Thread: Phase 2: My Journey R1 - daily struggles, successes

Originally Posted by DaveSchwReno

Yesterday I reported an astonishing 6-lb gain in the morning. Today a 6-lb drop.

Back at LDW=0!

Wow!! Just wow!!

Just a quick post to announce my good news....I finally reached Onederland this morning And I hope I never see those terrible 2's again LOL!! Still feeling great with the lowered dose. I actually dropped down to 8 drops 3x/day and that seems to be the magic number for me. Hoping our new drops get here soon so I can continue. Otherwise, I may have to move into phase 3 this week.

DH loaded over the weekend and is on vlcd1 today

Originally Posted by SparkyCO

Wow!! Just wow!!

Just a quick post to announce my good news....I finally reached Onederland this morning And I hope I never see those terrible 2's again LOL!! Still feeling great with the lowered dose. I actually dropped down to 8 drops 3x/day and that seems to be the magic number for me. Hoping our new drops get here soon so I can continue. Otherwise, I may have to move into phase 3 this week.

DH loaded over the weekend and is on vlcd1 today

That's wonderful! Congrats!!!!

Title says it all.

Yesterday I went to lunch at a burger joint. They have a wonderful deal. Have you ever noticed that the places with great deals always lead you to high-calorie, high-carb foods? This "great deal" is "Any burger on the menu for $6."

So, I order the whatever-it-is-called:it-comes-with-everything burger. Seriously, EVERYTHING. lettuce, tomato, onions, bacon, avocado, cheese... so I had them hold the bun and give me a 2nd patty. With the fries, that comes in (by my math) at around 1,500 calories. I brought the entire day in at only 2,650 so I did just fine.

However, the bad news was that they put seasoned salt on the fries - my mistake - forget to tell them not to. That salt contains DSG, a cousin of MSG that usually blows my sugar up about 30 points for 36-48 hours. It did. This morning I my glucose was 129, up about 25 points.

I was also up 2 lbs this morning, but I am reasonable sure that thus is because I am not sleeping well. This happens when I miss Beth. I work crazy hours and forget to sleep. Also, I am not eating enough for breakfast.

"Life is hard" because my best friend and business partner (among other things) is missing in action. And she is very much "in action," visiting her friend who, I understand, is moving to a facility today that is closer to her home (where Beth is staying) in Surprise, AZ.

I am really looking forward to Friday morning when my girl comes home.

Everybody have a great day.

Dave

Awwww....hurry home Beth!!

Still here. Had 3 pretty big calorie days in a row, including 3,220 yesterday (about 360 calories over LDW x 12 and620 calories over my 11x target). Remember how I said I was having a hard time eating enough calories? Today I noticed my 7-day average for calories was only 2,199 and this includes the last 3 days!

I do not know if anyone else has experienced this but it seems to me that eating too few calories in P4 can create problems. I really think the idea of the "system reset" is right on. It seems I can consume an awful lot of calories and not gain weight but if I shorten up the calories for a few days (as I did for several days to get back to LDW, I have to pump them back up or else risk throwing things off.

A friend of mine is very much into nutrition and health. We were talking one day and he was blown away by the fact that I could eat like 2,600 calories and not gain weight. He said that he eats 1,500 calories per day and struggles to stay even despite the fact that he is 6'4" and works out 90 minutes a day (literally)! I really think this diet plan is right on the money.

Officially: Today I am up a pound to LDW +1 (still on the roller coaster). Beth has not weighed since she got to Phoenix. She also says that she is concerned because it has been difficult to eat right. Recall that she spends most of her days at the hospital visiting with her friend and cafeteria food is not the best selection for a diet like ours.

Two days and a wake up and she'll be home! LOL - Beth says that the first order of business will be a good lunch!

Be well, all. Stay skinny!

Dave

PS: Have you noticed how quiet The Voices have gotten since they got their own account? Or are they out there posting all over the forum? Who knows?

Just for the record, both Beth and I have blown up over here. Not exactly sure why, but we're both up like SIX pounds! This is P4, week 3 for us, but we have not added many carbs. We just do not eat them.

When I look at my calorie counts for the time when Beth was gone last week, I see a pattern: The first 6 days out of 7 my calories were consistently too low, then I went slightly high 4 days in a row, then back down to try to overcome the gain.

Does this sound familiar? This is called "dieting-like-we-used-to," and it has had a similar effect as to what we used to experience: weight goes on easily and comes off with difficulty. I do not like where this has taken us.

But we will be taking action this week. Probably like this:

Mon: LC day (under 1,800)
Tue: VLC day (under 1,000)
Wed: Normal day
Thu: VLC day (under 1,000)
Fri: LC day (under 1,800)
Sat: Normal day
Sun: VLC day (under 1,000)
Mon: LC day (under 1,800)
Tue: Normal day

We are hoping that will get us back to where we should be. Specifically, I am hoping that this will result in us earning about a 3-pound weight drop. In addition, I am also HOPING that the +6 pounds is because of retention.

On a small side-note, it appears that being "diabetes-free" is about more than just glucose counts. I had some popcorn the other day and my sugar did just fine, at 103. I also had some DSG - similar to MSG - that has historically spiked my sugar by 30 points for almost 2 days. Well, this time (two times, actually) it spiked me only about 25 points and only for one day. I look forward to speaking with my doctor about this but my guess is that my body is still "returning to normal" (in terms of insulin reaction).

Our plan has been to finish P4, eat normally for 4 weeks then go back for round 3 on April 2. My best guess would be that if we do not take this extra weight off in the next few days we will exit P4, take about 10 days off then start R3 around March 15.

In other words, if we have undone something we will either get it working again or take drastic action. We will not give back what we have taken off!


Best to all of you.

Dave & Beth

Just a thought ('cause I know diddly squat about P3/4), maybe both you and Beth are sensitive to grains? I only mention this because since I have been on HCG, I have learned that my body LOVES the bread, but without it, I am much better. So I have been planning on going Paleo when I am done with HCG, in fact, I am switching up the family as we speak (much to my husband's dismay!).

We do not eat grains. Not even once a week, although I had popcorn this week, it is a rarity any more.

We actually eat almost zero carbs. LOL - I eat more Snickers bars than grain products and I don't have Snickers even once per week.

Good idea, though.

Dave

Since I have no experience with P3/P4, I cannot offer you and Beth anything.....other than tons of encouragement! You will succeed, I know this because I see how meticulous you are in keeping track of everything. Let us know how things are going this week, I am curious I have no doubt that a good portion of that 6 lbs is fluid retention of some sort. You just have not been eating enough to gain 6 lbs.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know DH and I are thinking of you 2 and rooting for you all the way!