stats for maintenance mishaps

[carrieanne_c]

I have noticed that there are quite a few of us who are battling 4+killlergrammas after having a few good months on maintenance.

I was just wondering if anyone has any stats or observations regarding how many months is the norm/average that people handle the maintenance;without snags and then have a big jump,fall off the bus, don't follow maintenance rules and have ended up with a 4+gain.

I wonder if people are easy to bounce back after holidays or if there is a longer time to get back on the train after the prolonged festive period.

I would be curious to know how many people throw in the towel as opposed to those who suck it up and either maintenance back down or reset back down, or those who do original plan -or those financially fortunate that go out and buy a whole other plan.

I want to be one of the ones who is back on the maintenance track-by using a combo of original 1st plan and refeeding weights of foods to get back down to goal weight.

[firefox]

I'll be watching this space, because I am only about 40 days into maintenance, and so far it's been okay: apart from generally eating healthy, two days of no-carb brings the weight down after an unhealthy meal. The system works pretty well. But you've hit the nail on the head- holiday periods when it is not just one day of off-routine eating. What happens then and how long does it take to get back? Thanks for starting this. Hope people respond!

[carrieanne_c]

Thanx fire, I finished refeed on 7 Sept, made it through the holidays, and was good for another two weeks-then went on vaycay(64.5k), and put on like 4k or something-and was at 68.6 or something.My start refeed weightwas (65.9k) and bam lost the plot, being bad 80% of the time and good 20%.My weight shot as high as 71 something, I never published-i didnt want to dwell-I did one day of original plan full stop-and set my baddy bad marker at 70.7(that was tuesday) It is now thursday morning and I am back down to 68.8 post poo.

On one hand I want this retraining period to take a little bit of time to teach me to never go of the rails for so long again. I think it was coming back from vaycation 2 weeks of nonstop-brink drinking and american food hilarity, weighing myself, going refeed portions getting back down to with in 1 kilo of goal and then, losing my job, having a new routine(or lack there of) and eating what my husband would eat and eating things like icecream and popcorn (but in mass quantities).

I think it is going to be a minimally visited thread because the good maintainers don't visit the forum too much, and the other cohen gods never seem to fall of the wagon and always following the rules. I think the ones that do fall off the wagon and throw in the towel don't come back here either. well a few, hexi,vee,maria,pandora maggie-but I think they have all gone on to new plans. I can't do that. anyhoo we shall see

[Ladybird]

Carieanne, what you said is probably very true, and a major reason for the successful graduates to revisit from time to time - especially threads like this - to support others and share their successes and the reasons/methods/strategies behind them.
This is such an incrediable learning and support place for so many all walking similar paths.
It's good to see that newly added killergrams seem to go so quickly when back on programme.
LBx

[pandora]

Hi Carrieanne LB and Firefox. I like this new thread you have started re the kilo creep on that seems to happen to a LOT of cohenites. I have done cohens successfully twice and that is with 2 new programs. I for one will never get another NEW program as i think the main issue is being 100% compliant with cohens rules. Not almost, not 95%, not 99% but totally committed for the duration. I also think that once we have hit that 4kg+ carb creep, as doc cohen says, we need to get back the hormonal balance and 80% on 20% off etc does not work, it just delays the process, we get nowhere, the muffin top is back in business and we (or at least i do) get depressed as waistbands tight etc.

I know its a tough way to do it, but we have to reset all those out of control hormones (ii.e. ditch the booze or sugar, carbs of choice and pull our heads in LOL) and from my now 2 diff programs experience head - its the only way to get our hormones singing in unison for trim bods. The key give away is the return of the muffin top - its a sign of the hormone chaos back in action. So lets hear it from other grads who have hit the dreaded number of 4kg + gain and reclaim our power together. Maggie Pandy - Ora

[Tantravaya]

I have been 6 months on maintenance and have pretty much stayed between 54.4 and 54.8 kg for that time. I spent two weeks travelling in India recently and my regular eating went way out the window. I also ended up with viral gastoenteritis (according to the doc when I got back home) so on 2 days I ate nothing and then stuck mainly with bananas. I came home weighing 53.0 kg. Since the digestive upset, my eating has been a bit erratic and not so disciplined as my body is out of whack.

