Tuberose's FINAL Leap - Refeed and Life-after-Cohen's

[Tuberose]

The Facts - Crystallizing My Aims & Goals

The Basics
Start Date - 27 Jun 2007
Starting Weight - 76.5kg
Goal Weight Range given by Dr Cohen - 55kg to 58kg
Refeed Start Date - 19 Nov 2007
Refeed End Date - 6 Dec 2007
Total Number of Days on Cohen: 163 (or 5 months and 10 days)

Notes on Refeed
My Refeed Programme - 18 Days
Target Weight for Refeed - 52kg (but might be unable to realise it - explanation below)
Target Amount of Weight to lose on Refeed: 1 to 2 kg (keeping my fingers crossed!)
Target Starting Date: 19 Nov 07 (this coming Monday)
Weight on First Day of Refeed (19 Nov) - 52.5kg
Weight after full completion of the 18-day Refeed (7 Dec) - 51.5kg

TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS ON COHEN'S: 76.5KG - 51.5KG = 25KG!

Notes on Maintenance
My Ideal Maintenance Weight Range: 52.5kg to 54kg (max) (at least for the next few months before embarking on a regular exercise regime)

Updates of Weekly Weight Records on Wednesdays
Jun 07
27 Jun: 76.5kg

Jul 07
2 Jul: 73.1kg
16 Jul: 70.7kg
Weight at the end of Week 4 (25 Jul):68.4kg

Aug 07
1 Aug (week 5): 67.7kg
8 Aug (week 6): 66.5kg
15 Aug (week 7): 65.6kg
Weight at the end of Week 8 (22 Aug):64.2kg
29 Aug (week 9): 63.2kg

Sep 07
5 Sep (week 10): 62.2kg
12 Sep (week 11):61.7kg
Weight at the end of Week 12 (19 Sep):59.8kg
26 Sep (week 13):59.2kg

Oct 07
3 Oct (week 14): 58kg
10 Oct (week 15): 57.1kg
Weight at the end of Week 16 (17 Oct):56.2kg
24 Oct (week 17): 55.6kg
31 Oct (week 1: 54.5kg

Nov 07
7 Nov (week 19): 53.9kg
Weight at the end of Week 20 (14 Nov):52.9kg
21 Nov (week 21): 52.4kg
28 Nov (week 22): 52.1kg

Dec 07
5 Dec (week 23): 51.9kg | Completed Refeed on 6 Dec 2007
12 Dec: 54.8kg

PRE-REFEED NOTE
I've have been pondering upon which site to share my refeed & maintenance journey and yes, no prize for guessing what my decision is

when i was a couple of kgs away from cohen target wt range, at around 59kg & onwards, i got really hungry faster and was really feeling hungry most of the time, even now as i'm typing this post. thanks to the many who have shared their refeed journeys online, their sharing have partly become my "comfort food" in place of binges and deviations. somehow i felt comforted & mentally more satisfied after reading their posts while imagining the life after Cohen's and the increased amt of food i could take... believe it or not, that have partly kept me going till now. today (17 Nov 07) when i weighed myself this morning, i'm below 52.5kg already! I survived the merciless hunger pang attacks through almost 7kgs!! Good Grief!!

As you can see, after the first month, my overall progress was just really moderate compared to many fellow cohenites... between 3kg to 5kg per month on the average. but i do not dwell on that and persevere on. So for those who have not been losing that rapidly or slower than what you have expected, my advice to you is, Don't Compare and don't lose heart! Just press on & don't deviate and you will get there! during this period, i survived wedding invitations, birthday celebrations and many work functions that involved so much yummy food! and yes, not forgetting going through this year's mooncake festival without eating a single bit of mooncake when even my little furkid (dog) got to chomp down a few (doggie friendly ones of course!)! that was tough for me! But I survived!

AND NO, there IS nothing extraordinary about me. in fact, i must confess that i have all the "vices" that could have made me a total failure in this diet - i'm lazy, a 500% greedy foodie (READ: "love to eat" is an understatement) - not to mention, i have a VERY hearty appetite, lack self-control, impatient, "discipline" is not in my dictionary!!! Oh yes, let you tell you that i'm not a young person with a teenager's metabolism rate, but i survived and yes, without cheating & deviation!!! so can anyone!! so if you are still hesitating about this programme, hesitate NO MORE!!! given a bit of support and perseverence, anyone can do it!

