Saturday, April 30, 2011

P3 Day 13 (LDW +0.4 OH YAYUH BAYBAY)

OMG! It worked! Loading up on leafy greens and eating clean really worked! I lost 1.6lbs, and on top of that I wasn't in bed until 2 in the morning and didn't sleep much at ALL... and officially woke up by 8:30. I felt horrible missing my "healing window" (my body likes the healing window LOL) but it was a good night anyway and worth missing that. Moving on!

So I stepped on the scale and almost cried. You know what this means? I'm stabilizing! I can control this! My weight doesn't have to control ME. All it takes is clean eating (and doing it RIGHT. Not cheating like I used to do!) and my body wants to go back to it's set point. Hallelujah! HCG makes me so happy sometimes. Well, like, all the time. Haha.

So for dinner last night I ended up eating 3 whole pickles, 2-5oz cans of tuna over a HUGE bowl of dark leafy lettuce, and some braggs/hot sauce for dressing. It was so good! Then my mom and I ran some errands even though it was 8:30 in the evening by the time we got off the couch from watching Sinbad and laughing our bootays off, and I got some new hot sauce and some canned mung bean sprouts while we were out. Oh and some sliced garlic pickles. I'll admit it - I have a pickle addiction. There are worse things to be addicted to, right? When we got home I was pretty hungry (a good sign, I think, during P3 lol) so I opened a can of the bean sprouts (did you know a whole can of mung bean sprouts only has 20 calories? the ENTIRE CAN!) and ate probably 1/4 cup with some Bragg's as my late night snack. I'm slowly getting back out of the habit of eating late, but I figured if I was going to eat something late it might as well be pretty much empty in calories. LOL. It worked fine since I released 1.6 lbs! Hahaha I'm going to keep saying that, too. 1.6lbs! *said like Doc Emerson 1.21 gigawatts!*

Breakfast today was my standard - slightly different because I made my sausage homemade this morning instead of using the chorizo from Sprouts. I did my sausage recipe a LOT different, too, because I was starving and didn't want to take the time to do chop peppers and all that. And no, I didn't take a picture, but it looked EXACTLY like breakfast from last weekend LOL... like this:


Same tablecloth, same computer cord, same fishtank base (yes that's what that is), same plate. 3 fried eggs, cauliflower potatoes, half a grapefruit, and 2 sausage patties. Except today my grapefruit half wasn't split up. Oh and I have a Dave & Buster's mug instead of a Colorado horse mug... and it's Vanilla Creme coffee instead of plain! Teehee! Guess it's not EXACTLY the same - but close. Ah, breakfast, how I love thee. 

Sausage Recipe (alternate version - even faster and deliciouser... because it's faster. LOL)
3 oz 85/15 organic ground beef/bison
1 tsp hot pepper sauce (any kind you like - check ingredients!)
scant 1/4 tsp each salt and fresh pepper
scant 1/4 tsp cumin
dash coarse red pepper
dash onion powder
dash garlic powder
TINY dash of cinnamon, and even TINIER dash of cloves

Mix it all together with your hands and form into 2 patties. Fry about 3-5 mins on each side, until cooked through and nicely browned (or if you're like me - charred to a crisp! LOL)
Hint: the drippings make for EXCELLENT cauliflower hash.... just sayin'....



So I'll update more with pics/menus from the rest of today latah. Off to chillax and wait for my BF to arrive! <3

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UPDATE:

Lunch equaled 5oz ground buffalo and 4 cups of fresh spinach (wilted down a little), with some pickle slices & mustard almost like a salad. Then for a snack later on, I had a can of sardines with a little bit of guacamole. Dinner was, well, late... and I was out and unprepared so I went to Sprouts and got some Applegate Farms hotdogs, some green chard leaves, and some spicy jalapeno mustard. Makes for a great on the run dinner! I ate 3 hotdogs, each one wrapped in a big ol' leaf of chard with lots and lots of mustard on it. OH and when I was standing at the register they had little packets of Amazing Grass, so I grabbed one of those and a bottle of water. Needless to say, i got lots of greens in today! Hopefully that will balance out this...........

I couldn't help it. Besides, I had very little fat today and zero carbs after my grapefruit at like 2 in the afternoon, and Dr. S even says in Pounds and Inches that:
"...even small quantities of alcohol, such as a glass of wine with meals, does no harm"
But yeah, I needed this tonight. I've been really needing some wine or beer or sake or vodka (bwahaha jk jk) the last couple of weeks, but I swore off beer until my birthday and I didn't want to introduce wine too early on in P3. Hopefully I don't have a bad reaction from it tomorrow. Usually (at least, last time during maintenance phase), I would either stay steady or lose a little bit the next day after drinking anything, as long as I didn't eat anything with it. When I ate with my alcohol before, though, I never just ate a regular meal... it would end up being very fatty or very starchy because alcohol makes me crave fats and carbs. Weird but it's not a horrible craving and it's easy for me to have another half a glass of wine instead of indulging in my fatty/carby craving and then it goes away. WOW ok that whole paragraph was pretty much pointless. Lol. Can you tell I've already had a glass? Heehee.

So ummmm I don't really remember what I was going to write about other than that? OH! I was uploading the pics hahahaha. OH and I was going to tell you why I wanted the wine so bad! My boyfriend left this evening for Israel for 9 days. I've been praying for him soooo hard - he texted me when he was boarding the plane and asked me to say a prayer. I don't know if mom could tell while we were out, but I've been a nervous wreck since 9 when the plane took off. I won't be able to relax much until I hear from him after he lands - he's landing in London, then has a 10 hour layover before getting one more flight into Israel.

We shall see how the wine affects me tomorrow morning! :-) And hopefully I have a text message from my baby. I love him so much <3

Friday, April 29, 2011

P3 Days 11 & 12 (LDW +0.8, LDW +2.0)

Good Lordy. This P3 is turning out to not be so great! I was hoping for a round similar to my last round where I never even got TO my LDW, let alone passed it! I nearly needed a flipping steak day today! I better go down tomorrow or I'm going to be mad. :( I'm 12 days in - that means I'd have to start my 21 days allll over again, and I would not be terribly happy about that!

Anyway, yesterday I was up, not sure why. I had added almonds and done ok, so I was eating a few of those, and I had some half and half, but not much so it shouldn't have been that. Needless to say I cut out all nuts and seeds yesterday, save for an avocado half that I didn't think about and ate with my eggs at breakfast. Other than that, I ate clean and got in about 1600 calories. Went to bed right at 3 hours after dinner because I was absolutely exhausted, but I went to bed upset. I've been so stressed this week with school, moving, my boyfriend, life in general. Ugh. I'm wondering if that's contributing to this, because I'm always stressed and I don't digest well when I do that. Plus I know stress messes with hormones and all of that, too. 

