Cohen's Lifestyle My Personal Journey

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Week 5 Day 6 - A wonderful beginning

Have you checked out my ticker yet? I've just updated my ticker today! I've finally broke through 1 BIG plateau!!!! 1 week odd of no drop was driving me nuts BUT I've passed my 10kg drop mark today...hooray hooray! Never quite expect this though. Wonderful to see a 300g drop overnight despite my late dinner yesterday and had beef steak for dinner. Guess it is payback time now that I'm at my tail end of TOM...whatever it is, it is NICE!

Okie...now that 10kg is hopefully permanently behind me, I shall go and reward myself; not with food though. I'll go buying something nice for my Tiffany bracelet to add on...that'll be the way I'm gonna motivate myself with each 10kg down. At least there's something to look out for always besides food. WONDERFUL FEELING TODAY!

Have been feeling rather high the whole day. Can't stop myself looking into the mirror all the time. Everything just seems so right today...right down to the weather. Love the way my chin is shaping up finally...gone are the triple/double chins...according to my hubby.

Well, won't know for sure if the weight will continue to press down tomorrow. However, by evening just now, I was 76.6kg...3 times I stepped on the weighing machine and it still read 76.6kg...hhmmm can it be true? Will leave it till tomorrow to verify. Will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings.

Breakfast: Cheese/cucumber/green tea
Lunch: Stir fried chicken with cauliflower
Dinner: grilled chicken with steamed cauliflower/diet coke

Considering that it is still TOM, I'm certainly hoping that I can see more nice drops every day for a while from now. At least water is flushing out nicely and frequently...hope it's not just the vitamins though. I also trust that the scaling of stairs are helping a fair bit...whatever it is, this week has ended well.

Oh yes! I'm edging dangerously into my 2nd goal which I think I did mention somewhere in my earlier posts that I would post a couple of my pictures when I do eventually hit 75kg. Now I've got to move downwards with trepidation :p
 
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Congratulations - it's a big psychological thrill to get past the first 10kg!

You're doing really well - just keep believing you can and ARE doing it!
 
Yea you bet Niyah that it is magical feeling to have suddenly hit pass 10kg...never have I lost so much in such a short time before. Now I'm even more determined to press the weight downwards and ensure that I'll do everything right to make that happen.
 
Thank you luvbug. Thanks for the lovely encouraging words. Will continue to press on and help others along in the programme too. It's a great feeling and hope that you'll get to feel it real soon! :)
 
Congratulations FlaMie-That 76.8 looks very pretty FlaMie, but you know what I think is the best thing about all of this? How far you have come emotionally! I really mean it. I see you going from strength to strength & I see your self-belief growing by the day. Be very proud of yourself & take that feeling all the way through to the end of your journey. I think you are starting to realise that you can do this & therefore you will do it. You know you can. Keep that faith in yourself, xo Cate
 
Week 5 Day 7 - Wonderful End to the Week!

I simply cannot contain my happiness and excitement. I just have to have it on print. I just gotta share my joy with everyone! Oh gawd...I sound like I'm bragging :p Whatever, I'm happy. Hold there, I woke up to have an overnight drop of 700g from yesterday!!!! I was 76.8kg yesterday morning and today, after 4 times on the machine (in utter disbelief) I'm 76.1kg!! Woohoooooooooooo!!!! I think this is my biggest overnight drop ever. After breakfast with 1L of water in my body, I'm 76.4kg...so I guess 76.1kg is here to stay. I'm certainly gearing down to my 2nd goal of 75kg very very soon. It is indeed payback time for the no loss from TOM and every part of me is 80% back to pre TOM state...more or less flattened :p. Oh YES! With the big drop, that'll nicely set me into overweight BMI instead of obese...wow, what a feat for me as I've been obese for the last 5 years...duh!

