Just wanting to pick the brains of those of you have reached the end of your program and how your experiences were of the "refeed"???

I picked up my refeed just prior to Xmas and went off the rails a bit at Xmas, and have not yet done my refeed! I have eaten anything that I wanted to -just in moderation!

I have not put on any weight but I really want to complete the program properly! So I am starting on Monday! (there, I have said - now it will happen! )

So my question is - has anyone had any "really" strong reactions to any of the "refeed" foods or has anyone had any "really" strong reactions to any particular foods that you have eaten after your refeed? Or did anything in particular put weight on you?

I have these questions because I did eat the tiniest bit of pasta that I had cooked for the kids - and, man, did I pay for it!!!! also bread seems to give me intergestion. And to top it off - my favourite thing in the whole world - (very sad but true) was a skinny hot chocolate at Gloria Jeans while my little girls have their baby chinos and gingerbread men - gave me the worst headache I have ever had!!! I had it for days. It was so not worth it!


Looking forward to finishing off properly but sick of people telling me "that's enough now!"

Janine

Hi Herm

It sounds as if you have already 'finished off' - I would strongly suggest sticking strictly to the actual program for two weeks before starting the refeed, then being totally honest during the refeed - that is, if you want long lasting results.

For the sake of a cup of coffee or a mouthful of pasta why spoil your weeks of work? It makes no sense to sabotage yourself right at the time of the prize.

So head down, be diligent. Refeed is fiddly, adding in, taking out - but it is the key to all of this, refeed reconditions the body so that afterwards you do not have a lifetime of 'watching your weight'.

Also ...

I have mentioned before that if I had known how accurate the program is that I would have gone a bit lower, not been so quick to pull the plug. I started refeed on 25th June, 2006 weighing 60 kilos and more than six months later, I still weigh 60 kilos.

If I had gone to 58 kilos I would have had a slightly more comfortable fit in stretch 8 jeans. As I will be this weight for the rest of my life I will always bulge a little over the top of the jeans - but size 10 are too loose.

Make completely sure that you are where you want to be before starting refeed - do not make your decision based on a comparison to yourself previously no matter how dramatic the difference may be.

Other than that, well done on staying with the program and achieving the result.

Best wishes

Kristine

Hi Herm,

Just a quick message now i'll write more when i'm not rushing for work. But i reacted very strongly to bread- i put on more than 2kg in 1 day. I also have an almost intolerance to alcohol,1 glass is too much.

I n the real world, i avoid- pasta , rice potato, bread , crackers and i feel better for it. I cant stant potato it tastes like that stuff you put on your nails to stop biting them. I have a pretty much savory tooth, i used to only crave sweets?????

Anyway i'll be back in touch

Thanks for your replies!

As for the pasta - when your 2 year old just "has" to feed Mummy a spaghetti strand - How can you say no???

I was trying not to make too much of a big deal about me eating differently to the rest of the family but they did notice - especially my daughter who is 4.5 year old .

By really strong reaction I was referring to "a mad toilet dash!" that ended up being an all nighter! Not a gain in weight. I also have IBS and had not had any troubles/symtoms until the pasta episode!

But it would be interesting to find out what did upset differnet people!

I am extremely (can't believe that I weight this ) happy and would be happy to stay right where I am now. I am 175cm tall and this weight (I think) is great for me.

Thanks again
Janine

Hi there

Just querying you about the refeed did you mean that if you don't reach your ideal weight now and you start refeed you are stuck at that weight

So with refeed does it maintain you at your goal weight and you can't lose anymore.

When you have completely finished Cohen's and if you go back to old eating patterns you will gain weight again though

So basically what you are saying is that it is best to achieve your ultimate goal weight before you start refeed or their is no going back.

If you could maintain your ideal weight mine probably being 60kg with refeed then this would be a fantastic accomplishment.

Tell me this is so. So many diets promise but don't deliver. So Cohen's does both? It's important for us newbies to understand how the refeed works.

Thanks for all you knowledge and advice Kristine your are a real treasure.

Sam

Just a question: how long is the refeeding program? Does it vary for individuals? or even countries?

My refeed program is 16 days.

With bread coming back in on the 2nd day and alcohol!!! on the 14th day!

