Monica's R4P2 Day 24 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 7

Monica - R4P2 Day 24
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 155.9
Today: 156.1 +.2
R4 Total -12.7 7.4%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 7
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 223.4
Today: 223.4 0
2.5 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica):
S: TJs chunky applesauce
L: chicken with low sodium McCormick Grillmates Montreal chicken seasoning & mustard dressing, 1/2 serving romaine lettuce with mustard balsamic vinaigrette dressing
S: 1/2 serving romaine lettuce with mustard balsamic vinaigrette dressing
D: "fried" catfish
Lots of tea with truvia & water, TJs unsweetened green tea w/ truvia added

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

I guess I'm having a little rebound gain today. For me, that usually happens after a few days of good losses. I'm used to that now. When your body losses weight so fast, it will temporarily fill your fat cells with water... then WOOSH! It gets passed out with the rest of the waist.

It's either that or the fact that I didn't get enough calories yesterday. Dr S. mentions not to worry about a .2 gain, so I won't.

Nakia stayed the same & that's good because it means he's stabilizing. He went to see a cardiac specialist yesterday to make sure the pain in his chest has nothing to do with his heart & they haven't found anything. We both think its just a muscle strain, but he just wanted to be safe.

Both of my friends that are on the protocol right now are doing great. 1 has 9 lbs to lose and just started her 2nd 21 day round this past weekend so I'm sure she'll reach her goal this round. That's exciting. My other friend is having 1.5 and 2 lb losses everyday and she's on day 25 too, so she's doing fantastic!

************UPDATE**************

For some reason I am really REALLY happy today. I was just thinking about all the things in my life that I’m grateful for and I really have A LOT to be grateful for! My husband is by far at the top of that list…. I have a man that is so thoughtful and loving. I couldn’t ask for a better partner. I have a stable job that I actually like to do & we are pretty comfortable in an unstable economy. I have also stumbled on the best kept secret on weight loss that I’ve ever known of and my hubby and I are almost to our goals! I am just really happy about all of that... plus we’re about to go on vacation with one of my best friends & we are gonna turn that place out!!! I feel really good today and it’s gonna be a good day.

M - Girl... he'd be lost! but isn't that always the case with husbands? LOL He's my rock too so it all evens itself out cus I'd be sooo lost without him.

Biz - you know it. He's so surprised that I was right about the reasons he gained. I don't think men really think they are affected by water weight gain.

Monica's R4P2 Day 23 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 6

Monica - R4P2 Day 23
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 156.4
Today: 155.9 -.5
R4 Total -12.9 7.6%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 6
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 225.6
Today: 223.4 -2.2
2.5 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica):
B: coffee with 1 T half & half
S: 1/2 serving strawberries with truvia
L: chicken with garlic & herb Mrs Dash, steamed string beans with minced onions
S: 1/2 serving strawberries with truvia, 1 chocolate almond meringue
D: creole catfish, an apple
Lots of tea with truvia & water, TJs unsweetened green tea w/ truvia added

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

Whew! I had a feeling Nakia was having some water retention issues. He was complaining of "feeling fat" so I told him to drink tons of water and cut down on the salt yesterday & VOILA! 2.2 lbs gone!

I wasn't sure I'd have a loss today because I ate pretty late at around 8:30 & I went and got maintenance done on my locs. I try to only do that once during phase 2 just in case they put oil in my hair. When I go, I take my brilliantine with me which Dr. S allows during P2. Even though I make them use that, I'm always afraid that I'll gain because they use so much. It's always an ordeal though because I have to explain that I'm on a "detox diet plan" & how I can't put any oil on my skin (Then I get the weird looks). I just don't want to go through all that more than once during my round, so I just let my hair go a little further than I normally would. If my locs weren't so new, I'd just have a friend retouch them for me, but I don't want someone inexperienced messing up the pattern of my locs so I just go to the salon. But I am SURE glad I went last night.... my hair feels MUCH better :)

It looks like giving up beef is really paying off. I've had some really great losses this week. This morning I got on the scale again and it said I had lost even more, but I decided to go with the first number. I'll see the rest of that loss tomorrow.

