R1P4D9 - Back from NJ & stabilizing

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Today: 169.7
8 OVER LIW

Well, I'm back home from NJ. I happened to get the news of my uncle's passing while I was writing my post on friday night. I was actually on my way up there for the weekend anyway because 2 of my uncles had been diagnosed with cancer within the last 6 weeks, and I wanted to visit both of them. Unfortunately, my uncle George passed away before I could get up to see him. No one realized he was going that quickly because the doctors had given him 6 months when he was diagnosed, but he just got worse very quickly after that. Even though he was given a certain amount of time, I guess I never really accepted that he was going to actually die. He was only 61! My mother called me on wednesday to tell me I needed to come, but she didn't tell me he was in a coma or I wouldn't have waited for the weekend. I still can't believe he's actually gone. Living 3 hours away, I don't get to see them much so I haven't seen him since he was diagnosed. He and my father were close friends, and I lost him 4 years ago to complications after a stroke. I'm sure they're together now. They had the same wacky sense of humor so there's alot of laughter going on somewhere right now.

My other uncle is doing as well as I can hope for. He's back in the hospital this week because the chemotherpy has made him weak. He's the type that you think can go on forever. He was rebuilding the porch on my grandmothers house just a few months ago & I'm pretty sure he's 78 yrs old. He's my oldest living relative. Cancer can be so brutal. This is another reason why I'm trying to live healthier. So many things are discovered to be linked with cancer and I certainly have a history of it in my family. I just want to give myself the best chance possible & live each day as if it's the last. I'm so happy that I have such a supportive family... online and off line.

As far as my nutrition over the weekend. It hasn't been wonderful. Going to NJ usually means that Someone in the family is going to get White Castles. I used to be able to eat about 8-10 in a sitting. I was only able to eat 4 this time, but I had been snacking on watermelon and grapes all day so I wasn't very hungry. My snacks where healthy both days, but my meals wheren't. I must be stabilizing because eating like this a week ago would have gotten me a 5 lb gain over the weekend. I'm thankful for that.

Becca, Mary, CB, Biz, & Shelly... thank you so much for your kind words. I really do appreciate it.

R1P4D6 - Another loss... WOO HOO!

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Today: 168.5
6.8 OVER LIW

Things were really good yesterday. I pretty much ate what I wanted to, but I actually wanted apples and strawberries. WHAT?! yup...that's what I was craving. whoda thunk? I did an hour of aerobics and weight training with the FIRM in the morning & I had my oatmeal for breakfast and my strawberries midmorning. Then I had a chicken penne lean cuisine for lunch with an apple and some macadamia nuts. There was a birthday party at work yesterday and I had a REALLY small piece of cake. They had a bowl of pineapple too, so I had a few pieces of that as well. Dinner was a roasted chicken sandwich on whole wheat before my 2 hour workout last night. Calories added up to 2348 yesterday with 48% fat, 36% carbs & 16% protein.
-----------------------------------
I just got some bad news a few mintues ago. One of my uncles had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer & just passed away about 10 mintues ago after being in a coma since tuesday. I need to travel to NJ to see my family for a few days. I'll probably still be posting because I'll have my laptop with me, but they may be short for a while.

R1P4D5 - Ha! back under 170! (barely)

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Today: 169.2
7.5 OVER LIW

Yesterday was much better. The only semi bad thing I did was eat a piece of cinnamon friendship bread that my co-worker gave me with my coffee in the morning at work. I still had my oatmeal for breakfast and had lots of strawberries and 2 apples yesterday. I had a sweet onion teriyaki sub from subway with sweet peppers and extra lettuce on honey oat bread. I made a little parfait with strawberries, a banana and a sugar free vanilla pudding snack mid afternoon. I snacked on a handful of pork rinds when I got home from work and dinner was some leftover roast chicken with steamed broccoli. I couldn't even finish it. Pork rinds always fill me up. I think they expand in my stomach cus I always drink a ton of water with that snack. My calorie count was only 1735 yesterday when I plugged it into fitday. 36% Fat, 40% carbs & 24% Protein. I thought it would be more than that.

I just got back from my 2 hour cardio class so I am pretty wiped.

In response to commentor's

Shelly - Yup... that's what I'm trying to do. Thanks for the words of encouragement. It really helps.

Biz - Chocolate doesnt usually get me, but when it's chocolate with peanut butter like reese's cups or butterfingers... I'm DONE! I'm really paying attention to ingredients now. I'm trying to eat as fresh as possible. I hardly ever go into the center isles of the supermarket anymore. I just really really wanted a bowl of cereal the other day. There's something about cereal in cold milk that I just love sometimes.

Mary - You are so right! That scale is addictive. I've gotten so I now weigh myself right before I go to bed at night to see how much I really lose "overnight". It's normally about 2 lbs on the nose... Ok... I really sound obsessed now.

Marlene - You said it! I should have stopped mid chew like you did!

Becca - That Paul Mckenna guy is pretty interesting. You're right. It's not really anything we haven't heard before, but it's nice to have it reinforced. I'm really surprised that he demonstrated the Callaghan technique on tv. I haven't been able to find any videos of it online so it seems like some coveted secret. I guess that's because it's so simple to do, that once you learn it, you may not want to pay a bunch of money for a book or video about it, ya know?

Ed & Jenn - It was way easier to stay away from the chocolate today. Most of the good stuff was gone. They're like locusts at my job!

R1P4D4 - AAAARRRGGH! Chocolate!

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Today: 170.2
8.5 OVER LIW

I went sooo overboard yesterday. One of my co-workers brought in some rice krispie treats and I had some natural peanut butter that I was going to eat with a banana..... well the PB somehow ended up spread all over 2 of those treats... I can not tell you how good that was! So that sent my carbs way over my limit. Then I really went overboard on snacking yesterday after that. Oh well.... I only try to be perfect... LOL.

