Beginning Phase 2

[DCLissa17]

Hi! I've been posting over on the P1 Brand new to SBD thread. I started P2 Wednesday (I've done this last year but it didn't quite stick!). I'm doing a little faster transition than the week by week that some recommend on the boards, but slower than the 2wk transition in the books. I work graveyard shifts so my schedule esp. on workdays is a bit flipflopped but I just refer to my meals in the typical manner, no matter what time I am actually eating them. I added a pear for my "afternoon" snack (w/ a babybel cheese for protein and to help slow sugar absorption) --- had been crazy so I was really hungry when I got it...so sweet and juicy and YUM! I have a ton of fruit stockpiled in my house for P2 right now, lol. And then for "dinner" I made crockpot pork roast w/ carrots, onions, and sweet potatoes + a side salad. I love sweet potatoes and am going to stick with those as my starch add-in for this first week. So my plan is 1 fruit - pear as snack and 1 starch - sweet potato as lunch or dinner for P2 week 1. I'll probably add a 2nd starch next week, then a 2nd fruit in the 3rd week, then play around with the actual fruit and starch options to test my reactions before adding in 3rd starch or fruit. Doing too loose a transition to P2 has been my downfall and slippery slope in the past and I want to avoid that this time around. I am not having ANY cravings for starches especially (and not really for sugars, just wistfulness over Haribo gummy raspberries) and in general I'm feeling great!

[Julie Matthews Band]

We are addding a fruit today, a small granny smith apple. I worked all weekend, and didnt want to take time to consider adding a fruit....too much to think about! But stayed with my grains, steel cut oats, or some Uncle Sam cereal in greek vanilla yogurt...which has been great! Also, we had organic blue corn chips, high in fiber, low in sugar, and kept it to a serving of 11 chips. IDK if there will be consequences with those little blue darlings, they sure were tasty with our taco salads

I will NOT weigh....because I am so bloated, stuffed, and cant "go"....no matter how much fiber, water or walking I do. This has been a problem for me for years, and I am hoping starting some probiotics will help in a week or so. DD has really slimmed down, and is lookin more beautiful than ever...she also will not weigh, she says she doesnt want the scale to play mind games on her, where she thinks she can have taco bell cause she has lost....pretty smart plan!

Keep me posted on how PH2 is going for you all, love the ideas!

[bec]

I'm about halfway the second week of P2! The first week was something of a disaster because I was traveling on vacation, running in a half marathon, and food was pretty well out of my control. I did so-so in the carb department, pretty well on portion control, and pretty rotten as far as fats (eating out almost every meal makes for a LOT of unhealthy fats). Anyway, I came back, and it's been pretty smooth sailing since. I gained about 2-3 pounds that first week, from traveling, etc. That is mostly off, so I feel like I can move forward! I kept up with the plan to add grains/fruit, so I am now up to a sweet potato and a piece of fruit (banana, except we ran out and I had an apple today).

I need to go to the store and get fresh fruit and veggies.

[DCLissa17]

Good to see you again bec, and onto the P2 board! Should we make this our "new" thread so we don't torture all the P1 people by posting great P2 stuff on the P1 boards? It's funny because your SB experience is so mirroring mine. (you know, minus the marathons!) I am also 1.5 weeks into P2 and in my first week I added sweet potato for starch and a pear (paired haha with babybel cheese) as my fruit. I've read in the past that it is ideal to have some kind of protein or good fat along with fruit because it helps to slow the absorption of the sugars. It makes sense and is pretty easy to have a little bit of cheese, a few nuts, or some peanut butter at the same time.

This week I have kept to a 1 + 1 level (one starch & one fruit per day) but switched to brown rice and strawberries. I think I might have some sort of sensitivity/cravings associated with the strawberries though! Boooo as they are one of my very favorite foods. This morning I had ~3/4 c. strawberries after dinner and within just a few minutes my stomach was growling and it felt like my guts were all of a sudden super active. Not crampy or sick-feeling, and in general I love strawberries so much that I always have to stop myself from just devouring them all, but not really having mental cravings. None of this is so bad that I would decide to give up strawberries altogether, but I will definitely play with combining them with various other things or having them at different times to see if they continue to create this reaction. Very interesting.

[bec]

Yes! I learned, the first time around, that it was better for me to add my starch/fruit in to larger meals, rather than as snacks, and definitely NOT at the end of the day! I was just writing on another board about all the emotions that go into really overhauling your diet. These first few weeks are so intense, and I think I'm really feeling that right now! The first time around, I was really, really ready to just go for it! This time around, while I have been wanting to do this for a while, I was sort of thrown into it because of my husband's health. Obviously, that has to take the priority over my laziness and pity party, but it is making it a bit more emotional for me!