Today marks the the mid way through 21st week for me! Time Flies! Over five months of hard work, discipline & self-control!! Given my rather weak self-discipline trait, this is nothing short of a miracle, really! and i would like to give my mum all the credit!

she has been faithfully supporting me not just in spirit but in action too... she has been helping me to shop for food, prepare, weigh and sometimes even cook my meals! without her, i would be unable to survive this up till this point! i'm too much of a foodie and "live to eat" type of person to be able to stay on this programme without deviating, if not for her. I LOVE YOU LOADS MUM!!!

despite losing at a moderate rate, it is certainly a wonderful feeling to be able to lose over 20kgs over a few months & i don't think i could achieve this with other weight loss programmes! i would say that this has become my biggest achievement for this year

survived my grandma's birthday just the last weekend without eating with them though my consultant said it was ok to eat just moderately and go back to the programme after that. i'm now so near to my personal goal weight (52kg), i do not wish to go on for another 2 weeks just to "balance" my hormones before refeed.

anyway, i've adjusted my set target weight for refeed (52kg) as i really hope to meet my best friend on 7 dec and be able to really enjoy eating out with her together. she could only go on leave that day. as i'm given an 18-day refeed programme, in order to meet & eat with her that day, i have to start latest by this coming mon 19 nov...

i know i'm taking a risk... i hope i don't have to do stuff like going back on two days (if i put on weight during refeed), etc. also since i'm likely to be starting refeed a little above 52kg, i hope i could continue to lose at least 1kg to end the programme at 52kg or less... i'm just a little worried about being able to lose weight during refeed as TOM is nearing. keeping my fingers crossed.

and what i have been doing this week is i cut back on my red meat portions, stick to just taking plain yoghurt for breakfast and up my intake of water to 3L or more if it helps to quicken my weight loss... This weekend i'm just gonna have fish & chix for main meals and stick to the same type of protein per day. I really hope that all these last min desperate measures could help me to lose as much as possible before this monday when i'm starting my refeed. now every 100 gram counts :P

One more day to go before Refeed, I'm excited and hope that my little journal in this thread could help someone else just like how others' sharing have helped me!

Thanks for taking time to drop by here and read this super lengthy post

Cheers,
tuberose

[Andy46]

Tuberose - that was was a wonderful post - and I'm a bloke - but I like the way you thanked your mum - so many people forget to do that - and as for the rest of your post it is honest and inspiring to say the least - and you are to be congratulated on your achievement.

All the best with your refeed and I think you will do it as it is meant to be 100% no worries other than the usual human error corrections that happen from time to time if they are going to happen - and you will have a great day with your friend regardless - as that's what friends do - have a hoot with each other !!!!

thanks for sharing your little story with us

all the best and may your dreams and wishes start to be very real !!!

Andy

[kagiesen]

Tuberose

I am so impressed! For a number of reason, in particular though because you fought through 7 kilos of hunger to get belowethe lower Cohens range to get to where YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE. What an achievement!

You might find you'll still lose on re-feed, as you expect, and that will be awesome. Otherwise, as you said, when you start exercising, you might lose the rest you wanna lose. Mind you, you might replace fat with muscle and hence put on weight on the scales, but lose cms, you never know.

I'm still before re-feed, although also now 3 kilos below lower target and as I don't have to start re-feed, I'll just keep going. However, as opposed to you, I must even be weaker than you describe yourself (mind you, you have not deviated, so you must be much stronger and more disciplined than you think!!!!), I have deviated. I think otherwise I would not have gotten where I am now. What I have found, though, I never deviated 'loads', more in the amounts which would be suggested on re-feed, and somehow my body must have learned to work better, as I have still lost weight. Having said that, I know the hardest time is still to come when I have to go deviation free before re-feed. I am 'only' aiming at 5 days, as I reckon my body is showing me it's pretty balanced at the moment with all the weight still coming off, slowly as it is....

So, congratulations, all the best on re-feed, and enjoy the date out with your friend once off re-feed. I reckon with re-feed, what I plan to do is to stick to usual breakfast of plain yogurt, and split the extra meat/veg over the two remaining meals. I will give the bread a try, but have found with carbs (namely: muffins ) that the ones I bake myself don't have any (negative) impact on my weight, whilst bought ons I haven't tried out, and guess I won't. Maybe I'll get out the bread maker and make bread from scratch. dunno.

So all the best

Katrin

[meagain]

Well done Tuberose, it is tough journey and you have come through the other side.

I hope that my refeed diary can be of use to you, and I look forward to seeing your refeed and beyond journey.

