Alright, all. I am finally ready to start another round. I had become so complacent after that last difficult round that I thought I'd never do it again! I got to the point that I either cheated all the time or I didn't even eat. Neither was a very great way to do it, and I think I have learned my lesson.

I AM one to modify my diet a bit though.

My plan:
3.5 oz ff protein (boiled egg or cottage cheese, etc) in the am
chocolate delight (mid-am snack)

3.5 oz protein
melba &
veggy for lunch

fruit for a snack

and 3.5 oz protein
melba &
veggy for dinner

In my experience, it was too much for me to count my every calorie. I just know that if I had red meat once that day, I need to eat white meat/fish later, since red meat is higher calorie. I just basically kept track that I ate my daily requirements and that was good enough for me. The math basically has already been done for us in our list of daily requirements that I really don't think about that too much.

I also love to do chocolate delight with my coconut oil and agave. Agave is NOT a p2 food, but I rationalize that the little coconut oil we are allowed (no more than 2-3T a day) in p2, the amount of agave in the chocolate delight relative to that is pretty minor. I know it isn't strictly by the book, but I'm more interested in not giving up to temptation to cheat than to be so strict and unforgiving with myself.

Another note about coconut oil. Coconut oil is a great fat to incorporate into our diet. It is readily metabolized and actually helps your body metaboilze fat. I don't count those calories either, or not eat something to make up for the extra calories. They are basically "free" although you wouldn't want to overindulge. Like I said earlier, 2-3T in a day. In my mold, that's <1 piece a day. I portion it out so I know how much I'm eating.

I also found that I could use it IN my cooking. I used it as the little bit of oil in the pan to cook my food! Or to crunch up my melba, coat a 3.5 oz piece of cube steak, and "fry" chicken fried steak!!! I ate like this last round and ACTUALLY lost! Nothing is worse to me than to have little bits of my little bit of chicken sticking to the pan! As if there's sooo much to eat to begin with! So voila! Perfect solution! (A note here, though. The flavor comes through, so unless you like the coconut flavor in light meats and veggies, you'll notice it when you cook chicken, shrimp or fish. Just fyi.)

Here's to a happy holiday week, and happy loading to me! I haven't done my grocery shopping yet, but I'm sure it will contain quite a few things I WON'T be getting for awhile!