P2 Simeon's Protocol Week of 7/16

[Arctic_Mama]

Originally Posted by Reddy

Ah and Arctic Mama CONGRATS on your Pregnancy! How exciting!!! Are you continuing HCG through it or do you have to stop? (just curious)

Ms Kayla Paige, I had a really tough time loading too. I thought it would be the most fun I ever had in my life and instead I struggled to eat and felt nauseous.

Oh you definitely have to stop. Even of you otherwise feel good there are all sorts of toxic compounds stored in the body's adipose tissue that are very bad for babies. It is the same reason the protocol shouldn't be done while nursing, either. And while I was going to continue the VLCD about five days longer than I did, to reach the minimum round length, I got very, very hungry and had to move to maintenance. During pregnancy your circulating hCG increases dramatically and quickly past the sweet spot the protocol doses at and the energy demands on your body are signaled to become higher. The VLCD just doesn't suffice. So that was a fail and I could feel it.

A common question on one of my boards, when someone becomes hungry, is if they are pregnant. It is apparently very common that the VLCD becomes hard to stick to during early pregnancy when it otherwise would not be, so persisting on it is almost impossible and not particularly wise, to boot.

On the upside, in listening to my hunger cues I am still falling between 1300-1600 calories most days, which means I will likely continue to lose some bodyfat. And that is fine by me!

[MissKaylaPaige]

So today is VLCD day 1. Haven't eaten yet, not hungry, but I'm gonna go ahead and have an apple just to get something in me.

I'm having a moment of panic, I went to do my injection, pulled the plunger back to the 30 cc mark and realized that it looked a lot smaller than my injections the past 2 days, and I'm kinda thinking that I accidentally gave myself 50 cc the past two days instead of 30!!! that would certainly explain why I have been so very much NOT hungry... bah, I just hope I didn't use up too much of my precious supply from that vial! grrrr

[Arctic_Mama]

Don't make yourself eat if you're not hungry! It's perfectly okay to eat your first meal in the afternoon and second later at night. Yay to no hunger, but if you find yourself getting painfully hungry later on in the protocol I'd look into adjusting your dose downward. It's a bit on the high side in terms of strength, nothing above 125iu is necessary for the protocol.

That may also help stretch your vial longer, if you have been overdosing the hCG on accident.

[MissKaylaPaige]

Originally Posted by Arctic_Mama

Don't make yourself eat if you're not hungry! It's perfectly okay to eat your first meal in the afternoon and second later at night. Yay to no hunger, but if you find yourself getting painfully hungry later on in the protocol I'd look into adjusting your dose downward. It's a bit on the high side in terms of strength, nothing above 125iu is necessary for the protocol.

That may also help stretch your vial longer, if you have been overdosing the hCG on accident.

ooh, I was told on a different site that I should definitely do 150. But then again that site had a number of either not helpful or rude people, I stopped going there, this place is so much kinder!

I did wait until afternoon, I ate the apple at 1 pm even though I wasn't hungry at all! And I couldn't even finish the apple. I threw away 1/4 of it

[Arctic_Mama]

Have you read the protocol? That outlines all the information needed, and has no funky alterations. If you message me with your email address I'd be happy to send you a clean PDF copy.

[MissKaylaPaige]

Originally Posted by Arctic_Mama

Have you read the protocol? That outlines all the information needed, and has no funky alterations. If you message me with your email address I'd be happy to send you a clean PDF copy.

oh yes, I've read the protocol, I just heard from all these other people about how 150 was appropriate, and I listened to it, but I probably shouldn't have.

[Arctic_Mama]

Unless you've run into a specific quandary, the best advice I could give you is that if ANYONE suggests doing something that runs counter to the original protocol's advice you promptly and completely ignore them. It keeps things simple, straightforward, and as far as I can tell, the most permanently effective. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[MissKaylaPaige]

In the interest of keeping with protocol...

I cannot find melba or grissini anywhere around here, which isn't really bothersome to me since I do not like bread type things anyway, but what should I do to make up for this?

[Chouter]

Originally Posted by dbunny

Hmmmm... STS today. Still OK with that. Tomorrow I may not be. I am wondering if it is the ground sirloin that I used for P2 chili. It could also be that this weight is @ where I stabilized for a brief period of time my last round.
Chouter, I love that you called it your wine incident.. I have had a few of those myself over the past couple rounds. It cannot be helped, although my hangovers are fierce on P2!

