A Week of "Firsts" on Optifast

Hello, just checking in with some thoughts during my first week on Optifast.  Overall, I'm feeling good (despite a very bad cold), and I feel like my body is adjusting well.  The first night I fell asleep at 7:30pm and slept 11 hours!  But it was interesting to go through several firsts this week, and for the sake of those who may be starting Optifast, I thought I'd write about a few.

• First week of family mealtimes:  This has been a daily experience, of course.  I cooked, but mostly my husband is taking over those duties.  I've been helped a lot by my cold, which has diminished my sense of smell.  But I won't lie -- smelling burgers is never easy.  I've asked my hubby to use the grill more :-).  I also had to take my son to Subway one evening, and watch him eat a meatball sub.  I found that I needed to distract myself with my phone.  All of this is only a "head" issue, and not a hunger issue.  
• First weekend:  Weekends are typically challenging for me in terms of eating mindlessly and out of boredom.  I have a standing Starbucks date with my youngest son - a fellow early bird- but it went very well.  Just a nice black coffee for me.  The weekend went well though, and I got out of the house a few times for errands, and I think that helped.  Since I slept in a bit, I saw the challenges of a later shake intake.  It put me taking my last shake at 8:30pm, which isn't a typical eating time for me, but we'll see how future mornings go.
• First meeting with a friend for coffee:  I got my large iced green tea and proceeded to sit facing the window!  It was a bread and salad restaurant and the smells were strong.  I told her about my new adventure and she was incredibly supportive.  I think next time we'll meet for a walk, instead of at our usual restaurant.
• First work week:  My system of making three shakes the night before and then putting them in a small cooler with ice in the morning has worked very well, and I'm sticking with it for now.  I work in a student-facing position at a university, and right now they are on break.  I set up a recurring reminder on my work calendar to remind me to drink (like my stomach doesn't do that - LOL.)  But it also helps me avoid scheduling appointments at that time if at all possible.  We will see how all this works when I get really busy, but so far so good.
• First workout:  Here is where it got tricky.  On day 4 of the fast I completed my first morning workout of water aerobics - 50 min.  I have a routine of working out at 6:30am every morning before work, at a gym that is near the university.  It was a particularly challenging resistance routine that morning, and it left me a bit dizzy when I was getting dressed for work in the locker room.  Another issue is that I drank my first shake too early in the day, and so my last shake was 5:30pm, and that just didn't leave me feeling satisfied.  What I learned is that I really need to stick to a 6-9-12-3-6 schedule apart from weekends.  I'm also taking the rest of the week off to recover from my cold and let my body adjust.  Next week I'll probably cut my times in half, and then resume full-on workouts the following week.  I'm in it for the long haul and I don't see the point in pushing myself in these early days.

Today I really think my body is adjusted, though I don't feel a huge burst of energy as others have written about -- again, I'm sick.  I know I can do this and I'm fully committed to succeeding.  I don't know if any of you saw the Biggest Loser last night, but I actually got a lot out of it.  I needed to hear the message that success is hugely a mental process.  As someone who has dieted many times in the past and gotten within 10 pounds of "onederland", only to crumble, I am not going to turn back this time.

I'll check in soon to report on my first weigh-in.  I'm really looking forward to it!