Round 2, Day 1: Away I Go!

The big day is finally here!  It was a little lonely doing my injection without HS this morning, but I managed on my own--even though the shot was scary-big today!  (The mixing instructions that I followed made the HCG more diluted, so I have to inject 100cc instead of 20cc.  It was a pain to mix, and it's not quite as easy to inject, but I've learned my lesson and will be doing the more-concentrated mixture in 12 days when this round of shots is exhausted. )


Loading is no more fun than it was last time.  I have already gotten rid of most of the "bad" food that used to fill the house, so there's not a lot here for loading.  I did have leftover wings for breakfast and topped it off with a slice of cheesecake.  It's almost time for me to eat again, but NOTHING sounds good.  I also need to try to get a gallon of water in today, and I haven't done that in MONTHS!


I am happy to report that my Round 2 start weight is 1.1 pounds below my Last Injection Weight.  Of course, I would have liked to have been a little lower, but I'm pleased that I managed to NOT GAIN in the off-season...particularly because it was the holiday season.  I'm going to try to get some measurements done today and maybe even some (SCARY!) "Before" pics!

Hours to go!

Holy cow!  It's almost time!!  

2 More Days!

The countdown is on!  Two more days of waiting until I start injections again.  The buildup to HCG has been different this time because 1) I know what to expect from the diet, 2) HS won't be doing it with me this time (so I need to figure out a way to feed myself AND the rest of the family!), 3) my life is a lot more hectic than it was during the last round, 4) a lot of friends are going to be co-HCGers this round, and 5) I've been sick for more than a week.


The buildup to Round 1 was a mixture of anticipation and trepidation, but Round 2 is all anticipation!  I know what to expect, I know what works, and I just want to be 30 pounds lighter.  I hope my "experience" with the diet works for me rather than against me.  


In theory, HS's participation shouldn't have much of an effect on my experience, but in reality, I was much more motivated to get our protein portions prepared and stock up on veggies when I knew he was counting on me, too.  For some reason, it's harder to motivate myself when I'm only doing something for myself.  In that respect, I'm really going to make a strong effort in Round 2 to cook for all of us.  HS and the Littles need to eat well, so I'm going to try once again to build their meals around mine.


During Round 1, I didn't have a lot going on outside the home.  Little Girl had already started school, and Little Boy and I were free most of the day, so I had plenty of time to go grocery shopping and measure and cook meals.  Now we're busy every week with Girl Scouts (and Cookie Sales start in less than 2 weeks!).  I start my seasonal job next week, and that's going to take me away from home a few nights each week for all of Round 2.  I should be busy enough to forget about roadblocks like cravings, but I'll be exposed to more temptations.  


Even without HS's participation this round, I'll have a lot of HCG friends this round.  It's really exciting to see so many people I know on the Protocol, and I'm sure they'll have as much success as I've had.  I'm going to have a bunch of HOT friends...and we'll all have to figure out fun stuff to do that doesn't involve eating.  


I hope I can shake the remnants of this cold in the next two days.  I'm fairly certain the cough drops I've been chain-sucking aren't on Protocol. 

Impatient!

Nine days to go before I start the HCG again, and I can't wait!  Obviously I've been terrible about blogging lately, and I've been just as terrible about eating, but SOMEHOW I'm three pounds below LIW.  There must be something to that whole resetting-your-metabolism stuff!  I've been off of the "high" of dropping weight for awhile now, but I was reminded of how far I've come this weekend, when I ran into a couple people I hadn't seen in awhile.  It's really lovely (and a little embarrassing) to have an old friend exclaim, "You've lost weight!  You've lost A LOT of weight!" 


I'm spending the next week getting ready for Round 2.  I picked up Potassium and B-complex and C today.  I'll take my multi-vitamin, and I'll start taking the fiber again.  I am coming down with a cold right now, so I've been loading up on every conceivable cold, flu, and allergy medication trying to stop it in its tracks.  I believe this is the first time I've been sick this year, so I can't complain TOO much, but I wish it would just go away...especially right before Christmas.


We're having another big dinner on Christmas--turkey, mashed potatoes, and all...but we haven't had many "treats" around this year, and I don't miss them at all.  We're also planning the New Year's Brunch (on my second load day!), and I've heard that one of our guests is bringing chocolate bread pudding (and it's a Paula Deen recipe!).  I'm still rifling through Brunch recipes trying to figure out what I'm going to have with my Bloody Marys.  Any ideas for high-fat yummy food???

Much Love

I still love the HCG!  While SS is going another round I won't be, although I wish I was.  Things seemed a lot easier at 500 calories.  Now if I have something bad I feel guilty, real guilty.

SS's next round should be interesting.  Has an observer and previous participant I should be able to offer everyone a unique view.  I promise to post more once SS starts again.

And yes, I do have another blog. You are more than welcome to visit by wacked out mind whenever you feel.  Enjoy.

One more thing...

It seems HS has abandoned us to make a go of it on his own.  He has his own fancy-dancy blog, and he actually posts on it!  Go harass him on his turf.

Progress Report

If I was in school, my teacher would probably be calling my parents in for a mid-semester conference right now.  "SS is normally such a good student," she'd say.  "I just don't know what has happened to her motivation lately.  She doesn't complete her assignments, she ignores my instructions, and sometimes she doesn't even show up to class.  What in the world is wrong with her?"  My parents would shrug and say, "She knows what she's supposed to do, but she doesn't always do it.  All kids are like that, aren't they?"  And then I'd get lectured, and I'd promise to better, and I might even do better for awhile, but I'd inevitably fall back into my old bad habits.



Less than a week ago, I laid out six new goals.  How do you suppose I'm doing?


Eat dinner at home at least six nights each week.  I met that goal, but I probably should have been more specific.  We had pizza one night and nachos TWICE.  Oh, and  I ate lunch out a few times.  Plus, I cracked open the Halloween candy (and was pleased to learn that Reese's Peanut Butter Cups don't contain HFCS!).  


Increase my water consumption to at least 3 quarts per day.  Not even close.  I'm lucky to drink 16 oz of water each day.  I've been drinking iced tea again, but I'm still well below my goal on fluids.


