Monica's R4P3 Day 11 - Nakia's R3P4 Day 19

Monica - R4P3 Day 11
Yesterday: 152.2
Today: 154.1 +1.9
3.4 Above LIW (150.7)

Nakia - R3P4 Day 19
Yesterday: 221
Today: 221 0
4.9 Below LIW (225.9)

Well... I am definitely feeling better. My appetite is back and I don't have to be 5 feet away from a bathroom at all times. My weight sure went back up quickly too, but I'm sure it's due to my recovery and the fact that my doctor put me on a gator aide and liquid diet for 2 days. I get the low calorie gator aide, but it still contains sugar so I knew it would cause a gain.... so here I am doing an egg day today. I also had a vanilla protein shake with milk & almond butter after my 2 mile run this morning so I hope my egg day is successful. No more gator aid though. It did the trick and now I need to correct the problem it caused.

Nakia is doing awesome. He's slowly getting back to working out. He stopped a while back because he hurt his chest, but he's healing up now & is eager to get back to lifting weights. We've got 5 weeks until we go to Punta Cana on vacation & about 12 weeks until the HTA retreat. I am soooo excited about both! I'm not sure if Nakia will be able to make it to Vegas cus he might be going there with "the guys" the week before. We'll see...

Any-who... I started my running session at the gym on Monday and to my surprise the only other person in the group that had a faster mile time than me was an 18 year old & it was only by a minute! Hot Damn baby! I still got it at 36! ROFL! My time was 10:47 and I'd like to get that down to 8 minutes in the next 6 weeks. I hope that's a realistic goal. I did 5:30 minute miles when I was on the track team in high school 2 million years ago. I don't expect to do that again, but 8 minutes seems attainable for now. I'd also like to lower my body fat percentage... it's 29 right now... we'll see what it is at the end of 6 weeks. I'm sure it will be lower.

CB - Thanks for the comment about my skin. I get that from my mom. The women in my family don't have cellulite at any weight & I'm so very happy about that... and What?! flat stomach?! I don't think I've ever been accused of having a flat stomach... LOL. Thanks girl. That is actually where I see the biggest difference. I was never able to lose fat on my belly before hcg, but that's where it came from first. Gotta love it!

Blondie -Thanks so much! I can't workout in P2 either and I couldn't wait to get back to it. It's such a thrill and the results are worth all the time and effort.

Biz - Really? I look better? It means alot to hear that from you. Nakia's been saying that too & I believed him, but a 2nd opinion is always nice :) Now about his pictures... I talked to him about that and he has agreed to take some after shots although he refused to take before pictures. I'm going to put some together as soon as he actually takes them.

Mo2Lose - Thanks Mo! I am so excited about those pictures. I didn't really see the difference in the mirror, but I definately see it in the pictures. I'm glad I took them.

Gina - Girl... if you've got pictures that makes all the difference. Like I said, I didn't really see it in the mirror... I guess because I look at myself everyday, but it's unmistakable when you see the side by side comparison & with all that you've lost, there's got to be a big change. We are always looking at our "trouble spots" but step back and look at other things and we usually see subtle differences..... My first subtle difference was I could see my collar bones! And someone else had to point that out to me.

Monica's R4P3 Day 9 - Nakia's R3P4 Day 17

Monica - R4P3 Day 9
Yesterday: 148.1
Today: 151 +2.9
.3 Above LIW (150.7)

Nakia - R3P4 Day 17
Yesterday: 220
Today: 220.1 +.1
5.8 Below LIW (225.9)

*****TMI Alert!*****
Ok... just like I thought, I went up a few lbs today. I'm feeling a little better but not 100%. I've still got some extremely loose BMs, but I was still able to get out of the house yesterday. The kentucky derby and preakness are coming up here in Maryland at Pimlico so I started working the races yesterday. I was on a 6 hr shift of just sitting at my terminal and I felt ok. I'm still going to start my running session at my gym tomorrow too so I really hope I don't have any issues.... I just don't feel like my body is digesting food very well. If the loose BMs continue into tomorrow, I'll go see my doctor. My mom suggested that I have IBS(irritable bowl sindrome) because she, my brother and sister both have it, but I'm hoping it's just a virus that'll pass. We'll see.

Ok so, I finally took some after pics today & I realized that I lost the before pics for this round so I'm using some pics that I took right before christmas. I was about the same weight then anyway.

My next set up progress pictures will be after my 6 weeks of training at the gym. I'd like to get more muscle definition in my abs and arms, but I'm very happy with my progress so far.

Blondie - Thanks so much. I think I'm getting better. Hopefully it'll clear up by tomorrow.

Biz - Thanks for checkin on me! I'll be back tomorrow too.

CB - I can't believe the difference in my pictures. This is the first time I've seen such a huge difference. This will be good incentive to keep this weight off.

M02Lose - Drinking plenty... I had a little red wine today too... shhh. LOL

Gina - Thanks sweetie! I really appreciate that!