I'm taking a rather slow approach of adding a fruit and a starch every other week. So, week 1 was a starch (sweet potato), week 2 includes a fruit with that. So, week 3 will be another starch (probably quinoa). After that, I may speed it up, so that I'm fully on phase 2 by the 4th week.

[DCLissa17]

How did you marathon go, bec?

This weekend I have been....less productive....and less controlled. *sigh* It's not completely off the rails, but just....slacker. Mostly with the eating I haven't been keeping to a predictable sleeping schedule and so the eating has been all over the place. I also haven't had any meals prepared that yield multiple servings so I've been lazy and doing more snacking than eating of real meals. Mostly the snacking has been SB-friendly. Just too many nuts I did do a lot of grocery shopping the last couple of days and got some good stuff so hopefully that will carry over for this week. I REALLY need to come up with a lunch and dinner plan for this next workweek so I don't totally cheap out on the whole thing. I've been doing so well, I REALLY want to keep it up and follow through with this diet this time around. My biggest problem is that I get lazy and don't have a plan and then it just all slip-slides into old habits.

On other news, going to the gym is going along. I've been going about 3 weeks now, managing so far to get there 3 days/wk. Hopefully at some point I will make it consistently 4-5/wk. But 3/wk from nothing at ALL is good. Especially considering that the trainer I meet once a week is kicking my butt. Which granted, is very very easy to do at this point. Did a bunch of leg stuff on Saturday morning and my left calf just bound up into a brick the next day. Literally, it was so tight and painful that I could barely extend it and walking was excruciating. I took a little too much pain medication and may have also got a touch of food poisoning and was dizzy and super nauseous for the rest of the day Sunday. Spent the evening lying flat on my back on my dirty carpet sipping water, watching my propped-up laptop and trying not to vomit every time I sat up to switch to a new video. Oh fun. Monday met the trainer again, calf a bit better but still pretty painful so we just did stretching and core work. Today the calf is a bit better again but my whole body hurts from the rest of it. I do plan to go to the gym later tonight and just do a little stretching and walk on the elliptical. Obnoxious how incredibly out of shape my body is and how easily I can damage it.

[bec]

Make sure to stretch and ice after you workout!

It was a half marathon, and it went really well! I ran it with a friend of mine. She, historically, gets injured at anything longer than 9 miles, so we are working on ways and strategies to increase her mileage without injuring herself more. We decided to do a 2:1 run/walk. So, we ran 2 miles, walked 1. It worked out perfectly. We got through it with little to no issue, and she was good to go the next day. Breakthrough! We are super slow, though. It took us around 3:15 to get through the 13.1. My hope, is that we will be able to increase the run ratio gradually, so that she can run the entire distance at once. But, it needs to happen very slowly for her.

This week has been tough because I have been really fighting off whatever virus my kids have had! I've been eating on plan, but really, not enough. Also, work has been playing merry hell with my sleep/eating schedule. The past week, I've been waffling between 188.4 and 190, so I know something is going on! I know, eventually, I will start heading in the right direction though. I'm doing the right stuff. I did get about a 4 mile walk today, so that was nice. I will try to go for a long run on Friday. hoping for 7-8 miles.

[DCLissa17]

Wow, I'm always amazed when I hear about people that are runners. It is boggling to me. Maybe that's because I've never really been into running? (ok, or exercise at all) Good job for you and your friend! I am making very small baby steps to get into shape. Last night I went to the gym and just did the elliptical for 20 minutes and then did stretching for a half hour. Really helped to work out a lot of the soreness from the day before. Today I did a little 10min yoga workout when I got up. I think that may be a good thing to start my days off.

I'm set for this week, eating wise. Made a big pot of chili last night, will be eating on that all week. Then I have pork chops to have w/ sweet potato/veggie/salad for my other meal. Apples and pears for fruits. Maybe the occasional WW english muffin w/ breakfast, we'll see. Overall doing good, feeling pretty happy with things!

[bec]

If you are interested in running, you should try out Cool Running's Couch to 5k. It takes you from nothing to running 30 minutes straight (usually a little shy of a 5k) in 8 weeks. If you do decide to try it, though, I would really recommend going and getting fitted at a specialty running store for proper shoes. Most of why people don't like running is because they have the wrong shoes, or because they start out too fast!

[DCLissa17]

Just a quick check-in today. End of day 2 of 3 of my workweek, where it starts to catch up with me a bit. Doing great on the plan and looking forward to a little gym-time tomorrow morning after work. (Crazy to think I actually just wrote that I'm looking FORWARD to the gym!!! I must be doing something right )

Bec, thanks for the running tips. I'm not really interested in starting running, it's never been something that really appealed to me, I'd much prefer to go dancing and ice skating for exercise. Right now I'm just happy to be doing anything at all and starting the slow climb towards being in shape again.

