Cohen's Lifestyle Stef's thoughts out loud!

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Stef_M

New member
Hi all,
I've been reading everyone's diary and find it fascinating, inspirational and even educational. I love reading everyone's posts so I thought I would start my own. I've really been riding a roller coaster of emotions since I started and it would be great to keep a "diary" of my journey. And just maybe I can inspire someone else. Everyone on this forum is so wonderful and I really feel I can open up.

I'm 34, married and have two munchkins. At my heaviest I was just over 120kgs. For about 2-3 years I have stayed at 101kgs. This started to freak me out about a year ago because I thought that my body had "settled" on being 101, like it was happy with that!??! I sure as heck wasn't happy with being 101. I'm always checking if I fit into seats (like on amusement rides) and if chairs are strong enough. I hate that feeling. I make jokes with my DH (Darling Husband) about things being "load tested" but it's not really a joke and I'm a bit over it!! :(

I've joined ww (three times in my life) but never had the committment to even start one meal or count anything.! I bought the CSIRO books, and got to chapter 5 of book one (sounds like a good diet too, just not for me). I joined the gym 1.5 yrs ago and while I shifted some centimetres, guess what - I was still 101kgs.

My munchkins are 6 (boy) and 3 (girl) and my while we are teaching them that everyone is beautiful and wouldn't the world be boring if we all looked the same, I can't get away from the fact that my son sees me as that three letter F word. I always replace that word with "cuddly".

So what changed ?!...a women who works in the same section as me, about 200 kms away, came into work and when I saw her she looked amazing :D . She reads this forum and I'm sure she knows who she is. Thanks for sharing the Cohen's info with me...:hug2:

I like Cohen's because it's structured, I suppose. Which makes it easy to figure out. It's either on the list or it's a no-no.

I've been good when we go out, usually one night a weekend. But I really miss some foods. I'm hoping this will pass and even so I remind myself that it will all be there at the end, and at the end I'll be armed with more information and skills to balance out anything I want to eat again. Sometimes I get really down and sad about the food my family is eating. Some nights it gets so bad I have to leave the room. DH understands.

I started Cohen's on Sunday 27 May 2007 and to date I've lost 3.2kgs. Not sure why it's a bit slow but that's another post.

Some short-term goals:
1. Reach 99kg [achieved 3 Jun]
2. Hire ski pants smaller than 3XL in August 2007 for our trip.

Thanks for reading all this way !!
And big hello to everyone :jump:
 
Hi Stef! And WELCOME to the Forum! It was really great to read your diary! Thanks for writing in mine...

I have actually updated my ticker to reflect only the weight I have lost since I started Cohen's. Before it used to have the weight that I had lost the week before as well. So we are about at the same point. I have been really PEEVED :mad: by how slow it has been going for me... especially when read others wonderful experiences.... but Hey... I AM STILL LOSING! A LOSS IS A LOSS!!!

Congrats on getting to DOUBLE FIGURES! That totally ROCKS! I am still about 10kgs away... but I hope to be there by early July. :)

I am sure it will get easier for you... to the point where you wont have to leave the room... because you will be able to remind yourself of how wonderful you will feel about saying no now as well as when you are finished! You are seeing results and that makes all the difference... and you finally moved past the dreaded 101! :)

I look forward to reading all about your journey!
Bless ya
Kath
 
Hiya Stef,

A big HELLO back to you, thanks for sharing your thoughts out loud, I had to laugh at the 'load tested' comment..I know what that feels like.
Congrats on hitting the double figures, it's a great feeling huh?
It will get much easier once you start looking and feeling so much better, have so much more energy, start buying smaller sizes, it will all fit into place and before you know it, you won't be thinking about food anymore, your focus will change.
You have done great so far, keep it up, it's soooooo worth it.

Annie Lusion
 
Thanks Kath and Annie, I've got a such a huge grin on my face right now and (tearing up):D . Thanks for encouragment and hello's.
I guess I haven't got excited about breaking the 101 but I am after reading your reply's I am. Thanks for the warm fuzzy feelings.

