A new Phase 3 thread for WilsonBlack

[wilsonblack]

Just finishing up my longest round to date. Yesterday was my last dose day on a 38 day round with a planned interruption. I began this round right after Thanksgiving at 238.2lbs post load. Finished at 209.7 with 5 inches lost off of my hips and waist. A very successful P2 all considered.

My original plan was to go to 40 days which would have been Wednesday. But an unexpected gain this morning plus family dinner plans tonight have forced me to cut things short. I have a birthday dinner to go to tonight and don't want to be a total stick in the mud. They do have roasted chicken with vegetables and can make that work for P2 eating as long as I bypass the skin. But I do plan on having a glass of wine or two. I have done this twice on protocol without too bad effects. But I am not exactly setting myself up for an easy and stress free transition into phase 3. I just hit 209.7 for a minute and am not sure my body will want to stay there. But on the other hand I have been comfortably in the 210-211 range for around 5-6 days so it is more likely that is where I will stabilize. But on the other hand, I have never done a round anywhere near as long as this so perhaps the extra time on protocol will help keep things stable.

Even as I type this post, part of me would like to hang in to a full 40 days if for nothing else, just to hit that number. But I prefer to listen to my body instead of being a slave to numbers. Last couple of days, I can tell my body wants more food. It just does. It is really time to move on. There is really nothing left to achieve in phase 2 in terms of scale or tape. There is virtually no difference between 209.7 and 211.

I am really not craving anything in particular. Normally as I come up to the end of a round, I want to eat specific things. Right now, outside of a glass of red wine, I am not feeling that. But I know for sure that I want to expand things beyond phase 2 offerings. The good news is that I have not experienced much physical hunger at all.

Mentally I am feeling excited and ready to attack P3. I would like to re-read "Weight Loss Apocalypse" as it really gives me great insight into eating habits and helps keep me in check. And I will go back and re-read my P3 thread from last spring. Beyond that, posting in this thread helps with engagement to the process as well as keeps me accountable. It is also a very helpful reference for future rounds.

Phase 3 is the most important part of the diet. In a way, the easy part is over and the real work begins. I know it sounds funny to refer to P2 as the easy part. It is difficult in its own way but it is extremely easy to follow. Not a lot of grey area with clearly defined lanes to stay in. It is easy to take comfort in that. But P3 is a different animal. It can be challenging in its own way. But if done correctly it can be very rewarding. I noticed last spring that my body continued to reshape, losing an inch or a little more during P3. There are usually wilder weight swings early on. Ride them out and things will normalize as time goes on. I will focus on eating the correct amount of food. Eat slowly. Stop here and there and listen to my body. It is a process and I am ready to roll.

Until later.

[wilsonblack]

Dinner party went well last night. Great company and had a great time. A very nice Italian restaurant with a lot of non protocol offerings. Luckily one of their specialties is a half roasted chicken. Had that with sauteed spinach and green beans. More of a P3 meal than a P2 one. Had a couple of very nice glasses of an Australian Shiraz/Cab blend to wash it all down. Weight down to 209.3 this morning after yesterday's swing up to 211 from the previous 209.7. It is extremely encouraging to see my weight correct below 210.

If you have read my last P3 thread, you would have seen several jumps up and down in the 2lb range. This is common. No matter how much I understand how this works I am still way happier when the scale goes down than when I get those random up days. The key is to make sure you don't have a bunch of higher scale days in a row or when you see the scale slowly creeping up.

All that said, I am not even in phase 3 yet officially. That will not happen until this evening. From a food standpoint, I am not prepared. Usually there is a very big shopping day where I stock up for the transition. It is a fairly special deal for me. Very satisfying. Since I am starting 2 days early I am not on my game. That is okay. Maybe even better. I did make a quick run to the store this morning for a couple avocados, box of salad, some aged cheese, olives etc. I already have oil and vinegar at the office for salad and enough protein for my lunches the rest of the week.