So today, hoping and praying to see at least the same weight as yesterday (which was 0.8 above LDW), I nearly threw the scale through the wall when it read 2.0lbs above LDW. That's a 1.2 gain OVERNIGHT. And I didn't eat any problem foods yesterday! WTF! 

Needless to say, today I've been eating clean. Not going to worry about calories. I had 2 eggs cooked in some coconut oil for breakfast, then for lunch I had 10oz lean steak and 4 cups spinach, cooked with the steaks. It was DEFINITELY delicious! I figured I would do steak and spinach just in case this is TOM related. I know I already feel mentally better after all of the nutrients/vitamins in that meal! Wow! You know what, I take that back - last round I did go over my LDW by .4 lbs once, but I had been steady at 2lbs below so I did a high protein day (it was Thanksgiving, so I ate breakfast and then pigged out on turkey breast meat at dinner LOL) and dropped a pound the next day. Hopefully I can do that again here so I can get stable! Geez. 

Not sure what I'll be having for dinner, as I'm driving up to Fort Worth again this weekend. I might end up moving back home after school is out - we shall see. I miss my family.

I'm also drinking a TON of water today, and some lemon juice in some of it now that I'm back home and not at work. And I'm taking some detox teas with me to have after dinner tonight, and possibly doing a detox bath, too. I've already had 4 cups of leafy greens, so I plan on having at least 2 cups of broccoli at dinner, perhaps some more spinach for a snack in a little bit here before I hit the road. I talked to Carol Ensminger earlier (from the miracleskinnydrops site/facebook group) and she told me that the more greens you eat, the more you lose. She said to aim for min. 4 cups of dark leafy greens & broccoli, so I figured if I could eat 4 at lunch (the wilted spinach), then 2 cups of brocco plus maybe another cup of spinach/chard or something like that at dinner I should be covered in greens! :)

Well, that's all for now. Here's hoping the evil scale has a streak of kindness tomorrow. 

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

P3 Days 4-8 (or... 6-10, as I found out)

What a week. My stress level is definitely going to be hard to deal with right now, which is not a good thing. I thought P3 would be easy - didn't know I was going to be dealing with a bunch of bullshit through this. I've been wanting a beer so bad the last few days - just something to relax me. I don't ever get to see my boyfriend anymore, my roommate is kindof a bitch and makes me feel VERY unwelcome with her. I need way more money than I have to pay for school, and I only have like 2 weeks to get it. I miss my sister more than anything. Overall I'm just VERY depressed right now.

Hopefully I can still stabilize through Phase 3. I'm not sure whether to force myself to eat even though I have no appetite or just let myself be depressed and not eat. I think not eating would really be bad for me at this point, but I know eating when I'm upset I usually feel like my stomach just sits and doesn't really digest anything.

UPDATE: took a break from blogging for a couple of hours and drove down to see my boyfriend, and got an herbal tea from Starbucks and I'm working on a venti cranberry tea before bed now. I feel much better and I don't feel heavy after being able to eat a fairly light dinner so I'm hoping I don't pay for eating while I was upset.


MOVING ON...
So this whole time, I had been counting the last 2 days without drops (er... 72 hours so as not to confuse anyone ;-) as part of my Phase 2 still... I found out this morning that those 72 hours are part of Phase 3 days! So I'm actually on D10 instead of D8 like I thought. BOOYAH! Halfway home, baby! That is, if I can stabilize. I'm doing fine so far, but I'm knocking on wood as I say that! I am up .4 above LDW today, but I hadn't had a BM for like 3 days until today so I'm hoping that was it. Speaking of... I'm TOTALLY cleaned out, now! Fair warning - just because smooth move doesn't work on the day that you drink it doesn't mean it's not working! I drank 2 cups that steeped for 15 minutes each yesterday and I was like "really? nothing?" so I went to bed. Woke up and spent about 80% of my day ready to run to the bathroom! Terrible, I know, and gross. Hopefully you're not eating. Needless to say I'm not stuffed up anymore Hahahaha!!

Easter weekend was great - I stayed below LDW all weekend and my sister and I had a great time cooking. I love cooking breakfast, so I went nuts when I cooked for her! We had eggs, some sausage (some ham... allinsideasandwich! LOL) grapefruit, and cauliflower hash one day. I don't remember what else I made but I know I made her my hotdog chili, which she loved. We spent all day Monday watching movies and making up stories about how Han Solo was in love with us. It's so great to have sister time... such a blessing!!

Got back "home" (more like "Bonnie's house") and my room was a disaster. The entire rest of the house was put together, painted (no lie!) and everything, but my room had boards and boxes everywhere. Thanks, thanks a lot. I don't mind the boxes - that's my stuff to deal with. But could I at least have a MATTRESS??! No! So I made a cubby on the floor. My boyfriend was going to come help me set up my bed yesterday, but didn't make it. So I updated my floor-pad to a more bed like state.  (see below... LOL)




Eating in Phase 3 is great - I'm adding foods in slowly but it's still great! Although I don't like the whole being absolutely stuffed to the gills thing... it's so hard to get 1500 calories in!! I never thought that would be hard. Although I will say today I added in 1oz of almonds and getting to 1500 was WAY easier. Gotta be careful with that, though... don't wanna overdo it! I added in almonds a couple days ago and did fine with them - yesterday I added broccoli and felt like crap and gained .4 but not sure if it was lack of sleep, lack of BM, or just water-weight. Hopefully it was one of those and not an actual gain! Anyway I'm still well within my 2lb range and as long as my weight doesn't spike I can catch it with a clean eating day or an egg & steak day (2 eggs, steak & cheese, steak & cheese) and bring it back down. I've been getting around 140g of protein, making about 40% of my calories protein calories. Seems to be working so far!

So far I've added in almonds, coconut milk, half and half (seem to be a little sensitive to this so I don't do a lot), and today I added Greek yogurt, flax, and raw cacao nibs. They are the BOMB diggity in some chocolate delight! Oh, I made peppermint CD. Probably my favorite so far.

I did go explore the HEB that's by our new house. It's HUGE! And amazing. I love HEB... don't get me wrong I feel like I'm living in hicktownRus again (which I vowed I would never do. Just goes to show, children, eat your green vegetables and NEVER say NEVER!), but I do love that HEB. And thank the Lord I'm only 8 miles away from Krav. I can escape there whenever I bloody well want now with much less gas penalties. Anyway, so while I was at HEB for some lemons and cocoa powder (lol), I stumbled upon something I don't ever really indulge in... pork.... and I wanted it. It was so delicious looking, and I DO need some more breakfast items... and it WAS sugar-free with no fillers....... so I buys. LOL.



