Marc's Diary 2.0

[Imfef]

Here we go again!

I'm Marc, one of the few males, maybe even the only one on this program and on NYF right now?

I'm as excited as the first time I started Cohen's 9 years ago. Back then I lost 22.5kg in 14 weeks (starting weight was about 97kg) but have put it all on again since then...and more. No excuses anymore.

I started on Sunday (weighing in at 106.8kg), the decision was made after having a normal breakfast (two fried egg sandwiches!) - so I could have waited until Monday to start afresh from breakfast, but I couldn't wait, so I started there and then, despite not having all the supplies.

If anyone remembers me from 2009, I'm a serial weigher. I get my motivation from seeing the daily drops. I'll probably stop doing that after a couple of weeks when my body starts 'integrating' and move to a weekly weigh-in.

Anyway, my first day's loss (call it a day and a half) was....wait for it....4.6kg!! That's the motivation right there to keep going.

I managed 3 litres of water! This is key, I must keep that up every day, it is one of the most important drivers of weight loss.

When I did the program 9 years ago, I was living in Singapore. I found weekends very tough because we used to eat out at weekends a lot, as things usually revolved around eating and drinking - brunch/dinner/drinks/takeaways, and it was all lovely!

Now living in Lake Geneva area, Switzerland, there is no such culture. I'm serious!

People just don't eat out, there are no takeaways and it's very expensive if you do. So people stay at home. Restaurants in my town don't even open in the evenings, they do all their business at lunch - people here sit down and eat hot meals at lunch here and sandwich/deli culture is almost non-existent. So it will certainly be easier for me at weekends.

I'm not going to set goals (I said that last time, but then did), I'm going to be relaxed in the knowledge that it will happen when it happens, and it does. I have no target end date (last time I had a holiday booked/family graduation) so was keen to rush through to the end of refeed before going. No pressure this time. All I want is to look and feel better by my 50th in November. This will be the best birthday present to myself I could ever imagine.

Also, now that I know what to expect, and knowing this program works if I just stay DF, I am more relaxed - this will help too.

I did try and get started a couple of times since 2009, but I just wasn't making it a focus - I was making excuses about not having time to weigh food, finding the right food, come to to this forum etc.

So this time, like the first, it's getting the focus it needs and deserves.

I'm going on a business trip to Barcelona today for two days, so my first challenge already. I will figure it out.

Will report in on Thursday. Have a great couple of days!

Marc

[justakiwig]

Hi

Gee I want ur job lol and ur goal weight 😂 - I restarted after 5-6yrs of sabotage - I have more to lose this time round I managed to put on the 58kgs I lost plus another 3kgs - my mother taught me to exceed at everything I do so I blame her lol - nope I totally own this one!!!

I use to weigh daily but now I forget some days so I just do it weekly - I jump on if I remember, lately though my body seems to be slowing already which sucks but it might be adjusting I can’t fathom why it would slow at such an early stage.

Welcome back and good luck this time round

Just

[Imfef]

Thanks for the welcome, justakiwig!
What does justakiwig mean or stand for, by the way? Interesting stage name.

I’m with you on the weight cycles. I only graduated once, and tried again - half-heartedly - a couple of times, each time I lost a bit, but each time I’d put it back on and more. A definite pattern that I cannot keep repeating. However, I wasn’t in the Zone during either of those failed attempts.

I really feel good about it this time and I’m excited because I know I’m going to be thin again, before the end of the year.

I get to travel a lot but honestly it’s not as glamorous as it sounds. Airport-office-dinner-hotel-office-airport, repeat.

When I did the program first time, I had a lucky break where I’d didn’t travel during my 14 weeks on the program, which helped.

Day 2 this time around, I had to make a trip. But it was a success, which only confirmed to myself that I’m in the Zone. I was out with about 14 people of dinner last night which consisted of lots of amazing looking tapas starter dishes, wine was flowing beers, you can picture the scene.

Luckily, we had some individual choices for main course, one was surprising chicken and salad with sauce on the side. Chicken was roasted, peeled the skin off, ate what I felt was about right portion wise, left the pancakes and hoisin and ate the shredded lettuce and onion salad. Obviously passed on desert.

Breakfast buffet in the hotel this morning, my nemesis. I usually like to sample everything - the pastries, cooked breakfast, fruit, fresh OJ, latte etc. I found a small tub of 0% yogurt and my allowed fruit - orange, kiwi and honey dew - so a coupe of spoonfuls on the side, a black coffee and some water. Actually felt very satisfied, bordering on stuffed!

Got to the meeting and the company had laid on a breakfast for the attendees, easily shuffled past that and into the meeting room, picking up some water on the way. I was always nervous about lunch, what was going to be offered - and again it was a lovely spread of nibbles, stuffed rolls, skewers of very saucy chicken - teriyaki perhaps. Luckily there were some plastic cups of chicken salad with croutons on top, no dressing. I scraped off the croutons, and the rest was definitely Cohen friendly, but the chicken was probably one fifth of my allowance, so I did go hungry. Diet Coke to the rescue - helped fill me up a bit. I has taken some crackers with me and bought an apple at the airport - so all in all I did well. Also managed my 3 litres of water.

