Peter 14.7 Diary : new me started 27 Feb 07

[Peter 14.7]

How long? 17 days assuming no restarts.

Annoyed, I dont have my scales and probably willgo shopping for scales tonight That means I willown 4 sets of scales. Anyhow give two as pressies to a friend and my mum in law.

Peter

[Peter 14.7]

Hi All

This is note to say since starting refeed Friday I have been off line and too busy to post. Will try to do so today. Suffix to say, I have deviated off refeed which is bad , but the impact on weight is minimal which is good.

As of this morning I am 77.2kg. As I got down to around 76.7kg that only a rise of 0.5kg in five days (and after pizza last night, and no, pizza is not allowed). On the positive side the pizza dinner was not the “earth shattering” meal event I expected and in fact, was full at half the pizza. Wife and I agreed in the future to still eat it but to go half and half so we both can enjoy a treat but don’t overeat.

BTW it was not “pizza hut” thick salty and smothered with fat cheese but gourmet, thin crust with onion base with mushrooms and goat white cheese (like cottage) so the deviation was the amount of base.

I am actually finding refeed hard to measure due to personal commitments of late and the fact it is different to what i am use to for the last 4 months. I think I may have to use the base program as add the grams and print out each day so I can keep it under wraps. Trouble is at the moment I don’t have the time.

Any feedback from those finished refeed on how you kept it all in the correct grams?

Regards, Peter

[anna]

Well Done Peter,

i am sure you will get there,you have done the really hard yards already so what is a few more days.

Good Luck,and by the way i have really enjoyed reading your posts.

Kind Regards
Anna

[lessfatty]

I think the first thing to understand about the refeed is that metabolically it is to ease your body out of "starvation mode" increasing your metabolic rate. We all know that those who fall off a crash diet return to old weight very very quickly as their body stays in starvation mode low metabolic rate and rebuilds fat reserves with every bit food above the basic metabolic rate.

The refeed just is a nice way of up-cycling your metabolic rate without triggering the rebuild of fat reserves.

Actually I didnt find the refeed that complicated, I knew my grams counts by heart from 7 months on the diet, so each day it was just a matter of checking the grams and extras I could add. I personally dont think that one meal of quality pizza is going to make a problem with the gradual the up-cycling of your metabolism at this stage. However I would say that after so many months of hard work just focus on these last 10 days or so and complete the refeed. I just printed out my refeed and cut each of my refeed day (my days) and stapled them together with handwritten the day and date I would be doing it (Mon 12th etc). The busyness of this weeks "fire" may seem important today, yet in a years time it will be forgotten... (I am a employee with a employee mindset, not a business owner , failure for me is a poor yearly review and lower bonus, not starvation!)

[ozi]

Originally Posted by Peter 14.7

I am actually finding refeed hard to measure due to personal commitments of late and the fact it is different to what i am use to for the last 4 months. I think I may have to use the base program as add the grams and print out each day so I can keep it under wraps. Trouble is at the moment I don’t have the time.

Any feedback from those finished refeed on how you kept it all in the correct grams?

Regards, Peter

Hi Peter,

My mother is yet to start re-feed, but I have receievd her program and put together a daily meal plan for her for the 17 days. This is basically a spreadsheet which details what she will eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus snacks in between. It is a bit fiddly putting it together and I had to triple-check each of the values to make sure it is correct. For each meal I would write down the gram weight for 'New proteins', 'old proteins', 'new veggies', 'old veggies', 'old/good/bad fruits', 'carbs', etc... Then when it comes time to starting the program, all she needs to do is fill in what food types to eat at each meal.

It takes time to put together which is something you don't have, but its well worth it.

Good luck.

Ozi

[baloo]

Originally Posted by Peter 14.7

(and after pizza last night, and no, pizza is not allowed).

Allow me to be blunt Peter.

What the bloody hell were you doing eating a fridgegin' pizza of all things just as you're trying to finish this program. I'm sure the pizza could have waited the 20 days the refeed takes. After all you've gone 4 months without pizza. Why now ?

