OPTIFAST - Week #2, April 6, 2011

I made it through my first week of the program without any problems.  I lost three pounds and although I don't see or feel it, the fact that the scale reflects such a significant loss overwhelms me with joy and happiness!

I know you are dying to know what I weigh - suffice it to say, I need to lose fifty pounds, which puts me in the obese category.  Just typing that word, obese, makes me feel ill.  I am so disappointed in myself and angry that I had to one of those individuals who struggles with weight problems.  Not fair - I love to cook and I love to eat.  My fear is that I will never be able to enjoy "real food," again. 

Right now, I must focus on the positive aspects of this program and the fact that I caught my prediabetes early and with diet and exercise I should see my blood sugards revert back to normal pretty soon.

This week I tried a number of different frozen meals and will share with you my thoughts on them.  Remember, I am not fond of frozen meals, but I must also admit that these meals have come a long way over the years and some were pretty darn tasty!

Below is my critique of some of the meals I had this week

Frozen Meal Selection:  Kashi - Chicken Floretine.

Texture is a big thing for me - I hate soggy food. I like a little crunch, and I want to be able to taste the different ingredients.  This meal was actually pretty good.  Almost immediately, I could smell the chicken and garlic, while it was cooking in the microwave.  This one was low in calories and packed with protein.  Protein is so important in the body so I don't want to skimp on it.  Low protein can lead to hair, nail and skin problems not to mention issues with kidney function, among others. 

Total Calories: 290.  Total Fat: 9 grams.   Sodium: 550 mg.  Protein: 22 grams.

On a scale of 1-10 I would have to give this one a 7.5

Frozen Meal Selection:  Lean Cuisine - Garlic and Chicken Spring Rolls
Box contained two servings of three small rolls each.


Total Calories: 200.   Total Fat: 8 grams.   Sodium: 580 mg.     Protein: 10 grams.


I prepared it in the microwave using the cooking sleeve that came with the meal. It smelled good while cooking, I could smell the garlic and thought perhaps this would not be so bad after all. The outside of the roll was very good, I especially liked the crunch of it - texture is important when eating food, you want to have something that brings it all together. But the inside was way too mushy and soft which overwhelmed the crunch-factor of the outside.

On a scale of 1-10 I would have to give this one a 5.

Frozen Meal Selection: Lean Cuisine - Comfort line - Roasted Turkey Breast with savory herb dressing and cinnamon apples.


Total Calories: 300. Total Fat: 4 grams. Sodium: 650 mg. Protein: 14 grams.



The turkey was moist and tender and the dressing was well seasoned. To me there was too much dressing and not enough turkey. The texture was the issue for me again, something to tie this meal together, that crunch factor. The apples had a slight crunch but not enough to compensate for the overwhelming softness of the dressing. I also didn't taste any cinnamon, although I did like the apples.

On a scale of 1-10 I would have to give this one a 6.5

Frozen Meal Selection: Kashi - Mayan Harvest Bake
 I really enjoyed this entree!  Initially the look was anything but appealing but the smells from coming my microwave convinced me that I might have a winner here.  First, the texture was perfect, there was the crunch from the beans, and a chewiness from the sweet potato.  The spicy ancho sauce was mild and flavorful.  This one I will buy again.  The true test is if I enjoy it the second time around.  I have to consider the fact that hunger can play a role in how good something tastes too.  I mean, look, if you're starving just about anything will taste good!
 
Total Calories: 340     Total Fat: 9 grams     Total Sodium: 380 mg     Total Protein: 9 grams

On a scale of 1-10 I would have to give this one a 9.

Frozen Meal Selection: Amy's Light & Lean line - Pasta & Veggies made with organic broccoli and asparagus.


The vegetables had a nice crunch to them and the pasta was firm and not mushy. the sauce was mild and flavorful and it was topped with parmesan cheese. Actually the first frozen meal that actually looked like the picture on the carton.  I think those who enjoy pasta will actually like this selection a lot. However, for me, it was alright but something that I normally would not eat because I like my pasta dry and flavored from the meat or vegetables that I make to top it. Just not a lover of tomato sauce.

Total Calories: 210     Total Fat: 5 grams     Total Sodium: 470 mg     Total Protein: 10 grams

On a scale of 1-10 I would have to give this one a 7.

Frozen Meal Selection: Amy's Gluten Free line - Garden Vegetable Lasagna made with organic rice pasta and vegetables.



When I took the package out of the box it felt heavy, like it had some substance to it. It also looked very appetizing, just like the picture on the box. It took eight minutes to cook because the outer edges cooked quicker than the center. I have a high-end microwave so believe me when I say that it needed extra time to cook.  I was disappointed in that the lasagna noodles lost their texture and seem to melt into the vegetables. Although the meal tasted good, it had no texture, it was too soft, and I was not able to differentiate the various vegetables, like carrots, broccoli, zucchini, spinach, and peas. All the flavors just commingled leaving me to guess what the actually vegetables were.

Total Calories: 290     Total Fat: 9 grams     Total Sodium: 720 mg     Total Protein: 11 grams

On a scale of 1-10 I would have to give this one a 5.

OPTIFAST - First Meeting Week # 1 March 30 2011

I arrived at the meeting room fifteen minutes early and found two other women waiting.   In walked three women - the Team:

• The Course Instructor (she has a degree in health psychology)
• The Nurse Practitioner (she will monitor the medical side of the program)
• The Administrative Assistant (she takes care of paperwork and ordering of product)

During the first fifteen minutes of each weekly meeting participants will:

• Get weighed
• Have blood pressure checked
• Order products for the following week and pick up the current week's product
• Discuss any health problems that arose during the previous week

The remainder of the time, one hour, our instructor goes over the goals for the next week, provides us with reading material, discuss the emotional aspects of our journey, among other things.

The meeting today was about information gathering and a detail description of the program and the goals for the next 13+-weeks.   This program has been around for decades - I had a friend back in 1980 who lost 100 pounds on this program - it was called the "liquid diet," back then.  She had six specially formulated  "shakes," per day, seven days a week, for six months.

The program is designed to work as follows - Participants must drink 8 glasses of water per day, and  have the option of:

• Drinking four-160 calorie shakes per day or two shakes per day + two meal bars, or two soups,  approximately 640 calories per day.*
• Enjoying 30 extra calories per day, in 10-calorie increments.  Lots of choices here.
• In addition to the program products - participants must each one or two prepared meals per day (see below).

1. To have four shakes* per day and one 500-calorie meal at dinner time;

2. To have four shakes* per day and two 250-calorie meals at lunch and dinner, respectively.

I was not crazy about the frozen meal options because I love to cook and I almost never buy frozen meals.  I like to make everything fresh with little to no preservatives, processing, or fillers.  However, on this program there are very specific requirements, for example, if the 250-calorie lunch/dinner option is chosen it must contain:

• No more than 250 calories,
• No more than 10 grams of fat,
• No more than 700 mg of salt,
• At least 10 grams of protein or more.
                                                            or

We can have one 500-calorie meal per day (usually at dinner) and it must contain:

• No more than 500 calories,
• No more than 15 grams of fat,
• No more than 700 grams of salt,
• At least 15 grams of protein or more.

After the meeting and on the way home, I stopped at my local grocery store and spent two hours going through and reading all of the different frozen meal options!  I bought fourteen different varieties of meals and was thrilled to find a nice selection and they were on sale too!

My goals for the duration of this program is to:

1. Space my "meals," every three to four hours, e.g., a shake first thing in the morning, a shake for lunch (or a frozen meal), a frozen meal for dinner, and then in the evening, which is when I like to nosh, I will have my two meal bars.
2. On the days that I have a 500-calorie frozen meal I will replace the lunch meal with a shake.
3. My daily extra thirty calories will vary from celery or carrot sticks, sugar free gum (5 calories per), etc
4. To walk on the treadmill that we have in the house a minimum of 3x per week.
5. To keep a journal of feelings, especially surrounding cravings and such so I can pinpoint when my food addiction trigger is stimulated.
6. To not be afraid to get on the scale!
7. To enjoy myself and have fun.  Ok, maybe this one is stretching it a bit!

**Shake come in ready to make powder or in a prepared single serving box.  Flavors are vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.  the meals bars are chocolate brownie, yogurt and berries, peanut butter with chocolate.  Soup is in a pouch that you add hot water to, and there are only two flavors, a tomato and chicken noodle.  I am not a soup lover so I opted not to choose them.

Taking Care of Dad is Making me Fat!

It has been a long time since I last wrote and I apologize for that - writing that I have been under tremendous amounts of stress just doesn't seem to truly explain the magnitude of what is going on in my life right now. Dad has been living with me for close to sixteen months and as he continues to thrive I seem to be falling apart.

In the last year I have gained twenty pounds and I am at my heaviest - heavier than during pregnancy, heavier than all my stress-induced-food-binge-periods, heavier than all those years when I was in an extremely volatile marriage and subsequent divorce.
I am first, ashamed of myself - I vowed never to allow myself to be more than twenty pounds overweight, it provided a controlled environment, the minute the scale tipped at twenty pounds I would freak and start exercising and dieting to bring down the weight.
There have been a handful of times in my life when I was thin - gorgeous really. The perfect (hourglass) figure, the positive self-esteem, the amazing career(s). Each time I felt an inner peace and satisfaction in knowing that I could do it, if I really wanted to, I could be thin and healthy.

I would manage to keep the weight off for a couple of years only to start adding the poundage once the winds of change turned nasty in my life - Bad relationships, divorce, dysfunctional family relationships, disenchantment with life in general. It is not true when people say, "the weight just mysteriously came on overnight." I was painfully aware of each and every sickening pound as it comfortably melted into my hips and thighs. The excuses were plentiful - the empty promises to prevent any further weight gain, and the self-loathing I felt each time I had to look into the mirror only made me dig deeper into the refrigerator.

I used to think that "food addiction," was a made up excuse by some morbidly obese person struggling to justify their horrific predicament. How can anyone be addicted to food? It's nonsense and pathetical. But I am now a believer, since my father's arrival in January, 2011 I have found solace in a bag of challah bread. My taste buds have been awoken by the tantalizing tastes of moist and creamy petite fours. A good movie and a bag of Twizzlers became my best friend during the lonely hours between 1and 4 in the morning, while I nervously listened as my father roamed my home - yelling my name in a drunken stupor, and finding him on the floor - his legs stuck between the bathroom toilet and the wall. Laying there, blankly staring up at me, then violently accusing me of making it all up the next morning.
Caring for my dad has made me fat. It reminds me of my childhood - a nervous child, who found love and comfort in food. And just like that nervous child, so many decades ago, I too struggle with the guilt and shame of being out-of-control. "How does my father do it," I wonder? I am a (although I hate to admit it), a middle-aged woman still seeking the love and approval of a man who is incapable of such basic needs. I see him and I revert to that scared little fat girl, terrified of the man hovering over me, and scolding me, "why don't you use your brains? you are such a stupid child," he would say with distain.

Two weeks ago, for sixteen weeks, I entered a stringent, medically managed, weight loss program, that has been around for decades, called OPTIFAST Please join, support, and encourage me as I take this journey to take control back over my emotions, my body, my life! and maybe, along the way I might be able to help a few people struggling with the same issues too.



Linda Mundorff