Recovering Obesiac

[Kristine..]

G'Day

I have decided to invent a new word:

Obesiac - one who is recovering from the disease of obesity

Obesity - Obesity means having too much body fat. It is different from being overweight, which means weighing too much. The weight may come from muscle, bone, fat and/or body water. Both terms mean that a person's weight is greater than what's considered healthy for his or her height.

Obesity occurs over time when you eat more calories than you use. The balance between calories-in and calories-out differs for each person. Factors that might tip the balance include your genetic makeup, overeating, eating high-fat foods and not being physically active.

Being obese increases your risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis and some cancers. If you are obese, losing even 5 to 10 percent of your weight can delay or prevent some of these diseases. (American) National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases



I have been puzzling over the term of self reference. Yes, I know I should get a life, but there are other diseases which people recover from eg an alcoholic is someone addicted to alcohol, and although I was not addicted to my obesity, I was obese and now I'm not.

So I figured that I am a Recovering Obesiac. Not a Cured Obesiac, but Recovering. Maybe I will never be Recovered ie eat whatever I want in unlimited amounts, so I figure if I see myself as Recovering I will be more aware of what can 'tip me over the edge' than if I think that just because I dropped from 33BMI to 22BMI and shed 25 kilos / 60 pounds, that the job is done for everymore.

It's not. I like being slim. I don't get the eye-flick when people meet me, I don't get puffed just lifting myself from a chair or have to lie down to do up my jeans. I don't have to shop in the Big Is Beautiful department and my blood pressure is 93/61 with a resting pulse rate of 69 - and this is after eating a hot dinner.

As a Recovering Alcoholic may need a year or two to really get used to being sober, so as a Recovering Obesiac I need a year or two to get used to being slim.

For those of you still cocooned in the safety of the program, there is an increasing number of us 'out in the wild' fending for ourselves. We do not have the rules to guide us, just our own common sense. With the speed of the Cohen's program, and the focus it requires, we have not had a lot of practise at adjusting to the new way of living.

I lost 30% of my body weight on the program. Twelve months later, the flabbiness has largely corrected itself and believe me, I do not 'exercise' as such although I do consider myself to be an active person (I talk a lot).

I think that half my success at keeping within three kilos of the goal weight has been having this and the previous forum. This forum now has 144 members (thanks to asy and lessfatty). If all members can achieve goal weight and maintain that weight for twelve months as Recovering Obesiacs then we have all performed a wonderful service for each other, and for the many 'guests' who read the forum but choose not to register or actively contribute.

So:

Any comments on my new word? Any comments on the concept of being in Recovery?

Your thoughts welcome!

Cheers

Kristine

[baloo]

Originally Posted by Kristine..

For those of you still cocooned in the safety of the program, there is an increasing number of us 'out in the wild' fending for ourselves. We do not have the rules to guide us, just our own common sense. With the speed of the Cohen's program, and the focus it requires, we have not had a lot of practise at adjusting to the new way of living.

Kristine. I never thought of it like that but it makes sense. I don't have to think for myself on this program. Everything is pretty much "Yes" or "No". I have a guidebook that allows me to lose weight without too much thought.

I know that a couple of times I've thought to myself "I can't wait to eat whatever I want" but I realise tht is a very bad mentality to eat. I need to look forward to more variety in my food without the need to stress too much over it. It must be enjoyable yet not over indulgent.

Thanks for the timely heads up.

As for the word and description, do you not think there is an emotional/mental aspect to obesity ? Be it low self-esteem or morale ? Issues in our past that make us find comfort in 2 cylinders of Pringles followed by a pint tub of Haagen Daz ice cream while watching a movie at home ?

[Lonniecee]

Obesiac..........yeah, that's me.

For those of you still cocooned in the safety of the program, there is an increasing number of us 'out in the wild' fending for ourselves. We do not have the rules to guide us, just our own common sense. With the speed of the Cohen's program, and the focus it requires, we have not had a lot of practise at adjusting to the new way of living.

This is certainly the case with me. I thought I had it under control and just one meal and some extra carbs have sent me spiraling to a 6kg gain in just over 5 weeks. i thought I could get it under control without going back on the plan, but, that just hasn't happened and whilst I have been losing some of the weight I gained it has been more of a case of fluctuations or yo-yoing, never quite hitting the lowest point but gradually getting higher each weekend.

