Back on track and supercharged

Posted on May 4, 2012 by 180

My planned interruption ended up being six days. Since it was less than two weeks I didn’t need to reload. Wanting to get a jump start, I decided to do a P3-style Fage day (32 oz. Fage with 8 oz. raspberries divided into four servings throughout the day). It was a lovely success resulting in a one pound drop the next day.

That began a week that was so amazingly successful. I lost 6.7 lbs in 7 days! I haven’t had losses this good since my very first week on protocol last year! Finally my body is giving up on that set point and the goal is in sight. What a wild ride! After more than a month of losing less than 10 lbs this is just the most amazing thing.

I’m not sure whether the big drop is just my body finally giving up that old set point or if it’s the tweaks I’ve made to protocol. I’m hoping it’s the latter because if it is, I could possibly be at goal in two weeks! I’m doing lots of testing and will share more details if it turns out to be my tweaks. Meanwhile I’ve finally entered a new decade on the scale and have successfully lost 70 lbs.

I may just have found the holy grail of weight loss!

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Planned Interruption

Posted on April 26, 2012 by 180

We have two family celebrations in April. I did not want to be on protocol for that, yet I’m not ready to end my round. I chose to use a “Planned Interruption.” This means stop taking drops and for three days continue with VLCD (very low calorie diet). After that eat P3 trying to maintain current weight.

When the big day arrived it was somewhat anti climactic. The family get together was wonderful. The food, however, was disappointing. I hadn’t been to this place in years and had always enjoyed it, but diet food it is not. Parts of it were good, parts were not good and the rest were just passable. Certainly not worth the calorie load they carried. But the carrot cake I made, EXCELLENT! That was fun and very satisfying.

I got a three pound bounce back up from that day. So I decided rather than go right back to drops to stay in P3 for a bit and see if I could drop those pounds and get back to where I left off. After six days I managed to get one pound back off so I surrendered and started back on protocol.

Here we go again…

 

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Rough round

Posted on April 12, 2012 by 180

Things really slowed down after the first week. This old set point is holding on for dear life. Don’t know what’s so special about this weight but I am so ready for a new decade!

TOM came to visit again! Twice in one month is just not fair. Thirty days of protocol and 14 of them were TOM!!!

Total loss for 30 days 8.9 lbs but the inches are coming off. I expected as I got closer to goal that things would slow down so I’m just hanging tough trusting the process.

To keep myself distracted, I’ve been doing lots of training with the rehab horses. One, an eventer, was ready to begin jumping. At my former weight I was barely able to trot with him comfortably. Now we’re doing 2.6′ jumps! That feels amazing. I am so much more balanced, and with that, much less fearful. Each time we successfully have a workout session my confidence grows.

During one training ride I dropped my training stick and dismounted to get it. After I retrieved it I decided to try mounting from the ground (I haven’t been able to do that for decades). I did it!!! And it wasn’t even that hard!!!! Wow. This was a 15.2 horse (just over 5 ft at the withers for non horsey folks). That felt so wonderful and liberating. It is a real pain to be out riding and have to find a rock or stump to get back on if you need to. Plus I always felt guilty about all that weight pulling on the horse’s back as I dragged my bulk up onto the saddle. Another awesome milestone.

Wow, all of the effort has been so worth it!

 

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First week of R2 complete.

Posted on March 21, 2012 by 180

Time to celebrate! I made it through the first week with a total loss of 7.2 lbs and 3 inches. TOM is leaving and I am ready to see what the second week will bring. Of course TOM couldn’t just fade quietly away. It has left me anemic and wanting to eat everything in sight.

I confess to some minor cheats, but overall got through the day pretty well. We’ll see what the scale reports tomorrow.

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R2P2D7

Posted on March 19, 2012 by 180

Loss this morning .2. Total so far 6.4.

I am amazed that this has not upset me. During my first round such a small drop would have really ticked me off after all my hard work. But this round I have a much more philosophical attitude. I’m sure tomorrow or the next day will show a greater loss and 6.4 lbs dropped during a visit from TOM?! Absolutely incredible.

I love this protocol!!!

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Salad dressing that really satisfies.

Posted on March 19, 2012 by 180

During my first P2 I experimented with making salad dressing, but without oil it was too watery. It just turned out to not be worth the effort so I switched to plain, balsamic vinegar. It was good, despite being too thin to stick to the lettuce, and I actually got to the point where I really liked it.

In the months since that round I bought some Xanthan Gum to use as a thickening agent. This week I was ready to test it out.

Yowza, complete success! I ended up with a dressing that tasted good and was just the right consistency, and it took just minutes to make in my Ninja. My kind of recipe!

