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Long time... no post...

Hi everyone,

Great to see all the newbies. Congrats on your decision to start on the program.

Well I had a total blow-out today... fell off the wagon, and think I might have seriously broken something during the fall!! LOL It started this morning when I was 15 grams short of my allowance of yoghurt for breakfast. I was so peeved because I had no time to get anything else organised and had to have what was left of my yoghurt, which fell short of what I needed. Then at lunch I had a KFC burger meal :eek: I felt so guilty, but I let myself enjoy it seeing as I couldn't take back the naughtiness! Funnily enough though, I didn't feel sick / ill / bloated or anything afterwards, and I still don't. I REALLY thought I'd end up feeling ill, but nothing at all. Not even over-stuffed or a feeling of being really full. Weird. Now I hold on to the hope that bread and pasta isn't going to give me any bad side effects when I go back to eating them after re-feed.

Anyway, I'd been craving something really bad for some weeks now, and I think after today it's finally out of my system. I'm looking forward to getting back to 100% Cohens and loosing the 16 or so kilos I still have left to go. Wish me luck girls!!

KIM_J01 - don't stress about what your consultant will say after your 3 month weigh-in / blood test. If and when the test results show you've deviated, they'll understand completely once you tell them what's happened, all being against your will ( getting sick etc ). That's one main reason I asked my consultant to check up on whether deviating, whether once or several times during the program, has any real impact on the end result and the re-feed. I mean, hello, how can any of us help getting sick while being on the program?? If even one deviation means we've ruined the chances of a successful re-feed, then it's not a very good program in my opinion. We all know that when we get sick sometimes it's hard to keep food down, or even get it down in the first place.... so deviations sometimes can't be helped. In my case though, it was very much a conscious decision (and a bad one at that!), but still, I wanted my consultant to find out 100% if deviations cost us in the long run. I will be sure to let you all know what her findings are.

ICANIWILL and MONEYPENNY - You go girls. Well done on re-feed. I'm so jealous!!! You've both done remarkably well, you should be so proud. :D

JUDE - I usually get my thyroid checked regularly, due to the fact that both of my parents have had thyroid cancer (I know, spooky) and have had their thyroids removed as a result. Docs have never been able to tell me whether I am at risk, because they are not 100% sure if that type of cancer is hereditary or not. But perhaps it's something I should have checked, as I haven't had it checked for some time now. LIZZI - any ideas on what I should ask my doctor about it? What they should be looking for??

Speaking of thyroids and things to wonder about whilst being on the program, I called my consultant last week to ask if the contraceptive pill had any effect on the program. I wasn't on the pill prior to starting the program, but now have the need to go on it... and wanted to know if starting on it mid-program had any effect. After all, it directly affects hormones, so I would have thought it would be a factor. But my consultant didn't seem to think so, but said she would check it out (haven't had any word back from her since that call last week). Does anyone else think this is strange?? Has anyone else gone on the pill mid-program or asked their consultant about it?? :confused:

Anyway, I must go down another 2 litres of water before bed time. I'm doubling my water intake for the day, after my naughty deviation at lunch... and going to have two cups of the 'tea' to try to compensate! It's the least I can do. :(

Keep up the great work guys. To those losing weight at remarkable speed, I am totally envious and wish I was there with you. :p To those struggling along at snails pace like me, keep it up... we'll get there eventually!! :confused:

Take care ;)
 
Hi Ladies! (Why are there never any boys signing on?)

Week 8 weigh in tomorrow (at home, not going to the clinic). I'm hoping hoping hoping that I have a big loss tonight and I lose 1kg this week.... PLEASE! I will sign in in the morning as usual and let you all know....

Might be tough, cos I only got 6hrs sleep last night, so that's not good for the weight loss. But I'm going to make sure that I get LOTS of sleep tonight to make up for it!

I have taken monday off cos my mum is in town. I'm going shopping! People at work are starting to make comments about wearing clothes that fit (not good in a corporate office).

