Official start of my first P3

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Yesterday: 160.7
Today: 161.7
At LIW

I had a so so day last day. I was so hungry that I caved in to a craving of walnuts and peanut butter yesterday. For some reason I wanted walnuts dipped in peanut butter. I still had a little hcg in my system so I had a gain, plus the peanut butter was honey roasted. No biggie, I'm just at my LIW.

Short post today. Busy baking cookies for a friend, but here's the rest of what I ate yesterday:
B: coffee with 1/2 & 1/2
L: chili with salsa & an apple
S: 5 oz walnuts and 1/4 cup of honey roasted peanut butter from whole foods
D: 6 large shrimp with cocktail sauce and an apple
2.5 liters of water

Mary - I'm starting to see a difference now that others have pointed things out to me. Thanks for that :)
I try to freeze EVERYTHING :) The empanadas should be fine too.

Ed & Jenn - I didn't notice the bones on my chest until you mentioned it! You are so right. Amazing how we don't see stuff in our own pictures. I don't blame you for not getting the Windsor pilates. It's definately not intense. It helps with flexibility, but that's about it. In my opinion, the Firm is the way to go. I got the fastest results from that and the videos are interesting and fun. I wouldn't part with any of those DVDs. P90X looks great too, but I haven't tried it yet.

Off to eat my omlet...

Day 41 of VLCD Done! Last day of R1P2

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Yesterday: 161.1
Today: 160.7
1.0 BELOW LIW

It sure did take me a while to take off that weekend weight I gained. I guess it Wasn't water weight. Whatever... I had a great time. I'm a little concerned that nothings moving south of the border though.... not since about 8-9 days ago. I've had chocolate smooth move tea 2 nights in a row, but it didn't work. I didn't drink any last night, but if something doesn't happen today, I'm just gonna take some Milk of Magnesia. I just feel heavy right now.

Here's what I ate yesterday
B: small slice of sweet potato pie
L: catfish creole, strawberries, 2 melba rounds
D: steak and caramelized onions
Lots of tea and 2+ liter of water

DH left a slice of pie on a plate on a counter when he left for work. It was just too much for me to take. Oh well.... I've settled for staying in the 160s for now. I was going to start P2 again on Apr 5th, but I just realized I'm going to Philadelphia to see Steve Harvey on Apr 19th, so I'm going to start P2 on Apr 21st when we get back, because we'll be eating out all weekend.

I took my final measurements and pictures for this round. I really don't see a difference in these photos, but I certainly feel a difference when I put on my clothes. Maybe it's because I always suck in my stomach when I look in the mirror and when I'm out. I must have strong abs, cus I hold m stomach in ALL the time, but I decided not to do that in my pictures. I wonder if anyone else has that "belly issue". Anyway, here are my pics & measurements:

	Day 1	Day 13	Day 41	CHANGE
NECK	15	14	14	1.00
BUST	41	39.5	38	3.00
UNDER BUST	36	35.5	34.5	1.50
WAIST	36	34.5	32	4.00
HIGH HIP	40.5	39	38	2.50
LOW HIP	40	40	38	2.00
UPPER THIGH	25.25	25.25	24.25	1.00
LOWER THIGH	22.25	20	19	3.25
KNEE	15.5	15	14.5	1.00
CALF	16	15.5	15	1.00
UPPER ARM	14	13.5	12	2.00
LOWER ARM	12	11.25	11.25	0.75
INCHES LOST				23.00

Images are clickable

Well, that's it. I'm hoping that working out over the next 7 weeks will help me tighten up a bit. I took some pics in a pair of jeans as well, but I haven't loaded them on the the computer yet. I'll get those up tomorrow.

I really want to say thank you to everyone that checks on my blog. Thanks for keeping me honest and offering so much encouragement and support. I couldn't have gotten through this round without that. I love all of you dearly. Now let's get this quite blogging town movin! I'm going to keep up with mine as much as possible through P3, and at least put up my stats as well as Nakia's if that's ok.

In response to yesterday's commentors:

Mary - I've never frozen uncooked sweet potatoes. I wouldn't think they would do well while still fresh. Let me know how they come out of the freezer. Sweet potato pie is my absolute favorite! I thought I could eat sweet potatoes in P3, but quickly realized that I can't so I made DH some pie's instead. He's using them for his load this week.

Ed & Jenn - LOL...You are too funny. Yup... that freezer is totally stocked for my next load :) I'm gonna have fun raiding it. For now, I just need to get through this last VLCD day. This is the longest 72 hours EVER!

