Kristine's Refeed Diary 2009

[Annabelle Joy]

You might like to try steamed fish with a nice salsa on top, Kristine. I think that at the time we grew up, the way you describe it was the only way to cook fish.

What was your original starting weight when you did the diet the first time?

AJ

[Kristine..]

Hi AJ

I peaked at 87 kilos - the day after arriving back from England after having been on a flying visit as Mike's Mother had died suddenly - and started the program in 2006 at an official weight of 85 kilos.

I finished at 60 kilos in 2006 and dropped to 58.5 kilos during refeed.

So a total loss of 28.5 kilos, more than 30% of my body weight.

Yes, yes, England is a weight hazard! While there in 2008 I put on 8 kilos in just under 5 months, and weighed 75 kilos on arriving back home.

Now back at 60 kilos again. I expect and will now remain at 60 kilos.

As an adult, I always bumped around 63 kilos except during pregnancies. But even when pregnant, I don't think I reached 87 kilos.

I was obese and couldn't even tie my shoelaces without going through a manoeuvre to do it. I am 165 cms (5'4") tall. The distension of my abdomen was significant. I always looked about 7 months pregnant and was very aware of the rotund profile. We don’t do boobs and bums, in my genetic family we do barrels and bellies.

For the year or so that I was 60 – 62 kilos I felt very capable, confident and smart. However even the 2 kilos meant that buttons were a bit strained.

I will always have a spare tyre when I sit down. This is the stretched skin – not the surface skin, but the actual organ of the skin. The three babies were all big, but the most damage was done by the obesity.

Now, when standing, shirts and tops fall the way the fabric was intended. I can tuck my shirt in if I want to. And really, that’s all I wanted to achieve: to be able to tuck my shirt in!

At 58 I don’t want to look like ‘mutton dressed up as lamb’. I am not in competition with my Daughter, who is of the same build and who also weighs 60 kilos. I just want to look like myself, without the distraction of the fat.

I can now wear tank tops and fitted shirts and tailored pants and not look as if I am wearing someone else’s clothes.

It’s nice to wear size small. It’s nice to be back where I belong. It's nice to feel as I want to look and I intend to stay this way.

[Annabelle Joy]

Kristine, I'm theorising, on relatively little data so might be entirely wrong, that those who have yo-yo dieted in the past, or who have gone to the top end of the obese scale and beyond have more difficulty maintaining a steady weight in refeed. Those who have in general been able to maintain a stable weight but may over several years have slowly become overweight or low end obese are better able to maintain a stable weight in maintenance. I'm one of the former, and if I had eaten the things you described in your earlier post my weight would immediately have gone up 1-2 kgs. Most of it would have been fluid and it would have disappeared fairly quickly, but there would still be a gradual trend up.

I agree re being slim and clothing. I love being able to wear virtually anything I care to, and know that I look pretty good in it. I'm a bums and thighs person. My tummy is pretty flat and no excess skin when I'm standing.

AJ

[Kristine..]

Hi AJ

Yes, I agree with you regarding the pattern of weight and the ability to hold steady after finally achieving goal weight.

I never dieted before. Ever. My standard 63 kilos didn't very much over the years but after I sold the child care centre, and opened a shop in 1994, the weight gradually rose to 87 kilos in January, 2006.

So it took 12 years to accumulate 24 kilos, and believe me, that 24 kilos was packed on solid.

No blubbery, squidgy bits for me. I was stretched tight as a drum. I really filled my skin, and no doubt all my internal organs were displaced, too.

After completing the 2006 program, with losing all that weight in 20 weeks, I really noticed that the body had to reshape itself, reposition itself, and not just the external organ we all focus on, the skin.

All sorts of other bits of me had to adjust, too, and that took the better part of six months before I felt that everything was back in position. Asy's comments regarding the stents in a post last week were, I think, close to the mark. Rapid weight loss causes the supporting fat to dissapear, and internal organs are left without that support. Until the tissues and muscles have time to readjust everything is in a bit of limbo.

The supposition that if we have always been overweight then it will be harder to establish maintenance brings back in to question my comment regarding de-sweetening our tastes, and changing how and what we eat.

