Cohen's Lifestyle Sal's Dairy - My Journey

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sal2125

sal2125

New member
My Name is Sal, and this is my journey from 118.7kg to 60kg. At my heaviest I was 125kg this was after the birth of my daughter.

I was in hospital for 4 mths while I was pregnant with my daughter and I was totally confined to bed for 3 or the 4mths. Not even allowed up to go to the toilet and once up I had to learn to walk all over again. What else is girl going to do to pass the time while stuck in bed scared of giving birth early and right next to lygon st, the Italian food capital on melb (my favourite type)... but... send my husband off to buy some yummy food to help comfort me, better than the god awful hospital stuff. I went from about a large 95kg when I got into hospital to a huge 125kg by the time i was out of there. Not to say I was ever a small girl, but that was just ridicules. How could have ever let that happen. I guess being stuck in bed and eating loads of yummy stuff didn't help matter much. I also lost a son Dylan with my first prg with the same problems I was having with my DD but when he was born he was just too small to survive. So with that playing on my mind at the same time I really did enjoy my comfort eating.

Now 2.5 years on after the birth of my DD, and I have tried loads of different diets and have been able to loose a few kgs and put a few back on over and over again, but never under 100kg since before I was prg. Just can't seem to stick to them.

Back in my single days when I was about 20 I lost just over 25kg from 85kg to 58kg. But this was not through being healthy, this was just from not eating enough and working hard and partying hard. I didn't like the feeling at 58kg (too skinny) but I loved it around 62-65kg. So this is what I hope to be by the time I am 30 at the end of November. "30 Year Old Yummy Mummy!!"

I have to have a back operation soon for a prolapsed disk and I really want to loose about 30kg before that, so that I hope this will help the recovery process with being much lighter. I am not sure when the op is at this stage as I am still waiting to get in with the specialist, but I have been is consistent strong pain everyday for the last 2 years and this is my final hope to help fix it, after trying everything else there was to try but to no avail. I will have to go off the program a week before and probably about 4wks after, but I will try to still maintain a good healthy eating regime during this period.

I have a few different goals I want to reach on my journey as follows:
99kg - 19kg (under 100...whoo hoo!!! that dreaded number)
88kg - 30kg (my weight when I got married. Also this is the goal I want before I have my back operation)
75kg - 44kg (weight when I was in high school)
60kg - 59kg (yummy mummy, I look forward to meeting this person)

I had the blood test today now I just have to wait till they contact me to get started... I am looking forward to getting this ball rolling.

Anyway that is enough rambling tonight. I hope this diary will help to keep me on track and motivated. And any feedback from others out there on the same life journey to battle to bulge will also be of great help to me.
 
Sal, thank you for sharing your story. I'm sure if you're determined to do this that Cohen's is the right way to go. Thanks for visiting my diary. I'll "talk" to you soon, cheers, Cate.
 
Hi Sal

Welcome and thank you for sharing your story! The program is amazing and works as long as you stick to it 100% but by reading your post I have all confidence that you will do that. You will be amazed at how much of a difference even the smallest amounts make, and will make to your back pain.

I look forward to reading your journal through your journey.

Take care.

Lauren
 
Hiya Sal,

Welcome and congrats on making the best decision ever !
This program is great and works so well. I love your goals, you will be there in no time. I look forward to following your journey.
Good luck

Annie Lusion

p.s your daughter is adorable!
 
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Still Waiting to Start

I am still waiting patiently to get started. I am looking forward to getting rid of this whole extra person that I am carrying around.

However in the meantime I am being very very naughty. I am eating everything that I love and will probably never or next to never get to taste again. Last night I made carbonara and mum made me yummy pasties that she bought over today for lunch. I have sent my husband out tonight to get me a souvlaki and lasagna with some turkish bread to share on the side...mmmm!!! I think I might have to have pizza in the next few days too :drool5:. Pizza is my really bad food and the one I love the most. I am a very naughty girl aren't I. :reddevil: :reddevil:

Thanks for all your words of wisdom Annie & Lauren. I will be turning to you guys out there for lots of support one I get going.

