EasyElvis,
I went for my blood work on Wednesday, and received the diet today (Friday afternoon). I will do my shopping this weekend and will be starting on Monday. Let me know when you receive yours.
Lam

WOW Kiwi.... CONGRATS.. you are looking amazing.

Welcome aboard LAM - the first three days are the hardest.. .please read my diary of the first week if that helps. For some it's a breeze, for others like myself it was a mental nightmare. Everyone's here to help and support so yell out if you need either.

I'm doing well It's just such a lot of weight to lose and therefore a long process. Am only weighing monthly now too.... same with CM... bring it on

Hello to all.

Ive been somewhat gd on this reintroduction after many wks off post 2 surgeries in 3wks over feb/march. I have found it hard to find motivation to actually prepare the meals except the 1st meal. I find it easy to have yoghurt and go figure- put in bowl and eat. I only had that today. Also hard to drink water- feel a little nausous. I know its psychological and laziness but i think i also still recovering from 2 rounds of surgery. It takes up to 3mths for body to re adjust and im still on panadeine forte for pain with rehab. This messes up your body alone and therefore forces me to use Herbalax powder to maintain bowel movement. I go between that and a slimming tea that works very well and need a crash helmet when it works!!

I went to dinner with inlaws Fri night which was on the spot spare of moment decision. I went to chinese and we shared meals so it was ok. Had some mongolian beef, vegetables, small bit of chicken and spoonful rice. I had fried icecream and feel a little guilty but not a bad thing. I know its not the diet but when thats the choices u have u just limit ur intake. Unfort i mixed proteins thats where it falters. I didnt over do it and prob could have eaten more if i wasnt already stuffed with small amount i had!! I have noticed i dont need much before i get hungry! I mustnt have done much damage as i was 73.5kg when i weighed in when i was like 76 yest. Its no excuse but its some concellation to this.

Weigh in on Thurs so i will try to maintain some control before this. Im going interstate to see fiance who has been away army training for 3mths so i will have to do the best i can. Im pretty careful and just limit what i eat if there isnt much i can chose in order to stay on diet. Drink lots of water and cross fingers i guess.

Hope all doing well and focussing on end product.

Kiwi, wow, what a difference. It won't be long before you get to refeed at this rate. Spent last Saturday sorting all my meat and chicken etc, allowances out and freezing them. Each is labelled "day #, meal #" and so far this is working well. then, I only need to weigh out the veg each mealtime.

Brightyellow once again thanks for the encouragement. You too are looking gorgeous and it was great to finally get together.

Welcome to all the newcomers. Today is Day 6 of my refeed. Cohen's has changed my life and how I feel about myself. I have always been overweight and can't ever remember being as small as I am now. I'm wearing size 8-10, down from 22-24. It is possible, and I (and others on the forum) am certainly proof of that. Keep in mind that "Success is getting up one more time than you fall." If you find that you've deviated or slipped up or had to make a poor Cohen's choice when out, don't look at it as a failure, learn from it and get back up. Have personal goals and rewards for achieving benchmarks along the way. Good luck to all. I love reading all the posts even if I'm not always contributing.

Lauren

Hi Minny, Cate and Annie
Thanks so much for your replies. OK - lesson learned about weighing daily . I thought about it rationally and realized I am not deviating because I am doing the eating plan on a very basic level (no herbs, vinegar etc). I decided to do it that way for as long as possible so that when I am board with the food I can spice it up and feel like I'm eating something different.
I'd like to think I could weigh monthly but I know that won't happen so it's just on Mondays from now on.
I need to experiment a bit more with the tickers but my start weight was 98.6kg and goal weight of 57-60.
Things have been really bad between my husband and me for a while now (which is horrible but I know it will get better) but the positive side is that I would normally be eating myself into the ground but I don't even feel tempted. It makes me proud to know that I am really doing this for myself. We all deserve to be healthy............and looking good won't hurt either.
keep up the good work everyone.