Doing a program such as this is one thing, immediately returning to eg milk in drinks, sugar in drinks, sweetening the yoghurt while on the program, returning to rolls, sandwiches and pastries for lunch etc and my personal bugbear, returning to potatoes, carrots, peas, beans, corn - the staple frozen vegetables of the suburban fridge - make it so much harder to maintain weight.

There are various cultures in the world which seem to have no problem with obesity. Leaving aside the issue of lack of food, the basic or core diets which seem to promote health and longevity are simple foods eaten without processing, and certainly eaten without added sweetening.

Not that I want to eat a diet of sushi, but the use of vinegar, small but frequent meals of spiced food, high fibre, lots of variety of ingredients, a range of animal proteins, minimal deserts etc would seem to be ideal.


I think that learned taste, and learned hunger response, creates a double whammy.

We eat more than we need, and we eat festive foods every day. We fear hunger, and I think that is ingrained in us, but we do not manage that perception of hunger very well.

On Cohen's we do not experience hunger, and that teaches us that hunger is not a 'given'. Hunger is caused by the type of food we eat.

If we can start each day with appropriate protein, and top up that protein at regular intervals, then across the 24 hours we should not have any hunger at all.

The temptation to then 'grab a sandwich' or some other, unplanned, food will be minimised.

I have two sons. One eats Asian type food as his primary preference. One eats bread.

No: 1 Son is as skinny as a rake. Always has been. Would never take sandwiches to school, would buy a salad or a stir fry at the canteen.

So: 2 Son, while slim, is developing a paunch at age 21. He just loves bread, fried food, potatoes, etc. Not cakes, but just lots of tucker. Good 'ol fry ups, that's what he likes.

They are both of the same genetic stock, but it is their food preferences which are going to make their weights easy to manage, or impose a constant state of vigilance.


Ah, well, back to refeed I go. It's a bit cooler here today so I am going to do oven baked schnitzel with some lovely veal which Mike has bought for me, followed by banana bread pudding. Got to use up the milk somehow!

[Kristine..]

Dear Diary


Refeed Day: 9
Refeed Start Weight: 60.00 kilos
Today's Weight: 60 kilos (9&Half Stone)
Feeling: Good


Today's Menu:

Reduce Old Protein
Add New Protein
Maintain Old Vegetables
2 Bad Fruit
3 Bread
Milk can be exchanged for some of the Old Protein.


So Meal 1: Yoghurt & Kiwi as usual
Bad Fruit: Watermelon
Meal 2: Crumbed Veal and a mouthful of Lamb. Casseroled vegetables, 1& half Bread (half a slice was crumbed in the Bamix mill)

Meal 3: Bread, banana and egg custard baked pudding, with a fresh peach. The banana turned an interesting shade of grey, but it was very yummy.

Still to go: The remainder of today's vegetables (I think some nice, fresh cucumber will do it) and an Orange.


By golly Miss Molly, if my weight still hasn't changed - up or down - by tomorrow I think I'll eat my hat as well.

Today was an enormous amount of food. Much more than I would usually eat, much more than I want to eat.

But I have to admit, the custard was surprisingly nice. I used to look forward to Bread & Butter pudding (with sultanas & lashings of cream!)as a child, and it is still on many menus in UK. Nostalgia food, good honest stuff .... except, of course, for the bread and the milk!

Anyway, tomorrow I get to add MORE food. Tomorrow is carbohydrate day. I might do chicken shaslicks with a bit of 'fried rice' - I'm sure there is some pork lurking in the freezer somewhere to contribute to my New Protein.


Pardon me while I waddle off. I certainly feel as if I weigh 87 kilos all over again!

[Annabelle Joy]

I agree re the effects of carb foods, Kristine. I did Atkins twice, maintained for, in one case, a year at the low weight. My downfall each time was leftover carb food (the best chocolate cake I've ever eaten, and leftovers from a party) that I ate up over several days and that got me hooked back on carbs again, and my weight went steadily up. Those high carb vegetables that you mentioned are staples in our society, and these days it seems that they are the only vegetables that many will eat.

It was a revelation to me when I discovered that not everyone loved sweet foods. My cousin, slim as can be, loves vegetables, undressed, not interested in sweet things. How much easier to maintain weight when your favorite foods are the ones with least calories!

Bread and butter pudding was a typical dessert in our house too. And, of course, there was dessert with every meal, maybe just bread, jam and cream for lunch.

AJ

[Kristine..]

