P3 into P4 - Week of 5/23/11

[C'Marie]

Originally Posted by kaylem

Hey guys-

I've been MIA for a few days...I'm not even sure when I posted last! The days are flying by as it is the last week of school and I am wrapping things up. Also, I am originally from Joplin, MO, so I've been more than a bit pre-occupied with the situation going on there. Fortunately, my family has all moved elsewhere, but we still have lots of friends and loved ones whose lives will never be the same. It's been rough.

I'm still pretty frustrated. I should be in my third week of P4, but I still am not stabilizing. I've been at 149.5 for three days in a row, even with correction days. (149.5 is 4 pounds OVER LDW). I'm thinking that I might need to try a new approach, but I'm not sure what that is. I'm going to take a few minutes and try to catch up on posts, at least for a few days worth! I hope you all are having better luck than I am!

Hugs--

Kay

Hi Kay, hope you are getting along ok with hearing bad news and being in the last days of school.

I had a thought. Don't shoot me for saying so, but it looks to me like where you're stuck is right about where you would've been without the refeed experiment-if you'd have ended there at 148-ish. Do you suppose you could've taken your hypothalmus OUT of rest and that's why you aren't able to get it down to LDW? Especially since you did it so close to the end of your round, like your body didn't really have that much time to recover?
You might be stabilized, just at the higher weight. You said you're at 149.5 with correction days, and several days in a row.

Otherwise, it could be stress. I know I gain and have a hard time holding my weight down during periods of stress no matter what I do - and then when the higher stress is down to just "normal" stress, the weight comes back off. My daughter does the same thing.

[KelliC]

Even though I've been P4 for a little over a week now I really haven't tried much. Had one bite of a cookie at a potluck and decided it wasn't quite tasty enough to "spend" real sugar on . Had a couple of bites of bread last week and a slice of pizza on Monday and have stayed pretty steady. Saw a miniscule rise of .2 after the pizza but I also stayed up late and did a lot of walking that day. DD and I will be out of town all day (dr. appt and Downtown Disney) I'm consiering taking the plunge and having a burger with all the bread----but I'm scared

[shelbyla]

Morning all and and even earlier morning than normal for me. I'm up a pound and a half yesterday so I think I DO need to bring my calories down and lay off the HWC. Not out of my window but a bit over LDW so a am going to do a couple of days of clean eating and slightly lower calories and see where I land weight wise. I'm thinking I will drop it down into the 2200 range and see how it goes. It's all about the experiment, right?

Gotta go exercise before getting on the road to the OC. Have a great day everyone.

[garnet10]

Ah, it was just a matter of time! I am now over my 2 lbs LDW window by 0.8 pounds--130.0 this morning. Gained an incredible 1.2 lbs yesterday, but I kind of knew it was going to happen because I didn't eat a filling dinner--or enough protein and I was kind of hungry the rest of the night.

I also recently had to decrease my thyroid hormone and increase my adrenal support due to some heart pounding, so I'm not sure if that's a factor as well.
It's hard to tell because I seemed to require more thyroid hormone while I was on the hCG because I was so cold--couldn't get my temps to 98.6. I thought I would need less adrenal support without the stress of the VLCD, but that doesn't seem to be happening.

I work long hours but I really have to start planning dinner meals ahead of time. I can usually have eggs/bacon/sausage for breakfast, or tuna salad, or egg salad, or a protein powder drink with almond butter; lunch is usually a chef's salad (turkey/ham/roast beef/cheese on greens with dressing); dinner I've been focusing on eating vegetables but I just didn't eat enough protein last night.

So today is an egg correction day and I'm hopeful my weight will be back within my 2 lb window tomorrow.

BigBenny, I hope your burger idea works! If it does, let me know, because that kind of correction day appeals to me.

[garnet10]

Originally Posted by KelliC

Even though I've been P4 for a little over a week now I really haven't tried much. Had one bite of a cookie at a potluck and decided it wasn't quite tasty enough to "spend" real sugar on . Had a couple of bites of bread last week and a slice of pizza on Monday and have stayed pretty steady. Saw a miniscule rise of .2 after the pizza but I also stayed up late and did a lot of walking that day. DD and I will be out of town all day (dr. appt and Downtown Disney) I'm consiering taking the plunge and having a burger with all the bread----but I'm scared

Oh, KelliC, good luck! You have been so smart to move along slowly. At least you will know if bread is a problem if you try it. My very first round's P4 we went out to dinner and I sampled mashed potatoes, a piece of bread from the bread basket and had a few bites of a dessert and I was up the next day. I really wish I had moved along slowly, as you are doing. I hope you are able to try it and maintain your weight! Good luck!

