"Optifast Has a Hormone or Drug In It That Drains Fat Out Of Your Liver

Ok...someone in another thread just posted that optifast has a hormone or drug in it that drains the fat out of your liver!!!  Rather than single them out in that thread I though I would post a new one as not to call attention to that person in particular as my rant is in NO way directed at this person.  This is going to be a controversial post and warning...it's a long one.

Wow...your NUTS and or doctors really have pulled the wool over your eyes if you think that optifast has some kind of drug or hormone in it that drains the fat out of your liver!!!  I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but wow, that's really uninformed and harmful to others reading it that may believe it.

Optifast is actually used because scaring obese (and often uninformed * Suzanne ducks...I said often, not everyone so throw something soft) WLS pre-ops into thinking the only way their surgery will be successful is to drink this liquid garbage and consume only 900 calories is  a very easy way to keep them on track.  Seriously...read the list of ingredients.

However I understand the logic, if NUTs said you could eat 1500 calories of lean protein and green veggies, keep your carbs under 20 per day and achieve even better results than optifast (which really has WAY too many carbs for most people, other than those who have traditionally eaten very high sugar/carb food for a long time, to get into ketosis) many people would not be able to control themselves with the food and overeat and eat way too many carbs. Plain and simple, a liquid diet is much easier to follow for 2 to 3 weeks for most obese people pre-operatively.

When I first told my NUT that there is no way optifast is going to put me into ketosis, as I have issues with PCOS, she wouldn't budge.  She said it was the ONLY proven way to shrink the liver.  I had to hold back for fear they would cancel my surgery.  I'm not generally a 'hold back' type so it was hard, lol.  I knew they weren't the best sources on the subject...too new to bariatric nutrition...but wow...unbelievable.  That comment was jaw dropping and told me do my own research for every step of this WLS process as although the hands I was in were well meaning and somewhat informed...by no means was I going to let them be my only source of information.

To shrink the liver all the glucose needs to be burned off the liver and then the body needs to turn to burning it's own fat for fuel...this is called ketosis.  Ketosis happens in the absence of enough glucose, which is what carbs turn into for fuel.  Once in ketosis the liver will get smaller.  Getting into ketosis can be done only one way...by eating a high protein, high fat and very low carb diet.  Number of carbs per person varies...for some it's 20, the lucky ones can eat 40 - 70. My number is 30.

After trying optifast for 6 days and losing nothing I switched to the above on my own accord and lost 16 lbs in 2 weeks.  The surgeon said I had a perfect surgery...took less time than expected - 45 mins - and my liver was fantastic.  Duh.

One other rant, while I'm here. BMI.  Since it's such an important part of surgery approval, does anyone else think they should be doing it the RIGHT way...with electrodes??  Yes, my BMI the day of surgery through the simple method was 55...so my surgeon probably though he had a difficult surgery ahead.  At the gym a month ago when I was a bit heavier my BMI was 46 done through electrodes.  I have a ton of muscle as I was a former athlete. (who gained over 100 lbs after an injury in 2001)  I'm sure there are others in my position.  Why not do it right????

Do I know everything...NO, of course not.  I know little, which is why I rely on reading medical studies and trusting some of the very wise and intelligent members of OH.  If I had read that statement a year ago I may have believed it too.  We all need to educate ourselves thoroughly, not just blindly listen to our NUTS.

Alright...I know I'm going to get slammed for this but I though it was very important to address the statement that started all this.  I'm a big girl, I can take it.

I am not an expert by any means, however...logic even, tells me that this is correct.  First, anyone who has been on Atkins...already knows all about ketosis and how quickly you lose weight, shrink liver etc...Second, if there was a magic pill we could take to shrink our livers and drain the fat from around the liver and heart...wouldn't this be the magic pill we have all been waiting for to lose weight in general...

I can't comment on the BMI..because I never heard of the electrode method...would like to know more..gonna do some research.

Take care all,
Joanne

I just wanted to respond about the drug or hormone part of it, my pre-op stuff was done at TWH & my NUT never said that. They said one of the purposes of the Optifast was to shrink your liver, never did they say it had a drug that could do this, of that it was the only way, or the only reason.

Im not saying this person wasn't misinformed by someone they spoke to, but its always possible that, with all the info we were given, that the person could have mixed it up, or misheard.

In any case, im sure all of us here at one point has thought they could write the book on dieting & healthy lifestyles, because of how much we had gone through to lose weight. However, that clearly isn't the case, as we all had to come to these measures to be successful, long term, in our weight loss.