Dear Diary


Refeed Day: 10
Refeed Start Weight: 60.00 kilos
Today's Weight: 60 kilos (9&Half Stone)
Feeling: Good

Yep, still the same weight. Amazing, all this food and no reaction. No Early Warning sirens, no 'Quick, folks, into Fat Making mode'. No reaction at all. This refeed certainly is an amazing business!


Today's Menu:

Reduce Old Protein
Add New Protein
Maintain Old Vegetables
2 Bad Fruit
3 Bread + Carbohydrate
Milk can be exchanged for some of the Old Protein.


Meal 1: Yoghurt & kiwi

Meal 2: Standard steak, baby spinach, tomato & mushroom salsa
1 Bread
Watermelon

Meal 3: Grilled, crumbed veal & a bite of lamb
Cream of mushroom, cauliflower & zucchini soup with shell pasta
Salada ( the bread was gone!)
Banana
Orange


I had an evening appointment and was really ready for my dinner by the time I got home. But what to cook? So with the help of my trusty Bamix I powdered 2 quarters of Salada and dusted the meat with the crumbs and grilled it under the griller, as distinct from pan frying.

The 'soup' was thick, like a puree, and the pasta made a nice change. By adding the milk allowance, I had 'cream of' which was also good.

The pears still aren't ripe, so it will be banana again today, and the orange later.


Tomorrow there is only New Protein as an adjustment (Old Protein at standard weight for the other meal) and I get to have New Vegetables. Mike bought an eggplant (aubergine) two weeks ago - so I can finally start to eat it.

Not really fussed about this as a vegetable, but if part of my planning is to avoid legumes as a daily vegetable then I shall have to expand my vegetable choices. I think crumbed and grilled slices (slice?) may be the way to go. Make it into a 'savoury' rather than treat it as a vegetable.

I also get butter tomorrow. Hmmm. Now, what can I do with 1tsp butter? This will require some creative thinking. Stay tuned for the next exciting instalment: 50 uses for 1tsp butter!!

[louise41]

Hi Kristine, it looks like you are nice and stable on your refeed and feeling great. May I ask you a question. I just notice that on my refeed I jump stratight from 1 slice of bread to 3, i suspect this is a mistake, did they take you from one to two to three?

[hexi2]

Greaqt going Kristine - I cant wait to redo refeed and really be able to appreciate it this time around!

[Mette]

Good thing I was having lunch while reading through your post, Kristine, otherwise that would have made me hungry!
I think you're very right about the habits that we need to get into to maintain the weight. Occasional splurges are ok as long as the majority of our lifestyle follows the Cohens guidelines - especially if we stay away from preservatives!
Keep up the great work!

[Kristine..]

Dear Diary


Refeed Day: 11
Refeed Start Weight: 60.00 kilos
Today's Weight: 60 kilos (9&Half Stone)
Feeling: Good

The food amounts are starting to feel about right, although I was out of inspiration for Meal 3.

I want my old program back! Life was simple then. Ah, well, we must give up the things of youth and become adults. The refeed is a Rite of Passage, between that subordinate 'Dr Cohen said that this was my program' to 'I'm taking responsibility for my weight and for my life'.

It's a bit of a struggle, adolescence, and so is refeed .... in less than a week I shall be on my own and I can feel the hawsers being thrown, one by one, back to the dock. Soon, the SS Kristine will set sail but oh! life was easy on the program!


Today's Menu:

Standard Old Protein
Increase New Protein
Decrease Old Vegetables
Introduce New Vegetables
2 Bad Fruit
3 Bread + Carbohydrate
Milk can be exchanged for some of the Old Protein.


Meal 1: Yoghurt & kiwi

Meal 2: Cheese pizza on Salada (forgot about the bread!)
Watermelon

Meal 3: Grilled, crumbed lamb & a reduced serve of beef
Cream of cauliflower, broccoli, celery & zucchini soup with shell pasta
3 Bread
Peach
Banana
Orange

Actually, now that I am writing this, I had one too many Bread because I had the Salada earlier!

I didn't really want the 3rd Bread, I messed about wondering what to do with it. In the end I ate it with the banana, which meant I didn't really enjoy either the bread or the banana.

