Thankgiving dinner.......then.....starting the Optifast challenge....HELP!

Hi all,

   I start go for thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, then start my liquid dinner monday for three weeks. My surgery is for oct. 29th at HRRH. I feel bitter sweet about this....like a tease for not being able to eat real food for another 2 months and also a send off celebration tot he start of the rest of my life.

Can someone tell me if optifast tast like boost or ensure? Is it a milky drink? Can I get some tips on surviving optifast and cucumber? What did anyone find helpful and what did you drink?

I was alos wondering if anyone got reimbursed for their optifast and injections through their insurance company...I have manulife and Greatwest Life.

If anyone else will be at HRRH on the 29th, let me know.

Happy Thanksgiving
Antionette

 First off Congrats :) Surgery will be here in no time..
I was on 2 weeks of Opti I thought it was going to be a long two weeks... I was wrong.. It went by fast... Opti was challenging at first, it does not taste like boost or ensure... for me it had a wikkicd after taste that gave me chills and I hated it... but then I tested different things, Vanilla I would mix with Orange koolaid instead of the water with 10 drops of orange extract and  couple of banana- loved it.. then the chocolate I would mix with 10 drops of coconut extract and a few banana and it was amazing... took that yicky taste away and I actually enjoyed them...as for only eating cucumber and drinking the shakes, I didnt have a problem, the shakes filled me and I enjoyed them.. 
Good Luck on your journey :) 

 I didn't think optifast tasted like anthing I had ever tasted.  I made sure to add a half dozen ice cubes to it before blending to crush the ice and to vanilla flavoured once a day I would add a half a single packet of crystal lite drink powders (walmart had the best selection I found).  

I can't think of a better meal to end your obese eating ways than a Thanksgiving meal! Enjoy and have a grand Thanksgiving weekend!  

I hated the taste of opti when I tried it at the nutrition class, but I think that's because they just used lukewarm water and no flavouring.

This will also be my last big family meal before I start opti a eek and a half later, so I intend to fully enjoy Thanksgiving dinner today (without going too completely overboard).

Enjoy, and don't worry too much about opti. There are some great recipes to make it taste better in the recipe forum, so I'm going into it looking forward to the next stage of the journey.

I am on day 4 of opti, like most have said, as long as it is really cold the flavour isn't too bad. Yesterday I tried mixing it with cold decaf coffee and ice, really liked it with the vanilla- sortof like a vanilla iced coffee, didn't really like it with the chocolate, but I'm not really a mocha fan.
I have not been hungry since starting the opti, & that has really surpried me. I thought that I would be craving all kinds of foods, but it has not happeded (yet).
Good luck on your journey!!

Laurie

 I'm  on day four too! the only trouble I've found is that if you mix it with any sugar free product like crystal lite,it was too much artificial sweetener and can cause diarrhea . Not pleasant!

 I have not tried to add any other flavours...I am too afraid of the outcome .  I am happy so far with the vanilla with coffee and the chocolate just with water - and lots of ice with both!!  I really look forward to my cup of broth every day - I really miss the savory flavours, and also have noticed that I tend to chew my ice,as I think I am missing the sensation of chewing anything.....

 I could not handle the optifast as a shake I had to mix it into a pudding. I found the volume when it was a shake was to much. I also found it to be sickly sweet by about day 5 I craved savory foods.

I'm on Day 6 of Opti, and it's really not too bad!  It's getting a lot easier than it was the first few days. 

I agree with everyone who has said that it's best mixed with ice (I use about a 1 cup of ice and then 400 mls of water - much more water overall than they say on the package!).  I've also found some great flavours to mix it with - Sugar Free Raspberry is good for both, Pumpkin Pie tastes great with the Vanilla, and Peppermint and Caramel taste great with the Chocolate. 

My centre doesn't allow any veggies, but I am eating Sugar Free Jello and a cup of low cal broth each day.  I find the broth helps break up all of the other sweet things - I think veggies will probably do that for you too.

Enjoy your dinner tonight, and good luck tomorrow!

All good suggestions above.

The other point I want to share is to schedule your Optifast every 4 hours.  I used the following schedule:

8 a.m.
noon
4 p.m.
8 p.m.

This meant that I brought two Optifast to work with me as I didn`t leave until 4:30 or 5:30. 

I kept the fluids going in between and time passed quickly, it was time for another Optifast.

I also had SF jello at noon and added a broth mid-afternoon for a change of taste.

Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving.

Judy