I still have the transition phase to go through but today is my last full day of OptiFast shakes.

When I started I was 310 lbs, 39.4% body fat, 26.5% lean muscle mass, and a BMI of 44.4

Today I am 246 lbs, 32.7% body fat, 30.2% lean muscle mass, and a BMI of 35.2

That is still a far cry away from having less than 25% body fat but to be honest it is also close to 65 lb since starting the program and 95 lbs from June 1.

I’ve been told that during the transition phase I’ll likely continue to lose some weight – maybe another 10-20 lbs. I’m anticipating however that by end of February most of that will have come to a stop. And rightly so at this point. Continued weight loss like this plays havoc on your metabolism. While I’ve been doing really well the past 7 weeks, losing a consistent 4 lbs per week, its definitely time to move on before attempting to lose more weight.

The goal at this point is to now maintain this new weight as best I can. 

The next 12 weeks will be to help me learn what is appropriate and what isn’t in terms of balancing nutrition. 

While I’m still of the opinion that many of the changes I started to introduce last year were still positive, the approach to eating that I’ve been developing through this program so far seems to be working for me. To be honest that has shocked the heck out of me. Eating four times a day, even though it is only a shake, has been interesting to say the least.

I have most of my menu planned out the next two weeks. The kicker is going to be four days around Christmas as there is going to be lots of food and family. I’m giving myself some permission to ‘let loose’ during this time. There will likely be a bit of a set back at that point but as soon as those four days are over I’m going back to being religious about following the program exactly as laid out. 

This is one of the things that has really gotten me to this point. Telling myself that I’ll have permission to treat these few days as I normally would.

Many of my cohorts in the program have ‘cheated’ at various points and seem to have done okay regardless. Still, it is the principle of the thing.

That and the fact that if this way of eating can’t survive Christmas dinner, then it is likely not the long term plan for me. But if nothing else it will at least help me figure out what is right to help win this battle.

To be fair, I’m likely also going to end up doing a more rigorous fast for 4 days afterwards in order to offset any over indulgences. The last few years I haven’t really gained weight over Christmas even with some minor excesses. Still, I worry. I’ve been focused on this for so long as being one of the key things getting me through this program and, now that it is here, I’m afraid to see what the impact will be.

In some ways, that is a reflection of my larger worry about what eating regularly will be like again in general. I’ve sort of gotten used to how simple and convenient this way of eating is now that I’ve been doing it for 12 weeks. I’m almost afraid to have proper food at all.

Still, Friday will be salmon and asparagus for mid-day dinner and I am very much looking forward to that. I’m hoping I’m not going to be disappointed. I will get to have eggs and cheese again, albeit very limited quantity.

The following week a few more restrictions come off and I can start to make my pulled chicken soup again. 

The first 3 weeks of the transition, I’m not overly concerned about in terms of meal planning. It will be mostly straight forward. 

It is the last 3 weeks of the transition where meals 3 and 4 in the day are now needing to be included. I never used to eat four times a day. Often it would be only two or maybe three times at most.  So to rebalance things into four meals is going to be a challenge I think. Maybe. Maybe not. 

Regardless – 65 pounds weight loss in 3 months and 95 pounds in 7 months is not too shabby. 

Now comes the hard part. 

— Kevin