The Refeeding of Key

[Key]

Well, who would have thought I'd make it to refeed. For all of you who are doubting yourself, doubt no more - you can do this too. I've lost 100 pounds since February 27, 2009 with a six week break in the summer that was ordered by Dr. Cohen when my appendix burst. Most other diets would give the disclaimer that "results are not typical" but with this program they are normal, everyday occurances.

I started refeeding 2 days ago - I weighed in at 129 Saturday mornind and 128 on Sunday morning (for those of you who know me to be devoted to once a month weighing, refeeding changes that and you must weigh yourself daily). So far so good. My program days are 3 to 8 and then 10, 13, 14, 17, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, and 29 (don't worry if you don't understand what I'm talking about - once you get to refeeding you will). Yesterday I ate a slice of bread with supper - it was good, I really tasted the tangy wheatiness, but it didn't thrill me. I can see bread fading into the background for me. I'd really prefer to eat a cracker unless it was some really fantastic crusty bread. I also got to eat 100 grams of blueberries... the most delicious pastry in the world never tasted better than these little blue gems. Even though these came from South America and I try to eat seasonal food grown as locally as possible (for health as well as environmental reasons) I splurged. They must have been an especially good crop as I know I couldn't have forgotten how good a simple blueberry could taste - could I? It was like I had grown brand new tastebuds.

I'm just taking this one day at a time and I advise my friends Chris and KMac to do the same with their program. I have no idea how I'm going to add as much food as I'm supposed to by the time I'm finishing up with refeeding but it will happen as it happens.

Here's a picture of me taken on the day I started refeeding. For fun I need to do one of those "fat clothes" pictures.

[fitby26]

Wowzer!
From another girl with 100 pounds to lose, you are an inspiration!
I needed to see this today, no more messing around, no more deviations till the end. I know what I want, and I'm going for it!
Congratulations Key:)

[Shasha]

{hi} there KEY

{congrats} on having lost 100 pounds!!!

YOU are my HERO!!!! {king}

:bighug: And I think that YOU LOOK FANTASTIC!!!!

All the best with your Re-feeding Program!!!


BRAVO!!! BRAVO!!!

PS: I always had the fullest of faith in you ~ I just new you would do it!!

[KMac]

Yeahh Key,
You look beautiful and so, so happy !! YEAH~~~
I started re-feed today- yeahh our day is finally here!

[Aqua Eyes]

OMG!!... Key you are GORGEOUS!!! Skinny Key!!! Wowser!! Congrats on sticking with this and losing that 100 pounds!

Welcome to Refeed! I remember having the same sensation with the new foods. The bread almost made me feel guilty when I ate it and I didn't particularly care for it that much. The consultants told me it was best that I eat the bread to get my body used to the complex carbs. Like you, I went for the berries and also the pineapple as soon as I was able. YUM! What a delight in the mouth after not experiencing these tastes for so long. Enjoy the new sensations. I want to hear how you will do with the increased portions.

[Key]

Thanks everyone! fitby26 - anything I can do to assist your porgress just speak up. Sasha - you're MY hero! You have offered so much inspiration and knowledge. (Note to Newbies here: listen to Sasha - she truly can make magic) KMac - here we go... we can do this! JoAnn - I'm freefalling now as my personal page has expired. I asked a lot of questions before I started but I'm glad to know you're here for support.

I had a little "oh no" moment this morning. I made my lunch last night - used my original diet plan weights for protein and veg... but this morning I remembered I won't be home until later as I start my yoga class and I needed to add 60 grams of protein and 80 grams of veg to a late dinner (I consider after 7:30 to be a late dinner). I knew the scale would probably go up if I did that, so for the first time ever I swapped meals 1 and 3. I ate a huge bowl of chicken soup with cauliflower and mushrooms for breakfast and I will eat my little zucchini pancake when I get home from yoga class. It will be interesting to see how my energy/hunger levels work today. I don't know why I never messed with the 1, 2, 3 order before... maybe it's an OCD thing? I've often wished I could just have another pancake for dinner (and know I'll do it once I'm in maintenance). I just need to get the food in and don't really care when - just no late heavy meals. By the way, scale was at 128 again today.

Here's a question: the refeeding guide says we can divide the new stuff into three equal portions and added to each meal. I wasn't aware we could mix proteins yet - for meal 1, I would mix an egg or cheese or yogurt with meat? By the way, I haven't been eating cheese... I think I gave it up about 6 weeks into the program... after I found out I could do great things with an egg. I adore feta cheese but haven't eaten it since before I began this diet - I guess I didn't want it to lure me into temptation.

