Cohen's Lifestyle Cohens Lifestyle Support - New

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Thanks for the positive affirmation sam but there is NO chance in hell im going to deviate :)
everytime i get a little hunger pang (or what i 'think' may be a hunger pang') i just think about the money ive invested in this program and ive gone through 12 weeks of not deviating so why should now be any different! I also think that if i did deviate just once i would feel so guilty and never forgive myself...i want to finish cohens knowing that NOT ONCE did i succumb to the temptation. That i finally succeeded at something in my life :)

Im thinking of starting up a personal diary / thread after my 16 week weigh in...I am hoping to be less then 10 kilos away from goal then and i think i will start weighing every week from then to give people and insight to the last remaining kilos of the journey. In the same thread i will also post about refeed and then life after so that all the cohens newbies or people already on cohens can have a look into the light at the end of the tunnel. I know myself that if there was a thread like that on here whilst i was on my journey then it would of probably helped my 110% more ( even though i am already inspired and motivated every day when i read everyones posts!)

Tanya - Even though i have been 12 weeks (halfway through 13) into the program i have just stumbled on herbal teas! *slaps to the head*
if i had found peppermint tea sooner i think i would have had less stress hahaha basically all im saying is when i find im getting a bit tempted (even though i havent and dare not deviate!) i have a nice relaxing peppermint or green tea...tomorrow im planning on making up a batch of peppermint tea , cooling it, then blasting some ice in the processor and haveing a peppermint slushy!! should be yummy and i wont feel deprived at all! you can also put sweetners in them so youll feel like your having a real treat!

Happy losing x

Caroline x
 
I will be taking after pics on the weekend so I'll post before and afters then if I can work out how!
Fatcat - I didn't lose the weight evenly - there were times when I lost a lot of weight and times when I shrank in cm but lost nothing on the scales. As I posted on another thread, I actually hit a weight plateau for almost 2 weeks just before I finished. I was only a couple of Kg away and the scales just decided they weren't going to move! At the time that was a little frustrating (to say the least). In the end I just had to relax and keep going. I never lost weight in the week of my period. Despite all that I averaged a loss of 1.5kg a week for the time that I was on the program. I have never lost weight at that rate before without being hungry and unhealthy. It's an extraordinary amount of weight to lose in such a relatively painless way. If you weigh yourself daily (which I did) try to look at your overall statistics, not just that day. Cohen's works. All you have to do is keep doing it until you're the weight you want to be. Keep chipping away and before you know it the real you will emerge. Give yourself whatever time you need to make that happen. Because you're worth it!
 
Resisting Temptations

Hi HeyFatty aka Tanya - I find taking my performance on the Cohen's program very personally a very strong counter to succumbing to temptations. What this means is I tell myself that this program is all about my decision on what actions I want to take, that it is about the strength of my resolve and all about how disciplined I am. Since it's my decision and i've decided to lose weight, it's not difficult to reason away temptations - the head part. And since I don't want to be a weakling, I feel good about myself whenever I resist temptations - the vainity/ego part.

Hope this is useful. My husband thinks this is too cerebral for him but it works for me :p

Oh yah - I've got a beef stew recipe that I'm quite hooked on to share. I've posted it onto the recipe thread if anyone's interested.

I've going on a business trip tomorrow and will have to deviate from the prescribed amounts. But I'm sticking to the type and proportion of food I can eat so hopefully weight loss won't be compromised. And I have to resist my favorite Chinese dim sums because that's what for business lunch on Thursday!
 
Refeed Update!

Dear all,

I'm completing Day 13 of refeed. Day 13 will end soon once I end this post.

Basically, for the past 3 days, it has not been very smooth flowing.

Firstly, I confess... I deviated by taking peanuts on Friday. Even though I deviated, I still lost 600 g on that day. That was really very strange...