Recommit, get back on track. Do the 4 days of cohens and then 20 days of refeed and then you'll never have to worry again. All you need is another 3-4 weeks of the same commitment you had on Feb 27th.

You are so damn close to finishing. Just finish it.

Edit: I did not write friggin'. The forum auto-censor decided to modify what I wrote.

[Peter 14.7]

Blunt Advice taken in all due respect Baloo?

Spoke to wife tody about why I have deviated so bad so quick as she was surprised as well.

So we discussed why? We think it was to subconsciously see if the old Peter still lurked deep inside, waiting to leap out? Would I crave it. Would I miss it. Would I put on a 1kg plus in a day. Would I justify the outbreak?

So I am pleased to say, the answer is No to all of the above.

I didn't crave more.
I dint miss it
I didn't feel good about it.
I did not put on a kg, in fact today I lost 0.2kg back down to 77kg and I ate a desert yesterday.
I didnot justify it
I am disappointed in myself but also relived I feel disappointed.

So I will confess today was just as bad as well. And as I believe in posting the good and the bad, I will list the entire blow-out in detail ASAP, probably tomorrow night but I recognise it is wrong.

Thus I commit to getting back on the program tomorrow and finish the refeed properly. Whether I need to do the four days again I dont know and I will seek direction from my clinic but if so, then so be it.

A lesson for me and hopefully a lesson now not needed to repeated by for others.

Your feedback is welcome and appreciated Baloo. A good friend advice is sometime blunt but never harsh.

Warm regards, Peter

[Cohenite]

C'mon Peter!!!!!!! You're a sniff away from completing. Thanks for being so honest though, if gives me an idea of what to look out for around refeed time. One thing that keeps me focussed towards the end was the "Mind Games" handout that they give you with the program. Under the Success & Finishing header there is a sentence there reads:

"TO START AND NOT FINISH IS DEMORALISING".

Keep going Peter!!!

[Peter 14.7]

Thanks Guys.

FYI Got feedback from my clinic and I have restart refeed AFTER 4 days on the earlier program.

Having thought about my failure the first time I have decided to map out my refeed like the diet allocating prior the grams and food to each meal. Thanks to Ozi for a chart. That way I can simply go the fridge and not have the think or worry about if I have this or that. Works commitments are busy at the moment and I had got in to such a routine of essentially instant Cohen to the gram frozen meals that when I got more choice and variables, I got lost.

As this will take time and I want to get it right (the second time) I have decided to start the 4 days from Monday. This is not to say I am going crazy until but a suggestion of my wife as we have travel commitments tomorrow and visitors for the entire weekend which when you read below you will see the logic of picking Monday.

You see: I failed because I came back from a week in Sydney excited at the end of the program but not prepared to start refeed and hence beaten or given in to circumstances.

Situation was: Business commitments of a very late flight meant I stayed at my mum house and had to scrounge at her place for the new brekkie? I then spent the next day on the road with Wife and child buying property, inspecting, negotiating etc... We got back late Friday and the next day was an early start to drive to christening in Outback NSW. Staying again overnight and then party on the Sunday. Monday was half ok but wife was flu and I had to manage toddler and then friends visited that night and stayed and we went site seeing Tuesday. Wednesday (today) was reality check day.

Everyone knew I was off the diet but not on refeed so food was more typical and hard to work around. A lot of praise like "you have done so well and you can eat this now?"

NOTE: The above is not an excuse but a diary of what I think went wrong for other to avoid.

Lesson: treat refeed like the diet but with even extra attention to detail as the program is new again and changes daily.
The most positive thing is I have not gained any substantial weight.

I think I started refeed around 76.6kg went up and down with a high of 77.2kg and this morning I am back down to 76.9kg. I do feel a bit hungrier but not really too bad. I do have a lot more flatulence and burping. I have found drinking water harder with more food in my stomach.

So as we say, move on and don’t look back. Recharge for one last push and focus from Monday, if not earlier.

