Another Newbie...

[Ladyjanenz]

Hello All,
Nice to be able to post now and chat as me rather then quest!!:hii:
I live in the south Island of New Zealand, am 50 years young, 4 children (9, 10, 27, 29), 2 step children (10 and 12) and two grandchildren (3 and 7 months)
My weight loss journey started after a brain injury nine years ago while having my youngest. I had always been on the go and a normal weight range, but at this point I put on 5 stone.
Overnight it seemed to me!!:(
I feel as if I have been fighting it ever since. I really thought I had it conquered when I did another program at the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007 and lost all the weight. But then met a new man, changed Islands, job, house, LIFE..and before I could stop it (no matter how hard I tried) it had all come back. I was appallled!!!
I began to realise my difficulties are stress and chemical related
not just exercise /consumption related and did some more research and found this website and other information through Dr Cohen's research.

At this point I feel as though I have found the information I needed and answers to what has plagued me for nearly ten years. Oh how the slim take for granted their "normally functioning" bodies. I was one of those people once. I couldn't understand how people became overweight....needless to say I am now more clued in and hoping to conquer these "demons" myself.

I am on Day two and am interested to see how small the portions are....

So far so good..I am pleased I had read here over the last few weeks and cut out some of the no-no's and lost a bit..other wise I think my bod would be in serious shock!!

I think I will miss my cider the most!! Nothing like a nice cold glass at the end of the day.

Well thats it for now..great to meet you all and have some diet buddies on this program. I'll be a regular here because I have also reduced some stress in my life at the same time and am home quite a bit.

Love to chat to anyone in the mood for it..:)

[Austen]

Hi Ladyjanenz,

I am also a new-ish starter - only 10 days in. My, what a big family you have - I am from a large family so I know how busy you must be but I'm glad you are making the time to do this for yourself!

At first I, too, was surprised by the portion sizes but hunger has not really been an issue for me. It just goes to show how much I was overeating before. The only time I feel in danger of succumbing to snacking is when I feel bored. My flatmate actually thought that the portion sizes gave quite a large amount of protein but I pointed out to her that it only looks like that on the plate and that I used to probably eat a steak at least twice, if not three times, the size of what I am having now.

I haven't really had any alcohol cravings yet as I regularly give that up (e.g. every January) but boy, pizza! My flatmate has pizza AND cider for dinner every Friday night - I think I will have to start making Friday my movie night so I don't have to tortue myself!

Good luck with the programme and stay strong. It's such a short time to go without things like cider for such a tremendous benefit. I know you can do it.

[Shasha]

{hi} there Ladyjanenz

A very WARM WELCOME to you all the way from New Zealand!!! :bighug:

What a lovely large family you have {grouphug1} and how horrible it must have been to put on 5 stone overnight and cope with a new baby!

Stresses and chemicals really do play a very important role in gaining weight… I believe more than most people would ever realize and I’m so glad that you have found Dr Cohen’s 1st Personal Diet Program because this will surely help bring your insulin, growth hormone and serotonin hormones back into balance where they should be and when that happens, THE SLIM GORGEOUS YOU will emerge from deep within again {wave}

How about making a new sundowner? You could try cold tea + sprite zero – the more sprite you add the sweeter your drink will be, the more tea or the stronger the tea, the more dry your drink will be – try experimenting with different types of cold tea – maybe you like green tea or green tea and mint?

Nice having you on the Forum, we hope to hear lots more from you…

[Shasha]

{hi} there Austin

{congrats} on having lost 9 pounds so far!! {cheerleader}

How about making your own good for you DIET PIZZA? So that you don’t feel deprived!! :pizza: There are some nice recipe’s in the Cheese Ideas of the Recipe section…

When you go to the movies, please come and share with us what you’ve watched in the Coffee Clutch Movie section… we'd love to hear your reviews...

[10rus]

Hi~ My name is Lori in Oklahoma USA. I have a large family also including step children that have lived me since I married my husband 10 years ago. My childre are 21, 20, 18, 17,15,14, 13, and 7. The 21, 20, 17, 14 year old are mine from my first marriage and the 18, 15, 13, year old are my husbands the 7 year old is ours together. I know that blending families can be let me say more then challenging hope it went better for you. All the kids have hard a hard time.

I used to just eat when things got hard with my step children and so now i am very here on the program with you. You have ahd some tough challenges as well. I'm sure that you will over come and be successful. Good luck to you:party1:

There are day's I feel hungry and some day's that I am not hungry at all and some times I am very full after eating and think that I will pop.

Take care.

~~Lori

[Bronwyn]

Hi Newbies! Just want to say that I'm enjoying getting to know you through your posts and I'm so thrilled for all of you that you have begun this journey in your lives. You have all been through so much and it's time to take care of YOU!!! I'm here watching and listening and will pop in as much as I can. Can't wait to see you all succeed and I know you will!

[Ladyjanenz]

Hello Austen and 10rus and Shasha and Bronwyn,
Great to hear abit about you all too.

It is hard to do what we need to do for ourselves with a big family..but I am soooooooooo committed..I pointblank refuse to be this big any longer and I want to be a normal weight permanently.


"Stresses and chemicals really do play a very important role in gaining weight… I believe more than most people would ever realize and I’m so glad that you have found Dr Cohen’s 1st Personal Diet Program because this will surely help bring your insulin, growth hormone and serotonin hormones back into balance where they should be. "



I can totally agree with this statement Shasha, which is why I am attacking this problem in two ways, with Dr Cohens 1PD programm and determindly (?) and significantly reducing stressors in my life.
:thinking::eyebrow:..I'm too old to be this stressed!!..Go me!