I started the day out ok with some vanilla almond special K with 1% milk, and I brought a bunch of fruit to work with me for snacking on... then I got to work and there were those rice krispie treats and a huge bag of all of my favorite snack sized chocolates on a table right near my desk! Now there is usually chocolate at work, but this time it was all my favorite stuff! I caved for the first time in months. I think it was a combination of stress at work and the fact that I had already eaten the rice krispie treats. I won't list which one's I ate cus that would just be cruel to any P2'ers or P3'ers reading, but suffice it to say... I need to really be good for a few days. To be fare to myself, I did eat the fruit and a salad for lunch and I had a lean steak with grilled veggies for dinner. A friend of mine brought over some really good homemade red wine last week and I used that to make a reduction sauce with onions and mushrooms. That was delicious!

So tomorrow I should do an egg day but it's going to be a heavy workout day for me. I'll be doing an hour of weight training in the morning and 2 hours of cardio in the evening so I think I should eat more than protein. I'm just going to have alot of fresh veggies and fruits with a little protein & some complex carbs for breakfast & before my evening workout.

Oh yeah... it looks like Nakia is going to start P2 on monday (if he doesn't get cold feet). I'll keep y'all posted.

To my commentors

Marlene - Hi... it's nice to have a bit of a routine again. Hopefully the routine will help me shed some of these extra pounds. I think I may pick up his book as well. He seems to have some really great lifetime methods for losing and maintaining.

Mary - Oh... I hadn't thought to look at his website. Thanks. For some reason it's hard for me to remember to eat slowly. Maybe it's because I keep letting myself get too hungry, but I should really get away from the TV too. I try to do that and watch tv and it really doesn't work. I'm so hard headed sometimes.

Ed & Jennifer - HA! That is so funny! Great minds think alike girl!
Nakia and I have been trying to do that as well. We've found that it works better when you're not really hungry :)

R1P4D3 - Where has the time gone?

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Today: 168.7
7 OVER LIW

Wow... has it been that long since I posted?! Well... anyway, here I am. I've been eating P4 this week and seriously enjoying it. I've decided to mostly added carbs to breakfast for now. I had oatmeal yesterday and vanilla almond special K for breakfast today. Although I did go on a carb binge on Sunday when I went to the movies. Have I mentioned that I'm a popcorn junky? Love the stuff, so I had a medium sized popcorn around lunch time and some bread with my salad at dinner so of course I had a big gain the next day, but apparently it was mostly water retention cus it came off on Tuesday. I didn't eat much else for the rest of the day on sunday though. I just drank water.

Yesterday's menu was
B: Maypo with 1 T sugar & 1 T butter. Coffee with stevia and half & half
S: 1 C strawberries & 1 banana
L: Salad with 1 chicken breast, tomatoes & 1 T feta cheese, 1 T pine nuts
S: Apple
D: roast chicken with a whole lot of roasted peppers & onions
Lots of water

I'm still working out about an hour a day, sometimes 2 hrs... still feeling fabulous (and sore) :) I'm keeping it to about 2200 calories a day & I have added alot more fruits and vegetables to my diet. I ended up eating dinner at 8:30 last night, which is pretty late for me. Normally I eat before 7, but I still lost about 2 lbs (water). I'm really not troubled by my 7 pounds. I feel really good. My clothes are fitting great & I can see and feel my body tightening up, so WHATEVER 7 lbs! I sure didn't feel like this when I was just under 170 before. I felt fat before :)

I saw that show "I can make you thin" on TLC this past weekend and he host, Paul Mckenna, did demonstrate part of the Callaghan technique. It was kind of interesting and I've been trying it this week during my usual urge to raid the kitchen right after work. It actually seems to work! I was pleasantly surprised. I think the methods that he uses can really help me to maintain after I'm done with the protocol. Here are some of his techniques:

1. When you're hungry, go and eat
2. Eat what you want, not what you think you should have (I'm sceptical of this one)
   - Don't make certain foods off limits because you'll think about them all the time.
3. Eat consciously
   - Concentrate on your food with no distractions, no reading or watching tv
   - Eat a fork full, put your utensils down between bites, & chew slowly
4. When you think you're full, stop eating.
   - Pay attention to your stomach's signals between bites and stop when you might be full.
   - You can always eat again if you get hungry again.

So that's just a little FYI. I gotta cut this short and go cook dinner.
To my commentor's:

Mary - Don't be sorry for this gain... I'm certainly not :) I sure am glad TOM's gone though. It was giving me cravings like crazy!

Lili - Yup... I've cut out all that cheese. I've just been using about a tablespoon of feta or blue cheese on my salad. No more cheese eggs in the morning or cheese with my apples though. I've been snacking on strawberries, apples and grapes. It's working out, but I'm still gaining.. HA... whatever :) Either it'll stop going up or it won't. As good as I feel... it doesn't matter one bit.

Becca - Girl, I'm having fun too. I'll be going back to P2 on Apr 21st and I'm going to enjoy my P4 until then. I'm just going to keep working it out. As long as I'm sore, I know there's some little muscles growing somewhere!

Biz - Hey girlie! Welcome back. I've been MIA for a minute, but I'm glad I didn't miss you're first day back on your blog. I know it must have been nice to be back in your own bed! Missed you a bunch too Miss Sunshine!

Ed & Jenn - I've been really working hard on the Firm box and in the gym. I'm trying to look like you for the summer girl! I ate popcorn like a champ over the weekend so we just might be in the same boat right now. Oh.... that alcohol was 6 oz of chardonnay and fitday shows 120 cals in the list but only 116 in the chart.... I don't know what's up with that. Yeah... you would notice the alcohol.... LOL!