Take my multi-vitamin and other medication daily.  So easy to do, and I've still been slacking on that.  Every other day, maybe....


Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day.  This getting harder because the Honeycrisp apples are going out of season.  We had a veggie-heavy chicken stir fry for dinner one night, but that's probably the only day I met this goal.


Stay at or below my last injection weight.  I'm still hovering around 1.5 pounds above my LIW, but that's likely to change if I don't step away from the Reese's (they're almost gone anyway!).


Blog at least every other day.  Hmmmm...my last post was on Wednesday.  Today is Sunday.  FAIL! 


I don't know why.  Stupid, I guess.  I can't wait to start injections again.  25 days to go!  

Many Days Later: SS Returns!

I can't believe it's been more than a week since I've blogged!  Oh, what a week it's been!  


I already wrote about the Girls' Night Out of Control where I had too much to eat.  Of course, I vowed to be well-behaved for Thanksgiving.  Remember my vow to have a healthy Turkey Day meal?  Well...it was probably healthier than usual, but it wasn't exactly my healthiest Phase 4 Day.  I did, however, make everything myself from all-natural ingredients: Turkey (OK, so I used a whole stick of butter on it) stuffed with apples, oranges, onions, garlic, and celery; Dressing made with multi-grain bread, Italian sausage, and veggies; Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Roasted Bananas (with another stick of butter, orange blossom honey, heavy cream, and topped with brown sugar); Smashed Potatoes (with ANOTHER stick of butter and heavy cream); Fresh Cranberry Sauce (with orange juice and brown sugar), and Turkey Gravy (yep, another stick of butter with the turkey drippings).  We did skip the dinner rolls and extra veggies, but it was still a very carb-heavy (and butter-heavy) day.  On a positive note, HS and I did not go back for second helping of our favorites, so that's a good thing!  


I definitely wasn't pleased (but certainly wasn't surprised) when I stepped on the scale on BLACK FRIDAY and found myself more than 3 pounds over my Last Injection Weight.  Yikes!  I gained five pounds in less than a week!  On a positive note here, I lost 2 pounds the following day and I've been hovering at about a pound over my LIW.  That is both good news and bad news.


That's GOOD because I have definitely managed to maintain my weight loss.  That's BAD because it's given me license to eat a whole bunch of junk that I shouldn't be eating.  That's GOOD because I'm "getting it out of my system" now before I start the second cycle.  But it's still BAD because I thought I had broken that habit already.  Maybe that's GOOD so I can remember how crummy I feel when I eat garbage and compare it again to how much better I feel when I eat good food.  


Now don't get me wrong...I'm not making the WORST food choices ever, but I know I'm not eating as well as I should be.  We've had more fast food in the last two weeks than we'd had in the past several months combined.  I've had a good amount of ice cream, and I've done some late-night snacking.  We've had pizza four times.  Oddly enough, I haven't had pasta or rice...formerly huge staples of our diet.  I haven't been drinking anything except water and the occasional iced tea (oh, and a few glasses of wine and some beers), but I haven't had soda or juice.  With the exception of the fast food and a frozen pizza, I've still been avoiding processed foods.  In other words, I'm not eating as healthfully as I was in Phases 2 and 3, but I'm eating better than I was pre-HCG.  


And I can feel the difference, too.  While the scale is only slightly higher than it was a month ago, my pants are  more snug in the waist.  I'm bloated, tired, lazy, and unmotivated.  My back hurts again.  I feel like I fell off the wagon AND got run over by it.  I absolutely cannot wait to start injections again so I have energy again and so I don't have the urge to eat garbage anymore.  My HCG for the next cycle arrived this week and I would start tomorrow if only LittleGirl's heart wasn't set on a New Year's Day brunch.  


It's goal-setting time again!  For the next 4 weeks, I'm going to strive to:

• Eat dinner at home at least 6 nights each week.
• Increase my water consumption to at least 3 quarts per day.
• Take my multi-vitamin and other medication daily.
• Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
• Stay at or below my last injection weight.
• Blog at least every other day.

Days 66, 67,68, and 69: Down and Up and Down Again

I'm bouncing up and down again, but it's because of the foods I've been eating this week.  Friday night, I had my first fast food cheeseburger since the dreaded load days.  Again, we hit Carl's Jr. and tried their new Six Dollar Cheeseburger (which really should be called the $2.59 cheeseburger, but whatever....)  Not surprisingly, it was easy to get down, and then I felt bloated afterwards.  The fact that I skipped the usual fries and shake likely saved me from overdoing it, and I was down another pound Saturday morning (putting me two pounds BELOW my last injection weight)!


Then Saturday came.  Saturday had long been planned as a Girls' Night Out and coincided with the end of Phase 3 so that it could be a slightly indulgent evening.  I probably should have worked my way up to those indulgences instead of partaking in all of them at the same time, but Saturday ended up marking the return of a lot of long-lost foods to my diet: pizza, garlic bread, dessert, and my beloved Moscato.  I had one slice of a take & bake pizza that was "meh," but I had several slice of cheesy garlic bread that was in no way whole grain.  For the dessert, I had a couple mini-pies, but I don't think I went overboard on those.  I was afraid to drink Moscato, as my tolerance is probably next to nil these days, but I had about two glasses (small glasses...not the large beverage glasses I used to drink it from!!) and felt a little happy, but not buzzed.  Throw into the mix some Swedish meatballs, a few slices of cheese, and a cream cheese/brown sugar fruit dip, and it seems pretty obvious that I had a bunch of calories Saturday night.  So...not surprised to wake up Sunday morning two pounds ABOVE my last injection weight.  Gulp.  A four-pound gain overnight.  Realistically, I should have done a "steak day" on Sunday, but I knew that getting my diet back in check would do the trick, so I made better choices throughout the day, and I was already down a pound this morning.  Whew!  We have Thanksgiving coming up this week, of course, and we'll be heading into the holiday season of parties, goodies, and lots of calories, but I'm trying to keep my head on straight.  I'm VERY anxious to get back to injections, but we're waiting on our shipment of HCG now.


