R4P2 Starting Weight 184.4
Yesterday – 174.2
Today – 174.0
0.2 lb LOSS Overnight
1.4 lb UNDER LIW of Round Three (175.4)
10.4 Lost Since Start of R4 (VLCD) 01/22/08
76.8 Total Lost Since Start of Protocol (VLCD) 06/26/07

Here is my menu for yesterday. This is what I had:

An apple and a half a grapefruit. Lunch was Chicken – Fajita Style. Dinner was a Creole Chicken (Cajun Chicken and Tomatoes)

A total of around 447 calories divided this way: 3 Fat, 46 Carbs, 53 Protein

GO HERE AND SIGN UP FOR UPCOMING HCG NEWSLETTER!!! It’s coming honest! Just waiting on my partner to put the finishing touches on it!

Let’s not forget the HCG BOOK CLUB – join in on the fun! If you haven’t signed up for it yet, please do so now. eMail Address Form

Our FAQ Question this go round is the following, please spend some time if you can answering this survey:

Thanks goes to Mariel for answering the survey. Any others willing to approach this subject?

Foods on Phase 2 – Do Some Work Better Than Others?

It Was a Good Run!

I knew it had to slow down, a body can only do so much in just 6 completed days! Not gonna over analyze it, I am WAY more than half way to my goal and I am just gonna let the HCG perform it’s magic.

The numbers don’t lie:

Day 6 (Complete) – Round 4 = 5.64% Body Weight Loss
Day 6 (Complete) – Round 3 = 4.97% Body Weight Loss
Day 6 (Complete) – Round 2 = 3.54% Body Weight Loss
Day 6 (Complete) – Round 1 = 3.35% Body Weight Loss

Want to hear something interesting? On Rounds 1 and 2 on Day 7 I stalled. On my 3rd round that didn’t happen, but I feel it’s interesting to note that it did on my first two rounds! Is my body this consistent???

Do You Dream About Your Weight?

I just so happen to have been woken up this morning in the middle of a dream. My husband was looking for something and had to wake me up to find it. It was some medicine that he needed to be able to sleep the rest of the morning.

Since I am not one to remember my dreams very often, I forced myself to stay awake so that I could remember this one. It was a good one! It involved a scale. And yes, I loved the scale and the scale loved me.

I tell you where this came from. For the first time since starting this protocol, I have gotten into this weird habit of weighing myself at different times during the day, just to see what is going on. And so since it’s becoming sort of a habit, I guess it has gotten into my subconscious mind and now I am dreaming about it.

My dream was about me stepping on the scale and it reading back 128 – now where did THAT come from??? I have NO dreams about being that small!!! I have my theories on where that came from, and it was YOU JENN! I remember talking to my sister yesterday on the phone and I was like, there is this girl that has a blog that is your height and she is like at 128 or so – that means you can get there too! I told my sister that this girl started at almost the same weight as she did, and that this was her third round (which my sister was about to embark on too) and that she has already gotten down to this weight after being around 140 to start. My sister was just thrilled!

So anyway, having this dream made me think about dreaming and sleep and such so I did a little research this morning and I found this article:

The Dream Diet – Losing Weight While You Sleep

Most interesting this article is! It has pretty much confirmed a lot of things that JPS have talked about extensively, that you need your sleep in order to lose weight. Some of the article spends time on sleep apnea, which is a different topic all together, but what I focused in on was the fact that these two hormones, “leptin and ghrelin” can be responsible for our ability to lose weight during the day.

Evidently, they are discovering that these two hormones are produced while we sleep, and these have the ability to control our appetite. They feel there is a relation to having a lack of sleep and obesity – if we don’t allow these hormones to be produced while we sleep, then while we are awake our appetite soars and we start eating more things to help us ‘get energy’ and to stay awake.

Wow, what a vicious cycle this is eh?

Another article that was interesting in this regard was this:

If You’re Planning to Lose Weight in the New Year, Experts Say “Think Sleep”

In this article, it’s basically telling us sure everybody has a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight, but they do nothing to help them sleep better which is a big factor in our ability to lose weight. But what I found most interesting is when it tells us that lack of sleep can contribute to lack of the “Growth Hormone” being produced which is needed for adults to regulate the proportion of fat and muscle.

Hmmmm

I didn’t get GOOD sleep last night. Baby girl is sick and I spent the night with her and with all her coughing and sneezing keeping me up, and then hubby waking me up to find medicine, my sleep was interrupted all night. Hmmmm, could this be the reason for the small .2 loss?

On to my commenter’s – these are my responses to yesterday’s comments:

Mariel – What name do you go by on the discussion board??? I have two dressing in my sidebar that I use pretty much extensively. With the mustard dressing I have switched now to using Dijon and have enjoyed it MUCH more! Thanks for the nice words!

