Cohen's Lifestyle My Road to Success

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Angel_sa

Angel_sa

New member
Hi all,

Well thought i would start my own diary, been reading everyone elses and they really give a person inspiration and show a person that everyone can have a tough time...

Cate i took your advice and wrote down all the reasons why i want to lose weight, i will put them in this post reason being then everytime i come into my own thread i see them and cannot forget them. Also want to do this now so i have no excuses when the time comes to do this...

Even though i am having a bit of a tough time right now and have given myself until January to go back on my plan 100% i will still use my diary and this forum as my motivation, hope no one minds...

Well here we go.... you will see i have made a promise to myself to achieve this goal!!

A start to a better travelled road!!
• So that I can feel comfortable with myself
• So that I do not dread summer or December holidays
• So that when I sit I do not have a extra stomach bothering me
• When I go shopping and can look at something and like it and know it will fit
• So I can dress the way I like to dress in jeans, trainers and summer tops, not oversized jeans and tops that look horrendous on me
• So that when my boyfriend looks at me he is proud to be with me
• So that when I go to the football club with my boyfriend I don’t feel like a heffalump next to all the other girlfriends there who are all young pretty and built stunning
• So that when my bf hugs or loves me I don’t feel like pulling away cause I am worried he feels all my fat
• So that I can be healthy and get rid of my type 2 diabetes
• So that I can be active and actually enjoy it and not dread it
• So that when I look in the mirror I am proud of what I see and not disgusted
• So that when I am intimate with my boyfriend I don’t feel repulsed by myself never mind how he might be feeling
• So that when my friends say let’s have a girls night out I actually get excited about it and not think what am I going to wear there is no way I can compete with all the thin girls going with
• So that when I get introduced by my BF he feels proud to introduce me
• So that when I get up in the morning I will not feel like crawling back into bed as I only have a handful of clothes that I feel comfortable in and am so tired of wearing them to work everyday
• So that I don’t dread weekends and actually start looking forward to them

When I think about losing weight I think about that I must do it for myself and myself alone, which I don’t think is true, it was always drummed into a person’s head that you must never want to lose weight for anyone else but you, but at the same time I know I need to lose weight for myself and my relationship cause if I don’t do that I might lose my relationship because of something I could have rectified as difficult as it is.

So from today I will make this my journal and all the thoughts I go through I will write down and maybe I will see why I cannot seem to stick to my eating plan 100% anymore and what I am doing wrong for this not to work for me, one would think with all the reasons I have given to want to lose weight I would be able to actually just stick to the diet no problem, but that just shows you that there is more to it and more to why I’m not doing it at the moment.

My promise to myself is that by the middle of the year I would like to be at my goal weight, I will do my utmost to achieve it and I will do my utmost to be 100% deviation free on my diet from the 4th January 2010, it will be worth it for me and for everyone around me, on my birthday I will not deviate from the plan as I will be having many other birthdays where I will look stunning and will be able deviate but for 2010 I make a promise to myself to not deviate.
 
Angela-
Good for you starting your diary & putting your reasons why you want to become slim down. It's a really good start. When you are ready to start on Cohen's 100% it will help give you firm direction. You will be working toward something really positive. We will never mind anything you do or say in your diary. It's yours! xo Cate
 
That's a great first diary post Angela. I am thinking I'll probably be at goal weight around the same time as you. Once you start, the time flies, and the changes happens so fast. Well done on the prep you're doing. x
 
Thank you Cate and L-Jay, you guys really do make a person feel special. I have been reading a lot of forums and this one has just grabbed me, the people on her are so genuine and sincere.

I have never done anything like this before (the diary) never shared on of these thoughts with anyone, so it was really a very big step for me, and even bigger in saying it out loud for other people to read.

It's almost bedtime for most of you, it's still morning by us, so hope you all get a good nights rest and have an amazing weekend.

xxx
 
Hey Angela!

