Hi Lizzy 63,
Thanks for the response. I will likely be doing the same then as my doc really did not like me being on Potassium to stat with considering my family history and previous health before diet were of a cardiac concern. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!! Take care and thanks again!!!

I'll be starting Phase 3 probably this week. While I appreciate all the great sounding recipes here, I am not one to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I like to keep things simple, and I don't really want to get up earlier in order to get to work on time.

The sheet that I have says: 1 Protein Plus 1 Carb Plus 1 Fat Plus 1 Fruit.

Ex: 2 Slices of Whole Grain Bread with Butter, 1 Egg,Ham,
Yogurt & an Apple.

I am a bit confused by the example. What constitutes 1 Protein? And where does the yogurt come in. I don't see anything about dairy. Also, is peanut butter allowed and if so, would it be a protein or a fat or both? And I guess I have the same question about cheese.

My simple thought for a quick breakfast is scrambled eggs (how many?), whole wheat toast with butter, and a piece of fruit. Does that work? I am a bit nervous about moving onto this phase. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Here is my usual workday breakfast, which meets the requirements for phase 3 -

6 oz. Fage Total 0% greek yogurt (1 container)
1/2 cup blueberries or raspberries
1 packet of Stevia in the Raw
Mix all of above and top with 1/4 cup Bare Naked Fit Almond Crunch

plus 2 precooked Jimmy Dean turkey sausage patties
(just pop them in the microwave)

This fits all of the rules for carbs, protein, fats, calories, etc...and takes about 5 minutes to get ready.

And it's yummy!!

PS the rules are a little confusing at first.

Get your protein any way you want, as long as you get at least 25 grams. In my example above, both the yogurt and the sausage include protein. Yogurt could be considered dairy (a fat), but It also counts towards your protein total. Peanut butter, or anything else, you also count the grams of fat and protein.

Just make sure you hit the marks -

Not more than 30 grams carbs from bread, cereal, etc.
Not more than 20 grams carbs from fruit.
At least 25 grams of protein from any source.
Not more than 120 calories from dairy.
Not more than 15 grams fat total.

An easy way to do this is enter everything in myfitnesspal.com ahead of time to check it.

I think a medium egg has about 6 grams of protein, so on your suggested menu, you will probably fall short of 25 g. Try adding some fat free greek yogurt - the one I use has 18 g of protein. Or add some turkey sausage or bacon - the precooked stuff is easy.

Good luck!

I haven't tried this yet but it looked good enough to add to my recipe list in preparation for phase 3.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups oats or quick oats (not instant)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup Splenda or equivalent sweetener
1/2 cup coconut (optional)
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
2 eggs
1 apple, grated
1 cup almond milk

Method:
Mix ingredients in order given and pour into greased 8X8 inch pan. You can prepare this the night before, refrigerate and bake in the morning. Bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes.
Serve warm with low fat greek yogurt or milk. Makes 6 servings.

My calculations before adding the yogurt or milk:
Protein 9.2g
Carbs 37.34g
Fiber 6.2g
Fat 16.92g
Calories 345

With 3/4 cup low fat greek yogurt:
Protein 27.2g
Carbs 43.34g
Fiber 6.2g
Fat 16.92g
Calories 445

Thanks! This is helpful. I have my weigh-in later today and I'll probably chat with my coach about all of this. I appreciate the breakfast suggestions.

I had a great chat with my coach last night and I just started Phase 3 today!

Breakfast was:
1 egg cooked in butter, 2 slices ham
Whole Wheat English muffin
1/2 cup cottage cheese
Pear

I hope I did it right! Whew! So much to learn.

I'm entering this Phase with great trepidation. Hope I don't gain too much. It seems like a whole lot of food!!