Staying DF with the travel was a fear, but I managed it. Not sure what I would have done if I couldn’t find some Cohen food though.

Anyway, I weigh myself tomorrow and hope to lose some more water weight, I think that’s all it is in the first few days.

Excited to know that in probably just a couple of weeks my clothes will feel a bit looser, I won’t have to fight to button my jeans. Little steps and milestones sure come by quickly on this program, which is why I love it.

Off to bed now, not a bad couple of days.

[Kohinoor]

Hi Marc,
Well done on the travel bit. Doing the best you can do is "the best you can do", and it seems you did pretty good except for being "light" on one meal.

Not sure what I would have done if I couldn’t find some Cohen food though.

Someone from years past used to always have a tear-top tin of tuna and one veg (was it cucumber?) so that they always had protein and veg no matter what. The tin of tuna should be OK on a plane - so that is half the problem solved. A vege shop for the other - but what if there are no shops? Hmmm... Let's see what others do in a similar situation.

Koh

[AZ1908]

I travelled a lot for work the first time I did Cohens. I used to pack my scales, and celery and cucumber and fruit. If I knew there would be a supermarket, I would stop by and pick stuff up on my way to the hotel. Breakfast is usually easy as you can order a boiled egg. But I was religious. I never deviated even with all the travel.

[AZ1908]

I packed my lunch everyday I travelled so never ate what was on offer from the company too!

[findingme]

Hi Marc

I think I must've read your previous diary!
Illjust say I'm glad you're not giving yourself a goal time limit as the body does what it does and you know that if you're following the plan you'll get to goal.

I think Koh meant tinned tuna and asparagus😊 as an easy, on the go meal.

Keep up the good work
Jen

[Kohinoor]

I think Koh meant tinned tuna and asparagus😊 as an easy, on the go meal.

Good on you FM - I figured someone would know..... so yeah, both in tins, so can go on planes eh? Or not? I've never tried to do that.


Koh

[Imfef]

Thanks for the tips Koh, AZ and finding me, and for stopping by!

It’s a great idea, I know I can get tinned tuna tear-top but I haven’t seen it with asparagus, that would be really neat indeed, I’ll have a hunt around. Good question though about being allowed to take it on a plane, Koh, I think it would be fine in the checked-in luggage but may be a problem taking it on the plane in a carry-on. Most of my flights are short haul and my company will book me on easyjet with no checked-in allowance so I’ll need to look into that.

So I’ve only weighed myself once this week - and it’s Thursday night. Not on purpose mind, I was traveling and the scales batteries died, so I bought some new ones after work today - let’s see what tomorrow brings.

The benefit of doing this second time around is that I’m more relaxed (in a good way, not a complacent way), and have the hindsight to do things a bit differently. I’m hell bent on doing the full 3 litres a day this time, I struggled to drink 2 last time and only 3 sometimes. But I know lots of water is key, you see that immediately on the scale the next morning, so I’m aiming for 3 - and treating less than 3 as a deviation. I do hate waking up at night a couple of times because I need to go, but it goes with the territory so I’ll have to live with it.

I’m thinking of doing photos every two weeks again, that was hugely motivational last time, although I may not strip down to my shorts this time LOL, getting too old for that.

Well, Happy Friday and good luck for the weekend.

Marc

[justakiwig]

OMG I know what u mean about 2nd time around!!! I’m exactly the same - so chilled out it’s weird?? The first time I was obsessed with absolutely everything - now I’m like meh, I know what to do I know it’s going to take time BUT I know it’s going to happen I just need to keep doing what I’m doing -

It’s very exciting -

Just

[Imfef]

Day 5.

Weighed myself this morning, small loss since Tuesday, total of 6.6kg for the first 5 days which is incredible how much water retention that must represent.

Looked back at my old diary and noticed my first week, which I was delighted with, was 3.7kg loss. Yet looking to double that this week!

If I can drop another few grams in the next couple of days I'll have reached the 90's. Still 7kg higher than my starting goal first time around. I'm guessing probably 3 more weeks to get back below that weight, so much patience required.

Been searching for my old fav recipes and found the Chicken Mango curry, thank goodness, it was the best, will be having this tomorrow.

Still trying to find the zucchini lasagne - I've found several but not the one I think I remember. Many use the meat and cheese, so it couldn't have been that obviously and I'd rather use the cheese than meat allowance for this - so I think there must have been a veg concoction (mushroom/tomato?) that replaced the ground beef. If anyone knows of this please let me know.

Summer has arrived, not great weather yet, but Sunday looks good and the kids will be dying to go to the pool for the first time this year. Normally I'd be looking forward to it but I don't feel like jumping in my swimmers just yet. I might feel like it towards the end of the summer, I hope. That'll be a mini-goal to look forward to then.

Have a good weekend everyone!

[Imfef]

Just wrote a long diary entry which just deleted itself....so frustrated.