And then, blame it on not psyching myself up for the weekend. Last weekend, I wrote "Do not deviate" in caps and made sure it was super big for me to see in the kitchen. But I didn't do anything for the weekend that passed! Alas... I deviated because I wanted to taste the cookies I was baking for Chinese New Year. And because the baking continued on till Sunday, I stole a few cookies. I couldn't help it. I just had to taste it to check that the taste was ok.

And because I was greatly deprived of sleep (had less than 5 hours of sleep), was heaty due to baking and also, I did not eat my full serving of 4 fruits in a day (only ate my 2 bad fruits), I have been constipated for the past 3 days.

So, as a result, I gained 400g for the past 3 days.

But the worst thing is... I am constipated!!! I hate that feeling of having something in your tummy and because you can't get it out, your tummy is hard and heavy. ARGH!!! And I know myself that if I don't let it out, I will not lose weight! Sighs....

Anyway, what I did today was to force myself to eat my 4 servings of fruits - 2 old fruits and 2 bad fruits. I really hope it will help me move my bowels tomorrow. Otherwise, I will be sad.

Other than that, I have been forcing myself to finish up the humongous amount of food that I'm eating. It's scary and the amounts are so huge that my lunch containers can no longer contain them!

But I'm loving the additions of protein like pork and new fish like salmon.

I just only hope that I can move my bowels more easily so that I won't feel so heavy.

Today was difficult because I was trying very hard to fight temptations to steal a snack or two. But I'm glad I did it. I conquered it.

I have only two more days of refeed left and I'm gonna work harder this time round. I'm looking forward to eating 1 plain biscuit tomorrow. Finally, I'm officially allowed to eat a plain biscuit!

But I sure wish I will got down to my lowest of 64.4 kg. I'm now 64.8kg... Yup yup... blame it on my lack of willpower to resist the temptations of trying the cookies I baked.

But then again... I shouldn't be so nitty gritty about it. I should be happy with what I have achieved so far. =)

Anyway, baby egg, jayce and momji as well as windyblue, how are you getting on? CNY is coming soon... better have a backup plan...I know it's very difficult not to deviate so... do some planning ahead...

No matter what, it's never easy to give 100% on Cohen. So kudos to those who have given it the complete 100%. But the key about Cohen and the after math of Cohen is I think, about perserverance, self-control, and always able to bounce back after a pit fall.

Just a last thought here... I'm seriously wondering how I will get on with life and eating after my refeed. It will be a totally new culture that I have to get used to.

okay... enough rambling for now. I just thought I should do some anchoring after many nights of busy baking, marketing, shopping, and lack of sleep.

I really hope tomorrow will be a better day for me and for you all.

Take care!
 
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hi all,
i will respond individually to everyone at some stage today. as you are all such wonderful people and the reason i am on this journey, but for now it is day 3 for me and diet wise i am fine. but i have caught a virus from my partner...my throat feels like it has razor blades in and my body is aching. just wondering if anyone knows if there is any form of lozenge i can have?
 
Newlife - You are absolutely amazing. I am in awe of you and your persistence. It's one thing to be on this program for a few weeks (17 for me) but I can't imagine how you've managed to stay with it for so long. I've just finished refeeding. Up until then I was badly constipated and had to use senna tea to get things moving. I didn't realise that we were allowed to take metameucil tablets (which are basically just psyllium husks). I discovered this at the beginning of the refeeding program, and OMG what a relief! Everything started moving again. There really is a lot of food to eat by the time you get near the end of the refeed! It so helps for it to move on out as well! If you're constipated this could well be why you've put on a few grams.
Congratulations. I am just starting to rediscover a life of eating what you want. Surprisingly I haven't wanted a lot of non Cohens things yet. I did have toast and grapefruit marmalade this morning which was divine. I'm going to keep weighing daily for a while and keep track of how different foods affect me. Keeping statistics can be very empowering.
I look forward to hearing how you go in the real world too.

LessFatty - I just want you to know you are also my hero!