Regards, Peter 14.7

[Peter 14.7]

Cohen Date:RF Day 1 Friday 6th July
Today's Weight: 76.7kg ?? Assumed
Deviations: Slice of bread for brekkie, grams guesstimate
Why: Arrived home from Sydney the night before and stayed at mothers due to weather so limited food. Rushed for time settling property deal. Travelling all day.

Cohen Date:RF Day 2 Saturday 7th July
Today's Weight: 76.8kg
Deviations: Grams over, Slice of bread for brekkie, dinner pasta sauce with commercial stock base, bread with dinner.
Why: Stayed at friends that night and they did not know how to cook diet. Did not eat the past sauce but ate more bread. Ate bread for brekkie by choice.

Cohen Date:RF Day 3 Sunday 8th July
Today's Weight: 77kg??? Assumed
Deviations: Grams over, Slice of bread for brekkie, large steak at lunch over allowance. Chose to eat Pizza.
Why: Staying with friends for christening. 400gram steak for lunch, I requested 300gram but kitchen did not understand. Home late with no food at home so bought pizza. Planned to eat half but ate whole after wide said I was being silly. Should have not got pizza at all. Being lazy.

Cohen Date:RF Day 4 Monday 9th July
Today's Weight: 77.1kg
Deviations: Extra apple.
Why: Chose to eat fruit

Cohen Date:RF Day 5 Tuesday 10th July
Today's Weight: 77.0kg ( down 0.1kg)
Deviations: Sausage Roll for morning tea with salad, Small Chocolate.
Why: Site seeing with friends all day travelling. Chose to eat roll & chocolate. Modified to some extent but rationalised i had gained little so I was ok.

By now I realised I had stuffed up more than I had planned. Contacted my clinic whom said restart with the four days pure diet and then refeed starts over. As I had more friends that weekend my wife suggested waiting until Monday to clear the commitments and strengthen my resolve. This was a wise move.

On the down side it gave me no reason to be diligent and as I now realised I have another 4 days plus 17 to go I decided to relax. I felt as if as I have failed I may as we fail big. I don’t endorse this approach but I don’t hide the truth either.

I also wanted to see if I would gain heaps of weight or feel hungry etc..

Cohen Date:RF Day 6 & 7Wednesday & Thursday 10th July
Today's Weight: 77.4kg ( up 0.4kg)
Deviations: Cake, muffins, etc with coffee. Choc Desert. Over grams on protein. Bread
Why: Gave up.

Cohen Date:RF Day 8 Friday 11th July
Today's Weight: 78.8kg ( up 0.2kg)
Deviations: Pasta with bolognaise sauce for dinner with red Wine, Desert
Why: Gave up & Friends

Cohen Date:RF Day 9 Saturday 12th July
Today's Weight: 78.4kg ( up 1kg)
Deviations: Eggs, Toast, Restaurant Lunch, Croissant, Cup Cakes, red Wine, Desert Wine, Port, Chocolates.
Why: Gave up & Friends

Cohen Date:RF Day 10 Sunday 12th July
Today's Weight: 79.4kg ( up 1kg)
Deviations: Eggs, Toast, Restaurant Lunch, Croissant, Cup Cakes, Red Wine.
Why: Gave up & Friends

So there is my diary of refeed failure.

I should add:
• No enough water
• No spacing meals as well
• Too much coffee
• No vitamins

But worst of all, No Planning.

I had thought Refeed would be easy having more to chose from. In fact, it was harder for that reason. This time I am planning.

Peter 14.7

[Peter 14.7]

Cohen Date:W1 D1 Monday 16th July
Today's Weight: 79.7kg (+3.0kg since started refeed on 5th July)
Body Fat: 22.5% (+0.8% since started refeed on 5th July)
Body Hydration: 56.5% (-0.6% since started refeed on 5th July)

Breakfast: 10am Yoghurt
Snack: 11:30am Mandarin & Crackers
Lunch: 3:15am Chicken & Mushrooms & 2 Crackers
Snack: 6:30pm Apple
Dinner: 8:15pm Prawn Soup with Spinach & 2 crackers
Supper:
Fluids: 1 decaf tea, 3decaf coffee, 2.5 litre water
Deviations: Nil so far.

Ok, here we go.

