P2+: BLIMEy It's Hot Popsicles

Thought I'd check in real quick.  We're having quite a busy summer so far, but it's time to start thinking about gearing up for the end of next month.  I gotta say, even though I'm really enjoying the size 18 this summer (as opposed to the 28 I was in last summer), I'm looking forward to the size 8 I plan to be in next summer!

So far, so good on the maintaining thing.  It's been easy peasy.  I am able to eat *anything* I want and just stay right where I'm supposed to!  LOVE it!

If all goes as the calendar says it should with cycles, I'm thinking August 30th is the next round start date.  Anyone want to join Mom and I for the next round?

We're planning a few surprises for the next round, too.  I'll be able to report about the tests I've been running while figuring out the secrets to maintaining.  I promise I'll tell - but I want a good solid test before I go yapping about it, k?

For now, I thought I'd share a great little summertime treat that we've all decided we like around our place (including the kids!).  It's easy.

BLIMEy It's Hot Popsicles
1t lime stevita
1c water
Mix those together in a measuring cup, so you have a "spout" to pour out of.  Pour into some of those cute little popsicle thingies they've got out these days.  Freeze at least 4 hours and savor those wonderful treats!  You could also use the other flavors, too - grape, tropical, and orange all sound great to me.

P4: Week One Plan

Whew! It's been quite a ride this weekend so far... Saturday was day one of P4. I didn't weigh in because we get up and leave so early. It's sort of silly to even look unless I'm within 1/2 hour of "normal" weigh in time. Then Sunday I slept in so late that I still didn't get to that normal time. Today, the kids (4 of 'em) woke me up pre-dawn, so again, no scale for me.

I had to check in at least, after three days of eating *some* starches and sugars, too. I'm exactly +2#LDW. Of course, I was expecting wild fluctuations this first week and I'm NOT going to do a single correction day this whole first week, regardless of what the scale says.

(!)

My plan is to keep having my single apple and cheese meal and make sure that I've got these proportions of foods:
50% Meat/Fats/Dairy
20% Veggie
20% Fruit (apple)
10% Starches/Sugars
100% WATER! lol

I'll weigh in every day, but I'm not doing anything about any gain and just allowing my body to find it's natural new center. During the second week, I'll work on bringing it back to LDW.

During the third week, I'll work on bringing it to -10#LDW before I begin my next "round set."

It's quite a plan and definitely NOT what Dr. S told us to do. However, I feel like I know *my* body better (especially at this point) than Dr. S does (did).

I've got ovulation going on right now (always a gain there), lack of sleep, performance jitters, a possible cold, and lots of other stuff going - so any scale weighing would just make it all that much worse. I'm just going to shelve all that self-induced stress, enjoy an epsom salt bath today after the guests go home and relax. :)

Maintenance Planning

Yesterday was my first day of P3 (no sugars, no starches). I don't like life to happen to me, but rather I like to have full control of what's happening in my life. It's a border-line control freak thing - it just doesn't overflow all over other people's lives (as a general rule).

So, my first day, I did an Apple/Cheese Day. I'm now 2.5# under LDW. Tonight, I'm planning to do a semi-steak night. It's only a pseudo Steak Day because I enjoyed a breve, some cheese, some apples, and a salad. I'm just ending the night with a steak dinner. Certainly, not because I have to, at 2.5# UNDER, but it's a planning thing, so I can keep a larger buffer zone.

I like a big buffer zone. 5# ought to be about right. I am considering some ongoing losses in this phase, just to see what it does to me (test, test, test - I can't help myself!). I figure that if I'm not protein deficient, I should be doing just fine. I don't know why - really, why - Dr. Simeon said DON'T lose further after the VLCD. I'd think that if you can safely and easily release more, well. YEA! GO!

I'll be able to lock in any further releases with Round 3 (planning for mid-March on that one), so I'm not concerned about maintaining further releases.

Over all, I'll be doing a long term test this time around with maintenance. I'm continuing a test from the VLCD part just to see what it does during this period. AND I've got 8 tests to do before I can release the book I'm in the middle of for Maintenance.