Talk to you tomorrow!
Bella
 
I haven't been able to post, or access all parts of the user cp for awhile, because of hassles with changing our e-mail adress. Anyway that's all sorted and its good to be back. Its great reading all the posts, and welcome to all the newbies. Keep up the good work everyone. Hope to change my ticker next week.:)
 
Thanks for your words of advice guys. It really does mean a lot. I have now come accross another obstacle. Last night I was involved in a car accident :( My car is completely written off. The other driver who hit me is fine but I copped the injuries. I won't go into much detail but I wont be at work for a while and I can't move without crutches :( My mum contacted my clinic and the clinic said that the drugs the hospital gave me shouldn't make any impact but obviously I haven't been following the diet and I'm now a little more worried what she will say when she gets the blood test results back. Plenty of rest for me then hey. And good on my best friend for moving my computer into my bedroom for me so I wouldn't get too bored :D Gotta love him.

Keep up the great work guys. I'm so proud of you all !!!
 
My thoughts are with you KIM

KIM_J01 - Oh my goodness hon, so sorry to hear about your accident. :( I hope you are doing well and best wishes for a full and speedy recovery. I know what you are going through. In Oct 03 I was involved in a really bad car accident, my car too was written off and I couldn't walk for 6 months ( I nearly lost my leg! ) . Suprisingly enough, during my recovery time I stayed well away from bad/junk food and managed to lose weight, even though any movement, let along physical activity, was extremely limited. It was after the fact that I put on loads of weight (not being able to participate in normal exercise cos of my injuries was the main factor).

All I can say is that you're lucky you found Cohens before now... as physical activity has nothing to do with the weight loss on this program. You've got the opportunity to focus all of your attention on your recovery, and not have to worry about putting on weight during that time.

I wish you all the best. Stay positive. I'm happy to know that you've survived it in one piece. I know how these things can play on your emotions, so please, if there is anything you need to talk about or anything you need help with, let me know. I'd be more than happy to help you out. Take care of yourself. You've obviously got loved ones around you, and I'm sure you're in great hands. xoxo :)
 
hey everyone!

still waiting to join the program, heard back from the clinic today, just waiting on my eating plan to come back now so i can start. No idea how long thats going to take but i hope its soon!!!

Karol - my friend is still on the program and has been nothing but a motivation for me to get on the program

kim_j01 - sorry to hear about the accident. hope you will be ok!!
 
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Hi there!

Just a short note to confess something!! I will do a longer post this weekend with messages for you all!

I did a 10k race on Wed night, I can't believe I ran that far, on Cohens!! It is amazing! I have run so well on this diet, I just can't run very often!

Anyway after the race I was so pleased with myself. I had been feeling a bit like, how can I keep this up for another 3 weeks, knowing I am almost there and feeling great? So I thought, bugger it! This is my last chance to deviate before my refeed, so I will! And boy I did a good job!

Oh my gosh! I had a lemonade (non-diet) and bag of crisps at the pub, followed by half a pizza and a magnum and some chocolate when I got home!

I felt so sick and had a splitting headache almost straight away, so there was severe negative reinforcement! However I am glad I got the need to binge out of my system, I feel I can do the refeed properly. I am very much back on the diet 100% again. I felt so awful I can't bear to do it again.

I just hope it does not stuff me up too much!!

Really looking forward to starting the refeed on Sat!

Yeah!

Kathy
 
poor pumpkin

kim_jo1
hey sweetie, you poor thing,i'm feeling a lot of symapthy for you right now. Its not a pleasant thing to go through , make sure you open up to your friends and family when you're ready, you might need to talk things through. I'm glad to hear that your ...ok.....! Keep your chin up and as soon as you can and you are ready you can return all guns blazing. Its important that you do all the right things to help you get better. Listen to your Doctor and be thankful that you've lost the weight you have, cause lets face it using crutches aint easy when your lugging around excess:p

Take care and wishing you a speedy recovery


pink virgo
i can see why you may think that the pill could have an effect, but from the information i have the hormones regulated by cohens is insulin , human growth hormone and seratonin. The pill regulates eostrogen and progesterone i think. They are stimulated i believe in different parts of the brain i think , which is why the pill in theory should not effect you diet. However, i have noticed that many of my friends put on weighth when they start. So ask your doctor if you can have a low dose pill which gives you a smaller dose and is very effective - if taken properly!
 