Last night I toasted my bread and used them as croutons in my soup. I'm still not thrilled with bread... but I'm eating it. More blueberries today - saving them as a treat for after yoga class.

[Aqua Eyes]

Hi Key,

You can not mix eggs with cheese. The consultants told me that when it comes to mixing protiens on refeed you can only add/mix the poultry, fish and meat (It says that in the guide). So, you take your cheese choice meal (Meal 1 or 2 from the original plan) and add either poultry, fish or meat... NO EGG. Same thing with your yogurt choice. Meal 1 is suppose to be pretty much the same, except, you may add poultry, beef, or fish to your egg, yogurt, or cheese portion if you have those as choices in your Meal 1, if you want to. So, no cheesy omelettes until after refeed. You can not increase your cheese portion or your yogurt on refeed nor can you add an additional egg. This is just during refeed. After refeed you can do what you want.

[KMac]

My page expired too, I think we are going to keep Joann very busy! LOL

[Chris68]

Key,

You look so good. Your success is quite amazing. Good luck with refeed and congrats on the transfprmation. You are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO little. Woo-hoo!!!!

Chris

[Dayanira]

Congratulations Key!!! You look so gorgeous in your picture! 100 pound gone for ever! Keep posting in refeed - for any doubt - we are here to give you some guidance!

Dayanira

[Aqua Eyes]

Some of these same questions I asked the consultants and I posted them to my Refeed experience. You might want to read through some of my posts and see if there are any answers you were looking for from there. ;)

[Key]

My weight was 127 this morning... AND I'M ADDING FOOD?!? I know that the manual says we can lose weight during refeeding but why did it take so long to get from 135 to 130 and since Saturday my body is like "oh, I guess I'll drop some more pounds". Just for the record, let me state - I don't mind that I'm losing. I think with weight loss occuring naturally through my body's intelligence without me trying to force it is just fine. For now. $: )

Yesterday I had my largest meal for breakfast and my smallest meal for late supper (I just squeaked it in before 9:00!). I was pretty hungry by the time I was able to eat dinner but other than that I was well-fueled for the entire day. I'm going to try this again but plan it a little better.

Yoga class last night was really wonderful. It felt so good to move my body with purpose... and so much easier not lugging extra weight along into the poses. There is something about being graceful that I love. I hope that grace infiltrates my head.

[Aqua Eyes]

You know, I found that working out is so much easier now than when I carried that extra 60 pounds. The weight is off of my joints so I can do so much more now than I did before. I love yoga too! I should really get back into that.

[val2zap]

Hi Key,

I've been MIA on your posts- just found this thread so I'm here to say "congratulations!!" You look freaking awesome and I'm so happy for you to be here. You would seem unreal to me (like those before and after people on weight loss commercials), but since you do talk to me, I know you are a true success (and real!).

I have a long way to go to re-feed (obviously since I'm still deviating) but one the things I've always wondered - what do you do if you don't like the foods that you have to add back in? I'm not a huge fruit eater. I like grapes, watermelon and bananas. I will eat apples and oranges and cantaloup on DC if I eat fruit at all. I don't like pineapple and such. What the heck do you add if you don't like the foods mentioned?

Well, keep up the good work. Looking forward to hearing about your continued success.

[Aqua Eyes]

Hi Val,

There's a few more fruits they add in refeed as a selection. I only ate the fruits that I liked. Bananas are one of the fruits we get in refeed under the "bad fruit" category. I don't like many of the fruits either. So I just chose what I liked best. I used to love broccoli, but now I'm not so fond of it anymore, like I once was. Grapes are NOT even on the refeed list! Raspberries didn't make the list either. I can't understand that. Those fruits are only for after you are finished with refeed and are on your own. I used to eat fresh seedless grapes all the time.

[Key]

Hi Val - thanks for the compliment. I'm very real (my friends tell me sometimes I am a little too real...). This really happened to me - I lost 100 pounds in less than a year. All I did was follow the rules. I don't know why it was easier for me to do this than for others who struggle with it. I know that living alone has been a huge benefit - I don't have to cook for anyone else, I don't have a need to keep tempting foods in the house. I've also got a strong support group - people understand that I am totally committed to this...and I take care of myself and my needs. I'm meeting friends at a restaurant tonight to celebrate a friend's birthday but I'm eating before I leave the house and will drink tea while I'm there. This is not a big deal to me - the really big deal is I'm less than a week away from finishing this diet (I need to pause on that thought for a moment... I'm LESS THAN A WEEKaway from FINISHING THIS DIET!) and there is no way I'm going to blow it now. You need to determine your priorities and stick to them. And people may think I'm wrong for saying this, but I believe that if your diet isn't a priority then you're wasting your time trying and constantly living in guilt. Guilt is not good on any level.