[KelliC]

Originally Posted by garnet10

Oh, KelliC, good luck! You have been so smart to move along slowly. At least you will know if bread is a problem if you try it. My very first round's P4 we went out to dinner and I sampled mashed potatoes, a piece of bread from the bread basket and had a few bites of a dessert and I was up the next day. I really wish I had moved along slowly, as you are doing. I hope you are able to try it and maintain your weight! Good luck!

Thanks, me too Potatoes are the one thing that I haven't had at all, My dd just informed me that she'd like Subway today, she is having absolutely no problems with anything, so good for her (she had pizza on Monday and tacos yesterday and is down .5!) , I think I'll ask for a fork with mine and maybe eat 1/2 the bread we'll see how it works out I hope your P4 evens out for you!

[garnet10]

Originally Posted by KelliC

Thanks, me too Potatoes are the one thing that I haven't had at all, My dd just informed me that she'd like Subway today, she is having absolutely no problems with anything, so good for her (she had pizza on Monday and tacos yesterday and is down .5!) , I think I'll ask for a fork with mine and maybe eat 1/2 the bread we'll see how it works out I hope your P4 evens out for you!

Unfortunately, I'm only one week into P3! At least I had a very stable week prior to today. I'm trying not to be too discouraged. Simeons said there would be "wild fluctuations" until stabilization, so I'll be patient. And hope that tomorrow the scale is kinder.

[Jodarina]

Lol...Well my chicken CD didn't work verry good, only a .2 loss. Hardly wort the effort. I did use a lot of salt/seasoning on the chicken, maybe that's where I went wrong. So I'm still outside my window by .1 Technically thats another CD nut don't know if I'm up for it. I'll try to drink lots of fluid today. Didn't do too well with that yesterday either.

[catr31]

Day 2 of P3 and woke up to a 2.8 lbs loss to put me 1.8 below LDW. I know that its just because I'm a little dehydrated(had leg cramps last night) because I hardly drank anything yesterday. I'm not sure how many calories I am eating because I refuse to keep track, but I am eating a lot of fat and a lot of protein. I will be adding almonds and macadamia nuts in this weekend while on a road trip. Hopefully I don't gain too much since we will be eating out for every meal from Friday to Monday.

[LaraSuzz]

I just fell in the parking lot at work, Wah!! Well at least I work at a hospital lol.

[garnet10]

Originally Posted by Jodarina

Lol...Well my chicken CD didn't work verry good, only a .2 loss. Hardly wort the effort. I did use a lot of salt/seasoning on the chicken, maybe that's where I went wrong. So I'm still outside my window by .1 Technically thats another CD nut don't know if I'm up for it. I'll try to drink lots of fluid today. Didn't do too well with that yesterday either.

I only tried a chicken CD once, and I didn't have much of a result either (but then again, it was during a wild round 2 P3 where nothing worked for me.) I'm doing an egg CD today--I usually have more success with those.

But you are only 0.1 outside your window! That's really not too bad. That could be the difference between a Bernice visit or not (I finally figured out what that meant!) Tomorrow let's hope for lower numbers!

(I love your dog avatar. I have to get my doggie's picture on mine, instead of hijacking someone else's drawing of their dog!)

[garnet10]

Originally Posted by LaraSuzz

I just fell in the parking lot at work, Wah!! Well at least I work at a hospital lol.

OMG! You are too funny. I feel terrible for laughing at that. (Hope you're okay!)

[garnet10]

Originally Posted by catr31

Day 2 of P3 and woke up to a 2.8 lbs loss to put me 1.8 below LDW. I know that its just because I'm a little dehydrated(had leg cramps last night) because I hardly drank anything yesterday. I'm not sure how many calories I am eating because I refuse to keep track, but I am eating a lot of fat and a lot of protein. I will be adding almonds and macadamia nuts in this weekend while on a road trip. Hopefully I don't gain too much since we will be eating out for every meal from Friday to Monday.

I NEVER lost weight in any of my rounds during P3, so this makes me very envious.

