Excited and scared at the same time...

My cohort of twenty fellow Optifasters met this evening.  The group was very quiet when we met for the first time last week, but tonight most everyone was talking.

We have a lot in common.  We all want to change our lives, inside and out. Most of us have been on "diets" before and are ready for a permanent lifestyle change.

We received our first order of product today.  Here is mine:

Chocolate and vanilla shake powder, chicken soup and tomato soup mix, and an assortment of bars, in flavors like berry, peanut butter, chocolate mint, cinnamon, etc.

My "prescription" that the doctor ordered is for five products, which are 160 calories each.  (Don't get out your calculators...that's 800 calories a day.)   This is the smallest prescription on the Kaiser Medical Weight Management program.  Some of my co-Cohorters (or CoCos for short) are prescribed more products per day.  The doctors base this on gender, weight, BMI and probably other factors.

Our group leader advised us to purchase one additional product per day, as if we get desperate we are supposed to have an extra product rather than go off plan and eat food.  I got an second box of vanilla shake powder, because if I need an extra item I want to make sure it's not a favorite, to help keep me honest. :)  Optifast also offers ready-to-drink shakes in cartons, but since I have a Vitamix blender, I can blend my own with ice.  To keep things discreet at the office I will put my shake in a thermal mug with a lid so it just looks like coffee.

I'm not embarrassed about Optifast, but I want to keep it on the down low at work for awhile.

We are given certain parameters when ordering.  At least four items must be liquids.  No more than two bars per day.  Those with high blood pressure can only have one soup per day.

Since I get five products and have high blood pressure, that means:  three shakes, one soup, one bar per day.

We also have to drink a minimum of three quarts of water per day, and preferably five quarts.  Gulp!  Fortunately I don't mind drinking plain water.  Some of my CoCos were suggesting ways to flavor the water to make it more drinkable.  Flavoring the water or the liquid meals is permitted, as long as the flavorings are non-caloric.

I have a filtered pitcher and bought a couple of big non-BPA water bottles to carry with me to work, so I don't have to buy those expensive "designer" waters.

It always cracks me up how Americans complain about the cost of gas, but don't mind spending $10 per gallon for water.  And all that plastic in the landfills! (shudder) But I digress.

I ate my last "real" food tonight...my friend Tony's Cincinnati Chili.  Mmmm...was it ever delicious.  Now I am satisfied and ready to start.  Someone on the Kaiser staff took our "before" photos tonight, and I'm eager to find my "after".