Monica's R4P3 Day 8 - Nakia's R3P4 Day 16

Monica - R4P3 Day 8
Today: 148.1
2.6 Below LIW (150.7)

Nakia - R3P4 Day 16
Today: 219
6.9 Below LIW (225.9)

Sorry I've been gone all week. I started out just being really busy with work & then I contracted a stomach virus that I've been battling for a few days. It's got my weight going all crazy & I lost a ton of fluid yesterday so my weight was unusually low today. It seems to be going away now, but I've been either asleep or in the bathroom for the past 2 days. TMI, but hey... it's my blog! LOL. I spent today drinking like a fish but strangely... hardly going to the bathroom at all, so I guess my body is replenishing it's liquid. I'm expecting my weight to go up by about 2 lbs tomorrow, but that's cool.

I know I promised pictures & they are still coming. I will have more time tomorrow and I know I will feel better so I should be able to upload those.

Thanks to everyone that came to check on me this past week.

Monica's R4P3 Day 3 - Nakia's R3P4 Day 11

Monica - R4P3 Day 3 (Steak day)
Yesterday: 152.9
Today: 151.5 -1.4
.8 Above LIW (150.7)

Nakia - R3P4 Day 11
Yesterday: 218.1
Today: 218 -.1
7.9 Below LIW (225.9)

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
Fitday menu
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

Wow... what a weekend we had! Our home computer had a virus on it and Nakia was using my laptop alot this weekend so I wasn't able to get on it and post, plus we had lots of out of town guests & we got to see some of Nakia's old friends that he hadn't seen in years. We also went to a hibachi restaurant on Sunday and we were both very good and didn't eat the rice. Nakia is in P4, but he's still really nervous about carbs so he's been avoiding them. Sunday night I made some mini stuffed peppers with some leftover taco seasoned beef that I had in the freezer & some havarti cheese, then I put salsa on top. They were so good that I think I over did it & ate too many, too fast. I was up half the night with a crampy stomach. I felt so bloated the next morning and I gained 2.5 lbs that night, so yesterday was a steak day for me. I knew that it was mostly water retention & I probably could have just eaten normally yesterday, but I didn't even want to look at food because of how my stomach felt the night before so the steak day was easy.

Today I'm going to maintain my steak day loss with a mostly raw day. I had banana custard & sugar free chocolate milk after my workout this morning though so I'll end up with about 75% raw today. YES... I have started working out again and it feels GREAT.... I mean FANTASTIC! I feel so much lighter. It's actually easier to get through a workout now that I've dropped all that extra weight on my abdomen. I find myself jumping around more than I have to because I can :)

That's it for today. I'm off to check on my blogger peeps!

Monica's R4P2 Day 45 LIW - Nakia's R3P4 Day 7

I started writing this post on friday but never posted it because my day (and weekend) got quite busy with out of town guests & stubborn computer viruses. I didn't want to lose my thoughts from that day so I'm posting them here now. I'll update with today's stats in a bit.

Monica - R4P2 Day 45
Yesterday: 150.9
Today: 149.6 -1.3
1.1 Below LIW (150.7)

Nakia - R3P4 Day 7
Yesterday: 216.6
Today: 217.2 +.6
8.7 Below LIW (225.9)

Yesterday's menu (Monica)
B: coffee with half & half
S: 1/2 allowed strawberries
L: tilapia creole, 1/4 matzo cracker (jewish cracker made with wheat flour & water)
S: 1/2 allowed strawberries
D: steamed tilapia & boiled cabbage with low sodium soy sauce & garlic & herb mrs dash
homemade strawberry sorbet
Lots of tea with truvia & water

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
Fitday menu
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

Finally! I made it into the 140s :) Ok... so it's after my LIW but so freakin what... that's what the scale says so I'll take it! I am really REALLY going to try to remain the 140s throughout my P3. That means I have to stay below my LIW.... that's fine with me. That's motivation :)

This is my last VLCD day and I am planning a mostly raw day tomorrow but I will be having cooked proteins. I feel a need for a protein boost & there's a piece of wild coho salmon in my fridge that is calling my name :)

Speaking of fridges... we just bought a new one cus our old one kept freezing all our fresh veggies & everything seemed to spoil very quickly in there. That thing caused a lot of wasted food in my house so it had to go. The new one has french doors and a freezer on the bottom. It's huge and oh so awesome!

Biz - Actually I am going to try to focus on more raw on most days, but I'm not going to do a full raw day unless I need to correct. I love the idea of using it to recover from the weekend & the raw food is great and filling so I won't feel deprived at all.

Monica's R4P2 Day 44 LIW - Nakia's R3P4 Day 6

Monica - R4P2 Day 44 LIW
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 151.7
Today: 150.9 +.2
.2 Above LIW

Nakia - R3P4 Day 6
Yesterday: 217.8
Today: 216.6 -1.2
9.3 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica)
B: coffee with half & half
S: 1/2 an apple
L: lemon pepper orange roughy with spicy steamed spinach
S: 1/2 an apple
D: mustard chicken & salad with P2 orange vinaigrette dressing, 2 small mandarin oranges
1 grissini
Lots of tea with truvia & water

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
Fitday menu
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

Small gain today, but not sweating it. I had no injection this morning & I'm going to freeze the rest of this batch just in case I want to do another round after the Vegas trip in July. I don't know if it can last in the freezer that long, but I'll just test it then. Right now I'm just looking forward to a summer full of outdoor activities. Nakia and I are going to buy bikes so we can take advantage of some bike trails in our area. Our bikes were stolen years ago and we never replaced them & I think now is a great time to do so. We never used them so we didn't even notice they had been stolen at first. Isn't that pathetic?

