P3 Day 4 107.9 (+0.1, +2.4 over LDW)

Okay, another slight gain... not great.

Today was my first day of no cheese, and it's gone great. There's only one thing that I'm worried about, and that is that we went for a going away lunch for the lady I'm replacing at my job. I had to go, and I ordered the most innocent thing I could see on the menu. I ordered a burger (no cheese, discarded the bun) and had a side salad.

That said, I could taste the sugar in everything. And found it very salty. I'm worried about tomorrow as P3 is strictly no sugar, no starch. But I did my best, and if Thursday ends up being a steak day (my version of Thanksgiving lol...) then so be it. I drank a lot of water today,  11 glasses, so hopefully that will have flushed stuff out. Also, TMI alert, had some very, umm, productive BMs today. Much needed.

There was a tiny bit of feta in the salad, and I had one bite of artichoke dip, so there was a little cheese in that too, but other than that, no cheese. I'm quite pleased with how well I did in that area.

Wish me luck with the scale gods for tomorrow!

P3 Day 3 107.8 (+0.7, +2.3 over LDW)

Yes, I know I should run screaming straight to a steak day... however...

TMI alert!!!

With the addition of potassium and magnesium, things are, ahem, moving along better...

I had a comment on yesterday's post that has gotten me thinking... along the lines of every encounter with the protocol being different - maybe at this time, I can't handle cheese as well as I used to. A big part of doing Phase 3 is having an open mind, paying attention to your body, seeing what works, what doesn't.

Thank you Skinny Cow for speaking up and supporting me in that experiment, that having an open mind :)

I'm going to try a little experiment for the next two days.

No cheese. At all. And see what the scale ends up saying on Thursday. Can't hurt, and frankly now I'm curious to see what could happen! Cheese may have to go on the list of occasional foods, which would be sad, but what do I want more? To keep this fabulously lean new me, or to eat cheese? It's only food after all, and trust me, no cheese tastes as good as being this size and weight feels!

I'm not giving up the bacon (or the pork rinds lol, although truthfully I'm finding them a tad salty, so they can sit in the cupboard no problem), so don't even try LOL.

Anyhoo, we'll see what happens, should be fun!

P2 Day 63 135.4 (-1.1) (-31.3)

Yay!!!! Very nice!

Good day yesterday. I've been forcing the water and yesterday I realized that I will naturally drink 8 glasses of water a day, it's an ingrained habit. That maybe I don't need to force myself to drink 10-12 a day. I haven't been drinking more than 8 for the last week. So maybe this is a good opportunity to begin the process I listening to my body. When I'm thirsty, drink. And after HCG, when I'm hungry, eat. 

I think this eating or drinking when I'm supposed to has done me a disservice in terms of being able to hear my body's signals. Water is a good place to start in the road to hearing those signals again. 

Oh  - I forgot to take my dose last night. No problem. Take it this morning and carry on. Don't forget it takes 72 hours for the HCG to leave your system. Just thought I'd mention it (since it just happened to me and was fresh in my mind) so that if someone new to the protocol is reading, they'll know to relax. 

And yesterday was a new batch of HCG. My batches seem to be lasting 19 days. 

Onwards!

P2 Day 62 136.5 (-0.1) (-30.2)

Well after my scale did a whole lot of jumping around, it finally settled on 136.5, which is a 0.1 release. That's fine! 

Onwards!

P2 Day 61 136.6 (-0.7) (-30.1)

Woohoo!!!!

Just over thirty pounds lost! 30.1 to be exact!

25 to go! And believe me, today's result is excellent motivation to keep on going!!!!

Did I say woohoo? :-D 

P2 Day 60 137.3 (-0.2) (-29.4)

Well shoot, I was hoping to reach the 30 pounds lost mark today. Which was unrealistic after yesterday's release. 

Ah well, I'm still pleased, things are going along nicely. 

I'm starting to think about whether I should take a break (meaning full phase 3 stabilization and 3 week maintenance) soonish. To get the last 26 pounds off I'm looking at 52-60 more days.  Food for thought (pun intended). 