Whew! That's a lot of stuff going on! lol.

Lifetime Maintenance

I ate as I pleased during Maintenance in November and December 2009, after the initial couple of weeks. However, a lot of my tastes had changed after going through Round 1, so I didn't want the amount of sugary things I did before.

Lifetime Maintenance does feel scary. Here's what I did:

1st week: Eat one thing per day and observe body's reaction.

2nd week: Eat 2 things/day & observe body's reaction.

3rd week: Eat 3 things throughout the day and observe.

4th week: Use what I learned & make a life plan to maintain.

Onward: Use Apple/Cheese Day & Steak Day as needed, but enjoy my life.

P3 & P4 Exercise

I've finally gotten around to looking into exercise programs. Myself, I've just been walking, but the cold temperatures, I gotta say, put a major damper on that plan. I use Yoga as my next favorite thing - it's meditative, calming, centering, strengthening if you do it right, and provides an extraordinarily low impact rate on the body while you're exercising.

I think that Tai Chi would also offer the same benefits as Yoga and I'd like to learn it, but find that my body is too unwieldy still to learn the graceful dance-like poses that flow one into the other.

Recently, I've heard about a different set of exercises, 15 minutes a day, called T-Tapp. It's an interesting set. I've not yet tried it, but wanted to alert you to it's existence. The link goes straight to the "try" section that shares several of the different exercises. If you like it, they encourage you to purchase their DVDs, of course.

My test results

From my test yesterday, I've dropped yet another 3# (3.2# each time, for precision). There was only one day between the two drops - where I ate pretty much whatever I wanted to eat, too.

I'm still awaiting the results from friends who volunteered to test with me (they're all in P3 or P4) and I'm quite excited to see their results! If the test results for me are 3# loss both times, it makes me wonder about continued release in P3/P4. Who knows? Maybe I'll be able to get to 260 before I start my next round! If I can get there, I'd be able to release another 50# in P2 and be at 210 by my birthday, February 27th. Now that's impressive. Really impressive. Especially if you consider I started at 332# the end of August. That'd be ... ::think, think, think:: 122# in 5 months.

I'd plan to do this every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, but the other days would be free reign. Of course, I'd keep things under control - no running out to eat at restaurants every meal or anything crazy like that, but still. It's intriguing that I might be able to get almost the same results from doing this test that I'd get doing the VLCD and HCG; most interesting and intriguing. The main benefit from the HCG round, of course, would be the stability and reset of the hypothalamus once I got to the other side.

Maybe I need to just follow the every other day thing until I get down to 180#, then do a second round of HCG so my hypothalamus is completely reset at the weight I get to at the end of that second round.

Hmm. It'll certainly depend on the results I get from continuing this little test, but it's worth a shot!

3# under LDW

Today, I got up and found a very pleasant surprise... But I have to start with yesterday so you can see why it was such a pleasant surprise. Here's the foods I ate yesterday:

2 20oz cups of coffee with 8oz half-n-half

1 doughnut muffin

soup bowl of taco soup with sour cream and cheese on top (I'll get that recipe up for you a little later)

4 no bake cookies

2 apples

2oz yellow sharp chedder

2oz white dubliner's cheese

120oz water

Pretty junky, right?

So, you can see why I was so surprised at my -3# difference this morning, right? I ended the night this way (already included in my list): 1 apple, then the cheeses, 1 more apple, then 2 no bake cookies. I highly suspect that the apple/cheese combo is what did it for me, though the no bakes have a LOT of peanut butter in them. They also have a LOT of sugar in them...

It's just something I've observed. It prompted me to put together a small test (just four people - 3 women and 1 man). TODAY is the test. If it works, I'll post what we did so you can try it out, too. Wish us luck!

Self-Professed Egg Eater

I've got just two days left of P4. I find that "the end" always calls for a review of what you've done, what you're doing, and what you'll do in the future.

Basically, I just wanted to write down what I do differently now, at the end of P4, compared to Pre-HCG.