[pandora]

Wow, what a truly wonderful account of yr journey! I did speed read it tho as my daughter just asked for her breakfast and i intend to read it again at my leisure and may have comments or questions then. What you have written is so powerful in how it addresses where I am at personally and also Katrin and possibly AnnieM. We all want to go below the Cohen range and we all already have refeed but are delaying starting until we get to OUR IDEAL, so all similar to you. BUt the difference is you are now at yr personal goal and having endured 7 weeks of hunger and no deviations, you are a legend! There i am, still no hunger but since getting into the 52's i am allowing myself wine on a Sat eve. And as Katrin says, she has allowed herself the occasional bite of muffin etc, so you are now my role model from now until the scales register 50 for me. Please keep us up to date more often in next few days / weeks, this is priceless info! Pandora

[Tuberose]

Thanks everyone for all the kind words and encouragement, really appreciate it! Each & everyone of you plus the many cohenites fr this & other cohen's forums play an impt role in my Cohen's journey. Please feel free to comment and drop by here as often as you like

Finally gathering enough momentum to start sharing my refeed journey with a day delay though! LOL

Begun yesterday, Monday. well, for a start, not such a "glorious" start that i was hoping for... my weight on Sun was 52.2kg which was so close to my target wt for refeed, i was really hopeful that my weight would drop further by yesterday to mark a good start to my refeed... and, i was up 300grams & that brought me up to 52.5kg

however, i told myself not to fret over it too much, i kept telling myself i still have 18 days to work towards another 0.5kg drop in weight to bring me down to 52kg....

incl today (2nd day of refeed), i've had no BM (sorry to mention this) for 4 days straight + TOM is really nearing, longest ever.... feeling really bloated, blocked up and uncomfortable. so you can imagine how i apprehensive i felt when i stepped on the scale this morning... and phew! i was relieved to see another 100gm dropped... thank goodness :P

ok... let the record of my refeeding journey begins here!

[Tuberose]

Borrowed Baloo's template to modify... hope you don't mind i like his template being so clear and organised :P

Date: Mon, 19 Nov 07
Refeed Date: Day 01
Weight: 52.5kg (+0.3kg)

Breakfast: plain non-fat yoghurt
Lunch: Chicken + veggie soup (will be more or less the same on weekdays)
Dinner: fish + veggie stir-fry
Water: 2l+
Fruits: 1 orange & 1 apple
Deviations: nil
Refeed Extras: 30g old protein + 40g old veggies | carbo: 5 crackers as per original plan
The Stomach Factor: (0 = crazily hungry, 10 = full, +10 = too full ) 8 (finally! the day before: 6)

Some Thoughts...
Basically for the next 9 to 10 days, i'll have to stick to old protein & veggies and gradually increase the portions. The difference is i would be adding bread on Day 03 (but still technically equivalent to 5 crackers) & new good fruits during the same period.

as i come from a tropical country - Singapore, i find the list of Cohen good fruits very restrictive. sadly, plums seem to be out of season soon.... so i look forward to taking pineapples and rock melons when i finished the plums...

will be sharing my Day 02 by tonight if i'm not too tired

Cheers,
tuberose

[pandora]

Great to know you are now started on refeed. I will be keeping a close eye on yr thoughts, feelings, journalling etc during this time. Thanks for giving us a glimpse of what lies ahead. Pandora

[Tuberose]

Hi Pandora, thanks for dropping by and adding life to this thread! it's my pleasure to share my refeed journey to anyone who wish to read for any reason. i really hope that my little efforts could help fellow cohenites in one way or another

have you gotten your refeed programme?

[Tuberose]

Date: Tue, 20 Nov 07
Refeed Date: Day 02
Weight: 52.4kg (-0.1kg)

Breakfast: plain non-fat yoghurt
Lunch: Chicken + veggie soup
Dinner: fish + veggie stir-fry
Water: 2l+
Fruits: 2 apples + 1 plum
Deviations: nil
Refeed Extras: 30g old protein + 40g old veggies | carbo: 5 crackers as per original plan | 1 good fruit, YAY!
The Stomach Factor*: 7
*see Refeed Day 01

Some Thoughts...
yesterday was an ok refeed day but i'm still suffering from no BM since Sun and it's really bad this time round... i've been taking the natural laxatives recommended by my local cohen office but i'm still blocked if i have to point out the CONs of this diet, this side effect will definitely be one of it!!! on the other hand, i'm still thankful that i've lost 100gm after 1 day of refeed with the additional protein.

happy to be able to eat one more piece of fruit! been craving for additional fruit and crackers for the past weeks, and real bad! so i really enjoyed eating the small little plum :P

on DAY 01 of refeed, i didn't feel hungry for most parts of the day but yesterday was quite different for me. i felt quite peckish like 2 hours after lunch... finished all my crackers even before 6pm usually i'll try to keep at least one piece of cracker as an after-meal "treat" but i just could not control that craving yesterday.