Fatcat - I must have been posting while you were. Go girl! With that attitude you're already there. On the tea thing - T2 make a lovely Chai tea which is delicious without milk (if you like Chai that is). I live in Melbourne and discovered a place at the Prahran market that serves it. An excellent treat!
 
Throaties

hi all,
i will respond individually to everyone at some stage today. as you are all such wonderful people and the reason i am on this journey, but for now it is day 3 for me and diet wise i am fine. but i have caught a virus from my partner...my throat feels like it has razor blades in and my body is aching. just wondering if anyone knows if there is any form of lozenge i can have?


Hi itsmytime

Well done after this week you will breeze through.
You can have Bioglan-Rapid action throat clear as posted by Ozi in another thread.
Take care and hope the sore throat pass's quick.
Must get back to work now.
check in tonight.
Sam:)
 
Cny Is Here!!!

Hey Newlife, nice to hear that you are going to complete your refeed... Happy for you!!! CNY is coming and you are right, its hard not to deviate... but well, i have requested my mum to buy coke light this yr!!! So that I will not have the temption to take other drinks.. Also I am planning to take steamboat.... no deep fried food.. and of course no carbo except for my biscuits... I will try to enjoy my CNY with my best behaviour in taking the food.. :D How about the rest?? Guess CNY I will be only 90% on the program and back on 100% on the program after the 3days of celebration.... Will try to lose the last weight and go on refeed!!! Please do not reprimand me for not being 100% on the program during the cny....

Oh Yah!! HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!
 
CNY, refeed, Coke Light...

Just to let all Singaporeans know that Shop N Save and I think, Cold Storage is selling Coke light at $6.95 for 12 cans. Very cheap, must buy! hahahaha...

i bought another 12 cans yesterday. So in my house, i have about 48 cans of coke light. =)

Yah... what i did last year was to bring lots of water and 2 cans of coke light to my relative's place. Such that when the time requires, I will open up my coke light and enjoy my drinks, thus deviating my attention from the other sweet drinks.

i think I will do the same this year because I do not think i will be used to the sweetness of drinks anymore. I would prefer not so sweet stuff. heh...

It's Day 14 of my refeed! And i'm happy to announce that I'm moving my bowels again but not so much... But at least i feel so much better, my tummy is not so hard and I feel lighter. I guess, this shows that I need to squeeze in my 4 servings of soft fruits. i guess also because, I have to take in bigger amounts of meat and fish, that's why my body has to get used to the new intake all over again.

Oh yah! now i know why i'm feeling tempted. This is because I have PMS! My period came today so that explains why there were triggers to deviate.

Ok... just 2 more days left. THOU SHALT NOT DEVIATE! I WILL DO IT FOR YOU AT COHEN AND FOR MYSELF!!!!

Keep going all!
 
Wow! There is so much activity happening in this Cohen's area.
I'm only able to get on here now and then, so it's hard to keep up! So please excuse me for not addressing indivduals.

Welcome to all the newbies. After 3 weeks on Cohen's, I'm not sure if I still fit into that category or not LOL.

Well done to all those regulars who have been sticking to their plans and losing so much weight - great stuff!!!

And thanks to those of you who have graduated (or are near to) and are sharing your experiences of refeed and life after Cohen's. It is so motivating to those of us who are currently on the journey.

:)
Lily
 
Don't stress!

Less Of Me - You said that your weight should ' logically decrease' but when i looked over your stats they were all higher then a 5kilo loss! Im worried that after youve said that my next weigh in will produce crappy numbers like a 2 or 3 (my monthly losses have been 10kg,5.6kg,6.1kg) which means i may have to be on cohens longer!? what do u think? x