Remember that song from the Proclaimers "I'm on my, from misery to happiness today"....I've got that tune in my head.


Kath, I am bummed too by the small loss but then I realised last night that if I lost roughly 3kgs in 2 weeks then potentially I'll loose 6kg in a month and that's HUGE. By August I could be a whole 12kg smaller :eek2: and so on. I'm so excited.
Thanks
 
sleepy after walk

I made an appointment with the clinic for Friday. I'm lucky to have one in the same suburb I work in. Boy do I have a list of questions to ask...

Today though, I went for a walk to the shop and back for lunch. Probably about 1/2km total. I also carried 2 bags of fruit/veg back. When I got back I started feeling tired. :sleeping: I understand the mechanics of it all, a little of food in and too much energy spent. I'll ask the clinic on Friday when I see them.

It made me think of my trip to the snow in August. How am I possibly going to cope with 3 days of skiing?? I may need to take a break from the plan and have some carbs....will keep you posted on what the clinic says, 'cos I'm sure I not the only one going on a ski holiday or adventure holiday.

Catch ya
Stef
 
Old pants revived !

I had a job interview today (just an internal role for 3-6 months) but when I was getting dressed this morning I was excited because I knew that the 3.2kgs I've lost so far will help me fit into a pair of black pants that previously the buttons were nearly popping off. And they did !!!

I'm walking around (still big) but I feel great and the little that I've lost is making me walk taller, I'm sure.

Imagine....what I'll feel like after 10kg, 20kg ... *sigh* :jump: :jump:

To everyone who has reached their goal or well o their way, you must be feeling so great. Good on you all and I'm excited for everyone on this forum. You are all so wonderful, full of strength and love.

See ya
 
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HI Stef!!
Soooo.... How did your Job Interview go? You didnt actually say... (Even if it was only internal... they can be a bit stressful!!). When do you find out about the position? Will it be a much different job from the one you currently do? Is it only a temporary move or more permanent?

How did your appointment at the Clinic go? It must be nice to actually have face to face time with your consultants...? I dont get that cos I am 4.5 hours north of Perth. Did you get all your questions answered? At least email and the phone is still useful. I had a whole bunch of mine answered and since then I have been losing the weight a little bit more steadily which has been very encouraging! :)

Hope your Well!
Kath
 
Answers from Clinic

Hi Kath,
I hope to find out about the job next week. I work in a computer help desk and this position is in the incident response team. They work alongside the helpdesk when we have major outages they look after it. So I'll be ringing around, getting answers, getting other to fix things and then reporting on it. It will be such a rush of adrenaline....and there's always something breaking in the statewide organisation !!!:rolleyes:

The clinic went well. She weighed me but I'm not using that as weight to update my ticker. My usual day is Sunday morning. She reckoned my weightloss was a bit slow so we talked about a typical day. I haven't been recording my meals so I'll try and do that. She was supposed to email me the electronic version...still waiting.

I have tuna and salad for lunches at work and one of my seafood allowances in 90g so I was just using the 95g lunch tins. WRONG, she said. :eek: I'm supposed to drain it and I'll probably find the tuna will weigh a lot less than 90g hence I'm not having enough protein! Could also explain my hunger pangs around the 3.30 itiss...

I got in "trouble" for not drinking enough water... :doh:

My Questions Were:
I asked about the cracker size, just to make sure I was getting it right. The crackers that come in 4 small squares: 2 squares = 1 cracker.

Cheese - I missed the bit in the book about limiting it to 3 times a week. This is probably where I went wrong the first two weeks.

Eating out - choosing steak, chicken and cohen vege's and to try asking the restaurant to weigh the meat; to ask them not to dip the chicken in anything, just to cook dry and to ask for cohen vege's.

