Marge’s Road to Refeeding...Finallly

[Mombo5]

Hi all!!! Yay! I finally got my Eating Plan and I am so excited to do the Cohen Diet again after 10 years of gaining all the weight back that I had lost. I did get pregnant again. I never got to refeeding last time so Im hoping I will do so this time. I will be officially starting on Sunday, April 28. I did not have this forum the first time I did the diet. I love that I can journal my Cohen journey here. Off the bat, Im thinking that in two months I’ll be sending off my son to college and it might be a stressful time that I hope I don’t deviate. I guess I can’t think ahead and maybe just take things one day at a time. I should not be thinking so negatively and I have not even started. 😳 Anyway, Im just happy to be here. Marge

[Kohinoor]

Hi Marge,
Well done for starting a Diary. Main thing is to keep putting YOU first. Son will go off to college no worries - but you need to be true for you.


I hope you have an easy start and get quickly into "the zone",


Koh

[Mombo5]

Thanks Koh! Yup, I agree. Im prepping my food now. Really bummed that they no longer sell Jacob’s Hi Cal Crackers here which was my favorite when I first did C.


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[Mombo5]

Week 1, Day 1

Today is the first day of my Cohen Diet. I feel like Im in the “honeymoon” phase when everything is new and Im still excited, eager and willing to do what it takes to succeed. When I was given my plan, I had the consultant explain everything again to me as if I was hearing it for the first time. This is like a refresher course of some sort. So for breakfast I had an egg omelet with asparagus and some mushrooms. I wanted to have yoghurt but Im still bummed that my favorite cracker is no longer available here. Yoghurt, fruit and crushed crackers was my go to breakfast before. I’m thankful that in this round of Cohen,I have this diary which I did not have the last time. I know that it will help me stay accountable somehow. I was unable to reach Refeed my first time so Im really hoping that I will this time. Thanks to those who set this up and continue to keep this up. This is brilliant!!! ❤️




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[Mombo5]

My starting weight is 180 pounds/ 81.9 kg My goal is 134 pounds/61 kg.


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[Kristine..]

Hey Marge

Welcome to the Forum and well done for starting!

Can you get Ryvita in your local shops? I had a large number of crispbread to eat each day and had to figure out how to fit them all in. I realised I had to eat a serving with Meal 1 (aka Breakfast) but didn't want to use a salty crispbread with yoghurt. Usually, Ryvita is so dry that is is almost impossible to eat without butter, but I discovered that it makes an excellent 'meusli'!

I am talking about the Original Ryvita which is 2 x (Cohen's) Crispbread per serving. I just smash mine into the bowl, toss in the chopped kiwi fruit and spoon over the yoghurt. I think I only twice had an alternate Meal 1 during this rerun of my program, and will be continuing with the Ryvita as it works well with the yoghurt and makes a good change to the bland Vita Weat or the salty cracker style crispbread - and don't forget the crispbread menu also includes rice cakes - one thin rice cake = 2 Cohen Serves of crispbread.

Most days I had a serve of each of the four different types well variety, as they say, is the spice of life!

To make sure I ate them all but didn't mistakenly double up, I have a little crispbread caddy on the workbench. I fill this with my rations for the day and when it is empty I know I have eaten them all (except for when I decided to have something different and changed the crispbread to suit eg rice cake works well crumbled into soup but I like a salty cracker style as a side with grilled steak).

My first day of Maintenance was yesterday, Saturday 27/04 and as I want to keep bread in the treat category, I will be continuing with the crispbread caddy for a while yet

Lotsa love
Kristine

[Mombo5]

Kristine, thanks so much for your message I love your idea of having a crisp bread caddy. I don’t think we have Ryvita here but on my plan I believe they have something similar called Wasa that’s allowed. I remember the first time I was on Cohen, I loved my crackers/crisp breads and I kept eating them long after I was done. Some Cohen habits like drinking my 3 liters of water everyday were hard to shake off. If only I kept up the good eating habits. I never got to refeed or even maintenance, so Im so happy for you that you’ve gone a long way with the program. That is awesome! Keep it up. I hope I can get there too.

