Extended "48 hour reset" or back on plan?

[Stumbling-Sammy]

Oh its my pleasure! Maintenance is all trial and error and finding what works for u ....

[AudreeS]

When they say no carbs on reset, do they really mean protein only like Atkins type eating.? Like just eggs, chicken, meat, cheeses?

[jessy]

Dear Audree

Thankyou so much for bumping this thread. I forgot all about this discussion. In the re feed program which you will gain very soon, it is all set out. The re feed program has advanced over the years before there where no set guide lines. Once you have slowly increased the protein and vegetable sizes, introduced different meats, and carby vegetables, it gives you a guide line for maintenance.

Basically it will be an extra 120g protein and 200g of vegetables for the day. The first meal breakfast, stays the same. Some people can consume more of course with out any weight gain or cravings. You will have first choice protein and vegies, they are what is on the plan now, then second choice and that is all the proteins and vegetables not on the plan at the moment and re introduced at re feed SLOWLY so not to shock the body.

The 48 hour re set is if you experience

* weight gain the next day
*Low blood sugar levels, light headedness
*hungry 1 hour after meals
*Tiredness and lack of energy
*Bloating
*water retention
*Cravings

if you have any of these signs or have been over eating, or put on any weight the following day then

* Only eat first choice foods
* avoid carbohydrates and alcohol.

The funny thing is once your off the program, finish re feed , let loose in the big wide world of food choice, been on plan for a very long time, the simple re set can be very very hard, and that is why we are reading about people now on the forum that have been on plan longer than they have lived in maintenance.

Everybody is unique, and the GO SLOW approach to maintenance is a must for good maintaining. The longer you can stabilize your weight at around goal, the higher your chance of being able to not let the scales bounce around like a dingy in the ocean.

* One other interesting point a read a few years ago was when people re set they don't always take it all the way back to the end of re feed weight, so 200g off here, half a kilo short there, we can start to make allowances to the slight increases, it is just like deviating on plan, allowing our self a little bit extra, and slowly but surely the scales will go up

For my self I just had a food and drink fest. I felt starved and honestly didn't care because I had " made it " now I am thinking about how to maintain it in the long run

Hope this healps and thankyou again for bumping the thread

[Not2Much]

What a great answer Jessy - you even explained it better than my consultant did! AudreyS - I see that you have been reading up about maintenance and reset? These things would be explained to you in your refeed session by your consultant, but seeing that you are doing this online, you would probably have to read about it, and the forum is from real life people with real life experiences (as opposed to people trying to 'sell' a concept): you get handed your refeed when within Cohens weight range; you are taught to reintroduce foods back into your life that was not allowed during the weightloss part; your body is taught to more than double the amounts of food allowed OP (120g of protein and 200g of veggies PLUS carbs like bread; alcohol; AND potato/pasta AND a sweet like cookie).

Should you experience the symptoms Jessy mentioned, you omit the carbs not allowed on plan (bread, pasta, sweets and alcohol) for 48 hours without weighing your food and you should get back to your weight range. The doctor also advises you to be vigilant not to let your weight creep up more then 4kgs (8.8lb) above your weight range, preferably by measuring using your favourite comfy clothing.

[jessy]

I copied it out of my re feed book....

[Ciors]

Ditto N2M, I think you both explained it better than my consultant...well done ladies

[Not2Much]

Originally Posted by jessy

I copied it out of my re feed book....

I had to double check - but that is not in my refeed book

Thanks for sharing (and bumping)!

[AudreeS]

I've been doing a lot of reading in here and I'm glad to bump these great posts!!

[CB1904]

Hi
Thanks for this. The info is interesting for everyone I'm sure.
A question for the experienced Cohenites. How often does the doc say you should weigh in maintenance? Everyday? Forever....

[Ciors]

I guess it depends... Some people stabilize really well and have no eating issues so probably don't need to often or if you know your eating within the guidelines. I know I struggled so I weighed every day. The idea is to ensure that you don't go 3 kg over your final refeed weight.

[CB1904]

Thx Ciors

[jessy]

The psychologist on Australia's Biggest Looser stated that you should weight EVERY DAY. I agree as the scales do keep me on track when trying to loose weight .

[CB1904]

Thanks will think about it. Have got my head firmly in mindset of once per week at present but maybe a daily check in wld get good. I think this is what my thin friends do.

[AudreeS]

Originally Posted by jessy

Dear Audree

Thankyou so much for bumping this thread. I forgot all about this discussion. In the re feed program which you will gain very soon, it is all set out. The re feed program has advanced over the years before there where no set guide lines. Once you have slowly increased the protein and vegetable sizes, introduced different meats, and carby vegetables, it gives you a guide line for maintenance.