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Evening Ladies

Kim Just read about your accident I hope you are okay, will be thinking of you, dont worry about the deviation you have had a lot going on that has been out of your control just stay focused and you will be fine.

Done my measurements this week and have only lost 1.70 inches which must be because of my weekend away :eek: so I am trying to focus on the positive that I did not put any on. I am not due to weigh again until the 1st of June so I will just stay focused until then and see how I go.

Pink Virgo and Miss KathEven though you have both broken your program you have had the guts to get back on and tell us about it and your comittment stays strong I admire you for that.

Jude It amazes me how much my life used to be consumed by food finally I feel like I am controlling the food instead of it controlling me, but sometimes those thoughts just get in your head !! You guys are the ones that stop me from doing anything I will regret..:)

Can anyone tell me in the plan it states you can have limited quantities of salt, pepper, garlic powder etc, what exactly is limited quantities >? :confused:

To all of the regulars you are all doing so well it's like catching up with friends when I get a chance to jump on and read what you have all been up to and welcome to all of the newbies, I look forward to getting to know you all through this amazing forum !
 
Oh my god, Kim! I'm so glad you are okay. I have never been in an accident (touch wood) but I have seen a couple of pretty bad ones happen right in front of me. Crutches suck, but are much better than what could've happened. Look after yourself. I'm sure you'll be back to normal, and back on track in no time.

10kms is amazing Miss Kath! Especially on the amount of food we eat! It was probably a good time for you to binge though, cos your body would have been working hard for a couple of hours after your run, so you probably burnt all the junk off as soon as you ate it - which would explain whay you had a headache almost straight away. Bet you can't wait for refeed!!!

Pink Virgo - I was thinking the exact same things as Netski. I'm on the pill ( a high dose one I think - to improve my skin) and it hasn't affected my weight at all. The clinic also said it didn't matter. So son't worry about it too much.

Well, week 8 weigh in for me - 56 days. Only lost 0.5kgs this week, bringing my 2nd month loss to 2kgs, and my overall loss to 11kgs. I lost another 3cms, so my total cm loss is now 64cms. Not too bad I guess. I'm just hoping that for month 3, my weight loss goes back to it's month 1 pattern!

I do a fair amount of sewing, so I went and looked at the measurements for each size on the back of a pattern and have written them as my goal on my cm loss tracker. It really makes me realise how far I have come!

Here's to the beginning of a great week of losses!
Bella
 
Sorry about the accident Kim!!

kimJ01: Sorry to hear about the car accident. How awful for you! What a scare it gives the system too!! Hope there aren’t too many complications. The main thing is you are alive and will recover – that is the most vital thing. Life is precious! As for Cohen’s. Get back on track as soon as you can – PinkVirgo is right. You can’t change the accident, but you can be in control of how you respond at this time. Take really really good care of yourself. Glad you have your computer so you can keep posting.

karol: congrats on the loss – doesn’t it make you feel good?

jude: You have come such a long way – and lost so much you have to be pleased with yourself. I like your final countdown ticker! Good idea. Love your posts!! Got to laugh at the wringing out of the asparagus, you sound so much like me. Fresh asparagus in the soup just has a sharper taste – I have had it both ways … love it.

JAM: So great to hear about your good loss. You are doing so well. Have you thought of getting yourself a ticker so you can express it more fully in your post? Already you must be feeling a bit different.

i CaN i WiLL: Maybe it is going to be the new generation of losers who join the forum. Disappointing for you cos you are ready to post. It is a good idea, hopefully other posters will join you after they know that it is established. Still leaves you without the support you are wanting – means you will have to keep posting here until it starts up (we don’t mind!) Can you believe how close you are? Hope you are feeling better. Was it refeed or the dreaded bug - waiting to find out?
WOW – LAMB!!! And all that food!! Yummmmm!!!! (It’s been 305 days!)

