R3P2D16 (-9.2) -0.6
Almost ready to do the happy dance for reaching 175lbs (I'm 175.8lbs). I know I messed up that first week with trying coconut oil again but it is time for me to put that in the past. Time to focus on mini goals and stick to the basics. Lunch today is my cucumber and chicken salad with the new Nutritional Yeast dressing. Not sure why or how I still love this combo for a meal but it works!

I have the cold hands and toes again. I almost welcome it as this is how I feel every round and have had such good success. Somehow it is linked in my brain. Cold toes=skinny me LOL I know I could take some supplements to help this but it really isn't a bother. I jump in the hot tub for a bit before bedtime and I'm all good. 

This round is just flying by! If I just did a short round I would be doing the 10 day count down already....but I'm not! Hahaha I am going to do a planned interruption though. So I will complete my 21 days on the 5th. I will do 3 days elimination like usual. I will eat 500 calories on these days without drops. Then I will be on interruption from Oct. 9th until Sunday October 16th when I will resume drops and VLCD.  My hopes are that I can get to ~155lbs without over straining my body by some time in early November. That would be a 30lb loss for this round but I would be happy to see 25lbs gone. This will also allow me to enjoy some turkey dinner (no mashed potatoes but still) and will help me as I'm really missing P3-4 right now. It is amazing how important it is to have your head in the game. I'm pretty sure I will only release about 12-15lbs total if I only do the 21 day round and well....I can do better. A week break and I'll be back on track. I think some people call this cycling but since I'm only doing it once I'm going by what Dr. Simeon's calls this....an interruption. Remember that you must have completed a full 21 days before this can be done as anytime earlier will mess with the reprogramming of the hypothalamus. If you have already reached a 35lbs release then give your body the full 6 weeks of Maintenance to lock in your losses. You do not have to do another 21 days after the interruption. I know I'll be hearing about this on the support group! LOL Keeping it real as always :)  
Cheers!
CAT
 
R3P2D14 (-8.2) down 1.2
R3P2D15 (-8.6) down 0.4
1.6 in 2 days...not bad, not bad...(like I have a choice!)

I did some work on the site today. Updated some links for a new recipe site and added some info on oil free products during VLCD under "Diet Info". Take a peak around, there is lots to learn from these links.

So my post for today is a dressing I made up a couple days back. I thought it was OKAY but I have been tweeking it and I think I got it to tasty.
Nutritional Yeast Dressing

1/2 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Nutritional Yeast (55g)
1/4 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
2-6 Cloves of Garlic
10 Drops Lemon Stevia
1 Tbsp Mustard (to taste)
1/4 Teaspoon Xanthan Gum

Combine everything but the Xanthan Gum. Blend or purée until smooth. Test for taste. This is good as is but you may also want to add some herbs/spices at this point. Depending on the variation you want, you could do cumin or Italian for example. Once Smooth, slowly add the Xanthan Gum while blending. This just thickens the dressing and is also totally optional.
30g serving = ~17 calories

Nutritional Yeast was one of those things that I stumbled upon that surprisingly is REALLY good for us! Take a look around this site as it has info on storage, uses and the health benefits of Nutritional Yeast (also called Brewers Yeast).

One thing I should note: Since there is ACV in this recipe, it is advisable to rinse your mouth well after using it. A member on the HCG DIET CANADA Support group on Facebook made a great point the other day. The vinegar is very hard on the enamel of our teeth so we should avoid excessive exposure and rinse after to avoid tooth decay. I always brush my teeth after a meal anyway but it's a good reminder to not wait. 
Cheers!
CAT
 
R3P2D13 (-7) down 0.2
Little loss day. Meh. :-P I finally went shopping today and now I'm all stocked up on fresh veggies. Yay! I'm having a hard time finding good oranges and strawberries lately. So I'm stuck with apples for now. I might slip back into town for some grapefruits (I just forgot them). The nice thing about being on the vlcd is the savings at the grocery store. I swear I more than pay for each round just in the food savings alone! 
I have my diet buddy back! He decided to do one more round to get rid of that last 10lbs. I think I'll extend my round just so we are on the same page :) He started the vlcd today so I'm in for another 3 weeks for sure. We'll see where I'm at by then but I would like to get as close to 160 before taking another break (I love Maintenance!).  
Ugh! I got dragged away from this (life...it does that) and now I've completely lost my thread for the day. I'm exhausted! Time to climb in the tub and think positive thoughts of great releases. Sleep well everyone!
Cheers!
CAT
 
