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.

Monica's R4P2 Day 28 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 11

Monica - R4P2 Day 28
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 155.6
Today: 154.7 -.9
R4 Total -15.9 9.3%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 10
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 222
Today: 219.9 -2.1
6 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica):
S: 1 apple with cinnamon & truvia
L: cod ceviche, 1 tomato
S: dry fruit and nut mix, 3 dates
D: 1 Mango
Lots of tea with truvia & water

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

I figured I'd try my hand at a raw food day yesterday so there it is... a .9 loss! Wooowzers!!! Biz is having such a phenomenal round on a raw diet that I figured... what the hell. Well... today I have reached my LIW from my last round faster than I had expected too. I have 11 injection days left & a resolve NOT to EVER gain that much weight between rounds again. I won't let Nakia do so either... although his weight stays alot more stable than mine even though we eat the same food. Now I'm thinking that knowing about raw eating will help me maintain my weight better. I can definately see myself eating raw most of the week. Ever since I went to Cancun... ceviche has been one of my all time favorite foods & druing this protocol, I have developed a better taste for vegetables.

Biz - Can't wait to see that pic. I'm hope you don't mind, I'm using your meal images as a blueprint for my own experimenting. :)

Mo - HA... now I'm not just close... I'm there! Feels great too. I'm really looking forward to what tomorrow brings.

Mary - Mary Mary!!! Hi... I've missed you! Oh I have to get over to your blog to see what you're up to! Welcome back my friend!

Monica's R4P2 Day 27 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 10

Monica - R4P2 Day 27
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 156.0
Today: 155.6 -.4
R4 Total -15 8.8%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 10
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 220.7
Today: 222 +1.3
3.9 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica):
L: grilled chicken with mustard dressing & Mrs Dash & romaine lettuce with mustard balsamic vinaigrette
S: strawberries with truvia
D: cod breaded with melba toast crumbs & P2 coleslaw
S: apple with cinnamon & truvia
Lots of tea with truvia & water

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

Ok... I'm .9 away from my LIW from last round, so I'm almost guaranteed to get below that. I'm hoping to get to 150 by the end of this round. We'll see. I'm looking forward to getting the last part of this P2 behind me. I mixed a new batch last night. I use 2000 iu ampules so I mix about once ever 2 weeks. I've never used 5000s because I like knowing that my hcg has maximum potency all the time.

Here's an update on my neighbor/friend... she's doing great. She's still losing over a lb a day, which is great because she didn't do very well on her last round because of some health issues and stress. She had an infection in her gums that her body was fighting as well as sever candida overgrowth. She took care of both of those on her break and now she's losing like wildfire! She's already lost over 20 lbs on this round and we started on the same day. I'm really happy for her.

My coworker/friend is doing well too. She will probably reach her goal on this round.

Biz - Thanks for taking the time out to fly by :) I'm in the home stretch!

Michelle - You can go ahead and add mag during your P3 and just continue in P2. That's what I did. It's something that I will continue to take because my body just doesn't get enough of if from my food. I could tell in only one week of not taking it that I really need it.

Monica's R4P2 Day 26 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 9

Monica - R4P2 Day 26
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 156.1
Today: 156.0 +.3
R4 Total -14.6 8.6%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 9
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 223.4
Today: 220.7 +1.2
5.2 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica):
L: grilled chicken with mustard dressing & Mrs Dash & string beans
S: TJs chunky applesauce, cinnamon apple melba toast
D: baked cod & romaine lettuce with mustard balsamic vinaigrette
S: strawberry sorbet with lemon & truvia
Lots of tea with truvia & water

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

I guess my body is just doing this up and down thing right now. I also forgot to take my mag all week so I'm having bathroom issues again. I think it's been about 4 days now & that's not good so I took mag last night and this morning and if nothing moves today I'll drink some smooth move tea before bed. That stuff usually makes me crampy though so I don't like to drink it often.

Nakia's weight is rebounding from his trips to the bar (another one last night) so we expect one more gain tomorrow... par for the course, but he's still 5.2 below his LIW & not eating any non-P3 foods so he'll be just fine. He never has a problem maintaining in P3. It's P4 that gets sticky.