Today (Refeed Day 03) marked the end of 21st week for me! this morning & in a hurry i did not take my chromium supplement... hope i won't be craving as much! and i could eat a piece of bread starting from today, but that would also mean that i could only have 2 crackers! will try to split up that 1 piece of bread to be eaten right after lunch & dinner. i'm so used to portion out my cracker allowance just so i could have that little carbo touch with my meals throughout the day also, i'm trying to make a point to eat carbo right after cohen meals as i'm trying my best & within my knowledge to stabilise my blood sugar levels... i'm very sensitive to that....

actually come to think of it, i'm really addicted to the crackers now that i feel like having my usual cracker allowance instead of bread :P will update on the effect of that one piece of bread on me tomorrow

Cheers,
tuberose

[Tuberose]

Date: Wed, 21 Nov 07
Refeed Date: Day 03
Weight: 52.4kg (0kg)

Breakfast: plain non-fat yoghurt
Lunch: Chicken + veggie soup
Dinner: prawns + veggie stir-fry
Water: 2l+
Fruits: 1 orange + 1 apple + 1.6 plums
Deviations: nil
Refeed Extras: 30g old protein + 40g old veggies | carbo: 1 bread + 2 crackers | 1 good fruit
The Stomach Factor*: 8 before breakfast, 6.5 after lunch
*see Refeed Day 01

Some Thoughts...
no change in weight as of yesterday... as i'm still eating ALL the allowances & snacks + my tricky BM problem, i'm thankful not to have gained weight... and of course though i'm aiming to complete the programme at 52kg, it would an extra GREAT GREAT bonus if i could finish the programme at less than 52kg :P

had my first piece of bread yesterday... not sure if it's the senokot (laxatives) i'm been taking or the bread... i was rather gassy yesterday & i could not narrow down the cause of the gassiness. i think i should be able to determine that today since i did not take senokot last night coz i had my BM yesterday (yes, finally! )!

well the bread tasted ok to me. i was actually tempted to stick to my usual crackers but being a HUGE pastries, bread & bun fan (hope to change this though), i thought it's better have that piece of bread to help my body to adjust more readily to the life post-cohen's.

i'm still really enjoying the extra piece of fruit allowance. yesterday, i felt exceptionally hungry & even a little weak not long after lunch & dinner so much so i wished i could have more food!

while struggling with hunger, i kept telling myself that this could be a good sign that my body could still handle more food & not gain weight. and when i stepped on the scale this morning... i smiled

as i was reading through the refeed diaries of other fellow cohenites, i sort of felt that my programme is a little stricter than some. i could only add bad fruits after 8 days & take new protein, veggies & additional carbs like rice, after 10 to 12 days & with a 2 biscuit days towards the end (looking forward to it!) having said all these, at the moment, i'm pretty comfortable just sticking to the increasing portions of old proteins & veggies as the calculations are really much more straight forward!

calculating & adding quantities have been quite a breeze at this stage where no new proteins & veggies are introduced. but i'm quite apprenhensive when i have to start adding new proteins, veggies & subtracting old ones at a later stage. gonna see my consultant again this evening to clarify all my doubts and do "revisions" on the programme. don't want to make mistakes at this crucial stage :P

Cheers,
tuberose

[pandora]

Hi Tuberose, yes i do have my refeed and will start next week. You and i must be about the same height i reckon as almost same weight! I am 159cm, how about you? I know what you mean about loving the crackers now, i love the premium the best. I dont think i EVER want to go back to bread. Havent had a chance to ring the clinic re bread, do we HAVE to eat it or can we just have crackers instead? I used to think i "loved" bread, but alarm bells go off at even the thought of eating it! Pandora

[baloo]

Originally Posted by Tuberose

Borrowed Baloo's template to modify... hope you don't mind i like his template being so clear and organised :P

That's fine. the Fee is $5 everytime you use the template.......

But seriously, I just used what LessFatty was using and modified it a bit to suit my needs, as you have done to suit yours. One day I might actually see if I can create a template in the forum software so that you just need to add the numbers and it does the formatting for you.

