Reset Technique and Eating Plan

[hexi2]

Hi All Cohen Graduates..

RESET TECHNIQUE
Just wondering if you have used the 'reset technique' (48 hours carb free except crackers) since being on maintenance?

Have you used it regularly?

In what situations do you use it?

How much weight if any drops off?

EATING PLAN
How often do you have to go back onto the eating plan since starting maintenance?

Do some people go back on the eating plan regularly say once a month - to control weight on an ongoing basis?

I guess what I am trying to understand is how people manage their weight during maintenance and options/techniques used and how often?

[hope_ful]

ooh i really wish someone maintainers would answer this post heheh

calling alllllll maintainers

yooo hoooo anybody out there??

xx hehe

[Mette]

I don't weigh daily, so I can't say how much weight drops off. But yes, I use the reset technique regularly. I've been out to dinner quite a few times recently, and I usually end up eating too much, mainly in terms of having both a main - with carbs - and dessert. I find that for my own physical and mental wellbeing, 24-48 hours on reset keeps my body happy, and in the month that I've been on maintenance, I have not gained more than 1 kilo, and that's been gone after the 48 hours.

I have not found the need to go back on the eating plan. I don't even weigh what I eat the next day, I just eat Cohens friendly and no carbs, and that works for me.

Hope that helped!

[sundaymorningstaple]

So far I haven't used a reset program during the 8 months I've been finished.

As I stated early on in my maintenance journal, baby-steps are the only way to go. No need to give yourself a big feed as a reward. Rewarding ourselves with food is what got us into the mess in the first place. Treat the first month or two as an ongoing experiment. Try something then "weight" for a day or two to see how it affects you. Then try something else. Only by doing it this way will you find out WHAT causes you problems. By doing it this way you will better understand how your body reacts to certain foods. Don't be in any hurry as you have the rest of your life. Remember, we have an eating disorder. If we ignore the symptoms, we will end up on that same very merry-go-round that makes us go ROUND again.

This morning I'm at 70.1 kg which is 1.1 kg above my target. I vary between 68~71 and my target was 69kg I generally eat a semi-cohen friendly breakfast without any carbs but with mixed proteins. Lunch is generally Cohen friendly salad without carbs but when it isn't it a total blowout usually consisting of way too much pizza, UFO's (unidentified Fried Objects), pastries and what ever they decide to buy for our office lunch (departing employees etc) getting to be more and more of them lately! But I just follow a rule of thumb that if I blow a meal, then I go to cohen friendly (but no weighing - so portions are more like the end of refeed) for a day (or 2 if I blow it 2 days in a row). I find I don't eat much bread or rice and still try to limit my intake of potatoes & noodles - but I don't turn down spag bol! I eat mostly in moderation except when it comes to my homemade Anzacs. When I find myself starting to eat too many.....I just don't bake any more for a week or two till I wean myself off of them again. But mostly, it's everything in moderation and starting to get some brisk walking in now, walking between 2.5 to 3 km home from the MRT at a brisk walk (aerobic rate of 120+ steps/min). While I still don't manage to get 10,000 steps/day I normally get around 8000 but almost half are at an aerobic rate so I burn a bit every night! As soon as our audits are finished I'll also be in the pool for around 45-60 minutes every night as well.

Tiptoe into maintenance any you will be rewarded. But always remember, if you give it a chance, the little fat person inside will pounce on you in a minute! It takes a long time to create a habit, even longer to break one and replace it with another.

The New Stallion
SMS

[hope_ful]

thanks mette and sms!! hexi you got a reply to your post! hehe

very insightful and helpful, both of you! i hope when i reach maintenance i can work it out like you two have.. never putting on much more than 1-2kg and losing it in the next few days.

sms i like your plan of trying something new every few days to work out what doesnt work! im definitely going to do that.. i think its important to know WHICH carbs or WHICH foods and type of sugars affect our bodies, so that we dont need to say "i cant really eat any carbs without gaining." maybe one will gain by eating sweet potato but not pumpkin... its good to keep yourself in line and keep checking, i really hope im good at that! you're also right in saying its habit, if i make it a habit of losing any regained weight quickly, i wont have to go back on plan.

im looking forward to doing things like eating a small pasta when im at an italian restaurant and then if need be, resetting for a few days. i never ate pasta before, as i would just gain 1kg overnight and not lose that for weeks! so hopefully i will be able to do things like that.. and my fave UFO is salt and pepper squid! theres a nearby vietnamese restaurant that does them so incredibly amazingly tasty. i havent had them in about 2 yrs from that place!! maybe one day soon ill be able to have a few pieces and not gain 1kg!!!! ah who knows



thanks for your help guys, its so good to know how you do it!!! and keep up the good job, its really amazing that this can work so well!!! im excited to find out for myself


xx

p.s. sms i have your anzac bikkie recipe printed out and ready to go, sitting in my fave cookbook downstairs!! YUM ANZAC BISCUITS!!!