R3P2D10 (-5.2) down 0.8lbs [Yay!!! Stall finally broke!]
R3P2D11 (-6) down 0.8
R3P2D12 (-6.8) down 0.8
Well, at least I've been consistent! LOL Hopefully my body is doing some catch up after that stall. I'm not complaining about 0.8lb losses!!! If I keep this up and I'll hit the one 160s in no time :) So my average this round so far is 0.6lb per day and that is still great. I was averaging closer to 0.88lb per day on my first round and 0.78lb per day on second round. If I do 0.68lb average on this round I will laugh. It is obvious that as you get closer it definitely gets slower (if you can call this slow!?! LOL).
Not a whole lot to say about my day to day right now. I'm eating my allowed amounts short of one melba. I always save it for in the evening when I usually get hungry but honestly, I'm not hungry anymore. I'll still do a fruit then but just because I'm supposed to. I have hit that wonderful euphoric state finally (I didn't really get this on round 2 for some reason) and now I feel like I'm in cruise control. I love this aspect of the diet!
Today I'm going shopping in a fellow hCGer's closet :) She has just finished her round and has a bunch of size 14s to get rid of. I told hubby that I think my 16s are too big and pulled them off with ease, button and fly done up and all!!! LOL What a great feeling! I'm not sure what size I am but 14s should do me better than these baggy pants, at least for a little while. :) I can't wait to button up a pair and see it for myself!
 
 
R3P2D9 (-4.4)
I've been behind on my blog as there hasn't been much to report. I have been in a stall for 3 days now and I'm giving it until tomorrow before I do an apple day. Yesterday I went through everything I have done these last few days and here are my suspects for the stall: 1) Stress; it is well known that stress releases cortisone which just happens to occupy the same receptors as hCG. It acts as a counter measure and basically makes the process cancel itself out. So, I am focusing some of my time on meditations to release the inner conflicts. It will be a couple weeks until the real conflicts will come to a head so I have to work hard not to let this hold me back. Life is full of challenges and the best route is to take them on full steam. 2) Coconut Oil; while I tried evco on the first round and stalled, I thought I would give it another try and that is when the stall started. I already committed to not try this again. My body does not agree that this is a freebie like many others can do on vlcd. 3) Hot Tub scented oils (OOPS!); Yes, we bought a hot tub! Yay! It is very nice and I will continue to use it but minus the nice smelly stuff that is obviously not protocol friendly. When the guy set it up he did everything for chemicals and added the oil before I even knew. I'll give it a couple more days to wear off (he said it lasts about 3 days) before I climb in again. 4) Previous set weight; I know that I spent about 2 years hovering around 180-185lbs so perhaps my body is reluctant to let go of this comfort zone.
I've got this! I know how to break down the possible causes and work my way through the problems. I'm certain the scale is going to start jumping down soon and I look forward to having that renewed motivation when it does.
Today's menu includes chicken salad for lunch and I'm doing a bison 'chili' for supper. I think I'll do 85 grams of the bison as that is what the good Doc recommends for red meat. I've cut out the melba until the stall breaks. Hope everyone is releasing well and I'll let you know if I'm doing my first apple day tomorrow.
Cheers!
CAT 
 
R3P2D4 (-3.0) down 2.8 from yesterday :))
Pretty happy about that! I am officially back down to my LDW from round 2 so, although I'm down 3lbs from my preload, I personally feel that now I'm getting somewhere. I am 182 and headed straight for those 170s. Wonder if there is a chance I could hit it tomorrow? Wouldn't that be awesome!? 
Either way, I'm doing good and happy to see the drops as they motivate me not to cheat! I am reminded that this really does work and I am only a month away from sizes I haven't seen in close to a decade, maybe even longer. I'm so glad that I have taken my time with this. There is no way I could have done long rounds and I tip my hat to those who can. The time between rounds has done my body well. I was concerned about loose skin but it has all pulled in just like the good Doc said it would. I'm not taking any new supplements, just my B12 complex. 
There's my update :) Many releases of that which we are done with, my friends! Renewal comes on all levels and we must always make anew.
Cheers!
CAT
 
R3P2D3 (-0.2) down 1.4 from yesterday.
A reminder on my codes: R=round (how many times I have done the diet), P=phase (there are 4 phases; see diet directions), D=day
The (-0.2) indicates how many pounds I have lost from my PRELOAD weight and I follow this with my daily loss.
I used to count the days including load days but now I correlate it with the phase I am in :) Hope this makes sense!