I am not prone to hangovers, but yeah, on P2, wine can really hurt me! I've learned my lesson, though. It was just not worth it. (Although at the time . . .

[Reddy]

Originally Posted by MissKaylaPaige

ooh, I was told on a different site that I should definitely do 150. But then again that site had a number of either not helpful or rude people, I stopped going there, this place is so much kinder!

I did wait until afternoon, I ate the apple at 1 pm even though I wasn't hungry at all! And I couldn't even finish the apple. I threw away 1/4 of it

I am doing 125 and it seems to be enough to keep me from being hungry. If you are concerned that you used too much and want to make sure to stretch it further, maybe you should do 125 for a few days to make up for it. If that works for you, no reason to do more. Why take more than you need? And I don't know for sure but I'd say it's important to eat even if you're not hungry b/c you're body needs SOME calories!

[Reddy]

Originally Posted by Arctic_Mama

Oh you definitely have to stop. Even of you otherwise feel good there are all sorts of toxic compounds stored in the body's adipose tissue that are very bad for babies. It is the same reason the protocol shouldn't be done while nursing, either. And while I was going to continue the VLCD about five days longer than I did, to reach the minimum round length, I got very, very hungry and had to move to maintenance. During pregnancy your circulating hCG increases dramatically and quickly past the sweet spot the protocol doses at and the energy demands on your body are signaled to become higher. The VLCD just doesn't suffice. So that was a fail and I could feel it.

A common question on one of my boards, when someone becomes hungry, is if they are pregnant. It is apparently very common that the VLCD becomes hard to stick to during early pregnancy when it otherwise would not be, so persisting on it is almost impossible and not particularly wise, to boot.

On the upside, in listening to my hunger cues I am still falling between 1300-1600 calories most days, which means I will likely continue to lose some bodyfat. And that is fine by me!

Ok yeah, I assumed you would stop if you were pregnant but I wasn't sure since you were posting and I thought perhaps you were still doing it. So with the 1300-1600 are you only eating P2 foods or are you following P3 or are you doing something else completely?

[Arctic_Mama]

Originally Posted by MissKaylaPaige

In the interest of keeping with protocol...

I cannot find melba or grissini anywhere around here, which isn't really bothersome to me since I do not like bread type things anyway, but what should I do to make up for this?

In California? I assume you're in Victorville, Barstow, or maybe even Palm Springs by the description of your location - any grocery or health food store should have thin little Italian breadsticks called grissini and Melba toast are very common, too. Otherwise you're doing two saltines per meal, I think that's the most straightforward substitution.

I know I could find the crackers all over southern California, so I'd be surprised if they weren't slightly east, but it may depend on how small your town is!

[Arctic_Mama]

Originally Posted by Reddy

Ok yeah, I assumed you would stop if you were pregnant but I wasn't sure since you were posting and I thought perhaps you were still doing it. So with the 1300-1600 are you only eating P2 foods or are you following P3 or are you doing something else completely?

I'm still posting because I'm an advice junky

I'm not eating P2 foods, no, but not strictly P3, either. I follow the Perfect Health Diet for maintenance, which has its own requirements for maximizing nutrition and minimizing toxicity or overdose. It's like P3 but with some starch, and hasn't caused me an issue. My body isn't responding the way it would in normal maintenance after hCG because, well, I still have hCG in my system and more and more of it! So I'm just focusing on quality nutrition per my maintenance plan and listening to my hunger cues.

[MissKaylaPaige]

I'm starting to realize that coffee is going to be a godsend for me...

I've never been THAT big of a coffee drinker, i'd occasionally get one of those sugary yummy starbucks drinks but just a plain cup of coffee? nah, never.

Well despite having no legitimate hunger most of the day, after an afternoon apple and eating some beef and radishes for a late lunch I just had stupid cravings. I was not physically hungry but just wanted to occupy myself, so I made a cup of coffee and WOW did it help. I'll eat dinner (chicken and fresh cucumbers) soon so that coffee was great for tiding me over, and I'll eat strawberries as an after dinner snack.

I know that by not having the melba that I'm losing out on some calories so I'm not sure what to do about that. Ideally it would be awesome if I could add in a snack of celery (say, in between lunch and dinner?) but I know that doesn't really quite work with protocol, especially with the not mixing up veggies deal.