"Aunt Flo" - yes it can make a difference, up to 2kgs the week before because of bloating etc.

Spices - try to limit total for the day to 1 teaspoon. She mentioned we can have "7 Seas" which is a mix of spices. I'm excited about more spices. They add so much to my meals and taste. I'm really missing sauces and the spices make it up.

No Nuts, Seeds, legumes or soup mixes - bummer.

Mustard seeds and powder is OK but not the jars of mustard.

My skiing trip in august...I asked about my fear of not having enough energy to last 3 full days. I told her about the story of my walk to the local shop and coming back and being sleepy. She said we'll talk about it later but it may simply mean more fruit and crackers. And more vitamins tablets etc.
--------------
Really I could have emailed or phoned those questions through. I don't think there was much advantage except for the face-to-face contact. I too am hoping that after talking with her my weight will drop off more. Well done Kath, you're doing so well.

WOW, what a long post!!. I'm excited about my weigh-in and measurements tomorrow. !!

Oh I changed my ticker starting weight from 101 to 101.7. That's what it was when I weighed in at the clinic when I started. As I didn't have digital scales at home for my "official" start and the two weeks following I thought I'd try and be more accurate. 3.9 loss looks better than 3.2. It's a psychological thing ;)

Thanks for reading all this way !!
Talk soon
Stef
 
Week 3 Weigh In

Yesterday was my end of Week 3 weigh in and I lost 1.6 this week :jump:

Total is now 5.5kgs. I'm so excited. I'm trying to be a lot more accurate with my portion sizes.

It hasn't hit me that I'm less than 99 and I'm shrinking (still a long way to go) though. I read ASY's diary on the other forum and was blown away. She is such a legend.

Yes I agree with Cate and Kath about the support thread...I shoulda kept my nose out of it but rolypoly was copping heaps and I just didn't want her out there on her own. Anyway lesson learnt.

Stef
 
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Hi Stef,

Thanks for posting the Q&A's.
You are sailing along so smoothly, isnt this just the best program ever?
Congrats on the weight loss so far, 5.5 in 3 weeks is so awesome..yay to you!

Annie Lusion
 
I feel like I've been away for weeks....

I got the job in the other area. It's only temporary but it's a great change and I'm so excited. I started on wednesday and it's been so busy since.

Friday arvo, DH and I went to Coffs Harbour. Arrived there at midnight on Friday but we had a fantastic weekend. Rested, went sight-seeing.
It sure was hard food-wise but I just asked the restaurants for cohen's food etc. My 4 week blood test was on Saturday so I had to wake up early and trek into town to have blood taken!! Not the best thing to do on a holiday :)
nevermind.
Sunday was my weekly weigh-in and my 4th week weigh in so I took the scales and tapemeasure.

I lost 1.3 for the week and a grand total of 6.8 for the month !!
I'm very happy...

Boy it was hard finding food. Last night on the way home down the freeway we stopped at a Service Centre with KFC and Hungry Jack's. I got a breast piece from KFC and went and got Lettuce and tomato from HJ's. Great dinner but I was running around from store to store !!

So back at work this morning. Hi to everyone. I'm going to go through and read all the recents posts now.

Cheers
 
Hi Stef, You are doing really well & it's great to see your excitement. 6.8! Well done. Congrat's on the new job as well! I sent roly poly a private message of support as I felt really sorry for her too. I felt that Mr Muscle just wanted everyone to get upset & I didn't want him getting that satisfaction. I miss her & hope she returns.
I've enjoyed reading your diary & look forward to following your progress, cheers Cate.
 
Thanks Cate,
Your words of encouragment really mean a lot to me. Everyone's does.
I guess that's why we join the forum ;)
I'm motivating myself by thinking that at least I'm consistent and each week I have a loss of just over 1 kg.
I got a bit shocked on the w/end when I realised that I'm 95kg. This diet works and hard work pays off.
Stef
 
In the beginning ....

