Cohen's Lifestyle IChooseLife's.... Cohens Diary

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IchooseLife

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IChooseLife's 61kg journey.... Cohens Diary

Any lifestyle change is a mental battle at the outset. The old fighting with the new. The devil on one side, an angel on the other. Both trying to outdo the other with reasoning, manipulation, guilt and desires.

And so on night one of day one of beginning Cohen's I was faced with a task that involved having to deal direclty with my best friend, Chocolate. Yes I could have left the task til hubby came home, yes I could have got one of the older kids to do it for me, but what would that have accomplished.

The task before me was to open six packets of smarties and empty them in to varying bags (it's a long story!). So the mental fight began:

Just have one it won't make any difference.

Won't make any difference? Are you kidding look at all those 'won't make any differences on your hips and butt!"

You haven't really started the program yet, you're officially starting tomorrow morning so go on have one last treat.

Why waste all the good you've done today and you have 'really' been on the program since this morning AND Dr Cohen will pick it up in your blood test.

One tiny little smarty... go on you know you want to.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO DON"T DO IT! NO MORE! IT STOPS NOW! YOU CHOOSE.. Life or lard?

And so has become my mantra.. Life or Lard when I even think about deviating. And deviating not even in naughty ways but like at breakfast I measured out 85 grams of vegetables and still wanted to add more tomato bringing it to 110 grams. What would it hurt? right? WRONG!

For me this is a mental battle as much as it is physical, and boy the mental started off strong!

So for me every hour of every day is a battle of Life or Lard, and for now I'm strong enough to choose Life. And when I'm not, I'm thankful I have you guys here to prop me up and keep me on track.

Day two and I feel fantastic :)
 
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Just had to go and clean my teeth.... for some reason I'm peckish even though I'm not hungry.. ANOTHER mental hurdle.... at this rate the kg's will drop off from all the mental exercise lol
 
Day 2/3

Wow was last night a battle or what! I lay in bed for hours thinking I was starving. I couldn't sleep. It was a mental battle to end all mental battles but this morning I've woken full of energy, vigour and resolve to change my life once and for all and that begins with me sticking to the Dr Cohen Program.

I haven't been hungry at all today.

Goal weight here I come. Healthier life here I come. Life here I come!
 
Good work IchooseLife. I battle with the mental "demons" that seem to constantly try to saboutage my efforts, and I really feel for you. The great thing about Cohens is that after a couple of days on it, your body goes into ketosis, and then you don't get any cravings and the hunger just disappears. I remember the first time I did Cohens I just didn't feel like eating. I just ate at the correct time because I knew I had to. It was wonderful. Keep up the excellent work, before you know it you'll be at your goal.
 
Thank you rjm. This afternoon has been so much easier and I bought Fanta Zero, poured it into several cups to put in the freezer for mid afternoon snacks during summer.

It's all a learning curve and for me a big part is, once the mental battle is over... well tamed, to learn to cook properly.

So far so good :) 3 days down and about 25 weeks to go.
 
When I weighed myself this morning I nearly died of shock! I've lost close to about 4kg's in about 3 days. Now I know I'm not supposed to weigh for another 3.5 weeks but I felt so thin I had to see if it was real... and WOW was it ever! Can'twait to do my measurements on Monday.

Am very encouraged.
 
Hi IchooseLife. I weigh myself every day as I can't wait. You just have to realise that you won't lose every day, and some weeks will be better than others. I like this because if the weight loss slows down, you can quickly do something about ie change what you are eating around (I tend to eat the same things every day and find that a change in menu gets things moving again), drink more water, cut down on salt or change the batteries in your food scales, double check that you are not accidentally deviating. This kept the weight loss moving for me last time I did this and I'm hoping it will do the same now. By the way, I have just checked and we are on the same "Biggest Loser" team. Not sure when it is officially starting though. You're doing great, keep up the good work and have a great day.
 
Thanks for your support guys.

For the most part Cohens is all about a mental battle.

A little devil sits on one shoulder whispering very innocently, go on one bit won't hurt.

While the good Cohen's Angel sits on the other shoulder yelling "IT WILL HURT! WHAT ARE YOU DEPRIVING YOURSELF OF? A FAT BUTT? DON"T DO IT!"

Then the little Devil whispers, but you're starving, what else are you going to eat around here. You'll have to eat SOMETHING from the menu, you'll just have to otherwise your body will start to eat your muscles!

Then the Cohen's Angel SCREAMS: DON"T DEVIATE. NOT ONE MORSEL DON"T DO IT. YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH TO DO THIS.

Little Devil hunches his shoulders and retreats for a while.

Cohen's Angel puffs it's chest out and pats me on the shrinking butt and says SEE YOU ARE STRONG. YOU ARE SHRINKING. YOU ARE CHOOSINGLIFE!

And so each hour of every day thus far goes on this way. Thing is that little devils voice is getting harder and harder to hear, and although he points out 'opportunities for me to deviate'. Once glance and I picture whatever it is as a lump of lard (the kind they show you in the chemists to advertise weight loss products!)

This weekend I have had a breakfast with girlfriends and today a birthday party that lasted 7.5 hours at a local kids play cafe, that had NOTHING I could eat, and on top of that they'd sold out of bottled water!!!!! Had tap water with ice, and chewed on the ice all day til I got home and immediately cooked up my meal :)

And so on day 5, after many mental battles and only one small dash of milk in one cup of tea, I have not deviated all week which surprises me more than anyone!

I am weighing in tomorrow so that I can get on track to have weigh in and measures on Mondays. BRING IT ON!


GO TEAM NAVY :)
 
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Up way too early this morning and had a zucchini and egg hash brown but boy did it taste disgusting. A whole 5 hours to wait til I can have another meal.

Got huge craving for spag bog for some reason. I've taken double vitamins, had one of my fruits.