Becca - The table that they normally put food on is right behind MY chair! I can actually smell it all day. It really makes you strong though. If I can resist that all day, I can resist anything. At least, that's what I tell myself. The real test will be P3 when I'm allowed more calories.
I know the sweet potato pie keeps really well in the freezer cus I freeze those all the time as well as the peanut butter pie, but I'm not sure about the cakes and breads. I'll let you know. Cake usually does ok in the freezer, so it should be fine.

Day 40 of VLCD Done! 72 hour countdown to P3

LIW 2/26/08 161.7
Yesterday: 161.7
Today: 161.1
.6 BELOW LIW

Yesterday went great, but they sure do bring in a lot of food at my job. Zucchini bread and pizza yesterday... oh yeah & someone restocked the chocolate jar. Such is life. I stuck to my chili with salsa while everyone ate pizza at the meeting. I've NEVER done that before, but I just thought "that's not the last pizza in the world. They'll make more." That got me through it.

Here's what I ate yesterday:
B: Coffee with 1/2 & 1/2
L: Chili with salsa, an apple, 2 melba rounds
D: Catfish creole, strawberry sorbet
Mid afternoon, bite of zucchini bread

I took a bite of zucchini bread as I packed away a piece to put in my freezer. It was really good, and it's in my freezer now for when I'm in p4 or loading. There's a bunch of stuff in my freezer. There's a sweet potato pie that DH begged me to make... so I stashed one. There's a piece of birthday cake from my birthday on 2/2. There's some no bake peanut butter bars that a coworker made for my birthday as well. I just take them and pack them up in my lunch container and throw them in my freezer for when I can legally eat them. Am I crazy? It does seem a bit weird, but it keeps me from feeling deprived when these are things that I would be missing out on. I don't care about things like pizza and ice cream... I can buy those for myself anytime, but when someone makes something special, I'd eat it if I didn't think of freezing it. It's gotten to be a joke at work. "Give Monica a piece for her deep freezer." LOL.

I've been meaning to take measurements and pictures, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I'll try to get them up tomorrow morning. I certainly notice a difference. 20 lbs is a huge change. It's 2 lbs more than I lost on WW and I'm only 1 lb more than what it says on my drivers license now!

In response to yesterday's comments:

Shelly - I wasn't hungry when I started my break a few weeks ago. The 72 hours was a breeze. I'm hoping it'll be the same this time. This is the first day with no shot so I know I'll be fine today because I was skipping Sunday's anyway.

Ed & Jenn - It was hard for me to load too. I told him that most people have trouble with that part because we've all been dieting so long, but he's doing it. It's weird that I'm ending with my 500 cals still and he's gorging on food. Our dinner table looks really strange... LOL

Mary, mary - Luckily I've been super busy at work so the days have been flying by. That makes it easier and I'm not thinking about food as much. I do keep finding myself writing P3 grocery lists though while I'm sitting in a meeting...LOL. Hope I don't get caught.

Try - Thanks! I'm trying. I spent yesterday making all my meals for today and tomorrow so I don't have to think about it.

Day 39 of VLCD Done! R1P2 LIW

Starting weight: 182
Yesterday: 162.1
Today: 161.7 LIW
.4 lb. Release Overnight
20.3 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
.5 Avg Daily release

It's LIW day! Not too shabby. I've lost 11% of my body weight & my BMI has dropped by about 10 points. I feel really good. I haven't taken measurements yet. I'll get to that later on today.

Yesterday' menu was:
B: nothing
L: an apple, steak and caramelized onions coffee with 1/2 & 1/2
D: catfish creole, strawberry sorbet, grissini
3+ liters of water and tea

ok... I've got 72 hours of VLCD left and what does my boss do? He's ordering pizza for the department today! Well, of course he is. I'm going to be eating my chili with salsa for lunch with a couple of melba rounds for dipping. I've already got all my meals prepared and planned out for the next 3 days so it'll be a breeze.

My hubby, Nakia is ready to start. He's not going to be able to load well because his first injection day will be a work day so I told him to eat anything he wants this week without any dieting. He feels weird about that because he's already gained alot in the past 2 months or so, but there's no point in him watching his calories this week.

Oh yeah, I ordered the insulin needles from healthwarehouse.com yesterday morning and I got an email yesterday afternoon that they had been shipped. NICE! Well... gotta start my day.

On to yesterday's commenters:

Shelly - I'll be checking my inches when I get home from work today. I'm sure they've dropped significantly. My size 10 slacks are fitting very loosely this week. The next 72 hours of VLCD will be no problem, even with the pizza.

Mary - Yup... those darn 160s. Hopefully this means I'll have a bigger cushion during P3. DH is excited to start losing weight. He says he wants to have the same feeling I do of seeing losses everyday.