Anyway, I have plenty of time to mull it over, I'll be staying on this part of the HCG protocol for another month I would think. 

Happy Friday!

P2 Day 59 137.5 (-2.0) (-29.2)

Now THAT'S more like it!!!!!

I stayed away from salt and diet soda and sodium in all forms yesterday. Drank 8 glasses of water. Coffee with all meals. And wore gloves religiously when in the kitchen. Looks like it worked!!!

Yay!!!! Love this program!!!!

P2 Day 58 139.5(+1.4) (-27.2)

No idea what prompted the gain... well, theories, but no thing stands out.

Lots of sodium yesterday could be the culprit. Had a fair bit of diet peach drink, maybe I've gotten sensitive to it. And lastly, ended up with bacon grease on my hands last night, I'm wondering if it absorbed. I forgot, didn't put gloves on before I started cleaning the kitchen (one of the roommates had cooked bacon, bless her, saved the fat for my dogs, but I didn't think to put gloves on before handling the container, and doing general cleaning). Live and learn.

So, zero salt, nothing with sodium in it, and lots of water today, and things should look better tomorrow!

P2 Day 23 147.5 (-0.0) (-19.2)

Well I guess it's a rest day. No biggie. I also think I had a bit too much sodium yesterday, so I'll scale back on that today and up my water.

Still trucking along, feeling good, other than feeling blue off and on, and some crazy dreams. The blueness is a surprise as I normally feel so steadily happy on HCG, but each round is different. The dreams are new too. It's quite funny, I wake up shaking my head over some of them.

My energy is good, as long as I listen to my body and have an after work nap, and get eight hours in a night.

And that 's it for now!

P2 Day 22 147.5 (-1.0) (-19.2)

Great release!! I was so excited seeing that number this morning!

So far I've shrunk two sizes, and I'm about to shrink another, judging by the fit of my dress pants and my jeans. Yay!!!

I've taken to napping after working each day, I definitely need more sleep on HCG.

Feeling great, that dry mouth I had last week or the week before is long gone thank goodness. I have good energy, and that blue feeling is passing. I'm still loving the no hunger side of all of this.

Looking ahead, I'm going to continue with P3 style eating as my permanent eating style. Or rather, it will be low carb, moderate protein, high fat. So, similar to P3 in the no starch, no sugar (except very occasionally), and probably lower in calories by a fair bit than you eat in P3.

And that's all there is to report this evening :)

P2 Day 18 150.2 (-0.1) (-16.5)

A small release, but still downwards! I think I had too much salt yesterday...

I was a bit more hungry than usual today, and had some heartburn, but nothing I couldn't live with, on both counts.

Calories today 450ish. Menu still consists of chicken, beef in the form of 96/4 hamburgers grilled on a George Foreman type grill, cucumbers, tomatoes (with fresh basil leaves, they ARE considered a herb after all so it's allowed),  apples and strawberries. Sometimes I'll have asparagus, celery or even lettuce to shake things up a little.

So basically nothing new to report, except that my size 10s are getting loose! I have to measure my inches again soon, I'm hoping to be in a size 8 for the trip up for my dad's birthday. That would be nice!

And now, off for my exercise - walking the dogs!

P2 - Day 12 - 153.1 (-0.6) (-13.6)

Well that's a bit better! My TOM started too, so I think in conjunction with my increase in Potassium, and a ton of bathroom trips, the water retention is finally subsiding.

My day yesterday was about 470 calories, I plan on today being about the same, and plan also on continuing the potassium and D3 supplements. I am calmer, less tense on them, and that in addition to lessening the water retention make it a good decision right now.

P2 Day 10 154.2 (-0.1) (-12.5)

What a small release, but at least it was one. I am retaining water big time, my fingers are swollen and my rings are tight. I am getting rid of the diet soda, any additional salt, and the mustard with my beef in the evening (sigh). We'll see if that does it. If not, in a couple of days I will do an apple day and get it moving.