Will have to get out and about to get my mind active and off my stomach!

Feeling so much thinner already.
 
I hate that when you cook something and it's bloody awful! It's happened to me a couple of times (experimental cooking, you know!). I hate it because I've usually already swallowed a mouthful, and then you're in limboland, like, do I throw this out, estimate my mouthfull and start again???

Usually I just swallow it like a vitamin pill, and move on. It is after all, just a vitamin pill. :D

The end of the first week was hardest for me, I was quite hungry, but ya get over it and it moves on. I know I did.

Your little angels/devils are cute. I strangled my devil a long time ago. I have every confidence it will not become a zombie devil.

asy :D
 
LOL I hear ya on the Zombie devil.

I made spag bog!!!! Minus the pasta, gravy, soup, and other non cohen things. I did put in the most minute bit of vegemite tho. I think that's what I was craving. By minute... just the tip of the teaspoon. Then dished mine up and ate it for lunch, and added all the 'nasties' for the rest of the family to consume.

I am feeling amazing after that. Now enjoying the most amazing mango ever. I dont' think the tiniest bit of vegemite once a week will hurt too much, so I plan to make that my allowable deviation every Tuesday. It'll be my little treat. 5 grams of vegemite.. who would have ever thought I'd consider that a treat LOL
 
I would be worried about the high salt and yeast content in the vegemite ICL. Love it and miss it on my toast of a morning that's for sure but enjoying my new favourites. LOL.
Haven't had too many disappointing recipes yet, haven't tried many but am happy just dry stir frying my meat and veg, with a few spices and herbs, sometimes crumbed with my cracker allowance is a treat.
 
5grams a week isn't going to be a major hurdle I don't think and gives mesomething to look forward to. Who knows I may not even want it next week.
 
Hi IchooseLife, vegemite is the thing I miss more than anything when I am on Cohens too, and you can't even have it on refeed.
Last time I was on Cohens, when I had a really bad craving for something, I would keep a note of what it was to remind me to eat that when I finished. It made me feel that I wasn't really being deprived because I knew that I would shortly be able to eat those foods again (in moderation). When I finished Cohens most of the things on my list no longer held any appeal for me. The only things I had that I had been craving was crackers with philly and salmon, and vegemite vita wheats. Your taste buds do change.
Sorry to rattle on, Have a great night. Talk to you soon
 
I was wondering if me craving vegemite might be to do with a lack of a nutrient. Wonder if Vegemite not on refeed as it's now been banned in America because, of all things, it's high folic acid levels ... what a joke hey lol

Having had that today I am feeling amazingly energised this afternoon. Perhaps my lethargy was emotional rather than physical. Wow losing weight certainly brings everything to teh forefront.
 
Just wondering...

Have you asked the clinic what eating Vegemite might do???

What did they say?

I'd be worried that there was sugar in it or something (I don't eat vegemite, so I wouldn't know the contents)

asy :D
 
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IchooseLife said:
I was wondering if me craving vegemite might be to do with a lack of a nutrient. Wonder if Vegemite not on refeed as it's now been banned in America because, of all things, it's high folic acid levels ... what a joke hey lol

Having had that today I am feeling amazingly energised this afternoon. Perhaps my lethargy was emotional rather than physical. Wow losing weight certainly brings everything to teh forefront.
Click to expand...


These little things (like vegemite) are always interesting for people responses, there are the "strict" followers in which anything that is not on the plan is a deviation and must be avoided at all costs, others such as myself dont worry about it.

I think it is logical that foods are not black or white, "Cohen or not", but all foods inhabit various shades of gray. Clearly there are some foods when consumed will not have any effect on the diet or weight loss, some will have a very limited effect and some like hot chips (french fries) are disasters. The big picture of Cohen is that starchy foods are very strictly limited, just a few crackers per day, sugars are limited to fruits and we eat a low fat, high protein meats or tofu and non-starchy vegetables. So when faced with a deviation choice the best question to ask is does it fit into the big picture of cohens or not? I think Vegemite is not breaking the big picture.

I have soy sauce every so often, in weeks that I didnt have it and was 100% Cohen I lost the same amout of weight as when I did have it, if consuming soy-sauce makes a difference then it makes such a small difference that I couldnt notice.


If you ask your consultant I am sure they will say "no", I think just enjoy your bit of vegemite each week. My biggest craving is sushi, unfortunately no logic twists can turn starchy rice into an allowable food stuff, so I will just have to wait some more until I finish.
 
Thanks guys,

Yep lessfatty I hear you on the sushi side.. especially the teriyaki chicken kind yummmmmmmmm missing that a lot because that was my 'lowfat option take away'.

Well it's end of week one.. I MADE IT yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

End of week one - amount lost this week 7.6 kg and 27 cm (including calf, neck and butt) Gotta be happy with that after just one week.

Nausea is playing havoc with me in the arvo's and I'm going to have to adjust my lunch to include more crackers I think to get me through the arvo hump. I can't possibly drink more than 4 Litres of water.. or can I.. is there such a thing as too much water?

Goal for this week is to lose 3kg.

Let's do it!
 
Had a night out at the movies tonight and was tested. Champers ran freely, my favourite kettle chips were handed out as were giant packets of M&M"s. So I stashed them in the goodie bag we received for kids treat or even part of Santa Sacks.

I sat there with my sister, who's also doing the program, and we talked it out.. do you want to be thin or eat chips? Thin won.

ANd so we nibbled on our crushed up crackers and my homemade movie snack I got from the Cohen's website, apple sliced and cooked in microwave or oven, dried out, then sprinkled with cinnamon. YUM. We took our own water in case there was none, but there was so we had two bottles of water too.

You don't have to be a hermit to be a Cohen's Program Success... just prepared!
 
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