Mytime-I'm sorry to hear things aren't good between you & your husband. Hope you can sort it out. Know that we'll support you in here in all sorts of ways. Good luck!
Kiwi-WOW!! You have made me re-think how I might look when I reach my goal. You are looking fantastic. Well done! My goal is your current weight. How tall are you-cm or ' & '''s? This program & how you feel ( & look) is great. I didn't take any befores & I'm going to have to scrounge around to find some to remind me of how I once looked. xo to all, Cate

hi Cate and everyone. Thanks for the positive comments its a bit strange getting positive comments about your appearance, I am 167cm tall.
Went shopping today, brought some size 10 pants and several XS tops, the 10s were too big. I am not sure what size I will end up but expevt to be an 8-10. OMG It really is a mind boggling experience, that will take time I suppose to get my head around.

It's truly fantastic and motivating to hear of your guys getting close or even at goal weight. For those of us who still have so far to go mentally and physically it's encouraging to see.

I'm doing fantastic. New lease on life. Sticking to cohen's 100% and only going to weigh in once a month too. This seems to have taken all the pressure off.

Funny how I was so hell bent on weighing daily to keep myself accountable and now that I"m not I'm doing better than I was mentally. It's true what they say, what you focus on is what you attract. So by focussing on 200 and 300 grams each day and looking at the scales saying 100+ that's wat I was attracting, now I'm constantly looking at my 'goal picture' and although I have no idea how much I"ve lost this week I'm sticking to Cohen's 100% so I KNOW that I'm shrinking even if I dont' have a digiital machine to tell me so.

I'm feeling liberated

Hi Everyone,

I received my diet Friday and went shopping for a food scale and food this weekend, I plan on starting Monday (4/23/07).
I am a big salad person so I was wondering if anyone has come up with a good recipe for dressing using the limited ingredients that we have. Also, I see that we can have slenda, I drink flavored water most of the time, do you think it is ok as long as I use that as my splenda allowance?
I am a little bummed out, because I have been sick for the last three days, severe headaches, nausea but I am hoping to feel better so I can still start tomorrow.

Thanks for the help.
Lam

Lam perhaps your illness might be blessing in disguise. Your body detoxing itself before you even start the program. I'd start as soon as you're able to hold food down again. You will most likely avoid the detox headaches and what not if your body has already begun to clean itself out.

Start ASAP. Way to go and welcome aboard.

Lam-I'm not sure if your program is the same as ours but I find the key is buying a really good Balsamic vinegar. I add some mustard powder, some mustard seeds, garlic salt or flakes, some freshly ground sea-salt & cracked black pepper( not much of any of these). I have diluted my low-fat mayonnaise with some white wine vinegar & occasionally, but no more than once a day add a teaspoon of this mix to my salad as well. I never use very much dressing but I am now a balsamic vinegar fan. I try different ones all the time. You have to check the labels really well as some have sugar & some have sulphates.(& some have both!)
Ichooselife-You are right! The not obsessing with the scales, sticking to Cohen's 100% & just knowing that the fat will disappear is liberating. It is just so exciting!! The old if I lose weight has been replaced with when I lose weight. Isn't it great?!! xo Cate

Where is everyone? It's so quiet... I'm scared lol

I know! I feel like I'm just chatting away to myself. I have had a look at another forum but I prefer this. I feel like I belong & am welcome.
Has every-one gone out & got a non-Cohen's life? It is eerie...

Hi Everyone!

Does anyone know if we are allowed Gluten Free bread during our re-feed?? My Sis is going through her re-feed stage and said that "diet breads" are not allowed...was wondering if that would include Gluten free? I'd much rather prefer eating Gluten free than "normal".

Cate,

I will try different balsamic vinegars, the one I have isn't very good, it is very strong, so I diluted it. I am going to try to make a good dressing with some experiments over the next week.

I STARTED TODAY!

I am a bit hungry as I am used to big salads, but I will eat my fruit allowance soon with a big glass of water. That should hold me until dinner (it is 2:06 pm). I am trying to stay busy so I don’t think about the food. I’ll be fine.

Lam