Ed & Jenn - WOO HOO... it's all coasting from here. Of course I have my first P3 meal all planned out & then on to preparing Nakia's menu. They're so lucky to have us... LOL.

Becca - You're not doing that badly. You're making the best out of your situation. You have to enjoy your vacation and eating different food is part of vacationing. So you'll be back home tomorrow. I don't think it'll be very damaging. Keep us posted.

Try - Yup... that's what I decided to do. 20 lbs is nothing to sneeze at. AND I had that loss with taking a break in between, so all in all, I'm very happy. We get caught up on these numbers, but the real prize is that it won't be as easy for the 20 lbs to come back as it has been in the past. I have an exact plan of action if I start to gain and that is very comforting. I'll be on P3 until the end of Mar and I'll start my next round of P2 around Apr 5th.

Have a great day folks & thanks for checking on little 'ol me :)

Day 38 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 182
Yesterday: 162.8
Today: 162.1
.7 lb. Release Overnight
19.9 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
.5 Avg Daily release

Good... the scale is moving back down again. I'm still working on losing the weekend party weight, but at least I didn't have a gain. I was worried because last night I was up to 165.

Here's what I ate yesterday:
B: an apple
L: grilled chicken and baked celery & grissini. coffee with stevia and 1/2 & 1/2
D: Biz's catfish creole & warm mott's natural applesauce with cinnamon & grissini
4+ liters of water, yerba mate tea

OK... That is the first time I've tried catfish creole. Biz, I see why you eat it almost every day! That stuff is delicious. In fact, I don't think I've ever eaten catfish before, so thanks for the recipe.

Look like I may not get below 160 for my LIW tomorrow. I guess I have the option of skipping tomorrow's shot and giving myself one more day since I didn't skip my shot this past sunday, but I'm not sure I'll do that yet. I might just settle for ending at 160 something. I guess it doesn't matter much. It's just a number, but I've been in the 160s for 31 days! It just seems like I've been there forever! 31 days is only forever in hcg land. BTW researchsupply.net is out of insulin needles but I found them on healthwarehouse.com for $9.75 a box which is about 1/2 the price of other sites! I don't know how long they'll be on sale though.

I don't have much time today cus I spent this morning searching for supplies online. DH has decided to start P2 while I'm on P3 so he's going to use the rest of my supplies & I need to buy some more. He'll be taking his first shot on Mar 3rd and going for at least 21 days. That means I don't get a break from measuring and weighing. That will also force me to still keep fresh foods in the house. That's probably a good thing. So, I'll be posting his progress starting next week.

In response to yesterday's comments:

Mary - LOL... yup, they have balls and I was nibbling on 'em... ROFL. I sure am glad that scale is moving downward. I still feel a bit bloated so maybe I'll have a better loss tomorrow after another big water intake day.

Ed & Jenn - I absolutely LOVE dancing and I don't do it enough. We're going to have to sample all the clubs on the ship together!

CB - I had a really good time saturday... the best time I've had since being on P2. I've sequestered myself to my house & it looks like for good reason. I seem to give in when I'm around my friends. Unfortunately all my friends are great cooks! LOL. Tomorrow is my LIW so I don't have much time to have the big losses. We'll see what happens. The suspense is killing me! Stay tuned. :)

Day 37 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 182
Yesterday: 160.9
Today: 162.8
1.9 lb. GAIN Overnight
19.2 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
.5 Avg Daily release

Just a quick update. I didn't totally blow it yesterday. It just looks like I did. I think that gain is water weight, plus I weighed myself 3 hours later than normal. My wedding rings are really tight today & they've been so loose recently that they've almost fallen off so I'm not worried about that gain. I hardly got any water in yesterday & I nibbled on some crab balls at one of the parties last night. I'm just going to have a huge water and protein day today. I'll have some celery too because they have natural diuretic properties.

Here's what I ate yesterday:
B: yerba mate tea
L: sauted spinach and 1 scrambled egg with 1/2 strawberry sorbet
At pampered chef party: 12 small shrimp with cocktail sauce, pampered chef pizza roll, strawberries, bite of apple turnover
At birthday party: 3 chicken nuggets with teriyaki sauce, 2 small crab balls, glass of peach arbor mist

I had a great time last night at the club with my girlfriends and I must have danced for 2 straight hours. I'm a very energetic dancer... definately not a wall flower so my legs are really sore, my ears are ringing & I have a terrible headache. I just got out of bed to take my shot and update my blog while it warms up under my arm.