Nakia had one of those misleading losses caused by alcohol today... to bad he can't keep it. He'll be back up 2 lbs tomorrow.

Not much else to report today. I'm just trying to get through my last 72 hours of VLCD... 32 hours to go... and counting. LOL

Blondie - It does feel pretty good & I can't wait to get that variety back into my menu this weekend. Nakia made me promise to give up nuts and nut butters for 2 weeks... I told him that I can do a week... we'll see.

Mo2Lose - I believe that too. There are definately some things that no longer agree with me & they are all processed foods... ie. cheetos. I use to pound them away. Now I can't stand them.

Biz - I sure did learn alot... I always seem to pull a few lessons out of my rounds. Maybe that's the real reason why I've had to do more than I originally planned. There's a reason for everything. I am finally beginning to understand the life changes I need to make.

Gina - Thank you so much. I've always been athletic as well. I gained my weight in my 20s, but I always kept muscle tone in my legs and arms thanks to mom and dad's genes. I think that's why I can carry a little more weight than average.... and you're right... I really am living what I dreamt about when I starting this journey. That's a wonderful thing.

Dawn - Thanks so much! You'll get there Dawn. The most important thing is to not give up. This protocol works like nothing else. I didn't get it right the first few times, but I kept trying and each time I would get a little closer to my goal and things would click a little better in my mind. Eventually, everything started feeling more right & a lot easier. I've gained a real appreciation for delicious fresh food without all the additives. I think I actually needed to slip up a few times.

Monica's R4P2 Day 43 - Nakia's R3P4 Day 5

Monica - R4P2 Day 43
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 151.0
Today: 150.7 -.3
R4 Total -19.6 11.5%

Nakia - R3P4 Day 5
Yesterday: 219.9
Today: 217.8 -2.1
8.1 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica)
B: coffee with half & half
S: 1/2 allowed strawberries
L: steamed chicken with boiled cabbage strips
D: orange roughy creole with cilantro
S: warm melba toast and applesauce with cinnamon, cloves & truvia on top
Lots of tea with truvia & water

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
Fitday menu
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

Well... 150.7... not exactly what I was hoping for but still, I'm actually very happy with that number. I thought about it and decided that having my LIW be right around 150 would be good incentive to stay below that threshold. In lieu of that, I'm going to make today my LIW. That way my last VLCD day can be Friday and I can have a nice P3 breakfast before going to workout on Saturday morning. I can also get my hair done on that day without worrying about the oil they put in my hair. Yes... I'm definately ready to move on to P3 & get my excercise on!

This has been a really great round for me. Even with my experimenting towards the end, I have still lost more weight than in any other round. I'm about 20 lbs lighter than I was 2 months ago & all my size 8s are too big, which means I'm probably a 4 or 6 right now. I really need to go clothes shopping. That feels really good to say. I'm not sure if I'm going to do another round or not because I'm very content at this weight and if I can tighten up my muscles from here, I think I'll be just fine. I'm a pretty muscular person already and it's always been easy for me to build muscle tone.

To my commentors: Thanks for all of the encouragement! It means so much to me :)

Mary - I'm trying... I'm really just done though. I've been in that situation before on this round and I was able to resist. My willpower is just about gone so that's a good sign to move on to P3.

Biz - You are so right with that one. The big losses coupled with the loss in willpower... plus the wine... all a recipe for sabotage. Oh well... I got upset about it for a minute. Now it's time to move on & get ready for VEGAS BABY!!

Mo2Lose - I know what you mean! Summer is so close! I'm looking forward to all the summer fruits and veggies from our local farmers markets. I sure have changed. That wouldn't have even entered my thoughts before hcg!

Dawn - I feel the same way. I'm so grateful to everyone that comments on my blog. It keeps me accountable & I really feel a part of a group. The support is invaluable and I really appreciate you and everyone else. Thanks again.

CB - Thank you so very much! You helped me to remember how well I've done on this round. Now... on to have my best P3 ever!

Michelle - Hi.. thanks for stopping by :) Nakia was taking 175 ius... all of his stats are to the right. Dr. S states that everyone only needs 125 ius. Because of KTs book I decided to start Nakia off with 150, but we found that was too low for him because he was complaining of a lot of hunger. After I raised it to 175 ius he was ok, but he still needed a little extra protein & he can handle more calories than normal. He continues to lose weight on a 600 calorie diet so I gave him the option of raising his calories with protein when he felt he needed it. He used it at first, but after a while he didn't need it anymore.

