Je suis en forme! Or..... Skinny Mel is back!

"First say to yourself what you would be;
and then do what you have to do."
~Epictetus~


I am back 'en forme', woo hoo! I lost 3.5 kg this week, oh how I love Cohen's. I am now only 200 g away from my first goal, which I plan to smash this week. :) My plan was to do 2 weeks on plan (so I have another week left) and then 2 weeks using the maintenance guidelines. After that I'll see what happens depending on how much I am losing just doing maintenance. I've partly called this blog post "Skinny Mel is back", not because of my weightloss but because I've got my skinny mojo back - good focus and attitude and I feel strong mentally.

I've been feeling good and in the zone this week. I've had cake shoved in my face on multiple occasions (with it staying on the table at work ALL DAY), but I've been able to resist because I keep telling myself it's just for 2 weeks. I keep trying to think of it as sustainable long term and I think having a few flexible weeks with the odd week on plan will work well for me when I am at my goal weight, so I will keep trying this method while it works for me. I am trying to fix the mental part of me that forbids me from eating certain things, which is the exact same little demon that comes out to haunt me when my resilience is low. I eat a bit of something I'm 'not allowed' when I'm depressed, then I eat a whole stack of whatever because I figure I've stuffed it up anyway. So I'm trying to make everything ok but only at certain times, which is the key to maintenance.


I remember one day in the last few months when I got home from work and could have murdered a glass of wine. I was so stressed but told myself I couldn't have it. I resisted and resisted and then ended up eating chocolate, yoghurt, fruit, crackers, dinner and muesli. Apart from the chocolate that doesn't sound too bad, but it was about 3 times what I was supposed to eat. I think if I'd just had the wine I would have been ok. So... I need to adjust my thinking. I got home on Friday night last week and wanted wine but resisted, because it was just a 'I'm stressed and it's been a big week and I'd love to relax with a glass of wine' thing, rather than a huge stress that was getting the better of me. So, I have to pick my battles, especially if this is going to last this time!

Hope you all have a fabulous week!

M.x

P.S - In the mornings at my French school when I came in looking a little hung over, my teacher would ask me, 'Melanie, est-ce que vous êtes en forme?' And depending on how I was feeling I'd either say, 'Oui, je suis en forme' or 'non, je ne suis pas en forme, j'ai mal à la tête!' Which roughly translates to, 'Yes, I'm good to go' or 'No, I have a headache.' :)

P.P.S - Photos are of Crazy Cheesy Goodness - basically cauliflower and spring onion with mozzarella, cumin and salt; and Asian Tofu & Veg, which I put a bit of Tamari, garlic, ginger, chilli and lemon juice with. Yum yum yum.

2 Weeks on Plan

"The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy."
~John Galsworthy~

I just found this quote and found it amusing given the past few weeks. I am beginning 2 weeks on plan today and my progress update is untidy. I am 0.5 kg up from last Monday morning, which is brilliant given my weekend indulgences, but 2.7 kg up from a fortnight ago. That reduces my total progress for the year to a 3.9 kg loss since the beginning of 2012.

I also missed yoga twice last week as I was in Adelaide. I find my whole body starts to tense up when I don't go, which is a great motivation to keep it up. :)

Feeling good about 2 weeks on plan, I don't have any social events planned that could potentially intefere with my progress. Hope you are all well and happy!

M. x

Just call me Sabotagey McSaboteur.

Well hello! Surely you can guess the topic of this blog post from the title! My little sabotage demons have come to haunt me this week. Well, I think they've been haunting me for a couple of weeks but this week they have dug their heels in and refused to budge.

I've decided it's the pressure I put on myself. I basically assumed I'd lose weight at the same rate as last time I did Cohens and therefore had target dates and weights accordingly. As soon as I missed one, my demons came out. I'm also really close to my first goal weight and putting myself under pressure to lose extra so that I can relax for my Dad's birthday weekend and I think the pressure has beaten me.

So - I'm changing tactics. I'm going to maintain for 2 weeks. Yep that's right - I'm not going to try to lose ANY weight for 10 days. I just hope that I don't put on much over Dad's weekend. I've just lost 6.6 kg in 4 weeks, so I'm going to stabilise and then start again when I get back from Adelaide and weigh in on Monday Feb 13th for a new start date. Then I am going to do 2 weeks on plan - no excuses and no deviations whatsoever. After that I will reevaluate my next step.