I talked to the doc today and got my lab results back, and everything looked good.  Cholesterol, blood sugar, and thyroid were all normal.  She didn't have my previous results available to compare, but she's going to get those for me so I can see what the difference is.  I'll post those results when I see them.


One more quick point tonight.  I've been asked about some of the recipes I use for cooking, but I honestly don't use recipes unless I'm baking (which I rarely do....).  I tend to dump things in until it tastes good.  The best I can do is give a rough guideline of how I made a dish.  


One night last week, I tried something new: Spaghetti Squash.  We'd never even tasted it, much less cooked with it, but I decided to try to mimic a pasta dish we like and made Faux-ghetti Pomodoro.  I cut the squash in half, drizzled it with olive oil, and stuck a couple cloves of garlic under each half and baked it for about 45 minutes.  While that was going, I sauteed several more cloves of garlic, about half of a minced onion, and a few chopped roma tomatoes along with a handful of roasted pumpkin seeds (because I didn't have any pine nuts).  When the Squash was tender, I removed it from the oven and scraped the "meat" of the squash out (it resembles angel hair pasta when you do that) and tossed it with the tomato mixture, some fresh chopped basil, and feta cheese.  Everybody eyed is skeptically--especially HS--but it was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS.  Definitely going to be making it into the rotation!  


I've never cooked with winter squash before...do you have any recipes that don't call for brown sugar, maple syrup, or marshmallows?  Please post if you do!

Two Week Obsession

Wow, this place is still here?!

First and foremost my apologizes for not posting in such a long time.  I have no excuse but my short attention span.  I tend to become obsessed with "things" for about 2 weeks and once the shots were done I moved on the other "things".  But I honestly feel bad for not posting so I'm back.  Sporadically back, but none-the-less back.

All of the weight has stayed off.  Admittedly I've fluctuated a little here and there but after my most recent doctors visit I'm a little lower than I was on the day of my last shot.  I've been eating healthier still; I've only gone out to lunch once and after spending $10 on a dozen wings and an iced tea I realized how dumb it was to be spending so much for so little.  Granted, while bringing my lunch does take me away from being socially active I'm guaranteed to eat food I like and save some cash.  Also, there has been no alcohol consumption since Halloween.  A cocktail has sounded good from time to time, but I haven't felt a true urge to have one.

Days 63, 64, and 65: Where's SS?

Yikes!  I guess I haven't done so well with blogging lately, have I?  Just another thing I got lazy about, I suppose.      


I returned to the doc on Tuesday, and I was not at all surprised to learn that I am exactly where I was three weeks ago.  No fractions of inches lost, no pounds lost.  Of course, I'd LOVE to have lost more, but it's actually good that I've managed to maintain my loss--especially since I haven't been watching calories or fat.  I've realistically been eating pretty much whatever I want (it just so happens that I haven't WANTED many starches or sugars...except some ice cream, but I'll get to that in a minute).  Doc gave the go-ahead for me to slowly re-introduce foods to my diet.  She suggested beginning with "gentle" carbs like brown rice or oatmeal and only having a small serving with one meal a day while I get used to them.  I didn't break it to her that I'd already snagged some crackers (and Snapea Crisps!)  over the past couple of weeks...or a couple bites of ice cream here and there.  


Oh, yes.  The ice cream.  I tried some the other night while the Littles ate dessert.  I had two bites the next day.  I had two more bites the day after that.  Yesterday, I took a bite.  And another.  And another.  Then I started reading something while I had the spoon in my hand.  Before I knew it, I had A LOT of ice cream.  I didn't eat ALL of it, but I had a lot of it.  Mindless eating AGAIN.  Sure, it tasted good, but two bites would have been enough.  I immediately began to beat myself up over it...I DON'T want to fall back into old habits like that.  I told HS what I did and that I felt yucky.  His response?  "Guilt tastes bad."  Thanks, dear!  I also coveted the Littles' pizza last night, but he pointed out that it was only frozen pizza and not worth it.  *sigh*  I guess he's a better support system than I thought he was.  Needless to say, I was quite surprised to step on the scale this morning and find myself DOWN a pound this morning.  I'm relieved that I can stray from the healthier choices and still maintain my weight loss.  That gives me hope that I"ll be able to keep the weight off permanently. 

Day 62: New Plan

Round 2 is not going to begin on January 4th...it's now going to start on December 31st!  A dear friend wants to join me for the next cycle and that timing works out better for her schedule, PLUS New Year's seems to be perfect timing for "loading."  LittleGirl has been planning a New Year's Brunch for the past six months, so it seems appropriate to make that my last hurrah!  So if you want to join us (for Brunch or Round 2) let me know soon...we're going to be ordering our materials at the beginning of December.  


Confession time:  I had two bites of ice cream tonight.  It was REALLY good, but I was OK with only having two bites.  I feel a little bloated now, but hopefully that's just a coincidence.  Off to see the doc in the morning.  I hope I can report more inches lost tomorrow!!

Day 61: Good News!

For all my whining lately, I actually have some good news to report!  I haven't just been lazy about cooking lately; I've also been slacking with the laundry.  I was on the verge of declaring that I didn't have anything to wear today when I spied a pair of jeans on the top shelf of the closet.  You know...the jeans that I moved out of the way because I didn't expect to fit into them again.  I was relieved and very pleasantly surprised to find that they DO fit!  I fit into jeans two sizes smaller than the jeans I was wearing 61 days ago.  That's a motivator!  


LittleGirl and I had a girls' day out running errands today when she got hungry far from home.  The closest quick meal was a pizza joint that smelled absolutely divine, so I grabbed a slice for LG.  I thought about grabbing one for myself, but decided that high fat + high carb probably wasn't a great idea, so I watched her eat a super cheesy slice and for the first time in about two months I was insanely jealous of what she was eating.  HS asked me why I didn't just have a slice, and I don't really know.  I guess I'm just trying to prove to myself that I have will-power.  