Monica's R4P2 Day 42 - Nakia's R3P4 Day 4

Monica - R4P2 Day 40 R4 Starting weight: 170.6 Yesterday: 150.5 Today: 151.7 +1.2 R4 Total -18.9 11.1%	Nakia - R3P4Day 2 Yesterday: 218.2 Today: 218.4 +.2 7.5 Below LIW Fitday menu
Monica - R4P2 Day 41 R4 Starting weight: 170.6 Yesterday: 151.7 Today: 151.9 +.2 R4 Total -18.7 11%	Nakia - R3P4 Day 3 Yesterday: 218.4 Today: 221.3 +2.9 4.6 Below LIW Fitday menu
Monica - R4P2 Day 42 R4 Starting weight: 170.6 Yesterday: 151.9 Today: 151.0 -.9 R4 Total -19.6 11.5%	Nakia - R3P4 Day 4 Yesterday: 221.3 Today: 219.9 -1.4 6 Below LIW Fitday menu

Yesterday's menu (Monica)
B: coffee with half & half, 1/2 allowed strawberries
L: steamed orange roughy, string beans & 1 melba toast
D: orange roughy creole & 1 melba toast with TJs strawberry spread
Lots of tea with truvia & water

I didn't get around to posting over the weekend, but I really meant to post yesterday, however the internet was down most of the day at work so I couldn't do it on my lunch like I normally do.

I'll bet you were thinking that I'd be under 150 by now right... so did I. My weekend of eating went horrible bad on Saturday night & I am kicking myself for it. I was done eating for the day on Saturday and we had friends over to watch movies and play cards, so of course I had to serve them something to snack on. At first I was determined not to eat anything. I was just going to have 2 glasses of white wine which would have been fine except I haven't had any wine on this round at all and it went to my head pretty quickly. I think that's what started the nibbling. Well... several nibbles later (tortillas, nuts & strawberries) I had completely ruined my losses for the weekend & gained 1.4 total over the next 2 days. CRAP!!! I was supposed to be getting under 150 this week! What the hell was I thinking?!! I am sooo angry at myself this morning & coming to the realization that my LIW in 2 days may not be under 150. ***sigh***

So... on to my new resolve. I will ROCK this P3 and stay 2 lbs below my LIW... I've never done that before, but if I do it this time I'll be in the 140s. Oh how those little digital numbers screw with me!

Nakia's P4 is starting out really well. He started out with a sweet potato the other day. He gained a bit the next day, but I think that was just because he went over his calories. He had another one yesterday and he had a loss today so I think he's handling the carbs very well.

In regards to my friend at work that's on P2... she took her last sublingual dosage last night and I think she has lost another 10 - 12 lbs this round which is awesome! I think she's done. She might do another round to lose a couple more lbs but she's really happy with where she is right now and I think she's content with this weight to get her through the summer. She looks great & I'm so glad that I was able to help her. So at least I can feel good about that this morning.

Biz - Thanks for that :) Those losses were awsome & even though I blew the weekend, I can still claim those :)

Mo2Lose - Magic Juice is my hcg of course! Couldn't lose this quickly without it! I'm going to end up wasting about half my batch, but I have a lot of it so it's cool.

Mary - Thanks girl! I felt great on friday... maybe a little too confident or maybe getting sick of P2???

Gina - I am still close huh & the day I had the best loss, I did have nuts...
We're still working in the starchy veggies. I think he's doing ok. He gained a bit the first day, but not much and he had another sweet potato yesterday and had a loss so that's a really good sign.... And you can hijack anytime ;-)

CB - HEY! So nice to see you again! Thanks for stopping by. Oh yes... I LOVE love love the raw diet. I'm not sure I've mastered it on P2 yet, but the food is fantastic and I will certainly be using it in P3.

Monica's R4P2 Day 39 - Nakia's R3P4 Day 1

Monica - R4P2 Day 38 R4 Starting weight: 170.6 Yesterday: 151.3 Today: 151.6 +.3 R4 Total -19 11.1%	Monica - R4P2 Day 39 R4 Starting weight: 170.6 Yesterday: 151.6 Today: 150.5 -1.1 R4 Total -20.1 11.8%
Nakia - R3P3 Day 21 Yesterday: 218 Today: 218.6 -.6 7.3 Below LIW	Nakia - R3P4 Day 1 Yesterday: 218.6 Today: 218.2 -.4 7.7 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica)
B: cashews & walnuts
L: romaine salad with mustard balsamic viniagrette
D: romaine salad with mustard balsamic viniagrette
S: strawberry banana smoothie, glass of firefly sweetea vodka with lemon jc, lime jc & truvia... mmm
Lots of tea with truvia & water

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
Fitday menu
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

I never got around to posting yesterday. Busy busy day at work, then went shopping last night & was pooped out.

Well, Nakia had a stellar P3 as usual. He seems to be maintaining at 7-8 lbs below his LIW which I would just like to SLAP him for... LOL. He's ready to move on to P4 but he's a little nervous because he still can't workout. his chest still hurts a bit & we found out that he must have strained a muscle in his chest a few weeks ago. Thank god it had nothing to do with his heart. So, either today or tomorrow he'll have a baked sweet potato to start with or maybe some corn or popcorn. I'm starting him out with high carb veggies instead of breads or pasta. I have mastered P3, but I've never done P4 very well so this time I have a plan and I'm using Nakia as my guinea pig ;-)

I am still having great losses and I'm so happy about that. I decided to do another raw day yesterday. Today is day 40 of my round and I've decided to add a few days to see if I can get into the 140s... plus I want to ride out these huge losses I'm having. I will have to mix another batch and I may waste some of the "magic juice" cus I'm only adding 4 or 5 days, but I think it's worth it to get into the 140s before I'm done. I have some 1500 iu vials so I'm able to mix small batches which gives me a little more flexibility.

