Optifast day 4

Just some random thoughts on my Optifast experience so far...?(apologies in advance for my rambling )

Blender: I read here months ago about the Ninja blender, and bought one from Amazon to do my usual protein shakes. Now I'm using it for my Opti shakes. I love it! It's light, easy to use, easy to clean, and pulverizes ices cubes in seconds. Recommended!?

Flavourings: I've been using decaf instant coffee crystals and Torani SF syrups (salted caramel and black cherry so far, both zero calorie). The Opti shakes taste pretty delicious to me. I use 2 cups cold water, 3 ice cubes, 1-2 tsps of instant decaf, 1-2 tbsp of Torani, and I break open a Metamucil capsule and pour the contents inside (as recommenced by the dietician). Tastes great. ?

Hunger: So far not too bad. Not really having any trouble during the day. Nighttime is a different story...one of my bad habits was eating/soothing myself with food at night, so I feel the hunger more in the evening. I'm also single, so no SO to distract my attention. I'm distracting myself with writing up my post-surgery food plan and looking up recipes, instead. ?

Sleep: I'm finding it difficult to sleep at night. Probably a result of not eating in the evening, plus maybe the detoxing process is "activating" my brain. I usually take a melatonin and Valerian supplement to help me sleep, but stopped it since we were instructed to stop all vitamins and supplements while on Opti. If my sleep troubles persist, I might call the dietician and ask her if I'd be allowed to resume my sleep supplement.

Milk allergy: Cow dairy causes me to produce a lot of mucus, so I usually avoid it. Now on my 4th day of Opti, my throat is sore and thick-feeling, my nose is congested and I'm blowing it continually, and my ears feel stuffed up and a achy. It's like I have a head cold. Not sure how to deal with this. I'm going to start drinking herbal tea to soothe my throat, and will try antihistamines. I think antihistamines are allowed?

Weight: I've lost 8.5 lbs since starting Opti 4 days ago and that's just insane to me (though very welcome of course!) C'mon, liver and abdominal fat, shrink shrink shrink...I'm peeing every half hour it seems, all day and all night. No stomach issues thus far.

I still have 3 weeks of Opti to go, so it's early days yet, but it's going better than I'd anticipated. This forum has been so informative with all the tricks on how to jazz up the Opti, it's been such a big help. The mucus and the sleep problems are the worst things, but hopefully I can get them under control.

Opti is a challenge for the first few days but it does get better. Your surgery day will be here before you know it. I find it amazing that we all are in Ontario but follow such different plans depending on the hospital you go through. When I was on Opti I was instructed to continue all vitamins and medications that I normally too****il the day before surgery. If you start to feel worse from the milk I have heard of people who have a reaction to Opti are allowed to go on a very low fat, strict diet during the Opti phase. Good luck!

It also sounds like you are going into ketosis. Flu like symptoms are a sign of this. Try using a netty pot and ask if you can take antihistamines.

I had and have read on here where people think they are getting sick right before surgery. I was afraid my surgery would be cancelled. Now I think it was just ketosis and flu-like symptoms from the Opti. Do you have your last shake before bed? You can add less water and make it more of a pudding and it may help with bedtime hunger. Soon you won't be hungry. It usually starts after day 5 that hunger starts to dissipate.

You've got this.

Thanks guys. As an update, I spoke with a nurse this morning, and am currently waiting to hear from the dietician. She's going to go over alternates to Optifast with me. I didn't take my 4th shake yesterday, and haven't had any Optifast today (drinking water & herbal tea)...and my symptoms have improved already. Got some phlegm in my chest, but my throat isn't so croaky, there's less pressure in my sinuses, and my tongue doesn't feel so thick. Not sure if the dietician will recommend a different shake product, or if she'll give me a chicken & veggies type diet to follow, but either way I'll be happy.

@Liveyourlife- it really is funny how different the "rules" are at different hospitals. You'd think there would be a standard protocol since the surgery is all the same. Oh well. I take a lot of vitamins so it's a nice little vitamin vacation for me.

@crqvingchange- I thought about ketosis too, or even just general detoxing, but it just got worse and worse. By yesterday evening my voice was gone and my tongue was thick, and the phlegm started up in my lungs...idk, I've experienced detoxing and ketosis "flu" in the past, and this feels different. Things seem to be settling down since I've stopped the Optifast. I am feeling less hunger though, which is great.

Thank again, guys. It's so great being able to hear from wls "veterans"

Update: I've spoken to a nurse and dietician, and I'm officially off the Optifast. For the next three weeks, I'll be eating a "Bariatric Surgery Protein Sparing Modified Fast: 900 calories". It's 4 meals a day, each meal consisting of 23g protein, 16g carbs, and 6-8g fat. All the regular clear fluids allowed on Opti are also allowed, like broth, SF jello, SF flavourings, etc.

3 meals a day must consist of chicken/lean pork/or egg whites, vegetables, a bit of oil/butter/nut butter, and a serving of grains (!!! I almost questioned the grains but figured I better just do as instructed).

1 meal a day can be greek yogurt or cottage cheese, and a serving of either fruit or grains.

Plus I'm to resume all my usual vitamins and supplements. The day before surgery, I'm to consume only "full fluids" (same as full fluids stage after surgery).

This will be more work and discipline than Opti (plus the sweet-tooth part of me would much rather drink a mocha frappucino-tasting shake 4 times a day than chicken and vegetables!) but it will also be great practice for weighing and measuring my portions post-surgery.

After only having water and herbal tea for about 24 hours, it was wonderful tonight to have some greek yogurt (swimming in SF salted caramel syrup) and fresh strawberries! (yogurt and cheese have never bothered me, but they have a much lower whey content which probably explains it).

I feel like I'm posting so much lately, but wanted to post this update as a data point in the hope it might help others who find they can't tolerate Optifast.