Wish me luck!

M. x

Week 4 Weigh In; or... A time to refocus‏.

Hi all! Happy Australia Day! What a crazy week with all the protests and what have you, I feel like we are not meant to celebrate Australia Day or something. To me, Australia Day is more about friends, BBQs and the Hottest 100! Which is exactly how I spent my day. That and eating! Ha ha.

I lost 0.5 kg this week, which is fabulous given that despite my good intentions, I pretty much had a 'normal' Australia Day. I went to a BBQ and although I took my own food, I allowed myself to be encouraged to eat some other food too. Bits and pieces and not too much of anything, but I had some non-allowed stuff like some potato and a small piece of cake. I also indulged in some champagne, which was lovely. I'm pretty excited that I've been able to maintain my weightloss while still leading a relatively normal life, as opposed to last time when I shut myself away for 5 months. But - it is going much slower. I'm 1 kg up from the weight I wanted to be at this weigh in, but I think that's a small cost when compared with the fun that I've had.
 

I am going to try to stay on plan for a couple of weeks as I have my Daddy's birthday at home in 2 weeks time and don't expect to be losing weight that week. I'm also going to try not to weigh myself this week until weigh in day. Not sure how I'll go with that (I like to peek at my progress) but we'll see how we go.

Hope you all have a fabulous week!

M. x

P.S - Photos are of my lazy Sunday morning breakfast and my well-intentioned Australia Day kebabs. :) x
 

Week 3 Weigh In; or... Watch out for peaches!!

Hi all - happy happy Sunday! Sundays are my favourite day of the week. :) This week, I lost 0.8 kg - yay! I suspect it might have been more if I had not had a day where I ate 3 times my fruit allowance (oops), hence the, 'watch out for peaches.' Let's just say they were good! I think I have found a good balance this week with my food and 'the rules'. I didn't have any alcohol this week but I have been a bit more relaxed and feeling a lot less anxious about the whole thing than I did last year. I am actually enjoying it, there is something lovely about cooking or preparing 3 wonderful meals for yourself each day. I take care of myself much more when I am following Cohen's and I am very much treating this as a forever thing, rather than a diet thing.

I am 1.5 kg away from my first goal, which is exciting. Would love to do it in one week but we'll see how we go. I am going to a big Australia Day BBQ on Thursday and it's BYO meat. That suits me perfectly because I will just weigh out my meat and veg allowance and make kebabs with it. Then I can just eat them and try not to eat anything else. Might eat a bit of extra salad or something but I will take something nice to drink with me so I can stay away from alcohol. The fact that I will drive makes it much easier!

I love Saturday mornings. It's when I usually buy all my vegies and wash them all ready to put in the fridge. Always feels like such a great start to the weekend - all that freshness just sitting there waiting to be eaten. I made fish and salad for lunch yesterday, and prawn and bok choy soup for dinner. Wonder what I am going to have today? I think I am going to have a hard time going past that fish and salad... yum! Maybe feta and cauliflower soup for dinner...

Hope you all have a fabulous week and that you are all well and happy. :)

M. x

P.S - If any of the people who are reading this blog but not following it have a blog of their own, please send me a message so I can follow your journey too!

Week 2 Weigh In; or I have a confession to make...

Woot woot! I lost 1.6 kg!! That's more than I lost on my first round of Cohen's (1.2 kg). Funny though, because this time I am doing a more relaxed version using the plan as the main framework but sometimes having a bit of extra vegetable or even a non-allowed vegetable, and this week - vodka!

Last week I had some beautiful baby beetroots from my lovely Uncle and Aunt's garden. I had a few left over when I 'got back on plan' and thought, 'There is no way I am wasting these!' and so I ate them! I realised afterward that they are a carby vegetable, but oh well. I think I ate them 2 or 3 times last week. I just tried to eat less crackers to compensate.