One of my key things I learnt on refeed is that I can't eat more than one protein at a time and then not within 5 hours of another protein meal. I ate some cheesecake for morning tea one day and of course that meant I was eating proteins within the 5 hour limit and I immediately put on 1kg. Now I am back to my "rules" and back to 54.4 and all is well.

I think the key to maintenance is working out the critical trigger/s for weight gain. It may not be what you think. I had absolutely no idea that mine was protein digestion since I have always thought it was the carbs.

[Alibaba]

Hi Carrieanne

I am sitting here so depressed and blue. I finished refeeding at the end of Nov, beginning Dec 2009. I lost 17 kg in 10 weeks and my beginning and end of refeed weight was 61.1 kg. My Cohens weight range was 56-59kg, so I never really made it to that weight, but I was perfectly happy with what I achieved.

We had so many functions pre-Christmas and was away the Christmas weekend. Then we visited our family in South Africa for a month long holiday. So, about 3 months later I've gained 8 kg. Under the circumstances it wasn't possible to follow the maintenance guidelines. So yes, I'm depressed, and I can definitely NOT eat what I have pre-Cohens. Except for wine (which I drink occassionally) I haven't found what trigger the weight gain yet, besides obviously eating too much.

One thing that I have noticed is that I gain weight much faster and easier than before Cohens which concerns me a bit. Excercising is also a challenge with a 3-year old, and I've been sick for the 2nd time in 2 months which doesn't help.

I want another baby this year, so I would like to sort out my weight before I fall pregnant.

[firefox]

Thanks for being so honest, Alibaba. It helps so much when people share the realities of their struggle. My husband and I were talking about it the other day and his observation was the same as yours. Weight gain does seem to be faster now, and our bodies do seem to be more sensitive to trigger foods than they ever were before. Things that may not even have been triggers before are certainly triggers now. I worry because some of the things that cause my weight to go up are things that are considered healthy in my culture. Also, in trying to keep my weight constant I find that maybe I am just not getting enough food, because my dizzy spells are continuing. Meat everyday is not possible for me. So I am still trying to work things out. But it's a confusing process.

[lil_doll]

Goodness! Maintenance sounds difficult!

xMissy

[littlemiss]

I agree lil_doll, and I appreciate everyone's honesty to this thread. Worried about the quick weight gain.

It sounds that refeeding is key to figuring out what you can, or cannot have!

Tantravaya - I find your posts, particularly on maintenance, very useful. I hope you post more on your experiences.

[flash12]

Hey,

I lost around 18kgs - Nov 08 - and am now 8kg over goal weight of 57kg. Would dearly love to get back to goal weight...

flash12

[sundaymorningstaple]

Possible explanation could be that we didn't gain all the weight, that we started the programme with, all at one time. Or for that matter over a short span of time. Normally we gained it over quite a few years. Now, if we think about it, our physical consumption of food probably increased in quantity AS WE GOT BIGGER. We have forgotten that we didn't always "gorge" ourselves. But over the years as we got bigger so did our eyes and stomachs so we increased out intake and continued to gain weight. So when we now overindulge, it because we are loading our plate up as we did "just before starting the programme" and not the loading up that it would have been many years ago when you weighed the correct amount.

The problem, as I see it, it mental. You say you go on holiday and aren't able to maintain properly. Why? There is no special diet you have to eat while on maintenance. You can eat any type of food that you want. BUT you have to know which ones are your triggers. Had you "tip-toed" into maintenance as I've always advised here, you would have a good idea of what those triggers were. But, even so, all you had to do is eat slowly (you will feel full with less food) and in moderation. Nobody is holding a gun to your head while you are on vacation and forcing you to drink and eat to excess.

And, as I said, we, before starting Cohens, were eating huge quantities of food at each meal. So, we forgot that when we were small before, our helping were much smaller as well. In the words of Pogo, "We have met the enemy - and he is us!"

I have always said, eat Cohen friendly whenever you can and eat in moderation when you can't (that goes for drinking as well!)

[Ladybird]

SMS's post sound like good common sense to me (although maintance is some way off). No doubt we all have visions of how good we are going to be and how we are going to keep the weight off, ...never want to look like that again etc etc....but obviously we are tempted and loose sight of what we need to do for ourselves.
IN SMS's word's "no-one is holding a gun to our heads" so we need to practise some "tough love" philosopies on ourself, suck up the situation and be prepared to make the effort needed to stay within the 4+ rule.
LB x

[giddyupgirl]

Even though I am no where near maintenance, I would advise anyone, whether on plan, refeed or maintenance to read Shell's maintenance diary. She is bold, honest and insightful, very well worth the effort. We can all learn so much from her journey, both successes and pitfalls. I know it will be a regular destination for me.

http://newyouforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5143

[thenewvee]

Having done the programme once before and shedding over 50kgs, I was all set to get to maintenance and live happily ever after!