Mary - I'm glad I had a plan yesterday because it could have been alot worse. I even had the guy that wanted to buy me a drink get me a bottle of water instead! I have NEVER drank water in a club before. Therefore, I'm not kicking myself today. I think I followed it pretty well.

Have a great sunday folks

Day 36 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 182
Yesterday: 161.4
Today: 160.9
.5 lb. Released Overnight
21.1 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
.6 Avg Daily release

WOO HOO! Still losin! I thought that doughnut was gonna hit me from 2 days ago. I'm almost out of the 160s!

Here's what I ate yesterday:
B: Hot cocoa with splenda and 1T of 1/2 & 1/2 & 1 large strawberry
L: remaining strawberries, shrimp cocktail and tomatoes with mrs dash & 2 melba rounds
D: steak & caramelized onions with 1/2 a strawberry sorbet & 2 petit grissini... another hot cocoa with just water

I actually found grissini at my regular supermarket "Shoppers". They're much thinner than regular grissini so I chose to eat 2. There's an italian community near by and the store just renovated so I guess they added some more italian fare. Yaaay for me. They're much better then melba rounds. I'll be getting those from now on.

So I was pretty good yesterday. No real deviations. I think the hot cocoa is keeping me sane right now, but I'm not going to have any today. I have 2 parties to go to today. One is a pampered chef party where there will be a chocolate fountain to deal with & the other one is a birthday party that starts out at a house with or'devours and ends at a club. I do have a plan. I'll have a plate of sauted spinach before the party at 3 so I'm not too hungry. I'm bringing a shrimp cocktail ring so I'll eat that with the store bought cocktail sauce. I know there's sugar in it, but it's the lesser evil. Where there's a chocolate fountain, there are strawberries so there's my fruit.

Then I'll go home and have my dinner, which will be flounder with sauted spinach because of the low calories. The birthday party isn't until 9 tonight and I don't eat past 7. All my girlfriends think I'm obsessed with my weight so it'll be easy to use that as an excuese to not eat any or'devours. I won't be able to get away with not drinking & I don't want to try so I'll have my usual kamikaze.

I'm writing this plan down because I really want to follow it and be held accountable for it. I don't lie on my blog because that just wouldn't help me or anyone else, and for me, the whole point of blogging is to be helpful to myself and whoever reads it. Plus, I'm at 160.9 today... I soooo want to get out of the 160s by the end of this round. Including today, I have 4 shots and 6 VLCD days left. I want to end this round at 158. It's still a possibility, but I need to keep it together today. I've avoided eating out and parties throughout my P2 so this will be a first for me. Whatever happens, I'll definately update tomorrow.

Oh yeah. I got into my skinniest jeans in the house yeserday! I actually wore them to work. My apple bottoms are actually too big now. These where my junior size 9 ecko reds. I'll take pictures in them on my last day and post them. I still have to hold my stomach in, but I do that all the time anyway :)

Folks, we have a new blogger in our community. Please go and say hi to trysomethingnew12 and welcome them to the fam.

In response to yesterday's comments:

Mary, Mary - I did enjoy the tuna, but it left me hungry, plus it made me want bread since I'm so used to eating it that way. I enjoy the other meats more so I can do without that one. You WILL lose weight again after your break. I'm sending those loser vibes our way.

Ed & Jenn - You are so right and TOM didn't help either. I feel my determination coming back though. My numbers are giving me purpose right now. So I am going to sprint to the finish line, but I'm still gonna have that drink tonight LOL.

Renee - 6 days of VLCD and counting! My last VLCD day will be thurday and then I'm going to NJ to visit family for the weekend and go to my favorite restaurant. I'm still going to blog cus I'm bringing my laptop, so I'll be around.

Shelly, shell! - Hey honey... I cannot believe the donut incident! I might be a pound lighter if I didn't eat it. That's how I'm gonna think of it, cus my numbers are not punishment enough & I need something to make me not do that again... LOL. And yes... over 20 pounds is fantastic. That was my goal for this round so I'm very happy.

try - Nice to see ya. I really wanted to support you on your new endevour, especially since you're doing this at college. have you read pounds & inches? If you haven't there's a link to it to the right of my blog.

becca - Thanks. I really have been pushing the envelope lately. Luckily it hasn't ripped wide open, but today is the day that I get back into it. Thanks for being real with me. No more self sabotage. I have enough external stuff trying to do that already.

Biz - Stripping classes are so much fun... you just gotta try it sometime!
Everyday is a learning experience for me. I try to take the best out of it. Just following your example miss skinny thang :) I hope you're having a great time. Miss you too missy!

Have a great day folks!