I am not a huge fan of citrus - I do love grapefruit when I have the craving for it. The fruit I ate on the diet was mostly apples and melon. I have come to love the apples... started eating them because it was recommended to eat at least one a day to help with elimination. I stopped eating grapes years ago so I don't miss them at all. Maybe like grapes, raspberries have a high sugar content Watermelon comes back as do figs and cherries... I happened to have some cherries in my freezer so I had them as a "bad fruit" snack - delicious! But, if I don't like to food, I don't bring it back into my life... you're given options for adding new protein, new veg, good and bad fruit, and carbs. So, when I have to add a bad fruit I don't have to add a banana (which I could take or leave), I can add a pear or some strawberries. It will make sense when you get to refeed.

I'm trying real hard to eat everything I'm supposed to eat but I am not getting everything in. I make sure to eat the additions but I'm not getting in my snack fruit and crackers. So although I can have five fruit servings a day, I am only eating maybe three. I'm only eating bread because I'm supposed to. This is such a huge surprise to me because as you might imagine, I used to be able to pack it in. I don't like the loaded feeling anymore - I really like feeling small. I weighed 128 this morning - up a pound - but I'm not worried; I had to eat later than usual last night (after yoga class!) plus I ate a lot of food yesterday. I am adding the equivilent of another meal. When I read posts from JoAnn and Dayanira as they went through refeeding and they mentioned it was a lot of food, I remember smugly thinking "amateurs" (smile) but it's true - it's a lot of food. And that's probably not what someone in phase I wants to hear so I'll shut up about it already. $: )

[KMac]

Hi Key,
How are you doing? I know it sounds crazy but getting all that food in doesnt' make me feel too good either. I went up in weight today, I have to be more careful. I read Joann & Daynira's posts, they were very helpful.
I feel the same way about wanting to finish this and no party or celebration is getting in the way. My anniversary is on the 30th, my husband wanted me to meet him in the city (NYC) and go out for dinner and spend the night. Sounds great, but I can't I told him~ refeed. I just have to finish this and figure out how I'm going to handle food, (mentally too) and what kind of food combinations work & don't work- sounds simple, right? lol
Hope your have a great day,

[val2zap]

Thanks Key,

that was a wonderful message. I can't believe you only have 1 week left either. That is so cool. YOu and Kmac are doing wonderfully.

I know what you mean about too much food - even in phase 1 I feel like the portions I have now are too big. I mean, really I could always eat more (seefood diet), but when I'm cooking it, I sometimes feel it is too much.

That's good to know about the fruit. I have to get back into the habit of eating it. The carbs are now out of the house (finished the tortilla wraps as snacks yesterday - bad me, but lost a pound). The house is really down to bare bones minimum for me to get into trouble with. I just don't know why I don't reach for it when I'm doing the food search in my fridge. I know it won't satisfy the mental craving but it would help to curb the energy.

Well, I do feel that I am getting back on track and slowly I will return to my healthy habits. Maybe I will be hitting refeed by the end of February. That's a thought that hit me today.

Well, enough about me, this is your thread. I am interested to see where you are weight-wise when you finish and can't wait to hear about your maintenance.

[Dayanira]

Oh Key, what you said:
And people may think I'm wrong for saying this, but I believe that if your diet isn't a priority then you're wasting your time trying and constantly living in guilt. Guilt is not good on any level.

It's so true!!! Eating healthy should be a priority for all of us!

[Key]

This morning I was down to 127 pounds. I think that's because I had a very early dinner and spent the evening drinking tea with my friends who were enjoying their dinners and cocktails. I don't consider this a sacrifice at all. We were at a Cuban restaurant; I'm not that experienced in Cuban food so I was curious. I thought of it as kind of a trial run - it's now a place to explore in the future. I did make a little deviation - there was less than five hours between lunch and dinner yesterday but I figured it would be a better choice than eating real late or - even worse - eating Cuban food. The order of my meals yesterday was 1 - 3 - 2 and I was not at all hungry by the time I got home at 11:00 p.m. I didn't eat all my fruit or crackers.