Tennis tonight but weather looks bad. If we rain out, I will take advantage of the break to drop back by the store to buy the things I need to prepare fat bombs. Also will buy more eggs, sausage, steak for tonight, more avocados and salad for the house. Menu will be simple the first couple of days.

Really excited to jump into this phase 3. It is a challenge for sure but I am ready to take it on.

[wilsonblack]

I will update on my wife separately. She is a little below her LDW. Doing very well. She is at her lowest weight and size going back to when we were dating in the 90's. She is extremely happy. All told, she is over 100lbs down from her pre-surgery weight.

[gz9gjg]

WB, congrats on a strong finish!

I know the standard advice is to get your calories up! for P3; but I stabilize better when I ramp up over the three weeks. I figure out my target calories and macros for my new weight (yay!) then I add roughly 1/3 the increase each week. I am eating keto, so that may be why this works for me.

[wilsonblack]

thanks. It is similar for me as well. It is best to start slower. But I don't worry about counting anything. I am mindful of portions and eat to satisfaction. There really isn't much danger for me to eat too little but I can see where the scale paranoia can lead people to eat less than needed or helpful. The bigger thing for me is to make sure I am eating breakfast at minimum the first week to make sure I am getting enough calories. Once I catch up I can revert back to intermittent fasting/skipping breakfast. Some items like heavier beef (short ribs, brisket, ribeyes) are better left off for the first portion of the phase. Of course, I have eaten them early on in the past but was normally followed by a 1-2lb jump the next day. But I can eat those cuts but really need to be mindful of portions. In past rounds, I would knock back an entire ribeye or strip steak in the 16oz range. These days, my wife and I will split that steak and still have almost a third leftover. Fried (unbreaded) chicken wings are a guilty pleasure in P3 and I have to be careful there too. Portion sizes are key. Seafood is great too but I tend to burn myself out on grilled fish and shrimp in P2 and need a break. But if I see the scale start to creep northward, focusing on seafood during the week really helps bring the weight back down.

[Dubbles]

I will update on my wife separately. She is a little below her LDW. Doing very well. She is at her lowest weight and size going back to when we were dating in the 90's. She is extremely happy. All told, she is over 100lbs down from her pre-surgery weight.

Wow! Good for her! She has to feel like a new person. Again, sorry to hear about her Dad.

[wilsonblack]

Fully into phase 3 right now. So far, this doesn't feel like a normal Phase 3. I am just not as hungry as I remember being in past rounds. This morning I got up and wasn't hungry at all so skipped making breakfast. I have some beef jerky at the office and will eat a couple pieces. Hunger or not, I know I still need some food in my system and don't want to eat too little. Usually by now I would have a good steak but too cold outside and don't feel like standing by a grill. Last night had a parmesan crusted piece of grouper for dinner with salad. Made a pot of chili for next two weeks lunches. Even with not being hungry this morning, I still plan to have breakfast just about every morning for the next week at least and see how I feel moving forward.

Mentally I feel great. Not as "food excited" as I would tend to get on past rounds. My excitement is somewhat neutral as is my appetite. It is great to have an expanded menu and being able to drink some red wine.

The scale is treating me as it has in past rounds. I am on the 2lb seesaw right now. This morning I am at 208.8lbs. Yesterday 211.1lbs. The day before, 209.3. The day before that, 211 and going back to my last dose day of Monday, 209.7. This is natural and seems to be common with my past early P3 results. But I am coming into the weekend and am very interested to see how I do. Last round, I had huge jumps on the scale after weekends. But I believe that round was an outlier and cannot be relied on for true data because I was on HCG for 2 weeks. A better comparison would be my Feb/March 2021 round which was my longest to date at 25 days on VLCD. All of that said, I really do not plan any correction days if I peek over the 2lb threshold. My first action in that case will be to lock down the menu a bit, having eggs for breakfast, seafood for lunch and possibly eggs again for dinner (or more seafood) with no wine. Or maybe skip breakfast and do seafood for lunch then eggs for dinner. If weight continues to go up I will do a steak day. I love steak. But I hate steak days. Have no desire to do that regardless of the benefit. And besides, as long as I eat properly, I know the weight is going to come down. As the phase 3 round goes, the swings will lessen and I will stay tighter to my LDW. Or below.

