Thought I'd post some thoughts about Optifast here for anyone who has to go on it. I've had to do 4 weeks of Optifast for my pre-op diet, and ordering was kind of scary because I had never tried it before.

Shakes: Chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. All three flavors were pretty good. Nothing out of this world, but nothing too gross either. I added sugar free almond syrup to the vanilla and to the strawberry. As far as preparation, I mostly just mixed with a spoon and downed it. I'm sure it would've been better in a blender, but I am too lazy to wash out the pitcher every time I made a shake, and I seem to be completely inept at using a stick blender. I made a couple messes before I gave up on that one.:rolleyes

Bars:

Chocolate: By far, the best of the three flavors. It tasted like brownie. Even the texture was fudgy. I really liked these.

Peanut Butter: Not quite as good as chocolate, but still palatable. This one seemed a little drier and required more chewing (good band training, I guess). I needed a big glass of Water to get this one down.

Honey Nut & Oat: Gross, gross, gross. This flavor is horribly dry. I choked these down the first week before I set them aside for good. They are just awful. No flavor, just nasty.:scared:

Soup:

I only ordered the chicken flavor. This is what kept me sane throughout this time. I had terrible salt cravings, and the Soup fit the bill. They say to mix it with 6oz of water, but I stretched it to 16oz. It still tasted good and really filled me up. I wish I had ordered more soup and less shakes.:hungry:

There is also a tomato soup flavor that I hear is very good. I couldn't tell you because I don't like any kind of tomato soup!

Well, I hope this helped someone. I was just bored so I thought I'd throw it out there. Good luck everyone!

(Edited to fix spelling errors)

Maria

Hey Maria, thanks for taking the time to post your tips. I am day seven on Optifast and so far so good. :biggrin1: Susannah

Yes, thanks for taking the time to post your review!!!!!!!!

I just wanted to add... If you can stick to this, it really works. I've been doing some light exercise along with it 3 days a week, and I've lost almost 20lbs! I'm officially down a pant size. It's pretty cool to have an NSV before even being banded!

I am on day 8 of Optifast. I like everything pretty well except the strawberry. The tomato soup is pretty good. it is going ok now, whenever I think I want to eat if I have a shake it really helps.

Jean

:help:

Where do you get the Optifast shakes? Can you get them in a store?, if so what store?

Thank you!!

Stacy

Opti-Fast has bars and soup now? Wow. I did Opti-Fast for 6 months, years ago, back when it was only shakes and you could supplement it only with broth and sugar-free Jello.

The weird thing was, my hair didn't grow at all while I was on it. But when I got off of it, it grew absurdly fast. I actually had to go get two haircuts, a week apart. I still have no idea what caused that.

I gotta say, during that time, I used to have the most VIVID dreams about food. I'd wake up stuffed, because I was eating all night in my dreams. (And no, it wasn't my pillow!).

Although, it makes me wonder if the lap-band will actually work for me. Opti-Fast for 6 months, combined with extensive exercise - the limited calories, once they were all burnt up - I would literally collapse and not be able to move unless I ate something. And all I lost was 25 lbs. My body was DETERMINED to hold onto every single pound.

So I'm a little worried that since Opti-Fast and WLS both kinda work on a minimal intake principle, that the surgery just won't work on me. Has anyone experienced that? Having the surgery and only losing some absurdly small amount of weight?

:help:

Where do you get the Optifast shakes? Can you get them in a store?, if so what store?

Thank you!!

Stacy

My nutritionist ordered mine through bariatricadvantage.com. If you search through google, I'm sure you could find some other sources. I'm not sure if it's available in stores... I've never seen it anyway.

Hiya all, In Australia Optifast is available at Pharmacies/chemist shops. That is no good to you though. Something funny has happened for me on Optifast, My body has become accustomed to it now. I am no longer ravenous, without the use of any appetite suppressants.

Have lost 5 kgs (11 pounds) so far in 10 days.

Keep up the good work everybody.:clap2:

Susannah

Hiya all, In Australia Optifast is available at Pharmacies/chemist shops. That is no good to you though. Something funny has happened for me on Optifast, My body has become accustomed to it now. I am no longer ravenous, without the use of any appetite suppressants.

Have lost 5 kgs (11 pounds) so far in 10 days.

Keep up the good work everybody.:clap2:

Susannah

That's great!! Same thing happened to me. I was allowed 8 products a day, and only ended up eating 4 towards my last week. Not hungry at all! Wierd!

As for not being hungry....my guess is that you're getting 'de-toxed' - you're getting your body cleaned up from the carbs and sugars. When you take in sugars, your blood sugar bounces up and down and greatly and affects your appetite levels. When you get the carbs out, the cravings magically decrease - makes the LapBand lifestyle much easier to live with.

Thank you everyone!!:clap2:

Stacy