P3-P4 Week of August 6th, 2012
 

We need a new thread for our new week!! Here we go.... Let's make it a great one!!

Well, like I suspected, I was beginning to climb last week. In retrospect, I wish I had done a CD when I hit the top end of my window, but now I'm up and out of it :(. Oh well. Live and learn. Today I am doing a GYCD (Greek Yogurt CD). In past rounds they're worked well for me and I like them b.c you get to eat throughout the day. I have company in town and it'll be hard to do any type of CD while cooking for my family and eating meals all together. Hopefully the GYCD will be easy enough to follow while prepping all the other meals :stars: I do love my inlaws, but the stress of having them here is challenging at times. I'm practicing my hospitality skills :D.

I hope you all had good weekends!! I had a great day at church yesterday. I was right on target calorie wise yesterday. I did sneak a few of dd's fries at lunch, and overrode my "satisfied/full" signals at dinner and had a bit more stuffed pepper than I probably needed. But I was still disappointed that the scale was up today. I had been on the top of my range for the 2 previous days, and still working through a bit of the soreness from lifting Friday. I will be skipping weight training until P4 at this point. Just in case. I may dabble in some cardio-Zumba maybe? I don't want to constantly be wrestling w. the scale. I was doing great my whole first week - stable as a rock!! I would like to get back there. We'll see what tomorrow brings!! :)

Well, ate too much, too soon and am now .7 over my window. CD on day 3. I ate things I knew should have waited, like those coconut pancakes, and a chicken casserole with broccoli, cauliflower, cheese, and onions in it. And wine. Going to do a split GY/Steak CD today and get back down into my range.

Yay for a new thread and a new week!

Julie, I feel bad that you're over your window and hope my "advice" wasn't to blame!

But if you aren't over the 2lbs then aren't you supposed to wait to do the CD anyway? Or is it where you do it right when you are at the top end of it? (asking b/c I don't even really know)

Good Luck with you GYCD. How many GY can you have? And is it any flavors you want? I know you love your Voskos, but do you ever try different brands on a GYCD? I have a yogurt question but I'll post it bit later. Need to take a pic of it lol.

Dbunny, good luck on your CD too. How do you do a GYSD?? I"m asking b/c I see a CD in my near future lol.

I got on the scale today and I'm .4 below my LIW so I guess that's not TOO bad for having had some questionable things like Wine, Fruit and Sugar Free Chocolate.

Thing that stinks is not knowing exactly WHERE I went wrong this weekend since I wasn't weighing. Going to do a very clean day today and see what it nets me tomorrow morning.

Posted in another thread about how I miss P2. P3 is scarier and more stressful than I imagined. I miss not being hungry or thinking about food. I don't like grazing in the kitchen and worrying each time I put something in my mouth. Major anxiety inducer for me.

Hope you all have a great week. I'm certain I will be relying on this group a lot. Possibly more than I did in P2!!!

Ah! Welcome to the club!! :laugh: hope it goes well for both of us today!!

No, not your fault at all!! Most people advised the same thing. Protocol is when you're 2lbs over your LDW, and that's what I followed. I had been below LDW when I started P3, so knowing that, when I approached the high end of my window I knew I had gained more than 2lbs. I like to stay at or below LDW if possible, and when I was that far above LDW I knew I should have corrected. It was likely from water retention from weight lifting, but I still wish I'd have gotten back down closer to LDW before the weekend. I'll see what I can do to get down to or below LDW this week.

I'm confused. You're BELOW LDW and still worried? Huh? :confused: How did you go wrong this weekend and end up BELOW? Looks like whatever you did this weekend was good!! :up:

For a GYCD, you can/should eat 32oz of GY and some berries. About 8oz I believe. Any FULL FAT GY would work. I've tried Fage and other brands, but they do not taste as good as my beloved Voskos :love:. Actually, the one from Trader Joes is quite good too, and would be my second choice if I couldn't get Voskos. It's what I like and available at my Sprouts which I frequent. So, that's how I CD. :D

Glad it's not my fault! lol. ;) I felt bad like oh no, I gave someone bad advice. Esp since I'm in no real position to be dishing out advice since I'm such a newbie!

You're right I shouldn't be upset or worried so long as I'm below LIW. I guess my goal is to stay below my LIW though b/c anything above is not ok with me.

I think my other concern is I don't know if the gain was cumulative from what I ate over the weekend or if it's related to something specific and I just don't want to go over my LIW unless it's b/c I cheated big time ya know? lol. I'm being greedy I guess.

I know I didn't eat TERRIBLY over the weekend, I'm just not sure which things are potential problems yet. I guess I'll learn.

So the carbs and sugar in the GY are legal?

Question is how many carbs / g of sugar in Yogurt would be considered too much?