I have said in my other P3 thread that we shouldn't give the scale so much power. It is just there. But I have to admit that it is easier said than done. It does matter but we have to do what we can to not dwell on it. Trust the process and know that if we are eating correctly the results will be there.

Update on my wife: she is stabilizing quite well and is extremely happy. Very proud of her.

[wilsonblack]

Good morning and here is my Monday update.

First weekend on P3 is in the books. This morning's weight is 209.5. I did not weigh yesterday but Saturday's weight was 209.4. That is welcome results to say the least. Tape measure is a hair smaller than last week on hips and waist but practically the same.

In my short round in May/June, I had huge scale jumps on weekends. But the P3 round I am really comparing against is the Feb/March 2021 round. My first weekend saw a 3lb jump from Friday to Monday with the weight coming back down during the week. So as far as all numbers go, I am off to a great start. But of course there is a long way to go.

It is early but this round feels completely different. I simply have not been as hungry as I have in past P3 rounds. Even my best P3, I still felt that I needed to catch up in terms of calories and healthy fats. Don't get me wrong, I am getting enough to eat but things seem much more level. Right now, I feel like I would have a week into P3. I skipped a full lunch both weekend days and opted for a small snack (1 leftover chicken wing Saturday and 4 small bites of leftover steak yesterday). I am listening to what my body is telling me. So those who are reading this, please let me be clear that I am not advocating that you should skip meals in P3. Leave the possibility open if you are truly not feeling physical hunger. In terms of mental cravings, I am really not feeling any of that. But yes, this round feels totally different on all fronts. I have to give the credit to the extra long round. I believe it makes all the difference in the world.

What am I eating? Friday night, met some friends for happy hour and dinner at a local wing joint. Ordered 15 wings with the plan to bring home half of them for my wife. Had a salad to start and about 8 wings with about 4 glasses of merlot. Lunch Friday was a grass fed hamburger patty with swiss cheese and pickled jalapenos and a chopped avocado. Breakfast was 2 scrambled eggs. About a .6lb gain Saturday morning. Saturday had 2 fried eggs and sausage links. No lunch other than a single leftover wing. Had friends over for dinner Saturday night. Cooked 2 good sized steaks for 4 people. Snacked on a few pieces of aged Irish cheddar cheese and a couple olives beforehand. About a half a steak (8oz worth), and a Caesar salad on the side. A good bottle and a half of wine and good times had by all. Did not weigh Sunday morning. Sunday, repeat of Saturday's breakfast. No lunch other than a little leftover steak from Saturday night. Dinner was a couple pork spare ribs with a bit of salad. No wine at all. Was a bit hungover.
No breakfast this morning but now am feeling hungry. So listening to my body, I will be back to my eggs and sausage breakfast for at least this week.

Since it was a weekend, I played a lot of tennis. Played my first league match of 2022 Saturday late morning. Very physical match and I was very tired afterwards. Played through my hangover yesterday and was extremely exhausted afterwards. The courts I play on Sundays are very tough on my body and it is possible I am hanging on to extra water due to inflammation. Weekdays are usually very friendly in terms of the scale so it is possible as my water intake grows and inflammation from the weekend subsides, i will see a weight drop so I will need to up the calories a bit. 207.7 is my lower limit and it would not hurt my feelings to ride in that range. But either way, everything is great.

But as I mentioned earlier, this is just a start. Plenty work to be done.

[wilsonblack]

Thursday update:

Had a big gain on Tuesday. Over 3 lbs to 212.6lbs. Weird. Had a couple pieces of sausage for breakfast, a bowl of chili (grass fed beef and lamb with cheese and onions) for lunch and grilled grouper with salad for dinner. Glass of wine with dinner. Big jumps do happen in P3, especially early on. I think my biggest jump last spring was 4lbs.