[Tuberose]

Baloo, i simply can't afford that you know! btw did you pay lessfatty for using the template? :mrgreen:

it would be truly terrific to see an additional feature on this board like what you have mentioned, but making it as flexible as possible so that it could be adjusted for varying needs would be nice.

looking forward to that!

[Tuberose]

Originally Posted by pandora

Hi Tuberose, yes i do have my refeed and will start next week. You and i must be about the same height i reckon as almost same weight! I am 159cm, how about you? I know what you mean about loving the crackers now, i love the premium the best. I dont think i EVER want to go back to bread. Havent had a chance to ring the clinic re bread, do we HAVE to eat it or can we just have crackers instead? I used to think i "loved" bread, but alarm bells go off at even the thought of eating it! Pandora

Hi Pandora, yes! we have very similar height! the last i checked last month during a health screening, i'm 1.6m :P i've been taking jacob & meji crackers and they are very yummy to me! though plain, i feel good eating them! i think i'm gonna snack on them mostly even after the programme. one of the things i might do is to eat at least 5 to 6 pieces at one go after the programme just to satisfy that little fantasy of eating more than the allowance & craving i'm having :mrgreen:

strangely in this diet, i've even come to appreciate and accept eating plain, natural yoghurt. i used to cringe at the thought of eating unsweetened/unflavoured plain yoghurt. i think this diet has trained me to develop a taste for that so much so that i'm likely to be having plain non-fat yoghurt for breakfast even after the programme, except that i might add some muesli to it. my guiding principle post-cohen's is likely to be on low GI diet for most parts of the week.

as for bread, i did not manage to see my consultant last night due to work... i'm gonna see her this evening to clarify on the bread and will share with you on that. as far as i know, you don't have to take bread if you do not wish to. but what i'm gonna ask my consultant is that, on days when i could have 3 pieces of bread, could i have 9 crackers in place of them? since 1 bread = 3 crackers.... i'm excited to find this out myself!

[Tuberose]

Date: Thu, 22 Nov 07
Refeed Date: Day 04
Weight: 52.2kg (-0.2kg)

Breakfast: plain non-fat yoghurt
Lunch: Chicken + veggie soup
Dinner: beef + veggie stir-fry
Water: 2l+
Fruits: 1 plum + 1 apple + 1 grapefruit
Deviations: nil
Refeed Extras: 60g old protein + 40g old veggies | carbo: 1 bread + 2 crackers | 1 good fruit
The Stomach Factor*: 7.5
*see Refeed Day 01

Some Thoughts...
yesterday my additional protein allowance was doubled from +30g to +60g. had 145gm of beef for dinner! that was pretty satisfying after a long period of taking very limited portions of food

i'm still enjoying & appreciating the additional piece of fruit very much! i was a little hungry not long after lunch but not as much as the day before. last night, had dinner quite late due to work, almost 9.30pm. eating after 9pm has been a rather usual so-called deviation pattern for me... but i always make a point to sleep only after 2 hours. after a big portion of food for dinner, i ate a humongous piece of grapefruit and boy, i was feeling really full & even bloated!

i think this diet has made me developed a rather warp or even sick sense of security in hunger than in feeling full... i wonder how many of you could relate to that? so i felt a little worried feeling so full after dinner yesterday, wondering if my body could adjust to the increasing portions... so far, it's been ok... still losing but keeping my fingers crossed & need to be extra vigilant as i'll be eating even more protein & carbo starting from next week! not to mention, typically, i lose very little and could even gain some weight after weekends :P

EDIT: i've forgotten to update on the effects of bread on me as mentioned earlier, adding the info now... i think the gassiness i'm experiencing after eating bread is indeed caused by the bread & not laxatives. it's so strange to be experiencing this as i've been eating lots of bread before going into this diet. but i think i'll still be eating at least one piece of bread for most refeeding days as this refeeding is supposed to help your body to adjust back to the normal diet that fits into your long term life style pattern. so i want to keep it as realistic as possible

[cait]

Hi Tuberose,
the consultant i saw last week explained i could swap my crackers for bread in Refeed.
i can't remember the proportion exactly now though, would have to look it up in my book... but i know i could exchange bread and crackers.
perhaps 2 crackers equals one slice of bread?
but don't quote me!
anyway, you'll find out for sure tonight... and i presume you'll update your diary for all of us to read.
thanks.
cait.

[pandora]

Hi Tuberose

Thank you for getting back to me re the bread etc. You say you have Jacob and Meji crackers? What are they? Do you live outside of Australia as i have never heard of them. Back in Scotland we had Jacobs Cream Crackers. I think Cait might be right re the crackers and bread swap, i.e. 1 bread = 2 crackers, so if you get 3 bread that equals the 6 crackers if that is yr personal allowance. Let me know what yr clinic says about sticking with crackers only and avoiding the bread!