[Kohinoor]

Hi Hope_ful,

Something else I heard off-line is that mixing carbs can create more problems. A bit like when mixing Carbon and Oxygen, you can end up with Carbon Monoxide, as well as Carbon Dioxide. One is deadly, the other, well .... not so bad (the trees will love you). Maybe how it is mixed is up to each individual... Softly, softly...

When taking "baby steps", make sure they are "one carb at a time" - and with maybe 2 days between each test... That way, you are not adding 1 + 1, and ending up with 3.14159 (who needs "Pie" anyway )

Koh

[Shanara]

Oh Koh
funny puppy !!!!!

[hope_ful]

hehe thanks koh! yes thats my plan.. the first two days after i finish refeed will be a test! i finish on a fri night, then on the sat i have a 40th, big dress up party, then a wedding on the sunday! im not worried about either, i trust myself! after doing cohens so strictly, and deviating only once by accident, i know i will be ok for these functions. im really going to limit alcohol and carbs on these days, and then from the monday i will start to introduce carbs slowly, one at a time, to see how they affect me.

before, the only carbs i really ate were 1 x bread at breakfast with protein, and then corn with a tuna salad for lunch, and maybe sweet potato or quinoa with dinner.. and sushi like once a fortnight! i never ate pasta or pizza.. oh and sometimes i had 1 of those skinny cow ice creams for dessert, or club dark chocolate.. so really all i want to explore is whether my body will handle those post refeed, and ill be happy. maybe with the occasional pasta when im out for dinner, which i never would have done before!! i would have cried with the guilt of it, and worked out for two hours the next day with no results! boo to screwed up hormones and imbalances. yay x 1000 for discovering cohens and changing my life!!

thanks for all your info guys!! hexi sorry for hijacking your post!!!
xxx

its funny how before cohens, i couldnt wait to start the plan! then i couldnt wait to start refeed! now i cant wait to get to maintenance!!! why am i never happy...? hehe or maybe i just always like to be moving forwards!!! waiting and hoping for my "one day" to arrive.............. "one day, when im thin.. one day, when i dont have to exercise like a psycho everyday...... one day, when i can enjoy my food and not feel guilty after every meal..... one day when i can congratulate myself on my results and not punish myself for something that was out of my control......" my one day is almost here!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sundaymorningstaple]

Originally Posted by hope_ful

waiting and hoping for my "one day" to arrive.............. "one day, when im thin.. one day, when i dont have to exercise like a psycho everyday...... one day, when i can enjoy my food and not feel guilty after every meal..... one day when i can congratulate myself on my results and not punish myself for something that was out of my control......" my one day is almost here!!!!!!!!!!!!

The key to this is moderation. Remember this one key. Regardless of what you have for a meal, always try to keep the whole meal small enough to fit into the cupped size of one hand. If you use that as a rough guideline you will probably be okay and maintain easily. The other thing is to try to have only ONE carb meal a day. It's not always easy but it does make life easier.

The other thing to do is try not to get obsessed when you have eaten something that does put on weight faster than others and you have a big increase in a 48 hour period. Obsessing will tend to cause the weight to stay due to self-induced stress and this could cause you to then crave and into the spiral. Try to always remember that while it went on over night it may well be slower coming off. It may also, for you ladies, be bad timing and you may had eaten the wrong things right at the onset of TOM therefore a combination of factors. It will all come off without going to reset if you but remember to tiptoe and moderation. Sometimes it's hard to do I know, but it is the only way to do it.

[hope_ful]

thanks sms.. when i said i used to feel guilty, it wasnt after a blow out. it would have been after a normal meal of salmon and veges, but i would have felt guilty for having a big salad.. or having seconds of the roasted carrot. i used to see a dietician who was so incredibly mean and strict, and too much lettuc would get you in trouble. i understand what she meant, but i used to give myself such a hard time because i never ate carb meals, maybe cereal with yoghurt for breakfast but rarely at dinner, and never lose weight.. now i understand so much more about how the body deals with the food i eat, and i will eat the right foods.. and be kind to myself and not punish myself with a blowout meal or "Reward" myself with eating cake. id rather buy clothes.. they last longer!! hehe

thanks sms.. looking forward to my maintenance journey. for life
xx

[AudreeS]

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