Well, that's about all for now. Hopefully I can climb out of this funk by morning.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

P3 Days 2 & 3 (LDW -0.8, LDW -0.8 BOOYA)

OK! Sorry I couldn't get any time in to blog yesterday... school, date night, then a 3 hour drive back home for Easter weekend.

Yesterday I went up 0.8 lbs, but I think not only because I had like an entire cup (like 8oz lol) of half and half while I was at work, I also had a handful of macadamia nuts, AND there is actually food in my body now! LOL. So yesterday I was careful about not doing too much cream, but still getting in my calories. I used a Jay Robb strawberry protein shake to add my last calories for the day, which put my right at 1500. I was TERRIFIED to see the scale this morning though, because last night was date night with my boyfriend and he took me to a really nice restaurant with a patio and a little waterfall thing and a garden oh wow it was so great. He is so romantic! Anyway, I looked over the menu, and everything actually looked GREAT and it was all really healthy (kindof modern-mexican style food), so I got a spinach & avocado salad with roasted ancho peppers (OMG I love ancho chiles!) and a cilantro lime dressing, but I got the dressing on the side and there was enough avocado mashed onto the spinach leaves that it didn't need any dressing anyway! My boyfriend tried some and he actually liked it, too. Score!

Anyway, after I got home I ate some turkey lunchmeat I had bought in case of just such a protein emergency as dinner was (thank you Applegate Farms!), then finished packing and loaded up my car before heading to Sprouts for some grapefruit and protein powder. Sadly I found out the hard way that my local Sprouts doesn't carry individual packs of the Jay Robb protein powder. What??! But it was worth going in anyway to get a grapefruit the size of my head for 11 cents. Yes, grapefruit are on sale for 11 cents each this week at Sprouts. I know - it's insanity. Since I couldn't find my Jay Robb mix, I ran over to HEB and was glad to find out they have the individual packs, and probably for a LOT cheaper than Sprouts would have had them for, anyway. I've never had the Strawberry kind (I've only ever had their Vanilla Egg White protein) but I was in the mood for strawberry so I got 2 packs of the Strawberry Whey protein and one pack of the Pina Colada. Hello, my name is Jessica, and I'm addicted to Coconut.

OH I also got, just in time for my trip home to see my sis, my Amazing Greens Chocolate powder!!! I got it on sale from Your Way to Wellness and didn't have to pay shipping! That saved me like 10 bucks right there! I may have to try them for some Jay Robb protein powder, too. Haven't checked out all the deals yet but it all looks pretty good. Can't wait to try this chocolate green stuff! I miss having green supplements - they're always soooo tasty! Yes I know, I'm weird like that.

I'll quickly go over my meals yesterday and then move on to today's plan...

Breakfast: 3 eggs, 3oz beef chorizo, and a bunch of chopped chard, all inside a sandwich! HAHAHA just kidding - couldn't resist. It was an omelet. Then I had half a grapefruit, plus the rest of the grapefruit as a snack.


Lunch was 2 salmon burgers from Costco (best things invented ever! I know: there are a LOT of best things ever in my book) on a HUGE pile of lettuce, with diced onions, tomatoes, some avocado, and some mustard. Oh and a pickle. I love pickles. I think I ate 4 pickles yesterday! Hahahaha.

I already talked about dinner, so there. Mleh.

---

P3D3

No cream in my coffee today but I plan on getting some coconut milk for tomorrow/later tonight. I'm finishing my blog and watching Family Man, then when that's over I'm going to Town Talk (discount organic food store... wish we had one in Austin!) to see what goodies I can snag.

Breakfast was A-MAZ-ING. I can't wait until I don't have to eat breakfast on the go every morning before work. I love breakfast. <3


I had 2 homemade sausage patties (recipe below), 3 fried eggs, half a grapefruit, a slice of avocado (not shown... I ate it too fast LOL), and cauliflower hashbrowns with garlic and onions. Oh and coffee. Yes, must have coffee. Always. Or else.

I've got my day planned out, so lunch is 2 organic hot dogs (thank you again to Applegate Farms!) with some homemade hot dog chili. Using lettuce as buns of course. :)

(photo added later.... and OMG that chili was amazing!)
And dinner is going to be chicken uhhh... spaghetti? Gonna save some of my hot dog chili and spiralize a zucchini for pasta, then cook a big chicken breast to put over it for protein. I'll have to add in a Jay Robb shake sometime today for some calories (oh DARN.), too. Probably strawberry again - it really tastes JUST like I imagined strawberry milk to taste! (I haven't had strawberry milk since I was like 3 and I don't remember how it tasted, but this was pretty darn greatness! I just mixed it with about 10oz water. YUM).

Well, off to Town Talk - movie's over in 7 minutes and I still have to upload these photos! Hahahaha... Pictures of lunch/dinner will be updated tonight or tomorrow!


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Recipes used today:


Quick & Easy Homemade Sausage (P3/P4)
1 lb ground bison/organic beef/venison 
2 jalapenos, red or green (I did one of each), finely diced or pureed

3 tbsp beef or bison stock
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder
2 cloves garlic, crushed
sprinkle of coriander &
-marjoram &
-savory &
-sage &
-mustard &
-thyme
Use a food processor to mix the bison and jalapenos (or just mash it all together with your hands - I've done both). Using your hands, mix all spices and broth into the meat - this will take some time to distribute evenly!!
Use as you would any other bulk sausage. If you form it into patties, keep them fairly thin so it doesn't dry out since Bison is lower fat than pork. 
Makes 8-9 patties.   Per patty: 91cals, 5g fat, 10g protein




Homemade Hot Dog Chili (P3/P4)

For one serving (enough for 2 hotdogs)
2oz ground beef  
 3 tbsp minced yellow onion 
 1 clove garlic, crushed/minced
 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes 
 1 tbsp yellow mustard  
 1/2 tsp Braggs aminos 
 S & P to taste 
 paprika, cumin, turmeric 
 dash tobasco or other hot sauce

     Heat small saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute onion until it begins to sweat. Add in beef and garlic and cook until meat is cooked through. Deglaze pan with 1/4 cup water, bring to a boil, then add in remaining ingredients and mix well. Bring back to boil, cover, reduce heat to simmer and simmer 10 mins, until thick. Serve over your favorite organic hot dogs! YUM! You could slice the hot dogs and add them directly to this and eat it like a bowl of chili, too. 

    Without hot dogs:  166cals, 9g fat, 12g protein


    Thursday, April 21, 2011

    P3 Day 1 (LDW -1.6)

    After increasing my calories to 600 yesterday, I lost half a pound! Whoa! Love that cushion. I'm sure I'll go right up to LDW tomorrow, but it's nice to have such a great cushion today!

