These are a few of my favourite things ....
Hello Every Body
Thanks, lessfatty and heavenlylamb – you recognised me!
Glad everything is going well for both of you. Lessfatty, see how differently you have responded to the stimuli of the car crash – no binging to comfort yourself, just dealing with it (sorry about the car – my 13 year old vehicle is starting to cause a few concerns, I am thinking of my own spiffy new vehicle once the franchise gets off the ground – maybe in two or three years, that is!)
Heavenlylamb, you are going great guns despite not having much overt control over your meals this week. I hope you find your reward at the next weigh in and just keep plugging away.
MagicLea, what beautiful prose you write! Yes, the zippers are a dead giveaway, and what a triumph to be wearing size 20. That’s a huge drop from size 26 and to actually have some style and choice in what you wear, that’s wonderful.
Actually, it was the tying of the shoe laces which really got to me in the end. I had to go through a whole rigmarole just to do the darn things up each morning. I was so used to wearing braces because I couldn’t stand to have waistbands digging into me. I was so used to great red welts around my torso from everything – even my knickers – being too tight.
60 pounds later, I don’t even think about those simple things, but still haven’t quite got used to shirts hanging the way they are meant to, no gaping buttons, no runched up fabric across my back.
MellyP, may I suggest that a Saturday is actually a better day than a Monday to start the program? You may not have headaches but I had the Mother of all headaches on my first day (mind you, I did finish off the sherry, the last of the Christmas chocolates, the Nutella and anything else not nailed down during the day before!) and I was in bed by 4.30pm crook as the proverbial. The Sunday saw me feeling very tender, but by the Monday I was OK and from there on didn’t miss a beat!
So if you intend to have one Last Supper you may find that the first day of the program produces a response not unlike an almighty hangover as your system goes looking for replenishment and comes to an abrupt stop! No more hair of the dog, the program demands cold turkey but if I had known how I would respond I would still have cleaned out the cupboards, but perhaps done the cleaning out two days before the start of the program.
Jr Mint, there were three special occasions during the program when I just participated in the meal but I didn’t lose any weight in those weeks. However, during the reefed I was very vigilant but the most important procedure is the daily weighing.
I had to ‘go back’ two days when I was just into the refeeding, but after that just did each day as proscribed.
Your consultant will be able to give you the technical support, but if you are going to be eating a ‘normal’ meal on the last day of the refeed, and if you have gained weight the next day, then just go back the two days and that should stabilise you.
Storm, I was very reluctant to finish the program, I had come to rely on it and I had been told to expect to become hungry when the fat stores had depleted, but I wasn’t hungry (still don’t get hungry) yet had reached the top of the ‘ideal weight’ range.
Three months is still too soon to be fully confident but I no longer want all the foods that I previously just ate without thinking. Particularly, I have been a sweet sherry drinker since the year dot, and my husband used to write the dates on the label of the flagons to exert some form of control (only half a joke!). Pouring out a Nutella glass of sherry was the first thing I did on arriving home.
Now, I haven’t had sherry in the house for months, and I don’t miss it. If there is a bottle of wine being shared I will hold my glass out, but the sherry was a ritual and the pattern has been broken. I think all the serotonin sloshing about in my system while on the program more than satisfied me, there wasn’t any need for 19% proof sherry as well!
In the last week or so I have noticed that the puckering across the diaphragm has become more noticeable, so I think that it is quite important to continue with the HGH principles of the program to maintain hormone production while the body continues to adjust to the changes. My skin looked so great during the program that I think to just throw caution to the winds now would be a really silly thing to do.
I think when we have been obese it would be unrealistic to think that we can suddenly become young and nubile again (well, I was once young, but I don’t know about the nubile bit!). Our bodies have been tried, hung and stretched out to dry. But I am not going to look great just when I have clothes on, I want to look good for myself and to be able to enjoy summers with my arms bare and to maybe, just maybe, even go swimming without feeling too self conscious.
I am having a great time with the new clothes, but there is more to me than just the size 8. I want to be healthy first and foremost as I have always been and that includes my skin.
So this is why I maintain an interest in Cohen’s and all who participate in the program. It is only by sharing the negatives as well as the positives that the volume of knowledge can expand to the benefit of all.
By the way, I noticed that during the program I did not develop plaque on my teeth. Any one else noticed this? And no feeling of bloating or the dreaded belly bag sitting on my lap. These are a few of my non-favourite things, and which I don’t miss at all!
Happy svelteness!
Cheers
Chelsea