The crumbed lamb was nice. We don't grill meat under the griller much. Mike does all the cooking and in England his family didn't have a griller, whereas my Mum used to grill meat if she wasn't roasting it. We never used a fry pan for meat. With four children, there wouldn't have been room on the stove top, anyway, to fit frypans and saucepans, so the oven or the griller was always used to cook meat. Unless it was corned beef, which sat in a big boiler, simmering at the back of the stove for most of the day, with vinegar and cloves wafting through the house.

Of course, nowadays every back porch has a barbeque but I think that bbqs are over rated. Never did see the benefit in eating burnt sausages and meat which has shrivelled up. Bah! Humbug!

So I didn't get to eat the eggplant. It's looking a bit sad but will last another few days until I can cut enough of it to make it worthwhile.

Other than that, today was a strange day. My commercial managing agent paid the insurance which I had already paid, the RBA reduced the Cash Rate by 1.00% which will be great help to us, another First Home Buyer arrived out of the blue as a customer, and a couple of other customers who have dawdled about for a while have decided to make a move so my desk was starting to look organised and suddenly I've got a full Task List again.

Wouldn't have it any other way. Remember the State Savings Bank and how the tellers used to have lights above their stations? When they were ready for the next customer, they would press a button, a chime would sound and their light would come on. Next, Please!

Trouble is, someone keeps pushing my button and there's now a bit of a queue at my window. Thank, you God. I'll be with you in a tick!



Thanks, Louise, Mette and Hexi for dropping by. Louise, I answered your bread question in your Diary.

Hexi, I can't really remember doing refeed last time. I did do it, my program has notes written all over it, but I can't remember it.

This time, and I think this is because I am adjusting only the one meal, I am feeling more involved.

A lot of things we do are more fun the second time around. We have more confidence, less stress.

My Daughter had a box of chocolates beside her tonight - she and Mike were watching Dr Who. I picked up the box and smelled the chocolates, breathed in their fragrance, then put the box down and walked out of the room. No temptation to eat one, the smell was enough. They looked nice chocolates, but not superb chocolates, and in future only 'superb' will be good enough for me!

[hexi2]

It really is amazing that your weight has stayed exactly the same...not even a 100gm shift! Very excited and looking forward to refeed this time with confidence!

[lucylou]

Hi Kristine

How wonderful to read your refeed diary, full of insights and wisdom. After 3 months on maintenance and my weight all over the place I'm going back on plan next week and then doing refeed again to stabilise. It's the sugar and wheat that's the problem for me, I was hoping it would be different this time, the definition of insanity I believe.

I love the fact your family took the chickens on holiday. The Hubby and I love our 2 girls, 2 eggs a day and non-stop entertainment, but we have yet to take them with us when we go away. I might suggest it to him next time!

x

Loulou

[Kristine..]

Dear Diary


Refeed Day: 12
Refeed Start Weight: 60.00 kilos
Today's Weight: 60 kilos (9&Half Stone)
Feeling: Good


Today's Menu:

Reduce Old Protein
Increase New Protein
Decrease Old Vegetables (more than previously but less than yesterday)
Increase New Vegetables
2 Bad Fruit
3 Bread (Rye) + Carbohydrate + butter
Milk can be exchanged for some of the Old Protein.


Meal 1: Yoghurt & kiwi

Meal 2: Standard Beef and Salad
1 Bread

Meal 3: Grilled, crumbed lamb & a bite of veal
Grilled eggplant and potato (leftover potatoes from yesterday's roast)
1/2 Bread for crumbs, 1/2 Bread plain
Watermelon
Peach
Banana, Bread & Milk steamed pudding (in a pudding basin, steamed in a saucepan)

And ... I forgot the butter!

Orange



Bit of a rushed day. Rocketed off to inspect the apartment No: 2 Son is interested in. Went back to the Agency to put in an offer. An hour and a half later, the Sales Rep showed us the door!

Not often I get up someone's nose to that extent! Was it something I said?

He had decided to run the show. Fair enough, but he didn't ask any questions, so when he had finished pfing around with Special Conditions which would certainly not stand up at VCAT, he then decided the time was right to 'cut to the chase' and had an absolute dummy spit when Son said that he wanted to use a Deposit Bond.

For those of you interstate, you are used to Deposit Bonds. In Victoria there is Section 27 of the Sale of Land Act which allows for Early Release of Deposit, so it is the custom here for Agents to push for 10% Deposit ... in Cash!