Biz - I actually like being on P2 with Nakia. That way we only have P2 food in the house since we don't have any kids, but when he moves on to P3, since he always does a shorter round than me, he's eating all this P3 stuff right when I need to strengthen my resolve to get through the rest of my round. Every once in a while, it gets to me, but I'm doing good today.
I ordered the chinese food steamed with the sauce on the side. They know to not let any oil touch it when I order it that way & the protein portion is usually perfect for P2... so that (and sushi without rice) is my goto fast food choice on P2.

Monica's R4P2 Day 25 - Nakia's R3P3 Day 8

Monica - R4P2 Day 25
R4 Starting weight: 170.6
Yesterday: 156.1
Today: 155.7 -.4
R4 Total -14.9 8.7%

Nakia - R3P3 Day 8
LIW 3/17/2009: 225.9 8.7%
Yesterday: 223.4
Today: 219.5 -3.9
6.4 Below LIW

Yesterday's menu (Monica):
B: 2 chocolate almond meringues
S: 1/2 apple with truvia & cinnamon
L: chinese food: steamed chicken & string beans w/ soy sauce & mrs dash
S: 1/2 apple with truvia & cinnamon
D: chinese food: steamed chicken & string beans w/ soy sauce & mrs dash
S: 2 chocolate almond meringues,
1 melba toast spread with chunky unsweetened applesauce, cinnamon & truvia
Lots of tea with truvia & water

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

Yeah... you're seeing that right... Nakia lost 3.9 lbs over night on P3... It's kind of a farce though. Every time he goes out drinking, he loses an obscene amount of weight the next day. Then he gains a little of if back the day after... watch. I'm predicting a 1-2.5 lb gain in the morning, so don't be surprised.

Ok.... I need to rant just a little... I went and got him some cajun seasoned swordfish steaks from whole foods & he loved them. He even had one with cheese eggs for breakfast this morning. Of course I was looking at him like "Are you really going to eat that delicious looking meal in front of me?!" But I bought it for him so whatever.... I have decided that I'm going to have swordfish on my first P3 day... so there! I soooo want a P3 meal right now!!! rant over.

Wow... I was sure I was gonna have a gain today. I didn't weigh or measure anything yesterday. I got chinese for lunch and just eyeballed my amounts. I skipped my 2nd fruit just in case I screwed up... except for that melba toast and applesauce... boy that was good. I warmed it in the microwave for 15 seconds and it tasted like a little apple pie. That's a new P2 treat for me :) I just posted it over on HTA as cinnamon apple toast. I had to make myself a comfort snack with comforting flavors because I just had the munchies after dinner last night and had no idea why. Believe me! no smoking or anything... LOL. I just willed myself not to eat a big spoonful of peanut butter. The little apple treat and my meringues helped alot. I just kept thinking... "If I cheat today, I'll never know if the steamed chinese food was safe." So I drank my tea and chewed my sugar free gum & went to bed... still with the munchies, but also with the knowledge that I did not sabotage myself yet again. That feeling is better than the feeling of eating peanut butter right now.

M - Yup... he's great. Of course he's still a guy and we have our differences sometimes, but we hardly every argue & we never go to bed angry. We're a great team.

Mo - Having a good attitude gets me through a lot of things & I'm in the 2nd half of my round & still haven't deviated. It's such a good feeling that I don't want to end it. I've never been able to do it before and I want to say I did it this time.

Biz - I'm grateful for you too! Thanks for being my motivation. You've been my "other" rock for almost a year now. You're always here when I need you & I'm really thankful for that. If there's anything that You need... please let me know, even if I'm MIA. You know how to find me.

Dawn - Thank you so much & thanks for checking in on me. I really appreciate it.

Gina - HA! Isn't it great to be married to your best friend?!
It took a while for me to accept the ups and downs of P2. I just always try to compare my losses on this protocol to all the other weight loss programs I've tried. Nothing compares to this. I say all the time that we (everyone on this protocol) tend to get impatient because our losses are so great. Just think how slowly we would be losing on some other plan. When I think of that, I just take it all in stride, look at the big picture, and wait for that WOOSH... tee hee.