Butterfly94's diary-not your mum anymore!

[Relles]

Yay for feeling full!
Good work it sounds like everything is on track now!
Looking forward to the pics, I have mine in my profile page.

[Scaling_Down]

Wow a 700g loss in the first 7 days is fabulous! It blew my mind when I first did refeed that with so much extra food, the introduction of carbs etc, that my weight continued to go down and not up like I had anticipated!

Congrats again! Looking forward to seeing your refeed diary and your progress photo's!

[AZ1908]

Sounds like you are going great guns!

[Chew chew]

Keep up the great work butterfly. Sounds like your doing a fab job.

Chew chew

[AZ1908]

Hi BF94,

How's Refeed going? By my guess, you are now on Day 10?

I am loving it. Not on Day 4 for me. Loving it and have already lost 1.2kg in first 3 days!

[Scaling_Down]

Would loooooooooove an update

[Butterfly94]

Time for an update! I've really missed being here...have hardly had any space to breathe over the past three weeks, with sooo much going on in my calendar. As they say, you either have nothing happening at all or everything happening at once!

So today is Day 12 on reefed for me! Four more days to go!

I've been enjoying the refeed journey so much, with the introduction of new foods AND weight loss. My weight loss fluctuates from 1kg to 1.5kg depending on what I eat.

My body doesn't seem to react badly to most of the new foods introduced so far-bread, banana, extra protein, extra veggie and new protein-in fact I lost weight on these foods/or maintained weight.

However, I've gained 200g (100g per day) over the past 2 days because I began introducing white rice. So I think I may have to be careful with white rice intake. I also need to drink more water.

For fruits, I've tried only blueberries, pear and banana so far. For new protein, I've tried salmon and chicken leg meat.

More than the individual foods itself, its the combinations and QUANTITIES that make me so happy The feeling of being satisfied after a meal, and not even feeling one bit hungry in between meals is fantastic. From day 6 onwards, I was told that I did not have to maintain the 5 hour gap between meals anymore...but the meals are so filling that I can go 5-6 hours without any snacks in between meals.

And its surprising how different things taste after being on Cohens. I remember that my consultant once told me, "Your tastebuds have now changed. Please don't ever lose your Cohens tastebuds."

I realise how TRUE it is now! I would NEVER have touched things like cauliflower, zucchini and fruit before this, but now, I actually ENJOY them.
I made a zucchini sandwich with my bread and veggie allowance the a day ago, and boy did I enjoy it! Didn't need no mayo or anything, just the sweet flavour of the roasted zucchini with bread...Would never have imagined that I'd be able to appreciate all these flavours!

Even for my fish and chicken, I needed everything to be heavily spiced and marinated (thanks to the ethnic cuisine I grew up with). But now, I'm able to enjoy the flavour of the fish itself, with very minimal seasoning. I LOVED the pan-seared salmon I made the other day, with just salt, pepper and a bit of herbs.

I introduced low fat milk the other day, on its own, and it tasted sooooo sweet!! I don't ever remember low fat milk tasting like that. How could something that tasted so bland at one point of time taste so different and sweet now? I never used to be able to understand how people could eat raw salads and "healthy" stuff and actually enjoy them, but now, looks like my tastebuds really went through some makeover!

So refeed has been like seeing/tasting familiar foods through a totally different lens/perspective. Its been so eye-opening thus far. I feel like it is something I can live on all my life!

Organisation-wise, what I did was to create a menu (based on the refeed plan) for myself for the 16 days I was to be on refeed. Then I bought everything I needed, cut, weighed and froze everything that I would need, so I'm all set and theres no more weighing to be done

Recipe-wise, I haven't been very creative. I wish I had been a little less busier at this period because then I could have really tried to come up with creative stuff. But with my schedule being jam-packed recently, I've usually just been roasting my vegetables (which is a HUGE allowance now, about 200+g !) and stir-frying/pan-searing my meats. I usually just toast the bread and have it like a sandwich or pizza (chicken, capsicum, onion, tomato, mushroom, mozza and bread!)

I have to get more sleep and drink more water. Ive barely been able to get decent sleep (5 hrs at most) because of my schedule but I think I can afford more time for it now.

