Any thoughts?

[tweetybird]

Hi all

First post and a little bit disheartened at present. But still determined. Started at 93kgs on Nov 29th 2010 with a goal of 70kgs. I started off really well and hoped to lose about 1.5 kgs per week if possible. I have stuck to the eating plan like glue. The only possibility of any stuff-ups has been water. In my job as a librarian we are out on the floor a lot and we cannot take water with us. So it is a matter of takng a few swigs when I go back into the work room.
Blood tests at 4 weeks apparently showed "borderline deviation". I insisted to my contact that I have followed everything to the letter with the possible exception of water and she agreed that this may have showed up as the borderline deviation.
I am down to 76.6kgs, and I love that I have lost the weight, but I seem to have stalled with the weight loss. For the last three weeks I have lost the grand total of 200g. I have not deviated at all since Nov 29th - not even over Christmas. I have my three meals, my krispbreads, my fruit snacks, my water, even some exercise (swimming) and my sleep. By this time I was hoping to be almost at goal, but at 60g approximately per week, that extra 6.6 kgs is going to take some time. I even spent all of last week looking into the mirror morning and night, looking myself in the eye and saying with conviction, "you're going to lose a hell of a lot of weight this week tweetybird!".
Any other ideas?
Tweetybird

[winghama]

Hi tweetybird.

Welcome to the forum and WELL DONE on what you have achieved so far. A lot of people experience a 'plateau' as they get closer to goal. It can last a couple of weeks, but everyone I have watched has had that move downward they were looking for.

Have you been swimming the whole time you have been on programme? If it is something you have added recently, that can slow or stop weightloss. Some people have tried mixing up their meals ie: having meal 2 or 3 for breakfast and having meal 1 for dinner.

Keep believing for that downward move - it will happen. Keep up the great work.

Andrea

[Alli]

Hi Tweetybird,

I'm with Andrea, if the swimming is new it could certainly be the problem. Mixing around your meals might help as well!

With the water, try having a 600mL bottle with your breakfast & on the way to work, and drink another one on your lunch break, and get what you can in between, and you will find it soon adds up. Try introducing Green Tea to your day - after I introduced it my losses accelerated again, it might not help but it certainly can't hurt!

Another thing that others have tried when hitting a plateau is to reduce their crispbreads by 1 or 2 for the day.

Most importantly though, contact your clinic about it - they should have a whole host of suggestions for you and they are the experts!

Hoping your losses start up again soon!

Alli

[lil_doll]

Hi Tweetybird...

Second month loses are rarely as grand as first month losses. A 'plateau' is pretty normal, really... but 3 weeks would be pretty frustrating!

As the others asked, is there anything you have changed recently? ie: the swimming... or maybe you have changed yogurt or something?

Also, it is important to remember that even if our bodies aren't physically losing kilos on the scales, Cohens is still working its' magic... Have you been keeping measurements?? Plateau time is often when all the actual shrinking takes place- you want your body to actually shrink not just lose weight... or you'd end up all saggy baggy!

Another thing... stress. Stress can have a huge impact on your results.

So... relax and let Cohens do its' thang

[tweetybird]

Thanks for the replies. I laughed when you wrote about stress lil_doll. I wrote my post on the Monday night and at lunchtime the next day we had our earthquake here in Christcurch. Well if I wasn't stressed before then I sure was after that. The Cohen's programme was a little difficult to follow with no power and no water and having family to live as refugees from houses that were no go. And water - well we had to be pretty careful with our water. There was no 2-3 litres of drinking water after that. The swimming has been throughout my time on Cohens and I must confess I have not measured any body dimensions. No swimming anymore at present though since no pools are open yet. Why do you think any new swimming could slow or stop weight loss?
Thanks for the suggestion about mixing up the meals - I could try that.
Anyway it continues to go slowly but at least I was down to 74.1 at last weigh so the trend is still down.
And it is lovely to have power again - although I do miss reading at night by torch light and listening to the transistor radio!

[lil_doll]

Hey Tweety...

Wow, so glad you are safe... It must have been a terrible time and impossible to keep 100% to program. At least you didn't do a complete blow-out.

Extra swimming or other exercise can use up more energy/calories than your program allows for... and then you risk going into starvation mode, where your body actually holds on to fat instead of losing it (your body wonders when its' next meal is coming, so it holds your fat as reserve, in case there is no more!). Not to mention that excess exercise (as in taking on more exercise than you were doing prior to and leading up to Cohens) can increase your appetite, making the program harder to stick to.

I don't even walk up the 2 flights of stairs to my car park at work... unless the lift is broken, haha

Stay safe!!