R1P3D20 - End of P3? Maybe not

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Day 1 - 161.7 At LIW
Day 2 - 163.8 2.1 OVER
Day 3 - 162.7 1 OVER
Day 4 - 165.1 3.4 OVER (Steak day)
Day 5 - 163.6 1.9 OVER (Started daily workouts)
Day 6 - 165.7 4 OVER (felt like water retention, ate light)
Day 7 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 8 - 164.7 3 OVER (Partial Egg day)
Day 9 - 164.5 2.8 OVER
Day 10 - 165.6 3.9 OVER
Day 11 - 167.0 5.3 OVER
Day 12 - 166.3 4.6 OVER
Day 13 - 167.5 5.8 OVER (Egg day)
Day 14 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 15 - 166.9 5.2 OVER
Day 16 - 167 5.3 OVER
Day 17 - 167.4 5.7 OVER
Day 18 - 168.8 7.1 OVER (Steak Day)
Day 19 - 166.1 4.4 OVER
Day 20 - 167.3 5.6 OVER
Day 21 - 167.7 6.0 OVER

Another gain... I think I've found my culprit. There was way too much fat in my diet yesterday. I'll curb that today. Putting my food into fitday is really really helpful.

I did 1 hour of moderate exercise yesterday. I guess it was moderate. I was dripping with sweat by the time I was done, but that's not unusual. Today is supposed to be my first day of P4 where I add in carbs, but I'm scared to death to do that. I think I'll wait until Aunt Flo's visit is over first which should be tomorrow.

Here's what I ate yesterday.

B: 4 eggs & half a slice of 2% american cheese, 5 slices of bacon
S: 1 cup pork rinds, 1 cup pineapple
L: Cajun catfish, fresh string beans cooked with olive oil, onions, peppers & garlic. 1/2 C ceviche, 1/4 C walnuts
S: sugar free pudding snack & a string cheese
D: homemade shrimp egg foo yung, a few grapes & 1/2 T peanut butter. 6 oz of chardonnay
about 2 liters of water.

	grams	cals	%total
Total:		2010
Fat:	122	1095	55%
Sat:	36	327	16%
Poly:	30	273	14%
Mono:	41	366	18%
Carbs:	86	298	15%
Fiber:	12	0	0%
Protein:	121	485	24%
Alcohol:	16	116	6%

R1P3D20 - Quick update

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Day 1 - 161.7 At LIW
Day 2 - 163.8 2.1 OVER
Day 3 - 162.7 1 OVER
Day 4 - 165.1 3.4 OVER (Steak day)
Day 5 - 163.6 1.9 OVER (Started daily workouts)
Day 6 - 165.7 4 OVER (felt like water retention, ate light)
Day 7 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 8 - 164.7 3 OVER (Partial Egg day)
Day 9 - 164.5 2.8 OVER
Day 10 - 165.6 3.9 OVER
Day 11 - 167.0 5.3 OVER
Day 12 - 166.3 4.6 OVER
Day 13 - 167.5 5.8 OVER (Egg day)
Day 14 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 15 - 166.9 5.2 OVER
Day 16 - 167 5.3 OVER
Day 17 - 167.4 5.7 OVER
Day 18 - 168.8 7.1 OVER (Steak Day)
Day 19 - 166.1 4.4 OVER
Day 20 - 167.3 5.6 OVER

Just wanted to give a quick update. I had another little gain. TOM's still around reeking havoc with my system, but seriously I think my body just wants to stay around 167. Whatever. I haven't taken my measurements yet because I can't seem to find my measuring tape... I think my new kitten hid it somewhere. I'll try to find it tomorrow. Gotta get to bed now cus I didn't get much sleep last night.

Thanks for stopping by Mary and Shelly :)

R1P3D19 - My Happy steak day! WOO HOO!!!

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Day 1 - 161.7 At LIW
Day 2 - 163.8 2.1 OVER
Day 3 - 162.7 1 OVER
Day 4 - 165.1 3.4 OVER (Steak day)
Day 5 - 163.6 1.9 OVER (Started daily workouts)
Day 6 - 165.7 4 OVER (felt like water retention, ate light)
Day 7 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 8 - 164.7 3 OVER (Partial Egg day)
Day 9 - 164.5 2.8 OVER
Day 10 - 165.6 3.9 OVER
Day 11 - 167.0 5.3 OVER
Day 12 - 166.3 4.6 OVER
Day 13 - 167.5 5.8 OVER (Egg day)
Day 14 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 15 - 166.9 5.2 OVER
Day 16 - 167 5.3 OVER
Day 17 - 167.4 5.7 OVER
Day 18 - 168.8 7.1 OVER (Steak Day)
Day 19 - 166.1 4.4 OVER

Now that's a more reasonable number! Of course I'm still not legal, but I'm very happy with the loss. I just hope I can keep it for tomorrow. I did my 1 hour workout this morning, and I was able to use my 15 lb weights which felt great. I've got quite a library of FIRM videos. Right now I'm working on BSS1 (BSS:Body Sculpting System), which is their first set of videos in the body sculpting series. I have all 3 & the Transfirmer set so I can do a good rotation without getting bored. I'm working on getting their latest set as well, but I need to order more hcg this month first while dd.ca is still having their sale.

So I kept my food journal today & I put the results into fitday. I didn't calculate any calories until my day was done and here's where I ended up

*** Warning!*** I ate GOOOOD today :)

B: 4 cheddar cheese eggs with 4 pieces of bacon
S: 2 c pork rinds & a string cheese
L: 1 chicken breast stuffed with mozzarella and pesto. 1 cup steamed broccoli with light butter.
S: can of tuna with homemade mayo, sugar free relish, onion, celery & mustard. a string cheese
D: 4 slices of garlic & herb seasoned pork loin, roasted peppers and onions with olive oil, salt, pepper & fresh herbs. Hot Chocolate made with 1c 2% milk, 1T cocoa powder, 2T splenda, dash of salt & 1/4 tsp vanilla.... YUMMO :)

Fitday stats

	grams	cals	%total
Total:		2176
Fat:	112	1010	48%
Sat:	43	385	18%
Poly:	16	142	7%
Mono:	44	396	19%
Carbs:	37	115	5%
Fiber:	8	0	0%
Protein:	249	996	47%

I think Fitday calculates that I need 2200 calories with my amount of activity, so according to that 2176 is about where I should be calorie wise, but I think I need to cut down on the fats a bit. I ate a little more meat than I normally do, so let's see where I end up tomorrow.