Ingredients:
4 oz Fresh Cranberries (1/3 bag)
1 Large Egg
1/2 cup Egg Whites
Sweetener
1 tsp Vanilla
1/4-1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese (only had enough to use 1/4c shown in nutrition info, but would have used 1/2 cup otherwise)
1/3 cup Granola

Directions:
1. Thoroughly mix together Eggs, Egg Whites, Sweetener, Vanilla, & Ricotta Cheese. I use my immersion blender.
2. In a ramekin, pour in your Cranberries, then pour over your custard mix, top with Granola.
3. Bake at 350degrees ~30-45 minutes until custard is set (doesn't jiggle in the middle).



Product_____________________Serving____Fat_______C arb______Protein____Cal

Protein-------------------------------------------------------------------
Large Eggs..................1 egg..... 4.96g ..... 0.38g.... 6.28g..... 74
AllWhites Egg Whites........1/2c...... 0.2g ...... 0.88g... 13.24g..... 63

Grain------------------------------------------- <30g --------------------
Granola.....................1/3 cup... 5.0g ..... 17.5g..... 2.5g......125

Fruit------------------------------------------- <20g --------------------
Cranberries.................4 oz...... 0.29g .... 16.74g.... 0.86g.....101

Dairy------------------------------------------- <15g --------------- <120
Low Fat Ricotta.............1/4 cup... 2.5g ...... 3.0g .... 5.0g...... 60

TOTAL_______________________________ <15.0g ______________ >25.0g__400-500
..................................... 12.95g .... 38.5g ... 27.88g.... 423

I love this thread! So many good ideas and recipes!

bumpity, bump, bump

Two days in and I LOOOOVE P3! Thank you to everyone who has contributed on this thread, I have been taking the P3 worksheet from the Newbie thread and making a binder with recipes on one side of the page and the worksheet on the other. Just going through that exercise has helped me feel like I have a little better understanding of how P3 should look. Here were my first 2 breakfasts:

Lizzy's Quick Breakfast:
3 links Harvestland Maple & Apple Chicken sausages
3/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt mixed with 1/2 C. frozen blueberries and 1/4 C. Bear Naked Fit Triple Berry granola

398 calories
45g carbs (39g net carbs)
38g protein
10g fat

Egg wraps with yogurt & Fruit (I think it was posted by KitKat):

2 corn tortillas made from 1/4 C. Maseca instant Masa flour (prepared according to the directions)
Egg omelet made from 1 egg, 1/2 cup liquid egg whites, 1 Tbsp cheddar Veggie Shreds, and 1 slice Butterball turkey bacon, cooked and chopped.

I cut the omelet into 2 portions and put each one in a tortilla, taco-style. Next time I might add a Tsp of salsa just to add some flavor!

1/2 cup nonfat greek yogurt with 1 cup frozen raspberries

479 calories
46g carbs (35g net carbs)
44g protein
12g fat

You've got it Scorbett! The worksheet helped me alot at first. Aren't those frozen raspberries wonderful in the yogurt. Such a burst of flavor. I see you did a cup too. I love my fruit. I have to try your wraps. I had a great value sugar free maple oatmeal this morning which is pretty good and filling with cinnamon and WF caramel sauce.

I am loving my frozen fruit! We keep it around anyway because hubby does a protein smoothie as part of his bodybuilding diet, just now I can have it too

The wraps were VERY filling! I may play around with the numbers and increase the yogurt so I can decrease the eggs a little, it was a BIG omelet!

Hey LizRR - question for you on the Peach bread pudding - Your recipe uses 2 slices of bread, but I found a loaf of Pepperidge Farm Light, extra fiber wheat bread that is packaged 3 slices to a serving. I ran the numbers through MFP and here's how it changes the nutritional makeup (based on the ingredients I have available to me):

Original
448 calories
10g fat
50g carb (44g net)
38g protein

1 extra bread slice:
488 calories
11g fat
58g carb (50g net)
40g protein


Both still fall within the guidelines, but I didn't know if you thought the extra slice of bread might make the dish too dry. Going to make it as you wrote it tonight but thought I'd ask!

I've been searching for the Peach bread pudding but haven't been able to find it. Could someone direct me to it please? I love peaches!