My favorite full fat yogurt is Liberte. They have a greek yogurt and a "mediteranee" which I'm not sure what that means but that's the one I love b/c It's sooo good.(ate it when I was pregnant)

There's one flavor that I love with Fig and plum and the carbs and sugar are both in the low 20's. Do you think that's ok or is that too high? Sugar is listed as one of the first ingredients. They have a coconut flavor that is more in the High 20's. How high is too high on yogurt? If I could eat these yogurts, I would 100% do a GYCD! But I'm not a huge fan of the other Greek Yogurts I've tried (Fage, Oikos, Chobhani etc)

If that stuff is legal I'd be sooo excited!

Ok Julie, more yogurt questions since you're my yogurt expert :hyst:

I found this stuff at fresh market. Not greek yogurt - it's "new zealand style" whatever that means.

Not sure if it's P3 legal or an ok sub for Greek Yogurt but it looked and sounded good and the ingredients seemed ok b/c I guess it's sweetened with Agave?

Here it is. Are these stats/ ingredients ok? Can I have this?

http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/...D/d84fb23f.jpg

http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/...D/7ef0172a.jpg

http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/...D/83d78871.jpg

Instead of eating a 32 oz container of GY, OR a big ol' steak, I have 16 oz of GY during the day, and an 8 - 10 oz ribeye at night, perhaps with a tomato, or not, depending on how I feel.
I like steak days, but sometimes feel like I can't make it all day without eating, so I devised this one... and it seems to work!

And to comment on that dreaming cow yogurt~ I would say no, it has added sugar, even if it is agave. I use either Fage Total or 2% (I add cream to it to up the fat) or Cabots GY. HTH!

EDITED TO ADD: Try to keep the sugars below 9ish.. So, no added sugars/fruit of any kind~ unless you add fresh berries yourself. And GY has higher protein levels than regular yogurt, like 23 grams per cup in Fage!

Sorry to say, any yogurt w. added stuff (agave is a nicer more natural sugar) won't work for P3. If the ingredients are other than cream, milk and the good bacteria I avoid it. I always get plain, and the highest fat content I can get. Greek yogurt is just strained yogurt. Many people buy plain full fat Dannon yogurt and strain it themselves to make it thicker. I have access to yummy Voskos so I dont' have to suffer through other brands (I'm with you, Fage, Oikos and Chobani are :sick:). If you have a Whole Foods or AJ's you can find Voskos brand. It's blue labelled and the creamiest best. I eat it straight, but w. a bit of Splenda and some berries in it it's like a dessert!! SOoooo creamy and yummy!! :yummy:

Dbunny-interesting. I may try that later this week. I did a modified CD day last round, eggs for bfast, GY for lunch and steak for dinner. Did well that day if I recall. This time around I'm trying a clean GYCD today but will likely try your suggestion down the road. I'm sure I'll be up at the top of my range again soon enough. Hopefully not until P4 though!! :D

Hello ladies!

I love greek yogurt. Especially when I douse it with honey LOL

I'm down to 184.2 today, so I'm only 1.6 above my last VLCD. Woohoo!!! Hoping to get down to 182.6 by Sunday. The boy gets here Sunday morning and I'm literally pooping my pants with excitement! hahahah :D I have so many things to do this week. Have to colour my hair, see if one of the girls in the hair salon can trim it, do a facial, do some waxing, keep working out, plan what restaurants we will go to, and then figure out a birthday present for him. He turns 31 on Aug 17. I thought it would be funny to get him a Happy Birthday Grandpa card, but I think that might make him a little cranky. :lol: He's already sensitive about his age.

I'm sitting on the couch today eating veggies and dip watching the CAN vs USA women's soccer game. The humidex outside is crazy and we don't have A/C. I think my jog tonight will be a late one.

Awesome!!!!!!! LOL at everything you have to do to be ready for the "boy":rofl: Wish I had all that to worry about...oh, wait...no time anyway:stars:

Is humidex same as humidity...it's 106 here & 70% humidity:down:

Have a great run!!!

haha well he would still want me even if i was wearing a potato sack! I just do all that stuff because it makes me feel more prepared. I haven't seen him in like a year and a half. It feels like the first time again. Last time I was almost 50 pounds heavier! I know he loves me either way though.

Humidex is how hot it feels outside when the humidity is factored. So even though it SAYS it's 90 degrees, it feels like 110 in the sun.

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This sounds much more doable than just one steak for dinner. I've also read you can get two smaller steaks so I may try that if I do a SD.

I was reading about gy today and see that it has much higher protein which is what makes it good.

Yeah I figured that and didn't think it made sense. I guess I was confused b/c when I looked at plain greek yogurt it did have like 8 or more grams of sugar. I think I'll look for Voskos and try that with berries. If not, I will just skip yogurt I suppose b/c I don't like the other brands.