Oh yeah... I almost forgot. I saw this program on TLC the other day called "I Can Make You Thin". The commercial for it caught my eye because it looks like this guy is going to demonstrate the Callahan technique on the next show. It's on next week on sunday at 9pm EST. The first show was really interesting too. I really recommend watching it, I think the first show is repeating on TLC throughout the week.

In response to yesterday's comments :)

Mary - I guess that was water. I'm closer to my LIW that I have been in quite a while. I'm so happy about that! If I can take off just 2 more pounds I would be estatic, but if I don't I'll be fine with that too. Thanks for stopping by every day. It means alot :)

Becca - I actually did consider that & you might be right. I just went and checked that BMR calculator... It says I need around 2500 calories to maintain cus I think I'm somewhere between number 3 & 4 on the Daily Calorie Needs chart. That's WAY more than I ever eat. You're right. I AM shocked! I'd be afraid to eat that much, but thanks for that. I'll keep that in mind. Maybe I can add another snack in a day.

Shelly - I hear you Shell, I'm trying it... sort of. I'm going to keep a journal and total it at the end of the day. I think that just might be the issue here. I ate more today than I usually do and I still didn't hit 2500 calories.

R1P3D16-18 Been away too long

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Day 1 - 161.7 At LIW
Day 2 - 163.8 2.1 OVER
Day 3 - 162.7 1 OVER
Day 4 - 165.1 3.4 OVER (Steak day)
Day 5 - 163.6 1.9 OVER (Started daily workouts)
Day 6 - 165.7 4 OVER (felt like water retention, ate light)
Day 7 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 8 - 164.7 3 OVER (Partial Egg day)
Day 9 - 164.5 2.8 OVER
Day 10 - 165.6 3.9 OVER
Day 11 - 167.0 5.3 OVER
Day 12 - 166.3 4.6 OVER
Day 13 - 167.5 5.8 OVER (Egg day)
Day 14 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 15 - 166.9 5.2 OVER
Day 16 - 167 5.3 OVER
Day 17 - 167.4 5.7 OVER
Day 18 - 168.8 7.1 OVER (Steak Day)

Well it's Monday night & I'm actually in front of my computer! I've been so swamped at work, I didn't go anywhere near my computer all weekend, but I just couldn't stay away any longer.

So, I've been gaining steadily over the last few days & I really don't get it. I've been eating almost all protein, but the scale just goes up every day. So this morning when I saw how close I was to leaving this century, I decided I'd better do a steak day. Then when I got to work... TOM showed up! You gotta be kiddin me! i should have known... it's right back on schedule. Now I definately am not naive enough to think that all this gain is because of TOM, but he sure doesn't help! I think I may have been eating too many calories because my appetite is always greater when I start working out after being away for a while. I really don't want to count calories though. I don't intend on living my life that way, so I want to try to make it work by just paying attention to my body's signals. Tomorrow, I'm going to start journaling my food intake. I'll get it right in the end.

Anyway.... I've been keeping up with my workouts, except for today. I was soooo sore from a 3 hour hip hop class on saturday, that I could still barely move today! So I'll be picking it back up tomorrow morning. I hope my steak day did some good. I did much better making my steak this time... pan seared with a sauce made by deglazing the pan with red wine & butter with 2 sliced mushrooms added.

Hey bloggers! I've been reading but I haven't had time to post. I'll comment as soon as I can.

To my commentor's - Thanks for checking in on me :)

Ed & Jenn - I think I may continue working out during my next P2. I just can't imagine stopping and having to start back up again with the soreness of it all. I think I'll just slow it down to 2-3 times a week. I see you've started as well... Yaaay! You're gonna love it cus you'll see a change so quickly bacause you'll be able to SEE all the muscle cus there's no fat to get in the way! I can't wait to hear about it :)

Mary - I'm sure some of it is muscle, but there's gotta be some fat in there too. I can't have gained 7 lbs of muscle in 3 weeks, so I really need to start paying closer attention to what's going on.

Shelly - Hey you... Nice to see you again! This P3 thing is tricky. I am sooo glad I can do another round to fix this up. I guess we all are, except Jenn, but she's right where we're trying to get to. I'm so happy to be able to go through this with my online workout buddy though :) I think I'll take my measurements tomorrow too.

R1P3D15 - A gain? What the?!

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Day 1 - 161.7 At LIW
Day 2 - 163.8 2.1 OVER
Day 3 - 162.7 1 OVER
Day 4 - 165.1 3.4 OVER (Steak day)
Day 5 - 163.6 1.9 OVER (Started daily workouts)
Day 6 - 165.7 4 OVER (felt like water retention, ate light)
Day 7 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 8 - 164.7 3 OVER (Partial Egg day)
Day 9 - 164.5 2.8 OVER
Day 10 - 165.6 3.9 OVER
Day 11 - 167.0 5.3 OVER
Day 12 - 166.3 4.6 OVER
Day 13 - 167.5 5.8 OVER (Egg day)
Day 14 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 15 - 166.9 5.2 OVER

Yesterday was mostly an egg day, except for lunch I had a salad from chipotle because my boss was treating & I got black beans on it and then I looked up the carbs in black beans. 20g per cup! Who knew! There was about 1/4-1/2 c of beans on my salad. Maybe that caused a .5 gain. Doesn't seem like it would, but you never know. I also only got about 4 hours of sleep last night. Could that be the culprit?