Mary – Thanks girl!!!

Ed and Jenn (Gotta add Ed in there now, knowing that he looks over your shoulder) – Added protein? Hmmm, I have had more than the amount allowed on several occasions with no harm done, but would I recommend it??? Not all the time, no. I get all my oriental stuff from the local Asian Market, I am sure there is one in almost every big city!

Monica – I think you have a plan, just make sure they don’t throw any sauces on it and you should be just fine! Thanks girl, and LOOK AT YOUR PICS!!!

Becca – Thanks girl! Loving life at the moment!

Take it easy, Biz

R4P2 Starting Weight 184.4
Yesterday – 175.8
Today – 174.2
1.6 lb LOSS Overnight
1.2 lb UNDER LIW of Round Three (175.4)
10.2 Lost Since Start of R4 (VLCD) 01/22/08
76.6 Total Lost Since Start of Protocol (VLCD) 06/26/07

Here is my menu for yesterday. This is what I had:

An apple and a half a grapefruit. Lunch was Ground Beef Cajun Style – with tomatoes. Dinner was a large lettuce salad. As you can see, I didn’t have my 2nd serving of protein yesterday, lack of planning caused this and this subject will be approached below.

A total of around 318 calories divided this way: 7 Fat, 39 Carbs, 29 Protein

GO HERE AND SIGN UP FOR UPCOMING HCG NEWSLETTER!!! It’s coming honest! Just waiting on my partner to put the finishing touches on it!

Let’s not forget the HCG BOOK CLUB – join in on the fun! If you haven’t signed up for it yet, please do so now. eMail Address Form

Our FAQ Question this go round is the following, please spend some time if you can answering this survey:

Only two answers so far? Any others willing to approach this subject?

Foods on Phase 2 – Do Some Work Better Than Others?

Seriously

Another 1.6 Overnight! Where did that come from??? Well, I am BELOW my LIW and with a bit to spare! WOO HOO FOR ME! After 5 completed days, I lost all that I gained on my break and I am in the “Gravy Zone” – oh yeah, that’s the way I like it!

Let’s see the winners from my little contest?

Oh Yeah! Good Guess Gals!

• Cathy – Day 6, which would be Sunday
• Monica – Sunday

Oops, Didn’t Happen

• Jennifer – Friday – Sorry
• Rosie – Friday – Sorry
• Becca – Friday – Sorry
• Martha – Saturday – Sorry
• Mary – Saturday – Sorry
• Wendy – Saturday – Sorry
• Page – Monday – Sorry

Sorry Page.

Most excellent! Monica and Cathy, please contact me, you folks already know how and let me know your snail mail addy. Please don’t post it here ok? You should have my email addy or use the contact form on the right side of my side bar. Thanks for playing all of you! That was fun!!!

You know I love my numbers – let’s look at them again!

Day 5 (Complete) – Round 4 = 5.53% Body Weight Loss
Day 5 (Complete) – Round 3 = 4.24% Body Weight Loss
Day 5 (Complete) – Round 2 = 3.54% Body Weight Loss
Day 5 (Complete) – Round 1 = 3.35% Body Weight Loss

JPS showed me how to do something with the Excel Chart, what do you think of this? It really shows how well my rounds are doing. And how much better each round has gotten! Totally cool!

Speaking of JPS – here is an update on her. She was at 7.8 lbs above (161.2) her LIW (153.4) when we started this round, and today she is 1.8 below (151.6) – she lost all of her gain (and then some) while on the last break yesterday, so since yesterday everything is gravy for her. She has lost a total of 9.6 in 5 completed days or 5.96% loss from starting weight. She is doing well and loving HCG!!!

Lack of Preparation

Yesterday was a strange day. We had a going away party we needed to attend. We have known about this for a couple of weeks, so this wasn’t an issue. But what I didn’t know was that our family was asked to bring some food to the party. So I had to scramble to prepare something quickly.

Ok, so that wasn’t such an issue. The party was to start at 4pm, but my husband was asked to be there at 3pm since he was DJ and was providing all the sound equipment. He went ahead and left and we were to follow.

Before we left, JPS asked what were we going to do about dinner. This was around 3:15pm and quite frankly I hadn’t thought anything about dinner. So I said, look, the party is close enough that we can excuse ourselves around dinner time for a few minutes, come home and cook ourselves some dinner and then go back. We said this because we both thought it was going to be a plain ole party, something we wouldn’t mind leaving.

Well, when we got there, we found that this was gonna be a FUN party, and that we weren’t going to want to miss a minute of it! So I told JPS, look, I saw some bagged lettuce greens in the kitchen, and I just KNOW someone will bring some fried chicken (after all, this IS the south!) and we can split a breast (after taking off the skin) and we should be fine.