This is for you Amie & everyone that stopped by to party with me the other day!


Amie - LOL... I just had to go find that :) I'm LOVIN this week! I just want to stretch this out for as long as I can stand it!

Mary - Thanks for coming by to party with me!

Blondie - Hey! Thanks for popping in! I'm looking forward to following your progress & once again... WELCOME to the HCG blogging community!

Biz - Yeah... me too. Thank you for blazing the trail as usual :) Kia is not all that interested in eating much raw... he's a hot food kind of guy, but you know what he eats most in his first week of P3? Cobb salad! He would eat 2 or 3 of those a day and cooked chicken. That salad is all raw & you see how he loses after P2. Something to think about eh?

Monica's R4P2 Day 37 {{30+ lbs lost!!!}} - Nakia's R3P3 Day 20

Monica - R4P2 Day 37
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 152.4
Today: 151.3 -1.1
R4 Total -19.3 11.3%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 20
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 219.9
Today: 218 -1.9
7.9 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica)
B: coffee with half & half
S: warm TJs chunky applesauce
L: steamed tilapia with string beans
D: steamed tilapia with spinach & strawberry salad w/ strawberry vinaigrette dressing.
S: steamed spinach, melba toast with TJs strawberry spread, 2 chocolate almond meringues
Lots of tea with truvia & water

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
Fitday menu
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

Wow... I reached my other milestone already! 30 lbs total! PAAARTAAAY!!!!

I'm pretty sure eating raw last week jump started my metabolism because I have NEVER had 1+ lb days on the end of my round before. Right about now I'm usually scrambling for every .2 I can get. This is pretty cool :) That's more than 3 lbs in the last 3 days. I'm beginning to wonder if I really want to add a few more days to my round or not. Saturday was going to be my last day, but I had decided to extend it a few days to get below 150. If I get below 150 by Saturday I may just make that my last day so I don't have to mix another batch of hcg. I guess I'll just decide that morning. Right now I'm just so happy to see this number! I don't think I've seen it since my senior year of high school! Do I dare to get back to my freshman year weight of 140? Ok... I might be talkin' crazy now. LOL.

Month of Zen - Thanks for commenting :) I do I do love it! All of the clothes in the small part of the closet either fit perfectly or are too big. It's nice to find "new" old clothes in your own closet.

Biz - Feelin good... can you tell? :) I think there's something to my raw week don't you?

Dawn - This is unheard of for me this late in a round of P2. I'm just enjoying the ride. I'm still getting pretty anxious to get to P3 though.

Monica's R4P2 Day 36 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 19

Monica - R4P2 Day 36
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 153.6
Today: 152.4 -1.2
R4 Total -18.2 10.7%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 19
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 219.9
Today: 220.1 +.2
5.8 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica)
B: coffee with half & half
S: 1/2 allowed strawberries
L: chicken with mustard dressing & string beans with Mrs. Dash
S: 1/2 allowed strawberries
D: tilapia breaded with half & half and italian seasoned melba toast crumbs with hot sauce & an apple
S: 2 chocolate almond meringue
Lots of tea with truvia & water

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
Fitday menu
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

Wow! That's cool... 2 lbs in 2 days :)

I'm going to have to go shopping pretty soon. All my belts are on the last hole or just too big and none of my dress pants fit without a belt... hmmm, an excuse to go shopping! Oh the horror! ROFL. I can't believe that I'm this close to my goal. I would just continue on P2 until I get there, but I have a running session starting at my gym that I don't want to miss out on. I know I won't have enough energy to do it if I'm on a P2 diet. I think the running will work off any extra weight I might have. I know it may not be abnormal fat that I lose and Dr S. most likely wouldn't approve, but I'm cool with it & I've got HCG left so I can do a "redistribution" round in the future if need be.... probably after the summer.

Nakia has been doing ok, but having small gains for the past few days. If he gets above 222 I'm going to have him do a correction day. I know he's nowhere near his LIW, but I think he's an exception to the rule because he losses so much after his last injection without really trying.

My kitty, Cocoa seems to be doing better today. (Funny I pick the name "Cocoa" with TOM around... Coincidence? I think not!) I woke to find that the newly placed litter box was greatly appreciated. She was also much more playful and seems to be adjusting very nicely to our home and our rules... ie "cat's aren't allowed on the sofa". My older cat, BooBoo is still being a pill but that's to be expected for a few more weeks.

Biz - LOL, I've certainly heard that before. Cat's sure do have their tudes, but I was blessed with a very lovable and affectionate cat. Hopefully we can groom the little one to be just as agreeable.
Thanks for the congrats...You know where I came from. I used to have a huge problem with deviating, basically on a daily basis... what happened to that girl?