That can be quite a lot of money, honey, the aim being that once Requisitions on Title are answered, and the Sale is unconditional, that the Vendor can apply for the Early Release of Deposit and the buyer can not 'unreasonably refuse' to allow the release.

The Agent then does an Account Sale on the funds held in the Trust Account, pays their commission and agreed expenses, and remits the balance to the Vendor.

So as a Buyer, why would you not use a Deposit Bond? The Bond then sits with the Vendor's representative and at Settlement, is handed back to your representative, who returns it to you and you notify the Bond company that the Bond is now cancelled.

But the particular Agent (who should get out more!) professed to 'knowing nothing' about Deposit Bonds and 'in all his years of experience had probably seen only two.' Pfft!

By the time he decided that the interview was over he was shaking with rage. Strange man. Perhaps he should rethink his career path?

Oh, well, never mind. In six months when that property is still on the market Son can buy it then for less than he offered today. He has done that before. The very first property he put an offer on, the Vendor refused point blank. Son then bought the property he has inspected earlier in the afternoon for the price offered. Six months exactly later, he bought the first property for less than he had offered previously, and this time the vendor accepted without a peep!

In case this Agent hasn't heard, we are moving into a recession. I can certainly remember the 1989-1994 Recession We Had To Have. I bought my first investment property in 1994. I had driven past the house for months, had seen the gigantic For Sale board and one day decided to buy it. I bought it for the balance of the Vendor's mortgage.

Mind you, the lounge room was painted pumpkin orange, the curtains were lime green, and the bathroom had about six different tile patterns, but hey! nobody's perfect and over the years I have fiddled about with it inbetween tenants and everybody who has lived there has just loved it, Mission Brown, single bowl sink, and all.


So by the time we got back here I had about twenty messages and ninety-three emails and an evening appointment to go to, so a quick beef and salad and I was off again.

Meal 3 has been a three course banquet. Larger, and later than I would have liked, but bedtime is nowhere in sight so not really a problem.




Hexi, my scales are the old fashioned dial type. Plus, I have not bothered about 100 grams here or there during the program and not bothered about slight shifts in the dial now. Any time I stand on the scales the weight is slightly different, if I rock backwards the weight changes. From my myopic position peering at the sometimes blurry figures, the weight has been 60 kilos and that will do me.

But yes, I consider that the weight has not changed over the past twelve days. I thought it would, even felt so heavy some evenings that I was sure it would, but it hasn't.


Hi loulou, thanks for your kind words and thanks again for reminding me that I had that long forgotten Bamix mill in the cupboard! Your recipes were certainly inspiring to me, and made my cooking a lot more interesting.

My Daughter was house sitting recently, complete with goat, chooks and roosters. She was so intimidated by the roosters that she used to have to get back-up from a neighbour when she went into the chook run. But she loved the fresh eggs. Our neighbours here have chooks, and it is lovely to hear them talking away in chook talk.

When I was on the program in 2006 I alternated yoghurt with eggs, but haven't done so this time. As a result I really enjoyed the egg custard the other day, it's been a while since I ate an egg.

Cheers!

[Annabelle Joy]

Interesting about deposits these days, Kristine. It's only in the relatively recent past that the deposit has paid out as soon as requisitions on title were answered. It always used to be that the deposit was placed in the solicitor's trust fund until settlement. Deposit bonds are advocated by various people who give seminars on property investing, so I'm surprised that the agent didn't know more about them.

All scales are affected by where you stand on them and the angle you are leaning, because they use pressure points underneath, and it depends in the pressure that's actually on those points. I try always to stand in the same position and at the same angle to get consistent readings.

AJ

[Aslan]

Hi Kristine

Just read through your refeed diary - you are doing so well!!!!! It is amazing how your weight has stayed so constant throughout this - I agree with AJ and your theory about this - I think if you have been a regular dieter before, your body never really knows if it has to use its stores or go into fast mode - because yours isnt used to it, it must have found its true equilibrium. It will be really interesting to see if your weight fluctuates much in maintenance!

Congratulations, almost there x

[Kristine..]