I have decided to report as before but restarted the count to keep clear the measure of the first weight loss period against the second. As you can see I have gained 3kg in 11 days where I pretty much ate anything including a lot of bad stuff and lot of wine fore me. Lots of guests and socialising.

I actually did not hold back or particularly deny myself anything so I could get any lingering need out of my system and I think this worked as I feel refreshed mentally to do the 4 days and refeed correctly. I think one of the factors in the refeed failure is mentally I thought I was finished and let down my guard and mindset. A little deviation became a lot and I fell of the wagon.

What I have to do is 4 days pure counting today and then go onto refeed. This is on the assumption I will lose at least 0.7kg over this period and go under my upper weight goal. In which case I will restart refeed. If not 79kg or less I will do more diet days till I reach that.

I decided on the upper limit is like Baloo and les I want to get into the gym and as the diet does not recommend that the sooner I am into refeed and put on muscle the better for my body shape, strength. As refeed has more protein a staged introduction should be do-able.

Will post the detail above of the refeed failure FYI when time permits. This post is to get back in the groove.

Peter 14.7

[Peter 14.7]

Cohen Date:W1 D2 Tuesday 17th July
Today's Weight: 78.4kg (-1.3kg)
Body Fat: 22.1% (-0.4%)
Body Hydration: 56.8% (+0.3%)

Breakfast: 9am Yoghurt & ½ Apple
Snack: 11:30am ½ Apple & Crackers
Lunch: 2pm Mushroom Stew with onions & Fetta & 2 Crackers
Snack: 4pm ½ Tangelo
Dinner: 7pm Chicken & Asparagus & ½ Tangelo & ½ Kiwi (cross between orange & mandarin)
Supper: 8pm 2 crackers
Fluids: 4decaf coffee, 2.5 litre water
Deviations: Nil so far.

One day back on the diet and very big loss of 1.3kg. Corresponding loss of 0.4% body fat and a gain in hydration. In theory this loss is water retention to a large extent but if hydration goes up is that not the reverse? Don’t matter. My goal was to be under 70 before I started refeed so that means Refeed restarts Friday.

I am pleased my body has responded to the good day and I feel good physically and mentally I did not have craving yesterday. If fact I felt more in control and more organised knowing my routine was similar.

Reinforces, that for me, to successfully complete refeed and end of diet is to have some form of mental note of what to eat as opposed to what is in the fridge.

So I have not craving and no flatulence which was very bad. I mad feeling the cold again which off the diet I did not notice. Must be body conserving fuel thing. It could also be we are blanketed in snow here. Heaviest falls in 12 years say the locals. Very beautiful.

Peter 14.7

[anna]

You must be thrilled Peter,so close.

Best of Luck

Kind Regards
Anna

[Peter 14.7]

Thanks Anna

I am pleased I went down such a large amount. Proves whilst my body will go up if I eat bad it will also down if I eat good. Had itbeen only up then I would have been a bit disheartened.

Peter

[Peter 14.7]

Cohen Date:W1 D3 Wednesday 18th July
Today's Weight: 77.7kg (-0.7kg)
Body Fat: 21.9% (-0.2%)
Body Hydration: 57.0% (+0.2%)

Breakfast: 9:15am Yoghurt
Snack: 11:30am ½ Apple & 2 Cracker
Lunch: 2:15pm Chicken Stir Fry with Cohen veg & 2 Crackers
Snack: 3:30pm ½ Mandarin
Snack: 4:15pm ½ Apple
Dinner: 7:15pm Steak with Bok Choy and little Onion & 2 Crackers ½
Mandarin
Supper: Nothing left
Fluids: 5 decaf coffee, 3 litre water
Deviations: Nil so far.

2nd day back on the diet and another great big loss of 0.7kg. Corresponding loss of body fat and another gain in hydration. At this rate I will be back to &&kg my start weight for the first refeed by Friday morning. That will be good.

Finished today ok but the cold weather makes the apples look good. That’s what I crave: Apples.

One more pure day to go before refeed. Off to Sydney tomorrow with scales in hand. Both food and body. One meal at colleague on pure and then REFEED! Version 2.

