OK, just typed a HUGE response and it got erased.....
.
Anway, I am sitting here with a FULL, FULL stomach from my (drum roll) VERY FIRST phase 3 breakfast.....
. It was excellent, and I'm really glad that I have been prepping my stomach with a big breakfast (I split my P2 lunch up in to breakfast) because I think my stomach might've burst if I was used to just eating shakes! So far, my stomach has settled a lot better than I worried it might. I do "feel" the sugar in my system (kind of like extra coffee) but don't feel ill or shaky the way I used to feel pre-IP).
So I had an epiphany last night after getting NO GUIDANCE from my coach on P# breakfast ideas. I was thinking (and still do) that Ideal Protein should make an APP that you could easily manipulate to make breakfast meals. But I am a very tactile person and like to be able to reach out and move things around when I am creating/learning/planning. SO....I decided to use notecards to help me plan my breakfast menus. It worked REALLY well, so I thought I would share it here (and I'll share it on the P3 breakfast thread since that is a more long-term thread).
I used a sharpie marker and labeled cards into separate groups: Protein, Grains, Fruit, Dairy, Fat/Other (butter, WF syrup, etc, splenda, etc). Then I listed the specific food on the card with the applicable nutrition information:
Protein
1 Medium egg = 60 calories
4 g fat
6g protein
I used MyFitnessPal or my food labeling packages to get my info. Once I had several foods in each category, I just starting building meals according to what sounded good (like French Toast) and filled accordingly. I found I could use my non-fat Greek yogurt or extra egg whites when my meals were getting too high in fat. It was fun once I got the hang of it!
Once I had a meal that I thought looked good, I took a pic of the cards on my phone and typed out a text label (using a photo app) to quickly describe them so I didn't have to read each little card (Like Peanut Butter Toast and Strawberry/Cottage Cheese or Breakfast Burrito, Banana and Cereal/Milk). You could just have a type list also, but this worked for me!
So, you can call me Richard Simmons if you like
(since he invented this idea in, circa, 1984 with "Deal-a-Meal"), but now I'm dating myself!
Hope this helps others.....I now know how I can plan my maintenance meals. I guess you could say I'm a CARD (oh, sheeesh, that's SUPER dated).