Thirty Week Graduation Day

Tonight's Kaiser cohort meeting was our final meeting of the first 30 weeks of the program. We graduate to "lifestyle" meetings at this point, which are held several times a week. As part of our graduation, we saw a slideshow of before and after pictures, and members had an opportunity to share how much they'd lost, and any other comments they might want to make about the program.

It was very interesting, and so impressive how much weight had been lost. Two people weren't there, and two people didn't mention the weight loss amount. Two others had lost thirty something pounds. Everyone else had lost in the fifties and sixties, with the exception of one man (whose daughter is also in our cohort) who had lost eighty something pounds - wow!! He mentioned that he had never lost more than 20 pounds on any other diet.

The next photo Kaiser will take of us will be at 82 weeks! That's how many weeks they want us to be in the program, attending as many lifestyle meetings as possible. (Those meetings include a weigh-in, a chance to buy "product" and a different topic and discussion each week.) So that's a year from now, 52 weeks. I'm hoping I will be at the same or less at that time. No backsliding!!! I'm too old (and too frugal) to do this all over again! ;-)

Optifast Kaiser Diet - Down 55 Pounds

Weigh-in tonight (missed last week) was down 2 pounds, which was good. I actually would have been fine with no change, but Thursday am leaving for 6 days at an inclusive family camp, and am worried about gaining. Lots of high carb food served family style with not that many healthy choices. I'm going to try my best!

Not on product-only for some time, but I still have a bar or two a day. I'm happy that I'm holding my weight down even while eating "real food" and certainly have had food that wouldn't be necessarily recommended, from champagne flights to fig chutney on French bread to frozen gelato. BUT, those are the exception, and I've compensated, and mostly I'm eating high protein, low carb, high veg. And not a lot. Sadly at my age my metabolism can't handle lots of calories.

Related to that, in a few weeks we'll have that test that tells us how many calories we should eat to maintain. But I had it maybe five years ago and it was distressingly low - related to muscle (and lack of) and exercise (and lack of). And age and gender are probably figured in too.

It's in the hundreds where I live this week so am SO happy I shed that 55 pounds or I would be SO miserable - sweaty, rashy, exhausted. Well done me, is all I can say, for my success on this program! And best wishes to anyone considering a similar program, starting out on it, struggling through it, hitting transition, or in the maintenance phase. I've gone probably from a size 18 to a size 8, so for me this program is a big thumbs up. And I hope in 5 years I say the same thing!

Lost 50 Pounds in Four Months

When I look at that title it seems hard to believe. Fifty pounds is a lot of weight. I can't imagine carrying around fifty pounds of something all day long, but that's what I was doing. No wonder I feel so much better.

I know there are pros and cons with each type of diet, and the final proof is in weight kept off, but I'm sure happy with the weight loss phase. Here is the latest chart:

The actual total pounds lost, based on the weigh-in tonight, is 52.8. And my blood pressure tonight was 100 over 65. Crazy!!

We are adding dairy and fruit to our transition diet (already added veg and lean protein) so bought blueberries, apples and Greek yogurt tonight at the store. My fridge is starting to have actual food in it again! ;-)

Weight and Blood Pressure - End of Week 16

Well the charts speak for themselves with good news - blood pressure tonight was 104! And lost five pounds over the last two weeks, now teetering at the bottom of 150 pounds (already into the high 140's on my home scale). Woo hoo!

Change in Weight

Change in Blood Pressure

Lost Forty Pounds on Optifast in Three Months

Both on the Kaiser scale and my home scale I've now lost over 40 pounds since starting in early January. It may be three months and one week but still, it's pretty amazing. Can't argue with those results! And I bet others in the program have lost more. The doctor last week said that you lose more if:

• You have more to lose
• You start out further from your goal (which is saying the same thing)
• And you were eating a lot more before the program 

So for that last bullet, if you were eating 3000 calories a day before going on Optifast, obviously that's a much bigger difference than if you were eating 1600. A difference in thousands rather than hundreds, in terms of calories.

So I'm in the category of having less to lose in that I didn't start out at 250 or more pounds, and wasn't (at least in my opinion) eating a huge amount before. So my forty pound loss, thrilled as I am with it, may be below the average for our group!

But if you read about Optifast no one really argues about results. After all, wasn't Oprah the posture child for dramatic weight loss on Optifast? But its reputation - and it isn't alone in this by any means - is that the weight comes back. So as I mentioned before, the real challenge ahead is transition, and then maintenance. But I feel SO much better at this weight. The money and effort have been worth it. I can keep from going back. Yes!

Weight Loss Graph

So, this is the chart of the weight I've lost since starting the program. Tonight I was at 159. Woo hoo! Two more pounds and it will make 40 that I've lost! I met with the doc tonight and talked about a goal weight. I was surprised he thought I should lose another 20 or more (he said goal of 135 or 140). I'm thinking maybe 15 more and that would be it. We'll see. If it came from the right places that would be great. But instead my arms, legs, neck and face will just get scrawnier, LOL. And since he was rather portly I wanted to ask what HIS goal was. ;-) But obviously I'm quite happy about the progress I've made during the last 12 weeks. My goal is more maintaining rather than lots more lost, frankly. That's the true battle for any diet/weight loss program. Transition back to food a few weeks away...