Days 59 and 60: Bored and Lazy

I just realized I've turned into a big whiner on Phase 3.  I should probably be thankful of all of my added food choices, but instead I'm wishing I could go back to my short Phase 2 list.  I should be reveling in the fact that the whole family can eat together again (without the bread, rice, and pasta), but I'm still struggling to find meals that will satisfy everyone.  I guess the biggest problem is that I just haven't felt like cooking lately.  Instead of elaborate meals, I've been tending to make one big batch of something that lasts for several days (and until everybody is completely sick of it!).  On a positive note, we're not wasting much food these days.  On the other hand, nobody (including me) seems excited about my cooking these days.  On a positive note, nobody's overeating anymore.  LittleGirl is STILL convinced that I've put her on the diet, but she's really just been  eating better.  There haven't been any Kid Cuisine or Lunchables for awhile, the salami is down to once or twice a week, and desserts have been drastically reduced.  I was very pleased when she told me her PB&J was good yesterday...it was whole wheat bread, natural peanut butter, and 100% fruit blueberry spread!  The Littles are huge fans of fruit, and now that HS and I have been eating nuts, they've both latched onto those, too.  They're definitely eating more protein and have drastically reduced their intake of processed foods.  They're not wearing Birkenstocks yet, but they're getting more and more natural.  


I've been talking to several friends lately who are interested in joining me when I start Round 2 on January 4th, and I'm thrilled!  I think we may even do some support meetings or something to help keep each other on track.  It's definitely easier to go through something as drastic as the HCG Protocol with somebody, and I think it will be great to get a bunch of different people together to bounce ideas, provide inspiration, swap recipes, and get skinny together.  If you're interested in joining us, drop me a line!

Day 58: Darn It!

Surprisingly enough, I lost weight this morning, and I'm only 0.1 pounds above LIW now.  What's wrong with that?  Why, now I'm convinced I can do little cheats without repercussions!  The munchies have not yet subsided, so I snagged a couple more Snapea Crisps today AND a couple crackers.  Again, a couple were enough, so that's good, right?  Hopefully that doesn't catch up to me tomorrow!


I've still been struggling with meal preparation in Phase 3.  I got tired of cooking and I ran out of ideas, so I've gotten pretty lazy with the cooking again.  I had a package of ground beef out yesterday, but I wasn't really in the mood for burgers, so I decided to try to make what my family calls S.O.S. (I've heard others call it Hamburger Stroganoff)--you know, the gloppy concoction of ground beef and a can of mushroom soup over a pile of your favorite carbs.  The canned soup is on my own personal BANNED list now, so I started with chopped onion, garlic, fresh onions, ground beef, and a bunch of stuff from the spice cabinet.  I rounded it out with a bit of vegetable broth, heavy cream, and sour cream, and it tasted pretty much like the "canned" variety!  The plan was to make the Littles some rice and for HS and me to just eat the meat, but at the last minute I decided we really should have it ON something, so I threw a bag of broccoli in the microwave.  HS and I both approached the dish with a skeptical eye, but I've gotta say...it was delicious!  Even when I CAN return to carbs (not that I'm sure I will), I think I'd still chose broccoli over egg noodles because I didn't feel tired and bloated after dinner.  


Tonight I threw about 5 pounds of chicken breasts into the pressure cooker and we had them unadorned for dinner.  I have enough chicken left over for several meals, so dinner should be easy for the next couple nights. Tomorrow will likely be stuffed chiles again--YUM!--and then we'll still have plenty of shredded chicken for salad, chicken nachos for the kids, and maybe even some stir fry.  Music to my lazy ears!

Day 57: Stupid Stupid Stupid Cheater

Without question, I have been grumpy for the past three days.  I feel bloated again, and I've been surprised that the scale hasn't shown that yet.  I've had the munchies, but I've avoided the forbidden foods...until tonight.  I had plenty to eat for dinner, yet I munched on some cashews, some swiss cheese, and some more cashews, but they just weren't satisfying my desire for CRUNCH.  And then I spied them...lonely on the pantry shelf, an unopened bag of Snapea Crisps that I picked up at the grocery store without reading the label carefully enough.  See, I noticed that they only had 1 g of Sugar ('Duh,' I thought.  'They're PEAS.')  and I checked to make sure that they had no hydrogenated oils.  I knew they weren't going to be the healthiest option on the planet, but I was pleased to have figured out a new snack to mix it up a bit.  What I didn't notice at the time was that the third ingredient listed on the label was rice and that they had 14 g of carbs per serving.  Doh!  So tonight, although I was aware that I had at least another week before I would be able to add some starch to my diet, the PMS won out, and I had some Snapea Crisps.  Sadly, they were not as good as I remember.  Even more sadly, I ate the entire serving I had prepared for myself anyway.  Happily, I did not refill my bowl (or eat any out of the bag!).  I don't know if I'll see the cheat on the scale tomorrow, but I feel heavy with the weight of my stupidity.  Ugh.  All I can do now is move on and not let it happen again!

Days 55 and 56: Boing! Boing! Boing!

That's what I feel like right now...a ping pong ball going up and down and up and down.  I guess I really AM stabilized now (somebody pointed out to me that bouncing up and down in a two-point range isn't bad at all), but I'd be happy to just comfortably stay at my Last Injection Weight.  That would just be too easy, though, wouldn't it?  Today I sit 0.1 pounds below LIW.


I'm almost two weeks into Phase 3 now, which means a week until I CAN start adding starches and sugars back (or, as LittleGirl says, "start eating food again.")  I told her I'm not sure that I will add those things back to my diet and she was aghast.  Every time I tell her no to something unhealthy that she wants to eat (Lunchables, Kid Cuisine, Cheetos, the scary neon pink drink that sells for $1/gallon, for example), she accuses me of putting her on the diet.  I've tried to explain that I'm trying to keep her from being unhealthy as she grows up, but she's not loving it yet.  She still gets plenty of "junk" food anyway, so don't feel too bad for her.  

Day 54: Yep, Still Unstable

I'm back up 0.8 pounds this morning...still 0.2 pounds below Last Injection Weight.  I'm expecting my monthly bloat to settle in pretty soon, but I'm sick of the up and down.  I really don't want to have to do a steak day!  


