Easier weight gain after Cohens??

[Alibaba]

Hi

Is it just me or are there other people out there that think they gain weight more easily after than before Cohens?

I finished refeeding at the beginning of December. I gained a few kgs VERY fast, but it looks like my weight is stabilising now (although 4 kgs above my end of refeeding weight). I really find that I can't eat bread or other carbs as I can't stop once I start (it's like a switch that can't be turned off). I try to follow the mainenance guidelines where ever possible. It was a bad time of year as I lost count of the amount of Christmas parties, etc I attended. I gained as much as 2 kg after one single 3-course meal (a lunch, my works' Chrismas party) and have still not lost it. I even ran 10km that morning and had a very light dinner to compensate, but still gained that much in one day (basically impossible???). I feel like my body really grabs onto the "bad" stuff in my diet and immediately converts it to fat.

I'd love to hear other people's opinions.

[hexi2]

I think our bodies are very sensitive once we finish Cohens and mostly its fluid as 2 days on reset will get rid of it...I also think that we think we should be able to eat the same portion sizes (as we may of as fat people) but we cant...we are a lot smaller and therefore the body needs a lot less to run 'we are fuel efficient cars now' and only need a little to run a long way

[kiwinui]

This is exactly my experience, I can have some carbs, even a small portion and bang, I put on a kilo. I managed to put on 6 kilos in ten days and I thought i was being restrained, exercising, alcohol free days etc...

It's really quite scary!

[Alibaba]

Thanks for the replies. I think the answer is really that we can't eat as before, neither can we eat just what we want when we want. We will always need to be carefull in our food choices. I can live with my current weight (I never reached goal weight), but I really don't want to put on anymore, especially since I want another baby this year. I love excercise, but I have been sick since after Christmas, so I can't do much now and then we are going abroad for a month. Neither is it is easy to excercise with a toddler in the house.

[fornight]

I was told that there will a lot of fluctuations during the initial maintenance period. I think these fluctuation gets really disturbing now since we are so used to seeing reducing trend during phase 1. It will probably take quite some time for me to get used to it.

[Lulabelle]

I also gained weight incredibly quickly after finishing my Cohen's program. But I wasn't even remotely sticking to my maintenance guidelines.

The most I put on in one day was 3.6kgs. Now I know the bulk of that was naturally fluid, but my mistake was that I saw that figure, freaked out and PIGGED out (my issue, not Cohen's).

This time around I have made peace with one very simple fact... I will never again be able to eat the way I have for most of my life. My preferred eating habits make me overweight. Simple. The choice before me is to eat what I want... and be the weight I don't want to be... or to modify what I eat and how much I eat FOREVER... and to stay the weight I want to be.

Alibaba after your quick gains, did you do the couple of days of reset?

As much as I hate to admit it, in the early stages after finishing my program if I had big gains and DID do the reset, I lost the weight as quickly as I put it on. That to me proves at least that NO, my body wasn't converting those naughty foods directly into fat. If I reset quickly enough, my body didn't have a chance to turn those gains into fat and I lost it so quickly that the bulk of it must have been fluid.

Unfortunately I've left it so long that most of my gains have probably turned into glorious fat deposits. But that's why I'm doing the program again.

If your body is reacting really strongly to carbs, the truth is you may just be someone who carbs really don't agree with (which is the case for the majority of people I know) and you may have to limit them for life and after choosing to indulge in them you may have to reset again.

I need to make peace with changing my eating habits for life if I want to keep my body at or near my goal weight this time around. I realise that now. For me it's basically an ultimatum... I either eat what I want and be the weight I don't want, or I get to be the weight I DO want and not eat what I want.

At this point, I'm willing to learn to adapt my diet for life if it means being my ideal weight and feeling fit and healthy and happy.

[FlaMie]

This is also one thing I'm learning to come to terms to. Great thread! Really, a little food will simply bump me up to 2kg overnight! I'm so totally shocked out initially and still is actually, though not as much.

I also reckon that the FAST increase in weight has got to do with the unfamiliar 'new' food being introduced into the body and the body doesn't know what to do with them. Hence, practice the refeed principles. When you introduce new food... introduce it slowly and repeat it until the body is familiar with it and stops weight fluctuations. That's what I do anyway.

[Tantravaya]

Over the years I have done a lot of research on body shape and diet. I have an android shape and have known for a long time that complex carbohydrates are my downfall. Whilst I was doing Cohens I even stopped eating the crispbreads because I just felt that they were wrong for me.

I have been on maintenance for a few months now and taking it all very very slowly. As primarily a vegetarian I stick with low fat cheese and the occasional falafel and the rare smoked salmon as my proteins. I eat lots of salad and veges although mainly Cohens friendly. I eat yoghurt for breakfast. Mainly I stick with Cohen's meals. Three meals a day, 5 hours between proteins and don't mix proteins has become my mainstay and no starches or complex carbs. I eat fruit between meals.

On the other hand I can eat as much chocolate, cheesecake, icecream etc as I like, following the mixing protein rules. Simple sugar doesn't seem a problem. I finished refeed at 54kg (my Cohen's goal was 56-59kg) and in the last few months my weight has only varied between 54.2kg and 54.8kg and I weigh every day.

My experience has affirmed what I discovered years ago and what seems to apply to most people I know. If you are android or thyroid shape then complex carbs and starches are a problem but fats are ok. If you are lymphatic and gynoidal then fats are a no no and complex carbs and starches are ok. For me it isn't possible to eat "a little" the answer seems to be in eliminating all the carbs and starches so no potato, root veges, rice, grains etc. I was on a plane the other day and ate a tiny quinoa muffin. Within minutes I was craving complex carbs and it took me days to get over it.