What a great first post - very inspiring and it's great you just put it all out there! It must have felt great to get it all off your chest and into words for other people to read. It will be great to always be able to go back to your very first thread and see all of the reasons why you're commiting to cohens. And in no time you'll be crossing each point off...

I have a great feeling about 2010 for many reasons. I think it's going to be a positive and happy year all round. I only feel good things about it for myself and all of the people I am surrounded with. It will definately be our year that we start to live life to the fullest!!!

Thanks for trusting us with your thoughts Angela. We are all happy to hear them and read your diary, and hopefully be able to help you through each step of the way where ever we can. Keep up the great work and keep working towards your goals.

Kristy xo
 
Angel_sa said:
Thank you Cate and L-Jay, you guys really do make a person feel special. I have been reading a lot of forums and this one has just grabbed me, the people on her are so genuine and sincere.

I have never done anything like this before (the diary) never shared on of these thoughts with anyone, so it was really a very big step for me, and even bigger in saying it out loud for other people to read.

It's almost bedtime for most of you, it's still morning by us, so hope you all get a good nights rest and have an amazing weekend.

xxx
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Now that post is a lovely start to my day! If we can make one another feel special then that is the best thing that we can ever do. We are all special Angela. We all deserve to love & be loved, xo Cate
 
Ditto to what Cate says. It's such a pleasure to help others. And don't forget, we get lots of help and inspiration from you in return. So thank you x
 
Thank you for your post Kristy, i love reading how positive everyone is and i too do believe that 2010 will be a great year and i am 100 % dedicated to starting it on a positive note! To say the least i have had a awful year and i think it has had a lot to do with my mental state of the diet hence me now just taking it easy for the next month and then getting back to it properly and losing what i want to once and for all...

I find it very strange how i am actually starting to get excited about starting again, i do still follow a lot of the cohens principles even though i'm not on the plan properly now so definitely think it will make it easier for me when i am back.

Had a great weekend, 1st in a very long time, didn't torture myself the whole weekend of what i was eating and what other ppl were thinking of me and how my BF sees me. He has been great and Cate took your advice and we had a great chat on Friday night and he understands where i am coming from now a lot better and we actually started joking about how ugly i had been to him, lol. We had his family over for a braai which was lovely (he isn't very close to his father so it was good to see them enjoying themselves) I am also usually so subconscious around his family and for the first time on saturday i didn't even think about it and just enjoyed myself and really had such a great time. Had a bit of a mishap on Sunday while washing dishes, i was washing a glass and it must have cracked and it broke and slicked my finger quite badly, shame my BF was great as usual and helped me bandage it up, felt terrible as he now had to wash all the dishes, lol. Hope it heals soon in such a awkward place, but oh well.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend and you all have a wonderful week.

xxxx
 
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Have added a ticker to my profile, haha as you can see i love cats, made my pic of my beautiful little kittens, put my loss in for the last month and a bit not from when i originally started! Have had such a long day at work and not much happening so land up wanting to eat, thankfully we have fruit at work so still snacking on the right things!!

Doing something wrong though cause you can see the whole url of the ticker, mmmm not sure how to fix it though....
 
Hello Angel-sa!

Congratulations on your commitment to Cohens. It is truly life changing.

I love your list. So many reasons to get and stay committed. Good for you.

Can I please make a suggestion about positive reinforcement?
Negative language works in a backwards then forwards kind of way by suggesting what we don't want, so then we sort of walk away from it backwards while looking at it, rather than facing in the direction we want to go and then moving swiftly towards our goal. Am I making sense?

Most of what you have written has the sunshine all over it, some points have a shaded tail, and some are just looking straight into the dark.

I want you to feel the sunshine girl!!

"• So that I do not dread summer or December holidays"
(I start thinking what it is like to dread summer)
could be much more exciting as something like
"With my new body I will be busting for summer and cannot wait to get my bathers body on the beach and in the surf!"
(I start thinking about how good I am going to feel and get excited which motivates me)

I hope you don't mind me saying. I am so aware of how positive language effects us in such good ways. We all deserve the best for our journeys towards the fantabulous changes Dr Cohen can garentee when we commit to his plan.