I think I read that for those avoiding the bread to just double your veggie portion at dinner, but the idea of eating DOUBLE of my cucumbers or radishes or whatever I'm gonna eat at dinner... I'll see myself getting really sick of cucumbers fast and would not be surprised if I didn't even finish the double portion.

Perhaps in a couple days i'll try out the celery idea and be a bit rogue (isn't is so funny that the idea of eating a couple celery sticks is ROGUE!? haha) and see how it effects me.

[Reddy]

Originally Posted by Arctic_Mama

I'm still posting because I'm an advice junky

I'm not eating P2 foods, no, but not strictly P3, either. I follow the Perfect Health Diet for maintenance, which has its own requirements for maximizing nutrition and minimizing toxicity or overdose. It's like P3 but with some starch, and hasn't caused me an issue. My body isn't responding the way it would in normal maintenance after hCG because, well, I still have hCG in my system and more and more of it! So I'm just focusing on quality nutrition per my maintenance plan and listening to my hunger cues.

Aww that's awesome that you're still here to support and help others! And that's great that you're taking good care of yourself and it sounds like you'll have a healthy pregnancy without much gain!

Question on another note, do we NEED the Melba or Grissini? I've been doing it without it b/c I know how sensitive I am to carbs and I figured it could be a trigger for me. Besides it's not much food really anyway. Is it an important component that I shouldn't be leaving out?

[Reddy]

MissKaylaPaige, I have been drinking TONS of tea for the same reason you're drinking coffe. I'd drink coffe (I LOVE MY COFFEE) but without Milk, I just can't do it and the 1 tbsp of fat free just doesn't cut it.

But I've REALLY been enjoying a cup of tea with Flavored Stevia whenever a hunger or craving for something comes. It's been getting me through this whole thing. Also it's a great way to get my water in!

I don't eat cucumbers so I've been stuck eating Asparagus and Celery mostly. I tried boiled radishes and yuck. I did spinach and it was OK but I didn't love it. I also don't like tomatoes. Eating plain celery and asparagus every day is going to get old REALLY quickly!!!

[MissKaylaPaige]

Originally Posted by Arctic_Mama

In California? I assume you're in Victorville, Barstow, or maybe even Palm Springs by the description of your location - any grocery or health food store should have thin little Italian breadsticks called grissini and Melba toast are very common, too. Otherwise you're doing two saltines per meal, I think that's the most straightforward substitution.

I know I could find the crackers all over southern California, so I'd be surprised if they weren't slightly east, but it may depend on how small your town is!

ooh just saw this after making my previous post!

I'm in apple valley, smack dab inbetween victorville and barstow. There's a health store in the next town over that I've heard about, but from a conversation I had today I was led to believe they were LESS about grocery's and more about vitamins and the like, so I'm not sure but I'll be driving out tomorrow to see it anyway.

We're definitely a small town... and shrinking! The closest grocery store closed down last month, and now I'm actually doing my grocery shopping at target now.

The closest whole foods or trader joes is an hour away I went to college in Santa Barbara and fell in love with whole foods and now out here in this dinky little desert town I feel so deprived! haha. I may just go ahead and make that long drive to the nearest whole foods next week and pack a cooler with some ice in my car to keep things cool on the drive back.

[MissKaylaPaige]

Originally Posted by Reddy

MissKaylaPaige, I have been drinking TONS of tea for the same reason you're drinking coffe. I'd drink coffe (I LOVE MY COFFEE) but without Milk, I just can't do it and the 1 tbsp of fat free just doesn't cut it.

But I've REALLY been enjoying a cup of tea with Flavored Stevia whenever a hunger or craving for something comes. It's been getting me through this whole thing.

I don't eat cucumbers so I've been stuck eating Asparagus and Celery mostly. I tried boiled radishes and yuck. I did spinach and it was OK but I didn't love it. I also don't like tomatoes. Eating plain celery and asparagus every day is going to get old REALLY quickly!!!

I baked my radishes today and they were quite BLAH... I love raw radishes so I think in the future I will not cook them at all.

I'm totally tea handicapped! I don't know what kinds are right, what brands to get, how to make them or anything! I also can't find stevia... I've seen truvia but that's it. Silly small town... heh.

I think I'll be able to stick with my current foods for about a week, and then I'll need to switch up the menu, next week I'll probably switch out my beef for tilapia and eat my chicken with some spinach to make a bit of a "salad"

I'm already over the apple though. I have never really been an apple fan. If I have to do an apple day I'll be so not happy haha. I hated grapefruit as a little girl and have never tried it again since but perhaps my tastes have changed

[Reddy]

Originally Posted by MissKaylaPaige

I baked my radishes today and they were quite BLAH... I love raw radishes so I think in the future I will not cook them at all.