Pre-HCG:

• Protein, fats, and dairy share the slot for least amount of intake.
• Sugars & Starches is the largest group in my diet.
• Veggies & Fruits come in a close second to the largest group.
• Drank 80 ounces of water each day.
• Drank at least 40 ounces of coffee with sugary creamer (Irish Cream flavor) each day.
• Drank 40-80 ounces of tea with honey daily.

Post HCG:

• I eat eggs. :)
• Protein is largest food group.
• Healthy fats and dairy share the next highest amount.
• Too much sugar or starches gives me a headache.
• Drink 140 ounces of water each day.
• Drink 40 ounces of coffee with stevia and half-n-half.
• Drink 20-40 ounces of tea (sometimes with stevia, sometimes not).
• Stevia is my friend.

Essentially, my entire set of eating habits is now up-side-down. That's pretty big - and I hope it keeps me small!

P4 Delectableness

For everyone in P1 (Loading Days) or toward the mid to end of their P4, have I got a recipe for you! It's one of my family's favorites and, in my not-so-humble-opinion, can beat just about any brownie recipe out there. Anywhere.

Bobbie Flay, bring it on!

Brownies Delectable

9x12 (double to cookie sheet) 350 degrees 25 mins

¾ cup butter

1 ½ cup sugar

1 ½ tsp vanilla

3 eggs

¾ cup flour

½ cup cocoa

1 ½ tsp salt

Mix butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs. Sift in flour, cocoa, salt. Frost with frosting below.

Quick Cocoa Frosting

½ cup butter

2 cup sugar

2 tbsp cocoa

½ cup milk

Cream butter, sugar, cocoa together in saucepan. Add milk and bring to boil. Boil 1 ½ mins. Remove from heat and beat until begins to thicken. Ice immediately.

Steak Day Tomorrow?

Well, I really tested things today - I ate at Skippers. Baked potato, clam chowder, fried shrimp & clams... The Skipper's Platter. I expect a steak day tomorrow, just from the excess sodium I tossed into my system today! Yikes!

But it sure was good!

I'll let you know if I have to do a steak day in the morning, k?

:)

Nummy Treat!

I just enjoyed parmasean popcorn. The first bowl of it since the end of August...

What? You've not tried it??

You're missing out.

Pop up a bowl of popcorn. Drizzle 1/4c REAL butter over the popcorn, then shake Kraft Parmesean all over that. Toss so the butter gets coated with parmesean and make sure you've got a good movie already lined up!

Reminder!

DRINK WATER!

Even if you're not in Phase II, you still need to keep drinking your water. Many sugars come from the drinks that we're drinking when we eat "normally." A trick I use is to drink 20 ounces of water before a meal or a sweet drink.

Using that trick, I went from buying a 20 ounce vanilla breve (which has 2 ounces of sugar in it!) to a 12 ounce vanilla breve (which has just 1/2 ounce of sugar in it).

It's something to keep in your back pocket!

Yesterday was day 1 of P4!

Yesterday, I felt like a real cheater, but I knew it was expected and allowed, so I also felt soooo thrilled! I ate bread, a couple of Hallowe'en candies, potatoes, pie crust, carrots, a chocolate mint breve, and the were all soooo good. :)

Today, I got on the scale. And guess what? I gained .2#. POINT TWO pounds! Weeee! Before HCG, I'd have gained at least three pounds with that list. Hahahahaa.

Anyway, I'm not pushing it so much today. I've got a P3 coffee again (it tastes good - why change a good thing?). I figure I'll have broccoli soup for lunch and maybe pork chops (with a potato) for supper.

This diet is working! This is the real test of a diet - when you start eating "normally" again. It was a gain - but not pounds, like normal. It was parts of pounds. I just want to stay where I'm at and let it be Less of Me for the rest of my life.

P3, Last Day

Today is the last day of my Phase 3. It's scary to be putting sugars and starches back into my diet, after nearly 11 weeks. It's odd to not crave them and it's scary that I might become addicted again. However, now begins the true test of the HCG Protocol.

I wonder how many of those foods I'll feel like I'm not allergic to.

I'll definitely keep everyone posted as I progress!