I've started to find some interesting recipes for Thanksgiving.  I'll post some of them when I narrow down our choices.  A great resource: EatingWell.com.  I'm already leaning toward this Pumpkin Mousse Pie.  My absolute favorite part of Thanksgiving has always been the stuffing, but I think I'm going to try to do something primarily meat-based this year.  


One more point before I'm off to the store to replenish the refrigerator: Momma and I are going to purchase our HCG in a few weeks in order to begin a round at the beginning of January.  If you're interested in joining us for that round, let me know!  We can save on shipping by ordering together...and offer moral support by HCGing together.  :-)

Days 52 and 53: Unstable!

So much for being stabilized!  Two days ago, I was back to my Last Injection Weight and thought that my fluctuations were a thing of the past.  Apparently I was wrong.  I woke up yesterday a half pound above my Last Injection Weight, and while I didn't eat terribly yesterday, I felt yucky and bloated by the end of the night and was sure that I would be looking at a Steak Day today.  Much to my surprise, this morning I lost that 0.5 pounds PLUS another 1.5 pounds!  I don't get it at all!  Believe me, I'm not complaining about the unexpected two-pound loss, but I don't like not feeling "in touch" with my body anymore like I did during Phase 2.  I'm honestly not sure how my food choices are going to translate to the number on the scale from day to day, and that truly stinks.  I'm surprised to actually be longing for Phase 2 again...just so I know what to expect.  


I'm also finding that I don't stray a whole lot from my Phase 2 diet.  I eat much more chicken than beef now.  I'm not drinking anything except water.  I have basically the same vegetables.  I'm still eating two apples a day.  OK, I'm currently having a not-so-secret love affair with Baby Swiss, Feta, pistachios, and butter, but I'd gladly give all of them up to return to the ease and certainty of Phase 2.  


I passed another test with flying colors today.  I had to attend a class today, and the instructor's parents brought in homemade lasagna and garlic bread for all of the students.  It smelled good, but I never even considered having any.  Admittedly, I felt odd NOT having any because I was in a group of complete strangers who didn't know about my diet.  I waved off a plate a few times before I said, "I'm not having wheat this week."  I got raised eyebrows, but nobody else pressured me until they passed dessert around.  Again, I wasn't even tempted.  I've resisted Halloween candy, pasta and garlic bread, and cocktails.  Thanksgiving is coming, and I'm not looking forward to it.  By then, I'll be allowed sugars and starches, but I still can't wrap my head around actually having them.  I feel so much better now that I've cleaned my diet up, I just don't want to go back to that--even for a day!  I've even thought about a low-starch, low-sugar Turkey Day, but I think our dinner guests would be bothered by the lack of tradition, so I have less than three weeks to figure out some compromises.

Day 51: Where's HS?

I don't know...maybe he thinks he's too good for our little blog now that he's within a few pounds of his goal weight.  It's a little lonely, but I suppose it was bound to happen.  I miss you, dear!  (Although I haven't had a bad-grammar-induced panic attack this week.  Hmmmm....I wonder if there could be a connection....)


As for me, I'm here for the long haul--whether I have readers or not.  I've not done well with keeping a food diary, so writing here everyday makes me somewhat accountable.  It's working so far, I guess.  I was down another 0.1 pounds this morning, which puts me back to my Last Injection Weight!  Not many "forbidden" foods have sounded good to me, but I absolutely enjoyed a BIG mushroom & swiss (no bun, of course) burger for dinner tonight.  I'm still not interested in pizza or pasta--which together made up about 75% of my pre-HCG diet, but I admit to swiping a couple of LittleBoy's crackers the past few days.  Tasty, but I was proud that I didn't keep going back for more.  Still no sweets or alcohol either, but I have plans to attend a get-together in a couple weeks in which many "goodies" will be available.  I hope I don't self-destruct!

Day 50: Stabilizing

I'm so happy to report that I was down another 0.1 pounds this morning, which puts me just 0.1 pound above my Last Injection Weight.  Frankly, I was surprised because it seemed like I had quite a bit to eat yesterday--including a boatload of cheese.  I'm so happy I haven't had to do a steak day...I hope I can stay at this point until Round 2 in January.  There are a few holidays to get through, but none of the traditional foods are sounding good to me right now.  In my past life, I really loved stuffing--in fact, I could easily skip the turkey and pile a plate full of cranberries, mashed potatoes, and a mountain of stuffing and be in heaven.  I managed to keep away from candy for Halloween, but the impending carb fests will be my true test.  


I think I've decided how I'm going to do my second round in January.  I had been debating continuing to do the program with the doc, but now that I know what to do and my blood pressure meds are out of the picture, I know I could handle the Protocol on my own.  I have been leery of purchasing my HCG online because most of it comes from out of the country.  I've been following many threads on hcgdietinfo.com that discuss where to purchase HCG for less money and hassle, and I found a woman who got frustrated with ordering troubles with the overseas HCG providers and started her own online business.  I appreciate her coming up with a solution to the problem by starting her own site, and I'm super-impressed with all of the resources on the site.  She has an HCG Diet Manual that has actual information about how to do Phase 3!  I even saw Phase 2 information that would have been nice to have!  And her pricing is only slightly higher than I've seen the overseas and Canadian sites charging, and well worth the peace of mind of knowing that the HCG will arrive in a few days and not get hung up in Customs.  I'm very excited to order my next round from Fran!  Check out all of the fabulous info at YourHCGDiet.com

Day 49: That's Better!

Whew!  I was worried, but I'm back down to 0.2 pounds over my Last Injection Weight, so hopefully I'll start to stabilize now.  I had hoped to lose a little in between cycles, but I'll honestly be happy to stay where I am right now.  HS heard that it takes about a week to stabilize in Phase 3, so hopefully we're getting there.  Phase 3 is harder mentally because I don't have the instant gratification of watching the scale go down, but I got a little boost today when somebody commented on my weight loss.  She doesn't know that I've been taking HCG and I see her nearly every day, but this morning she said, "OK, it's really obvious you're losing weight.  I saw you in that shirt a couple weeks ago and it didn't hang on you like that!"  I smiled and said thanks, but I was jumping up and down inside.  I love those moments!