I'm totally tea handicapped! I don't know what kinds are right, what brands to get, how to make them or anything! I also can't find stevia... I've seen truvia but that's it. Silly small town... heh.

I think I'll be able to stick with my current foods for about a week, and then I'll need to switch up the menu, next week I'll probably switch out my beef for tilapia and eat my chicken with some spinach to make a bit of a "salad"

I'm already over the apple though. I have never really been an apple fan. If I have to do an apple day I'll be so not happy haha. I hated grapefruit as a little girl and have never tried it again since but perhaps my tastes have changed

Just pick up some green tea. THat's all you need. I got a few different green teas. One was a lemon one and one was a Chai green tea. I bought them at target and I bet your target will have stevia too. Not necessarily the flavored kind but at least the regular. The health foods store you mentioned might have flavored. That's the type of place I got mine (and it was a small place not a whole foods)

There's also online as an option. You can buy groceries on Amazon. Not sure if you're into online shopping but I buy EVERYTHING online these days. So you could totally check amazon for the melbas and the stevia and anything else.

As for radishes... I don't like them raw. I boiled them and they were just too blah. I couldn't finish them. They weren't BAD just not GOOD. Ya know?

I'm finding little ways to make the foods more interesting / bearable. Per something I read on here, I have started taking my strawberries and making a "smoothie" Just a tiny bit of water, Ice, Stevia and my tablespoon of milk in a blender. SOOO good and VERY filling!

As for grapefruit, I have been really enjoying it. I put stevia on it and it's YUMMY! I'm not having issues with the fruit at all...the veggies are what's killing me. Going to try and do cabbage next.

[julieboolie]

Miss-my local Walmart had grissini the other day. Not sure how far that'll be from you, but it was near the pasta, the gluten free specifically. Not w. the crackers. I do strawberries and love apples so they're my fruits daily. I do spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and cucumbers. (I eat dill pickles too). And I'm w. you on the coffee. I'm not hating it black as much as I used to. Water it down a tad, add an ice cube and it's good. That's my bfast daily. I also skip the breadstick. I'm not a big carb eater either. I love apples though, so they're my daily treat.

Reddy-the flavored coffees (Gevalia mocha) have saved me. I can have that black w. sweetener (and a bit of water and ice cube) and it's pretty good. That's not to say I won't be adding my HWC or half/half back as soon as I can .

VLCD14 in the bag. All my food's eaten, I feel great, and I'm ready to start week 3 tomorrow!! Not sure I'll keep losing as well, as we all know the inevitable stall will come eventually. But I feel smaller and slimmer and quite pleased w/ this round!!

[Arctic_Mama]

Originally Posted by MissKaylaPaige

ooh just saw this after making my previous post!

I'm in apple valley, smack dab inbetween victorville and barstow. There's a health store in the next town over that I've heard about, but from a conversation I had today I was led to believe they were LESS about grocery's and more about vitamins and the like, so I'm not sure but I'll be driving out tomorrow to see it anyway.

We're definitely a small town... and shrinking! The closest grocery store closed down last month, and now I'm actually doing my grocery shopping at target now.

The closest whole foods or trader joes is an hour away I went to college in Santa Barbara and fell in love with whole foods and now out here in this dinky little desert town I feel so deprived! haha. I may just go ahead and make that long drive to the nearest whole foods next week and pack a cooler with some ice in my car to keep things cool on the drive back.

Apple Valley is lovely, I had a family friend who owned a bed and breakfast there. It is teeny, though, which could explain the trouble you're having finding stuff. I'd think about either just biting the bullet to go to a larger town center for those foods or ordering them online.

[Lildrew]

Okay, I admit it....I could have nawed my own arm off today...but I stuck with it. It was touch and go there for a minute!

[Arctic_Mama]

You need that arm, you'll look all lopsided in your goal dresses without it!

[manders]

Originally Posted by dawnyama

Agh!! Who am I kidding?? It was my birthday and I had cake!! But it was just a bite and it was eh, ok. Not the best. DH did great!!! He got me a plain yellow cake so I wasn't tearing into it. If it were chocolate I would have devoured it LOL. I am OK on the scale today, so hoping I don't get a shock tomorrow. But I am OK with any gain from my birthday indiscretion. I ate it, I deserve it. Onward and downward!!