[Jodarina]

I've heard to do a chicken CD you roast a whole chicken and try to eat that all day but also heard chicken thighs are ok too. I used wings and thighs and estimated that I ate about 1200 calories worth. Other than salt do the seasonings make a difference? I'd like to find out what went wrong so I don't repeat it.

[LaraSuzz]

Originally Posted by garnet10

OMG! You are too funny. I feel terrible for laughing at that. (Hope you're okay!)

I'm fine, I thought it was funny too. I thought to myself, very convienient! Just a little swollen and bruised, but I did go and get an ice pack from the ER.
I've had worse.

Jodarina, chicken days never work for me either, and they just make me really hungry.

[Ravenj9]

Well I am up .6 so that puts me 2.8 lbs over my LDW. I only lost 1 lb from the GY CD on Monday so I gained over half of that back. I really don't want to do another CD so soon.

The steak day might work better for me but I can't imagine not eating all day until dinner. If my weight keeps going up I guess I will be forced to try a steak day tomorrow. If I have to do a steak day, can I at least drink coffee with HWC for breakfast and lunch? I think the coffee would help me get through the day. If not, maybe I can try an egg day. I'm just so disappointed right now I really don't know what to do.

[Ravenj9]

I just thought of something. I wonder if the cafeteria at my job is cooking my eggs with vegetable oil instead of butter. I also wonder if the cheese they use is already shredded or if they shred it themselves. I didn't have any problems with these items on my last P3 but I am having so many problems this time around that I am wondering about everything I eat now.

If I don't gain tomorrow I think I will try HB eggs instead of scrambled with cheese. I also put shredded cheese and sunflower seeds on my tuna salad for lunch so I will cut out the cheese there as well to see if that's the problem. I wish I had thought of trying this before I had the scrambled eggs with cheese for breakfast this morning but oh well, there's nothing I can do about that now. I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow morning on the scale.

[LaraSuzz]

Originally Posted by Ravenj9

Well I am up .6 so that puts me 2.8 lbs over my LDW. I only lost 1 lb from the GY CD on Monday so I gained over half of that back. I really don't want to do another CD so soon.

The steak day might work better for me but I can't imagine not eating all day until dinner. If my weight keeps going up I guess I will be forced to try a steak day tomorrow. If I have to do a steak day, can I at least drink coffee with HWC for breakfast and lunch? I think the coffee would help me get through the day. If not, maybe I can try an egg day. I'm just so disappointed right now I really don't know what to do.

I had the same problem, the omelette at the cafeteria was the only thing that it could have been but there should be no defference between butter and veggie oil those are both legal.. it could be the shredded cheese. sometimes there are hidden starches in shredded cheese to keep it from sticking together. If you do a steak day you can't drink coffee with cream, I did that once and I didn't lose anything that day. You can have plenty of water tho, diet sodas are ok too, just hydrate a lot that day. I usually eat my steak early and sometiimes, I have had two steaks and a huge tomato.
On those days I will go to Burger King and get a huge iced tea put some lemon and that keeps me happy. Then I go home do my steak and try to go to bed early, lol.

[Ravenj9]

Originally Posted by LaraSuzz

I had the same problem, the omelette at the cafeteria was the only thing that it could have been but there should be no defference between butter and veggie oil those are both legal.. it could be the shredded cheese. sometimes there are hidden starches in shredded cheese to keep it from sticking together. If you do a steak day you can't drink coffee with cream, I did that once and I didn't lose anything that day. You can have plenty of water tho, diet sodas are ok too, just hydrate a lot that day. I usually eat my steak early and sometiimes, I have had two steaks and a huge tomato.
On those days I will go to Burger King and get a huge iced tea put some lemon and that keeps me happy. Then I go home do my steak and try to go to bed early, lol.

Thanks LaraSuzz. I guess I will have to fill up on the water then. I will also try to drink an additional 32 ozs of water today to see if that helps.

[C'Marie]

Originally Posted by KelliC

Thanks, me too Potatoes are the one thing that I haven't had at all, My dd just informed me that she'd like Subway today, she is having absolutely no problems with anything, so good for her (she had pizza on Monday and tacos yesterday and is down .5!) , I think I'll ask for a fork with mine and maybe eat 1/2 the bread we'll see how it works out I hope your P4 evens out for you!

Half servings are always good as tests. Don't overwhelm your system. And if that's what you choose to try in one day, don't do anything else different so you know. Good luck!