I found a weight- and calorie-tracking website that I like better than SparkPeople.com.  FitDay.com seems to have all of the tools (and I think there may even be more!) that SparkPeople does, but it's much neater, cleaner, and easier to navigate.  It does not have all of the articles and forums of SparkPeople, but I avoided those anyway because there was just too much happening on each page of the site that I'd end up getting distracted and forget to log my food or my weight.  I think I'm going to transition all of my historical data to FitDay so I can really see the charts moving down!  


It was nice tonight to have some pre-HCG food that fits in with Phase 3.  The Littles don't eat it, but HS and I love Anaheim Chiles stuffed with Chicken and Cheese.  I also dressed them up with spinach for the first time, and they tasted really good that way.  We were, of course, without rice tonight, but I didn't miss it.  The chile tasted so good, I was about to get up and get another when HS said, "I want another one because they taste good, but I'm really not hungry anymore so I guess I shouldn't."  Oh, yeah.  We're supposed to be breaking that habit, aren't we?  I'm trying!

Day 48: Still Gaining

Quite frustrating.  I'm now 1.1 pounds over my Last Injection Weight.  One more pound and I have to do a "steak day."  This sucks.

Day 47: The Day After

Just a couple issues with HS's post...
First of all...there was no losing "in a very rapid fashion."  I heard him "losing it" for about two hours.  
Secondly...he DID know he was having too much to drink because he admitted he was drunk after the first two glasses...and then he had three more.
And last...I'm fairly certain drinking 'til you puke everything you had to eat that day (including my delicious dinner) is not appropriate for resetting your hypothalamus!


OK.  So perhaps I'm a little miffed that I haven't had ANY wine or ANY candy (unlike somebody else I know!), and I gained another 0.4 pounds this morning.  I'm still below my Last Injection Weight, but really...the big fat cheater ends up even lower than he was?!?!?  I was very conservative with my meals today--didn't track calories again today--and stuck to mostly veggies.  I finished up last night's leftover broccoli for breakfast, had a tossed salad with chicken salad and feta for lunch, an apple for snack, chicken and veggie (broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, squash, onion, and garlic) stir fry for dinner, and a piece of cheese for another snack.  LittleGirl is convinced that I'm trying to torture her with all the vegetables (although I think she secretly likes them), but I'm seriously craving them lately!  Instead of candy for dessert, the Littles had fresh blackberries that tasted a million times sweeter than I remember them.  I'm convinced that my palette has changed significantly now that it's not poisoned by sugar and artificial sweeteners.  It's funny (and pretty cool) that the foods I crave now are foods that are actually good for me.  

What?

168.6

I have no idea what SS is talking about, unless she means that after 8 weeks of no booze I had half a bottle of wine and proceeded to lose more weight in a very rapid fashion.  I am down 36 pounds now if that's any thing.

And so everyone is aware I didn't plan to drink.  After taking the kids trick or treating we decided to sit out front and hand out candy.  The wine was tasting yummy and I had way more than I should have, not once did I think that it was too much.  Never took into consideration the fact that I hadn't had a cocktail in 8 weeks.

Who's the Tool Now?

I really can't wait for HS to post about his Halloween!  

Started phase 3 and I'm not sure I like the way things are going, it was much easier to manage 500 calories a day with out thinking about it.  I've tested the waters and  Halloween candy doesn't cut it. I had a couple pieces at my daughters school Halloween party and it just wasn't tasty.  Also had the first meal out and while I behaved (non-fried or sugar coated wings) it just wasn't like it used to be.  I'm starting to think that testing myself early in phase 3 is making me appreciate the foods that truly tastes good.

Day 46: A Little Bit Better

I was up past 2am with the stinkin' heartburn from our restaurant meal last night.  The wings were OK, but certainly not worth that much discomfort, so I don't anticipate eating out again anythime soon.  LittleGirl might have something to say about that, but hopefully I can convince her that my home-cooking beats anything she can get elsewhere.


On the bright side, I didn't gain weight this morning.  I made a solid effort to eat better today, but I didn't track my calories.  HS offered to make breakfast for me again, but I snacked on a small piece of cheese instead and had an apple later in the morning and some chicken salad for lunch.  We had a giant spread for dinner tonight...thick sirloins, fresh mushrooms cooked in butter and red wine with garlic, onions, and basil, steamed broccoli with peppers, and a giant salad.  The steak was good, but honestly, I was digging the veggies so much more!  I got full before I finished what was on my plate, but I finished everything but the steak.  I even snuck some leftover broccoli from the fridge a little while ago!  


I made it through Halloween without a single BITE of candy, and it took no effort at all.  I got the willies just thinking about the garbage the Littles picked up tonight.  Unfortunately, I learned that LittleBoy inherited HS's sweet tooth as I watched him chow down on candy.  I wish there was a healthier alternative to all of the garbage that was passed out tonight, but it's me against the world in that fight.  

Day 45: I'm not sure which I hate more...

Loading or Phase 3.  Ugh.  I ate too much yesterday, and I gained 1.1 pounds.  Fortunately, I continued to lose weight for a couple days after my last injection, and I'm still below that weight, but still....  I vowed to do better today, and relatively speaking, I suppose I did, but I still need to do better.  


HS made scrambled eggs and veggies this morning that were DELICIOUS!  And I don't even like eggs!  I had a couple slices of bacon with it, and honestly...it didn't really do anything for me.  I think I might be over pork.  I could have had another plate of eggs, but HS reminded me that we need to practice portion control now.  Oh, yeah.


I cooked more than 5 pounds of chicken breasts in an effort to "be prepared" with healthy choices so I don't turn to salami or friggin' cheese if I suddenly get hungry.  I used some of it to make Southwest Chicken Salad, which made a really yummy lunch.  


The whole family went shopping this afternoon and HS loaded up on new pants that he sorely needed.  I still have plenty to "shop" in my closet and I'm holding out until I can go a couple sizes smaller.  We decided to fulfill LittleGirl's wish for a dinner out with the family, and we hit up her favorite restaurant.  HS and I both stuck to hot wings, and we could have realistically split a dozen...but didn't.  While they tasted good, they weren't all I remembered them to be, and I was bummed to pay "eating out" prices again.  To top it off, I currently have a horrendous case of heartburn that is making me miserable.  So I feel just as crappy as I did before our six weeks of HCG.  