Hugs, Marge


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[Mombo5]

Week 1, Day 2

Weight: 179 pounds/81 kg

So Im really not supposed to weight myself if I am to strictly follow the plan but I could not help it. Habit. I was down a pound. Yay! I successfully did not deviate yesterday. Yes, there were moments when I felt hungry but it was not real hunger. Just an urge to eat something, for no real reason. Habit. Sunday is the day we eat out as a family so I was planning on just bringing the food I prepared when we ate out. Thankfully we did not because my husband wanted to stay home and watch a basketball game. Phew!!! I’ve been thinking ahead how I can plan our Sunday family lunches and not deviate. I am so thankful that yesterday was a good day and Im hopeful today will be one too.


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[Kohinoor]

Hi marge,
Your Diary Request tells me you are from the Philippines. Did you know we have a forum especially for Filipinos? It is here:-
http://newyouforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=117

But don't feel you have to go there - 'cos you are most welcome to just stay out of it altogether. We initially set it up for those who might WANT to use tagalog to speak. So, rather than have a host of different languages in all forums, we set aside special forums for Filipinos and South Africans so they could converse in their native tongues. So long as you write in English, you are most welcome everywhere else.

I had a quick look though, wondering if there might have been clues for you re "crackers" in the Philippines. I didn't see any reference to that, but if you spend a bit more time in there, who knows what you might find.

And of course, you can choose to "Search" for information. I suspect if you Searched for crackers you might get 10,000 posts, as it is a common subject of conversation. One other way might be to check out the "Stickies" in each forum. Where some information is super-important, we "stick" the information to the top of every page so you can easily find it. So most "Stickies" are quite important in their subject matter.

Anyway, Marge, settle down with a black coffee and just "look around" - I'm sure you will find a lot more encouragement as well as some answers to questions you might have. Go hard,

Koh

[Mombo5]

Hi Koh! That’s awesome. Thanks for being so helpful. I checked out the Filipino forum and noticed that it has not been so active. Perhaps I can shoot a message and see if anyone else is still on the plan. Im just grateful I have a platform to journal my Cohen journey this time around and thankful for all the support here. 🙂


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[Mombo5]

It was a great day today except for some reason, I think I may have eaten two Meal 2’s. Im still getting a hang of measuring my portions. Hay! 😩 I felt slightly weak today too and I had to take an afternoon nap which I normally don’t do. Thankful I was able to. I was not hungry at all which is amazing.


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[Mombo5]

April 30, 2019

Week 1, Day 3

Weight: 176 pounds/ 80 kg

Thankful for the weight loss today. I know Im not supposed to weigh myself but I feel encouraged when I see the weight go down. I know there may be a time when the weight may stall, but Im really set on reaching Refeeding and Maintenance too. Im taking things one day at a time and so far so good. (Pardon the cliches.&#128514 Today I brought my lunch to my kids school instead of eating in the school cafeteria. As I was eating my food a mom friend commented on how little I was eating. I then told her about the Cohen Diet and she wished me all the best on it as she ate her sandwiches. I’d rather be open and honest about this journey and hopefully people will be supportive. I think they will be. Anyway, I used to have cravings in the evening and Im thankful that I have not been having them. Mostly, Ive been really tired at the end of the day so I’ve been going to bed early. I hope things stay this way. Looking forward to another successful day. 🙂💕


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[Mombo5]

May 1, 2019

Week 1, Day 4

Weight: 174 pounds/ 79 kg

In my quiet time this verse was impressed upon me. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. - Proverbs 3:5-6. Im grateful that that I was led to this Cohen Program. It has given me a plan for weight loss. I know I need the clear boundaries laid out in the program. I had been trying to lose weight on my own, trying different things with little or no success. I know this program works. I’ve been encouraged to read my plan often and I get it. The same way I need to renew my mind daily so that I may walk in obedience to God, I also need to refresh my mind in reading the program so that I can stay focused and not be tempted to deviate. I know I’ve started to weigh myself but I totally understand that my success does not lie on the scales but in sticking to the program and persevering to reach my goal this time which is Refeeding. Like most things in life, I know there will be ups and downs, fluctuations in my weight, but I need to stay determined and focused on following the Program which I have faith in that it works. Now, Im looking forward to having my yummy yoghurt and fruit breakfast.


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[Mombo5]

On the way to watch Avengers End Game with my boys. I know they’re going to have popcorn. Big temptation. It’s a 3 hour movie too. I’ll just bring my crackers.


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[Kohinoor]

Hi Marge,
You are sounding good - keep it up. You mentioned weighing daily - and I have no issue with people doing that - unless you are someone who MUST see your weight going down each day.