Congrats Shasha on your achievement I bet you feel a million dollars!! And thanks for the drink idea..I am going to get busy and try it..:)

Looking forward to following us all along..woohoo..two months time we will be so different, three months hopefully ready or working on re-feed.

Cheers to you all.

[Bronwyn]

Good for you LadyJanenz! It is so easy to put everyone and everything before yourself but before you know it you have been lost completely. You are going to be amazed at how different your life becomes and how much better you're going to feel in every aspect of your life when the weight comes off. Every stage of the weight loss for me was fantastic and I couldn't imagine I would look or feel any better and then... more weight would come off... It's been an incredible ride and I'm going to enjoy watching you experience the same!

[Shasha]

{hi} there Everyone


{grouphug1}

:thinking: YEP, it’s sooooo easy to put everyone and everything else first, but where does that leave you??

Putting yourself higher up on your priority list does not mean that you are selfish, only that you will become A BETTER YOU!!!

Remember, you can only give what you have, so it you become BETTER, you will have more energy and love to give to those around you {wave}

[helenteeples]

The portobello mushroom pizza is awesome with some fresh mozarella cheese, tomato slice, and a bit of seasoning.

[Shasha]

{hi} there Helenteeples


:hungry: Just the sounds of that is making me :hungry: MMMmmmmmmmmmmmm!!! :hungry:

[Sharon]

Hi and how ya goin,{hi}
Thought I would pop over to your thread and say gidday, isn't it great how you can do that, we seem to be the only kiwi's in the forum so thought I would see how your going. When you popped into my thread I think you had only just started the same as me.
I've been on it almost 5 weeks now and the time seems to have flown. I've had a slight issue on the cheese front and have pretty well written it off the menu, have you had any problems sourcing the fat free cheeses or low fat mozarrella down your way?
You certainly have a large family, how many are still at home? I have two boys 16 & 14, having two can be enough of a handful. {bouncing}

TTFN
Sharon:love6:

[Ladyjanenz]

Hello Sharon,
It was really good to hear from you.
I am not doing well at all on The Cohen programme. I did well for a month and lost 7kilos but felt weak and tearful every day. Then finally I realised that some serious emotional issues as a result of traumas in my life were surfacing again and giving me trouble. (I obviously self medicate with food to push these "down".)
I am not in a position to tackle these problems at the moment and so have stopped Cohens until life is more settled and I can go to counselling to deal with these things another way.
I am disappointed that this is the case for me and am reducing my food intake as a matter of course, but not to the levels of Cohens. Hopefully I won't put the weight back on again.

I Have four children at Home. 9, 10, 11 (nearly) and 12. (Two of mine and two step children. Between the two of us we have 8 children. Four each. But older ones who have left home.

How is Cohens for you.?

I have been trying to decide what to do and your message has prompted me to deal with this. I will email my consultant soon.
Cheers for now

[Lauren]

Hi Ladyjanenz,

I'm sorry to hear you've postponed the diet. I understand everyone deals with emotional issues differently--just try not to make food the way you deal with it. If you were feeling weak and tearful (I've been there!) you should definitely tell the consultants and they might suggest you take an extra vitamin or something. I wonder if you may have been doing too much physical activities or not getting enough sleep as well. That has definitely caused me to feel weak and fatigued at times. Also make sure you eat all the fruit & crackers on the diet. It can be quite a shock on some systems, I'm sure, to go from eating normal to eating such a restricted diet. Hopefully you can find the strength and courage to come back to the diet, because it is working for so many people. It's not always easy, which is why we have each other on this forum to help get us through. You know we are all here for you supporting you...from all around the world! Good luck and please keep us posted. :)

[Sharon]

Hi,
So sorry that you have such stress in your life, but you are showing great strength in recognizing it, talking to us and looking at getting assistance, I have a good friend in the stress/ comfort boat and they are still denying themselves the freedom of dealing with their issues. They are just getting bigger and sadder and now due to age are having an increase in health issues, we feel helpless in helping her cos its a bit like an addiction, you first have to want to help yourself. That is why I think you are showing great strength:weights:, so I wish you all the support you need, the strength to see it through, and please keep in touch, I'll keep checking in to your thread to give you whatever support I can.
I'll be thinking of you.
I'm hanging in there with Cohan's, the food size restriction isn't a biggy for me as I have restricted myself alot more in the past with minimal results. My issues have been more the restriction in choice in that we can't get some of the stuff, which makes eating away from home a bit more difficult, but I'll get around it.
But I see the program as healthy choice, unprocessed foods with a more practical portion size than what we have come in this day and age to accept. So I'm in it for the long hall, we have a significant diabetes history in the family, my grandmother was one of 11 and 10 of them were diabetics, I felt and signs showed I was heading down that road and then I would have had life restrictions. I decided both roads held restrictions but I wanted to choose which road I took while I still could.

Have strength my friend, and lean on in here to the forum for support {grouphug2}, for your up times and especially your down (may they be few and far between).

[Shasha]

{hi} there Ladyjanenz

I just wanted to pop in and give you a :bighug: because dealing with post traumatic stress is not easy…

I’d like to encourage you to try to find a non-judgmental supportive friend / councilor who you can talk to about the trauma and retelling of the incident/s as this creates an emotional vehicle that actually transports you into healing.

Talking to a supportive friend / counselor is like a catharsis, a draining away of negative and painful thoughts and feelings. I’ve heard it say that one should retell the traumatic story of events about 25 times… more if the situation was very traumatic… the problem is that often times fear and sometimes even pride can prevent us from doing this…

Having or finding a support group is very useful to a lot of people who have had to go through trauma… so please do try to find a way to talk about what happened to you... :comfort: