One last time...

[Gigglesza]

I'm 27, from South Africa, and overweight. I've been on more diets then I care to remember since I was a young child. I've always been the bigger one everywhere I go and that has made me miss out on alot in my life.

I'm married to the most amazing man, and I dream of being a mommy, but right now, that cant happen.

I started on Dr Cohen's yesterday(30/09/13) and plan to stick this one through. I have 145.4kg to lose, so this is going to be a long journey, but one I'm prepared to see through.

Must say, I didnt find yesterday too difficult, until dinner time, I made one of the recipe's out the booklet and I reaaaaaally did not like it... but its ok, we all need to get started somewhere.

[marg]

Good luck Gigglesza , once you see the weight dropping off of you, you will be hooked

[lil_doll]

Hey there Giggle!!!

Welcome and yay for choosing Cohens!!

It will work and you will be amazed!

I chose easy meals that I knew I would like... nothing 'risky' no experiments. I pretty much still do that now. Simple protein and simple veggies!

[Gigglesza]

thanks guys!

Yeah it looked simple... lol. I guess i'm just not used to mustard powder etc.
I'm half portuguese and half afrikaans, so I always cook with wine and chutney, takes some getting used to though! eek!

[Ciors]

Hi Gigglesza, welcome...as you read peoples diaries you'll see so many of us have been on every 'diet' under the sun! And then we found Cohen's...yay. If you have a look in the recipe section you;ll see a facebook page full of tonnes of recipes and created by a lady in Africa...maybe that might help familiarise yourself with some recipes too...no wine though lol

[Gigglesza]

wow, this detox really is a killer. Barely slept last night thanks to the headache and finally succumbed and drank headache pills.

Anyone else getting heartburn? Could that be the food or perhaps the toxins? Its really annoying because before, if I got heartburn I'd gulp down some milk and be fine, now i'm suffering. lol

Today was day 3 so hopefully tomorrow the sucky feeling will let up and I can finally start feeling good about being on the plan.

I dreamt that I gave birth to a little girl last night(in between the nasty headache), and that made me wake up with a newly motivated outlook on sticking through the tough times. More than anything, I'm on this plan so that I can be blessed with babies, I've been diagnosed with PCOS and Insulin Resistance, the killer circle that causes both the weight loss struggle and the difficulty to fall pregnant.

Its going to be a long difficult road, but hopefully one that will end at the rainbow.

[JulieD]

Hi Giggle. Yes detox can be awful. Get through this first week and you will amazed at how much better you feel. Your body really starts becoming balanced and it such a wonderful feeling. Good luck, keep drinking heaps of water. I look forward to following you on your journey

[Babybear]

You can do this! This is the best plan out there and you can really do it!

When is your first weigh in?

[lil_doll]

Hey Giggle!

I suspect the heartburn could be from toxins...

Don't worry... it'll be over soon!! Stick with it!!

Perhaps that dream was your future baby keeping you motivated!

[1and1and1is3]

I've been lurking around people's forums for the last week or so and thought I'd say hi as I finally pick up my program tonight (Wooo! Excited!) and I'll be starting officially on Monday (along with a diary). Thought I'd give a quick shout out to the people starting around the same time as me, as I'm sure we'll all be going through pretty similar highs and lows.

Good luck! We'll be total babes by the time we're done!

[Gigglesza]

wow! last night was hard!

I'm a catechism teacher at my local Catholic church, so last night, we had our final 'lesson' for the year, we threw a little party for the kids, I swear, my sister bought the world's worth of sweets and chips!!! So I had to put it all out onto plates, what a challenge that was! If anyone had been inside my mind they would have killed themselves laughing.... I started out with the chips, strong smelling Cheddar chips, I swear I had to keep telling myself "No, dont put that chip in your mouth!! Just keep sniffing the wiffs you're getting, its enough..", almost had to slap my own hand a couple of times because, out of habit, I kept wanting to put the junk in my mouth!! And then we started with the sweets.... oh dearie me, it was painful.

Funny thing though, it wasnt that I was actually craving the stuff, yes it is 'yummy' and I love some of the stuff my sister got(milk bottles, why do you taunt me so????), but it was more out of habit, like as I poured the chips or sweets onto a plate, and one would fall off the plate and on the table, I wanted to pick it up and put it in my mouth out of habit.

Oh and then let me not forget to mention the killer heartburn, I thought I was dying!!! My sister kept telling me, have a milk bottle, it'll soothe your heartburn, try a marshmallow, here have a fizzer...

But I'm proud to say, not one piece of junk passed through these lips of mine!!!! YAY!!!!!

@JulieD: I really cant wait! I was hoping that it would only last 3/4 days but alas, I already have my headache

@BabyBear: Thank you!!!! First weigh in will be at 3 weeks, so the 19th October, we'll be away at 4 weeks, going to my mom in law who lives 3 hours away.

@lil_doll: I do hope its only the toxins! Its really really painful! And yes, I think it was just a little reminder of why I'm doing this... In the dream I was really beautiful and at goal! LOL.

@1and1and1is3: Welcome! Good luck for your first week!! and yes its awesome to get in touch with people starting out the same time!

[lil_doll]

Oh dear! haha.

I really hope the heart burn settles down for you, Giggle!!

Did you ask your consultant about it? Maybe something you're eating is causing it? I dunno what, but if there is a certain veggie you've been using a lot maybe google and see if it can cause heartburn- or garlic, does that cause it?! I really don't know diddly about heartburn (I have had it, but from eating a lot of CRAP food).

Anyhoo... I hope it settled down!

[Nutmeg]

Hi Giggles, welcome. Im a south african in NZ and was just back home for a visit and put on 4.5kg which is suprising considering how amazing SA food is. I cant even begin to explain to people how amazing the food there is, they think im just exadurating.

Having been off plan for 5 weeks and back on i am going through a semi detox but with the added benefit of knowing what to expect. So i think personally what you are feeling in heart bearn wise is the overload of water you might not be used to pushing some organs around and up. Thats what i think is happening to me. I think it will settle after a week or so.

good luck and report back with your first weigh in !!

[Relles]

Hello Giggles welcome! You are doing a wonderful job! Goodness with all that temptation at the party it would have been hard! That determination is going to see you through!
I know what you mean so much of a habit to just pop things in the mouth! I'm Sure I read on another thread about habits taking a while to unlearn! So we are definitely unlearning habits aren't we?

I'm so excited for you and your journey, how perfect the fit is for your health issues and Cohens lifestyle.
Keep up the brilliant work and you will see amazing results!

[KiwiC]

Welcome Gigglesza! I hope the detox symptoms leave for you soon, not fun but once they are gone the program just gets easier I am getting back on the wagon tomorrow after falling off for a few weeks and am actually looking forward to the routine of the program again. Will pop in and see how you are getting on

[Cazspaz]

The first month is quite a learning curve! So many strange habits and patterns we did without ever realising suddenly reveal themselves! It's such a great learning process, you did so great to resist your sister too. For me, learning to say 'no' was a struggle - it still feels slightly awkward for me but I am much more confident in saying it now.

Welcome to the forums - I really look forward to reading more about your journey!

[Gigglesza]

so i've now been on Cohens for a week and a half with NO deviations!!! YAY!!!
And i'm happy to report, my cycle seems normal already(so far so good) which is one of the reasons I decided to do it.

ugh, you'll never guess my wonderful stroke of luck... So i started with this journal entry, then realised its time for my lunch, so I decided, lets quickly pop off to the bathroom and then to the kitchen to prep my food then I'll complete the entry while I'm eating... I never made it that far... while in the bathroom, after washing my hands, I decided to dry my hands off with paper towels, the paper towel was not hanging out so I turned the feeder knob, and as I did that, the entire front cover came flying down and caught my finger, now our paper towel holders are these big fancy(and extremely heavy) metal devices, so it pretty much acted like a mini guillotine to my poor thumb... Needless to say, I spent the entire afternoon in the emergency room

I didnt even get to eat my lunch! LOL. And then they all looked at me funny when I kept asking if any of the medicine contains any form of sugar... ha ha ha ha.

I now have a snuggly wrapped yet extremely painful thumb and I feel useless... have you ever tried doing, well, anything when you cant use your thumb???? LOL. thank goodness I'm married, my hubby even brushed and tied my hair up for me this morning!

But on the Cohens side of things, everything is going great, besides missing lunch yesterday, I have not had any deviations and am actually enjoying discovering some awesome meals, like the one I came up with: the Cohens open burger its sooooooooooooo delish. We've now made it both with beef and chicken and it tastes amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing!

cant wait to go weigh next saturday, I'm really hoping to hit my first goal because I'm dying to get my Thomas Sabo bracelet!

Anywho, let this half useless one go attempt to work again(and avoid the paper towel dispenser like the plague!)

@lil_doll: It did luckily!!! I actually do suffer from acid reflux apparently so I drank one of my husbands tablets(for his chronic acid reflux) and that sorted it out in no time! But I've also been cutting out the stuff that I dont normally eat and then slowly reintroducing them to see if it was one of them! how is your plan going? I've spent the last week reading through your diary and your journey, not at the end yet, but so inspiring! thanks lil_doll!!!

@nutmeg: I know hey!!! SA food is just incredible!!!!!! And worse than that we discovered this farmers market in pretoria on a saturday morning... yummiest fruits and veg, but also melkkos, biltong, macarons, etc all the yummy illegal stuff!!!! lol

@Relles: thank you!!! It was difficult, trust me, but I'm trying... my hubby and I made a pact that once I've lost all the weight we're going to Gold Reef City(a theme park) for the day and we're going to ride all the rides till we throw up! I'm so excited!

@KiwiC: Thank you!!! all the symptoms are now gone so i'm feeling much better! Good luck to you! I know you can do it!!!!

@Cazspaz: I know, saying no is really hard, and worse when you grew up with a portuguese(ok half) family, they take great offense to having their food etc rejected, so I'm attempting to avoid them! LOL.

Chat soon lovelies!!!!

[Nutmeg]

Originally Posted by Gigglesza

@nutmeg: I know hey!!! SA food is just incredible!!!!!! And worse than that we discovered this farmers market in pretoria on a saturday morning... yummiest fruits and veg, but also melkkos, biltong, macarons, etc all the yummy illegal stuff!!!! lol

Giggles !!! first of all, i would die without my thumbs. I live on the computer for everything. So sorry for your ouchy, i bet who ever is in charge of occupational health and safety at your work was pooping their pants ( although i dont remember SA even having OSH lol)

Man if you like farmers markets with INSANELY amazing food like that you should go find the windmill place near Hartjies ( almost in pretoria) soooooo muchhhhhhh goood fooooood argggh and veggies cheap cheap too i might add . Well done on making it through the week

[Cazspaz]

Your poor thumb! Hope it heals up quickly and isn't too much of a bother!

It's great to hear you're past the first few painful days of detox and are now getting into the swing of it all. It's really exciting when you first start and you see your first goal come and go! Won't be long for you I bet!

[Gigglesza]

@Nutmeg: Yeah I know that place, Jasmyn, have been there a couple of times, its awesome! I use my thumb too, I'm a software developer, so this is torture!!!

@Cazspas: thank you! I know i'm dying to know how much I've lost, but I need to go to the clinic to weigh(yes I dont own a scale, heck it took us almost 2 years to buy our own vacuum cleaner! LOL), and my hubby wont let me.