Wednesday morning, weight came down a little bit to 212.3lbs. Pretty much the same deal in terms of food the previous day. Eggs and sausage for breakfast, bowl of chili for lunch, grilled salmon for dinner. A couple glasses of wine for dinner as I was putting a new grill through the paces (Weber Kettle that I am going to convert to a Santa Maria grill for open fire cooking).

My body feels bloated, like it is carrying more water. Maybe because that is exactly what it is doing. Following the protocol literally I should have had a steak day on Tuesday but as I have already mentioned, I have no real plans on doing that. Instead I am evaluating what I am doing to make changes moving forward. One thing that is problematic is the chili. It is easy to eat too much meat when you eat chili. It is hard to keep track. A steak is a steak and you see the exact portion size. Not so in chili. I was really full after eating the chili as well. Probably over ate. Beyond that, I think there is something with all of the spices, mainly the chili powder that my body doesn't react well to. In P2, I would stall when eating chili and I was very careful with meat portioning in that. So for now, the chili is off the menu for me. Most likely that is a small factor and my body is just doing its thing. But still, the patterns cannot be ignored. Same probably goes for taco meat, even turkey taco meat. Too easy to overdo it.

So yesterday I did intermittent fasting. No food until noon. Had some leftover grilled chicken wings with a simple salad. For dinner, had some leftover skirt steak before a tennis match. Played tennis for 2.5 hours. Was sore afterwards. Felt bloated.

Woke up this morning to 211.1 so within my 2lb window from LDW of 209.7. Since I played tennis last night, I am confident more weight will come off tomorrow and Saturday morning as my body holds on to weight after playing. I am playing tonight as well but for some reason I have a pattern of dropping weight after the second consecutive night on the tennis court.

But none of this really matters. The scale is just a single data point. I am more mindful of trends on the scale and what and how I am eating. A 3lb jump in one day isn't something to freak out over. The thing that really gets us is the slow steady climb up the scale. Either way, stop and pay attention to what is going on.

Back to it.

[wilsonblack]

Quick scale update. 210.9 yesterday. 209.3 this morning.

[wilsonblack]

kind of a crazy week. Weight jumped up 3 pounds to 212.6 on Monday morning and nearly another 3 pounds the next day to 215. Really nothing food wise that would justify that. Those are load day type numbers. Eating to protocol and not overeating at all. Not undereating either. Some wine involved so that is the only guilty aspect. My body is really bloated and feels like I am carrying a lot of water. I have said before that there will be no steak days. Not really worrying about it. Just staying true to P3 protocol and watching things closely. As long as I do that, confident things will stabilize. My body doesn't like to be around 210 still. That is certain. Keep on working.

[KerryLR]

kind of a crazy week. Weight jumped up 3 pounds to 212.6 on Monday morning and nearly another 3 pounds the next day to 215. Really nothing food wise that would justify that. Those are load day type numbers. Eating to protocol and not overeating at all. Not undereating either. Some wine involved so that is the only guilty aspect. My body is really bloated and feels like I am carrying a lot of water. I have said before that there will be no steak days. Not really worrying about it. Just staying true to P3 protocol and watching things closely. As long as I do that, confident things will stabilize. My body doesn't like to be around 210 still. That is certain. Keep on working.

I'm with you on no Steak Days. I'm following Robin's advice from Weight Loss Apocalypse and it is working great. My first day of P3 I was so hungry and ate until I wasn't and was so surprised I stayed within the 2lbs. Tomorrow is week 2 and haven't gone over even though weight fluctuates under several pounds and then over LIW but always below the 2lbs so far. A couple days I wasn't hungry most of the day, so I just ate when I finally felt like I was and it didn't take much to satisfy. this is the first time I have done HCG that it seems to be working as the protocol describes.