Because IT DOESN'T !!! Truly. The linked post below shows one of our members from about 10 years ago - she weighed herself daily, but only to treat it like a maths exercise. And in doing so, she came up with a graph that shows each day's weight as a small purple dot. Over time, you can clearly see the downward trend ....

But, if you look closer (click on the small "thumbnail" picture to Zoom in) you can see her weight going down, but also going up. There are even one or two weeks when she was heavier at the end of the week than she was at the start of the week. But overall it ticked down in quite a steady pattern (if you stand back a bit and ignore the occasional weight-gain week) as a slow week is often followed by a HUGE drop to make up.

http://newyouforum.com/forum/showthr...165#post168165

Take a look and see for yourself. Keep on weighing daily if that works OK for you - but be aware you WON'T always lose weight daily - as AJ shows us.

Koh,

[Mombo5]

Week 1, Day 5

Weight: 175 pounds/79.5 kg

Thank so much Koh for your feedback. I really appreciate your active support. I totally understand that my weight will fluctuate on this program. I understand the psychological danger of seeing ones weight go up which may cause discouragement and then a possibly deviation. On the contrary, my seeing my weight go up (should it ever do so) is motivation for me to stay deviation free. Today Im up 1 pound/ .5 kgs. Honestly, I know it’s because I went over my cracker limit. I watched Avengers and brought along my crackers but then I snuck in another extra cracker in the evening before I tucked my kids in bed. I read somewhere that temptations are like stray cats as when you treat one nice, it will bring along a bunch of it’s friends over. I am determined not to give in to another temptation to deviate. The idea that one deviation sets one back one week is such a disheartening thought so I don’t want to go there. Anyway, today is a new day to conquer, by God’s grace, and be successful. I plan to read my program again before starting this day.


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[Kohinoor]

I like this:-

temptations are like stray cats as when you treat one nice, it will bring along a bunch of it’s friends.

Koh

[Mombo5]

Week 1, Day 6

Weight: 173.6 pounds/ 78.9 kg

It was great day yesterday. I managed to have lunch with some friends and brought along my packed Cohen lunch. I warned them ahead of time so they wouldn’t feel weird about it. My one friend told me that she had a friend who also did the Cohen Diet but that shortly after she got cancer. Apparently it could have been because she had drank so much Diet Coke which affected her health. That was a little discouraging to hear but it will not deter me from persevering in this program. I guess I’ll just limit the amount of Diet Coke I drink, which I rarely do anyway. Im happy that my weight has gone down again. It’s amazing how this diet works especially if one stays deviation free.

The weekend is coming up. My one son will be taking his SAT exams and another son has a Track Meet. It’s going to be a crazy weekend but seeing the weight loss has given me a boost to stand firm on the program. They say if you fail to plan, plan to fail so Ive planned for the weekend. I will be taking my meals to go and make sure I have my water bottle with me at all times.

I’ve been struggling with insomnia for two nights now and Im not quite sure why. Come to think of it, Ive been drinking more coffee and even introduced Diet Coke to my diet which is something new. I guess I’ll have to limit my caffeine intake and see how that goes.

So thankful I’ve got this diary to help me along my Cohen journey. This has been really helpful and I actually look forward to jotting down my thoughts here daily. Again, to Koh and everyone here, a big thank you again. Hugs! 🙂💕


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[Mombo5]

Week 1, Day 7

Weight: 173.5 pounds/ 78.8 kg

Today was such a sad day for me and I thought I would cave and eat my emotions away. I just found out that my son who is on the other side of the world is in trouble and I am so heartbroken. I can only parent on my knees and pray for God’s mercy and grace and that He will rescue my son from his troubling situation. I did no deviate though. On the contrary, I did not want to eat at all but I knew I had too. I’m still not sleeping well for some reason and Im hoping I’ll be able to get some good rest today.


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[Mombo5]

Week 2, Day 1

Weight: 172.9 pounds/ 78.5 kg

Yay! One week down and 7.1 pounds lost and 9.5 inches lost too. Cohen is not a rapid weight loss program for nothing. Im on my second week and Im psyched to have another successful week ahead. Today I woke up with this ache in my heart for my son. My heart breaks that I can’t be with him to pour my mother’s love and affection on him so I can only pray for him. I could very well eat my heartache away but I won’t. Mindless eating is what got me to gain so much weight. It’s going to take mindful eating on this Cohen program to get me to lose weight. It took me years to gain so much weight so the thought that in less than 6 months I can lose all the weight I gained is unbelievable but doable if I stick to my plan.


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