Janine

Hi

I finished my refeed nearly 12 months ago...back at it again cos I put on a couple of kilos but basically I can't eat white bread or any bread now that I think about it at all since Ive finished Cohens.

When I do fall off the band wagon and just cant resist that roll or piece of bread I get cramps in my stomach like you wouldnt believe....so I tend to avoid it completely now and limit my pasta to very very rarely and dont have potatos etc at all if I can help it they react with me rather badly and I put on weight.

Hope that give you a little bit of insight! just what I experienced.

Has anyone compared their refeeds? I'm curious how it would vary between individuals.

My friend and I started at the same time and while the re-feed is the same we were "prescribed" different days on the program. The re-feed program is 30 days long and I was given 16 days of re-feed and my friend had 17 days of re-feed.

do you mean the refeed can be up to 30 days long but you were only only it for 16 days ?

They mail you the re-feed and the actual re-feed in 30 days long. Each person is "prescribed" certain days from the 30 day re-feed program, for instance mine was day 4-10, 11,14,16,18,20,23,24,28,30. My friends was a little different. So I guess some people may have up to 30 days but from the research and things I have read it is usually between 14-20 days. I am sure everyones is a little different. I have been off the re-feed since December
23rd and have lost 1.5 pounds since. It is hard to follow all the rules but so far so good. The hardest thing is having just one starch meal a day because if you want sweets of any kind you need to have starch. So lets say you have your starch meal at lunch so that means after dinner no sweets. So I am still adjusting to that part of the program.Will keep everyone posted. It does work but it is not easy. I wish everyone lots of luck with the program.

G'Day

I have been thinking about when we weigh and how that can affect the recorded weight particularly for refeed purposes.

During my time on the program I didn't attend the clinic at all, except for the first official weigh in when I was fully clothed and the time was during the afternoon.

All subsequent weights were taken by me, at home, first thing in the morning after going to the toilet but before drinking - in other words, 'dry weight'.

So my dry weight at the start of refeed was actually biased against me. If I had been weighed during, say, the afternoon, wearing usual clothing, then obviously I would have weighed more than just my body weight.

If you are weighing at the clinic or weighing at home, perhaps this could be kept in mind.

eg if weighing at the clinic, then the top of the ideal weight range is probably about right, but if at home and using 'dry weight' as a guide, then perhaps a kilo or two lower is more accurate.

As with everthing in life, you say tomaato and I say tomarto. We have to be clear what reference point we are using before we can make an accurate decision.

I used 'dry weight' and have therefore probably short-changed myself. Ideally I would like to weigh 60 kilos at the end of the day and as that is usually about 2 kilos that's the margin I didn't take into consideration when I decided to go on to the refeed part of the program.

Cheers

Kristine

Hi all, to those who have finished refeed,

I have a few questions to ask about the refeeding process:

1) Do I need to finish ALL the proteins and vegetables prescribed in each meal?
2) if I have new and old proteins, do I need to eat all of them? my booklet says that if I'm too full, I should eat the new protein first before the old so that in case I cannot finish the old protein, I could throw them away.
3) Do i need to eat all the fruits and crackers? I have like 3 fruits and 9 crispbreads to eat in one day?
4) Do I really need to eat bad fruits? Can I choose not to eat any of the bad fruits and stick to my good fruits?

Pls help me on this. Thank you!

It sounds like your re-feed might be a little different than mine. I am in the United States.

It is important to finish all the food prescribed for you. It gives your body a chance to get used to eating larger amounts of food. At one point in my re-feed it said if 60 additional grams of protein satisfied me that I did not need to add any more protein, however you need to eat the new protein & at some point mix the old & the new protein. Once again to get your body use to mixing proteins. My re-feed says nothing about throwing anything away, it says to eat it all.

Once again your ORIGINAL fruit & crackers are optional during re-feed. But your prescribed fruits good & bad need to be consumed. This introduces different fruits to your body so you won't get a sugar rush when you consume them after the re-feed is complete.

The program will work if you do it correctly. Everything is done for a reason and people who don't do the re-feed correctly end up not keeping off their weight. You have paid alot of money for the program so just follow your prescribed diet & the guidelines after the re-feed and you will have success. You may never have to diet again but please follow the re-feed to the letter or it may not work. After your re-feed is over you can cut out whatever fruits you don't like and never eat them agian. Just stick to it. Good Luck!