PinkVirgo: Good to hear from you. What a fall! I think I would have gone a Maccas or a Hungry Jacks – I’m not a Kentucky fan. I wouldn't even have minded if I could have had a healthy option! But if you are going to break you have to enjoy it, don’t you? Glad however, that you are going to be 100% now – otherwise I might catch you!!

About the thyroid, sorry that your parents have both been through that – good that it is so often well treated and contained though. Worth the check. Look I don’t know what to ask. But I would ask them to test TSH, T4 and Free T3, plus do the antibody study. I don’t know how to check for the cancer – guess they would do a ‘feel’ examination as well? There are so many people who have thyroid issues that can affect you even if the results are in the norm (some say this area is controversial). But you can have low thyroid symptoms with a low TSH and a Free T3 level that is less than about 50% I think, of the T4. If you want more info then email me. It can be a very messy thing from the patient’s perspective. Make sure you get a copy of your results so you can talk to someone about it and do a double check. Hope this helps.

To every one else, have a good day and I will catch up with you all later,

And oh yea, I moved my ticker again!

lizzi
 
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inspirations

kim - thinking of you. Found some quotes which I'm going to post, which may inspire and help some of us through the tough time. Here are a couple:

Optimists believe that defeat is a temporary setback or a challenge - it doesn't knock them down.

A pessimist wilts at the exact time an optimist perserveres, breaking through an invisible barrier.

Those who regularly push through the barrier, listen to their internal voice & argue against their own limiting thoughts.

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.

You can't always control your external circumstances, but you can control you attitude toward them

Hope these are helpful to someone out there. I have some more and will post them later.
 
Life After Cohens

Hi all. It's been a really long time since I last posted, but I regularly check read all of your posts.

I started Cohens on the 11th July and finished in mid December after losing 35kg. I went from a size 18/20 to a size 8/10. Life after Cohens is great! I've kept the weight off and feel like a completely new person. I'm really conscious of keeping the weight off and so I haven't gone back to my old eating habits. I used be a huge carb eater - lots of bread, pasta, rice and potatoes, but not any more. I've been off the diet for 5 months, yet I still haven't eaten a bowl of pasta - my favourite food pre Cohens! I'm too worried that once I eat it, I'll want it again again, so for me it's better to go without. I find if I eat potato, it gives me stomach pains so I don't eat it that either.

A normal day of eating for me is yoghurt for breakfast, chicken or cheese salad for lunch and chicken or beef or seafood with veggies for dinner. On weekends I tend to splurge and eat out alot and have a few glasses wine and have dessert, and so each Monday morning I'm usually half to a kilo heavier, but by Wednesday I loose it.

I do a lot of exercise - walk for 40 mins each week day during my lunch break, go to Curves a couple of times a week and do a 50 min walk on Saturday and Sunday. I'm finding that I actually really enjoy exercising and on weekends if I wake up early, rather than just make a coffee and read the newspaper in bed, I get up and go for my walk.

I know you are really restricted whilst you're on the diet, but the sacrifice is all worthwhile for the end result. I love shopping now and actually go out to buy my clothes, rather than shop on line like I did pre Cohens. The best experience I had was about a month after I finished, I went into David Lawrence looking for a dress. I found a beautiful black evening dress so tried on the size 10 and it was too big! I couldn't believe it! So I tried on the size 8 and it fit! It was way too expensive, but the fact that a size 8 dress fit me meant I just had to have it so I bought it and it was the best feeling!

Keep up the great work everyone - it is worth it!

Lisa :D
 
crap

i just wrote this huge post and somehow i've lost it! Bugger

Oh well i'll try again.

Lisa- thankyou for you inspirational post. Well done for maintainging your discipline but also learning to work with your body. I can't wait to wear sizes closer to my shoes size and not closer to my age! I'm hoping to be a size 10 but i wont say no to an 8. I'm 164cm and hope to be around 59-61kg. What about you.