I know that a couple of times I've thought to myself "I can't wait to eat whatever I want" but I realise tht is a very bad mentality to eat. I need to look forward to more variety in my food without the need to stress too much over it. It must be enjoyable yet not over indulgent.

Whilst I've obviously not followed the maintenance guidelines to the letter, such as they are, they do help regardless. I have been feeling 'virtuous' and so good because I've not overindulged by my pre-cohens standard. Even ordering entree sized servings of pasta or as in my case on Saturday calamari (not crumbed), we fall into a trap of overeating beacause we think 'well it's a snmaller serve so I can eat it all, thank goodness I didn't order the main serving instead' and give ourselves an imaginary pat on the back, the same goes for take-away foods. Since refeed I've not had Maccas or KFC let alone the comforting embrace of

2 cylinders of Pringles followed by a pint tub of Haagen Daz ice cream

. who was I kidding? Only myself.

So, Kristine, a great word to describe where we are at in our recovery. Well done.

My name is Lauren and I'm an obesiac..............

[lise]

Wow, i think it is a brilliant word and a HUGE thank you to Kristine for making me re-think how i think about the foods i will eat when i get to finish refeed.

Just like Baloo said "I know that a couple of times I've thought to myself "I can't wait to eat whatever I want".... , i think i have thought those thoughts more than a couple of times! I now realise that i have to stop thinking about the foods i can't wait to eat when i am 'thin' and think about the way i am going to maintain the new thin me when i get to the end!

I am 'cocooned' on the programme at the moment and thanks to people like Kristine ( and others in this forum) i hope to take the advise and help they are giving us all, and be able to say .....my name is elise and i am an obesiac......

[Ecogirl]

Kristine
You are absolutely right. This is my greatest concern when I get off the program. I like the progressingly smaller me. I have been saying to my fiance - I can't wait to eat here and there etc. I really do need to retrain my mind because if I keep thinking this way I will just get fat again.

I decided this morning that I really like the rules and exactness of the program and knowing what I can eat and when - I have stopped fighting it and I'm now fully embracing it. Very strange for me.
Thanks for the heads up...
Amanda

[asy]

Hiya Amanda,

Don't forget, you can eat wherever you want, you just have to be careful WHAT you eat!

Can't wait to get out there and see what's available!

asy

[Kristine..]

G’Day

As you can see from the dates, I started this thread 11th June, 2007 and today is 18th April, 2012

Yes, folks, that’s nigh on 5 years

In that 5 year period, I have experienced:

Maintaining weight for the first 12 months or so, then a bit of a bump up, then a gradual increase then a period of reasonably rapid weight gain during late 2008

Then, back on the program, lost 15 kilos, back to refeed weight, did refeed, all good, stable again for a while, then a gradual gain but hey, I’ve been heavier, so that’s tolerable, not a problem

Then I stopped smoking, and experienced rapid weight gain up to 15 kilos above the original goal weight

Back on the program, lost 10 kilos but didn’t do refeed. Went on holiday, put 5 kilos back on, came home, a slow but steady increase with another couple of kilos

So here I am, doing this for the 4th time

Have I actually learnt anything over the past 5 years?

Yes, so this is what I now share with you:

Obesity is a disease. It is as real as, say, osteoporosis. Once we have been obese we are always waiting to be obese again Our body is set up for it, it has the equipment – trillions of empty fat cells grown during the obese years just lying dormant, redundant but the body doesn’t flush them out , they just hang around like weight loss delinquents!

Taking our eye off the maintenance ball leads, not surprisingly, to weight gain. Who would have thought?

We eat too much, and we eat the wrong foods. My activity level is passive. I need to eat, of course I do, but I am not doing any heavy lifting and I am not operating machinery. I need minimal carbohydrate but the usual daily allowance of vitamins, minerals, roughage etc

When I sit to watch TV I do not need to always have to eat something. And because I eat while watching, I can’t even remember eating it, so it may as well be celery or carrots for all the notice I take of it. And yet once eaten, it stays with me for a long, long time.