Dear Diary


Refeed Day: 13
Refeed Start Weight: 60.00 kilos
Today's Weight: 60 kilos (9&Half Stone)
Feeling: Good


Today's Menu:

Reduce Old Protein (more than standard but less than the peak increase)
Reduce New Protein (slightly less than Day 12 which was more than Day 11))
Decrease Old Vegetables (more than previously but less than yesterday)
Increase New Vegetables
2 Bad Fruit
3 Bread (Rye) + Carbohydrate + butter
Milk can be exchanged for some of the Old Protein.

I didn't bother with the milk today, but made sure that I remembered the butter!

Meal 1: Youghurt with Kiwi

Meal 2: Cold beef plus a Veal stir fry. Vegetables included eggplant, carrot, potato and a tsp of corn and peas, plus the usual mushrooms, zucchini, tomato.

2 Bread
The last of the watermelon (a very small amount), and 1 pear (which was very nice)

Meal 3: Cheese pizza on 1 buttered bread

Still to go: Banana and Orange.

Tomorrow I get 1 Plain Biscuit. I have put Teddy Bears on the shopping list. Haven't had a Teddy Bear biscuit in years - they are nicer than plain Marie biscuits, at least the rest of the family will eat the Bears, too.

Tomorrow I can also exchange 1 standard glass of wine for 1 Bread. Mike bought me a cask of white wine last week and it has been sitting on the bench in anticipation.

I have also put in my order for some pork for tomorrow. Spicy port stir fry sounds like a plan.



So only 3 days to go. But not really. I have enjoyed the program so much I think that I will keep some packets of serving size chicken, beef etc in the freezer for my lunches. I am hopeful that Mike will do the program in the not too far distant future. Daughter is moving back to the Valley - she has got a job and starts on Monday! Her first step towards being a Political Correspondent and hopefully the placement will advance to a Cadetship. Mind you, four years of University and an Honours Double Degree qualifies her to be a Cadet Journalist! Her ex-boyfriend had her first published article framed, which was very nice of him. So she is off to be a go-fer and No: 2 Son is hopeful of buying something soon to move in to, so it will just be Mike and me. He will have no excuse!


So my days of 'Cooking Cohen's' are not over yet.


Thanks for your comments, Aslan. I think the whole science of weight loss has become so entangled with commercial products and promotions that the reasons and causes behind obesity have become forgotten.

Cohen's teaches us how to eat. It's quite simple, but we are not taught how to eat. We eat what is put in front of us as children, and our tastes develop from there.

If we are raised on lean steaks that is what we will like. Roast dinners, take away, lots of processed snack food - whatever has been the food culture of our family is what we, as adults, will multiply by ten.

We have always had an open attitude towards wine, beer etc in the house. However, we seldom drink, and never more than a couple of glasses. The children all have exotic collections of wines, beers, spirits etc Many are still in boxes or haven't been opened.

The same goes for food. The Christmas Hamper chocolates and sweets can still be unopened in July or August. Ditto Easter eggs.

But when I was putting on the weight, I drank Sherry. Mike used to write the date on the label! I bought it by the flagon and used to drink a sherry as soon as I got home. 'Is the sun over the yardarm?' was the catchcry.

But that sherry was drunk on an empty stomach. I now know that is the worst way to drink - feel the insulin rush! That's it for the day, the body rushes to stabilise blood sugar levels, the liver fires up, and dinner becomes fat.

Now, if I intend to drink, I will do what I did after 2006 - eat protein half an hour before we leave. Don't drink sherry.

Sweets are eaten more as a desert, and after a meal containing carbohydrate, rather than starting and stopping. How to eat is just as important as what to eat.

'Where's the protein in that?' I ask all the time. 'Call 1 slice of ham protein? That's just flavouring the bread' I tell them.

Finished Cohen's? I will never be finished Cohen's.

Much as I respect and honour the program, I don't want to do it again. Once was enough, twice was my fault. Hopefully I will make sure that there is not a third time.

So tomorrow is Wine day. But I forgot the butter yesterday, didn't want the milk today, am missing the Saladas even though it's nice bread ........

And I'm still not hungry!

[fair rose_za]

Hi Kristine. You are doing so well
I agree with u on how u love cohen's but not wanting to do it again. From what i've read many ppl will end up doing it twice at least. This was my first round but after this will be trial and error and i will see what will keep my wt stable. Those who have done it more than once, the 2nd time round they seem more matured and i think the expectations are not really the same as b4. Some are initially really desperate to go to the ultimate low wt given but sometimes it's really difficult to maintain it. SO it's best to get within the normal range and the body will decide what it's comfortable with. But then this is just my opinion :P

[Kristine..]