I had areally weird day today, if anyone is squeemish don't read.:eek:
I felt really dizzy and nauseous at about 12.00 today, very dizzy and could hardly deal with being in the car, it just started getting worse and then i just vomitted, oodles of water and it just kept going and going. Lucky i was home already. My hubby got me some allowance fruit and crackers and some tea and after 15-20 mins i was better(ish) he thinks it was a huge sugar low and by body just freaked out - anyone else???

Also again don't read if you don't want to read really personal stuff but in the past three weeks of cohens i have had my period 2 time , week one and week three(now) i have PCOS and i think the weight loss is having an effect, please tell mei'm not the onkly one who's period has gone nuts. My husband isn't impressed

Anyway to all you mothers out there HAPPY MOTHERS DAY
 
Quick Hello

Hi Everyone,
I have enjoyed reading all your posts and like some of the 'Old Girls' still come on have a 'fix' now and then.

Moni I was especially pleased to see your post! You have done so amazingly well and deserve all the best. You will be at your goal weight in no time! I'd love to see some new pics of you.

LMR - good to see you too! I rarely eat any carbs these days either. It's just not worth it!

Frumpy - Stick with it. I know you can do it!!

To all the girls on the diet now - my biggest regret in doing the diet was that I didn't stick to it 100% at the time. It therefore took me 3 times as long to lose my weight and as a result I got so fed up in the end that I had to give myself a break or risk losing what I had achieved. As Moni has also said - Breaking is just not worth it!

Life after is every bit as enjoyable as you hope it will be, so keep at it and utilise the forum as much as possible. This forum was the only support I had when I was on the diet and I thank all the girls who listened to me whinge, complain and finally rejoice all those months ago.
I have made the decision to now go back on the diet to lose the last couple of kilos, so I hope to pop in a little more frequently than I have been.

Regards

Myshy :D
 
My promised longer message!

Hi all you lovely ladies!

So great to read all the new posts, so inspiring as always!

Well, I have started my re-feed! :) On Day 2, all so far is just adding small amounts of vegies and protein, not that much more food really but so good to be on it. I really could not have waited any longer, I am going on a holiday in a few weeks. How could I been on this on holidays! And I really did not want to blow it all!

And more good news! Despite my major binge on Wed night, I still lost 0.5kg, amazing! Not that I wanted to lose more, but so relieved that I did not put on any weight!!:D

I am going to have to do some serious shopping soon! None of my pants fit! It is great, the size 14s are just hanging off me instead of straining at the seams!!

Everyday it is still a thrilll to be slim again! I really want to keep this feeling, and I feel like I can with this program.

So good to hear from Lisa and hear how she has kept her weight off for 5 months, so encouraging. I am not sure I will be able to stay away from carbs but I think I will be able to limit them to one meal a day. I have really developed a taste for healthy, natural food now and just love my fruit and vegies.

Kim - so sorry to hear about the accident! Enjoy the sympathy and attention and focus on recovering. I agree with the others, stay on Cohens if you can!

Pink Virgo - glad I was not the only one to have a blow out this week! Hope you have a better week this week! Also, re: the pill, I had to write on my form I was on it, not sure what it means for weight loss, although I put on 2kg years ago when I first went on it. I am thinking about going off it soon, kind of over having all those fake hormones, but on it for my skin so don't want to turn into pizza face again!

Carissa - Good thinking about holding off the weighing, can be discouraging if you do it too often. Thanks for your message of encouragement. All the best for this week.

Ridiculous - 2kg is still 2kg, don't be discouraged, just think it is 2 1 litre cartons of milk that are no longer on your body!!!

Myshy - so great to hear from you! You were on the forum when I first found it! Glad you are going OK, and being healthy. Good luck with the last few kilos, hopefully won't take long.

Moni - Welll done on your amazing loss, everytime I look at your progress I am inspired!!

JAM - Well done on reaching under 120kg, that is fantastic! Just think how much healthier you are now! Even the hospitals think so!!! Keep it up!!