For the rest of the day I ate deviled eggs and pork rinds. I guess I could be retaining water from the pork rinds too... who knows. Anyway, I made that shrimp egg foo yung with a heavy cream reduction gravy for dinner last night. OMG! it was soooo good! I used heavy cream in place of the cornstarch to thicken the gravy.

I know I sound really calm about my steady gain on this P3. Working out really keeps my head clear & I'm really comfortable at this weight. I don't feel heavy anymore & I can wear all my "skinny" clothes. As far as the gains go, I'm really not "cheating". I don't think I've had enough starches or sugars to cause these gains. I had a snack size piece of chocolate on day 6 and a macadamia nut cookie around day 4, but I've been pretty steady with my eating this week and I'm still on this roller coaster. Up, down, up, down.... My chart looks like a bouncy ball going up hill! At this point, I'm really looking forward to my next P2. I know I can lose these few pounds then. I just want to stay below 170 over the next 5 weeks. I have a few events to attend and then I'll be starting my next round on Apr 21st.

Nakia still has some antibiotics to take and then I hope he'll start. Now he's thinking that he just wants to take the weight off with excercise. I'm trying to convince him that he'll have better success on hcg. I told him to just do cardio while taking the shots and he should be fine. He can't lift weights yet anyway because of the hernia surgery he just had. He's so eager to get back to normal though. I'll keep y'all posted.

In response to yesterday's comments:

Mary - The macadamia nuts are great girl! Thanks so much for that suggestion.

Ed & Jenn - This P3 is kicking our butts isn't it?! I WILL get it under control though. I seem to be building muscle steadily because I'm lifting weights with my workouts. I workout at least 1 hour a day in the morning. Sometimes I do another workout in the evening of just cardio for about a half hour.

R1P3D14 - Eggggggggcelent!!!

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Day 1 - 161.7 At LIW
Day 2 - 163.8 2.1 OVER
Day 3 - 162.7 1 OVER
Day 4 - 165.1 3.4 OVER (Steak day)
Day 5 - 163.6 1.9 OVER (Started daily workouts)
Day 6 - 165.7 4 OVER (felt like water retention, ate light)
Day 7 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 8 - 164.7 3 OVER (Partial Egg day)
Day 9 - 164.5 2.8 OVER
Day 10 - 165.6 3.9 OVER
Day 11 - 167.0 5.3 OVER
Day 12 - 166.3 4.6 OVER
Day 13 - 167.5 5.8 OVER (Egg day)
Day 14 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)

Alright now! Here we go... let's keep it movin in that direction!
I just finished my workout for the day & I gotta keep it short, but here's what I ate yesterday.

I mostly had eggs yesterday.
B: small protein shake, scrambled eggs (3)
L: egg salad (5)
Snacks: 6 oz pork rinds, handful of macadamia nuts, grapes
D: scrambled eggs with cheese & strawberries with splenda whipped cream

Didn't get to make my shrimp egg foo yung last night because i got home too late, but I'm going to try it tonight.

Mary - He hasn't started yet. He's still on antibiotics. He has at least another week of pills left.

Ed & Jenn - Hey jenn.... I owe you an email. I'll send you one today when I get to work. CALM!? HA... I'm hangin in there. No use getting all bugged out over it. I don't feel out of control. I still feel like I have a handle on things. As long as I don't get over 170, I'll remain calm... after that... it's panic city!

becca - I had a great egg day yesterday. On to another one today. I added some other proteins in yesterday as well... It seemed to work out. The workouts are a huge help! Great way to relieve the stress of seeing a gain!

Have a great day peeps! Gotta get ready for work.

R1P3D13 - Workin out the kinks!

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Day 1 - 161.7 At LIW
Day 2 - 163.8 2.1 OVER
Day 3 - 162.7 1 OVER
Day 4 - 165.1 3.4 OVER (Steak day)
Day 5 - 163.6 1.9 OVER (Started daily workouts)
Day 6 - 165.7 4 OVER (felt like water retention, ate light)
Day 7 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 8 - 164.7 3 OVER (Partial Egg day)
Day 9 - 164.5 2.8 OVER
Day 10 - 165.6 3.9 OVER
Day 11 - 167.0 5.3 OVER
Day 12 - 166.3 4.6 OVER
Day 13 - 167.5 5.8 OVER (Egg day)

Good workout yesterday and today. Sore as HELL! I'm doing an egg day today and probably tomorrow too, but I had a whey protein shake before my workout this morning. I have a better workout when I eat something first.

I want to get to around 164. I hope shrimp egg foo yung is okay for an egg day, cus I had planned on making some for dinner. It's got bean sprouts, scallions, mushrooms & shrimp in it. I'm going to make a heavy cream and chicken broth reduction for my gravy & I'll make the cornstarch gravy for Nakia. It sounds like it'll turn out good. We'll see :)

Take care folks.

R1P3D11, D12 - Car Trouble... I thought it was just the brakes!

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Day 1 - 161.7 At LIW
Day 2 - 163.8 2.1 OVER
Day 3 - 162.7 1 OVER
Day 4 - 165.1 3.4 OVER (Steak day)
Day 5 - 163.6 1.9 OVER (Started daily workouts)
Day 6 - 165.7 4 OVER (felt like water retention, ate light)
Day 7 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 8 - 164.7 3 OVER (Partial Egg day)
Day 9 - 164.5 2.8 OVER
Day 10 - 165.6 3.9 OVER
Day 11 - 167.0 5.3 OVER
Day 12 - 166.3 4.6 OVER

Hey! Still here! I haven't found a good time to blog lately. My hour in the morning has been filled with my workouts and my evening has been filled with cooking, cleaning, and QT with DH. Gotta get that in there. So here I am at work during my lunch break. Eating my mushroom turkey burgers with sauteed peppers and onions. This meal is a keeper!

