Tomorrow is Round 2, load day 1...but did I screw this up?

[Jody100467]

Hi Everyone!

I was so worried about P3 and P4 but it was an absolute piece of cake. (Thanks to all of you for the support...especially C'marie who gave me so much guidance). I was so afraid that I would have crazy fluctuations and not be able to keep off the weight but the exact opposite is what happened. I was so steady it was incredible...I was never beyond the 2 pound mark up or down...as a matter of fact I was rarely beyond one pound up or down of where I was supposed to be. I was almost always between 171.2 and 172.6. And it was easy for me. I am so pleased with how this has worked. I added in lots of fat and calories...I tolerate ezekial bread very easily. I never tried having more than two pieces a day but I probably wouldn't want to eat that much bread in one day anyway. I added a ton of fat in the form of nuts...I ate lots of almonds and walnuts. Sometimes 3 or 4 handfuls in one day with berries. I tried to eat higher calories to help my metabolism work better so that when I maintain I can eat more food and not have weight fluctuation. I had one time that I ate a half of a Klondike bar and I was almost up to the two pound mark (it made me so nervous) but it was gone the next day...that taught me that I should probably stick with sugar free ice cream bars (try the sugar free dilly bar from DQ...it's really yummy). Sugar really is what causes me issues. I can have limited white rice and I even had a sub from a favorite restaurant on white bread and I didn't gain a pound from it...I wasn't up an ounce. I swear...I feel like this DID repair my metabolism.

So today is my last day of P4 and I had plans with my girlfriend to go to a buffet for dinner. I ate a little more than I have normally been eating and I had some desert...something I really try to avoid because I believe that sugar is really bad for us (and boy was it yummy). I wasn't painfully stuffed after dinner...and the desert wasn't much...just a few bites. I was able to eat a brownie and a few bites of a triple chocolate cake and then push away most of it. And it wasn't a problem. I enjoyed the fresh berries almost more than the cake. And you know what else...another sign that maybe this helped my metabolism...after we ate...within about 15 minutes...bernice paid a visit.

So my weight will be a little skewed in the morning. I will start my hcg drops in the morning and tomorrow is load day 1. I guess I am feeling a little guilty about indulging but I am thinking of it as part of my loading. I will let you know how much my weight is in the morning...if this really affected me a lot or if it was just a little blip. I really think that if I was at maintenance and had eaten at this buffet I have the tools now to manage it without allowing any gain to remain. I would eat lightly the day before and the day of and then eat low carb for the next couple of days to get the sugar and carbs (and extra water weight) out of my body. And it feels great to have a plan in place for maintenance.

I feel so good about getting started again. Back on 100% strict protocol. I can't wait to start seeing the results from round 2. I am in the low 170's now and I hope to lose around 25 pounds this round. That will put me right around or maybe (hopefully) below 150 pounds when I finish this round. Round 2/phase 2 should run until around the end of July...depending on how it goes, I may extend my round through the end of August. The extra time could get me quite a bit closer to my goal of being in the 130's somewhere. That will make me so happy. I can't wait.

Ok...I am super tired. Thanks for listening to be ramble.

Jody

[Dreamchaser]

Hi Jody. I'm in Round 1 starting my day 11 tomorrow. I have no idea if you messed anything up but I loved reading this. I am far away from P3 but already scared so it's really nice to hear a story like yours. Wow, sounds like you've really got everything under control. WTG girl!

How many days did you do P2 and how much did you lose?

[C'Marie]

Hey Sweets! Sounds like you did just fine - if your weight is up tomorrow, don't worry about it (resist the urge to do a steak day! Really! been there!) just load like you would normally, heavy fats, low carb, low sugar unless you really want to say "buh-bye" to something - have an alcoholic drink if you want, and GO FOR IT.

You did better in your P3/P4 than I am doing in my P3 this time. I best take my own advice and quit messing around in "caution" foods... LOL too many at one time.... but I'm hanging in there, still pretty close to my window even if I go up a bit (why do all these "fluctuations" have to be in the upward direction Huh?! ) So I go up a bit and then I watch it for a couple days and it goes down a bit.