Well, do you know, not ONE person brought fried chicken??? Oh they brought chicken alright, but baked and only thighs and legs!!! ROFL – JPS took a chance on a thigh – I didn’t, not wanting to chance it – she still lost a pound!!! So since there was nothing else there for me to nibble on, I just stuck to a dry bagged lettuce salad! That is why I didn’t have my 2nd protein.

Preparation is the Key

Yes, this is the key to the success of this protocol. Sure, I still lost 1.6 today, but had this been further into my round, I can almost guarantee you that something different would have happened.

JPS and I got to talking about this this morning. We both agreed that if ever in this situation again, we would spend a few minutes and boil us an egg so that at least we would have our protein. As much as I am toying with a different “diet” for the protocol, what I will not ever recommend is going without our protein. This is dangerous stuff. Dr Simeon’s tells us we are on the verge of Protein Deficiency during the protocol, so anything less than our 7 oz of protein a day will lead to horrible consequences. Especially if we are wanting to maintain day to day living activity.

So word to the wise, be prepared, don’t throw caution to the wind and just HOPE things work. Plan your work, and work your plan. Being haphazard can cause inconsistent results.

I wont be doing that again!

On to my commenter’s – these are my responses to yesterday’s comments:

Mary – VERY interesting! I about died when I heard that from Lynne! It was like, oh yeah, that makes sense! You wont be sorry about the Thai Soup, mmmmm.

Jenn – Sambal Oelek – and yes, I usually make my own broth, but recently, I have found this organic broth available at my local grocery store Food Lion called Nature’s Place and it’s quite good and I have used it extensively. I get the LOW SODIUM variety and it works just fine for me. Oh, sorry I didn’t live up to your request, but hey, I just have one thing to say, HA! LOL – tell Ed he could be where I am if he would quit cheating! ROFL

Monica – Gosh, if I couldn’t have cabbage on the protocol, I would go NUTS!

Wendy – MMMM, corned beef! I love me some corned beef and cabbage! What a very Atkins Friendly Meal eh???

Have a great one people!

Biz

R4P2 Starting Weight 184.4
Yesterday – 177.4
Today – 175.8
1.6 lb LOSS Overnight
0.4 lb Over LIW of Round Three (175.4)
8.6 Lost Since Start of R4 (VLCD) 01/22/08
75.0 Total Lost Since Start of Protocol (VLCD) 06/26/07

Here is my menu for yesterday. This is what I had:

An apple and a half a grapefruit. Lunch was Ground Beef Patty with Red Cabbage Cole Slaw. Dinner was Baby Bok Choy Soup again.

A total of around 432 calories divided this way: 7 Fat, 47 Carbs, 56 Protein

GO HERE AND SIGN UP FOR UPCOMING HCG NEWSLETTER!!! It’s coming honest! Just waiting on my partner to put the finishing touches on it!

Let’s not forget the HCG BOOK CLUB – join in on the fun! If you haven’t signed up for it yet, please do so now. eMail Address Form

Ok! I have formatted and put up the FAQ on “TOM – Aunt Flo Issues”!!! Yeah! I actually accomplished something yesterday!

Our FAQ Question this go round is the following, please spend some time if you can answering this survey:

Thank you Jeanne and Ann for helping me with the FAQ yesterday. Any others willing to approach this subject?

Foods on Phase 2 – Do Some Work Better Than Others?

HA! 1.6 Overnight! I am on my way! 8.6 of the 9 lbs above LIW gone in four completed days, gotta love my HCG! Only 0.4 more lbs until I am at LIW – when will that be??? Who is a part of my little contest from Wednesday?

Still In The Running:

• Cathy – Day 6, which would be Sunday
• Monica – Sunday
• Page – Monday (But was late so not part of the prize package)

Oops, Didn’t Happen

• Jennifer – Friday – Sorry
• Rosie – Friday – Sorry
• Becca – Friday – Sorry
• Martha – Saturday – Sorry
• Mary – Saturday – Sorry
• Wendy – Saturday – Sorry

Sorry Martha, Mary and Wendy – I feel like I let you gals down. But still it was a good loss yes??? It would have been SWEET to already be done with the above LIW numbers, but still, I don’t think I am doing all that bad??? I am doing everything according to plan, not deviating yet (like some people out there ‘wink wink’).

Day 4 (Complete) – Round 4 = 4.66% Body Weight Loss
Day 4 (Complete) – Round 3 = 3.62% Body Weight Loss
Day 4 (Complete) – Round 2 = 3.17% Body Weight Loss
Day 4 (Complete) – Round 1 = 2.95% Body Weight Loss

Do you folks see a pattern here? OMG! Isn’t that funny to look at??? Who would have thought? You all know how important I think these particular numbers are, and it’s not letting me down!

