Oh Oh! Can You Say "NOODLEGATE"? - 02.07.08 - D17P2R4

R4P2 Starting Weight 184.4
Yesterday - 167.0
Today - 166.4
0.6 lb LOSS Overnight
9.0 lb UNDER LIW of Round Three (175.4)
18.0 Lost Since Start of R4 (VLCD) 01/22/08
84.4 Total Lost Since Start of Protocol (VLCD) 06/26/07

Here is my menu for yesterday. This is what I had:

I am going to discuss in detail what I ate yesterday further below, but for the interest of continuity, I am going to post it here as well. Cottage Cheese and Strawberries with Cinnamon for breakfast, lunch was Spaghetti Sauce (Ground Beef, Tomatoes and Seasonings) complete with Shirataki Noodles with just a smidgen of Parmesan Cheese, two snacks, one of a half a grapefruit and the other of a tablespoon of Cottage Cheese with Vanilla Cream Stevia and Cinnamon and then Dinner was just some steamed broccoli.

A total of around 448 calories divided this way: 8 Fat, 50 Carbs, 47 Protein

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Our FAQ Question this go round is the following, please spend some time if you can answering this survey:

Thanks goes to Lili, Page and Mariel for filling out the FAQ yesterday! I will leave this up for a week! This time we are going to focus in on Phase 3 - Please help out if you can!

Phase 3 - The Stabilizing Period

Noodlegate

For those of you that don't remember or maybe were not around, way back when (like sometime late September) there was a big ruckus over at the HCG Dieters Yahoo Group on the subject of noodles. It blew up pretty big, and that was pretty much the dividing factor for a lot of the old timer group that caused us to pretty much make HCG2 our home.

In the interest of full disclosure, I never once came out and said that eating noodles on Phase Two was wrong. What I felt was wrong was people coming on the boards, during their first ever week on the protocol and proclaiming that this was the answer to everyone's problem. A way to stay on protocol without going full blown "cheating". I most assuredly disagree with this.

I feel to this very moment that in order to maximize losses on the protocol you need to be faithful and true to the menu. I especially feel that your first round should be dedicated to doing things Dr Simeon's way. The menu not only guarantees you weight loss, but it teaches you some really FINE habits along the way. Habits that will NOT be learned if you do it any different.

That being said, over the months, I have come to some conclusions about the 'diet' portion of the protocol. Someone recently over at the HCG2 board asked about Protein Drinks. This was an old timer and she was wondering what the justification was for people now doing "protein drinks" on the Phase 2 portion. I wrote back my thoughts, and you can see them here:

Experimenting

These things all come down to something I wrote back in November here:

Purist

After we have completed one or two rounds of this protocol, I do believe we have gained the right to figure out what our bodies can and cannot do. I am certainly not giving myself carte blanche to go willy nilly and eat anything and everything. I know with my 'experimenting' that if there is just one day it doesn't work, I know that I can and WILL go right back to eating the pure Dr Simeon's menu without one iota of a thought. I am not that attached to the 'new' foods that I couldn't listen to reason and keep trying something that isn't working.

All of that being said? I have completed 19 total weeks (plus three days) on effective injections. That is a heck of a long time being true to the protocol. I have taken this opportunity to test things now because one, I made my goal for this round in record time, and two, because I have my theories and who better to test them but on myself.

Justification?

Does this smack of justification? Who knows? We all have our perceptions, and whatever they are, they are real to us. If I didn't have the success I have had this round, I would NOT be trying these different things. Nope, I think that makes me a true believer in the program. Follow as written and you will get results. But since I did have phenom success during my first two weeks of this round, then I feel, in the interest of research, that I have the ability to do what many of you out there WISH could be done.

I have said this time and time again, that we are all "self doctoring" - we are NOT asking any medical professional to help, all we can do is study ourselves and our associates on the program and come to our own conclusions.

THAT all being said ...

Shirataki Noodles

This marks the third time I have ventured into this product. The other two times it was on Phase 3 so it really doesn't count. Are they noodles? No, far from it. Are they a good sub? Sure. They will do in a pinch. Do I want them every day? Nope, they give me a bit of an upset stomach. (For those of you sensitive to Maltitol, that is the feeling I get when I eat them) If the rest of the family was having a luscious Italian meal and I didn't want to feel left out would this do? In a heart beat.

I do have to say that I ate them with homemade spaghetti sauce for lunch yesterday and I was flat out full the rest of the day. I didn't want to eat another thing. Seriously. Talk about satiation.

Would I recommend this every day? No, the things I am testing are for "treats" or "special occasions" - things you can do when something arises and you want to partake but not look out of place, or better yet, not experience a GAIN. That is what this is all about. For some of us, the craving for something is so strong it can cause us to go completely crazy and then we over do it. But if that feeling arrives and you say, oh geesh, let me fix such and such and it will fill that need for today, then it is there for you ya know? You would know you could indulge in this little bit of sin and it wouldn't mean the end of the world.

I am in a position to test things now. I wasn't before. I was TOO anxious to get most of this weight off of my poor body. But now? It's a research study of myself. I know alot of people read my blog. I know alot of people seem to want to eat what I eat to get the losses I get. But, I keep telling you, you have to figure out what is good for YOU. Your "body" is different than mine. What may work for me may NOT work for you.

There are people out there that cannot do onions (JPS is one) - she will GAIN if she has onions. No doubt. I can do onions and lose. Does that make eating onions wrong or right? Neither, it's right for me, wrong for JPS. So don't look at me and say, hey, this works for Biz it will work for ME - you can't do that. You need to do your OWN experimenting. See what works for YOU!

On to my commenter's - these are my responses to yesterday's comments:

Shelly - mmmm Nutmeg, OK, I MUST try it! LOL - I am loving life now with my cottage cheese, NUMMY!

Lili - Yes, friend, feeling better, everyone is doing better. I had parm cheese on my spaghetti! LOL - All because of YOU! LOL - so you better believe that if I gained I was gonna blame the parm cheese and then YOU! ROFL

EweWho - All in the interest of research, doncha know??? ROFL

Ed and Jenn - Well, I think I might try green beans today, I do love me some green beans, and I might just get brave enough to put some MOLLY MCBUTTER on them! ROFL - OMG, I crack myself up!

Wendy - So glad you are feeling better my friend! I wasn't really worried, I knew you would pull out of it! YOU GO GIRL! No, YOU'RE HOT!

Monica - You have been with me long enough to know that I have been BY THE BOOK more than not, and it's served me well. You can NEVER go wrong with being BY THE BOOK ya know?

Becca - Funny you should mention green beans. I told JPS last night that if I didn't gain, that green beans were next on the menu. LOL - I love me some green beans. So, I am again looking forward to another great day!

Have a good one Peeps!

Biz