All in all, I had fewer calories today than I did yesterday and stayed close to the low end of my range.  I nearly doubled my protein intake today and landed at the high end of my suggested range.  I also cut my sodium intake by 75% from yesterday and landed within my range today.  Since I didn't have any fruit today, my carb intake was much lower than yesterday, but I'm happy about that.  Without an insane amount of cheese, my calcium intake was pretty low and my fiber intake was just as pitiful as yesterday.  My fat intake was much lower today than yesterday, but it was still too high.  And thanks to my eggs and fried chicken wings, my cholesterol intake was three times what it should have been.  So....back to the drawing board.  My plan for tomorrow is to try to mimic the HCG diet, but increase my portions.  I hope I can get back on track SOON.

Day 44 Update: I'm not so good at this

Phase 3 is going to be tough.  I had WAY too much freedom and WAY too little foresight today.  The lesson of the day: PLAN WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO EAT BEFORE YOU EAT IT!


I decided shortly before 10am that I was not going to do a 500-calorie day.  I got hungry and wanted to eat immediately, so I didn't want to take the time to cook something.  I ended up pulling out some of LittleGirl's salami...and I actually weighed it before I ate it.  It was nice to have a flavor I hadn't had in awhile, but it was too greasy for my taste, and the 2.6 oz of meat kept me satisfied for quite awhile.  


About 90 minutes later I decided to go for it on the cheese.  Since I've also been craving crackers, I decided to make crispy cheese in the oven--just throw some shredded cheese on a baking sheet and bake it until it's melty and starting to get crispy, cool, and eat.  I started eating it (and it was also too greasy for me) before I realized I hadn't measured.  I figured out how much I had used, however, by weighing an identical (albeit unopened) package and figuring the difference.  And I was shocked at how much of it I had eaten!  WAY too much.  And it wasn't nearly as satisfying as I had expected it to be.  I had a lot of trouble dealing with the greasy feeling on my tongue, so I cleansed my palette with some healthy grapes and decided not to eat anything else until dinner.


We decided to have sausage for dinner, so I made some pre-cooked Italian Sausage I got from Sprouts and made a large salad with creamy dressing.  We were already halfway done with dinner before I bothered to check the label on the sausage and saw that one link had 320 calories and 28 grams of fat!  Ugh!  Bad choices today!!  I think I will have an apple tonight, but otherwise I'm done for the day!


According to the goal ranges on SparkPeople,  I FAILED today.  I landed smack dab in the middle of my calorie range, but I had about twice as much fat as I should have today.  My carb count is much lower than SparkPeople calls for, but that's a good thing while I'm in Phase 3.  My protein was within the recommended range, but on the low end; I need to do better tomorrow.  Just for kicks, I also decided to track calcium, cholesterol, sodium, and fiber.  Thanks to the cheese, my calcium was good for the day, but my cholesterol and sodium were much higher than they should have been.  And my fiber intake was perfectly pitiful.  I'll be taking a fiber supplement tonight.


So I'm going to chalk this one up to poor planning and hope to balance out my numbers over the next couple of days.  Oh, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't gain weight overnight.

Under 170!

169.5

Damn I feel sexy!  Just kidding, but I am frick'n ecstatic that I'm finally under 170!  This will have to be a super quick post because I am swamped at work.  I just wanted to share my good news.

Day 44: Guess what I'm about to do!

I'm about to walk into the kitchen and have some cheese.

Day 43: Almost there...

I considered starting Phase 3 today, but I wasn't hungry, so I behaved.  Oh, and I finally lost some weight...I'm down another 0.5 pounds today!  We'll see how tomorrow goes, but I'm anxious to eat some stuff.  Momma brought over some beautiful steaks to grill this weekend (with sautéed mushrooms!), and I'm looking forward to having more than 100 grams of it.  Momma also brought over some yummy-looking cheese.  She really loves me.

I went to the store today, ready to load up on all the goodies we've been missing out on, but I came home disappointed.  I was really looking forward to expanding our vegetable horizons, but much of it didn't look very good, so I settled for yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli, red peppers and stuff for a big giant salad.  A nice MIXED salad with cheese and creamy dressing sounds WONDERFUL, but I had trouble finding salad dressing.  I was looking for something without added sugar (and especially without HFCS), and there was NOTHING--not Ranch, Bleu Cheese, even Italian--without added sugar.  I couldn't even find a mayo without added sugar.  No wonder we're all so fat!!  I've been fretting about what to do...am I really going to have to make EVERYTHING from scratch?  I read through the forum at hCGdietinfo.com to see what the heck other people were using and I found people saying that they will use dressings with up to 3 grams of sugar per serving.  Ugh!  I guess I'll try what I already have in the pantry and see how it turns out for me, but I expect that I need to start looking for some homemade recipes.  

I came across an eye-opening entry on Fooducate.com that lists all of the "aliases" for sugar hiding on ingredient labels.  Check it out: 

Aspartame – marketed as Nutrasweet (artificial, 0 calories)
Acesulfame potassium (acesulfame-K) / E950 -marketed as Sunett / Sweet One (artificial, 0 calories)

Brown Rice Syrup

Brown sugar

Corn sweetener

Corn syrup, or corn syrup solids

Crystalline Fructose

Dehydrated Cane Juice

Dextrin

Dextrose

Evaporated Cane Juice

Fructose

Fruit juice concentrate

Glucose

High-fructose corn syrup

Honey

Invert sugar (golden syrup)

Lactose

Maltodextrin

Malt syrup

Maltose

Mannitol (2.6 calories)

Maple syrup

Molasses

Neotame (artificial, 0 calories)

Raw sugar

Rice Syrup

Saccharin (artificial, 0 calories)

Saccharose

Sucralose – marketed as Splenda (artificial, 0 calories)

Sucrose

Sugar

Sorbitol (2.6 calories)

Sorghum or sorghum syrup

Syrup

Treacle

Turbinado Sugar

Xylose

It's inevitable that I'll have sugar again someday, but I'm definitely trying to stay away from the artificial stuff!