How does your body shape fit with this theory?

http://www.weightcontroldoctor.com.a...page=bodytypes

[Thumbelina]

Originally Posted by Tantravaya

If you are android or thyroid shape then complex carbs and starches are a problem but fats are ok. If you are lymphatic and gynoidal then fats are a no no and complex carbs and starches are ok.

Here's hoping this is true! According to the website I'm gynoidal and I love carbs!

[littlemiss]

Tantravaya, interesting theory.

Checked the website and I'm definitely a gynaeioid body shape. Rather sad that if so, I can't have fats, but complex carbs and starches are ok. Are you also on the raw juice diet? (as recommended on that website).

[fornight]

I am 100% android shape! The only thing that I don't have from the website is "excess facial and body hair (hirsutism), acne and hair loss from the scalp in the male pattern of hair loss." Other than that, everything seems to apply to me!

Actually I do feel a little of what Tantravaya experience about crackers. I have to be extremely careful with crackers. If I just exceed a little, the cravings go crazy. This is sad because during refeed and maintenance, I really really crave for complex carbs! I also seem to have a problem with cheese and butter but I wonder if it was because I eat them with the crackers?

This is really interesting!!!! Thank you for sharing it with us, Tantravaya!!! I am glad to know that we have the same shape because that means I have a role model to follow!!!

[Alibaba]

Tantravaya, I wish I was as successfull as you, more so because our weights were similar. I started Cohens at 78kg and ended at 61kg. I never reached my goal weight of 56-59kg, so I really envy you for being so good.
It feels like the more I read, talk and study what foods are good/bad for me, the more obsessed about food it makes me. It is really a vicious circle. It consumes my every thought, every day (when can I eat, how much, what effect will it have on my weight, should I have this or shouldn't I, I am still hungry or I shouldn't have had that, etc). That per se isn't healthy! But because I am one of the unlucky ones I will always have to watch what I eat.
I do find eating Cohens-like very difficult with a family. Try feeding a 3-year old (who loves pasta) and a skinny husband mushrooms, zucchini and only stirfried meat and see their faces!!!

[lil_doll]

Hey Ali...

Sorry to hear you are struggling

Can you speak to the clinic? Or is it more like 'once you're done, you're on your own!'??

You could serve your family that stir fry and give them rice? Or make a noodle dish... but cook the saucy bit first, take out your serve then cook through their noodles?? Just some thoughts

xMissy

[Tantravaya]

I am fortunate that I just cook for me and don't have a family to feed these days. I really understand your plight Alibaba. At one stage some years back I was cooking 3 different meals each mealtime for 3 different food needs.

Yes Fornight the cheese and butter issue could well be because of the cracker base.

Cravings seem to be our downfall that's for sure. I have struggled with cravings for carbs for many years. I think what has helped me now is that I have found that a big favourite (chocolate) doesn't affect me negatively and so I can gladly accept that carbs are out because I can still have some indulgences. When all the little goodies and treats are on the "no" list, we are bound to end up indulging in what we know we shouldn't.

Does the secret to losing the cravings lie in finding a treat that is ok, an indulgence that doesn't hurt?

[FlaMie]

Very true about the bit on indulgence and cravings. I crave for carbo here and there especially since so many different types of food in Singapore are made primarily from carbs. However, I've found that I'm ok with simple sugar such as those found in drinks and I'm also ok with milk so I can indulge in tea with milk but I skip the sugar though and even 2 - 3 cups a day seems ok still for me. But lo and behold I can't take carbs (nope nothing more than prolly 3 spoonfuls of rice or 3 pieces of bread a day). Well, one wins some and loses some others... a dreadful choice to make but gotta stick to it

[divineparadise]

Oh man, I belong to the Lymphatic body type...

[littlemiss]

I can't answer the original question as posted by Alibaba because prior to Cohen's I NEVER weighed myself. Only perhaps once a year when I have to go to the doctor for a medical check-up and they make you weigh yourself.

I am wondering that the weight fluctuations are more normal than we think, and as a poster said, because we have be so used to dropping weight on Cohen's, to see it go up and down (or up up) makes us freak out?

I admit, weighing myself every morning is something I look forward to now. I am trying different foods on maintenance, adding here and there and I am naturally curious to see how it affects my body. I think sometimes, the effects take more than 24 hours to show up though, hence the importance to eat mindfully every single day. It doesn't have to be a drudgery when you enjoy your meals!

[jlou]

Well I am lymphatic too.... So carbs should be ok but fats aren't? Will see how I go on refeed I guess as I have always bought carbs to be my problem....

[rosno]

I started the program in April 2009 at 90kg. My goal range is 61-64kg and within 5 months I got to 66.6kg when I started refeeding. At the end of refeeding, I was 64.8kg. I was so thrilled with my results and continued to eat the Cohens way while on maintenance. By January 2010, I had reduced to 60kg. I started eating more sweets and carbs and continued to yoyo diet between cohens and carb eating. I also was exercising. Slowly the weight starting creeping up. I also stopped exercising about 6 weeks ago due to increased social functions and more eating out.

I am a thyroid body type and I think that carbs and sweets are my problem. A few times I have gone back on my original program for a week and lose 2 kg but as soon as I go back to maintenance (even without the carbs) I stack on a kilo or 2.

After joining this site, I am now more focused and want to get back on track. Lay off the carbs, get back into exercising. We have 5 weddings to go to in a matter of 2 months and I just need to remain focused.

My weight gain has not been just fluid as the fat is more obvious and people have noticed it. This will require a dedicated effort to get back to 63-64kg and keep it there. Get got my old notes out and read that it is 2 years in April that I started, lost 30kg in total (below goal) and that's a huge plus.

Anyone can do it. Thanks for the tips everyone.

[lil_doll]

Hey Rosno...

Good luck with your tune-up!