But at the moment the is a party :party: in my mouth and all the naughty foods are invited for a last horah!! :cheers2:
 
Hi Sal!! Welcome to a New you! This is the best decision you have made .... TRUST ME... I have just today lost 40.2kgs... and still have 15kgs to go.. I started off at 117.2 (heaviest 141kgs)... If I can do this YOU CAN TOO!

I was actually coming here to encourage you that you dont have to wait for your program to arrive to start really. I started before mine arrived and I lost 3.5kgs that week and a friend of mine did the same and she lost like 4 or more...

This link is a great read in regards to preparing for Cohens. http://weight-loss.fitness.com/cohens-lifestyle/5676-prepare-cohens.html

I found that I went through my entire kitchen and got rid of anything that might become a stumbling block later on. I gave it away to my local church or threw it out if it was half eaten. I just knew that it was safer to not have it in the house. Its funny now... but I hardly ever use my Pantry it gets opened like once a week when I stock up my cracker container and thats it... everything else is fresh! I cant believe it of me.

Anyway... the people here have some great suggestions, advice and most of all are completely supportive and encouraging! Stick around and stick 100% to your plan and you too will see AWESOME results!

Blessya
Kannadew
 
Yes I was very bad last night. I am very excited about starting the program, but have always loved my food. Even though I am being bad, I have however cut my meals sizes in half over the past couple of weeks, just don't feel like as much anymore, which is very unlike me. It may have a bit to do with the medication that I am on for my back.

Kannadew thank you for the encouragement and advise about the pre-cohen training :) I will have to do that. I have no car today as my husband has had to go to Melb today for meetings and our other car is getting fixed, so tomorrow and I will go shopping and prepare for my Cohens Lifestyle. Today I will get started on a shopping list of what to get and maybe also write up a recipe and menu list of what I would like to eat using the allowed foods.

I have done the CSIRO thing before, so might use that as a bit of a reference for receipies aswell for Pre-Cohens and I have heard there is a recipe section in here so might look that up.

If anyone can help me out... could you please let me know all the types of vegetables and fruit are allowed on Cohens so I can put them on my shopping list and any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I need to get my head in a better place and stop using food as a comforter but as medicine for a healthy mind and body.
 
Hi Sal

I understand what you're doing and the weekend before my plan actually came in, which so happened to be my birthday also, we went away for the weekend and took some amazing red wine and chocolate truffles and absolutely delighted in them. Now that is actually our Birthday tradition for my birthday and I look forward to a weekend away with glorious wine and chocolate truffle selection this year. Savouring for just the one time a year not only makes it good in the scheme of weight loss success but it also makes them taste better and be even more memorable. What I'm trying to say is dont tell yourself you will never have these things again. Dont deny yourself from these things either as it is a set up for failure. You will get a mindset that will mean all you think about is these things because you 'cant have them'. It will never work. This is now the time to start changing the way you feel about food. I love food, always have and always will and by making smart choices with my food I can have more of it - and 9 times out of 10 the food tastes better because it is made with fresh seasonal produce not jam-packed with preservatives and additives.

Another thing to realise is that over the time of the program and as you and your body become used to all the fresh food your tastes and what appeals to you will actually change. These foods, i.e. yoghurt for many of us but also fruit and veg, will be the foods you crave because all of a sudden your body starts to crave the flavours and nutrients not sugar and fat. You will be amazed a few weeks in, let alone at the end when you have reached your goal.

Once finished the loss part of the program you can have pizza again, just like I did two weeks ago, but instead of eating a whole on too myself after one and a half slices I was satisified, not too full, not still hungry and I was able to stop because I realised that. I still had my pizza and enjoyed it without guilt or frustration. I've always been addicted to ice cream. I still have it now once a week I love my ice cream treat but instead of keeping it in the freezer we pay a little extra by going to the ice cream palour and again because my tastes have changed and I now prefer frozen yoghurt I get 1 scoop of mixed berry and 1 scoop of passionfruit in my cup and enjoy it. No guilt, no extra temptation to finish the other 3 and a half litres sitting in the freezer etc etc etc.

