Can I Optifast A Second Time Around?

It's funny. I had planned on sharing with you details about my vacation, and stumbling blocks I encountered, and here I find myself much more interested in hashing out the pros and cons of Optifasting again. It's really occupying my thoughts, particularly because my weight shot back up to 170 lbs. this morning. I let loose this weekend, and I'm disgruntled, and I'm sensing I did this because I still have that "vacation mindset." Then let's throw in my propensity to worry, and here you have a bad situation all around.

Let me lay out my history since reaching goal and moving into maintenance:

For roughly the first 5 months in maintenance (I'm 7 months in now), in my case, I watched things very, very closely. Counted calories religiously and only ate out once a week -- and when I did, I looked over the menu like a hawk, passed up things I wanted, but knew were caloric, and made simple, wise choices. I began exercising frequently.

As I moved into the sixth month, things started slowly to change. I kept exercising, but I began to really let loose on my dinner out. Ordering highly caloric things. Not watching portion size. Eating quickly. Over time, I told my husband I wanted TWO dinners out, Friday and Saturday. Both nights, I ate whatever I wanted. It's becoming clear to me now that my body fat is rapidly coming back. I've become a "restrictive dieter" Sunday through Friday afternoon, then all hell breaks loose.

I know the key here is nip this darn thing in the bud ASAP. Put the brakes on now. Because experience is showing I am falling back into my old habits very, very quickly. I'm not really surprised, I'm more angry at my eating choices because I have been staying so close to the clinic, talking with Millie, attending the classes a second time around, reading extensively about emotional eating/how to change bad eating behavior. I'm pretty darn educated/saturated with all of this.

If I decide to Optifast again, I'm going to set my goal at the one we discussed half-way through my initial fast that would place me firmly in the "healthy" BMI range: 150 lbs. That would be a 20 lb. loss. Certainly not as daunting as the 80 lb. loss I faced when I first started the program. I choose this because I know there will be an automatic 3-4 lb. gain when I come off product. And my true comfort level is in the mid 150s. Roughly a size 10-12. (I buy size 14 to cover myself if there is gain -- frugal to the end.)

The more I think about this, the more it makes sense. However, everything will be discussed with Millie and Kathy. And as I said yesterday, I am not making any moves until after Labor Day. I have a family function in Massachusetts coming up and I don't want to fumble around with getting into ketosis during it. But a new plan is shaping up. I'm intrigued, I'm getting focused. We'll see what ultimately transpires.