LOL it's only been 4 weeks :)

I was worried that DH and family would continue eating whatever they wanted. DH is changing, bit by bit. But it gives me hope that come refeed and after that the whole family will be eating better.
He's starting to use incorporate the same vege's and even cabbage !!

Stef
 
Stef

Congrats on hitting double figures. Before long you will be in the 80s then 70s then...... lookout.

Keep up the good work. It looks as though you did a wise thing visiting the clinic and finding out a few errors. It has really paid off in the last couple of weeks.

Skinny hugs.

Allana
:hug2:
 
As they say - "don't mention the war". Well we won't be mentioning the brocolli....

I started to use a spreadsheet that Kath (kannadew) found from another forum and I found that if I continue losing about 1.7 each week (which is my weekly average to date) then I should reach my target of 61kg by 11 Nov 07. My BIG 35th birthday is the 18th Nov so I'm really really excited to see how the reaction of my distant relo's when they see me. I also realised that Christmas will be around the corner and I can't wait to *shock* some snobby relo's then. Even if I don't read goal on target, I'll be so darn close it will still be really exciting.:jump:

I thought about Christmas food and actually I wasn't too worried. That's such an empowering feeling, knowing that I could handle myself amongst christmas lunches and dinners. The proof will be in the pudding come Christmas time, I guess (get it !!!! sorry bad pun). :rotflmao:
 

Well it TOM time, first time while completely on the program and what I've noticed is that I haven't had that huge emotional up and downs nor have I had the sugar cravings. I'm really happy about that.

I started to have a teaspoon psyllium husks with my yoghurt. I read that it can dehydrate you so I made sure I had heaps of water. But I'm going to have it every second day, just in case. I think it's helped with regularity. ;)

Nice to see the sun out. Next two weeks are school holidays, so I don't have to wake up super early as I have been. I've noticed I'm not getting sleepy in the afternoons too. BC (Before Cohen's ;) )I could have slept all day and only emerge for dinner. Yesterday I had the opportunity for a nap (I had the day off from work) so as habit dictated, I jumped into bed for an afternoon nap but just layed there.

I'm really noticying some nice changes like the above and including clothes feeling looser.

I'm finding that I'm getting a bit boring with my dinner imaginations, cabbage is becoming a regular (who would have thought !!). Lunch I've been having tuna and salad but I'm practically gagging on the tuna now so I'm needing a change there. The mere thought of tuna make me shudder. :rotflmao:

It's all good. The weeks are going quickly, this is week 5 and I love Sunday mornings (for all the usual reasons) but mostly now because it's Weigh-In Day. I'm as keen as punch to see how much I've lost. And tracking it for my target in Nov.

hugs to all
:hug2:
 

Hi all,

Had my weekly weigh-in yesterday. I was so looking forward to it. Another 1.4kg which brings the total to 8.2kg. I keep wanting to pinch myself because I really can't believe I'm 93.5kg. It's been years. I keep thinking the scale must be wrong, how can it be....:jump: It's like I'm waiting for the bad news, "...oh sorry, you're actually 100kg still". Hope I snap out of it soon.

I've lost about 20cm so that's nice.

wake me up soon and tell me it's real :)))

Stef
 
Boring lunches...

Stef

Try cooking some extra (meal 2 allowances) beef or chicken or other fish whatever you are allowed for the meal that you are having tuna for and making a thai beef or chicken salad. The other option is greek salad (but remember feta only once a week). Another option is make a stew (meat and some vegies like spinach or cabbage and squash or zucchini and mushrooms, etc with some spices) and then heating at work.

All the best.

Skinny hugs
:hug2:
Allana
 
awesome

HI Stef
THAT IS SOOOOOOOOO AWESOME, i know what you mean I keep thinking the scales must be wrong thats part of the reason I bought a new pair, but they just keep on moving...Keep up the GREAT work, and Im hoping to hit the double figure in the next week or two...cant wait its been sooooo long
Genie
 
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