It's not necessarily about what you eat, it's about how you eat it. Anything in moderation!

Good luck - Enjoy the journey!

Lauren

P.S. Also try now to stop referring to food as a behaviour. It's my current challenge to stop thinking good and bad and use the terms everyday foods and sometimes foods instead - it's all in the mind!
 
Thanks for the pep talk Lauren

This support and encouragement and advise is just what I need. It is great talking to people who have been through the program and also people who have struggle with food just like myself.

I can see myself certainly loosing the weight, but the hardest challenge of all will be in maintaining it once I get there and not slipping back into old habbits. I really want this to work so much and this diary will be a great way help give myself a backstop and a place to put my thoughts no matter how silly they are so I can look back and see where I have come from and how my thought patterns have changed.

I know that it is a change of lifestyle and I do certainly need to start looking at food differently than I have for the last 29 years for this to really work. But like you said it is certainly a challenge. I have heard the characters on sesame street refer to everyday foods and sometimes foods and this is also something I really want to teach my little daughter unlike when I was growing up with my grandparents and I was forced to sit at the table until the plate was empty and they would say "there are starving people if africa - so don't waste your food, you will sit there till it is all gone". Not only was it lots of food but lots of the wrongs types of food, my nan just loved to cook in dripping and make things in pastry.

I do have great support from my husband and he is willing to eat all the types of food I will be eating, just bulked up a bit and he will have a few more things in between meals. He wants to loose a little bit of weight, but it is just so much easier for him, well it seems blokes in general seem to loose is much quicker. Also his body is built well and even though he is carrying a little bit of extra weight he has never been an overweight person, great HGH I guess seeing how much he eats. He was raised in a very healthy family also, he lived with his mum and grandma and his grandma is a vegaterian and they always ate fresh healthy food is small portions and they are always watching what they eat, this is just they type of place I want to get too in my head watching what goes in my mouth rather than everything going in without thinking.
 
Program ready for pick up

Just got an SMS that my program is ready to be picked up. I just called and made an appointment for 9am tomorrow to go through it and do measurements and talk about whatever else we need to do.

I am so pumped, I could have got it today, but I have no car, oh well!! So I will get it tomorrow morning :driving:, go shopping tomorrow arvo and then should be ready to go on Friday. :hurray:
 
Hi Sal

I am so excited for you. I can relate to your story about eating all those foods you love like their is no tomorrow. I was doing that before I got my plan its apparently called (The Last Supper Syndrome). I was actually going to start my plan after christmas in 2006 but I found I was just increasing my food intake......so I bit the bullet and started 2 weeks before.....it something I will never regret.
Goodluck Sal can't wait to read your next post and see how it all goes.
Isn't the advice from crew here amazing?? They are special lot here.

Sam:)
 
Hi!

Hi Sal,

Thanks for your message in my diary. :waving: I must say its really cool to have someone else on the forum also looking forward to November :) I had to wait 2 weeks for my plan which was pure torture. I ate everything in sight for those 2 weeks. I didn't cook for one day, just had fast food and pizza and chocolate. :) Got on the scale this morning and I've already lost 2kg. My consultant actaully tells us not to weigh and only get on the scale every 4 weeks, but I was curious... Good luck and enjoy getting your program, this really is like nothing else I've tried before. My fiance's little sister is having a birthday dinner tonight at a nice restaurant and I'm actually going to have dinner before we go and just enjoy the company and have a cup of coffee. Will see what the family's reaction will be to that. I'm normally the starter, main course of a big steak and dessert kind of girl. Good luck on the shopping!

Oh on a last note, I've had the most interesting breakfast this morning. I had fat free bulgarian yogurt mixed with a teaspoon of coffee, a tablespoon of boiling water for the coffee and some sweetner. It was really nice, sorta like a coffee smoothie. Enjoy!
 
Sal, Lauren's post said perfectly what I would like to say. You will be amazed at how your attitude to food & your body will change. I think most of us love food. I have my chocolate treats & enjoy them, have pizza occasionally but am happy to have 2 slices & I am now a yoghurt addict. I used to live to eat!
One of the best sayings I saw early in the program which I used to think of often & it helped me was-
Nothing tastes as good as slim will feel.
It's absolutely right. I love your signature photo, by the way. Was that cute little kid you, is it a reli or just plucked from nowhere in particular? It is so cute. Love that grin! Cheers, Cate.
 