Dear Diary


Refeed Day: 14
Refeed Start Weight: 60.00 kilos
Today's Weight: 60 kilos (9&Half Stone)
Feeling: Good


Today's Menu:

Reduce Old Protein (minimal Old Protein now)
Increase New Protein (Heaps!)
Decrease Old Vegetables (more than previously but the same as yesterday)
Maintain New Vegetables
2 Bad Fruit
3 Bread (Rye) + Carbohydrate + butter
Milk can be exchanged for some of the Old Protein.


Again, I chose not to have milk, but I exchanged 1 Bread for a glass of wine.

The wine tasted somewhat like paint stripper, but I drank it as part of the conditioning process, plus we are going to a Birthday Party tomorrow and I will have a glass of wine there. So today was in preparation for tomorrow.

I had peas & corn for the carbohydrate, and remembered the butter. The bread tasted quite oily with the butter, but again, this is about conditioning so I ate it.

I will probably have tuna & veg/salad for Meal 3. I have no more bread or even crispbread to eat today.

I ate the last ripe pear, but have no other Bad Fruit so have to accept the deviation of not eating 2 Bad Fruits.

And, we have no biscuits, Teddy Bear or otherwise, so again a deviation for missing the biscuit. Maybe I will have 2 quarters of Salada with the tuna and call that a biscuit.

I must admit that I'm running out of steam. I also admit that tomorrow would be difficult to be strictly within the refeed guidelines. On the standard program, eating out is relatively easy - you do get an eye for portion sizes. I know I could eat a sizeable amount of just about anything tomorrow - the party will be a bbq with salads - Melbourne is expected to reach 45 degrees tomorrow - but I am prepared to write off tomorrow and do Day 15 on Sunday, Day 16 on Monday and then that's it.

Anyway, I'll see what I do eat on Saturday and what my weight is on Sunday before I make a decision.

The weight has been extremely stable right through refeed, so I don't expect anything dramatic to happen but it could.



Rose, I think you make an interesting point about expectations and maturity. Program #1 is so surprising, and the results happen so quickly, that it is very tempting to see how low you can go.

But after the Seven Day Wonder wears off and we adjust to our new weight we gradually forget how horrible it was being obese. And then it becomes too easy to forgive ourselves a kilo or three - after all, we are 'nothing like' what we were like before.

And then we wake up one day and we have put on a third / a half or more of the weight we lost, and we suddenly wake up and realise that we are going straight back to where we were.

Second time around is a very valuable experience. It is no harder or easier than the first time, the thrill is still there, and it is more personal experience because second time, nobody really notices.

Except us.




I had an interesting experience today, I think I have found No: 2 Son's next property. This is the redevelopment of a Heritage listed Fire Station in a lovely street in a lovely, leafy, Melbourne suburb. A developer with an excellent reputation and a well thought out development.

Because it is 'Off The Plan' with a twelve month build time, it would give Son plenty of time to save a bit more, and with the minimal Stamp Duty payable he could buy some nice furniture instead of paying Stamp Duty.

And ... no quibbles about using a Deposit Bond .... and in the meantime, Son can buy a cheaper, one bedroom walk up flat close to work and rent that out when the Fire Station is ready.

He can get the best of both worlds provided we plan it appropriately.

And ... my commercial property manager rang and said that my Bank will have new tenants soon, they have the leases, are happy with them and will return same early next week.

So the Year of the Ox is off to a flying start! Bank of England reduced the UK Cash Rate to 1.00% overnight. The Australian rate is sure to fall quite a bit more during the course of the year. I may just be able to soon get on with a project which has grown nothing but weeds for the past five years.

It's the domino effect - make a major change in one area of your life and the rest starts to fall in to place.

Stop being a victim of circumstances and we change the whole dynamic of our lifes.



2009 is off to a good start. Best I've felt in ages. Bring it on!!

[hexi2]

Hey Kristine

Great post about doing Cohens the second time around and how 'we' are the only one that notices - rings so true to me at the moment.

Having said that it was really hard to get back on program but now seems easy - I must be in that Cohens space!