Maintenance going so well, need to gain weight now

[Maverick]

Yep, y'all read it right! Horrible problem, isn't it?

I've been on maintenance since July 2009 and am now 5 pounds under weight. And guess what? It's hard to gain weight! I can't believe I just typed that!

Part of the reason is when I am stressed, I don't eat. It's been a stressful couple of months and things are getting much better, but I have to force myself to eat.

So, I keep watching my weight and when I finished the re-feed, I was at 138 pounds and my target weight was 140. That's fine as that gave me a "buffer" of 2 pounds. I started exercising and really needed to increase my carbs and that worked well too.

I hit 134 pounds last week and thought "OK, too low, so eat more" and I did.

I am up to 135 and snacking on cheese, crackers, nuts and fruit. I just wanted all of you to know that just do what Dr. Cohen says to the letter, including the maintenance, and soon you will have this problem too!

[val2zap]

that's a great problem to have! congratulations on the success of your mx.

In terms of portions sizes that you are eating, are you eating the portion recommended from your last day of refeed? eating more or less? Are you eating mostly cohen approved - I've read where most people do that for the majority of the week.

If you can generalize your day or week for us, that will help some of us have a better understanding on how you are continuing to lose weight (I'm sure the exercise is helping too).

Thanks.

[Maverick]

Hi Val!

Sure, I would be happy to tell you what I do. First of all, during the re-feed, you start to slowly increase your portions and introduce “bad” fruit and “bad” vegetables, which are just new ones that weren’t on your original plan. This is done slowly and then eventually you start to mix proteins so you can have chicken and beef for a meal. Then he adds a piece of bread (no butter!) and popcorn and a cookie eventually. You can get up to 3 pieces of bread a day if you want it.

At one point on my re-feed he says if I feel I am eating enough, I don’t have to keep increasing. That was good as I was having a very hard time with all the food I was now eating. I was forcing myself to eat all the food and I kept loosing weight. So at this point I stopped increasing the portions and just carried on with the re-feed.

When you are on re-feed, you weigh yourself everyday and he tells you what to do if your weight spikes. Mine never did. I fluctuate 2 pounds a day now and it’s just water weight.

I stick to the program about 80-90% of the time but I don’t weigh my food anymore. The maintenance program is about what to do and not do, such as you never eat fruit on an empty stomach, you eat sugar within an hour of a protein meal and the same with alcohol. What you want to avoid is the insulin spike as that starts the “fat factory”. It has nothing to do with calories. It’s about food combinations.

My average day is an egg, yogurt and fruit in the morning with a cup of coffee with heavy whipping cream. Ah, nice to get that back in my coffee! Lunch is a tuna sandwich with relish, pickles and anything else I want to add to it or a Cohen meal of meat and vegetables. Sometimes if I am getting hungry, I’ll have Mexican or Chinese food, such as a taco salad (sour cream and guacamole!) or chicken with chow mien.

I snack on raw peanuts, cheese, rice cake and fruit if I need to. Dinner is usually a Cohen meal and on the weekends, I will sneak in dessert right after eating.

When I exercise, I will have a Cohen meal and then around 8:00 at night, if I get hungry, I’ll have a rice cake with peanut butter and jelly. You sneak carbs in the same way to do with sugar - within an hour of a protein meal so the peanut butter seems to work.

You just monitor the carbs and I think the trick for me is when I have chips, salsa, alcohol or anything that is high carbs and/or sugar, just don’t do it the next day. That way I am enjoying going out to dinner or lunch and still in control of my health.

I use bottled salad dressing when I want, mayo, mustard when I want it and I seem to do fine with it. I had a bagel with cream cheese during a seminar with some fruit and I was fine. But I don’t feel as well the next day if I have had sugar plus I really don’t crave it at all. So if I do eat it, I pay the penalty of having a headache and body aches the next morning and feeling sluggish all morning. I go from high energy to wanting to nap all day and that was a huge eye opener for me. I had no idea sugar and carbs were causing me to feel bad all the time.

This morning I was at 135 pounds and I think that is probably where my body wants to be. The exercise is helping me to lose more inches, but very slowly as I keep toning the muscles.

Sorry this is such a long post! I just get carried away! If there is anything else you want to know, just ask.

[Sharon]

No apologies needed for the long post, well done with maintenance.
It is excellent to see it all working out well for you and good to hear what you did after refeed.
Great to hear from you and thanks for the post.
TTFN Sharon

[val2zap]

Thanks so much Maverick! that was very informative. I was curious to see if you were still living Phase 1 Cohen - which could be why you were still losing weight - but it seems as if you've gone into normal eating mode within moderation. that's awesome news and gives us who are still continuing a lot of hope.

thanks again.

[Key]

Thanks, Maverick - this is great information. You really have learned how to control your weight.

[Maverick]

Thanks guys! I think this whole adventure really teaches you what you can and cannot get away with! Quite a few people I know have started and everyone seems to go through different things.

I never had a problem with overeating or anything like that, but I sure didn't know how to eat correctly.

I struggled with hunger for the first two weeks yet 2 people I know haven't ever been hungry! Go figure!

One male friend is losing close to a pound a day and then a female friend lost 11 pounds the first month. Both are extremely happy with what is happening and they all feel 100% better.

Yesterday I ate like I normally do and had had a very bad day at work. I started to get a headache so at lunch I ate a ton of protein and a big salad. Same thing for dinner and ate a bowl of ice cream and the headache went away, so I knew that my insulin level had dropped so I need to eat more! Ran around after work, got home late, ate a rice cake with peanut butter and jelly and this morning my weight is still 135! Plus I didn't drink nearly enough water yesterday and that might have contributed to the headache.

The next thing I have to work on is being motivated to exercise because it's hard for me now that I am thin. I need to look more at the overall health benefits for the rest of my life because after a long day, it's hard to get my butt up and head to the gym!

[pywaket]

I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO UPDATE MY TICKER!! It's amazing how the little things can make you feel so triumphant. Navigating this site is harder than the diet. I've been reading all your posts, and feel quite encouraged. It really helps to see what others are doing and feeling. I feel better on this diet than I did before, I have more energy. I'm sleeping better at night, too.
I'm starting to experiment with my food. I sauted my chicken in balsamic vinegar, and it was really good. I mixed my egg in the morning with a little water to stretch it out, and made an omelet with my vegetables. Any other suggestions from you all would be welcomed!

[Sharon]

Agree with the getting to the gym, I would never get there after a mind bending day at work. Having the cross trainer at home really helps, throw on some good music and go for it. Hubby and I both use it so it has worked out really well.
Everybodies journey is so different, I suppose that is what can make it so difficult and yet so facinating. One tip I have read with eating is "savour each mouthful because your stomach does not have taste buds".

Hi pywaket - great to hear you are doing so well, keep up the great work (PS have you checked out the recipe section?).

[pywaket]

I haven't checked out the recipes, I'll have to do that. I try to do a lot of prep all at once for a few meals at a time, so I don't cave when I get home from work. Some good recipes made ahead of time would be great. Thanks!

[Sharon]

Hi Pywaket,
People have put some great ideas into the recipe section, its well worth checking out to see what will work for you. After work seems to be the most vulnerable time for alot of us. I found one of the most helpful things I did for myself was to be planned ahead, whether it was pre bagged crackers, fruit in my fridge or the meat preweighed and frozen. Another helpful thing I use to do was to drink 500 ml of diet sprite as I was preparing tea to give me a nice treat and fill me up a bit before tea.
All the best
TTFN
Sharon