Tomorrow is going to be a challenge for me. My boss is buying lunch, and I get to choose where we get lunch from. I'm chosing chinese because that way I can get steamed chicken or shrimp and broccoli without sauce and have lunch with everyone else. I might even get steamed string beans.

Amie - DH=Dear Husband or Dumb husband (however you want to take it at the time... LOL)
I think he'll be fine... I'm pretty sure it was just an over taxed muscle in his chest from breathing heavily on the treadmill, but I KNOW he was showing off... HA!

M - Thanks :) I have just found P2 recipes from various sources and tweak them for my tastes. I also watch food network alot and I adapt things from there. P2 is restrictive, but I can work with it.

Biz - Wasn't that great! I smile everytime I watch it & you know smiling is good for you.

Angela - yeah, fitday is great. I used to use it for P2, but since I'm only eating 500 calories I find it easier to just calculate it on my nutrition scale. Now I use fitday to track my inches & weight lost on P2. I'll be using it more in P3... it gets more complicated to plan out meals for me then.

Monica's R4P2 Day 22 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 5

Monica - R4P2 Day 22
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 158.2
Today: 156.4 -1.8
R4 Total -12.4 7.3%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 5
R3 Starting weight: 247.3
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 224.2
Today: 225.6 +1.4
.3 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica):
B:coffee with 1 T half & half, 1 chocolate almond meringue
S: 1/2 serving strawberries with truvia
L: chicken with garlic & herb Mrs Dash, steamed string beans with minced onions
S: 1/2 serving strawberries with truvia
D: baked catfish breaded with 1/2 T 1% milk, essence, italian seasoned crushed melba toast
sprinkled with hot sauce... mmmm
Lots of tea with truvia & water, TJs unsweetened green tea w/ truvia added

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

The steamed shrimp he had yesterday were steamed at the supermarket with old bay added. I think that's what caused his gain. I warned him, but he thinks he's superman... so I lost 1.8 today and he almost found all of that! I've got him eating a more simplified diet today. I did give him a few slices of deli meat though. I've heard that can cause a problem, but it's all natural and low sodium so I hope it's ok.

Yes 1.8 this late in my round!!! WOOO HOOO! I was doing a naked happy dance on my scale this morning! I am 1.7 away from my LIW from last round too... that's a great feeling.

This past weekend was difficult for alot of my blogging buddies so I want to send this out to all of you... this made me feel so much better when I did it yesterday :)

Don't sweat the small stuff... be grateful that you have a great way to get yourself back on track!

M - Thanks for stopping by! I'm actually still on P2 myself, but my DH is on P3 now... it makes preparing our meals very interesting because I do both. I left you a link... check it out and let me know what you think or if you have questions.

Dawn - Hey! I saw you all over the forum yesterday :) That was articshark that you're referring too. She is one of the most helpful and knowledgeable people at HTA. You'll get the hang of the forum etiquette soon. Once again... welcome to HTA!

Biz - Yeah bizzy, but I'm a little worried. He's starting to obsess over every morsel and I don't think that's necessarily good. He hurt his chest working out last week so he's not working out this week & he's really upset with himself over it... especially since he had that hernia operation this time last year, which caused him to stop working out and put on a bunch of weight. I think he's afraid it'll happen again so he's going over his meals with a fine tooth comb. That could either be good or bad. From my experience, he does better when he doesn't think about it much... we'll see how this pans out.

Amie - Hi! Yup... they look devine! I'm gonna wait for P3 though cus I just gotta have that guacamole! Love the stuff. oooh, but maybe I can do a chicken wrap with biz's mustard dressing instead.... that sounds good too.

I'm off to do my gratitude dance! Have a great day!

