Round 3 here we go!!!

I'm at the top of the rollercoaster looking up to the sky. Tomorrow is day 1 of vlcd for round 3. And Man, have I loaded. ugh. sick. "Load" is a 4 letter word. I've loved the food, but hated the feeling. I started yesterday at 198.8 today I was at 200.4! woo.hoo. More to lose later, my resolution for this round is to keep up on this blog, which SHOULD keep me accountable to NOT CHEAT! So, hold on tight, cuz here we go!!!!!

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!

p2 Tomato Soup

Again, with the rainy day nice n' hot soups. I like this one thin or thicker, it just depends on my mood. I usually slurp it right out of a coffee mug. GREAT slurping soup, and VERY filling, even though you're really only eating your 1 tomato and a bit of broth!

p2 Tomato Soup

1/2 can tomato sauce (my fave is Hunt's garlic tomato sauce. Adds a nice flavor.)

2c Chicken stock

(optional: worcestershire sauce to taste. might be a cheat in p2, so don't if you think it is.)

• dump it all together in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
• simmer it down to the consistency you desire. (I usually put it on and "forget about it," while I'm cooking something else.)
• serve and enjoy. (Like I said earlier, I usually sip this out of a coffee mug.)

p2 Chili

As the weather begins to cool off, nothing's better than a nice, hot bowl of soup. As I was eating this the other night, towards the bottom of the bowl, I thought to crush up my melba like a saltine cracker. That was soo delish. And since this recipie only makes a single serving, and only uses 1/4 can of 2 different things, I keep my unused sauce & tomatoes in the fridge. It doesn't last long. This is one of my current faves. (And cannot WAIT to add beans and top with cheese in p3!)

p2 Chili

hCG portion of ground beef, chicken, turkey (whatever)

1/4 can Ro-tel Tomatoes (get mild if you're a wuss... it's kinda hot)

1/4 can Ro-tel tomato SAUCE (ditto on the mild thing.)

1c broth (any flavor)

cumin

• Brown your ground beef, rinse and drain. (Get as much fat out as you can!)
• Add liquid ingredients. This will look thin and runny, but you'll cook it down.
• Bring to a boil and let it simmer down until it's almost thick and add cumin to taste. (I like a lot of cumin, so I won't give exact measurement... plus I'm kinda a dump it together girl so I don't know how much I use.)
• After you add the cumin, don't cook too much longer or you won't taste it much.
• Serve and enjoy!

UNDER 200!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I broke 200 lb mark!!!! I'm elated! I haven't been that since I was gaining during my 1st pregnancy. And it's funny, I was telling my hubby in bed this morning, that my "flap" (the hanging skin that USED to be FAT in the tummy) looks odd now. It's getting more noticeable in my clothes, because what USED to be fat is now all wierd and deflated looking. :D It'll go down, just for now it looks funny... funny that this is a good thing to me! (Progress not perfection?)

I have heard a lot of people saying that in round 2 their losses have been less than desirable, and so they eat an extra 100 grams of protein in exchange for 1 of their fruits and lose lose lose, like they were in their first rounds. AND it kept their cravings to cheat down. So my plan is to have the boiled egg or ff cottage cheese that P & I says is an ok substitute for protein in the morning, because I'm seeing the pattern that the morning is when I tend to cheat because I get bored or hungry. I have always eaten breakfast, so I do get hungry then, even on hCG.

Another thing is that I DID get agave for my chocolate delight. My rationale is that in the little bit of coconut oil I'm allowed in p2, there isn't very much agave in the chocolate delight. If it does seem to make me stall or gain, I will cut it out, lesson learned. I think having this when I'm wanting to cheat will satisfy the urge, and if it's working for me, why not. ?? We shall see how it goes.

Wish me luck. It's only an experiment. If it works, YAY! If not, then I will go back to strictly P & I protocol. I HOPE it works.

Struggling BIG TIME

Ok, so I have to start this by saying that I am soooo grateful for my friends and followers (even if I don't know who you are)!!!! I have had a very hard struggle today, and if I hadn't had the thought of letting someone else down, I'd have given up today.