For today, I had egg and toast (which I made like a "toad in the hole"-yum!), along with cauliflower. I introduced watermelon today-it tasted like a sugar bomb! Heavenly, but I'd have to wait and see what effect it has on my weight tomorrow.

I'm also introducing mutton today, and I'm still undecided as to how I'll cooked it. Its minced, so perhaps I'll make a patty or something! will see how that goes

So that's my update for now. Just 4 more days to go before going into the big bad world...

[AZ1908]

Hi BF94,

Glad you are enjoying Refeed too! I have really enjoyed the food too. I am looking forward to having strawberries and banana later this week and get to mix proteins on Tuesday. Not sure how I am going to do it yet but I'm sure it will be fun.

[Scaling_Down]

Congrats on your refeed journey! Can't believe you are literally almost finished already! How the time flies!!!!

Enjoy the last few days and all the new foods,, tastes and flavours!

[mesmer_eyes]

wow BF94! you are almost done with refeed.. well done!

[Chew chew]

Hi Butterfly,

Sounds like re feed is going great. Can't wait to get there myself. I like the sound of all the extra food and fruit you get to eat.

Keep up the fab job!!

Chew Chew

[Butterfly94]

Refeed-DAY 16!!!

My last and final day of refeed...and the start of a new beginning!!

My weight as of today:62.4kg
Weight lost on refeed: 1.3kg
Total wt loss: 34.2kg

The only things I need to avoid as much as possible are mutton and watermelon. I had a mcvities digestive biscuit yesterday for the plain biscuit i was allowed. Im allowed 2 today. Tasted heavenly! Felt almost illegal to be eating it : P

It feels so surreal to be here, yet i know i have worked hard for this. Fron resisting temptations, to preparing meals even with a hectic schedule to restarting after setbacks like deviations, this journey has shown me that I am capable of leading a healthy life.

The real test begins here on...maintaining in the real world!

[Scaling_Down]

Congratulations!!!!!!!

You have proven what an absolute superstar you are and have achieved everything you set your mind to!!!!!
Such an inspiration! Hope to follow your maintenance journey as you make your way into the "unknown"

Load of blessings to you!!!

[Soleil]

Brilliant!!!!!!!! A huge congratulations from me too!!!!!!!!!!
34.2 kg lighter, wow!!!!!!
You have not only finished this program successfully, you have completely changed your life!!!!

What can I say.....



Awesome, awesome, awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soleil xx

[AZ1908]

Well Done BF94!!! How is maintenance? I will be there with you on Saturday. A little scary!!!

[Butterfly94]

Here I am, back after 1 year of finishing the program.

I am not proud to say that I have been fully on binge mode since the last day of refeed in Oct 2014, and have gained back about 26kgs of the 36kg that I lost!

I abused my newfound freedom with foods after 10months on the plan, and have procastinated hopping on to the plan till this day.

I am 21 this year, and am looking forward to getting my health back on track. This is not tue life I envisioned for myself when I ended refeed.

I so badly want to take charge, but the first day of hopping back on plan is so excruciating that I always give up I need that resolve that I had last year. School and studies and exams and workload are just excuses I give myself to eat trash.

I will be hopping back on plan tomorrow, 1 year and 26kgs later.

I hope to make it to the finish line this time!!

[SallyG]

Hi Butterfly!

Hope your 1st day back is going well, believe me - I knoooow how hard/daunting/HARD it can be!!!

Wishing you all the best, please keep us updated

SallyG

[miranda]

Hi butterfly
What an amazing journey you have been on, I lost around 20kg a couple of years ago for my wedding but never made re feed and put it all back on. I'm nearly back to where I finished. All the best and I will be looking forward to reading your successes

[rettstar]

Hey Butterfly!

Welcome back, I'm new to the program but I understand what you're going through.

The mind games are the hardest. *hugs* best of luck we'll be here for you.

r.

[Butterfly94]

Thanks for the lovely encouragement everyone!

I didn't make it through the first day I was studying for a major exam and the hunger and headaches were just too much to handle, dampening my concentration. I have decided to start next Wednesday, when things wind down a bit so that I can really focus on getting through that first cranky week without the added pressure of exams...one difficult task at a time!