Not the best releases for 2nd day of P2! I knew I would be putting myself at risk for less by eating red meat twice in the same day. Normally I keep it to no more than 3 times a week and I can't say this enough times! I took out chicken last night so no excuses today. Lunch will be chicken on a bed of romaine lettuce. Supper will be chicken and asparagus with my melba and apple. I plan to hit the store today for some grapefruits and have that (1/2, of course) for my evening snack. Think I'll skip the 2nd melba. I prefer my melba with strawberries otherwise I don't really find it does anything for me. I'll see if I can find some grissini sticks to change things up a bit. Well...not one of my most enlightening post but I'm on track and that is what really matters.
Cheers!
CAT
 
Let it begin!!! I'm sorry I haven't posted like I normally do during a round so I have to sum up the last few days here. I began loading on Monday. I drank a liter of coffee cream (also called table cream) throughout the day. I focused on foods I don't allow my self even late in Maintenance plus some healthy fats I do eat normally: Honey Cruellers, Angus burger with cheese and bacon, bacon and eggs (cooked the eggs in the bacon grease), full fat yogurt, raw almonds, roasted peanuts, and a milk shake. On the second day I had bacon and eggs again, hashbrowns, and then I hit a wall with some personal crisis that I'm not going to share. Let's just say that I wasn't so hungry and the crisis didn't help. I missed 2 doses throughout the day too. I managed to get some more fat in at a chinese buffet but I knew I had done poor job. The next morning I had only gained 0.6 from that day so I decided to do a 3rd load day. I made sure I was on track with my doses and loaded good. I started the day at Timmies with an egg and sausage with 2 hashbrowns. 'Snack' was a milkshake and 2 honey cruellers with a large coffee (4 creams). I bought another liter of table cream and sipped it through the day again. Lunch was another angus bacon/cheese burger (minus the top bun), large fries and a 10 pack of nuggets. Couple slices of cheese pizza and more table cream in the late afternoon. I couldn't do supper but later in the evening I had a handful of almonds, garlic bread and finished my table cream. Phew!!!! Now that is a load day.

The results of my 3 load days was a gain of 4.2lbs. I weighed in at 185 the morning of my 1st load day putting me at 189.2lbs. I have since done one day on VLCD and on the morning of the 2nd day (today) I had dropped 3lbs! Yay! Only 1.2 more to go before I can start counting down.

Yesterday I ate my usual chicken and cucumber salad for lunch and had extra lean ground beef with organic tomato sauce (1/2 cup) with my melba and apple for supper. I missed my melba and my other fruit because I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 11pm.

I just happen to have some left over extra lean ground beef. Otherwise, I wouldn't normally have it very often on VLCD. We'll see what happens after today since I used it in both meals (so not like me!). I made sure I took out chicken for both meals tomorrow. 

Okay, that brings me up to date! Hope everyone is doing well!!!
Cheers!
CAT
 
I was going to start fat loading today but it didn't happen. Yesterday was my brother's 40th birthday and, well, let's just say that I drank a little too much last night, lol. So when I woke up at 8am to do my first drops I knew right away that today was not the day. I went back to sleep until 10am. After a hardly Brunch of bacon and eggs with a toasted tomato sandwich, I am feeling tons better. I must have been dehydrated this morning because I weighed in almost 2lbs lighter than yesterday. I'm sitting right around 184 which is still 2lbs up from LDW but not much I can do about it now. Time to move on and get back on the plan. We'll see what it is tomorrow. I'm thinking I might wait until next weekend to load just because I was supposed to do this over my weekend (which happens to be Sunday and Monday) and I have a busy Tuesday this week making it a hard day to do my second load on. We'll see how the week unfolds. I'm sick of changing my start date and want to get on with it already! I wish I hadn't drank so much now since tom left yesterday and the timing was perfect. Grrrrr! Only myself to blame. I guess I will stand as an example of how NOT to start a round this time, lol. Hey, we're all people doing the best we can and I'm just keeping it real. Nothing goes exactly as planned so there is no use in getting mad. 

I decided I needed to regroup today to help me get my mind in the right frame. I took a drive down a road that I have driven many times before. It is a winding country road that I just love. As I glided along the familiar stretch, I noticed the majestic trees with their thick branches blowing in the wind. They loomed over me as I passed them and I thought, wow, these trees has been here longer then me and have stood witness over my passing at so many different times in my life. I allowed my memories to flow through me of all the times I have driven this road and all the emotions of my life to flood my consciousness. Then I released them all to the trees, my old friends, and asked them to hold my story safe as I know they always have. I felt at peace with myself and where I am in my life. I revelled in my self acceptance and felt joy in all that I am. I wish this feeling for everyone. 

With all this in mind, I approach my next step with confidence.