Hi everyone!
I usually don't post until my ticker moves - It's just a bit of incentive for me but there's so many new posts that I've been reading and so many things I wanted to say! Strap yourselves in for a LOOOONG post. Anyway, official weigh in is on Sunday and hopefully there is ticker movement and I'll try to keep that post short and sweet!
Magic Lea and Mumbine - Don't worry about your slip up. Just get back on the horse and let it strengthen your resolve not to do it again. Don't let one incident ruin all your good work.
RJM - My decision would be just to keep going. It's so hard, I know. But if you decide after you've done the refeed that there's more weight you would like to lose, you'll have to go through this for a third time! Imagine the pain of that! Might as well to continue to suffer the pain while you're used to it for the time being. But, with that said, it's entirely up to you and we'll be here to support you no matter what decision you make.
Lizzi - I am amazed at your resolve to continue. You just keep on keeping on! You are a true inspiration. I started on 18 Feb this year (was it you
RJM who asked me how long I've been on Cohens?) and have lost 23kg and comparatively, that's a mediocre rate of loss. It's not the slowest rate of loss I've seen, but not the fastest and I struggle with it. I was hoping to be done by now but nup, still got a ways to go. Anyway, the fact that you just keep going is amazing. Well done to you. Oh and I know how you feel I can't wait for refeed too. My goal is 59 but I think i'm going to adjust my goal to 61 when I order my refeed. Apparently some people still lose a bit of weight through the refeed - who was it that did that?
L-Jay - I have no doubt you'll reach your new goal! Good for you for setting one. My new goal is to be 69kgs in 4 weeks. I'll race ya!

And my treat for reaching the goal is to go to Sydney to see my sister and her baby. I wish I could treat myself to a big fat piece of warm mud cake with icecream! That will hopefully happen by October. And I probably won't even want it after one bite!
As for the whole crap friends situation - Who needs enemies when you have friends like that? Put up the wall against them and don't let their issues ruin your success! They're just completely jealous that they don't have the willpower or the resolve to do something so fanatastic (yet very difficult) for themselves. All of my friends have been nothing but spectacular. I have one who is a bit jealous but she can get over herself. I noticed her jealousy and just decided not to tell her about how things are going or discuss the diet at all. She doesn't ask so I guess my assumption of jealousy is correct. My other friends are so good, often times they'll go "hey Mel, we're having a BBQ... oh crap, forgot about your diet, can we make you something special or would you like to BYO?"... so cool and so lucky to have such good people around me.
As for me - I have stuck to the program 100% since I started. Only one deviation (which was the extra cracker incident to settle my grumbling stomach at midnight when it thought its 5 hours were up and it was time to eat again). I'm still completely OVER IT this last week... bored with the food and frustrated but the scales continue to creep down towards my goal so I remain strong. I have will power of steel and even armed with that, this is THE HARDEST thing I have ever had to do in my life, but the most rewarding. The lack of socialising is the thing that kills me most but like I keep saying, it's for a SHORT time, not a lifetime. Which brings me to my next point -
Welcome
asyoz, 4ukids & spangebabe. This Cohens program is really strict and very difficult but it's all about your mental attitude and your organisation skills! If you're not prepared, you will fail. You have to think and plan ahead constantly. You have to remove yourself from social / tempting situations. You have to develop systems and strategies to make preparing / storing food easy. You have to mentally prepare everyone around you for what they need to do to help you get through it. You have to mentally prepare yourself. Something that works for me is this mental image that flashes across my eyes while i'm staring down the barrel of food that I'm not allowed - it is of me standing over my sink with $780 in my hand and a lit match at the corner of the money! If I eat that morsel, i'm pretty much burning the money I paid for the program so I shut my gob and walk away!
Anyway
asyoz, I too tried to find some literature to discount the theory when I started but I couldn't! I think there are no "naysayers" out there cause quite simply, if you stick to it 100% it works.. and all of us here are living proof! There's probably about 100+ registered users on this forum who it has worked for.
Gee that's such a long post ladies! But it's great to see everyone doing so well... We're very lucky to have each other to help us get through it!
Until next ticker movement time... stay well!