    For breakfast I had a huge delicious omelet (cooked in BUTTER! GASP! Organic/grassfed but butter! LOL). Unfortunately I only had a few minutes to eat it before I left for work so I didn't take a picture of it :( I will get a picture of Saturday's breakfast, though! Tomorrow I'll be eating on the go again. I can't wait to not have to be at work at 5:30am!!! Speaking of being at work - I got to work 10 minutes early today, and my manager didn't show up until 30 minutes AFTER we are supposed to open at 6! Made for a quick workday, but I was pretty POed that I sat there not getting paid for an hour. I'll talk to her about it later.

    So while I was at work, I made myself my normal quad-grande decaf Americano, but todayyyyy..... HALF AND HALF! Like 1/4 cup of it! LOL. It was so so so so soooo creamy and good. Then before I left work I made a Vanilla Rooibos tea and steamed some half and half for it, too. Used around 1/2 cup or so in that bwahahaha. Way too much but it'll help get my calories up for today! I've added up my calories so far and if I eat what I have planned for dinner I'll be at 1536. Couldn't have done it without cream - I estimated a cup of cream so that's like 360 calories! Yikes o.O But this round I'm AIMING for high cals in P3... last round I never got to 1500, not even in P4. Pretty sad. The only thing that worries me today is that looking at my ratio of fat/protein, I've got 40% protein and 50% fat... probably not ideal but I'll see. I did ok with it like that last round :)



    Lunch today was soooo yummy! Keeping it simple the first day or two, so I went with a HUGE salad and 8 oz of diced chicken, sauteed with cumin, garlic, s&p, oregano, and some hot sauce, and then onions until the onions got caramelized. Then I diced up half of a little tomato, plus about 1/4 of my avocado that's been calling me for DAYS, and then a couple tablespoons of salsa from Sprouts. It was soooo good! I drizzled some Louisiana hot sauce on top and it finished it perfectly. OH plus I made limeade instead of lemonade today ^.^


    I feel pretty full, actually! It seems weird to not have a Wasa and a fruit with my meal - LOL. But I did have the rest of my tea latte for "dessert." 

    Plans for dinner are just some green beans and baked chicken - though it may end up being skillet chicken. Oh and I wanna add some chopped onions to my green beans. And yes I just typed "grean beens" HAHAHA! Oops. If dinner is especially fabulous, I will update with a pic/post. Otherwise, you'll hear from me (and my scale!) tomorrow afternoon! 

    Wednesday, April 20, 2011

    VLCD Days 23 & 24 (LDW +0.4; LDW -1.2)

    VLCD Day 23....

    I know... I didn't blog yesterday. I was beyond bummed and felt like a pile of jello. I woke up to a 1.6lb GAIN... which put me ABOVE my LDW and I hadn't even started Phase 3 yet. I was beyond mad. I was livid. I wanted to be back on the drops. But I pressed forward.

    Yesterday at work, along with my attitude already being down from the unexplained huge gain, we were SUPER slammed, and SUPER short on labor. Oh wait, isn't that how it is every day? I'm not looking forward to transferring to a drive-thru, but at the same time hopefully my new manager will actually know what the H.E. Double Hockeysticks she's supposed to be doing! Anyway enough whining... I can't have cheese yet so it's no good. LOL. So because we were busy and shorthanded, everything that could irritate me did, and my manager was not helping. She has serious attitude problems, let me tell you! ANYWAY... So on my first 10 minute break, I took a boiled egg from a protein plate and ate the white, then ate a piece of CD. Seemed to help a little bit with the lightheadedness and grouchiness, but man the day just dragged on. 

    Got home and felt like I had been hit by a truck, so I made lunch (I don't even remember what I made lol) and watched TV for an hour or so. Then I got up and packed some more stuff, and decided I was just too exhausted and my brain was too foggy. I spent the rest of the day laying on the couch, hoping I wasn't actually getting sick after my roommate and her boyfriend. While I was laying there, I drank and drank and drank. I had a couple cups of lemon water (used a whole lemon over the day), plus a cup of Cranberry tea (an herbal tea for helping with water-gain), and then chocolate banana flavored water (thank you Capella... haha!). Went to bed at 9, and woke up 3 times to go to the bathroom! I prayed for at least getting back down TO my LDW....

    --
    VLCD Day 24/P3 Day 1

    Woke up this morning and was back down to 1.2 below my LDW. YESSSSS! SCORE! I have NO CLUE what happened to me the day before, but something was seriously amuck. 

    So needless to say, I was SO relieved today - and again we were busy and shorthanded at work like you would not BELIEVE! But my attitude and mental clarity was muchhhhh better because I ate breakfast today. I'm still on protocol until after 4pm, so I had 100g chicken and a lil' Granny Smith apple for breakfast on the way to work. I miss breakfast so much... I was actually awake without coffee! Whodathunkit?! So maybe I will be able to sleep good tonight since I didn't have tons of caffeine. Yeah buddy!

    For lunch I made chard & beef stew, with a sliced GS apple and English Toffee stevia. Plus lemon water. YUM! I can tell the HCG is wearing off though - I used 4oz of beef and I'm still hungry after eating. Not cool! But dinner will be here soon enough :) 

    For dinner I'm toggling between Mexican or American. I'm either gonna make taco salad or burger salad... but I think I'm going with the burger salad because I want to add avocado to my taco salad but I don't want that much fat on my first day of P3 for dinner. Tomorrow for lunch is a different story! :D 

    So, working up all my calories for today, I'm only at about 600, which is fine because it's only half P3. LOL. Mostly what I'm excited about is MIXING MY VEGGIES AT DINNER! For the burger salad my plan is 4oz of 96/4 grassfed beef, a bunch of crunchy yummy lettuce, some sliced onions, some chopped tomatoes, and a pickle spear. I know the pickle has tons of salt, but I haven't had much salt today so far plus I'll have some lemon water after or with dinner :) Oh yeah and I'll be using lots of delicious mustard! YUM! I haven't completely avoided mustard through Phase 2 but I used it sparingly. I think that will be a good dinner - it's only about 200 calories and not high in fat. Fats come into play tomorrow! >:D

    I'll post about dinner later tonight. Can't wait!!!

    ------

    DINNER!! IT FINALLY CAME! I didn't do anything really fancy - went with my burger salad and it was amazing. I can't believe how much I have missed having that combo - tomato, onion, and lettuce with mustard. I used to eat that as a snack - a romaine/greenleaf/bib lettuce leaf wrapped around slices of tomato and onion, and a squirt of mustard on top. Best snack EVER! Anyway back to dinner. It was delicious and I am in such a good mood! I also prepped breakfast for tomorrow - I made a 3 egg omelet with 3oz of beef chorizo from sprouts (checked for added sugar. we good!) and some slices of tomato. I can't wait! It smelled sooooo good.