I am sooo over being OVER! Whatever... I've just decided to eat P3 & keep working out. I'm sure some of this gain is due to muscle building. Some of it is due to bad peanut butter management though. As I've said before, I can't be trusted with the stuff. My P3 hasn't gone so badly considering my bad start. I was kind of hungry at first so I was snacking on a lot of things like PB and cheese. That has cooled off lately though. Now I just get the munches right after work and I keep some pork rinds in the house for that. I've cut down on the cheese & I've gone back to mainly 1% and skim milk, except in my coffee (1/2&1/2). I've been having 3 plain scrambled eggs with a fruit for breakfast most mornings. Yesterday I had a banana smoothie with skim and today I had strawberries topped with a little homemade whipped cream (1 c heavy whipping cream, 1.5 T splenda, 1/2 t vanilla). I'll then have a fruit at around 10 am and then lunch of some protein and veggies. Depending on how I feel, I may not have any protein for dinner at all. Last night I just ate a plate of fruit. Pineapple, grapes, oranges & strawberries.

I've been working out for about a week now and I'm just starting to get over most of the soreness. Jenn, I didn't feel weak at all. On the contrary, I actually felt almost as strong as when I stopped working out. My body felt lighter and more nimble. I was VERY sore though. Some muscles are still sore today. I've always been able to put on muscle quickly and I can already see things tightening up. I am really happy about that. If only I could get out of bed a little earlier to blog.

Ok... my little rant: That STUPID car! We brought it in cus the brakes were squeaking and BLAM. $1200 worth of other CRAP to fix! Luckily that car is paid for or I'd chuck it! It's had some major repair each year since it's been paid off! AAARRRRGH! Okay... done ranting. It's 9 years old and it's got over 180,000 miles on it & it really doesn't give us much trouble considering. I guess it has earned some repairs, but sheeesh!

Well... lunch has been over for 10 minutes. Quick reply to commentors:

Mary - Hey... we had a Wonderful time. I just love messages. I think it's weird how Dr S. is against them during P2, but KT recommends them frequently during P2. I decided to go with Dr S. as usual, but I just think it's strange. They sure feel great though :) BTW... a little pampering goes a long way in regards to a rut.

Ed & Jenn - Working out is going great. I think I answered most of your questions above, but I'm trying to workout 6 days a week. Sometimes I'll do an evening workout as well if I feel like I over did it on food & yes I have been hungry, but not anymore. I was trying to do steak and eggs days almost every other day, but no more. Now I just don't sweat it anymore... unless I get too close to 170.

Becca - Things are going better for me now that I've stopped stressing about my LIW. I feel great and my measurements are the same so I'm good! I'm glad I have another P2 round. I'll fix it then if I need to.

Shelly - Bonefish is one of my favorite restaurants! I highly recommend the Bang Bank shrimp when you can have carbs.
Working out is good. My obliques are sore today because of side planks, but I like that feeling because it means I'm doing it right :)

Hmph... that wasn't as quick as I thought! Have a great day peeps!

R1P3D10 - Spa Day

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Day 1 - 161.7 At LIW
Day 2 - 163.8 2.1 OVER
Day 3 - 162.7 1 OVER
Day 4 - 165.1 3.4 OVER (Steak day)
Day 5 - 163.6 1.9 OVER (Started daily workouts)
Day 6 - 165.7 4 OVER (felt like water retention, ate light)
Day 7 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 8 - 164.7 3 OVER (Partial Egg day)
Day 9 - 164.5 2.8 OVER
Day 10 - 165.6 3.9 OVER

Just another day on P3. I had 3 scrambled eggs for breakfast and then went to the spa with my girlfriend for a massage & pedicure. We had a ball! The spa got us lunch from Panera bread and I had the french onion soup without the croutons and the Asian chicken salad. They also gave us a dozen roses and a bag of chocolates from Trader Joes. I had a piece of fried chicken from Royal Farms without the skin and a salad from home. Instead of eating the bag of chocolate, I had one of my hot chocolate's made with splenda and fat free milk with a little half & half added. I finished eating before 6:30. Not much water yesterday though.

I guess hovering around 165 isn't so bad. I'm working out so I guess this is my sweet spot. I certainly don't want to be stressing over my LIW for my entire P3 so I've just decided to start eating normal P3 foods, instead of doing egg or steak days every other day. I'll just lose it on my next P2 because this seems to be where my body wants to stay.

Hey Biz... Bonefish grill is a sister company to Outback steak house & Carrabbas Italian. They're the seafood restaurant in the group. I've recreated the salad at home VERY often. The flavors go great together. The ingredients are: Romaine lettuce, Tomatoes, Avocados, Mangoes, Crumbled blue cheese, & Pine nuts. I haven't been able to recreate the salad dressing they use, but I have found this great P3 friendly dressing at Trader Joe's called goddess dressing that has no sugar or carbs. I thin it out a bit with a little chicken broth & Viola! Delish bonefish salad at home!

R1P3D9 - Wine Wine Wine!

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Day 1 - 161.7 At LIW
Day 2 - 163.8 2.1 OVER
Day 3 - 162.7 1 OVER
Day 4 - 165.1 3.4 OVER (Steak day)
Day 5 - 163.6 1.9 OVER (Started daily workouts)
Day 6 - 165.7 4 OVER (felt like water retention, ate light)
Day 7 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 8 - 164.7 3 OVER (Partial Egg day)
Day 9 - 164.5 2.8 OVER

It's creepin back towards LIW. No complaints here. Most of yesterday was an egg day, up until dinner. We went to bonefish and I had bacon wrapped scallops with mango salsa and their florida cobb salad with grilled salmon. I highly recommend that salad. It's been my favorite since the first time I had it 2 years ago and it's P3 friendly which is even better. I also had a kamikazee cocktail and a few glasses of wine. I sure do feel alcohol more quickly now. I'm just happy I still lost weight.