Amie - Thanks a bunch! Oh good! I miss my Amie when she's gone :) Now get that cheese outta my face! ROFL!!

Mary - Woot is right! I'm on a roll this week!

Gina - Congratulations to you too! Next goal is 30 lbs lost total... maybe tomorrow!

Monica's R4P2 Day 35 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 18

Monica - R4P2 Day 35
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 154.4
Today: 153.6 -.8
R4 Total -17 10%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 18
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 219.2
Today: 219.9 +.7
6 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica)
S: 1/2 apple with cinnamon & truvia
L: chicken with mustard dressing & broccoli
S: 1/2 apple with cinnamon & truvia
D: creole catfish with fresh basil, strawberry sorbet
S: 1 chocolate almond meringue
Lots of tea with truvia & water

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
Fitday menu
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

I almost didn't get to post today... It's been a really busy day for me, plus I've been extra bitch most of the day because of TOM I guess. I was just in a general bad mood for no good reason, but here I am right before bed. We have a new addition to our home... A 6 week old dark calico kitten that we've named Cocoa. She's so cute, but she's having a little difficulty getting the whole litter box thing down. She uses it most of the time, but I think she gets so scared of my other cat that she doesn't want to go find the box. That pissed me off more than it normally would too, but I'm going to put a litter box closer to her comfort zone to see if that helps.

Wow... I lost 10% of my weight this round! That's really REALLY good for me. This has been my best round ever by total weight lost & percentages... here are the numbers
P2R1D35 - 12.9 lbs - 7.09%
P2R2D31 - 11.1 lbs - 6.40% (did a short round)
P2R3D35 - 14.0 lbs - 8.09%
P2R4D35 - 17.0 lbs - 10.0%

I did that with only losing 1 lb this past week! I'm very happy with that. I think I've gotten something right this time around. This round has certainly been much easier than the others. I have a rhythm that's really working for me, meaning when I eat. I've found that eating half my fruit late morning and the other half about 2 hours after lunch really helps my metabolism somehow. I'm hoping to get to 20 lbs lost this round and since I'm adding another 4 or 5 days, I just might make it.

Mary - I think people either love or hate ceviche. I had never thought about it on P2 before trying the raw diet though. It makes a nice addition. As for the eggs, I decided not to do that today because I did have a decent lose, but I actually cook my scrambled eggs in the microwave. They come out nice and fluffy too. I don't like reheating them though. They get rubbery.

Amie - Yup, I'm definitely gonna do another raw day. Maybe saturday when we go out with some friends. That way I can have a salad at dinner without worrying too much. It does give me more flexibility.... and yes TOM is a BIOCH!!!

Dawn - And you know what you need to build muscle right? Protein! Get plenty of that. I'm glad I could help. I've been through that same thing before and it's amazing how your diet can really help you have enough energy and recover quicker. Happy excercising babe!

Biz - You know, for some reason I didn't even make that connection. You're probably right. Maybe being on the raw diet at that particular time gave me an "excuse" to give in. hmmm, something to think about.

Monica's R4P2 Day 34 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 17

Monica - R4P2 Day 34
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 153.9
Today: 154.4 +.5
R4 Total -16.2 9.5%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 17
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 218.4
Today: 219.2 +.8
6.7 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica)
S: strawberries with truvia
L: shrimp & cod ceviche with salsa & sliced tomatoes
S: spring mix with orange vinaigrette & canned mandarin oranges with splenda
D: shrimp & cod ceviche with salsa, spring mix with orange vinaigrette & canned mandarin oranges with splenda
S: 2 chocolate almond meringues
Lots of tea with truvia & water

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
Fitday menu
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

TOM is always coming around and wreckin house! I surely did NOT want to see a gain today, but there it is.... and there's also the bloating and cramps that come along with it. Oh well, such is a woman's life. So, as you see, yesterday was another raw day, except for the meringues (oops)... I just figured I might as well use some of that ceviche that I made. Since it mixes cod and shrimp, I thought it was a good idea to eat the rest of my food raw as well. I'm sure I would have had a loss today if TOM hadn't showed up. I'm back to cooked food today though. I like the idea of alternating.

Mary - Depending on tomorrow's results, I might just do another egg day tomorrow. It'll be a little harder trying to do that at work. I would have to scramble my eggs in the microwave or hard boil them, but I guess that's not so bad. Thanks for checkin on me.

Biz - Wasn't it? The consumtion of meat and sugar seems to coincide with the obesity doesn't it. Not surprising one bit. Makes you think though.
Yes, I figured I needed to make a plan this time cus winging it doesn't seem to work for me.

