How to Mentally Survive the Optifast Diet

For those of you who have took an interest in my first article "Does The Optifast Diet Work", I am here to elaborate more on how to mentally prepare yourself for this diet or any others you will attempt. I am a professional weight loss "attempter". Many diets, but the only that I succeeded at was the Optifast diet. Why did I succeed at the Optifast and not others, well I prepared myself mentally.

As with any diet, your going to have some restrictions. On the Optifast diet, there are several ways you can work it. You can either choose to have 3-4 shakes a day and eat a nutritious meal. This will limit your caloric intake and you will lose weight. The Optifast plan I followed was no food at all for the amount of time it takes to lose the weight. As I stated before, when I first heard of this I really didn't know how anyone could accomplish this, especially with an emotional attachment to food. It is possible to not eat food and just drink shakes? First, you have to really want to lose the weight. That is the first step for any diet program. Then you have to think of food as fuel only. Do not relate food to emotional comfort. If you have an attachment to food such as emotional, you can work around that by saving your sugar free jello for that time, whether it is a late night snack or during the day.

Do not sock your fridge with food if you are doing the Optifast, shakes only. That is a major mistake. You will fall in to temptation rather quickly especially during the first week. If you have a family, do not despair. I know food will have to be in the fridge. How do you combat that? One way is if you're the cook; drink a shake while you are cooking to take the edge off. You sense of smell will be enhanced while on this form of the Optifast. When you enter a grocery store you will be able to smell the bread isle from 4 isles down. If you are even a mile with in a Burger King, you will smell the grilled burgers. At least this has been my experience. If it is possible to have someone else in the home cook then get them to help you, support is important while you go through this transition. Also, to not leave your family out during dinnertime, sit down and have a bowl of beef or chicken broth with them. I personally abstained from cooking and being around anyone who was eating during lunch until my habit of drinking shakes all day was formed. That took about a month. After a month passed I could go around others while they were eating and it wouldn't bother me, not only because of becoming accustomed to the shakes, but also how much weight I had lost. There was no way in my mind I was going to gain the weight back that I lost because someone else was eating.

My Motto is "foodless fun". I thought of that while I did the diet. How many times do we go out with friends for lunch, or dinner? All parties, even office parties, usually have food readily available. Try to find activities or get togethers that do not consist of food. Such as take a walk, not only does this not involve food but your burning calories too. Another idea for a get together is to play some games to keep your hands busy. You can even go to a movie, but I warn you the smell of popcorn is something you will not be able to avoid. Try to keep a lot of spearmint sugar free gum on hand. Whenever you smell something that would taste so good or if you just want to move your jaws in the motion of chewing, gum is a great fix for this. The spearmint itself is so overpowering, so that is why I suggest that type.

Last but not least, remember this is only temporary until you reach your goal. All those great burgers and fries, pizza, cake, and anything else that may be a weakness for you will be around after you complete your weight loss mission. Burger King will not go out of business in the six months or a year you are on the Optifast diet. Put signs up on your fridge, your desk at work, and anywhere else where you could become prone to cheating. Remind yourself why you are doing this. One last thing that is a motivator, when you do a weigh in, either at home or the doctors, write down the week and how much you're down to, and how much you have lost. Just keep adding it week by week and keep it posted where you can always frequent it. This also will help you stay focused and realize that the fries you wanted to eat will throw all your hard work off. It won't destroy your progress, but you will have to go into Ketosis all over again, which is not a fun experience. For new readers to this article please refer to "Does The Optifast Diet Work" for an explanation of Ketosis and what you encounter during that time. This concludes Mentally Surviving Optifast. Next up maybe How to maintain your weight after weight loss has been accomplished.