Had a delicious brekkie this morning. Tried something new. Omelette with button mushroom. The omelette was so well fried that I simply loved the texture and the freshness of the mushrooms...yummy!!! Dunno what to eat for lunch though, it'll be in an hour's time. I'll prolly have beef but with kailan? I dunno. Will see how.
 
Oh, so happy for you FlaMie! Now that you are through the yukky part of the month, you can relax for another couple of weeks and enjoy the downward slides!
 
Hey thanks Niyah for your kind words. I certainly look forward to more drops in the next 2 weeks before I think I'll hit the plateau again. So, whatever it is, it BETTER drops!
 
Hey, FlaMie- Little sister it's great to see you doing a little bit of butt-kicking! You are "in the zone" & kicking your own ever-diminishing little butt along on this incredible journey. You are doing so well FlaMie. I guess it's a waste of time saying don't weigh as often. Ha ha- that was my Monday joke. I know you can't help it! xo cate.
 
Hahah big sister...thanks for the encouragement. Well, I still can't say that I'm like absolutely 100% rock solid for there are still times that I dream of food. Like today...I almost ALMOST gave in to this sinful looking bread...a BIG HUGE NO for Cohen. Good thing that I managed to refrain from it...but how long ?!?! :(
 
Week 6 Day 1 - A new week and still holding on

Hmmm, have been DF all these while so logically speaking weight should be dropping and fats/inches going off somewhere (perhaps I can't see?) Well, thankfully, the thighs/arms are beginning to move somewhat.

Ok, after that fantastic 700g drop, the weight today has normalised again. Dropped another 200g this morning and I've hit 75.9kg!!!! Woohoo...I'm seeing a new number as in you know 76...then 75...that 1kg drop to me is still amazing...and really exciting. Golly! I'm like 900g away from my 2nd goal and hopefully it will be materialising some time this week?

Today's menu:
Breakfast: Tuna & Cucumber with green tea
Lunch: Stir fried chicken with zuccini/shitake mushroom and green capsicum
Dinner: Pan-fried red grouper and stir fried baby kailan with crab meat.

Dunno what the outcome will be like tomorrow morning. Whichever case, the drops in the last couple of days had kinda made up for the week of no loss pre-TOM.

Oh yea, need to ask any of you who drop by if you've experienced this real crammy feeling in the lower abdomen? I'm like so fearful if there's some kind of awful growths or is it just constipation with loads of wind? Managed to clear the stomach just now and feeling a whole load more comfortable now. Yesterday and the whole of today were REAL bad. Hoping to rest early tonight and try to ensure I can at least have about 7-8 hours of sleep. Sayonara all!
 
FlaMie- it will more than likely be wind/constipation. Re- weight-loss- after the initial big drop in weight I averaged a 1kg a week loss (not 900g in days!). You are doing very well FlaMie. Keep your eye on the prize! Cheers, cate
 
I think the pains are likely to be the fact that much less food is going through intestines and bowels, and when it does you can feel it, and it's sometimes uncomfortable. Sounds weird, but it happens to me from time to time - usually when more on the constipated side.
 
Hey Cate and Niyah, I think both of you are right about the constipation. I really think that I can't seems to 'force' it out...so it kinda led to stomach cramps because my intestines are working overtime to force it out?

Nonetheless, I'm much better today. Think the wind has more or less receded after taking loads of fibre (apple / orange). Now onward losing again :)
 
1st Monthly Review on Cohen Programme

Hi folks, I actually meant to set up this after the end of my 4th week on the Cohen programme. Yes, so I know this is LONG overdue and I'm already into my 6th week. Well, better late than never.

The purpose of putting up this is so that I have an assessment and review of my own journey on this programme and how the programme has impacted me.