:hurray:
 
Hi Angela, I'm glad that you had a good talk with your BF. Looking back on the last 38 years with my LH I can see times where it would have been best to air our doubts & feelings instead of keeping them to ourselves. It's always best to talk about things before they grow bigger than they should. Good too, that you both had a laugh about it. Nice! Also really good that you had a good time with your BF's parents. The relaxing & not worrying about what others think may have helped there.
Hard as I know the Cohen's program is the hardest part is still the changing our mindset. Shine is right in changing how we look at things. I have had to constantly reinforce positive attitudes in my brain by reading motivational sayings & books. It's really easy to slip back to self-criticism & negative thoughts if we don't really concentrate on it. We have had a lifetime to create habits so it takes concentration to turn them around.
I like to think that instead of saying "If only" I say "Next time!"
Instead of "I hope" I say "I know."
It is amazing how we can become more positive by really working on it. So next Summer picture yourself looking great in bathers, instead of dreading it.
I do feel that you will be successful with this Angela.
2010 will be your great year! xo Cate
 
Thank you so much for your posts Shine and Cate. I really do appreciate them and i must be totally honest in saying that i think this forum helps a lot with positive thinking and motivation, just yesterday i was saying to my BF that i can't wait for next year and we must go on holiday to the beach as i will then have my beach body, lol, so slowly but surely working through the negativity.

Even though not following Cohens 100% had a really good and positive eating day, started off with a yoghurt and mixed fruit, had a chicken stir fry for lunch and doing a tuna salad for dinner, think this is due to the fact that i haven't been feeling so great lately, physically i mean, i have been extremely bloated and have that constent full feeling and nausea and think it could have to do with the wrong foods going into my body, really just hoping to maintain my weight over the next month and looking forward to the loses in the new year!!

Going to do a grocery shop now afer work and wish you could see my shopping list, still all cohens food hahahaha, no junk and no breads or pastas, luckily my BF also enjoys being very healthy so that helps a lot as well when it comes to things like this!

Have a great day/evening all and thank you again for all the positive energy!!

xxxx
 
Hi Angela. It's good to hear that you are turning around the negative thoughts. It just goes to show that it doesn't take much really but the main thing is wanting to. Your body will start to love you again soon & when you start Cohen's 100% after the festive season you shouldn't throw it into a spin. Are you drinking much water? 2-3 litres every day would really help too. Cheers, cate.
 
Hi Angela :)

Wow, sounds like your pretty much on cohens 100% anyway!!! Well done, you're doing really well. It's great that you're really preparing yourself mentally to get back on to cohens by not eating any breads/pastas etc. Once you decide the time is right to start doing it 100% again you'll find it a breeze.

It's amazing how much it helps when you have a BF that enjoys eating healthy also. It would make it so much harder if you had someone cooking up unhealthy food infront of you every night. I know I'm so much more mentally focussed when my BF has similiar food to me but just a bigger portion and with some potato or something... but last night for instance he ordered in pizza and garlic bread (for the first time since i started cohens!) and thats when I felt a little weaker, mentally. I knew I wasn't going to go anywhere near it or be tempted to eat it, its just when its infront of you! argh! I also cook him yummy things every Sunday for him to take as his morning tea during the week for lunch but I've said to him I'm not doing it anymore unless its just the low fat muffins... its torturing to be making a lovely chocolate cake with icing or big blueberry muffins and then just wrap it up and pop it in the fridge haha..

Anyways, keep up the good work, and take care.
Kristy xo
 
Hi Kristy,

I know, but it's weird now that i'm not stressing about it find it easier to eat what i should, don't get me wrong still not 100% in terms of time between meals and also when weekends come that is a total mess and know that when i go on leave next friday, in terms of eating bad i probably won't eat enough in the day, find when i am home i never eat a lot, so that also counts as bad!!