Hi Sal

Just wanted to drop by and see how you are. And like Cate I have been meaning to ask about the little girl as well - is she your lovely daughter you have mentioned in your earlier post's? She has an amazing smile.

Bye for now

Sam:)
 
Day 1 - Bring it on!!!

Well today is Day 1, I had my little breakfast this morning of egg with vegies, was yummy. My husband saw it and said, is that all... lol He is actually eating what I am but I am doubling his amounts until he gets to his goal weight which is about 15-20kg less.

Feel pretty good at the moment, but the day has just begun, been trying to get all my housework done as early as possible in case I have a down turn this afternoon from hunger so I can just lay down and watch some TV with my girl.

Slurping on water, my daily amount at the moment is 4.5lts at the moment... oh my god I will be living on the toilet. I am just over half way though my first 1.25lt bottle.

I never got a chance to go shopping yesterday, so will be doing it today around 12 and then home for lunch by 2ish to eat.

I did all my measurements yesterday, and it was a little hard to take, but I will be looking forward to seeing the numbers go down. The most disappointing thing was that my thigh measurements were what I want my waist line to be (80cm). I measured my best friends waist and her waist (77cm) was less than my thighs... very sad I know.

I had my first black short black coffee today, just got half way through it, might have an espresso tomorrow just for a quick shot of caffeine so I can help keep the caffeine headache under control and slowly ween myself off it.

Cate - Love the saying... I will keep using that myself to keep me motivated.

Esthee - I might give the coffee & yogurt a go tomorrow morning for breaky, thanks for the tip.

Sam - Thanks for the visit, yes I am coping pretty good at the moment, I am so pumped and ready to shed this flab. BRING IT ON!!!

Cate & Sam - Thanks for the comment on my photo, it is of my beautiful daughter Shai she 2.5yrs old. She is such a cutie and has such a wonderful little spirit, but I think I am a little bias being that she is my daughter ... lol. She loves the camera and started to smile at it when you say "smile" since Xmas, makes me giggle everytime.
 
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My Starting Figures

Every time I measure or weigh I am going to post my figures to see how I am going and keep me honest.

Day 1 - 25th Jan 07(STARTING FIGURES)

Weight - 119.1kg
Arm - 50cm
Bust - 120cm
Waist - 123cm
Hips - 141cm
Thigh - 80cm
Neck - 41cm
Upper Bust - 118cm
Under Bust - 112cm
Wrist - 20cm
Calf - 49cm
Belly Button - 120cm


They are very confronting figures, but I look forward to seeing them go down.
 
Hi Sal!

Your little girl is beautiful! I hope your first day went well and that the second one is good too. Cudos for posting your measurements, that must have taken a huge amount of courage. I'll join you and will post mine in a mo on my diary. Wow 4.5l of water is a lot. I only manage 2l per day. Enjoy today!
 
Sal

You are so brave and inspiring.....I can feel how motivated you are to succeed.
Those figures will reduce so quickly on this plan and you will look and feel amazing.

Your genreal health and well being will just flourish and your little girl will see a shrinking Mum but a healthier one in the end.

So excited for....

Sam:)
 
Thanks for encouragement ladies, it's lovely.

Well heading towards the end of the day, I am so hungry, dinner time is still about 2 hours away, as I was not home until 4pm to have lunch as we were out all day shopping and running errands.

I have just had a cracker to help get me through and topped up my water. Bring on dinner time.

I am having garlic prawns with zucchini, bok choy, asparagus & spinach wrapped in cabbage leaf with mayo/coke dressing. Sounds good, hope it is nice and my taste spuds expect.
 
Hi sal,

I look forward to seeing those cm's drop off you too, won't be long now till you see the first few drop off..that will give you a buzz and certainly keep you movitated.

You have a great attitude and know you will succeed.

Have a good day

Annie Lusion
 
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