WEIGHT LOSS WEDNESDAY: OPTIFAST DIET

I’ve been putting off this post for a while. Every Weight Loss Wednesday I try to focus on losing weight in a healthy way, and unfortunately, many people are going to think what I’m about to talk about is decidedly un-healthy.

My husband and I started a diet in January with  just one specific rule: no eating out. And we did a pretty good job of it. Except for one meal a week, we ate all our meals at home (or ate food from home in the case of work). The problem was that my husband was losing weight but somehow I was still gaining! So I decided I needed a change. I had done the Optifast liquid diet in the past and it worked for me, so I decided to go back into the Optifast program.

What is Optifast?

Optifast is a nutritionally complete meal replacement that you drink five times a day instead of eating. That’s right, you don’t eat…at all. When you do the Optifast diet program correctly you can lose a large amount of weight very quickly. To be enrolled in the program you have to undergo a physical first and you must check in with the doctor once a week to ensure you’re still medically sound.

The Optifast shakes contain all your necessary daily vitamins and you can actually live off of the shakes without food for a pretty long time. The problem is that many people just don’t think it’s healthy to not eat. For that reason, I haven’t told many people that I’m doing it. I know that the program works. I’ve lost weight with it before, but I’ve also heard all the negative feedback before. “Oh, that can’t be healthy…” “Why don’t you just eat a little something…” “It’s going to be too hard to keep up…”

Yes, the program IS very hard to keep up. You don’t know how many times I’ve stared longingly at a cheeseburger ad on TV or regretfully sniffed the air as my husband cooked his dinner in the other room. You don’t want to know how many times my stomach has rumbled and I’ve thought to myself, “Maybe just one little bite won’t hurt.” But I don’t! Because when I weigh in every week I see my weight going down and I know that all the hard work and tenacity is paying off.

So far I’ve lost about 25 pounds in less than 4 weeks! Yes, some of it is water weight, but some of it is fat too. I already notice my pants are looser and my face looks slimmer too. So I’m going to struggle on with the Optifast diet and hopefully will continue to be successful.