Creamy 180 Dressing

1/3 c. Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
1 c. water
1 small clove garlic
1/2 t. Xanthan Gum
1/2 t. Lemon Herb spice
Stevia to taste

Put all ingredients in blender. Process until smooth.

Next batch I’m going to try mustard powder to see if I can get an approximation of a nice Honey Mustard dressing.

Other variations: use orange or strawberries instead of Lemon Herb spice. Or switch up the spices. Add onions or anything else you like that’s legal on protocol and enjoy!

 

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An unwelcome visitor.

Posted on March 16, 2012 by 180

I knew it was a possibility, but I really thought this was my month to skip. Alas I was WRONG.

TOM came to visit during my first week of P2. Most inconsiderate! That could certainly slow my progress. Happily I have continued an average loss of about a pound a day in spite of the untimely visit.

I could have waited another week to be “safe,” but I was so mentally ready to start that I decided it was worth taking a chance.

So I have decided to put a positive spin on this and be happy that I will now have a nice long window of opportunity to keep sliding down the scale before another visit.

Now I’m psyched to take my measurements and see how much progress I’ve made.

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R2P2D2

Posted on March 14, 2012 by 180

(That’s Round 2, Phase 2, Day 2 in case you haven’t yet been exposed to the lingo on this protocol.)

I love it when a plan comes together! Day 2 loss: 3.1 lbs.

That’s all of my loading weight plus half a pound! The weight loss slide has begun.

It’s terribly ungrateful, I know, but I’m disappointed. I had bigger losses first round but then I had a lot more to lose. For my final 20 lbs this is a really good loss. I’m working on changing my attitude about that.

Actually as I think about it, I’m really excited to see what the weekly total loss will be.

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Round two loading results.

Posted on March 13, 2012 by 180

Armed with my plan I eagerly anticipated loading days. I ended up making some changes but all in all I’m really pleased with the results.

Day 1: Calories: 3,991, Fat: 316.3, Carbs: 254.2, Protein: 104.4

Sunday brunch: 5 slices bacon, scrambled eggs, .25 waffle (with syrup, strawberries and whipped cream), corned beef hash, crepes, pineapple, watermelon, honeydew, cream puffs, mini eclairs, rice pudding and a couple other mini pastry items. As near as I can calculate that is around 2,100 calories. Not a bad start for day one!

Throughout the day I snacked on Macadamia nuts for a total of 5 ounces = 1,020 calories.

Dinner was cauliflower soup with my home made wheat bran bread slathered in butter = 532 calories.

For an evening snack I had some mini Butterfingers. I wanted to use them up so they wouldn’t be around to tempt me, and I really enjoyed them! In fact this is the first time I can recall ever eating as many of those little pastries as I wanted with ZERO guilt. Gain after first day of loading: 2.3 lbs.

Day 2: Calories: 2,790, Fat: 207.2, Carbs: 242.5, Protein: 110.5

Breakfast: 2 of my favorite doughnuts with a big glass of whole milk and Nesquik.

Snack: doughnut

Lunch: Cauliflower soup with my bread and butter.

Dinner: Roast beef and cabbage slathered in butter.

Snack: Chocolate Shakeology

Gain after second day of loading: .3 lbs.

I didn’t manage to get to the guacamole or broccoli but I was very satisfied. So I begin the first day of VLCD with a loading gain of 2.6 lbs. (It was 6lbs last time.) Tomorrow I’ll find out if my theory about loading was right…

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Planning round two loading days.

Posted on March 10, 2012 by 180

I’ve given a lot of thought to what foods I wanted to include for my loading days. My first round I didn’t know enough about the process and ended up fighting hunger pangs for about two weeks.

Loading correctly is vital to a successful Phase 2.

With that in mind I plan to consume between 3000-4000 calories each of the two days and include a lot of fat. In addition I also want to get in some foods that I will miss.

First on my list was macadamia nuts. They are high fat, nutritious and tasty. A very easy way to get in a lot of calories.

Next was my home made ice cream. I will alter the recipe to make it even higher fat for this occasion.

Then I decided on some favorite recipes that are high fat, but nutritious: Creamy Cauliflower soup, Crispy Baked Broccoli and Guacamole.

Finally, I plan to make roast beef with cabbage. I learned my first P2 that cabbage causes me to stall so having it now with a nod to St. Patrick’s Day sounded good.

Oh and let’s not forget, I also want to go out to an all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch.

My goal for this loading extravaganza is get to in enough essential fat without gaining huge amounts of weight that will slow down my first week’s progress.

I also plan to stop eating reasonably early rather than stuffing myself until bedtime. I did that the first time and felt sick. It’s my belief that eating too late, even on loading days, is a mistake. My theory is that getting in enough of the right kind of calories, then allowing the body to process them, would result in the necessary fat saturation without a huge gain.

Yep, I think that’s a good plan. Let the loading begin…

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