[C'Marie]

Originally Posted by LaraSuzz

I had the same problem, the omelette at the cafeteria was the only thing that it could have been but there should be no defference between butter and veggie oil those are both legal.. it could be the shredded cheese. sometimes there are hidden starches in shredded cheese to keep it from sticking together. If you do a steak day you can't drink coffee with cream, I did that once and I didn't lose anything that day. You can have plenty of water tho, diet sodas are ok too, just hydrate a lot that day. I usually eat my steak early and sometiimes, I have had two steaks and a huge tomato.
On those days I will go to Burger King and get a huge iced tea put some lemon and that keeps me happy. Then I go home do my steak and try to go to bed early, lol.

@Raven, you might try a steak day with a small steak for lunch and a bigger steak for dinner - kinda split up what I would've eaten at one time into two servings. I did that once, and went down quite a bit. Only one tomato or apple though.

[Ravenj9]

Originally Posted by C'Marie

@Raven, you might try a steak day with a small steak for lunch and a bigger steak for dinner - kinda split up what I would've eaten at one time into two servings. I did that once, and went down quite a bit. Only one tomato or apple though.

Thanks C'Marie. Eating a smaller steak at lunch would make things so much easier. I guess I'd better cook my lunch steak tonight to prepare for tomorrow.

[garnet10]

Originally Posted by Ravenj9

Well I am up .6 so that puts me 2.8 lbs over my LDW. I only lost 1 lb from the GY CD on Monday so I gained over half of that back. I really don't want to do another CD so soon.

The steak day might work better for me but I can't imagine not eating all day until dinner. If my weight keeps going up I guess I will be forced to try a steak day tomorrow. If I have to do a steak day, can I at least drink coffee with HWC for breakfast and lunch? I think the coffee would help me get through the day. If not, maybe I can try an egg day. I'm just so disappointed right now I really don't know what to do.

Good luck, Raven! I hope your steak day works out for you. If I don't get back to my LDW window tomorrow I will do the steak day as LaraSuzz and C'Marie have outlined. I hope I haven't ruined today's egg day. I ate 2 over easy eggs cooked in butter for breakfast, 4 scrambled eggs with 1/4 cup shredded cheese for lunch, and with both meals I had decaf coffee with heavy cream. I'm just hoping the heavy cream and cheese do not affect my weight loss tomorrow.

[C'Marie]

Originally Posted by garnet10

Good luck, Raven! I hope your steak day works out for you. If I don't get back to my LDW window tomorrow I will do the steak day as LaraSuzz and C'Marie have outlined. I hope I haven't ruined today's egg day. I ate 2 over easy eggs cooked in butter for breakfast, 4 scrambled eggs with 1/4 cup shredded cheese for lunch, and with both meals I had decaf coffee with heavy cream. I'm just hoping the heavy cream and cheese do not affect my weight loss tomorrow.

I hope so too ! All you can do now is eat your eggs clean the rest of the day.

[Ravenj9]

Originally Posted by garnet10

Good luck, Raven! I hope your steak day works out for you. If I don't get back to my LDW window tomorrow I will do the steak day as LaraSuzz and C'Marie have outlined. I hope I haven't ruined today's egg day. I ate 2 over easy eggs cooked in butter for breakfast, 4 scrambled eggs with 1/4 cup shredded cheese for lunch, and with both meals I had decaf coffee with heavy cream. I'm just hoping the heavy cream and cheese do not affect my weight loss tomorrow.

Let me know how your egg day turns out Garnet. I may have to try that as well. How many eggs are you supposed to eat for the day?

[catjrow3]

8-12 eggs on an egg correction day!

[Ravenj9]

Originally Posted by catjrow3

8-12 eggs on an egg correction day!

Thanks Cathy!

[catjrow3]

Sure!

[LaraSuzz]

Ok now this is getting weird, so after I fell in the parking lot on the way to the cafeteria to get some coffee I went to the ladies room to examine my bruises and I think I dropped $6 on the floor, and an hour later one of my coworkers found it but by the time they tried to see whos it was two other ladies in the office said it was theirs!!! This day is awful, lol! I want to go home and get under the covers but I have a GYN appointment which only makes my day even worse!!!! LOL!!!! Just kidding its not that bad, but funny.

[garnet10]

Originally Posted by C'Marie

I hope so too ! All you can do now is eat your eggs clean the rest of the day.

The odd thing is, it was on this forum that I found the egg correction day that included cheese and heavy cream! I guess I'll find out tomorrow.