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Anyone ever try Optifast or Medifast??



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Hi there folks! Anyone every try Optifast or Medifast either before or after they had lapband surgery. I'm not talking about pre or post Op just before you got the band or after you have been approved to return to eating solids? Did it work for you?

oh for those who dont know what those are. Opti and medifast is a supervised plan where you drink shakes as Meal Replacements all day or some programs have it where you drink 3-4 shakes and then have a low calorie/low carb meal for dinner and a few Snacks.

I'm thinking about doing this.

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I did Medifast for about 3 months years before the band. I did it and it was not too bad but I did not like a lot of things so I would just order the things I liked, as everything is the same calories and everything. I ate the banana pudding and drank the hot chocolate for the last 2 months 5 times a day one or the other. After 3 months my skin smelled like soy. I later switch to the "New Lifesyle Diet" same thing but they were cheaper and it was a little bit better tasting. They have a website too.

If you are doing low carb they have some good Snacks and the bars are good too but they said to only eat One Bar a day. After getting the band you could not pay me to do it again and I still want to lose 5 or 20 lbs.

Hope that Helps.

Cheri

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Thanks for a response! Why wouldn't you do it again. Just curious? Did u lose weight?

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Just the thought of opening the cabinet and seeing 200 white packages with no photo on them and then drinking or eating the samething time after time for months at at time.

Cheri

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i did it also b4 the band, and agree with the above, never again, u need a cabinent just to store all thoose white envelopes in lol.

i lost weight but get really really board with it and after 3 months never did it again.

now banded im sooooglad that i do not have to have a diet like that ever again,

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I have quite a few of those boxes in my pantry right now. I am mixing them in occasionally for a liquid meal, but they are all around 100 calories, and 13 or so grams of Proteins and a bit high on the carbs. I had done it once several years ago and lost quite a bit of weight in the 4 or 5 months I did it. After I came off it, once again my weight went up and past what it was before I started it. Back in the first of the year, I ordered it again and had fully intended on doing it. I think I managed 2 weeks and thought that there was no way I could do it again. So my journey to get the lapband came next. It is really hard to stay on the program for an extended period of time, and drinking those packets gets really old quickly. However, if you are willing to do it, it did work for me before. It just didn't stick.

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I was very successful on medifast. I lost 85 lbs in about 9 months. But like everyone else, once I went off the program the weight crept back up. I'm also on my lap band journey so that I don't have to do that extreme of a diet again. It worked for me, and I got used to it. I actually sort of envision that I will be eating like that for a long time during this process of weight loss, but I hope that I don't have to be that hard core. It's not a great way to live your life, you are very, very restricted. Good luck to you!

-Sarah

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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