I know my BF is a blessing in disguise, i don't even have to make him carbs with a meal or anything, he is really just happy to eat what i make (probably also a bit lazy to make something esle, lol) but yes it does make it a lot easier, he also doesn't like junk food so very very rarely will he eat something in front of me that i can't eat, he does however like to snack, so usually after dinner he will have peanuts and raisins, provita's, depending what we have so i have learn't to now keep one of my fruits or something for after dinner otherwise i also feel like snacking and can't have anything.

Read your diary yesterday and i'm sorry about the depression your BF is going through, and it takes a really strong person to cope with it so i take my hat off to you. My BF as fantastic as he is also has a bit of a depression problem and most of the time i can deal with it but it gets to stages when i actually can't and i'm just honest with him and tell him he needs to remember i am also part of this relationship and if he pushes me away he is doing it not me, but oh well a whole other story on its own. Sorry to be posting this in my diary and not yours, just felt it would be a bit easier :)

Hope you having a great night, you should probably be in bed by now, it is only just after lunch for us, have my BF work party tonight but we are going to a musical broadway show so looking very foward to that.

Take care and well done on what you have achieved up to know you have done wonderfully!

xxxx
 
Angel_sa said:
Hi there,
A question for the ladies/gents who have already completed the programme and are on the refeed or lifestyle/maintenence...
Is there a big difference between the refeed and lifestyle?
Tx
Angela
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Hi Angela, I just spotted this thread whilst looking for another. Sorry I didn't answer it earlier. It's a tricky question really. The Lifestyle Program is very restrictive as you know. On Re-feed various, but specific, foods are re-introduced & extra portions, proteins get mixed & the program becomes more varied. When you finish re-feed & are on maintenance you are given guidelines, but it's up to you what you eat. The guidelines given are very sound & doable.

If you were asking me what I thought would be best on Maintenance I would say still follow the program loosely, but without weighing your portions, continue to eat approximate last-day re-feed portions only having extras occasionally, rather than regularly, to stay slim. Monitor your weight regularly (once a week) & keep track of anything that puts weight back on you & never, ever let your weight go 3kgs over your GW, as recommended by Cohen's. If the weight creeps up you cut out the carbs for a day or 2 & it drops straight off. Nip it in the bud early is the best idea. Then starting an exercise program would help boost your metabolism & also tone your body & firm up any loose skin.

PM me if you have any more specific queries if you wish.
Cheers, Cate.
 
Hey Angel, we're pretty much on the same track! I too plan to be 100% on Cohen's by Jan 2010, and am currently more or less following the Cohen programme right now (but expect some deviation when I go home for Christmas). I've been reading your diary, and I agree, out of all the forums that I've dipped here and in between, I think this is the one that has the most lovely people :) I am thinking of following your example and starting a diary anyway in the meantime.

Shine and Cate are absolutely right about the positive reinforcements. Am also going through a tough time, especially living far away in a foreign country without my family and friends. I find myself talking to my cats which is a bit worrisome.. ;) *hugs* and just know that we're more or less on the same journey of life. What matters is the support that we can find, whether it be online or not!
 
Hi Angela!

Just stopping by to see how you're doing. I see from your posts above that you're on leave from work - so you're probably off having a wonderful time doing lots of things! Hope you're enjoying yourself.

Kristy xo
 
Hey Dietgrrl,

Thanks for the post!! Nice to know i have someone who will be starting the same time as me!! Always helps when someone is at the same stage as you, have you decided what date you are going to start??

You should definitely start a diary, it was a HUGE thing for me as i have never been someone who puts things out there, and doing this was very good for me to realise how far i need to go but at the same time how achievable it actually is!!

I'm sorry you are going through a tough time and you are a bit lonely without your family, family is so important it is never nice to not be close to them and don't worry it's ok to speak to your cats, i do exactly the same thing, i have 2 beautiful kittens, they are 6 months old now, naughty as anything but cute :)

Where does your family stay, are you going to them over the holidays?

Taxe care,

xxx
 
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