I started today with a banana (bad fruit) - probably shouldn't eat fruit first thing in the morning but I did. It felt hard and heavy in my belly and I got a headache (which I realize may be due to the cold front moving in but there was no headache before banana).

I decided to stall for a couple of days instead of moving ahead per my recommended refeeding program. I stuck with adding 60 grams old protein and 80 grams veg for two extra days before moving on to days when I added more of each (and more bread). I felt that I was adding too much too fast so I slowed it down. I don't think this was a problem. There is a note after Day 9 in the program that states "If you feel that the additional 60g of fish/chicken/meat is enough, you don't have to increase the quantity anymore. Just make sure you keep eating the indicated variety." I think I could easily live with this... or maybe adding 90g... but does anyone know what to do about the veg? Do I continue to add veg per the program or do I need to maintain the protein/veg ratio? By this I mean if I am on Day 17 and am supposed to add 80g of old protein and 40g new protein but only want to add 60g protein I would comfortably add 20g old and 40g new but would I add 200g old veg or the day nine amount (80g veg). As it is, I have been following the program, adding LOTS of protein and eating it. No weight gain but it just seems like alot for me.

I am really sympathetic to those reading this who haven't experienced refeeding - I was totally confused when I was doing the diet and reading what the others wrote about refeeding. Just trust your program as it is now and remember this information is out on the boards when your questions arise (thanks, Dayanira, JoAnn, and Sharon).

[KMac]

Hi Key,
Let me know how slowing the process works for you.

[Key]

Hi KMac - I'll do that... I'm on "day 20" today and will add all the veg and fruit but only the 80 grams of new protein. I will try to get in the carbs but it seems like a lot (three pieces of bread and 50 g carbs!). It seems like all I do now is eat or figure out what I'm supposed to eat. DC1 is so much easier!

I was up a pound this morning... not worried but I'm definitely on watch.

[KMac]

LOL- I miss DC1 too- it was pretty black and white-yes you can have it, no- you can't have it, with re-feed there is to many gray area's and to much planning ;(
Do you plan on going back to dc1 somewhat after re-feed?

[Dayanira]

Key, you're such a wise woman by stretching Refeed! I definetely think Refeed should be for the 30 days that it is written, but on the other hand we should be able to see how our bodies react when from one day to the next we almost double the portions, because that's what happens when we binge. If I ever have to do Refeed again I will do the whole month.

You and Kmac are doing a fantastic job! I can't wait to see move on to Maintenance!

[Key]

Well, I guess I'm in maintenance now... I've completed refeeding. I went to the supermarket yesterday and it's funny but the only thing I bought that wasn't Cohen-approved was a sweet red pepper. I still eat the same as I did but like Dayanira is doing, I'm not exact on the measurements - but today is only the second day for me. I'm going to try a glass of wine at a Superbowl Party on Sunday... I know how to do it without spiking insulin and I'm not going to overindulge. I think maintenance is when the hard part begins.

Recently I have only been posting a comment here or there - it's been a busy week. A friend died after an aggressive 3 year battle with pancreatic cancer, her funeral was yesterday. Of course, in addition to the pain of loss comes the reflection of a need to make the best of the my life. I think I mentioned it before that one of the reasons I signed up for this diet was because I didn't want to die fat - yeah, I know now it was a stupid rationale but it's the truth. Now that I've completed the diet (and I'm not going to die a fat girl), I think it would be appropriate to start living a more robust, healthy, and interesting life. Routine was why I got fat in the first place - I dont want routine to cause me to miss more living. I know this all sounds sappy but reaching maintenance and losing a friend at the same time is proving to be a profound experience - for me it's not like "hey, I've reached maintenance, let's go eat something decadent". I will not accept food as a reward - and especially not for having lost a lot of weight. And I could have had a glass of wine but I haven't. I'm thankful for the timing of these events as they are really making me slow down and think. No answers yet but that's okay.

[Dayanira]

Congratulations Key!!! Take it slow, wisely and healthy. It's time to begin your new life, the new you! Can't wait to see you posting in the Maintenance Thread!

Sorry to hear about your friend. Prayers are on her way for the progress of her soul...

Lots of hugs!

[KMac]

Hi Key,
Congratulaitons on wrappingup the re-feed!! Onto the world of Maintenance
I will hopefully be joining you soon, if all goes well with my last 2 days.
I was sorry to read about your friend, my thoughts & prayers go out to you and
friends family.