[Jody100467]

Dreamchaser...I had so many problems losing weight on other diets and I was scared that my weight wouldn't stay off but this really works for me and P3 and P4 really wasn't difficult. Seriously...don't be scared. I wasted a lot of time being afraid and nervous when my approach should have been more about "what am I going to learn about my body" during P3 and P4. P3 is really NO big deal at all. It's just a simple low carb diet. And P4 was easy because C'marie taught me something really valuable. She taught me that when I add a new food I should eat it for two days to see if it affects my weight. Don't add more than one new food at a time. Then, if you gain weight from it, you will know exactly which food is the culpit. Isn't that simple! So I started with a half piece of ezekial bread and ate that for two days with no gain. Then I went to a full piece. Then I tried two pieces and no gain. But when I ate half of an ice cream bar I was up a pound the first day. If I ate a quarter of that ice cream bar - no gain. So I know if I am going to have something with sugar in it, I can't eat much of it because it will make me gain. I guess I have learned that I need to pay attention to what I eat, watch the scale daily and if I gain a pound I immediately need to do something to correct it. If I had known those three little things I would probably have never gained as much weight as I did in the first place. The truth is that you just have to go slow and be aware.

I did a 43 day round and I lost 26 pounds. I had no problem doing a round that long and if I didn't want the benefits of the diet I would have probably just continued doing a really long P2. But I wanted the benefits this diet can have on our metabolism so I did a full three week P3 and P4. AND I was strict protocol and I found that to be pretty easy too. No refeeds or cheat meals for this lady...I want to get to goal and I want to be healthy. It takes way too long to recover from a cheat meal anyway...it's just not worth it.

So my point is don't waste time and energy on anxiety over p3 and p4. It will be fine. I know it's hard to not worry but try to enjoy the journey. I did things that pointed out to me the success that I was having. I weighed daily and I took measurements on the same day every week. I made a spreadsheet that showed me exactly how much I lost in pounds and inches every week in P2 and when my losses slowed down a bit I could see that I was losing tons of inches and that kept me motivated. One other bit of advice...pay attention to C'marie and the other folks on here. They have very valuable info to offer.

Good luck...you will do just fine! I'm happy that I could motivate you. And I can't wait to finally be a success story at lowcarbfriends...I have been here for years and never made goal. I am finally going to get there. Woohoo!

Jody

[Jody100467]

Originally Posted by C'Marie

Hey Sweets! Sounds like you did just fine - if your weight is up tomorrow, don't worry about it (resist the urge to do a steak day! Really! been there!) just load like you would normally, heavy fats, low carb, low sugar unless you really want to say "buh-bye" to something - have an alcoholic drink if you want, and GO FOR IT.

You did better in your P3/P4 than I am doing in my P3 this time. I best take my own advice and quit messing around in "caution" foods... LOL too many at one time.... but I'm hanging in there, still pretty close to my window even if I go up a bit (why do all these "fluctuations" have to be in the upward direction Huh?! ) So I go up a bit and then I watch it for a couple days and it goes down a bit.

HI C'marie...you are seriously my angel. If someone had said to me to add food in two day increments when I was doing OWL I would have gotten this darned weight off years ago but I had no idea how to do OWL so I was just spinning my wheels. This was such a simple answer to that problem for me...thank you so much for that advice. And for me...counting calories just doesn't work so I just watched the scale and added foods the way that you said to and it worked perfectly. I really can't thank you enough. I plan to be mostly low carb for the rest of my life and knowing that I can use ezekial bread to make breading for pork chops or fish, have it as french toast or just for a sandwich will make the maintenance part so much easier for me. I could have used you years ago...LOL.

By the way...the meal last night was just fine...LOL. I won't eat much sugar during my load...although I would love a Blizzard from DQ. My weight was 175 this morning...a pound over my window but I am loading now and it will come right off. I'm not going to worry about it. I should have just started my drops last night...that would have been the smarter thing to do but now I know for the next time.

Sorry that you are struggling a little bit right now...but honestly...you are doing what needs to be done in maintenance so it's good practice...LOL. You are watching the scale, eating some "caution foods" but making sure to correct any problems along the way. You are such a great example to all of us for how to manage this weight loss in an ongoing manner. Just a question for you...are you eating any higher carb foods like potatoes or corn? I added in ezekial bread and did have a sub with regular bread and even had a few bites of pasta with no problem but I didn't add potatoes or corn. How have those foods affected you? I will need to try adding them in during my next p4.

Good luck getting on track...you can do it! And thanks for all of your help!