As for the vodka, a friend from work asked me out for a drink after work early in the week (at 4:55 pm - totally unplanned) and one of my best friends broke up with her boyfriend this week and so we went out on Saturday night. I promised myself that I would do it differently this time. I'm not doing Cohen's through a clinic like last year so I'm not having blood tests and don't have to worry about Dr Cohen not giving me my refeed diet or whatever, so my focus is on making this work for life, rather than making it work while I'm on plan. Last time it worked brilliantly while I was on plan and then as soon as I got off it... well... obviously it didn't go so well or else I would not have had to start again!!!

I must admit that this has been my intention all along, I was just a bit too scared to write about it because of all the Cohenites that follow this blog. I know it looks like I only have a couple of followers (see right), but my blog gets hits from all over the world and I get many private messages from people currently doing Cohen's and I have been concerned about admitting it publicly in case it throws anybody else off track. But then my best friend reminded me that this blog is for me, and it is best to be honest for myself. And so there you have it. I would like to say however, that I don't know how long this system will work for me. I remember when I was getting closer to goal weight last time, any little blip would throw me out. There was a month where I was almost the same weight (on average) for 4 weeks, so.... please don't try this at home, kids. ;) There will more than likely come a time where I will need to do it properly as I get closer. Please don't let what I am doing change what you are doing.

I just finished reading, 'Why French Women Don't Get Fat.' It is a wonderful book and revolves around the principle of not denying yourself. I'm still not sure I could eat the way they do and stay at my goal weight, but I will be giving it a try when I am in maintenance. One of the main things they do, which I have tried to incorporate into my new lifestyle, is what the author refers to as 'robbing Peter to pay Paul.' As in, if they are going to indulge, they restrict themselves the next day. Or if they have a big lunch, they have a small dinner, etc... All rather simple but something I've never quite been able to master. They don't weigh themselves the next day and say, 'Oh dear, I've put on weight!', they just don't eat as much bread/potatoes/dessert the next day. Because they already know and don't need to weigh themselves. In fact, most French women don't know what they weigh - they go by their clothes. I, on the other hand, indulge, weigh myself the next day, freak out, try to be good all day and then end up sabotaging myself at some point.

Like I said earlier, when I ate the beetroot (carbs), which I know is restricted on Cohen's, I ate less crackers so as to minimise the impact. When I had vodka in my system after work earlier in the week, I had a prawn stirfry for dinner. Because I know that when there is alcohol in your system that your body cannot burn any fat. So I didn't put any fat into it. In the future I might, but not during this phase of my diet. The vodka did cost me some weightloss though (I stalled for a few days), but I was not upset as I had prepared myself for it and am committed to this taking a bit longer and me having a life too.

So on that note I shall go and get back to my life - I hope you have a wonderful week! :)

M. x

PS - Check out my fish cakes - they are amazing. Just put all my veg/fish allowance into the food processor with herbs and spices and voila! Bought a kilo of fish and made 9 batches (blended them all individually for correct weights) and froze the mixture in little snap lock bags. Made 2 flavours; tomato/basil/spring onion/zucchini/cauli/garlic/S&P and coriander/spring onion/chili/lemon/zucchini/cauli/S&P. Delicious.

Week 1 Weigh In

Can I get a, 'woop woop', can I get a 'woop woop'? 3.7 kg - BOOYA! So excited, can you tell?? First week down and I smashed it. On track for all of my goals and very happy indeed.

I actually don't have much else to say! Maybe because I've been rambling a lot this week. However, I'd like to mention at this point that I had a beautiful friend of mine over for dinner last night and she drank and I didn't - YAY! I never actually planned to go 'back on plan' after France, instead I was hoping to use the maintenance guidelines to wiggle my way down but just couldn't get my eating back in control at all. So when I made this decision to go back on plan I made it on the proviso that I didn't say no to any social events because I was on my diet. Last year I literally shut myself away for 5 months (boy, were people shocked when they saw me!) and it was incredibly lonely. I was just too scared to eat out or go out and not be able to 'not drink' but this time I am going to find a balance. This is for life, not just for a few months, so I have to learn to go out and pick a Cohen's friendly dinner and keep things in moderation. So it might take a little bit longer, but what does that matter if I maintain forever??

Hope you all have a lovely Sunday!

M. x

P.S - Photo is of a Turkey Burger Salad. Turkey mince/lemon juice/chili/coriander/celtic salt and salad. YUM!