Just Started Optifast in Australia

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Just Started Optifast in Australia

Postby Jason » January 5th, 2005, 4:53 pm

Hi Guys, I've been cruising through your forums and they seem to be an invaluable resource, I wish we had something similar here in Australia, but to date I can't find much. :(

I am 32 and weigh in at 130kg, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about 3 years ago and have dropped about 13kg in that period with some yo yo weight loss and gain along the way. So I have now decided to get serious and start Optifast, which I think is the same as your Medifast? It's a meal replacement water based shake in chocolate or vanilla 3 times a day with a total calorie intake of around 700 calories. Day one was terrible for me, I thought I was going to die and at the end of the day I had a severe migraine and felt quiet sick. Day 2 was much easier and today being day 3 is a breeze, the cravings and hunger pains have all but gone and I actually don't feel hungry at all. The occasional craving is still there as I am a real food person, love to cook and love to eat, to my advantage I do know what's right and wrong and my diet for the past 5 or so years has always stayed pretty much on the right side of the tracks for the majority of the time, I have been carrying the weight I am trying to lose for at least the last 10 - 15 years. I think the last time I was less than 100kg was at 16 or 17.

As for the product Optifast her in Australia the meal replacement options are very limited, there are 2 shakes, a desert mousse of sorts and a tomato soup. Due to media coverage and high public demand all I could get my hands on were 6 weeks worth of shakes 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 vanilla. So I have to go pretty hard core to make my program worth while, I am aiming to drop between 10kg and 20kg in 6 weeks. This lack of product variety makes it a challenge to stay committed, but hey I knew this would be hard. :? I am also walking quite briskly for around 40 mins a day and even though the program says I can also have 2 cups low starch green vegetables or salad as well I'm trying to avoid it as every bit of solid food simply slows down the ketosic process and thus my weight loss.

Here's a question for some of you, do you think it would do any major damage to have one low fat low carb restaurant meal a week with my wife, you know something like a Thai Beef Salad or some grilled fish and salad? It simply helps us maintain somewhat of a normal social relationship between us and our friends and gives me something to work toward, I know I will stay motivated and true to my program if I have somewhat of a reward at the end of each week?

Anyway guys these are just my thoughts and plans that I wanted to bounce off somebody to see if I'm thinking right as support is very limited here in Australia.

Cheers

Jason :lol:
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Postby 24KaratGold » January 5th, 2005, 5:25 pm

Hi Jason! Good luck to you.

For reference for those of us who deal in pounds better than kilograms, to get to pounds multiply kilos by 2.205 (thank goodness you aren't in the UK and weighing in in stone! LOL).

Don't know the answer to your question, and would like to also, but I'm sure someone will be along soon who will.

Hang in there!
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Postby Jason » January 5th, 2005, 6:20 pm

Thanks for the encouragement :D The whole pounds to kilos thing is a bit confusing from my side of the world, so I guess I weigh 286 pounds and want to get rid of 44 pounds initially and then another 40 pounds down the track. My personal weight preference would be around 95 - 100kg or just over 200 pounds. We hear of people in the US who weighed 400 pounds and lost 100 or more pounds!! and you really have no idea how big someone who weighs 400 pounds is? But thanks to your conversions now I can work it out, it's big! There was a guy on one of the media stories here in Oz who weighed nearly 200kg (440 pounds :o ) and in his first week on Optifast he lost something like 16kg and in the first month lost the best part of 30kg, but I guess for someone his size just moving around the house or getting out of a chair requires a massive amount of effort and burns a large amount of energy. Then when he's finished there's the whole ordeal of excess skin, I am hoping that if I lose 30 kg or more that excess skin won't be too much of an issue for me as one of the main reasons many of us want to lose weight is to become more physically attractive to ourselves and our partners, but does massive weight loss and then excess skin defeat the purpose to a degree? The removal of excess skin via surgery is very expensive and painful, I hate to sound like one of those no conformist type of anti everything kind of people, but it's a lot to go through just to look better for the sake of society or your partner. Sometimes when I'm low I just think why can't I just cruise through life the way I am, I'm not massively overweight and I haven't gained weight for a couple of years so I'm doing OK seeing that I have halted the weight gaining train, I don't think thin people realize the ordeals and struggle that people trying to lose weight go through. Anyway sorry to babble guys but as I said there's not really any support groups like this here that I can openly discuss things like this with other people like me, I guess when you find a resource like this you tend to unload a little :oops: Support for Men in particular who are trying to lose weight is almost non existent, where as women are offered a multitude of options and support networks or programs. It appears that men have to just get into it and we're not supposed to be emotionally affected by our weight or struggling to lose it, all I can say is I'm glad I have a wonderful and supportive wife and that I have now found this forum.

Thanks again

Jason.
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Postby Nancy » January 6th, 2005, 1:12 am

Howdy doody, way far away and down under ~

You are so right - normal-sized people have NO idea how it feels to be inside the skin and brain of an overweight person. I absolutely have NO idea how it feels to be a man with virtually no support.

Support for Men in particular who are trying to lose weight is almost non existent, where as women are offered a multitude of options and support networks or programs. It appears that men have to just get into it and we're not supposed to be emotionally affected by our weight


Something that has always bugged me is that men are 'expected' to always be so, so... well, so manly! Like they are supposed to just buck up and deal with it, no tears, no feelings, etc. In the midst of difficulties or disasters, they can't have a melt down and cry, can't weep when a beautiful piece of music is played, shouldn't gush if given an awesome gift, etc. That stinks!

Leopard Woman could NEVER be a man!

I weighed about 120kg, lost about 61kg.

Your diabetes is an issue that needs attention and it is good that you have a supportive wife and a plan to get yourself healthier.

Initially many of us choose to lose for aesthetics or because our doctor's report scares the puckies out of us and then we realize just how wonderful it is to FEEL good as well as to LOOK good.

Losing weight is not easy. It takes a lot of effort, hard work, intelligence and moxie! Drink plenty of water, eat all of your meals on time – this is really important for you because of your diabetes. Glad you found our website to be of benefit to you, Jason.
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Postby explorthis » January 6th, 2005, 7:17 am

Jason!! G’day mate… Welcome to the forum. Fair dinkum, you have found a great support arena, and question and answer area to share everything. I know about Optifast, did it, and lost 70 pounds about 20 years ago, put the weight back on as fast as I lost it. Losing the weight is the easy part, believe it or not, ask anyone that has done it, it might not be easy, but it is easier than KEEPING it off. I gained because I was not educated about weight maintenance. Now 20 years later, Medifast found me, and I lost over 100 pounds and for 366 days I have successfully (not easily) kept it off! Medifast and EDUCATION is the key (though Optifast is close to Medifast)

Little in common with you, I actually lived in Australia for about 18 months in Adelaide from 1981 to 1983. EXTREEMELY wonderful people the Aussies….

Again, welcome.

Mike
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Postby Jason » January 6th, 2005, 5:02 pm

Thanks for your support guys; even though it's half a world away it's invaluable.

I guess losing the weight is the hardest thing for me. Keeping it of will be an effort but the best thing about getting diabetes is it teaches you to find no sugar, low carb or low GI alternatives to the food you used to love. In reality it takes a fair amount of time constantly eating really bad food to pack on the pounds. If you have a weekend of bad eating because of parties or celebrations then so be it, enjoy life, just don't do it every weekend and if you do have a bad weekend of eating just get on the good foot the next week and walk your <snip>language - Mr. Snippy</snip> off and eat plenty of salads and vegetables.