Monica's R4P2 Day 21 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 4

Monica - R4P2 Day 21
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 158.6
Today: 158.2 -.4
R4 Total -12.4 7.3%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 4
R3 Starting weight: 247.3
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 223.6
Today: 224.2 +.6
1.3 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica):
S: 1/2 apple with cinnamon & truvia
L: steamed tilapia w/ southwest chipotle Mrs Dash
S: 1/2 apple with cinnamon & truvia
D: shrimp and fire roasted diced tomatoes with garlic and fresh basil
Lots of tea with truvia & water

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

Just another beautiful day in hcg world :) We're both doing great. Nakia started using his fitday account because he wants to keep a close eye on his calories... I think it's really because he doesn't believe me when I tell him how much food he can eat... LOL. Big thanks to Amie. She gave me a great idea when she posted about the un-wich at Jimmy John's. Today I sent Nakia to work with lettuce, grilled chicken, 1 slice each of ham and provolone & guacamole to make a chicken cordon bleu un-wich or lunch. Cool idea!

Oooh... & I made more chocolate almond meringues, but this time I folded in 3 chopped sugar free dark chocolate squares from Trader Joe's & only 1/2 T of cocoa powder.... I shouldn't have done that. Now I want to eat the whole batch! They are sooo good. The SF chocolate only adds 3 calories to each cookie. I know I won't get to eat that many though because Nakia will polish them off before I get to them again.

Dawn - Those treats are perfect for any chocolate craving that TOM might bring on. Go for it!
Do you like shrimp or lobster? You could do a whole lot with that too.

Biz - I saw that & I sent you an email... & I did slap him again :)

Amie - You are so very welcomed. Handle with care though... they could get addicting. I'm going to try them with lemon extract next. As far as the weekend goes... it's in the past. Today we start the clock for the rest of this round. Lets get this done girl!

Monica's R4P2 Day 20 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 3

Monica - R4P2 Day 20
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 159.5
Today: 158.6 -.9
R4 Total -12 7%

Nakia - R3P2 last VLCD
R3 Starting weight: 247.3
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 224.3
Today: 223.6 -.7
2.3 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica):
S: sugar free canned mandarin oranges with splenda sorbet, 2 chocolate almond meringue's (26 cals)
L: creole catfish
D: catfish breaded with 1/2 T half & half and melba toast crumbs seasoned with dry minced onions & italian seasoning
Lots of tea with truvia & water

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
B: fried cabbage and bacon
L: romaine salad with crumbled blue cheese, pine nuts & TJs goddess dressing
200 grams of grilled chicken
D: 200 grams of baked salmon, string beans with butter
15 chocolate almond meringue's
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

HA! .9! I knew that was coming. I could feel it! So that's 1 whole pound in 2 days & Nakia had a nice loss today as well. He was really worried that he over did it on his first P3 day and he was going to pay a big price, but he's sitting comfortably below his LIW so now he's happy. I'm happy too cus he's a pain in the butt when he's upset about his weight... worse than me! He kept eating my P2 meringue's cus he was so worried about eating yesterday. Luckily the whole recipe uses only 3 egg whites cus he killed 'em! I'll put the recipe at the bottom of this post.

So this is officially my 21st day... meaning I can now stop whenever I want to, but I really think I can go the entire 40 days. There's nothing pressing going on in the next few weeks and I'm on a really steady pace at .6 lbs per day. I have decided to nix beef for the rest of this round though. I used to do ok with the 4% beef, but I haven't been able to find it & I haven't had a good loss after any of my beef days this round... I think I should take the hint. So it's chicken and seafood from now on.