Monica's R4P2 Day 33 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 16

Monica - R4P2 Day 33
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 155.9
Today: 153.9 -2.0
R4 Total -16.7 9.8%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 16
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 215.8
Today: 218.4 +2.6
7.5 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica):
Modified Egg day
L: 1 egg & 2 egg whites scrambled with minced onions and tabasco
S: 1 egg & 2 egg whites scrambled with Mrs Dash, tabasco & salsa
D: 2 eggs & 2 egg whites scrambled with Mrs Dash, tabasco & salsa
S: 2 chocolate almond meringues
Lots of tea with truvia & water

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
Fitday menu
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

Ok... now that's what I'm talkin about! Back to the grind people... Today I'm working it out on P2, but I guess I will be kinda eating raw today because I have all this ceviche in my fridge to finish. I love that stuff so I can't wait till lunch :) It'll taste a little different without the avocado, but I'll put some fresh herbs and salsa on it though. Yesterday was a modified egg day so I had mostly egg whites with a few yolks. I couldn't get through all of them though and I ended up with about 420 calories worth of eggs.

Food food food... it's such a big part of our lives while we're on this protocol. I had a discussion with Nakia yesterday about how we are REALLY going to maintain when we get to goal... hmph, I'm saying "when" now instead of "if". We've learned alot while on this journey together & we're both so close to our goals that we really need to start thinking about a plan of maintenance. How are we going to maintain this weight for the rest of our lives? P3 isn't scary anymore but that sure is! Well, this is what we came up with. Neither one of us is willing to give up biscuits & gravy or full fat ice cream for the rest of our lives so we made some rules:

Our lifetime maintenance rules

1. Exercise 5 days a week. (we were doing this already)
2. Portion out snack food before eating them.
   
3. Have beef twice a week at the most, not including our "anything day" (below)
4. Have fish at least twice a week.
5. Have a vegetarian meal at least twice a week.
6. If all of the previous rules have been kept, we get 1 "anything day" where we can eat whatever we want. For example... football Sundays & I just found out that the Giants are gonna be playing thanksgiving day... WOOO HOOO!!!
   
7. If the "anything day" causes a gain, the next day will be a correction day.
   

That's the beginning. We may think of some more "rules" later, but we thought that was a good start.

Biz - Yeah I am... I feel different biz. I have this feeling that my life is about to change in a big way & it must be because I'm so close to my goal. Food, including meat was in abundance at our house, but my mom did make us play outside a lot and participate in a lot of sports, therefore we weren't overweight growing up. I think she was so generous with food for us because her mom had to make food stretch the way you described and she didn't want us to feel deprived like she did growing up.
I just looked at that link. That is fascinating. I was curious to see what an obesity map might look like up against those maps and I found this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_map_of_Male_Obesity,_2008.svg

Amie - HEY! Thanks A! I think we should both use this correction day as a fresh start. Treat the rest of this P2 with the same excitement as when we started the round & we'll both be ok.

Monica's R4P2 Day 32 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 15

Monica - R4P2 Day 32
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 155.9
Today: 155.9 0
R4 Total -14.7 8.6%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 15
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 218.3
Today: 215.8 -2.5
10.1 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica):
B: grapes
L: no rice sushi rolls, coleslaw with homemade mayo
D: carrot, apple & raisin salad with sunflower seeds
S: 3 dates, banana
Lots of tea with truvia & water

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
Fitday menu
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

************ Updated ************

Nakia hadn't gotten up when I I first posted... Yup, he had alcohol last night. I have come to the conclusion that the dehydration that the alcohol causes makes it look like he drops alot of weight overnight. It'll be back tomorrow, but he was just sooo excited to see 215 point something on the scale this morning & so was I. He hasn't been this weight since we started dating 11 years ago!

*********************************

No change for me today, but I'm extremely thirsty. I also think TOM is on the way & I'm feeling kind of poofy. The rings are also tight so I'm sure I've got some water retention going on. I've already had 64 ounces of water and it's not even 9:30 in the morning yet. I just can't seem to shake the thirst.

I am so excited about the end of my round. Unlike previous rounds, I'm not nervous at all about P3. Bootcamp has given me all the tools I need. (Thanks Biz & the other veterans at HTA). After all my raw food excitement I'm ready to get back to nice and simple. I'm going to start back today with a modified egg day to give my body a jump start and see how that goes. I will certainly report tomorrow.

Mary - Definately too much too soon, but I'm amazed that I didn't gain more. I think that's why I feel so good about the whole thing. I really needed a break from the P2 norm & that provided it without much damage... certainly damage that I can fix.

Biz - I was just thinking that same thing about cutting down on meat myself!!! You read my mind! I saw something on the news that spoke on our actual protein needs the other day & I realized how much I enjoy eating raw. I started realizing that every meal doesn't have to be centered around a piece of meat! HA...whooda thunk? In my raw food research I also found several vegetarian meals that I want to try... so thank you so much for that link. It really affirms what I was already considering.

Amie - WTF is right! You hit the nail on the head there. I know I went overboard and I totally except that. I hope that doesn't deter anyone else from trying it cus I think it would really work for someone with a little more willpower than me. Mine was wavering so close to the end of my round and hitting my LIW from last round all at the same time. Too much temptation for a girl to handle & those damn nuts were in the house!