This weekend's big plans:
- Make a plan for my days off - to do lists
- Find some recipes for lentils and for tofu
- Take down the Christmas decorations (yeah, I know. Look back at my journal from last year this time, they were still up then too)

[bec]

Haha. I understand. I always leap onto trying to tempt another runner into existence!

I'm doing well. I have dropped another pound, so I'm down 11 pounds from when I started. Adding a 2nd starch and one fruit has been really satisfying this week. I'm transitioning slowly, mostly for my husband. But, because I know what I do and do not react with, I have been playing with the what is fitting into the starch/fruit category. I made Quinoa last night, and had leftovers of that today for dinner. This morning was probably more fat than was good, but I went out with a friend to a breakfast joint. I had a veggie omelete with ham and a side of fruit (staying away from the pineapple), and paid extra for EVOO. To make up for the many eggs (they say 3, but I think there were more, even though I didn't eat the entire thing), I had a salad for lunch, with string cheese as my protein (there wasn't cheese in the eggs this morning). Dinner was a flank steak with sauteed spinach/leaks/garlic and quinoa. Overall for the day, I feel like I did pretty good.

[DCLissa17]

Mmm sounds good! I've been eating lazy-proof this week which is great because I am super lazy! I have lots more chili to last me the next 4 days off and 2 more meals of pork chops. Love it I think my first tofu meal will be a stirfry over brown rice. I usually have stirfry with beef so its a familar recipe, simple and flavorful. Maybe a good option for my first foray with tofu? We'll see!

Stayed an hour and a half late at work (that makes it a 14.5 hour shift if anyone is counting - eek!). We have a patient essentially on a ventilator which is a Big Deal and requires someone to basically always be within arm's reach of them in case things start to go south. Of course, the night started quiet and then got super busy with new things coming in and we weren't able to find anyone (extra person) to come in and sit with the vent patient so I pulled double duty watching it and helping with the incoming stuff at the same time. My counterpart basically was on her own in taking care of all the other admitted patients (6 when we started, 10 by end of shift) + helping me with the incomings. Really really fun for both of us. But we are a rockstar team and it really did go remarkably well all things considered. Work has really been throwing it at us with both hands lately - it's so weird for this time of the year, usually its really slow. I stayed late because we couldn't find an extra person for the day shift either so I stayed to watch the vent patient until they had things all caught up.

Sooo......given that, I was quite tired on the drive home and decided to NOT go to the gym after all. I didn't want to risk an overexertion injury (seeing as how my calf is finally feeling all better as is my shoulder from a couple weeks ago). Instead, me and the dog took a 1/2 mile walk to the bank and back. It was a good move I think. When I get up tonight I'll go to the gym or do some yoga or both, once I am well rested.

[bec]

We are a family of 5, so when I make chili or soup, even if it is a big pot, it still only lasts for a couple of days! Thankfully, my family loves chili, so I make it a lot!

It sounds like it was a super busy night! Are you a nurse?

I have one more night shift tomorrow, and then I should be done for a few months! I hate working at night. Well, really, what I hate is working one night, and then having to function for the kids the next day, and not getting on any kind of routine. I think, if I worked the night shift regularly, I would adjust. It's the back and forth that kills me!

[DCLissa17]

Yeah, it's just me so meals can last quite awhile which is nice! I remember even just when I had a live-in boyfriend, occasionally I'd have enough leftover for lunch. It was exhausting to make a WHOLE meal EVERY meal! Being single does have its benefits at times

I'm an emergency and critical specialty veterinary technician. I work 3 nights/week, 13 hour shifts at a major referral hospital. I've been in this field for 10 years, licensed for 8, and just received my specialty certification this last fall after 3 years of applications and studying. I LOVE working the night shift, been doing it exclusively for the last 6 years or so. Obviously, since I don't have a family it is easy to adapt to the schedule. Plus since its all the same shift and they are all in a row it's not so hard. Often I bounce back to a "normal" day schedule on my days off. Or not, just depends! But switching around is just awful....all of our doctors have rotating schedules and shifts and it is insane! I am so glad that I never wanted to be a vet - they get the worst of everything.

[bec]

That is super cool. The thing with a larger family is that you do adopt your cooking to larger batches. I try to make all my meals go for at least 2 nights (so, think 10+ servings). I, somehow survived my overnight. I'm going to go make a big vat of chili. I am very proud of myself for resisting all the many treats that were offered last night! They brought in a bunch of appetizers from a local irish pub, and my manager made homemade brownies (her brownies are simply amazing. There is no way to describe them other than heavenly). But, I didn't have a bite! Go, me!

I have tri class tonight, so will get to the gym. We are running today, so that should be interesting!