Moneypenny - Glad the 4kg from the bread came off! THought it might! All the best for the rest of the refeed!

ICIW- Will definitely join you on the post-refeed thread, think it will be important to keep up the support in life after-Cohens! It will open up a whole new set of challenges! More choice for a start!

Lizzi - Well done on your ticker moving yet again!

Netski - Hope you feel better soon, sounds a bit scary, throwing up and stuff, hope it was just a temporary thing. Maybe see the GP if you don't get better, just in case!!!

I know I have missed out heaps of you, sorry! But I am thinking of you and wish everyone a great Cohen's week!!

Let's all do it 100%

Wish me well on the re-feed!

Kathy
 
Good Morning Ladies

Happy Mothers day from yesterday for all of you mothers here, I dont knwo how you guys went but I really struggled. My husband and son would normally have made me bacon and eggs and then taken me too lunch none of which we done this year but I thought about it all day !! It made me so hungry but I stayed strong and did not break once, my son had a bag of lollies which I must admit I popped one in my mouth and spat out straight away ! :eek:

Ridiculous & Lizzy Well done on moving your tickers again no matter how small or big the loss is your ticker is moving so congratulations. :D

LMR & Mishy Thankyou for your motivational posts it is so great to hear from people who have made it through you guys are like a light at the end of the tunnell for all of us. :D

Netski I hope you are okay was very worried to hear what has been happening to you are you allright now ? :confused:

Miss Kath Thanyou for continuously being a source of inspiration and strength to me.. :)

Hope you all have a great day..found this quote and it reminded me of all us taking this great step towards a better life..


And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

Anais Nin
 
YAY!!! Ticker movement...

I have made a deal with myself that i would only move my ticker once a week... Rock on again next monday!

4.8kgs down in 7 days i have never lost that in a week... Feels great. Also lost 9cm over body... not too bad.

Weekends are going to be my killer... i don't seem to drink water when i'm at home where as at work i have a bottle with me all the time. :( oh well i'll have to try harder next week.

Previous to starting cohens i had been diagnosed with a thyroid problem, stopped taking thyroxine at christmas and still feeling great.

Anyways great to see everybody is still going strong and so sorry to hear of a car accident...

Keep Strong.

Tam
 
New ticker working

Just checking this is working
Okay,... not too well... but better than nothing. I will have to work on it.

Well.. welll.... well... I have finally started the much awaited Cohens. I am v. excited. Feeling a bit peckish and very nervous about it all, but I v. excited about the end result. If all goes well for the first month, I will be signing up my father and a girlfreind too.

I will be online during the week getting advice and support from all the wonderful people out there in Cohens world.

I read that idea for Paradise lites pizzas.... sounds delicous! Thanks
 
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Quick update

Hi everyone!

And thanks to lmr for sharing about life after cohens. The information really motivated me.

Miss Kath congratulations on the refeed.

Kim sorry to hear about the accident. Sending you strength over the internet to overcome your challenges as you recover and get healthy.

Good to catch up on all the other posts.

Have been on the wagon and feeling great. Have built in small rewards (non-food) for myself and am 100% sticking to my food plan :)

Celebrated my nephew's birthday and brought my own cohens lunch. And went for tea with some friends last Saturday and ate my own cohens meal. The support and understanding of my family and friends has been awesome. Even resisted the yummy birthday cake.

And I have lost 10 kg since getting on the program. :D

I reckon that with the 9 days off the wagon, it gives me a loss of a kilo every four days. With another 26 kilos to go, that means I am looking at another 104 days (or about 14 weeks).

My reward: a holiday in Bali for my birthday. Looking forward to shopping, going for cooking lessons and just looking awesome on the beach!

To reach my goal weight, I plan my meals for the week, do my shopping and write down the food and water consumed for the day.

Have set a mini-challenge for myself to lose another 2 kg by 27 May. Which will mean that I have lost 1/3 of my excess weight! YEAH!!!

Thanks to everyone for sharing your great ideas. The programme is great, and you gals are awesome!

Cheers!
 
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