Cohen's Diet Weigh In; Week 16.

Hi all, hope you've been having a great week! I weighed in yesterday and lost 0.7 kg, bringing me to a grand total of 20.5 kg!

As you can probably guess, I was a tad disappointed with my 0.7 kg given how many big changes I made to my diet last week. Whilst I suspect that some of them did or didn't make a difference, I really can't make an accurate comment about it because I had a binge on Saturday night. I CRACKED! Cracked, I tell you. Turns out the pressure of losing weight in time for France combined with trying to crack the 20kg mark, not to mention trying to crack on past my old skinny weight (and a few other work/personal dramas thrown in for good measure), was all too much. So on Saturday night, when I had no food left for the day, I ate 2 crackers and 2 massive kiwi fruits. I know it doesn't sound like much, but when you are only allowed 2 fruits and 5 crackers per day, and they have to be had at certain times apart from each other, etc., having all of that in one hit would have given me an insulin spike like I haven't had in a while! That is what would have done some damage. Not to mention that it was almost the size of my dinner!

Disappointingly, I am out of integrity if I try to comment on whether or not all of the strategies I implemented last week worked or not. I am, however, going to make a few comments anyway. :)

1) Cheese: I had heard previously that cheese could restrict your weight loss and had experimented a bit with it before, by not having it for a few days (whilst weighing myself daily). I found that I actually tended to lose weight after eating cheese and concluded it didn't make a huge difference.

2) I'm not overly sure that swapping meals 2 & 3 make a huge difference unless I have chicken at both meals. Otherwise I seem to be eating about the same weight of food and don't think it will matter if they are reversed or not.

3) I seem to be having less cravings in the evenings and think that (a) either the sugar balance tablets are working or (b) I really was having too much Vitamin B6 before hand (see last week's blog for more details).

I also found out that too much stress and not enough sleep are two of the biggest reasons for the slowing of weight loss. Given that I have been abnormally stressed for about 6 weeks and not sleeping as well, it would be silly to think that these are not, at the very least, contributing factors. So my plan this week is to stress less and sleep more!

I have one HUGE reason to stress less this week - I have worked out what I am going to do about France. Prior to now (and you've no doubt read about it in this blog), I was hoping to do my refeeding program (where they introduce bread/pasta/rice/wine/sweet biscuits and other restricted fruit/veg/meat back into your diet in a calculated fashion so as to not cause alarm and weight gain), before I go to France. The program lasts 17 days but can take a bit longer if your body isn't adjusting well. Given I leave for France on 23 September, I considered I should start refeed on 1 September. Problem is, Dr Cohen is very straight about the fact that he won't let you refeed unless you are at the goal weight that he prescribes you. Now, regardless of the slight discrepancy between my goal weight and Dr Cohen's version of my goal weight, that leaves me a good 10 kg to lose in 5 weeks. Given my last two weigh ins at the clinic were 3.9 kg and 3.4 kg for the last two 4 week periods, it is highly unlikely I will get there. I spoke to the clinic yesterday and we made a deal - I can start refeed on 1 September so long as I get in contact with them when I get back. That way, if I am not at my goal or still have weight to lose, I can go back on the program for a month or so to finish it properly. YAY! Well, not yay about having to go back on the program but YAY - I can relax!! Now I know for sure that I will be taken care of and can start refeed on 1 September regardless of my weight, the pressure is gone! YAY FOR LESS STRESS!

I have done quite a bit of research on the refeed program and there are two major signals to the body that you are ready for it. The first (and most common) is that you are just suddenly starving. Like 'I want to eat a horse' starving. On the first part of the program we are fed just the right amount to force our bodies to burn our stored fat to use as fuel. When our bodies reach a point where they don't want to burn any more fat, they will start screaming at us for more fuel. The second most common signal is that it will feel like you've hit a wall and you will have no energy for normal, every day tasks. It is hard to pin point this equilibrium point with the scales, it really has to come from your body. There is a bit of evidence from people who started the refeed program as soon as the scales said they were allowed to, rather than waiting until their bodies signalled to them that they were ready. They have then gained back some of the weight and since redone the end of the program. It appears that, in general, these people have found it much easier to sustain their goal weight after having gone through the experience a second time and waiting until their bodies told them they were ready, rather than the scales.

After learning this, I was keen to get to the part where my body tells me I'm ready, and so refeeding before France actually gives me the freedom to enjoy France without stressing about not being at my goal. Now I can just see how I feel when I get back. I'd already figured I might need to go back on the program for a bit (if 5 weeks in France results in too much indulgence), so now I will relax and just see how I feel when I get back. Who knows, maybe I will relax and get close enough that I can maintain it anyway? Anything is possible. There are certainly plenty of people that didn't wait for their bodies to scream at them before starting, and are maintaining just fine. :)

So for this week I am going to stress less, sleep more and RELAX! Food wise, I've talked to the clinic and I am going to have cheese a couple of times a week again, and try to keep my softdrink/sweetener restricted. I also have to make sure I only have 5 crackers and 2 fruit a day!!!

Hope you all have a great week,

M. x

PS - I cooked some lovely fillet steak with mushroom sauce the other day. It was so good, even the photo was all steamy!