Yay for being down, you should definitely hit the 182 by Sunday if you make good choices!!

I'm like you with the primping for ocassions, and a boy is a BIG one.

Be nice about the age thing

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This sounds much more doable than just one steak for dinner. I've also read you can get two smaller steaks so I may try that if I do a SD.

I was reading about gy today and see that it has much higher protein which is what makes it good for this diet! And in general.

Yeah I figured that and didn't think it made sense. I guess I was confused b/c when I looked at plain greek yogurt it did have like 8 or more grams of sugar. I think I'll look for Voskos and try that with berries. If not, I will just skip yogurt I suppose b/c I don't like the other brands.

Yay for being down, you should definitely hit the 182 by Sunday if you make good choices!!

I'm like you with the primping for ocassions, and a boy visiting is a BIG one.

I'm in the process of "getting ready" for my sons bday party at the end of the month. First was losing some weight (check) then I had my hair straigtened this weekend (Check) Facial Scheduled for tomorrow, and then I'm going to get cut and color next week or the one after that. I also need to go shopping for something to wear. We're also doing a photoshoot for his one year so I want to look good for the pictures!

Curious, do any of you want to share your menus for today? I like seeing what others are eating to give me ideas and stay on track.

Today I had sausage, a piece of cheese, a hand full of blueberries, some pistachios, lots of tea and water. I'm hungry and want more but I have nothing in the house and need to go shopping. Tonight we're going to a restaurant b/c we have to go to sears to look at Washing Machines and dryers and will be out already. I'm thinking I'll get a piece of fish or a steak and a salad!?!?

Tomorrow I will get to the store!

Oh btw I opened that new Zealand yogurt to taste and share with my son and I couldn't eat it. Yuck. In the garbage!

Today I woke up late so I went right to lunch and had about 6 oz of roasted chicken with about 1.5 cups of melon and cantaloupe. I had a snack of broccoli, cauliflower, a couple carrots and cherry tomatoes with some lite ranch dip.

Manders do you count your calories?

Some days :hyst:

I try to stick to about 1100 on the days I don't work out, and 1500 on the days I do. I had started introducing cream back into my diet. I've noticed a bit of tummy grumbly issues, but the idea of having a coffee with cream totally makes my day, and I haven't cheated at ALL in the last 4-5 days.

Hmm... I haven't counted my calories yet since being on P3 but I'm fairly certain they would be pretty high considering that Eggs, Cheese, Bacon and Hamburgers etc are all high calorie foods.

I should probably try it one day just to see.

So I went out to dinner which always makes me nervous since you don't have control over exactly what's in things.

I had a salad that had sunflower seeds in it (how bad is that?) it had Hearts of Palm, Feta Cheese, and I'm not sure what was in the dressing.

My dish was Pompano fish topped with Crab Meat and a Lemon Butter Sauce. It was so good I figure it had to be a bad choice! I know places sometimes use flour and things to try and thicken their sauces so I hope that's not the case here.

What blew my mind was the size of the fish portion. It was HUGE. I ate about half. I could have eaten it all and normally I would have pre - HCG but I knew I was only eating to eat and so I stopped. I'm definitely full now ... hope tomorrow the scale is kind.

I started P3 a few days ago - was tired of following P2 with no weight loss - I'm so close to where I want to be that I thought I'd just eat "normally" for a while [that is, low-carb, pretty-much Atkins] ... I think that's P3? (maybe I need to reread the doc again? :stars: )

So far my weight has remained the same, perhaps up a half pound - but today I donated blood and that usually shows a loss that's not real - need to factor that in tomorrow ...

I am really happy to be eating fats again - I find it fairly hard to eliminate them during P2 (this was my 3rd round -I went "rogue" and had half and half in my coffee, and 2% milk in my afternoon latte) - had an egg/cheese sandwich (minus the bread) for breakfast, it was GOOD! :jumpjoy:

I could be wrong so don't quote me on this, but I do believe there is a lot of sugars in milk (comparative to heavy cream) and therefore more carbs. That could have been a factor in your not losing weight.

It's so awesome to eat "sorta normal" again eh?!

I did a ton of cardio tonight. I did 73 minutes walking including warm up/cool down, 9 minutes of serious power walking pre-run and then 15 minutes of all out running.

Unfortunately I managed to hurt my foot. Thankfully tomorrow is a recovery day so I'm hoping my foot will be better by Wednesday.

Today menu was roasted chicken and melon for lunch, more roasted chicken and raw veggies with dip for dinner and a late night post-workout snack of 4 eggs with sour cream. The adding of dairy back to my diet doesn't seem to be affecting me horribly, so I will continue with it.