Shelly - Workouts are great! I really missed it. I'm still sore today so I took this morning off to try to heal up a bit. Glad your back :)

Mary - I will definately try some macadamian nuts. I love all nuts. I've also decided that if I'm going to eat them, I'm only going to buy them in individual serving bags or a tablespoon of walnuts on a salad or something. No more nuts in bulk for me! I can't be trusted!
If this weight gain is due to muscle then I'm all for it. I'm definately going to take more pictures in about 3 weeks so see if there's a change.

Biz - It was such a treat to be able to chat with you for a bit & thanks for the help with the egg day. I've really gotten to like eating plain scrambled eggs for breakfast. I really don't NEED the cheese. They're perfectly good without it.

Ed & Jenn - I think I'd rather have a big ol piece of meat too, but I figured I'd have to do more than one steak day so I chose eggs instead. I didn't trust myself to not eat all day twice in a row.
And girl... I am seriously relaxed. I went to the spa with my friend today and we got massages, pedicures & parafin wax treatments. Can I tell you how much I've been missing lotion!

R1P3D8 - Great Egg day yesterday!

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Day 1 - 161.7 At LIW
Day 2 - 163.8 2.1 OVER
Day 3 - 162.7 1 OVER
Day 4 - 165.1 3.4 OVER (Steak day)
Day 5 - 163.6 1.9 OVER (Started daily workouts)
Day 6 - 165.7 4 OVER (felt like water retention, ate light)
Day 7 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)
Day 8 - 164.7 3 OVER

1.7 lb loss... Not too shabby :) I added 3.5 oz of grilled chicken & some onions & mushrooms to my eggs last night as well. Yummy. Thanks for giving out the egg day idea Biz. I'd be very uncomfortable doing a steak day 2 days in a row, but I can handle the eggs.

Doing another egg day today, except for dinner. We're going to bonefish (a seafood restaurant). Don't worry, I'm taking a multi vitamin & I will be loading up on fruits and veggies tomorrow so I'll get all my nutrients in.

Ed & Jenn , I'm getting this handled. Gotta run. Love you guys :)

R1P3D6 & D7 - Started workouts

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Day 1 - 161.7 At LIW
Day 2 - 163.8 2.1 OVER
Day 3 - 162.7 1 OVER
Day 4 - 165.1 3.4 OVER (Steak day)
Day 5 - 163.6 1.9 OVER (Started daily workouts)
Day 6 - 165.7 4 OVER (felt like water retention, ate light)
Day 7 - 166.4 4.7 OVER (Egg day)

I had to post late today... overslept again.

So there's an overview of my progress on P3. Being that I started at my LIW, I'm not unhappy with it. I knew it would fluctuate a lot & with all the peanut butter and walnuts I was eating the first few days, no wonder I gained! I'm sure I'll stabilize soon. I'm not worried about it. That craving for nuts is gone now & so are the nuts! I ate them all! Even though the craving is gone, I think they should stay out of my house for a while.

I started working out with my FIRM videos yesterday morning and I felt puffy & sore all day yesterday and I still feel like that today. I did an egg day today, but I was confronted with a chocolate donut and it won, so I did another 30 minute aerobic workout after my evening omelet :) I only had 8 eggs all day so I think I'll be okay. So that's why I haven't updated my blog on the last 2 mornings. I keep oversleeping and I still need to get my 1 hour workout in. I'll try to at least throw up some stats tomorrow morning.

I must say, I feel great although I'm sleeping more now that I'm off the hcg. I hope this isn't TMI for anyone, but what I'm most surprised about is how Regular I am! I have NEVER gone every day... sometimes twice! It was about once a week while in P2 so I assumed I'd go back to my irregular ways in P3, but nope.... so I KNOW my body has gone through some changes. It's metabolizing my food way faster and that's got to be a good thing. BTW...Thanks Oprah & Dr. Oz for making regularity more acceptable for conversation ;-)

So, my DH (Nakia) is going to start his P2 after his round of antibiotics. He should be done by next week. I'll be posting his progress when he starts.

Thanks everyone for stopping by. I'll try to get around to everyone's blog tonight.
To my support group:

Mary - I'm doing great! I've come to grips with the gains I've had. They've jumped up too quickly to be all fat, plus my clothes still fit just fine. No worries.

Marlene - Finally learned your name! Yup... just like Atkins except I think we're allowed more veggies. It looks like I need to lay off the nuts though. :)

Ed & Jenn - That stupid steak wasn't expensive enough! It wasn't even well done and it was chewy. If I'm going to only eat a steak all day... next time it's gonna be a GREAT one!
CB had some fantastic advice and so detailed. I just love my HCG fam!

Becca - Thanks! I still seem to be on that roller coaster, but I have to remember that I started P3 kind of high so I didn't have much wiggle room. I'm thinking that the gaining is over.... we'll see tomorrow.

Biz - That IS pretty remarkable! Especially considering all you've been through while you've been away. I read your update earlier, but my post errored out on submitting it. I hate when that happens. It is so nice to see your comment & despite my couple of gains, I'm quite happy here in P3 land.

Have a great night everyone!

R1P3D6 - Successful steak day!

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Yesterday: 165.1
Today: 163.6 -1.5
1.9 Over LIW

Just under the limit... I'll take it! Still eating light today though. I'd like to see that number closer to my LIW. Unfortunately I didn't buy the best cut of meat so it was a bit tough. Next time I'm getting a porterhouse from wegman's, but they didn't have any at the store I went to.

I couldn't really post much yesterday cus I was rushing, but the weekend was great! I got to go to my favorite restaurant & actually had a LOT of sangria. That, plus all the eating out & driving over the weekend probably caused that gain. I don't eat all that stuff when I'm at home & I don't drink much while driving long distances so I drank my 2 liters of water all at once instead of throughout the day.

Mary, Biz, Ed, Jenn & CB... thanks for all the great advice and encouragement! You guys really rallied to pull me off the ledge! Thanks!