Also, i see you say you will continue with yogurt in the morning (yuck to me!) BEYOND refeed and might even add muesli. My lifestyle guidelines is very specific that porridge oats or muesli etc, even tho low g.i. - should only be eaten in the evenings as it can put yr blood sugar up in the a.m. and IT STAYS UP ALL DAY, how awful! Check with yr clinic re the muesli etc.

And i totally understand what you said about feeling a tad warped, like a sick sense of security in HUNGER rather than feeling full. I am 100% with you on that one. I fear ever feeling so called full again, i much prefer just living on the edge between hunger and just enough to satisfy the appetite, just like we feel when on the weight loss program. My fear of the coming week is - on the one hand i know the refeed very specifically tells us to stuff ourselves silly every day from day one to the end of refeed, MUST consume every last crumb etc, but to me that makes no sense as we are setting ourselves up to get used to more food! I much prefer Katrin's French style, etc. Can you ask yr clinic about that too. Like you i would enjoy a little extra protein and veggies but when it comes to adding carbs etc, after the extra protein, veggies et al, might just be uncomfortable and unnecesssary. I would ask mine but it is closed Frid thru mon and reopens on Tues. Pandora

[Tuberose]

hi cait, welcome to this thread!

you are right, my consultant said that i could swap crackers and bread accordingly. in my guide, 1 bread = 3 crackers, so if i'm given 3 pieces of bread, in place of that, i could take either 9 crackers or 1 bread + 6 crackers. though i feel gassy after eating bread, i'll still try to take one piece of bread at least few times a week and hopefully, my body will get used to having bread by the end of refeeding.

[Tuberose]

Originally Posted by pandora

Hi Tuberose

Thank you for getting back to me re the bread etc. You say you have Jacob and Meji crackers? What are they? Do you live outside of Australia as i have never heard of them. Back in Scotland we had Jacobs Cream Crackers. I think Cait might be right re the crackers and bread swap, i.e. 1 bread = 2 crackers, so if you get 3 bread that equals the 6 crackers if that is yr personal allowance. Let me know what yr clinic says about sticking with crackers only and avoiding the bread!

Also, i see you say you will continue with yogurt in the morning (yuck to me!) BEYOND refeed and might even add muesli. My lifestyle guidelines is very specific that porridge oats or muesli etc, even tho low g.i. - should only be eaten in the evenings as it can put yr blood sugar up in the a.m. and IT STAYS UP ALL DAY, how awful! Check with yr clinic re the muesli etc.

And i totally understand what you said about feeling a tad warped, like a sick sense of security in HUNGER rather than feeling full. I am 100% with you on that one. I fear ever feeling so called full again, i much prefer just living on the edge between hunger and just enough to satisfy the appetite, just like we feel when on the weight loss program. My fear of the coming week is - on the one hand i know the refeed very specifically tells us to stuff ourselves silly every day from day one to the end of refeed, MUST consume every last crumb etc, but to me that makes no sense as we are setting ourselves up to get used to more food! I much prefer Katrin's French style, etc. Can you ask yr clinic about that too. Like you i would enjoy a little extra protein and veggies but when it comes to adding carbs etc, after the extra protein, veggies et al, might just be uncomfortable and unnecesssary. I would ask mine but it is closed Frid thru mon and reopens on Tues. Pandora

hi pandora, i'm not from OZ, but from Singapore though i used to study in OZ in WA i can say that to a certain extent, i'm quite familiar with OZ! i think meji crackers are more commonly found in asain countries... the good thing about it is we are allowed to eat 8 of them per day! i used to have mainly meji crackers but since i started refeed, i figure that taking jacob crackers (allowance of 5 per day in original programme) makes calculations easier

as for fruit & cracker/bread allowance for refeed, according to my consultant, they are all optional. but i figure that it's better to have some so that it serves the purpose of refeed, reintroducing more food and varieties in our body.

so far i've been eating ALL the allowance given and really am enjoying the extra servings!

talking about life after cohen's, actually if i follow the low GI diet, a combi of plain yoghurt + muesli is ideal as the GI rating is low and unlikely to spike our insulin levels. besides, i intend to get a particular brand of muesli from OZ that has a low GI rating of 40+, seems healthy & wholesome to me!

i hope a low GI diet will be the answer to maintaining my weight and hope to share that part of the journey over here after completing the programme.