I was watching food network and one of the chefs was making meringue's and I said... Hey. I can make those P2 friendly. It uses almond extract which is almond oil but a very small amount. YMMV... here's the recipe:

P2 Chocolate Almond Meringue's

• 3 egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/3 cup sugar substitute equivalent to sugar
  
• 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 Tablespoon hershey's cocoa powder
  

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Place egg whites and cream of tartar in a clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer and beat until foamy. Add sugar substitute and almond extract beat until meringues hold soft peaks, about 3 minutes. Fold in cocoa powder gently until just incorporated. Using a pastry bag or a sealable plastic bag with the corner snipped off, pipe meringue by the tablespoon onto cookie sheets. Bake for 40 minutes, then remove from oven and let cool completely before removing from parchment paper. Transfer to an airtight container.

This makes 30 meringues at 13 calories each

Angela - You know what... start keeping track of your measurements if you haven't already. When I'm not seeing a loss on the scale, I take a look at my measurements. I usually see a drop in that when the scale isn't moving. Remember that the manual is called "Pounds & Inches". When fat is on the move this quickly, it can sometimes take the scale a little while to catch up because your body fills the empty fat cells with water at first.
Veal would be perfect because its low in fat. Beef is fine too, but you really need to keep track of your calories on those days because the calories are higher than chicken or fish. Just try it and see how your body reacts. Beef has the highest concentration of protein and your body may need that.
And yes... drinking water is VERY key to more losses. It helps your body get rid of fat and keeps everything moving smoothly so make sure you get at least 96 ounces of water a day. Tea is great too.

Monica's R4P2 Day 19 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 2

Monica - R4P2 Day 19
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 159.6
Today: 159.5 -.1
R4 Total -11.1 6.5%

Nakia - R3P2 last VLCD
R3 Starting weight: 247.3
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9
Yesterday: 222.0
Today: 224.3 +2.3
1.6 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica):
S: sugar free canned mandarin oranges with splenda
L: chicken & fire roasted tomatoes with southwestern spices
S: 1/2 apple
D: catfish breaded with half & half and melba toast crumbs seasoned with essence & italian seasoning
S: sugar free canned mandarin oranges with splenda
Lots of tea & water

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
B: pot roast with onions
L: pot roast with onions
D: fried cabbage and bacon
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

.1... what is that about?! I'm still doing well on average compared to my previous rounds though, so I'm not sweating it, but I know I must be due for a big loss soon... hopefully. It would just be nice to see.

Nakia had a significant gain today, but he's back within the 2 lb threshold so it's no biggie. 1.6 below LIW is really great, but I know he'll probably eat lightly today because of the gain.

Biz - You've inspired me to go through the rest of this round without beef.... just fish and chicken & more on the fish side. I don't think I could do what you're doing, but beef hasn't been my friend on P2 so I can do without it.
I asked this on your blog, but you say you only had 750 cals. How many daily calories are you going for during this round?

Monica's R4P2 Day 18 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 1

Monica - R4P2 Day 18
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 159.4
Today: 159.6 +.2
R4 Total -11 6.4%

Nakia - R3P2 last VLCD
R3 Starting weight: 247.3
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9
Yesterday: 222.0
Today: 222.0 -0
3.9 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica):
S: 1/2 apple
L: chicken, broccoli, & grissini
S: 1/2 apple
D: roast beef & cabbage
Lots of tea & water

Yesterday's menu (Nakia)
B: 4 boiled eggs
L: chili & cheese, boiled cabbage
D: Bonefish grill Florida Cobb Salad, rum & diet coke
S: chili & cheese
water & 4C Totally Lite 2 Go

Small gain for me today... no biggie. I may have caused it because I mixed all kinds of stuff yesterday. I had roast beef over cabbage that was boiled in chicken broth. The roast beef was made in a slow cooker with beef broth and onions... and I ate a few pieces of onion too. I did skip my 2nd fruit and grissini though & didn't go over 500 calories. Oh well... I'll just drinking tons of water today.

Nakia's first P3 day was uneventful :) No loss & no gain so that's good.

Biz - I'm all slapped out! This is just how his body works :) Man oh man... no meat!? I thought that was just for 1 day a week. You go on with your healthy self!