For those who have been wonderful supporters to my diary, you would not fail to pick up words of doubt, hesitation, denial and non-commitment in my earlier posts. I don't deny that I don't quite believe this programme is going to work for me in the beginning. Why then did I go and take up the programme? Reason is simple enough: I'm totally fed up with the way I looked and felt about my body and myself. At the age of 35 and married for a good 7 years, I'm still childless. My gynae has given me many many advice to lose weight if I ever wanted to have a child. I never took this seriously till today - or should I say a month ago? It suddenly dawn on me that if I want a child badly enough, I had better do it now or never. So, you could say that I have a selfish reason to begin on Cohen. I've read many good reviews on the Cohen programme as well as based on a friend's recommendation, I decided to embark on the journey. I felt that it was kind of a last resort measure to lose weight but went on it, laden with many question marks of course.

-------------------------------to be continued------------------------

In most of my life, battling with weight has always been one agenda which can never be passed. The only time I was ever, ever slim was between 18-24 and thereafter the weight just came piling on. I became withdrawn and I don't want to be in my husband's social circle of friends because all their wives are slim! I don't want to be the one to always stand out. I was feeling lousy about myself entirely.

I seriously don't know what got into me. Why did I not want to stop putting on weight? I knew that I was unhappy with the way I looked. However, the lure / temptation of food was simply too great...and my fascination with carbo...aromatic smelling rice...gosh!

I think this Cohen programme has made me realise one important thing. I kept going for food (bigger and bigger portion) because I was 'feeling' hungry. There was always this sense of emptiness in the stomach and it ultimately led to gastric pain. However, with Cohen, I realised that hunger can be controlled by just drinking water and getting the brains to accept that it had eaten already! The shrinking of the stomach of course helps as well.

To all wannabe weight losers, I'm pretty sure you would have been like me before - always lamenting about the weight pileup but never quite got the determination to do something about losing them. I think after a while, we will even look silly in front of those people we lament to. Isn't it really silly to be saying "Why can't I lose weight?" and thereafter reaching for a packet of chips and not doing anything about the weight?

I don't profess to be an expert on the programme yet. However, 6 weeks into it, I've found that this programme is working on me. I only just have to do my part and no exercise is needed...the pain of exercising when heavy weight...gosh! Sure, food wise, it is boring because I'm not exactly a good cook but I get by. Perhaps the mundane choices also teach my brain to accept that food is meant to just keep my body going for the day and not about filling it with loads of calories!

One thing for sure after the programme - I WILL and MUST avoid carbo especially for the last meal which incidentally also means that I must allow my body to wind down for the night. There's really no need for serious burning any more. Carbo was my #1 love in the past. I'm pretty sure it'll still be in the future but hey, I know when I can eat it and when I won't. Dinner & carbo just don't work for me.

Lastly, I must say that I am regaining my self-esteem about me as a person. I don't think I need anything more than myself now to look good. In the past, no clothes ever look good...I get all excited if I can just manage to fit into something decent for my size because in Singapore, everything is so small fit! Now, I can walk into boutiques with confidence that I should be able to at least get 1 piece of clothes to wear and I know I can wear it well .

So folks, till the next review. I do hope everyone is well and for people who are still uncertain about Cohen. I will say that THIS IS FOR YOU!
 
Week 6 Day 2 - Onward and Downward

Today is an extremely hectic day. I had to run up and down the 4 flights of stairs in my school so many times. In the morning, I did it before 8am and before taking my breakfast...gosh I felt rather weak/giddy. When I felt that way, I knew my sugar level must be way low and quickly ate my yogurt and I think the sugar level got a little bit better. Perhaps the weakness could also be caused by the late night yesterday because I had to rush out a presentation and could only sleep by 1am!

Guess the late night sleep affected the loss this morning. I only managed 200g drop, actually to be honest, I wasn't expecting anything so I'm eternally grateful nonetheless.

Today's Menu:
Breakfast: Yogurt with mango (rather yummy)
Lunch: Pan fried chicken with stir fried baby pak choy
Dinner: Seafood soup with diet coke and 1 mandarin orange.

Hmmm, wonder if there'll be any drop tomorrow morning? I have drunk like 3.5L of water...amazing intake in my opinion. Never used to drink this much. Used to rely on beverage like tea or hot cocoa to get me through the day. Now, I'm indeed a water guzzler and loving every drop of it because I know it'll help move those fats faster...hehehe.
 
