the cupboards. Most of her tasks would take about 30 minutes each.

Good luck.

Hi, and welcome!

Are you having surgery, or doing the Opti alone? How long will you be on it? I had 3 weeks.

The cravings will go away after the first week or so, and the opti will taste better as you go along, at least, it did for me.

I made sure to make it with ice water and ice and it was pretty tasty that way.

I distracted myself with netflix, reading, crochet, and video games whenever the cravings got bad.

I drank some of my water as herbal tea and that helped to get it down.

Good luck!

Hi there,

I had the same question as Kathy... are you doing surgery? If so, how long will you be on opti?

The first few days of Opti are the worst. I found I was "hangry"... After a few days, I was fine. Opti filled me up, I was getting all my water in, and had really settled into the routine. I was on Opti for 2 weeks.

For me, a big part of it was seeing Opti as a means to an end... I needed to do it to get to surgery. If I cheated, surgery could be canceled, and there was no way I was going to let that happen.

I created a recipe I enjoyed and had every Opti the same way! I added 150 ml brewed coffee (that I premade and refrigerated; decaf worked great) and 250 ml water to a shaker with the Opti. Then, I poured it over ice.

You can do it!

Hi!

I am assuming you are doing the medical Opti program based on your comments so you have a bit of a longer haul with Opti.

First I will address the water. I would talk to your centre and find out if the fluid in the Opti counts towards the 4L. On the surgical side it counted.

For the hunger, it is going to suck the first week/week and a half. You are going to be hungry. You can also have headaches and body aches and some flu like symptoms. Push through it and know it gets better. One big thing is DO NOT CHEAT. If you cheat you are going to have to go through that all over again. The shakes are designed to put you in ketosis. If you ride the ketosis wave it will be smooth sailing. Anytime you get off of it, it will be a nightmare.

Best of luck on the journey and know that this feeling will pass soon!