2/9/2012 218 Weekly Menu Plan for P4

There are cravings and there are CRAVINGS I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING BUT SWEETS. I had the latter. So after a couple failed rounds, I am making a weekly P4 meal plan that I can follow and making my own healthy meals with new recipes I find on the internet. I've make healthy changes such as milk to almond milk, salads for lunch and soup for dinner, protein snacks, and new healthier yummy foods like quinoa and greek yogurt. I am incorporating more veggies and fruits. I am food shopping and preparing meals on the weekend for the entire week. This is my fifth week and I want to share the menu plan for next week.

Menu planning takes time. I consider what foods are in season, which ones I have a taste for and look at my recipes or go hunt for new ones. One of the best places to find recipes and great recipe websites is on Pinterest, my new fav iphone app.

This week at work there will be lunch provided on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and dinner on Wednesday and Thursday. And I have a lunch with a friend on Monday. For the lunches I am going to bring my own salad anyway. For the dinners I am going to order protein with veggies.

I usually come up with 3 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinner veggies, and 5 snacks. All meals that are starred must be prepared on the weekend in advance.

A daily menu would consist of these meals and calorie counts: B 200, SW 200, L 300, SW 200, D 300, SH 200 for a total daily calorie count of around 1400-1700 (gives me some room for extras, cream in coffee, etc.) and good satifying tasty food every few hours.

I work late so during the week I don't really like protein for dinner and prefer just soup or veggies with a fruit snack, so I am making protein snacks for those days. Most of my snacks are more like mini-meals, so I have a breakfast, then a second breakfast, lunch, a dinner snack, then a small late dinner and a dessert if I feel like one.
 
Week 5 Menu Plan
Key: B - breakfast, L - lunch, D - dinner, SW - snack work, SH - snack home

B Quinoa* 1/3 c with greek yogurt 2 T and blueberries 1/2 c
B Spinach bacon egg square*
B Sweet potato quinoa sausage hash*

L Chicken Caesar salad in a jar*
L Salad with chicken in a jar either greek or orange balsamic dressing*

D Tomato parmesan soup*
D pan fried brussel sprouts with parmesan*
D cabbage slaw*
D tofu recipe*  (I bought some on a whim, so here goes...)

SW Protein balls*
SW Cinnamon roasted chick peas with cashews*
SW Salmon cake on greens*
SW Baked cinnamon apple slices sprinkled with oats, dried fruit and nuts* 
SH chocloate covered strawberries (for my valentine ME!)

7-14-2011 Update 195.0

It's been a while so here's what I've been doing. I never was able to handle the cravings for carbs I felt during Round 3 so after trying for a month, I decided to take a break from the HCG and VLCD and have some of the foods I had missed for nearly 8 months. I had the strongest cravings for pancakes so I went to iHop and had some and they were good, sweet but good. I gained 2 pounds. I craved a hamburger on a bun with fries so I went to McD and had them and gained a pound. I craved Chinese buffet foods and take out 3 separate times so I had them and gained 2 more pounds. I ate cookies and cakes now and then which I think added another pound. Altogether I am up 13 pounds.

Round 3 taught me that I need to be fully ready to commit to following the protocol 100% to make the round a success. At the start of that round, I knew I was pushing myself into it and I was trying to ignore the cravings I was having. I think that my body was telling me to take a break. But I feel better now. I'm not craving them any more. I know that carbs cause immediate weight gain. They turn right into fat. In fact I am craving P3 style recipes, with more fat, which do not make me gain. I am looking for low carb alternative recipes for some of my favorite foods so I will be able to incorporate them into my diet more often.

So, in a few more weeks I am going to start on Round 4.

R3P2D23 Sunday - Resume

It's Sunday morning and the scale says 189.1. That is 1.1 pounds over my LDW from Round 2. So here's what happened. I made a huge slip when a cookie bouquet ordered by my best friend came for my daughter's graduation and my daughter said she didn't eat cookies. I walked past it for 3 days until I finally decided it was going to go stale and I should have a taste. That was all she wrote and the bouquet was gone in a week causing a 5 pound gain. Worse than that it caused a massive candida outbreak which I didn't realize until today as I battled three weeks of the worst cravings thinking I could tough it out, but I ended up that I gave in almost every day. Today I put it together with the candida and started on a course of Three Lac. I feel better already. I am back on track with P2 eating and will count these 2 weeks as a break from P2 and will continue P2 for an additional 2 weeks so I can lose at least ten to fifteen pounds this round. Lesson learned is how sensitive I am to sugar. It's like alcohol or crack, once I start it takes control over me. Three Lac is awesome at taking away that control and eliminating the cravings.

Day 21 Saturday 185.9

It's Saturday and the scale says 185.9 pounds. It has been a tough week for me to stay on protocol. I was down to 182 and now back up to 185.9. I have eaten stuff I should not have so I know why the lackluster numbers. I am going to commit to the next 3 weeks and try to lose at least 10 more pounds this round to get into the 170's. Friends have commented on my smaller size this round even though the scale isn't saying much but I feel like this is more of a shaping round. My computer hard drive crashed a few weeks ago and I lost my progress data but was able to recover the weighings from the charts but I lost the inches. I just measured today and compared to the end of Round 1 I have lost 15 more inches. That makes a total of 43 inches lost since I started the HCG protocol! I'll take that!

5/1/2011 188.5 Sunday Yesterday I saw my daughter walk at the FSU graduation ceremony. I am so proud of her!!! It was a whirlwind day and I ate strawberries, chicken, cherry tomatos, steak, tomato slices, a small bite of baguette crust, and a coffee with 1 Tsp half and half. Did a lot of walking and had a great day in all.