Basically it will be an extra 120g protein and 200g of vegetables for the day. The first meal breakfast, stays the same. Some people can consume more of course with out any weight gain or cravings. You will have first choice protein and vegies, they are what is on the plan now, then second choice and that is all the proteins and vegetables not on the plan at the moment and re introduced at re feed SLOWLY so not to shock the body.

The 48 hour re set is if you experience

* weight gain the next day
*Low blood sugar levels, light headedness
*hungry 1 hour after meals
*Tiredness and lack of energy
*Bloating
*water retention
*Cravings

if you have any of these signs or have been over eating, or put on any weight the following day then

* Only eat first choice foods
* avoid carbohydrates and alcohol.

The funny thing is once your off the program, finish re feed , let loose in the big wide world of food choice, been on plan for a very long time, the simple re set can be very very hard, and that is why we are reading about people now on the forum that have been on plan longer than they have lived in maintenance.

Everybody is unique, and the GO SLOW approach to maintenance is a must for good maintaining. The longer you can stabilize your weight at around goal, the higher your chance of being able to not let the scales bounce around like a dingy in the ocean.

* One other interesting point a read a few years ago was when people re set they don't always take it all the way back to the end of re feed weight, so 200g off here, half a kilo short there, we can start to make allowances to the slight increases, it is just like deviating on plan, allowing our self a little bit extra, and slowly but surely the scales will go up

For my self I just had a food and drink fest. I felt starved and honestly didn't care because I had " made it " now I am thinking about how to maintain it in the long run

Hope this healps and thankyou again for bumping the thread

Thank you for all the helpful info!

[AudreeS]

Originally Posted by Not2Much

What a great answer Jessy - you even explained it better than my consultant did! AudreyS - I see that you have been reading up about maintenance and reset? These things would be explained to you in your refeed session by your consultant, but seeing that you are doing this online, you would probably have to read about it, and the forum is from real life people with real life experiences (as opposed to people trying to 'sell' a concept): you get handed your refeed when within Cohens weight range; you are taught to reintroduce foods back into your life that was not allowed during the weightloss part; your body is taught to more than double the amounts of food allowed OP (120g of protein and 200g of veggies PLUS carbs like bread; alcohol; AND potato/pasta AND a sweet like cookie).

Should you experience the symptoms Jessy mentioned, you omit the carbs not allowed on plan (bread, pasta, sweets and alcohol) for 48 hours without weighing your food and you should get back to your weight range. The doctor also advises you to be vigilant not to let your weight creep up more then 4kgs (8.8lb) above your weight range, preferably by measuring using your favourite comfy clothing.

So does that mean a reset is going back on our Cohens food but without weighing?

[jessy]

depends how badly you want to re set. If your serious then you would weigh your food so you know your intake and be focused on not consuming the * extra's. Then weighing your self the following day. Keeping a food diary.

The start of maintenance can be a real nightmare for people. Especially if their journeys have been long.

You look fantastic, feel fantastic, everyone wants to feed you aswell. To encourage you to have a slice of cheese cake "it won't hurt ", a couple glasses of wine will be fine, your too thin, you need to put a bit back on, or a special occasion blow outs right there??

Staying slim is work. All the slim people of this world are very vigilant of what they eat and drink . So if you want to maintain, think like a skinny person, not the person you used to be

[AudreeS]

Originally Posted by jessy

depends how badly you want to re set. If your serious then you would weigh your food so you know your intake and be focused on not consuming the * extra's. Then weighing your self the following day. Keeping a food diary.

The start of maintenance can be a real nightmare for people. Especially if their journeys have been long.

You look fantastic, feel fantastic, everyone wants to feed you aswell. To encourage you to have a slice of cheese cake "it won't hurt ", a couple glasses of wine will be fine, your too thin, you need to put a bit back on, or a special occasion blow outs right there??

Staying slim is work. All the slim people of this world are very vigilant of what they eat and drink . So if you want to maintain, think like a skinny person, not the person you used to be

It's so true. Everyone keeps telling me when I'm done all the junk and food I need to eat. I don't want to go crazy when I'm done because that's insanity. Why do all this hard work just to binge? I'm going to stick to stir fry, veggies and a nice salad on the side with low calorie dressing for most meals during the week. I will do modified versions of favorites, low carb options. I will keep splurging to a minimum and to the weekend. I plan on weighing daily and allowing for minor fluctuations, but doing a reset if I gain more than 2 pounds. I'd like to maybe lose a little more later on after I've stabalized by doing a few Cohens days during the week, probably won't weigh but will watch the portions. I'm going to keep my water intake 2 liters or more a day also. I also plan on keeping snacks as they have helped tremendously at keeping my hunger at bay. So maybe an orange or my all time favorite of hummus and either carrots, cucumber, veggie chips or pita chips.

I've been using Pinterest to look for low carb options to prepare.

My husband and I also used to work out 5 times a week doing cardiovascular and weight training. We plan on working out again to help maintain.

