I've been having a real difficult time stabilizing in P3. Up and down every day, for no apparent reasons. This morning I was up 2 lbs and this is what I ate/did yesterday.

Breakfast: Skipped breakfast because my hubby let me sleep in late while he watched the kids (ahhhhh, better than food). Did have a handful of pork rinds with water around 11 AM.

Lunch: 1:00 PM - .75 lb of steak (cooked in the oven and marinated at home with no sugar added). Dessert: 4 slices of an apple (1/2 apple) with a little bit of all natural, no sugar added peanut butter (the kind you buy at Fresh Market where you grind your own peanuts and voila, peanut butter). I'm on my third week of P3 and thought to try to introduce a little bit of peanut butter. And I do mean a little bit, did not have more than a tablespoon all together.

Exercise: 3:00 PM - Went to the gym to do 30 mins. on the elliptical machine and 30 mins. of toning (did shoulders yesterday). I've been going to the gym every single day and I follow the same routine, one half hour each of cardio and toning. My body is sore all over, since I tone a different body part every day. I'm not trying to gain muscle at this time, but it's been a while that I've done even light weights so I'm definitely feeling it all over.

Snack: 4:15 PM - Jay Robb shake (whey protein). One scoop shake, 1 teaspoon Hershey's unsweetened cocoa mix, 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee, 7 ozs water, handful of ice and 1/2 banana (to introduce bananas back into diet since at third week of P3).

Dinner: 7:30 PM - 5 ozs. of salmon, cooked in oven, no oil. Salad as follows: arugula, spinach and spring mix lettuce, onions, garlic, tomato, 6 pieces of a small avocado (about 1/4 small avocado), 6 black olives, a sprinkle of blue cheese (about 1 tablespoon) and the dressing was a little bit of oil and vinegar (home made not prepared in a bottle).

Before dinner I did eat ONE piece of sweet plantain (fried). This is not one entire banana. The banana is sliced into pieces and each piece is fried. I had one piece, thinking it was just a banana but then did a google search after someone told me that sweet plantains are very starchy and this is true. But again, I had one slice of banana fried in oil.

After dinner I went for my usual 1-mile walk (30 mins.) around my neighborhood. I do this every single night (in addition to my daily workout) after dinner.

So I did introduce two new foods: 1 tablespoon all natural peanut butter and 1/2 banana in my JR shake and then 1 piece of sweet plaintain fried before dinner. The only dairy I had was a sprinkle of blue cheese with my salad for dinner (probably less than one tablespoon), no eggs, no nuts other than the tablespoon of peanut butter. I drank my usual 60-70 ozs of water, nothing else.

Is this enough to cause a 2 lb. gain overnight? Even during my years of very bad eating, I never gained 2 lbs overnight. And this included the times of Super Size McDonald's meals with the works! I slowly gained 25 lbs over the course of 5 years, and it was due to very careless eating, never because I ate 1/2 banana or 1 tablespoon peanut butter. While I really love the results of this diet, I just can't seem to not gain the weight back. I'm already 5 lbs over LIW and every time I don't do a steak or high protein day I gain weight. Not sure what's going on or if it is because of the exercises that I'm doing, but I've exercised regularly all my life (including high-intensity exercises such as spinning) so I'm not jumping into new exercise all at once.

Lastly, I am having daily BMs due to eating about 7-8 dried prunes per day. It could be the natural sugars contained in the prunes that is making me gain weight, but again, 2 lbs overnight????

Any advice is appreciated as I prepare for another steak day and high protein days, only to repeat this cycle all over again.

Thanks!

it sounds like you're doing steak or protein days to lose water weight, then as soon as you re-hydrate yourself the weight comes back on. i would not continue to do steak days- your body probably just wants to stabilize at a higher weight. you can artificially bring it back down, but can't do anything to keep it from jumping back up. i don't have a problem with anything you ate other than the pork rinds... they are nothing but solid fat, highly processed, and terrible for you in general! and very salty, so you might just be retaining water.

i'd also question the consistency of your scale at this point.

personally, i'd take the weight you're at today, and not do another correction day unless you're 2 more pounds over that weight.

Are u possibly trying to stay at a too low weight? 125lbs for 5'8" height is a bit low. Maybe your body's way of rebelling.

Penny -- It really sounds like you are doing okay. I know you are gaining but at 5'8" the goal of 125 is actually under h/w recommendations for a small framed woman. I agree with Mgsondance, take today's weight of 133 and use that as your LIW. I'm sure your sore muscles are adding into the weight gain, so if they are already sore at this weight you shouldn't gain more weight with them continuing to be sore. (did that even make sense?)

Wish you the best.

Penny, you could have a sensitivity to some nuts. I discovered to my great sadness, that I seem to gain every time I eat an Almond. the same with peanuts...
but,I have been having the same issue as you, it just keeps jumping up. But I found that (at least for the last few days) that my body seems to want to be about 3-4lb over LDW. For the last 7 weeks I"ve been fighting the 2lb rule and finally this weekend I let go. I didn't go over board, and I drank a ton of water, but I stopped worrying so much and my weight hasn't fluctuated in 3 days, like it normally would.
Also, if it is just water retention, have you tried Potassium? It is good for water retention. (plus it doesn't have all the starch of a banana) I love salt on pretty much everything so I'm a big fan of it.