Happy Tuesday everyone!!!

It happens! Back on plan! wooo!

Originally Posted by Arctic_Mama

You need that arm, you'll look all lopsided in your goal dresses without it!

that really made me LOL!

How is your pregnancy going so far?

I know I haven't been around a lot in the past few days. All my spare time has been spent with the new man.

It's going so well that his family/friends have asked me to go on vacation with them! So I will be going out to the Kootenay's in British Columbia in 3 weeks. I'm going to keep on P2 until then because I know it's going to be a gong show of food there.

I went back down to 184 yesterday and stayed the same today. So I'm hoping to see a drop tomorrow. 182 means I've lost 50 pounds, and breaking through to 179 is no-mans land for me, so I need to get that done!

[manders]

Oh, I also wanted to ask this question for a friend. And yes, it really is for a friend lol

She's on VLCD1 today, and she'll only have 18 days before she goes on vacation. How should she handle that? I told her that she shouldn't take the HCG while she is there otherwise it's like loading for 8 days.

[Arctic_Mama]

Originally Posted by manders

It happens! Back on plan! wooo!



that really made me LOL!

How is your pregnancy going so far?

I know I haven't been around a lot in the past few days. All my spare time has been spent with the new man.

It's going so well that his family/friends have asked me to go on vacation with them! So I will be going out to the Kootenay's in British Columbia in 3 weeks. I'm going to keep on P2 until then because I know it's going to be a gong show of food there.

I went back down to 184 yesterday and stayed the same today. So I'm hoping to see a drop tomorrow. 182 means I've lost 50 pounds, and breaking through to 179 is no-mans land for me, so I need to get that done!

No news is good news. If the first twenty weeks are entirely uneventful I'm a happy girl. Just a little nausea and fatigue, and some stress eating beyond my hunger cues tonight.

BC is beautiful, have fun! It's nice that he's already a family friend, right?

[manders]

Originally Posted by Arctic_Mama

No news is good news. If the first twenty weeks are entirely uneventful I'm a happy girl. Just a little nausea and fatigue, and some stress eating beyond my hunger cues tonight.

BC is beautiful, have fun! It's nice that he's already a family friend, right?

Well that's good. Prayers are said for you and the baby!

I've been to BC once before. You'd think I'd of been more considering I live like 2 hours away in Calgary, but no. I didn't really like Vancouver, but the Kootenay's are way different obviously. They've rented a cabin on the lake. I literally cannot wait to spend 5 days with him! I am super excited. He's just such a great guy!

His mom is actually a client I've known for a while. And I kinda just fit in snuggly with his family really quickly. They've made me feel so welcome. I've already been over twice for dinner.

[dbunny]

Finally dropped a smidge.. .5 down.
17 pounds in 15 days is not too shabby!

[julieboolie]

Dbunny-that's great losses and good for you keeping your eye on the big picture!!

Manders- on your new guy!! WAY better than the last one it would seem . Almost like it was meant to be!! Enjoy this time together!!

Taryl-I'm w/ you. First 20weeks no excitement please!! When's your first u/s? Will you get more of them b/c of the m/c's in the past (I've had 3 and got many u/s w. my younger dd).

Drew- at the hunger. That's awful!! I hope it passes. I've been really blessed this round w/ minimal hunger. My tummy growls, and it was worse in the beginning, but it's not the gnawing hunger you've got.

I'm down 1lb overnight!! and back into the 140's!! First time in months!! I still feel good and am really pleased. I'm not anxious about the scale too much. I like that my clothes fit . That was my big motivator.

I was looking back on my last round and my P3 in particular. I finished my LDW the end of Feb and was able to maintain at LDW, or even below a few times, while eating well. It looked good. I only had trouble when I ate out too much (Sweet Tomatoes always gets me!!) and then added exercise on top of it. I need to keep that in mind this time. But, I am much more confident that this P3 will go well now that I've looked back at my last one. I am glad I kept records of what and how much I ate. I'll also be paying much more attention to hunger this time around. I didn't really care much about that last time. I just ate when I felt like it. I'm trying to change my relationship to food. I'm not going totally loco, I will still celebrate a bit, but not to full blown gluttony!! A work in progress to be sure!!

[Lildrew]

I am down 2.6 this morning!!! Woohoo! Very happy girl!