As a Recovering Obesiac here I am, back to rehab for treatment again. I have learnt to not blame myself. I am not a bad person because I eat more than my body needs. I am not a failure because I have put on weight again. But I am obviously having trouble staying in this reality and would rather be in the fantasy universe of my youth when my proud boast was ‘I can eat anything’ and that was, for the most part, true simply because back then I really didn’t each much!

Now that I am older I must learn to be wiser. Maintenance means eating something, but not all of it. Having a drink but not the bottle. Enjoying nibbles, sure, but not enough to feed an entire African village in one sitting!

There will be plenty of food tomorrow. Put less on your plate to start with and you won’t feel that you have to ‘clean the plate’ to show respect for the food

Try to (slowly) change how your family eats. It is very difficult to come off Cohen’s, all trim and sparkly new, and to sit down to family meals high in carbohydrates cooked in the same old way because that will quickly result in the same old (fat) you!

The food is our medicine. On Cohen’s, we are very food aware and as we go along the program becomes very familiar to us and we take comfort in the routine of it

Refeed is a bit scary, all those different foods to contend with but the primary concept still remains: Keep the food as simple as possible. Keep it as fresh as possible. Processed food, such as bread, is OK but in small doses, occasionally, and carbohydrates come from many sources not just from wheat.

Alcoholic drinks are a powerhouse of energy, but one glass of wine is similar to eating a full sized Mars bar. Two glasses before dinner, on an empty stomach, causes blood sugar to plummet so the wondrous machinery of the body kicks in to turn what we next eat into fat stores.

We wouldn’t eat 2 x Mars bars before dinner, and although I really enjoy a glass of wine I realise that two glasses before dinner certainly contributes to my undoing over time.

This time, when I have finished the program (rehab!) and finished refeed, I shall hopefully be ‘out of the woods’ and into a personal space which allows me to maintain the weight which I prefer to be.

Nobody really cares what I weigh or how I look. Everyone has their own problems and I am only briefly on their radar when they look at me and soon forgotten.

But I am with me every minute of the day and I want to be slender and I want to be able to tuck my shirt in or to wear stretch knit tops in the right size without feeling self conscious that all my spare tyres are on display!

I know that eventually I will ‘get’ this. I know that all conditions have a knack to management. Recovering alcoholics, diabetics, anyone living with a long term chronic condition learns their own unique knack to managing their condition to best suit them

For the most part, I manage my obesity OK, but I could do it better. I don’t want to be a foodie freak and I don’t want to bore the wits out of everybody with my food stories

But as a Recovering Obesiac I have learned that if I want to stay slim I have to eat within my limits.

And even after 5 years it seems that I haven’t learned yet just what those limits are!

But, we are only beaten when we stop trying. Watch out for my next post in 2017 and see if I have gotten the knack of it by then!

Cheers
Kristine

[hawaii5-0]

Love this post, thank you for sharing. I am not yet half way to my goal weight, but I still find myself wondering what it will be like to be in re-feed and then in maintenance. Your honest, insightfull words of wisdom are inspiring. Good luck on your journey!

[Shanara]

Cheers Kristine indeed!!

well put ........ as you say we are only beaten when we stop trying!

Love your words xx

Shanara

[yummymummywannabe]

Great post Katie. Well articulated and thanku for being so honest, think there's possibly a recovering obesiac in all of us trying to get it right. Wish you the very best in your journey.

[zq1104511]

Dear Kristine,
What a great post. I am with you; i call myself a compulsive overeater and if i eat certain foods, ie sugar - i cannot stop. I like this saying, "if i eat what i have always eaten, i will weigh what i have always weighed" - so if i overeat i will be heavy, if i eat the cohens way, i will weigh be at maintenance weight. I kind of knew when i did the programme, that maintenance was going to be the hardest part, even though i was dying to get there. For me it is about getting my head around certain eating behaviours and foods that i can not ever participate in again. But denial always kicks in and i seem to forget the promises i have made to myself along the way. Hope this makes sense? ZQ

[farmgirl76]

Kristine, I love what you say about you being with you every minute of the day...
I am actually feeling excited today about the prospects of being thin and healthy and having energy, and allowing myself to go places and do things because I no longer feel the need to hide myself away (from myself and others!) My life has shrunk as I have grown fatter!
Great thread. Thank you. xx

[Paulajgr]

Kristen...thank you very much everything you have shared with us.