    Idk if you can see it in the pic, but there are MIXED VEGETABLES!!!!! rofl. Oh and I made lemonade to go wif mah burgerz... half a lemon and some plain stevia. Nomnomnom!!!!

    Well I'm scared of the scale tomorrow. I only ate right at 600 cals (like 614 or something according to sparkpeople) so unless the mixing of veggies messes me up I should be TOTALLY fine! But still it just feels weird in my belly to have onions and all that together I guess. I'm not stuffed, just feel weird.

    Well, here we go! Hope nothing crazy happens on the scale tomorrow! Time to drink lots of water and chill for the evening. I'm so unmotivated this week LOL. 

    Monday, April 18, 2011

    VLCD Day 22 (-1.2)

    Cheez-us! I'm at almost 125 now! I didn't even know I could be this tiny. LOL.

    Today is my first VLCD day without drops... I was pretty much starving all morning until I had some chocolate delight, then it settled down a little bit. Got home and decided I wanted eggs for lunch, since I haven't had them for 24 days now. I went with 1 whole and 3 whites, per Dr. Simeon's requirements... I didn't really realize how much egg that is until I started cooking! I ended up making a bowl of eggdrop soup with 2 whites, and then scrambled spicy eggs and cabbage out of the whole + other white. I have never eaten anything this delicious... I mean I didn't even know an egg could taste like this! The scrambled eggs were supposed to be Okonomiyaki with cabbage, but it fell apart when I tried to flip it. LOL. Fail. But wowzers am I stuffed! P3 is going to be hard... I can already tell. Hahahaha.

    For dinner I'm not sure what I'm going to make but I might make potato soup again (with radishes). I have some chicken defrosted that I need to use for dinner so it'll be something with chicken! I'm sure if I have time I'll update with what I end up making.

    So that's all for now... now I gotta start packing! Moving to my roommate's new house this weekend.... woohoo? lol.

    Sunday, April 17, 2011

    VLCD Day 21 (-0.2)

    OH. MI. GOSH.

    Today is officially my last day of taking my HCG! EEEEEEEK! 

    So regarding my LDW... I am 2.6 lbs below what my goal weight was for this round - and loving it! That means even gaining up to 2 lbs, I'll still be BELOW my goal weight. Wow! 

    Today I plan on continuing my 5oz of protein servings - it has REALLY helped with my hunger/weakness. I was re-reading P&I and found a section that explained it... 
    Two difficulties may be encountered in the immediate post treatment period when a patient has
    consumed all his abnormal fat...the patient at once begins to feel much more hungry and even weak. In spite of repeated warnings, some over-enthusiastic patients do not report this. However, in about two days the fact that they are being undernourished becomes visible in their faces...In such cases - and only in such cases - we allow a very slight increase in the diet, such as an extra apple, 150 grams of meat or two or three extra breadsticks during the three days of dieting after the last injection.
     It's funny - I was taking pictures of myself (HAHAHA ok that sounds SO vain!) and every single picture that I took, I deleted. I kept thinking "I look sick! What in the world??" So I asked for some advice from Shawna on the MiracleSkinnyDrops forum on Facebook, and she said it's a sign of protein deficiency. After I've upped my protein for the last 2 days I feel SO much better and I look better, too. And I'm still losing weight! Woohoo! I also did detox baths the last 2 days - love love love them. I will definitely be doing at least one of those a month even during maintenance. Really like that I can have the sauna-effect again - I missed detoxing in that sauna that my friends had!

    So, plans for today? Shrimp and an apple for lunch, chicken and grapefruit for dinner. Simply because I'm going to be eating lunch at home and probably carrying dinner with me since I'm going to go visit with some of my Krav-Fam for the afternoon. Hopefully I don't gain too much if we work out... although I know it will be just water weight. Maybe if I drink enough it will flush back out over the next 2 days while I'm not on the drops.

    Also for the next 2 days, I am going to eat some eggs for one of my protein servings each day, that way I won't have to worry about "introducing" them Wednesday morning when I make breakfast. Yums! I can't wait.

    Here's one of the little things I got at IKEA yesterday - I made PB Brownie chocolate delight (using Fudge Brownie & PB Capella drops)... adding the fudge brownie drops made it taste soooo dark and rich - it's wonderful! Much better than just the cocoa powder, which usually gets too sweet for me once I add the stevia. And in a couple of days, I will be making Almond Joy CD - going to do CD with the fudge brownie capella drops, 2 almonds each, and some coconut sprinkles in the center! YUMMMMM omg I can hardly wait! I may add some coconut Capella too... but the coco oil usually gives it a good flavor in that regard.

    Well, that's all for now. The countdown to P3 begins!!!!


    Goal Weight: 130.0 lbs
    LDW: 127.4 lbs


    And now, for the random animation of the week........ *drumroll*


    BROMANCE!

    Saturday, April 16, 2011

    VLCD Day 20 (-0.8)

    OMG! I have never weighed this before in my life! Well, not healthfully, anyway! I think I shall continue the increased protein (but staying with 500 cals) for the next 3 days of my VLCD - I don't think I could survive without my drops for 2 days if I stayed on 100g... yikes!


    So I took all of my measurements this morning, and compared them to my last round, and I'm about a half inch smaller than I was at my LDW last round, and nearly 2 inches smaller in all my areas than I was at my LDW on my first round. Aye caramba! I was able to get into my 30's dress this morning - I never thought I would be able to, honestly. I bought it when I was around 130 and planned on altering it... no need, now! And the fact that I am wearing it will keep me from ever letting myself gain... this has got to be my favorite outfit I've ever owned. Geez, I'm such an oldie. Lol!! I also discovered ModCloth last night, thanks to ads on Facebook. Yeah yeah yeah I know, I fell prey. Hahaha. But it's amazzinngggggg! Next year for Prom I can finally do what I've wanted to do for parties/prom for the last what 5 years?! Vintage! 100% vintage! It's just so me! Definitely check out that site if you like old/classic clothes... mostly 30s-50s styles. They've got kitchen accessories and stuff, too, but the clothes were definitely my favorite. I'm mad that I bought my bikini at Victoria's Secret, now! Lol!

    On another note, I have been absolutely loving my Capella Flavor drops. I have been putting 6 drops of coconut and 3 drops of banana in a tall glass of ice water.... it tastes like a tropical paradise! Makes me want to drink even more water. The coconut is also fabulous in green tea - hot or iced. I will be out of the coconut flavor in NO TIME... I just got a sample size... dumb. LOL. But I am glad I got the big one of the banana flavor - that's going to be a life saver while I can't have bananas for a few weeks! The next flavors I'm gonna try are probably French Vanilla, Toasted Almond, Maple, and Klua & Cream. Idk... I want ALL of them!!!! Hahaha. I will get a few at a time I guess... if I have to.