I have been cheating "little cheats" all the time and it's affecting my losses. Yesterday morning was NO loss (or gain), and today was only .2 lost. I decided to do an apple day, but by 11 (which when you have 2 little kids that wake up at 6 every morning regardless of which day it is, 11 is LUNCH.) Anyway. By 11 I had had 1 apple already and couldn't stop feeling hungry and thinking about food. And of course, it wasn't apples I was thinking of... well... maybe apples, but with peanut butter... and that's what I did. Immediately after, I had 2 cheese sticks I'd cut. And when I'd realized apple day was blown, I had some hcg friendly tomato soup to fill me. Drank 1/2 gallon water today, and was good with my hcg friendly breaded chicken for dinner.

I took my little girl to church and promised her I'd let her have a cookie if she was good. (You're thinking I ate one, here aren't you? -NOPE) --Only cuz they didn't have cookies tonight! If you know how hard they cry when they've been GOOD (and I mean GOOD... she does NOT sit well and I was VERY impressed), only to have their bribe taken away... I promised her I'd bake us some cookies instead. THIS is where I was a bad girl! I made pb cookies. (No flour, but SUGAR for sure! Actually, if I could make them sugar-free, they'd make a GREAT p3 food! But none of that thinking right now... I'm still on the naughty list right now.) I ate TWO.

I don't know why I'm eating like this. I was hungry when I had the cheese and pb on my apple at lunchtime, but I'm honestly NOT feeling hungry after I've eaten lunch. I really only ate my dinner when I did because I thought I'd be gone till late, but things didn't go as planned and I ended up home after church. I went into the cookie situation knowingly that I was going to eat at least 1, and if they're there in the morning I'm sure I'd have another bad day of it too, so I'll let hubby eat all he will tonight, and make him take them to work or else throw them away. I feel like I'm totally powerless over all the cheating. That in itself, I'm sure is the key to unlocking my dilemma... knowing I'm powerless. (Step 1 no less!) God, help me. I need your help here!

Again, I say it, thank you all for being my motivation to not quit today, especially you, Alma. Thanks for being the person who'd be so mad at me for quitting. This diet has been SUCH a great thing in my life. It has helped me realize a LOT about myself, and to care about myself again! For so long there, I just was content being the sloppy mom who'd let herself go after having kids. I didn't even realize it! And now I feel like I'm getting myself back. Thank you, God, for that!

Day 6... 4 lbs lost

Well. Have I found some bomb recipie ideas this time around!?!?! Had my miracle noodle spaghetti and meatball, chili, chicken soup, shrimp scampi, chicken nuggets. mmm mmm mmm. AND I've lost eating all this!!! FOUR lbs in 3 days of loss! Wowza!

I have had a bit of an inner argument with myself about my chocolate delight. Oh, how I LOVE it so! I know that the coconut oil is ok in p2, as long as you limit it to a little bit, but agave isn't ok. And since I HATE stevia in my chocolate delight, uck. I'd rather not have it at all. I've tried to justify it in my mind that if I were only eating my timy bit of it so I don't overdo on the coconut oil, there really isn't that much agave in there. But it's still in there. I thought I'd try it to see if it affects my weight loss, but when I made it up I tried something different and messed it up. Dang it. Now I have no agave till I can get some on monday when I get groceries. I don't know what I shall do. (I have, however, used my coconut oil in my cooking. Shrimp scampi and breaded chicken... who knew I'd lose eating these!?!)

I was so nervous to have the same HUNGRY day as I did on round 1. I was expecting it yesterday, but it didn't come. I thought FOR SURE today, also didn't come. Maybe I just am not going to have "the hungry day" like I did. My buddy said she never did feel hungry 1st round OR this round... hmm. Who knows. I think I'm just still used to it maybe. The loading days were fun to be able to eat, but I felt sooo crummy. I think I may have created an aversion to one of my faves, Sourdough bread with butter. We'll just see. Anyway. Hope all is well in everyone's worlds! I sure am doing well myself!