I'll summarise:

Just read a bunch of old diaries - one was Peter 14.7 (similar situation to me, male/weight, second timer and same struggles i.e. finding it hard to maintain).

So I did some research and came across a NY Times article, that was eye opening, about the 2009 Biggest Loser Contestants. 6 years on, after losing c200lbs each, 13 out of 14 have put all the weight back on, some even more. In short, crash dieters will experience decreased metabolism (which was expected), but after 6 years it didn't improve. Leptin levels dropped to zero, meaning it was extremely hard for these people to maintain their losses.

Head is now scrambled and not sure what to think or do. I'm questioning whether I shift immediately to a more sustainable program, one that perhaps doesn't offer such rapid loss but will keep me always 'on course'.

Need to sleep on my thoughts and see how I feel tomorrow. Still 100% DF today and committed to weight loss, but worried about going down the same path again and that I've seen from too many others.

[justakiwig]

Hey

I guess if maintenance was easy the diet industry would have an end date LOL - I know it’s not easy but will stick with it, but I mentioned in another post I’m not going to commit strictly forever - as in I have given myself about a year and will not be purchasing another program as it’s very expensive. I am however going to give this program my all - 100% and see what happens from there.

There’s so much information on this forum I love reading everything and could easily get lost in someone’s diary for hours lol.

The pizza recipe I use is with my mozerella (cheese allowance) and vege allowance (I use tomatoes, mushroom, some capsicum and red onion) and basically layer them on a round rice cake which is also in my allowance and grill or roll the cheese has melted - it feels really naughty but tastes so good lol.

I hope u find the answers ur looking for in regards to long term maintenance

Just

[Kohinoor]

Mi Marc,

Just wrote a long diary entry which just deleted itself....so frustrated.

That's a bugger eh? Did you know there is an answer though - so you'll never lose another one again.... ??


Check this out -

http://newyouforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7052



Hope that cures things for you....


Koh

[findingme]

Hi Marc

Interesting that you're experiencing this. Find the website How To eat like A normal person. It is really helpful.

Also, if once you've lost your weight and you can maintain for 3-6 months, the body is more likely to accept that as your new norm, otherwise it will just want to get back to your original weight. I love Cohens, esp that it is just food, but that's why I wrote my post in my diary.
What also helps for me is that with Cohen's we can do it with diet alone, the success rate for people who have had surgery for weight loss is also very low long term, so I think it is possible with Cohens, with great vigilance however.

Take care Marc
Jen

Sorry if I sound negative, but you need to go into this fully aware, esp as you are a second timer. The second time is less stressful though and I thought easier. A few others have said this too, Ive noticed😊

[Imfef]

Thanks for the thoughtful replies!
I’m more relaxed at this moment in time, I know that following the program 100% will get me to Lyly ideal for right now doubt. Second time (in zone) I also know what to expect and am not second guessing week by week. What triggered my concerns was the fact that people seem to find it too much to maintain). When I did some further research I saw that it was mainly prevalent in those that lost weight quickly. I experienced this first time and put it down to me not learning, but I was at a disadvantage due to chemical and hormonal changes that happened to me. The body/brain tries very hard to get you back to your ‘ideal’ weight -and not the one we had in mind!
I want to find out more as I can’t do this journey ‘properly’ for a third time.

[Kohinoor]

Hi Marc,
Seems to me a rogue "auto-correcter program" got hold of your smartphone or something.....

I know that following the program 100% will get me to Lyly ideal for right now doubt.

I have a wee thought re your concern about maintaining - I share it now and then - and now seems like a good time to share it again. Like you, I left this place for some years but in the interim more learning went on, and footprints were left in here that can give you some clues.
One of the major learnings (to me) was the one outlined here:-
http://newyouforum.com/forum/showthr...654#post447654

That could be one answer, and of course, there might be more - but do keep on reading and let's see what else you might uncover.
Rock on champ !!


Koh

[Imfef]

Thanks Koh, those links were really helpful.

Maintenance is the biggest challenge without a doubt, but having read up on it so much over the last few days, I still worry about my ability to maintain after a rapid loss - because I do believe we are battling with a greatly reduced metabolism and depleted leptin levels.

I think it can be achieved through regular resets but it's not a process I would like to have to go through constantly.

However, I really don't know what the alternative is.

[justakiwig]

Hey

I’m so far away from maintenance it’s a pipe dream for me at the moment - however if you figure it out can you share lol - maybe we might have to be more active as we introduce life back to our bodies cause to be honest I love not having to exercise - but if that’s he balance that’s required to help on maintenance illl do it

Just

[Kohinoor]

Hi Imfef,

I do believe we are battling with a greatly reduced metabolism

Hmm - I thought it was quite the opposite. But then, I am reading on here, and very few other places. Did you have a link to share that explains the "lower metabolism" theory?

I was under the impression that, once your body was "balanced" after Refeed and you were getting back into exercising along with the right amounts of good foods in Maintenance, that your metabolism would crank right up - even allowing a few food slips with no ill effects.

What can you add?
Koh