I know how important it is to put it out there in the universe the things that we want. But have any of you been afraid of putting out there what we know might be TOO MUCH? Like we are getting greedy or something?

I have never been one to be greedy. Selfish yes, but greedy? I am one always content with what I have at the moment. Maybe I need to rethink this. Maybe this is why I was overweight all those years??? Hmmm…food for thought…

Before I get into this discussion, I want to thank all of you that saw what I saw yesterday. It’s good to know that I am not the only one that feels this way. There was a time that I was very strict about the protocol, shoot, I still am – I still believe deep in my heart in order to maximize losses, you follow exactly as written.

But for those of us that are on this thing for multiple rounds … If taking a day of eating broccoli or brussel sprouts is the difference between losing it all and going off the deep end, or taking a chance of slower losses for that day, then, well, you figure it out.

That being said…

The Cabbage Family

The cabbage or cruciferous family is a group of vegetables named for their cross-shaped flowers. These include the following:

• Arugula
• Beet greens
• Bok choy
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Chinese cabbage (Napa)
• Collard greens
• Daikon
• Garden cress
• Horseradish
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Mizuna
• Mustard greens
• Radishes
• Rutabaga
• Swiss chard
• Tatsoi
• Turnips
• Turnip greens
• Watercress

So, if we go into what we were talking about yesterday, then look at all the things that would be available to us should we decide to ‘read between the lines’ and use the entire cabbage family? I have highlighted what she allows per his “diet” menu (for Italian Patients).

Do you see what I see? Look at all the members of the cabbage family that is native to the Orient alone? Watercress, turnips, tatsoi, Napa, Bok Choy, and Daikon! WOW! Do you think he didn’t include these because these were not native to his country??? I need to do an Excel sheet comparison to the nutritional make up of each and every one of these things. That is a project for another day.

Ok, so did you know this? That the cabbage family has been known to have properties that fight cancer??? They are nutrient dense and full of vitamins, and we are recommended to eat cabbage at least three times a week.

The cabbage family is an “antioxidant” and we all know how important this is to our health. In particular, the cabbage family have what they call “isothiocyanates” which is a phytochemical that combats carcinogens by neutralizing them and reducing their poisonous effect. In other words, it’s even good for us to combat ‘second hand smoke’.

The cabbage family vegetables also help reduce “homocysteine” levels (this is an amino acid in the blood stream – too much and your risk for coronary heart disease increases) so they reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

So, who is eating cabbage with me today???

On to my commenter’s – these are my responses to yesterday’s comments:

Lili – make sure you keep GOOD records, as this is all for experiment sake. I would think carrots would be a big no no, along with potatoes and tubulars in general. I know, when Marshall said green beans I about died! ROFL

Shelly – I miss my turnips as well. And I always thought that turnips and radishes were the same thing ya know? Kinda like Bok Choy and Napa Cabbage are the same to me. Maybe it’s me just trying to justify, but it hasn’t affected my losses. Or maybe it has, but I am happy with my losses so far! ROFL

Marshall – Thanks for chiming in Dude! HA! I never thought of green beans, and do you know that is one of my FAVORITE veggies??? Gosh, I love green beans. My mom uses to say my snack when I was real little would be green beans right out of the can in a bowl. I would sit and watch TV with them!

Wendy – HA! Isn’t that funny??? Same wavelength, we have done that before! Are we cybersisters or something???

Jenn – I went into it a bit with JPS yesterday, and she was agreeing with me. Funny how we are both leaning towards the menu not being that important as we once believed, but ask her or I to do anything about it this round? Um NO – we want to stick to what we know works! ROFL – we are both planning a trip at the end of this round so we are like, why chance it???

Mary – Sorry Charlie…just didn’t make it. The Dijon Dressing was the dressing I posted, but I used Dijon Mustard instead, it made it all the more sweeter! OMG! I was loving life that day! I do really love my salads, but it is so soup weather!

I have to dig out my notes. Lynne from the HCG2 board mentioned that the doctor she used on her first round with Releana mentioned that he worked with Dr Atkins at one time. He also mentioned that Dr Atkins and Dr Simeons spent time together in Switzerland many moons ago. She also said that Dr Atkins believed that his diet was a “Golden Shot” opportunity, that the first time you did it and did it right, you would have great success. He mentioned that he would not see a patient that had a relapse. Hmmmm….

Ewewho – I might try green beans this round, but I am not sure yet! Maybe if I get to goal quick, but you know I am planning a trip so I want to maximize losses, so I am a bit apprehensive at the moment! ROFL

Becca – see, this is the thing. We are all doing this “self doctoring” bit, we are doing our own research. That is why I love our little community, I can throw things out there and get ‘case studies’ as it were to see what works and what doesn’t. How much better can that get???

Take it easy!

Biz