Hi everyone!! Im starting P3 today or in the morning rather. Im a little nervous. The calorie calculators are saying i need to eat about 2800 calories to maintain. How close should i stick to those numbers??? I was thinking 1800-2000... Please let me know what you think. Im very excited to meet you all!!!

I feel it's more of a net carb issue as opposed to a calorie issue. It's way more complicated than calories in/out. Have you ever done Atkins induction?

I'm feeling quite concerned I might be out of my window tomorrow. It could be because my sleep is so messed up or because I just ate (I was hungry). But I just weighed myself and it seems high.

Anyhow, my question is if I'm supposed to do a correction day in P4?

Feeing sad today as I'm .8 over my LIW :(

Not 100% sure what did it but I may have gone overboard with nuts yesterday. I had almonds, almond butter, and pistachios. I think it may also be cumulative from the past few days.

I also ate out last night. Definitely going to be strict today - no fruit, no nuts and see what happens.

Also in Atkins induction I think you're supposed to stay under 20 carbs - is it the same for P3?

P2 I miss you sooooo much. This is so much harder!

Yes i have done Atkins. I lost 56 lbs last year on Atkins. I ate below 30 carbs and 1500 calories.

Day 5 of p3 for me and just below window. I would like to do a cd but trying to follow the rules and not do it, unless out of window. I'm at the tippy top today. I have been eating a lot. Feels good to have freedom to eat this amount of food. I will see how the results of today show up on the scale.

So far today a 10 mile walk with an apple,green pepper and GY 6oz. The long walks could be the increase but as long as I'm in the window. I'm ok with it. I won't give up exercise to keep the scale down this P3

Working on eating to hunger and not counting calories. My appetite has returned.

I do have a craving for dry crunch. Any suggestions?

Bee

What is dry crunch? Not familiar.

That's awesome that you walked 10miles. I really need to pick exercise back up. I enjoyed the break during P2 and haven't found the motivation to start it again.

I am having a tough time today. I didn't sleep well and my son woke me up really early. I wish I could crawl back in bed.

So far I had 2 eggs and a few bites of of chicken sausage.

Lunch I think I'll have a bacon cheeseburger with mushrooms and onions no bun. Dinner I think I'll do P2 turkey chilly jazzed up a bit!

No nuts or fruit for me today. Trying to drink lots of water too.

It's nice to see some activity over here :D.

Manders-you're doing great!! I think you'll likely lose btw your diet and exercise currently!! That's a good place to be!! :high5:

Bee-good for you keeping up the exercise!! :up: I get all screwed up when the scale jumps (like it did for me last week after some weight training). Last round I added in running and gained 3lbs I just couldn't shake and that kept putting me out of window. It was very frustrating. Hope you're down a bit closer to LDW tomorrow as I know it's much easier mentally when you have some room in your window!

Christy- yes, you're supposed to do a CD in P4 if you're out of your window. That said, if you know what caused it (restaurant for instance) and you are barely out of window, most are successful w. just going back to a clean LC day. Don't borrow trouble. You're doing fine. :)

Reddy-I hear ya'. I haven't seen my LDW in over a week :cry:. You're well w.i. your window though, so try not to stress about it. You want your body to stay at this weight WHILE eating!! Don't get back into P2 mode where you're not eating much. Give it a bit more time!

Temeka-:welcome: to P3!! You're going to love it!! You're doing great!! Many follow the BMR/RMR recommendations. I try to stay around there, and not over. But I'm also working on listening to my hunger and not overdoing it just b/c I can. You'll figure out what's best for you t/o your P3. Try to relax and enjoy the ride :D.

Bonnie-:hiya: nice to see you!! you're so lean!! and tall (I'm jealous!!). I hope you have a nice transition to P3 (you're right, basically Atkins) and enjoy it. And I hope your weight is nice and stable and you're able to eat well!

My GYCD only netted me a 1.4lb drop :(. Ususally I think 2-3lbs is good for a CD. Oh well. It wasn't painful and today is a new day. I'd dearly love to drop down a bit closer to LDW (currently 1.4 above) but I'm not going to pursue heroic measures to get there :laugh:. I am, however, taking a break from exercise until P4. I don't want to compeltely lose all my muscles, and don't think I will, but I can't keep fighting the scale either. I did this last round and never was able to get back to LDW area. I really dont' want ot end up doing another round down the road b/c I can't stabilize. So, I'm taking it easy and following the plan. :D

Julie - 1.4 down for a CD isn't bad right? Hopefully cutting the lifting will be beneficial for you!!

I'm not planning to go back to p2 eating but I want to do the P2 turkey chilli I loved and jazz it up with some cheese and onions etc. And I'll make a larger portion.