    So, plans for today include another detox bath (did one last night...). I really like detoxing - it sucks while I'm sitting there burning up sweating, but as soon as I get out I always feel SO refreshed! I used to sit in an infrared sauna at some friends' house when I would babysit for them - I got the same feeling from my detox bath last night. Greatness! My detox bath comes from Carol Esminger (you can see the vlog about it here) and it worked wonders! Just be sure you get the water literally as hot as you can stand it - you want to sweat :) I use 1lb of epsom salt and 1lb of baking soda, extremely hot water, and I soaked for 20 minutes. Followed with a cool shower and lots of water to replenish what I had sweated... I was SO relaxed!

    I'm also going to hunt for a breakfast tray today! Random, I know, but I spend a lot of time in my room and eating/drinking on my bed.... it's not working so well trying to balance everything on my big poofy comforter LOL. My coffee is balanced precariously on the footboard right now... I keep giving it the evil eye.


    Not sure about lunch yet, though I know it will include 5oz of shrimp! LOL! I might do shrimp/celery jambalaya again. That stuff is so freakin good! Then dinner will be chicken and radish soup. Addicting. Actually I may do THAT for lunch so I don't end up with the same exact things as yesterday for each meal. I'm sure I'll update after I eat, but I wanted to get my blogging done this morning since I've got a busy day ahead! Possibly going to be volunteering for the Miracle League from 1-4 today, too. I haven't heard back from them so I'm not sure what to do about that exactly.... hellewwwww?! Hahaha.

    Good luck to you all - here's to reaching our goals and beyond!


    -----  UPDATE -----

    Went to IKEA and remembered that I had a $25 gift card... ended up getting a nice breakfast tray, a silicone ice cube tray for my Chocolate Delight, and a milk-frother! I know the milk frothers aren't all that great, but it was only 2 bucks and I had a gift card, so it really didn't cost me a thing. Teehee. Here's me using my new tray on my bed YAY!

    Friday, April 15, 2011

    VLCD Day 19 (0)

    Oh my goodness... I am so hungry today!!!! I increased my protein by 44 grams at each meal (gives me 5oz of protein instead of 3.5) but balanced out my calories so that I'm still at 500. We shall see what happens... I  mean I was literally about to eat my arm off.

    For "breakfast" I had Peanut Butter Chocolate Delight (using my Capella drops!) and coffee, then off to school. Got my Economics test back and made 111%!!!!! I can't believe it... I was SO SURE I was going to fail it. I also had a Government test today, but he let us use our notes and books so I think I aced that one.

    I didn't take a picture of lunch because I was shaking I was so hungry, so I just ate it. I had 5oz of shrimp on a bed of lettuce, with my Asian salad dressing... extra spicy! I also had a Ryvita and half a grapefruit. OH and for my tbsp of milk today, I flavored it with 1 drop of vanilla stevia and 1 drop of the banana flavor from Capella... I have never tasted anything that delicious in my life. LOL. I miss bananas soooo much! I never was able to have them again last round - they made me gain every time! :( Hopefully I can have them this time!! :D

    For dinner, I had planned on having a tomato/chicken chili or soup, but I went by Sprouts and radishes were on sale for 50 cents a bunch! I got 2 bunches and decided I would do something with them for dinner to lighten the calories a little from my extra meat. I have now made one of the best things I've had this round as far as comfort food.... I made potato soup out of the radishes! I'm posting the recipe... it's just too good not to share.

    So while I was at Sprouts... I started getting my Phase 3 foods! YIKES! So far I got 2 lbs of beef chorizo, some chicken breast, Applegate Farms' Organic (and grassfed!) Uncured Beef Hot Dogs, 2 jars of salsa (on sale for .99 a piece), some Organic Valley boxed milk (on sale for 1.99!), OH and Organic Girl lettuces were 1.99 a box, plus a 55 cent coupon makes them what like a buck-fifty a piece?! S.C.O.R.E. (Sprouts Can Own Randalls Everytime... LOL!). I think that's all I got... ummmm OH AND I GOT AN AVOCADOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D I cannot wait! OK back to Phase 2....



    Recipe for Motato Soup (Mock+Potato)



    12 radishes, sliced
    100g chicken
    rosemary
    parsley
    onion powder
    garlic powder
    sea salt
    pepper

    Bring the radishes and chicken to a boil in just enough water to cover. Let boil about 10 mins, until radishes are really soft. Remove half of the chicken and cube it... set aside. Puree the radishes, water, half the chicken, and spices (to taste) with an immersion blender or in a food processor/blender. Return to pan, with the cubed chicken, and heat through.
    Serve with breadstick! YUM!

    If you make it and like it, be sure to let me know! :D

    Thursday, April 14, 2011

    VLCD Day 18 (-0.6)

    BOOYA! I hit exactly 10 lbs lost today, not including loading weight. Amazing!!! And I still have tomorrow and Saturday to go! Well technically Sunday, too, because my LDW will be whatever it is Sunday morning. OMGGGGGGG! I'm so excited and I don't even know why! Hahaha. Right.

    So today for lunch I had Asian Chicken salad, Ryvita, and a Braeburn apple with, yep, you guessed it... ET Stevia. (EXTRA TERRESTRIAL STEVIA? WHAAAA?)

    I want to say it was Die Good, but if I keep using that term then it won't have that special meaning that Die Good is supposed to have, so I'll just say it was delicious! And it was. And very filling! I weighed my lettuce and didn't even get to 3oz and it filled that flippin bowl UP!





    For dinner, shrimp & chard with Braggs, sambal oelek, and some chili powder. YUM! It was really good. Not really that spicy, but just enough! Plus I had my ryvita, and half of a big grapefruit.

    AND GUESS WHAT I GOT IN THE MAIL TODAY!??!!!!!!

    *drumroll*

    MY CAPELLA DROPS! OMG!

    I have already opened and tasted all of them! Hahahahaha. They are fabulous. I love that they're not sweet, because I can add the chocolate and coconut to my coffee and it doesn't sweeten it - it's like if I bought a flavored coffee and made it, and drank it black. The peanut butter is FABULOUS put into Chocolate Delight. Too bad I had already had my 2 tbsp for today... I would really have knocked that whole tray out otherwise hahaha.

    On a random note - all morning while I was working, I was walking around saying "Rah rah rah rah! I want mah 20 bucks, Leo!" (if you haven't seen it, watch Charlie teh Unicron on youtube. Not Charlie the Unicorn... Charlie teh Unicron. Hahahaha!) I wonder how many people knew what I was quoting... bwahahahaha.