Im not disputing anything you have said, as I did not do research on these aspects, but I like to put a little faith into the people who were preparing to cut into me & alter my entire life, that they had good reason to tell me that things had to be done this way & why.

Regardless of where she learned it...I didn't want someone new here to believe it and not do their own research.  Of course I put faith in the people caring for me, but I didn't do it blindly.  I don't think anyone should!  I'm grateful for the opportunity but TWH needs to get it together and become more informed and more organized.  Things have really slipped since Linda left.

I was told the same as Nicole.  Of course, I tried to research it but I found extremely little online.  My own doctor was very vague - like it's some amazing secret.  And it is, you can't buy it over the counter or online, only thru a doctor.  I did see quite a few weight loss clinics/doctors who use it.  Hmm if there's no chemicals or anything in it, why can't we buy it directly at a cheaper price?  Oh wait, maybe I hit on something here??? Why do they have the monopoly??   I"m jus saying....

You got it Sue ***commission*** !!

applauds- I disagree with the nut/dr approach for WLS pre-op. We need to learn to eat correctly for this surgery to work. So why not do that pre-op. Those who don't stick to it- get bumped off the surgery list. Lots of motivation, and most probably better post-op results as WLS pts' will know more. It's not unusual to see people posting after surgery - What can I eat?
We need to learn to eat well every day, so why not start months pre-op?

I didn't do the optifast for several reasons- first I couldn't afford to be ill with migraines for two weeks pre-op. My job would have made dealing with the Optitrots impossible- driving around - visiting sick people - some bathrooms/homes are filthy. Finally, I cut out all pre-prepared foods from my diet several years ago to improve my health. I wanted to stick to that.
So after trying to get the Dr and Nut to acknowledge this and failing, I bought the Optifast- tried it a few weeks pre-op, and was ill for two days after one shake. So, for three weeks- I was scheduled for two weeks of Optifast- I stuck to a 1,000 cal,high protein, low carb diet. My carbs were under 50-60 a day. I lost 17 pounds pre-op. Pretty good considering my BMI.

Thankfully I never had to go on optifast as my surgeon only requested that I do a liquid diet for about a week or two beforehand and I lost 15 lbs from doing that. It must have done me some good cuz my surgery went off without a hitch and I never had to touch optifast lol. Maybe they do things differently here (mine was in the states) but I don't for a minute believe optifast is the ONLY way to go. It's a money grabber, that's about it.

Applause back at you!!!  You say that many people ask 'What can I eat?" post surgery and that always amazes me.  Are you serious?  I'm not talking about people who are asking for recipes and new ways of spicing up these full fluids and mushies...heck I could use some help there too!

I understand what you are saying about misinformation, I think we've all waded through a pile of it in our journey.

In the interest of correcting misinformation I would like to address your BMI comment. You said that your BMI was not truly 55, but was actually 46 due to your high muscle mass.  This is not possible. The BMI measurement is a ratio calculated with only two variables(hence ratio), height and weight. Therefore, by definition, it does not take into account muscle mass or any other variable.  The only way you can change your BMI is by changing one of the variables used to calculate the ratio, so only a change in your height or your weight will result in a BMI change.

The manager at my gym has a BMI in the overweight range yet has only 11% body fat (I am sure pretty much everyone would kill to be as 'overweight' as she is.  lol.. ) But this low percentage of body fat and high muscle mass in no way changes her BMI number.

Now, I could go on all day about how flawed the BMI number is terms of applying it to our population, but I think most of us have a pretty good grasp on what is problematic with using a ratio to determine how overweight someone is. (does not take into account body composition, does not take build into account etc etc etc)

You said you were set up to electrodes. This was most likely a Bio-Impedence Analysis (BIA), which measures the difference in electrical conductivity of muscle and fat and then uses those numbers to come up with a BF%.  This is also problematic and varies greatly with how hydrated you are.  So maybe they calculated your BodyFat % as 55%, when in actuality it was lower (46%) due to your high muscle mass.  But none of this has an impact on your BMI.

I really would like to see some other measure of obesity than the BMI, as it seems we agree it is problematic. There is a lot of information now that points towards a hip to waist ratio being more indicative of health issues...  as visceral fat is more problematic than fat in other areas.

It's bit of a guesstimation I guess, and we're all learning as we go along.

Mara