Caroline,
Please don't be worried about my comments regarding a 'logical' decrease in weight loss over successive months...I am by no means an expert on the matter! :rolleyes: I certainly didn't intend to cause anyone any stress! What I was essentially saying is that if you have a higher starting weight and have more weight to loose, it makes sense to me that you would loose more than someone who has less to loose over a monthly period. Maybe I'm wrong though...It all relates back to 'healthy' weight loss as oppossed to 'unhealthy' weight loss. Your body can only deal with losing a certain ammount of weight at a time. Too much loss is unhealthy - it puts too much strain on all you body organs.
Something else to consider that my consultant discussed with me is that some fat stores on your body may have been there for a lot longer than others - my consultant called these 'old fat', as oppossed to 'new fat'. She believes that 'old fat' is much harder to shift than 'new fat'. I was a large girl for about 10 years, with a reasonably constant weight. Then over the past 2 years, my weight started to slowly creep up - I was getting bigger and bigger - this was one of the reasons for me making the committment to loose weight when I did. I would assume that the weight I gained over the last 2 years would have been the first to go when I started Cohen's and that the 'old fat' that I had been carrying around with me for years was lost in the following months. Perhaps that is why I had such a great initial lose?
Anyway, these are just my thoughts and although I hate to admit it (especially in writing!!!), but I have been wrong before! Just know -without a doubt - that if you stick to the plan, the weight WILL come off! If it takes a month or two longer than anticipated...so what? Think of it as training time - you are establishing eating habits that will allow you to maintain the weight you reach for life. The more you practice these habits - the better off you will be in the long run! :D
 
Hey everyone

I really love reading everyones posts it is sooooooo motivating for me which is what i need to keep me going!! Thank you to you all!
I been back on track for a week now and already lost 4.5 kilos which is great I am definatley feeling a lot better with myself!!! When i deviated and found it hard to get back on track I found i was stressing myself out really bad over not being able to get back on track my mind was going crazy :(
My consultant told me to not to think so much about the food coz that was all i was doing and it was becoming an effort for me, after talking to her about how i felt It felt like the biggest weight had been lifted off my shoulders, I then started to relax more and have now found it easier to get back on track.
The other thing I need to do is be proud that i have lost nearly 30 kilos so far, friends and collegues ask how much I have lost and when I tell them they are astounded and tell me how great that is but I keep looking at how far I still have to go!! So I am now going to focus on how much I have lost and be proud at what I have achieved so far.
Cant wait for 5 weeks as I have decided to treat myself to a day spa WOOHOO that will be so worth sticking to my cohens plan I say!!
Anyway thanks again to all the great posts Keep it Up!!!
Happy losing to you all!!!!
charmaine
 
You go, girl!

Keep going Charmaine! You are doing well! Can you imagine if you lost all your remaining kgs? You will look fantastic!

I lost 61 kg and when I told people that I actually lost 61kg, they simply could not imagine how the old me looked like last time!

So keep going!

It's Valentine's Day today and I'm receiving A LOT of chocolates and sweets. They are all hidden in my drawer though I'm very tempted to take one. But I shall not! Yup... I'm telling myself not to do so. For you Cohenites and for myself.

I have a lot of goodies now... I think I will figure out ways to give it away... I cannot imagine myself pigging out on these goodies after refeed.

Anyway, I'm eating my lunch now. i'm feeling tired today (probably due to the big P). But the reason why I'm here is actually to remind myself not to cave into those tempting and delightful confectionery. =)

I will press on and so will you!
 
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE!!!


Newlife - WOO HOO keep going girl keep going! can you see the finish line now? does it all seem worthwhile to you? i bet your feeling so damn accomplished right now! i am so so proud of you and just STUNNED that you have lost pretty much your other half!!! so sorry to hear youve got you pms ive got the same here too!! ive been a bit hungry for the past couple of days so i know im going to get it within the week!! arrgghh!!! a quick question : when u were on ur program did you eat you full fruit and crispbread allowance everyday?

Waterlily
- ooooh i had never thought of chai! ive had it a couple of times before but all times have been with milk so ive been put off it cos its a bit sickly sweet but i might try it this time round! are you sure it doesnt have any vanila pod or essence though? cos my program definately says no vanilla! We have really crap coffee stores in perth so im probably going to invest in some good quality chai tea from the markets in town...