    Well, again, not much to write about since I'm just waiting for next Wednesday..... BREAKFAST!!!!! YAY! Unfortunately I have to be at work at 5:30 in the morning on Wednesday, but I'm planning a yummy breakfast anyway. 3 whole eggs scrambled in a little bit of organic butter and salsa, with a few slices of avocado, all wrapped in a big ol chard leaf so I can eat it on the way to work. Yums! Can't wait. Hehe. I might change my mind... I changed my mind at the last minute last round, too, but that's the plan.

    Wednesday, April 13, 2011

    VLCD Day 17 (0)

    Today has been exciting! Being 1 lb below my actual goal weight is great - I could bump my calories up and maintain here until Sunday but I'm gonna stay at 500 as long as I can and see where I go.

    I'm planning on taking my last drops and LDW this Sunday morning, then I get to start Phase 3 on Wednesday! Won't be any fantastic breakfast or anything - probably some steak, homemade sausage, or chicken for now. I want to move into adding foods slowly this round. I didn't have a problem adding anything last round at all, but I want to do everything right! I'm going to focus on protein for the first 2-3 days, then I will start adding eggs, cheese, yogurts, etc. OH and AVOCADOS! Hehe. I will also DEFINITELY be getting my calories up to at least 1500. Hopefully more than that, but that's the minimum! No more 1100-1300 days.

    So today's meals weren't really much new... but they are some of my faves!

    Lunch:
    Beef & Tomato Chili with Ryvita
    Apples dipped in English Toffee stevia
    half passion half green tea

    Dinner:
    Chicken and Chard soup with Ryvita
    Half a grapefruit (it was about 8 slices but I snacked... lol)



    Well that's about it for now.... not much going on! 

    Tuesday, April 12, 2011

    VLCD Day 16 (-0.8)

    Sa-weet! My body really seems to react well to [grassfed] beef! And that was without being able to wear any gloves at work yesterday, too... pretty nice.

    So yesterday I went shopping...



    HAHAHA and wouldn't you like to know what's in the bag! Sorry... just for moi. Could be perfume, could be girly panties, could be a cute tank top... so many possibilities! Mwahahaha. Needless to say, I have decided that VS is probably one of my new favorite stores. Is that.... strange? Probably. Especially for a girl like me - a very UNgirly girl!

    While I was shopping yesterday, I stopped by the Steeping Room and got my traditional summer drink - iced Coconut Green Tea. Heaven. It's like when you look up in the sky and you see those little puffy white clouds floating against the vibrant blue... that's how it tastes. Best way I can think to describe it. It reminds me of summer in Austin every time I taste it.

    That being said, I realized today that I am surrounded by iced green tea... and I have coconut flavored Capella drops on the way to me! OMG - I wonder if it will taste the same?! Probably not but maybe close!! Can't wait for the drops to get herrrrrrre! I also want to try some of the peanut butter drops spread over my apple slices....


    For lunch today I had chicken salad with the same delicious Asian dressing I made last night, with a Ryvita and a sliced GS apple (back to GS.... gotta love 'em). Since it was pretty much the same, I didn't take a pic of it. Don't worry, don't worry - there will be a pic of dinner I promise! I still have to add up my calories from lunch and figure out what veggie I wanna use for dinner, but I know there will be shrimp. Hahahaha. *deep threatening voice* "There will be shrimp." I should make a youtube video of that. Anyway lol. I'm doing shrimp and grapefruit for sure, possibly onions for veggie. Maybe shrimp curry again? Been a bit since I did that!

    Well, off to study. I'll update after dinner!

    ---

    UPDATE:


    For dinner I ended up making shrimp with onions... not sure what kind of sauce but it's spicy and good! Used Bragg's, jalapeno hot sauce, cayenne, s&p, garlic, cumin... annnnnd I think that was it? It's delicious!! The weird thing was that I was hungry alllllll day, got my dinner ready, sat down, and was stuffed halfway through my grapefruit. o.O Guess the HCG found some more abnormal fat! Hahaha. 

    Before dinner, I layed out in my swimsuit for about 30 minutes. Felt soooo nice to get some sun! Hopefully I didn't overdo it - Dr. S says sunburn can cause water retention. Weirrrrrd! Anyway... that's all for today! 

    Monday, April 11, 2011

    VLCD Day 13, 14, & 15

    WOW what a tornado of a weekend!!

    VLCD Day 13 (+0.2)

    Left Friday around 5, picked up my dress, and got to Ft Worth about 10pm. I was planning on going to bed pretty much as soon as I got there, but mom wanted to talk and I did too, really, so we stayed up a little later... like 3 1/2 hours more... o.O So needless to say I woke up the next morning at 8 to a .2 gain. I also ate cottage cheese Friday, and both times I've eaten it I've seen a 0.2 gain... Going to set it aside until Phase 3 (which I'm beginning next week! Woohoo!). I have added in the 1 tbsp of skim milk the last 3 days... been nice! I just make a small glass of coffee with a drop of stevia and milk to go with my apple... such a treat! Can't wait to have half & half again in P3... and avocados. Mmmm. Anyway, Saturday... I ended up not having much time or supplies at my sister's house to cook a lot, so I think I made Cucumber Soba Noodle Soup for lunch, and then chicken and cabbage for dinner, with a melba and an apple at each meal, too. I was a little concerned about how much energy I was going to have for prom, but ended up making it all the way through the Cupid Shuffle and to the car until I passed out!

    Here's a picture of my sisters prom dress (L) and my prom dress (R):


    It was SOOOO much fun to get to dress like that! That's half the fun of prom, I think! Prom dinner was a Caesar Salad, some kind of lemon chicken something or other with risotto and veggies, and then strawberry cheesecake for dessert. I partook in none of the above, apart from eating with my nose... I won't say the same for my sis, though! Her gain the next morning wasn't bad, really, and she said it was worth it. Not sure if I would agree if it was me, but kudos to her! Hahaha! 


    VLCD Day 14 (+1.2)

    For missing my ENTIRE "healing window" of sleep (10pm-2am) and getting to bed around 3:30, plus water weight from my leg muscles (painful calves omg!), I'd say that was a small gain! hahaha!! I decided to go to the store Sunday and get some stuff to actually cook, so I got some chard and made my sis the chard soup that I had for dinner on Friday. It was die good, again. ^^ Like I said, chard is my new favorite soup! For dinner we had an Asian steak salad with some grassfed Top Round that my sis defrosted for us. Y.U.M. Steak has never tasted so good! 