Monica's R4P2 Day 31 (Day 4 of my experiment)

Monica - R4P2 Day 31
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 154.7
Today: 155.9 +1.2
R4 Total -14.7 8.6%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 14
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 220.3
Today: 218 -2.3
7.9 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica):
B: 1 apple
L: ceviche with avocado & lime, sliced tomato
D: green smoothie: spinach, mango, P2 coleslaw
S: mixed fruit & nuts, 2 dates
Lots of tea with truvia & water

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
Fitday menu
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

Yikes... I think that's a hold over from all the food I ate the day before. I was right where I wanted to be with my calories yesterday, but the day before I was WAY over & I think it just came back to bite me... literally in the ass! HA! So I tried this for 4 days and this is the only gain I had. Not too shabby & I did drop a little later in the morning, but I decided to record my first weight instead.

Oh well...that's why this is an experiment. I did decide at the beginning that if I had a significant gain that I was going to go back to normal P2. So today will be my last raw day until I start P3. I just want to give it one more try. I have learned alot about how my body reacts to raw food and I really like the way I feel on this diet. I have had boundless energy this past week and I've slept really well. The thing I couldn't handle was the hunger that I experienced.... some of that was caused by my anxiousness to get into P3 & eating raw was a peek into P3 for me. I think I was a little to close to the end of my round to try to make my body flip a switch... mentally and physically. I am not totally giving up on it though. I want to do a full P2 round eating a raw diet. I think it may work better for me if I start at the beginning.

Believe me... I am NOT bummed out over the gain. I did exactly what I wanted to do and learned a significant amount doing it. This was something I NEVER would have considered before and I'm glad I did it so I have the experience to reflect upon. Now I want to maximize my losses for my last few days on P2. I might even keep going until I get below 150 if that doesn't happen in the next 9 days.

Mo - Thanks... I think it's still a very viable way to do P2 but I need more time to experiment with it. Since it's going to take time to adjust to it, the end of my round is the wrong time to do that. I actually enjoy my protocol food and there are some things like my teriyaki beef and shrimp that I eat when I'm not on protocol. The key is learning how to prepare the limited selection to your liking and I'm going to get back to that tomorrow with some of my favorite P2 recipes. Stay tuned :) I'm gonna close out this round with my favorites!

Biz - The tastes and textures are so great. I was pleasantly surprised. This has given me so many ideas for P3. Who knew I could be so creative with NOT cooking! & nope.. I will not let you become one of "those" people.

Mary - LOL... well... today brought a big fat gain! Am I all crazy over it? Hell NO! I feel good today... and I'm over the gain. Now You are doing fantastic with your 1 pounder yesterday!!! Go Mary!

Monica's R4P2 Day 30 (Day 3 of my experiment)

Monica - R4P2 Day 30
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 155.8
Today: 154.7 -.1
R4 Total -15.9 9.3%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 10
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 217.3
Today: 220.3 +3
5.6 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica):
B: green smoothie: spinach, banana, strawberries, apple pulp
L: shredded carrot, apple & raisin salad with raw sunflower seeds
S: apple with almond butter
D: Spring mix with canned no sugar added mandarin oranges, pomegranate seeds & slivered raw almonds with an orange vinaigrette dressing
S: P2 coleslaw & mixed fruit & nuts
Lots of tea with truvia & water

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
Fitday menu
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

Sorry no post yesterday. I was not on my normal routine & I kept meaning to write to my blog and then getting side tracked with something else. Well, here I am today & the update is... no change, but I expected that. Actually I expected a huge gain given what I ate yesterday. I had a really hungry day and had more calories than I should have, but I managed to maintain my weight so I'm extremely happy. Today will be a much smaller and simple raw menu.

I have noticed some things about transitioning to raw foods over the past few days. I have a lot more gas... it's not uncomfortable, but it's definitely increased. I was also alot hungrier than I normally am on P2. This indicates to me that my metabolism has been jump started and my body is looking for more fuel. That's a great thing on P2 because the abnormal fat is mobilized to use as fuel. So... that indicates to me to keep my calories as low as is comfortable for me to have the greatest losses. This is what I'm experimenting with today. It's really easy to go overboard without a plan and I came very close to that yesterday, trying all the different tastes and textures of raw vegetables. It wasn't a good feeling to not be sure if I was going to see a gain today.

Nakia's weight is jumping up and down right now, which is normal for P3, but he's still way below his LIW. Since he's remaining this far below, I think I will have him do a correction day if he ever gets back to his LIW because that will mean that he has gained 5 or 6 lbs and I don't think that's good in his case... LIW or not.

M - I'm looking for some more successes to come. I'm sure I will see a nice drop tomorrow.

Biz - Raw as a correction day... I was thinking that as well. I'm definitely going to give it a shot. Hey.... If I can get away with a weekend a month with raw as my correction... I'm game!

Amie - mmm I love sushi... I think I'll have that tomorrow. I was clueless about a raw diet too, but thank goodness for the internet. Like Biz said though, there are some Serious extremists out there. I don't want to get that into it... I'm just happy with the part about not cooking. The first thing I did was to just try eating my protocol veggies raw and see how I liked that.

Mary - Thanks so much!!

Gina - Thanks so much... now I just have to get PAST it! I think I will tomorrow. What I've found in my research is that there are simple raw meals and complicated ones. I'm partial to the simple ones myself. Just chop and eat... I only purchased about 3 items that I don't already buy and that was good enough for me.