Mary - It's natural, low sodium peanut butter and the cookies are about the size of a silver dollar and are made with my peanut butter, splenda, 1 egg & vanilla. I was just trying them out. They were OK, but I'd rather have the real thing so I won't be eating those during P3 again.
And YES IHOP puts pancake batter in all their eggs. I use the same trick at home to make my eggs fluffier (not on P3 of course). I didn't think it was enough to hurt me though. I think I was wrong.

Biz - HEY You! I've missed you sooo much! I totally understand the slow connection deal, so thanks for using some of your time on me.
I realize now that I haven't eaten out since before starting P2 so I haven't even had to think about all the variables before so I'm not sweating it anymore. I'll eat alot of fruit and veggies today and I'm sure I'll stabilize.
Enjoy the rest of your trip and take care of you!

Ed & Jenn - Nope... that wasn't fun at all! I have a whole line of fruits and veggies lined up for today. It's probably more important to count calories now because I won't know unless I calculate it. P2 was WAY easier than this, but I'm sooo glad there's a steak day! I'll do that again in a heartbeat, but I don't want to have to do another one tomorrow. Steak is expensive! :)

CB - Girl... you are WAY more experienced than I am, and you've been through the ups and downs of this protocol. I truly value every piece of advice you care enough to give. I think I'll be fine now that I'm home. I actually follow some of your advice already. I haven't eaten past 7 since before starting P2 & I usually eat a larger breakfast than anything else. Now I just need to find my sweet spot with the food. I think I was too excited about eating the first few days as well. I knew better than to eat all that cheese & nuts. Oh yeah... and no more peanut butter! I'll let myself have it once a week & it'll be planned. :) Thank god for steak days though! It really wasn't that difficult for me either. All great advice & I start using that good sense today. Thanks again.

R1P3D5 - Will I ever get below my LIW again?

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Yesterday: 162.7
Today: 165.1
3.4 Over LIW


B: IHOP steak, cheddar, mushroom omelet with coffee w/ cream and splenda & an apple
L: an apple, an orange, a hard boiled egg
S: pork rinds
D: 10 deep fried chicken wingettes with essence (no breading), an apple with gouda cheese.
Snacks: string cheese, spoonful of peanut butter, a flourless peanut butter cookie.
2 liter of water

I didn't have anything off of P3 yesterday so I don't know what happened. Probably not enough veggies though. Doing a steak day & skipping my planned workout. I don't want to throw in too many variables. I'll post about it tomorrow.

Marshall - Thanks... I like yours too :) We've decided you have him start next week. Thanks for the advice. He was just really anxious to start losing weight, but one more week won't hurt.

Mary - Looks like my adventure is too adventurous. I had another omelet with steak, mushrooms & cheese at IHOP yesterday. I wonder if the gain is from the pancake batter they put in their eggs?
Yup... DH is gonna wait until he's done with the anitbiotics. He's going to take probiotics while he's on them to counteract any candida overgroewth he might have. It certainly can't hurt him & I've already got them in the house.

Ed & Jenn - Yup... I put that question on the boards and didn't get an answer. I knew someone would come through for me here.
You've only got a few more days of P2 right? Enjoy it. I feel like going back to P2! That scale is total erratic!

Up and Back down again 2/1 & 2/2

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
1/29: 161.7
Yesterday: 163.8 2.1 OVER LIW
Today: 162.7
1.0 OVER LIW

I couldn't post yesterday because I was traveling. I'm in NJ right now visiting friends and family. My 2nd cousin was in a high school production of CATS as skimbleshanks and if I didn't know better, I would have thought it was a professional show. They used a live orchestra, and it was absolutely wonderful!

My first day of P3 wasn't bad, but I did eat alot of salty food.... cheese, pork rinds, walnuts... I also had 2 bananas & more peanut butter. I had been craving that for a while. I've gotten those cravings out of my system now.

So, we were leaving to make the drive to NJ yesterday which is about 3.5 hours for us & I jumped on the scale and was 2.1 lbs over my LIW. Yikes! I knew I was retaining water from the day before, but I couldn't do a steak day yesterday because we had reservations to go to our favorite Portuguese restaurant. They have steak, but I wanted this pork dish that they serve so I decided to do a modified egg day instead. I had a 2 egg omelet with chicken and cheddar cheese for breakfast. Then I boiled 6 eggs and put them in a lunch bag with ice and jumped in the car with my trusty scale. I drank coffee and water all day and then ate one egg when we got to jersey. We went to the restaurant at around 2 in the afternoon and I had sausage flambe, vegetable soup & the roast pork. I ate every last thing on my plate except the potatoes and if you've ever eaten at a Portuguese restaurant you know that's a LOT of food! I also ate my husband's broccoli rabb..... so yummy. I wasn't hungry for the rest of the day so I didn't eat & this morning... down .4..... YAAAY!

BTW... I'll have to wait for a reaction from my family cus the last time they saw me, I was at the same weight from WW, so I look the same to them. :)

Oh yeah... I have a question for anyone reading: DH needs to take antibiotics for a week and he wants to start P2. Has anyone taken them during their P2 and if so, did you notice a problem with your weight loss?

We're about to get ready to go back to MD now so I gotta wrap it up.

To my commentor's:

Mary - I love omelets. We're going to one of our famous jersey diners for breakfast and I getting a loaded omelet today. I'm banning myself from peanut butter and nuts for a few days too... they don't like me. I gain everytime.

lili - Hey Thanks! so glad to see you again! Yeah, girl... I can wear my favorite leather jackets & coats that I bought when I lost 20 lbs on WW. Leather is very unforgiving when you gain weight... especially in the shoulders.

Shelly - Thanks. I am Super thrilled!

TrySomthingNew - OMG! Thank you... I just went and changed that measurement :)
That last post was actually my last VLCD day food. I'm eating way more on P3. I did notice that I have to pay attention to the types of proteins I choose though. This week is really going to be a learning experience for me.