Food for me is like a drug sometimes, the high and the level of emotional satisfaction it gives me is amazing, but like all drugs it's addictive. I love alcohol, but I can't get drunk every day can I? I feel bad foods should be viewed like this also. Many people eat high fat, high sugar, high carb foods all day every day and wonder why the gain 100 pounds in a year! Then they get a fright from the Doc so they go on a weight loss program like Medifast or Optifast and lose that 100 pounds, but then they revert to the same lifestyle and diet they had before and guess what? Back comes they weight double fold. I've been there and done that as a teenager and it won't happen again. All it takes is common sense and a small degree of discipline, but nowhere near the discipline it takes to be on this Optifast. I'm sort of glad I don't live in the US as I do love bad foods and from what I've seen on TV there appears to be no shortage of places that will serve you up a heart attack on a plate and ask you if you want fries with that :lol:

Hey Mike, glad you're doing well and congratulations on reaching and keeping your goal weight. Adelaide hey? Unfortunately known as the most boring city in Australia!!! and in the early 80's you poor bugger :cry: The best thing about Adelaide is that it's close to some of Australia's best wine producing regions. If you ever want to experience what Australia is really about Queensland is the place to come. In one state we have everything from cosmopolitan cities, to fantastic beaches 8) , the "Outback" as you guys call it and of course the island resorts of the Great Barrier Reef and Whitsunday Coast, not to forget some of the most spectacular world heritage listed rainforests that you'll ever see. Nowhere near as much junk food here either. :lol:

By the way, nobody says "Fair Dinkum" unless we are trying to be colloquial and having a laugh at ourselves, a bit like you guys doing the whole redneck southern thing. We like to feel that we have moved on from the Bonza Beaut Crikey kind of thing down here, despite the best efforts of Steve "The Croc Hunter" Irwin, he is commonly referred to by most Australians as a "Mug" "Goose" or (and excuse my language) "That bloody <snip>language - Mr. Snippy</snip> Steve Irwin". We do still however enjoy throwing a prawn or shrimp as you call it, on the barbie! And we do say G'day Mate quite often. Oh yeah and nobody in Australia drinks Fosters, I can't even remember the last time I saw it in a pub?

Cheers guys

Jason. :mrgreen:

Gee sorry about the lengthy posts guys, oh well something to read and something for me to write to stop us all thinking about food. ;)
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Postby Karen » January 6th, 2005, 5:37 pm

Hi Jason and welcome aboard! I was in Australia about 4 years ago, alas, just for 5 weeks, beautiful place, absolutely gorgeous. I was mostly in NSW, but did travel out and about a bit. The first thing I noticed was so few fast food places... no McD's, Wendy, BK, Arby's and KFC's on every corner. (we have a 1 mile strip thru the center of town that has over 25 of these joints... and thats just on main street!) However, You should have seen my face when I ordered a hamburger at some mom and pop shop!!!! WOW. BIG, really BIG... I had never heard of putting pineapple, beet root, fried eggs, onions, mushrooms etc etc etc on a burger before. I know for sure I gained 15 pounds just on those burgers alone, to say nothing of the fish and chips! At one RSL I had eaten a truckload of what I thought was the best, sweetest onion rings I had ever tasted, turned out to be squid rings! I really miss those! I haven't yet found a way to make anything on this diet taste like the food I had over there. Good luck to you!!
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Postby Jason » January 6th, 2005, 7:37 pm

Thanks Karen, glad you had a good time over here. As I said it's all about finding alternatives. Those Squid rings you had in the RSL are really ordinary at the best of times even if they're good quality. One of my favourites is not quite as bad as far as health goes but there's a restaurant in Port Douglas in North Queensland called Salsa. My wife and I had lunch there on a Holiday last year and I had a Salt & Pepper Squid Asian Salad. Oh My God!!!! it was one of the best meals I have had in my life. The squid was pan fried in a very light asian batter and the salad with it was sensational. That's what I mean about alternatives, that meal probably had 1/2 the calories and fat that some squid rings and chips that you'd normally get at a RSL, PUB or Fish and Chip shop and it was 10 times better in both taste and quality. Why would you want to eat Mcd's KFC, Wendys or Sizzler when you can eat some of the fantastic fresh foods that we have here in Australia, especially fresh produce like Seafood, it really is amongst the best in the world. As for our hamburgers, yeah well they're unique and whilst I love a cheese and bacon burger you can't go past a big hamburger from a corner shop with the lot! Though I can't remember the last time I had one, gotta be at least 3 or 4 years ago, which is a good thing I guess.

Long Live The Salad!!!! :cry: :cry: well at least my Thai Beef Salad :lol: it will be one the treats I allow myself on a Saturday night with my wife.
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Postby Jason » January 9th, 2005, 8:53 pm

Started Optifast one week ago have lost 3kg (6 pounds) in my first week. :D
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Postby RavenKat2 » January 10th, 2005, 11:05 am

Hey - I have to chime in here as a visitor to Oz!!! Really beautiful place and everyone was friendly!

Sydney, Cairns then Daintree. We had "bugs" in Daintree and the most marvelous fish - Baramundi? (we saw it swimming by the boat when we went to the reef). HAD to have vegemite, of course. ;)

My husband enjoyed the Victoria Bitter (?) and I made use of a few Pokies.

My mom was the one that kept assuming that everything she saw on tv in the US was true about Australia: the "bloomin' onion" from Outback Steakhouse, and of course, ol' Steve Irwin.

Syndey has an amazing cemetery that I visited. (I have a thing for grave stones) and took lots of pictures.

Anyway, WELCOME!!!!!

Kat
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Postby Guest » January 10th, 2005, 3:34 pm

Hey Kat, glad you guys also had fun Downunder :D

TV is a funny thing, until I read Mikes post yesterday on calorie counts I had never even heard of a Bloomin' Onion? I can onlt asume it is something like a whole onion sort of split open down the middle, battered and then fried? I think I saw something like this once at a Lone Star Steakhouse. I can promise you it's not something we eat in Australia, even in the Outback as the steakhouse suggests :lol: sounds much more like an American type food. I'm happy that your husband enjoyed VB beer, though it's certainly not one of our better beers it's probably one of the most popular, I don't like it as I find it's a bit rough and it gives me a headache very quickly :? and NO that's not becuase I drank 15 of them. I absolutely love Miller and Bud though.

I am yet to come to the States, though it is on our agenda sometime in the future. I have got to be honest and say that FOOD would be one of my main fascinations with culture in the US, however I'm sure that it would be short lived after a Bloomin' Onion and some Cheese Fries, I know that all that fat would just make me feel sick.

All the best
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Postby Brad » February 8th, 2005, 4:17 am

Hay Jason and everyone.
I too am a Aussie and start the optifast program tomorrow. I hope to lose 25 kilos (55 pounds) There seems to be no support in aus for members of the optifast program- this forum has been very helpful. I hopw i can stick to the program- im sure i will i am very commited!!!!!!!
:D
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Postby Nancy » February 8th, 2005, 10:46 am

Welcome Brad ~

Your success is totally dependent upon you and if you are committed, then half the battle is won. Just keep your goal in the forefront - let nothing deter your resolve. Getting healthy is so important and releasing 55 pounds is very quicky done. It is not always easy while you are going through the weight loss process but it is very important to your health now - and in the years to come. What you do now will enhance the quality of your life and perhaps your longevity, too.

Drink a lot of water and stick to your program - it will pay off on the scales, in your clothing, your appearance and your self-esteem.

I did it. Others have done it. You can do it, too!

:yes:
Last edited by Nancy on February 8th, 2005, 3:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Postby elle4nelly » February 8th, 2005, 11:31 am

Hi Jason and Brad!!

Welcome!

Jason? About your restaurant question:
I order a Chicken Caesar salad” hold “the cheese and dressing on the side. I then do a trick taught to me by a friend on weight watchers. I dip the fork lightly in the dressing and fork up mouthful of lettuce and chicken. In some restaurants I might alternate the chicken Caesar for a Shrimp Caesar and occasionally beef Caesar salad. I also drink a lot of water and all my shakes prior to these inevitable invites. So I am already full by the time I sit down to eat. The point is to keep your meal very lean and clean. Stay away from sauces, cheeses and heavy dressings.

Either way, I’m sure you’ll do well! Welcome on board!
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Postby Guest » February 9th, 2005, 2:44 am

Thank you Nancy for your inspiring and kind words.
Today was my first day- it was really hard :( -but i know i will continue on and get the results that i want! I CAN do it and i will DO it!!!!!!!
I have been drinking lots of water and going off the the loo often as a result.
Onward to day 2.
Cheers
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