Less of Me - No worries :) i guess when i read your post i got a bit neurotic lol kind of like that feeling of 'so close yet so far!!' but then again everyones bodies are different i will just have to roll with the punches and take it as it comes :)

To Everyone Else
- I hope you have an absolutely fantastic day and keep plodding along! were in this together and together we shall succeed!!

Happy losing x

Caroline x
 
New life: Thanks so much for you encouragement it really helps, WOW 61kg is a huge amount to lose and I thought 52 was alot hahaha Well done!! I did up this gorgeous bouquet of choccies for my husband it looked fantastic i must say. My friend delivered it to is work and he loved it!! He bought me home some flowers and a gorgeous
white teddy with i love you on it and this gorgeous card which bought tears to my eyes, omg how mooshy !!! Glad he didnt bring home choccies.
Anyway thanks again for your comments they are much appreciated.
charmaine
 
And the Sun shines again.....

Hi all,

Thanks fatcat and windy for all your advice. it was such a relief to have friends behind me encouraging me.

today was a GREAT day. i feel so focused and back on track. not that i deviated really bad but i still did in my eyes. so yes, the sun shone again today and living the awesome Cohen lifestyle.

end of week 2 today and lost 1.5kg this week. goes to show how much fluid i must have had in that first week. i know some dont believe in weighing yourself but it is so motivating for me to see that my work for the week has been well worth it.

So keep on keeping on pals.

Lose on friends :)

happy valentines day. hope you all loved yourselves a little more today. i know i did!!!

Tanya
 
Cny!

Hello Newlife - I'm all set to NOT deviate during CNY when I'm in Singapore. We've already prep our parents and started preparing our seafood portions for the reunion steamboats. We'll also be weighing our veg before dumping into the steamboat. So ok...the food will be cooked in stock but we won't be drinking the soup then :rolleyes:

And when we're in Bali from Tuesday to Sunday, we'll do our very best to estimate, scrap off sauces, order steam chicken breast and fish and so on. Have a good time but still keep losing weight...hopefully :p

The amount of weight you and the other folks on this forum have lost is a constant source of motivation and inspiration for me.

Have Valentine's Day everyone and yes Tanya, I do love myself a little bit more today! My knickers are barely hanging on and while my consultant did warn me about that...I wasn't expecting them to slide off my diminishing butt so soon :p

I finally get to move my ticker on Friday morning! Look out!
 
Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on vitamins. I am looking for a multi-vitamin to take while on Cohens. Hoping it will give me back some of my energy.

Thanks.
:p
 
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone experienced what I did today. Well I deviated last night- Valentines Day, had choccies - I know I shouldnt have, but anyway this morning I had the biggest dizzy spell and felt like being sick. I am quite concerned about it- the dizzy part I mean. Has anyone had this happen to them?
 
soon2b145, Do you live in Australia?? The Multivitamins recommended to me by my consultant are the Natures Own Multivitamin with Omega 3 fish oil. They are quite big and you need to take 2 every morning - but they are really great and give you back some energy. I was just on normal multi's and my consultant told me I need Omega 3 Fish oil as well, I thought 'pffftttt whatever!!' and didn't take them, she knew straight away as my skin dryed out sooo much! As soon as I started taking the Natures Own ones my skin stopped being so dry and flaky. The Fish Oil is supa important as we have such a low amount of fats going into our bodies.

tuz, I too have experienced dizzy spells, I usually get them if I have waited longer than the 5 hours between meals and my blood sugar has dropped significantly. Usually I will have a peice of fruit or a cracker and it fixes it. Or if I have been doing excessive exercising or bending down and standing up too quickly I can get dizzy then too. Don't stress about it, just eat something to bring up you blood sugar. And don't worry about the chocolate just put it behind you and keep on going with the plan. You will be there in no time.:)
 
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