    We also watched Knight and Day, which I hadn't seen yet. I LOVED it!! And I realized that Tom Cruise is almost 50... nobody believed me except mom hahaha. There was a scene that showed a close up of his face and neck, and it hit me. I thought to myself "I know that look... he's gotta be about Bart's age!" so I blurted out "HOW OLD IS TOM CRUISE?!" all freaking out because you can't deny the man is tremendously gorgeous. I texted ChaCha and mom knew when I got the text back by the face I made. I yelled out "1962!!!!!!" (my boyfriend was born in '61... thus how I recognized the age by, as weird as it sounds, Tom Cruise's neck. LOL. That doesn't sound perverted at all, does it?) 

    Once Knight and Day was over, I drove back home to Austin and sipped on a Venti Iced Americano with my toffee stevia. Yum yum yum yum. OH that reminds me! Either Thursday or Friday I think I forgot to mention, I ordered some Capella Flavor Drops! I hope they get here today!!!! More for P3 than P2, really, but still. I got Fudge Brownie, Banana, Peanut Butter, & Coconut. Can't waaaaaait! 


    VLCD Day 15 (-2.0) 

    WOW! Steak works amazingly! I didn't even get to bed until 11 or so last night, which gave me around 6 hours of sleep, AND I didn't get to drink a lot yesterday, either! So today I'm below my set weight for last round... still slightly hungry but not terribly so I'm not upping my calories yet. Hoping hoping that messing with all the fats at work isn't going to affect anything and make me gain, though. My manager decided she didn't like me wearing gloves and like FFFFFREAKED OUTTTTT so no more gloves! Haha!! Wow... last round she was actually excited that I wanted to wear gloves, this round she's flipping out! Ah well... I've still made it past my last set weight, so even if I stopped losing now as long as I don't gain anything back I'm totally cool with that! 

    Lunch today was beef chili with a sliced granny smith apple dipped in cinnamon and toffee stevia. Yes, I'm very much addicted to that! I need to make some more CD with it, too. Thinking about trying some CD with carob, but probably won't since I still have a TON of cocoa powder to use first. 

    For dinner, even though lunch was 280 calories (with the toast, apple, and tbsp of milk), I am having chicken salad and I still get to have my toast and my fruit! I used half a head of greenleaf and it's only 15 calories. LOL! Amazingggg! For dressing I mixed 1/2 Tb ACV, 1 Tb Braggs, 1 tsp sambal oelek, pinch of garlic, and 1/2 tb water. Deliciousness in my mouth! 
    Well, that's all for now. Here's to tomorrow! Woohoo!

    Friday, April 8, 2011

    VLCD Day 12 (-0.4)

    Sweetness.

    And now that I know not to eat oranges, no more of THAT! Hahaha.

    Quick blog today, since I've got to finish packing and then go to class this afternoon. Going to be driving to Fort Worth tonight after class for the Christian Homeschool Prom tomorrow night... Can't wait! It's gonna be so much funnnn! Last year was a blast.


    This year my dress is actually a wedding dress - LOL. It's soooo pretty, though.



    I'll post pictures of ME in the dress after prom, I'm sure. I did get my train put into a French Bustle so I don't step on it while I'm dancing. I think I'm going to do my  hair similar to the photo, though, and I wanna see what it looks like with long white gloves that I'm borrowing from a friend. 

    Ok back to food! 

    Today for lunch, I had cottage cheese with sliced grapefruit and cinnamon, and my veggie was cucumber slices dipped in a half Bragg's, half sambal oelek sauce. It was delish! Not sure what I'm making for dinner, but I have chicken defrosted so I'm probably going to use that for something... maybe chicken and sauted chard? Sounds good... or just chicken lettuce wraps. LOL. Well that's about all for now... Will blog again after prom! 

    Thursday, April 7, 2011

    VLCD Day 11 (0)

    Big ol' goose egg... but I'm CLUMPing along! Haha. A group I'm in on Facebook had a post about "Clumpers" - people who don't lose for a few days and then drop enough to make up for not losing. Based on my previous 2 rounds that's definitely true for me! Though, I'm sure it didn't help that I couldn't wear my gloves at work yesterday. I wore them all day today, hopefully that helps. I have noticed a trend, though, with both of my 0 loss days... I ate an orange both times I didn't lose. I wonder if oranges have too much sugar for my body... I'm going to do half a grapefruit tonight and see if that does anything for me, then I only have 1 orange left so if I stall when I eat that then no more oranges for me!

    And I decided to be brave and try beef this round. YAY! Probably the best thing I've ever eaten in my life. Talk about Die Good. I think I blogged the other day that I found organic grass-fed, 96/4 beef at Whole Foods? Well here's my first recipe using some of it!! I mashed it up with 1/2 tbsp Bragg's, onion powder, garlic, and salt and pepper, then grilled it on my George Forman grill (in LOVE with this thing! Must have, for sure!). I wrapped it in greenleaf lettuce and squirted some organic yellow mustard on there, with about 1/2 tbsp chopped onion. Yes, I know, I mixed veggies... kindof. Lol. Rounded the meal out with apple "fries" and a Ryvita. I'm very full, and that beef was absolutely delish!

    I think for dinner I'm going to do the shrimp jambalaya that I made the other day... that was pretty good! Plus it's lighter on calories to balance out the beef. I did find out that organic, grass-fed extra lean beef only has 123 calories for 100g, as opposed to about 150-160 for regular extra-lean beef. Not sure how that works but I was excited!

    I'm slightly confused about one thing, however. Totally unrelated to beef. Haha. The last 2 rounds I have followed my Chiropractor's advice when going through the protocol, but this time I'm doing it on my own and I've already done some things differently, such as adding in the cracker and taking B-12, and eating Chocolate Delight. What I'm confused about is that my last 2 rounds, I didn't wait 72 hours from my last drops to go into Phase 3, and I had no problems at all. I didn't gain, I actually maintained my LDW through Phase 3 from the day I stopped the drops. I just stopped the drops in the evening, woke up, and started eating Phase 3... but this round I want to do things right and I'm so confused about that! Someone told me it's important to do the 72 hours, but I've never done that before. What my Chiropractor had me do was once I reached my goal weight, stay on the drops for 2 extra days instead of going without them but still doing 500 calories.

    Anyway... I still have a minimum of what,  12 days left? Ish? I'll figure it out... I think. Haha!


    ---
    Update (after dinner)

    OMG NO WONDER I'M STALLING AFTER ORANGES! I was lied to!! Lied to I say! I did oranges ALL through my first round, after being told by my Chiro that they were ok. I just went and read the Pounds and Inches protocol again, and it ONLY lists apples, strawberries, and grapefruit. Geez! Ok no more oranges!

    For dinner I did make the jambalaya, and I'm eating it with a Ryvita and half a grapefruit. Yum! Spicy goodness.