Day 10 of Optifast - could this be the top of the hill?
Hello again,
I am now on Day 10 of Optifast and today is the first day I am not ravenously hungry. I have spent some time percolating on my definition of hungry and define it as a grumbling stomach that can be heard outside of my body and a elevated state of discomfort.
I was starting to get nervous. I had read personal accounts of people who felt good on the Optifast after Day 4. For instance their hunger abated and they had energy to spare. Intellectually I know that every single body is different and we will all have different experiences, but I was starting to worry that I am some kind of special snowflake and that I will be hungry like this forever.
Perhaps I am at the top of the hill. Maybe my body is figuring out that I am not going to be feeding it solid food for a while longer...
Surgery is next week. Nerves are starting to set in, but I want to be healthier. I want to be more active.
Positive vibes totally welcomed and gratefully appreciated.
-Joanne
This is the beginning of an amazing journey,Joanne! Everyone's journey is totally different too. I started mine at 272 pounds in a tight size 26. I had diabetes,high cholesterol,high triglycerides,and uncontrolled high blood pressure on 3 pills. I was tired all the time and out of breath going down my basement steps. I had to relearn my relationship with food. I had to begin to see it only as fuel for my body and not a response to being bored,sad or stressed. I had to learn that hunger was not an emergency and that my body had plenty of fat stores to deplete when I wasn't able to eat much. I am 31/2 years post op and it is still a learning experience. I still measure every bite I eat and track calories and protein grams every day. I weigh 122 today and wear a size 0 or 1. I exercise every day and love my new active life. I now have normal blood sugars,and my cholesterol and triglycerides and normal without meds. I am now on one low dose blood pressure pill and my pressure is great. Hang in there,if I can do this you can too! Praying for a smooth and successful surgery and weight loss journey for you too. Keep following directions and posting here. The support really helps too.
Optifast was a special kind of hell for me for the first 5 days, then mildly less hell-ish for the rest of the three weeks I was on it. Sugar-free Jell-O and broth got me through. I had surgery on Tuesday (March 1). The moment I woke up, it was like..wtf...I"m not hungry. At all. It's like something in my body died. It was like going to a loud concert and then coming home to complete silence. I love this feeling. I hope it stays forever and ever.
Then I've heard stories of people wanting pizza and tacos and ice cream immediately after surgery...wtf?....I don't get it.
Just the thought of that food makes me want to puke and I'm glad for it. I feel like the nightmare is over and I'm going to enjoy the hell out of it while it lasts.
A nurse at the hospital told me that some peoples' bodies don't go into ketosis until up to 4 weeks, so that's why they are hungry longer than other people on the Optifast. For me it was about 5 days of the screaming agony hunger, then just annoying little hunger pangs after that.
So I wouldn't be worried about the hunger on Optifast if I were you. It might just be the ketosis thing.
The most important thought in my head while I was on Optifast was that the point of it was to shrink my liver to make it easier for the surgeon to operate. What would I rather have: hunger or a nicked liver? lol. Hunger for sure.
It's funny that you say "steal someone's lunch". During week 3 of Optifast, I was at a co-workers desk discussing a problem and someone in the cube nearby had something that smelled just unbelievable. Throughout my conversation with my co-worker, I kept finding myself almost telling him, "Ok, just a minute, I have to figure out who's lunch that is." I had to remind myself that that would be really weird and struggled to keep myself focused on the conversation. I was like a wild predator smelling fresh meat lol.