Peter 14.7

[Peter 14.7]

Cohen Date:W1 D4 Thursday 19th July
Today's Weight: 77.0kg (-0.7kg)
Body Fat: 21.7% (-0.2%)
Body Hydration: 57.1% (+0.1%)

Breakfast: 7:45am Yoghurt
Snack: 9:30am 2 Cracker
Lunch: 12:15pm Steak with Bok Choy and little Onion
Snack: 2:30pm Apple
Snack: 4pm Mandarin
Snack: 5pm 2 Crackers
Dinner: 9pm Chicken & Mushroom & Spinach & 2 Crackers
Supper:
Fluids: 4 decaf coffee, 2.5 litre water
Deviations: Nil so far.

3rd day back on the diet and another great big loss of 0.7kg. So I amd at what I started refeed on last time. Not bad to loss 2.7kg in 3 days considering it took 10 days to put it on. PS I don’t recommend doing this.

Sydney today and refeed tomorrow.

Peter 14.7

[dakota]

Hey Peter, you are a true champ ive read your journal for ages and youve done so well, I so understand what you did eaten the forbidden foods when I was so close to finishing I did the same I was in the 10kg mark of finishing and I made every excuse to eat stuff, keep thinking of the finish line and I just know you have this in the bag. Cheers D

[baloo]

So peter, are you on refeed yet or still munching away on Pizzas ?

[Peter 14.7]

Hi Baloo.

To cut a long story short I have stopped refeed but this time for good reason.

I was 1.5 days into pure refeed when at Saturday lunch I had a “vasovagal collapse” (veins collapse) commonly known as “needle phobia” and ended up in emergency section of RPA in Sydney.

Whilst the diet did not cause it, the well above physical activity I did Friday (12hrs all day) and Saturday morning from 7am, combined with the low carb refeed did contribute. Through in a hereditary gene (I now know) I have that causes this and the fact I went to the doctor for a tetanus and hep shot and got told it was more serious and they had to do a full blood test( cohens says DO NOT give blood on program) and bingo, Peter 14.7 went down!!!

At RPA I was advised by the doctor to eat sensibly but normally to build up my reserves. I had no choice anyhow when weak as kitten they shoved an IV drip up my arm. So technically it was doctor that stopped refeed. :P

Don’t worry, Peter 14.7 is not going to die but it was not pleasant and I am in no hurry to do it again. Cohens did not cause it and only 3% of the population have this condition and mine is acute. I have known about since the first attack at 21. I thought I was a “woz” re: needles. Research on the net shows this is serious and extreme cases it can kill. Needle Phobia is an understatement in this example.

I am slightly pleased to find it is actually an involuntary reaction my body does to blood test sensation/removal of blood and nothing to do with needle, sharps or cuts at all, in my case. A call to my birth mother confirms her veins collapse as well but for her it simply means they try another vein. In my case my heart rate went from racing to under 60 beats per minute and blood pressure to from 120 over 80 to 80 over 60 or so. Hard to remember it all went you are semi conscious.

I support and endorse Cohens 100% and do not blame the diet but for me, the refeed is suspended until I can get in better state. I am not pigging out but eating a larger range of food and higher carbs to build back colour, strength and reserves.

Lastly you may think how he did all the Cohens tests with this thing. As I said I knew I had this reaction so locally they now about it and the only fasting test if the first. When I get a blood test m the Nurse uses a special needle and I am mentally and physically (read just eaten food) prepared. I am have not worked hard for 4.5 hours and then having walked 10 minutes to be told by a Nurse it not simply jabs but I may have contracted Aids from the prick I got a work and it is a serious procedure of mutiple blood tests. Which BTW I still have to do!

I think I win the best excuse for failing refeed award, don’t you think?

Regards, Peter 14.7

[baloo]

Man, Peter, it's definitely the best excuse I have ever heard for suspending the program. I can't even think of a decent counter argument !

Get better Peter. I hope your health continues to improve. It's much more important to you than finishing the refeed, even if I do end up finishing it before you