[AudreeS]

Originally Posted by Stumbling-Sammy

Hi all... Can I please put in my 2 cents worth?
And PLEASE know this is only my own experience. Perhaps if it can help anyone out there...
When I first started struggling to maintain, I would do a reset, which usually lasted 5 days (Monday to friday) and then over the weekend I would eat "normal"... Now this worked well initially, but slowly but surely everytime I tried to reset, I would miss goal by a few hundred grams... But it was ONLY a few hundred grams, so I didn't fret too much about it... Eventually those few hundred grams started adding up and, well, my ticker shows where I ended up. When I asked my consultant, she explained it to me this way:
When you reset for 48 hours, that is enough time for your body to get rid of any retained water, which is why the scale has gone up. 48 hours without carbs is no big deal for your body, so it doesn't think anything of the "missing" carbs...Now if you stick to 100% Cohen's for 72 hours, your body starts to rebalance your hormones... Which basically means, your body is now starting to once again become extremely sensitive to carbs. So say you keep going, you are simply making your body even MORE sensitive. Say you now get to goal and you start your maintenance eating again, the moment you add carbs, your body is going to grab on and hold on for dear life because it has no idea when the next reset/carb famine is coming...
So insead of doing this, she advised that we should rather up our water intake, cut carbs out for 48 hours and perhaps reduce our portions. See where you stand then. This is a "milder" reset and not a shock to the system. On day three have 25g of carbs, keep going with your water and smaller portions. Day 4 do the same as day 3. If you still not on goal, cut out those 25g of carbs again for 48 hours. This way you are keeping your body guessing.
Resets and jumping back on the programme should always be our LAST resort. Basically we need to learn how to "manage" our weight, gains and losses, through our maintenance food...
I really hope I explained this properly... My consultant obviously explained it to me SO much better!

Best of luck!

OH and before I forget, she advised me that if I am on plan for ANY amount of time longer than 7 days, that I should look at refeeding, even if I do a shortened version there of... So don't just jump back into how you were eating before the reset, but slowly bring things in again...

This makes so much sense. I wI'll keep this in mind. I don't want to go from being on plan to binging and setting myself up for failure. Drinking more water, cutting carbs and reducing portions sounds good.

[jessy]

Yes sure, you can try like a day 4 or 5 day re feed quantities but I think a golden rule is don't mix the protein's when with in each meal plus cutting excess carbs. Jumping back on plan is really extreme and may not work if you only have 3 or 4 kilo's to drop of water weight. Everybody is unique and different, you will find out soon enough what foods totally agree with you to be able to have more of, and where the danger zones lay

All the best, you will be in the land of cuisine and choices very soon

[AudreeS]

Originally Posted by Stumbling-Sammy

Hi all... Can I please put in my 2 cents worth?
And PLEASE know this is only my own experience. Perhaps if it can help anyone out there...
When I first started struggling to maintain, I would do a reset, which usually lasted 5 days (Monday to friday) and then over the weekend I would eat "normal"... Now this worked well initially, but slowly but surely everytime I tried to reset, I would miss goal by a few hundred grams... But it was ONLY a few hundred grams, so I didn't fret too much about it... Eventually those few hundred grams started adding up and, well, my ticker shows where I ended up. When I asked my consultant, she explained it to me this way:
When you reset for 48 hours, that is enough time for your body to get rid of any retained water, which is why the scale has gone up. 48 hours without carbs is no big deal for your body, so it doesn't think anything of the "missing" carbs...Now if you stick to 100% Cohen's for 72 hours, your body starts to rebalance your hormones... Which basically means, your body is now starting to once again become extremely sensitive to carbs. So say you keep going, you are simply making your body even MORE sensitive. Say you now get to goal and you start your maintenance eating again, the moment you add carbs, your body is going to grab on and hold on for dear life because it has no idea when the next reset/carb famine is coming...
So insead of doing this, she advised that we should rather up our water intake, cut carbs out for 48 hours and perhaps reduce our portions. See where you stand then. This is a "milder" reset and not a shock to the system. On day three have 25g of carbs, keep going with your water and smaller portions. Day 4 do the same as day 3. If you still not on goal, cut out those 25g of carbs again for 48 hours. This way you are keeping your body guessing.
Resets and jumping back on the programme should always be our LAST resort. Basically we need to learn how to "manage" our weight, gains and losses, through our maintenance food...
I really hope I explained this properly... My consultant obviously explained it to me SO much better!

Best of luck!

OH and before I forget, she advised me that if I am on plan for ANY amount of time longer than 7 days, that I should look at refeeding, even if I do a shortened version there of... So don't just jump back into how you were eating before the reset, but slowly bring things in again...

This totally makes sense to me! Great advice. I plan on doing this as I want my body to get used to normal eating and not bouncing on and off the plan, unless absolutely necessary!