Jody

[chicamala]

I'm actually getting excited as I read about P3. I definitely have food sensitivities, amongst other things. I am beginning to see a plan form as to how to do P3 now and it is great to read about successes. Nice job!

[C'Marie]

I am still on P3 for one more week, so no starchy anything for me at this point. After my last full P3/P4 I did, but still only half servings. Anything "white" inflames my arthritis so I keep that down for that reason and general health principles. (potatoes, eggplant, tomatoe are all known inflammatory agents for arthritis at the cellular level)

I am trying to just BE healthy so of course I will indulge here and there, so for me, P4 is all about what I am willing to incorporate into a healthy diet and what I am not. Then when the basics are all covered - a little of this, a little of that, stay stable, then I am willing to go out for a "treat" meal, maybe my LOVE LOVE POTSTICKERS or one slice of pizza with a big salad and I don't worry too much.

Last summer, when I was on vacation, I did fabulous eating out for 2 weeks when I was only about 1 1/2 weeks into P4. Of course, I was walking for at least 3-6 hours a day. That's saying something esp with my cane. So my activity level was pretty high and I even ate gelato and restaurant meals - I practiced portion control and would just eat my salad, veggies, meat, and a few bites of starchy/carb and gravy items, eat a few bites of a nice dessert, and then push away from the table. It really was that simple. On a few occasions, I actually ate QUITE a bit (I was in Paris and Prague and I did EAT, and even some pastries) but as I kept my scale with me the whole time, I only varied slightly and did well. My main focus at that point was to be sure most things I ate that were starchy or sugary was to eat them for lunch - cheaper eating out that way too - and for dinner I would focus on meat and salad and that was it. Although a few times I did have gelato late at night before we walked back to the hotel.

I am hoping really to set this weight for this P4 because it will be a long one, and I'm going on vacay at the first of July for 2 weeks. And I will bring my scale again!

[Dreamchaser]

Originally Posted by Jody100467

Dreamchaser...I had so many problems losing weight on other diets and I was scared that my weight wouldn't stay off but this really works for me and P3 and P4 really wasn't difficult. Seriously...don't be scared. I wasted a lot of time being afraid and nervous when my approach should have been more about "what am I going to learn about my body" during P3 and P4. P3 is really NO big deal at all. It's just a simple low carb diet. And P4 was easy because C'marie taught me something really valuable. She taught me that when I add a new food I should eat it for two days to see if it affects my weight. Don't add more than one new food at a time. Then, if you gain weight from it, you will know exactly which food is the culpit. Isn't that simple! So I started with a half piece of ezekial bread and ate that for two days with no gain. Then I went to a full piece. Then I tried two pieces and no gain. But when I ate half of an ice cream bar I was up a pound the first day. If I ate a quarter of that ice cream bar - no gain. So I know if I am going to have something with sugar in it, I can't eat much of it because it will make me gain. I guess I have learned that I need to pay attention to what I eat, watch the scale daily and if I gain a pound I immediately need to do something to correct it. If I had known those three little things I would probably have never gained as much weight as I did in the first place. The truth is that you just have to go slow and be aware.

I did a 43 day round and I lost 26 pounds. I had no problem doing a round that long and if I didn't want the benefits of the diet I would have probably just continued doing a really long P2. But I wanted the benefits this diet can have on our metabolism so I did a full three week P3 and P4. AND I was strict protocol and I found that to be pretty easy too. No refeeds or cheat meals for this lady...I want to get to goal and I want to be healthy. It takes way too long to recover from a cheat meal anyway...it's just not worth it.

So my point is don't waste time and energy on anxiety over p3 and p4. It will be fine. I know it's hard to not worry but try to enjoy the journey. I did things that pointed out to me the success that I was having. I weighed daily and I took measurements on the same day every week. I made a spreadsheet that showed me exactly how much I lost in pounds and inches every week in P2 and when my losses slowed down a bit I could see that I was losing tons of inches and that kept me motivated. One other bit of advice...pay attention to C'marie and the other folks on here. They have very valuable info to offer.

Good luck...you will do just fine! I'm happy that I could motivate you. And I can't wait to finally be a success story at lowcarbfriends...I have been here for years and never made goal. I am finally going to get there. Woohoo!

Jody

Thanks Jody, very helpful post! I feel the same way. I've been here at lowcarbfriends forever and have never made goal. It's time to finally get there!!!