I even went so far as to get counselling to make sure I kept the weight off and devised various strategies to keep it off too. For me it was a bit of a disaster. A lot of it was stress related, being in temporary employment and having to get the employment term extended every time, IF it was extended. I soon fell back into all my old habits and my emotional attachment to food and drink came back with all the weight! It did not all come back overnight! With all the things going on in my life I basically ended up not following the maintenance guidelines and so a year down the track, I was 30kgs heavier again and it would have kept on going if I had not got a new plan, as the old one just wouldn't work for me anymore (definitely a head thing for me).

So here is what I have learned:

• this is a LIFESTYLE change, so I have to accept eating like this for the rest of my life
• feeling deprived is only going to harm me in the long run, so I'm working all out to get rid of that feeling and accept that this is how it is for me
• I've come to a much better understanding about the emotional attachments I have to food, so I'm also working really hard at clearing those so that I view food only as fuel
• I never started exercising once I was finished, something I will be doing this time around
• Even though I lost the weight, I still disliked myself intensely, even though it felt so good being lovely and slim. I never even gave the skin a chance to shrink back before I had filled it up again!
• I'm going to pay much more attention to refeed this time around and really notice what my body tells me
• I will definitely be tipy-toeing into maintenance this time too and carefully monitoring my bodies reactions to things to work out what works and what doesn't

I couldn't really afford a new plan, but it had come to that or a new wardrobe, as I'd given all my fat clothes away, determined I wouldn't ever wear them again. So I opted for the plan and for giving myself a chance to learn these lessons and actually install them for good this time. I have struggled this time on programme too, especially as I work on the emotional side of things. I'm not beating myself up over this, even though it does set me back a bit in my losses, it does help me to keep learning, to be aware of what is going on with me, what my triggers are and how I can best address them. I know my head/emotions just never caught up with new found slimness and I don't think I ever really accepted the new slim me.

So I am still a work in progress

Vee

[Ladybird]

NVee, Your honesty is comendable - and hopefully it was useful for you to make that post. Certainly, for me, it is such a good thread for establishing patterns for life in M Land.
Although I am enjoying the new, slimmer me I am determined not to dishonour the "old me" as my values then and experiences/happy memories (and the sad) are what made/makes me on the inside. My interaction with food will need to be a totally different matter and that is where the fuel accceptance must come from. Many successful diaries indicate that we can have indulgences, but not all the time!! and as part of a careful and balanced approach.

Good Luck with your journey - it certainly appears that it will be a more educational one for you than your last which has to be good long term.

[angelbum]

Hey Carrianne,

Thanks so much for starting this thread!! I have been steering clear of the forum - too embarrassed that I'd put on a few kgs but today I decided I needed to jump straight back in!

Like many others, my downturn I think was not tip-toeing into maintenance..it was pre-christmas and instead of the tip toe mine was a big fat bomb dive!! The good thing though is that after a big weekend now I really feel like I need that healthy cohens feeling back. I last weighed on Friday and I was 60.1kgs ( I finished refeed in Dec at 57.2) But already clothes are feeling tighter and I just know I felt better back at that weight. So thanks again for your post - and I'm sure we can all help guide and support each other back to our most healthy selves

[carrieanne_c]

Thanx for sharing everybody!it is interesting hearing everyone's point of view and experiences and fears, I am still plodding downward. I am starting my 3rd week of back on track maintenance behaviour, it is slowley coming off I just wish I could have the sameself control on the weekends as I do during the week. And I know, there is no one thre with a gun to my head-I just hate the pink elefants and dancing gnomes that fill my wine glass and send me beers from across the bar.

[angelbum]

Hey Carianne,

So are you going back to original plan to drop these annoying kgs or sticking with maintenance? I've decided to go back to plan - for at least a fortnight then redo refeed and see how I go. I've got a trip to Vietnam in May so would like to be back to goal weight in time for that... would love to hear your thoughts

[angelbum]

woops! sorry I just misspelled your name