Love your story, FlaMie! So many of us started out unconfident, not really believing that anything would work for us, having tried and failed before and been fat for so long.

I started putting on the weight around 30, after my third child. I think it was just the whole thing of turning 30, not feeling "young" any more, 3 children and so "not sexy" or something. Once a bit goes on, it adds to the poor self-esteem, and the weight just piles up. I really lost it around age 35 or 36, when I ballooned up to 18, then 20, then 22 in dress size. I've yo-yoed around that for years.

Lots of life stresses of various sorts didn't help me - youngest had a medical condition which appeared to be life threatening - in and out of hospital a lot, no time to think about me. Major surgery at 6 years old, then a few years of relative peace and quiet (with a few learning difficulties) before some quite serious mental issues set in which were an aftermath to all that.

Anyway, I really found myself working harder to try and "escape" and forget all the turmoil, constantly trying to find solutions to the problems.

Somehow my life is slowly getting better over the past few years. I've settled mentally a lot myself, have more peace, and though I work harder than ever, I feel ready to tackle the ever-increasing weight.

I will never forget the bliss I felt when the weight started to fall off with Cohen's the first time around. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it could happen to me. It always seemed to be someone else in a magazine or on a TV show or something. Suddenly it feels like we've been given our own share of a little bit of magic.

I hope the magic continues for you too. It takes a lot to make a baby happen, but you are doing something about the one thing you definitely can. So many women do find that excess weight decreases fertility, so who knows? It's at least one part of the puzzle that can be addressed. If you feel great and healthy into the bargain, that's good too!

The only thing I have learnt for sure in doing this once before, and now doing it again, is that a diet is not something we "do" and then the problem is cured. Unfortunately we have to accept that we are like this for a reason, and that we'll probably always stack on weight if we don't keep careful control of it. I'm accepting now that the work in my "head" will continue long after the main part of the diet stops. The long-term maintenance is actually the most important. I'm developing a way of eating now I'm completely happy with, so that if I have to continue similarly for life, I can live with it and be happy.

You've grown so much personally, as Cate has already told you a number of times - from the person who didn't think she could possibly do it to the person who IS doing it, and doing it fantastically well. Just keep it up, and then stick to the long-term maintenance plan. You'll feel great, and it'll be worth it. Just keep re-reading your post about why you did this, and remind yourself that you've had everything to gain by keeping on going and doing exactly as advised.

Good luck with the rest of the program!
 
Niyah has said everything I would have said FlaMie. Stand tall little sister. You should be very proud of yourself, xo Cate
 
Week 6 Day 3 - No Loss Day

Ok, you got it from the title. It is a no loss day...sigh...another plateau again so quickly. I don't know if it has anything to do with the mango I took yesterday though. Sadly, this evening the weight was up 1kg?! I mean, this could be water in my body...but 1kg? duh. Anyway, I think I've gotten used to the idea of ups and downs. Just a little shocking though.

This morning as I was putting on my skirt...the most unthinkable happened! The waistband dropped to half my hip and the top of my undies could be clearly visible...gosh no way was I going to be seen wearing that to work! Now, I swear I remembered trying all the skirts on Sunday and the hips were still holding onto them fine but today?! Thank god I had stood by 2 skirts in 1 size down (14) and yes, they do fit. The waistbands are already big but sadly the hips are not budging to fit loosely. Well, guess these 2 skirts will help me get around for about a month or so.

Today's Menu:

Breakfast: Yogurt with mango
Lunch: Stir fry Zuccini with chicken and shitake mushrooms
Dinner: Spicy Prawns and stir fry kai lan.
No coke today and only 4 Meiji biscuits

At the way the weight is moving...I don't think I'll ever complete the programme with re-feed by July...oh so disappointing!!! My major big event is in August...gosh...what am I going to do?!
 
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