I still need to figure out how I'm going to get active.  My friend tried to talk me into trying an early-morning Zumba class, but I can't imagine that would go well.  Still looking for more ideas....  Does anybody have a suggestion for something I can ease into and still get a good workout???

Gotta Love That Tea!

170.2

First day of no shots.  I still want to track my weight losses and exercise status for the next few weeks, at least until I see the doc again in November, so I'll be blogging away still.  Showed a big loss this morning but I attribute that to SS's wonder tea.  I had been feeling a little off so I tried her tea last night and Elvis left the building this morning.  Sorry to share that but I wanted to make sure no one thought that the 2 pound drop was a miracle or anything.  Would have been a miracle if I had lost another 3 tenths and dropped under 170!  But I can say that I am on the last hole of my belt, shopping has to happen soon.

As for the exercise I started the push-up routine on Monday and on my last set I fell one push-up short.  Instead of cheating myself I'm starting it over again today.  Would have been easy to fudge the numbers but what's the point if I'm doing this for myself?  I had intended to start the sit-ups yesterday but my back was hurting, which is odd, so instead of aggravating it I decided best to put it off a day or two.  As for running I'm still going to stick with the plan of waiting until I have at least one week of full calories under my belt before I start.

I signed up for SparkPeople last night like the doc recommended and SS was right, the site is way too cluttered. After 15 minutes of trying to find the proper nutrition information for my height and weight SS and I realized that I signed up for the wrong program.  They have a lifestyle one for maintaining and a weight loss one for, well, weight loss.  I had to sign up for the weight loss one to see what my caloric intake should be as well as fat and carbs.  I'm to stay between 1600 and 1800 calories per day.  The lifestyle one had me maintaining with over 2000 calories per day which seemed way too much.  The food tracker on the site seems very intuitive and I'll use that to track my days for the next few weeks.

Last Shot

172.1

Of course, the day of the last shot I show a gain!  Oh well, nothing that I could have done about that and no, there was no cheating involved.  I went to the doc on Monday and I want to post my final results;

32.5 pounds (started at 204.6, down to 172.1)
31.25 inches lost (really have to buy some new clothes!)
1.25 inches from my left arm, 1.25 from my right arm
4.5 inches from my chest
3.25 inches from my ribs
4.5 inches from my waist
4 inches from my hips
2 inches from my left thigh, 1.5 inches from my right thigh
1 inch from my left knee, 1.5 inches from my right knee
1 inch from my left calf, .75 from my right calf

This diet is very impressive.  I wish I had stock in HCG or the ability to sell it myself.  I've recommended this diet to a number of people and I'm always willing to discuss it when people ask what I've done.  For anyone that has had trouble with diets in the past and they still want to lose this is definitely my recommendation.

Now, I went through a doctor, which SS has mentioned before is more expensive then self-medicating but in all honesty I think it was worth the extra cost.  I had the peace of mind that I wasn't doing things wrong and instead of having to research every move I had someone there to give me sound advise (and I'm not talking about SS).  So definitely weigh your options and decide what course you will stick with and what will make you feel the most comfortable.

And last but not least I want to thank my wonderful wife.  Not only did she introduce me to this idea but she has supported me through all the days.  It certainly is easier when you have someone doing it with you but it's even easier when you know that person your with really cares.  You did a great job babe, and thanks for everything.

Day 42: End of an Era

Perhaps that's a bit dramatic.  It's really only the end of Phase 2, and I'm stopping a day early.  I hadn't gotten around to do my shot this morning before I saw the doc, and after talking to her, I decided to forgo the last day so I can get onto eating a little bit sooner.  She agreed with me that my body is "done" for this round, and she said that happens sometimes and is one of the reasons that we're limited to six weeks in Phase 2.  According to her scale, I only lost one pound in the past week (two, according to my scale), and the only place I lost inches was in my hips (and I'm not sure I even trust that measurement, but whatever!).  She also confirmed that my blood sugar levels are still within the normal range--they're just lower than what I'm used to, which can make me feel icky.  The same applies to my blood pressure (which is, by the way, lower WITHOUT medication than it was seven weeks ago WITH medication!)--I'm not quite used to it being low yet.  We're going to do bloodwork when I return in three weeks to see how everything has changed.  


I was looking forward to getting detailed Phase 3 guidance from the doc today, but I'm actually going to have to put some thought into it.  Doc said to add back foods (except for sugar, starch, corn, and potatoes).  To determine my daily caloric needs, she advised me to register on SparkPeople, a website dedicated to health, nutrition, and weight loss.  The site has a lot of helpful tools, but there's almost too much going on there--charts, graphs, blogs, forums, fitness plans, recipes, food diaries, and some sort of point system that I still don't understand.  I did figure out what my nutrition goals should be for the next several weeks, and I'm sure it will be doable.  


I also spoke with the doc about my plan to add back one thing at a time, and she said that probably isn't necessary as long as I stay within the caloric guidelines.  She suggested I wait a week before I re-introduce dairy, but I don't think that's going to happen!  I'll either be returning to a "regular" diet tomorrow or Thursday--doc said I'll know when it's time to begin eating because I'll have hunger unlike I've had for the past six weeks.  So....back to the drawing board!


My totals for the six week protocol:


POUNDS LOST: 27 (or 30.4 from my post-load high weight)
ARMS: 2.5 inches each
BUST: 5 inches
RIBS: 3.5 inches
WAIST: 4.5 inches
HIPS: 5.5 inches
REAR: 4 inches
THIGHS: 3 inches each
KNEES: 1 inch and 2 inches
CALVES: 1.5 inches and 1 inch
ANKLES: 0.5 inches each
_________________________
40 inches lost!  (Doc says 39, but she added wrong somewhere)
Plus, my blood pressure is down from 132/80 to 120/78 and I'm off of the medication.


On to Phase 3!

Day 41: Tired

I'm tired.  My body's tired.  I think my hypothalamus must be, too.  I followed up yesterday's 0.1 pound loss with NO LOSS today.  I really think I'm just DONE for now.  I don't expect to lose anymore this round, and I'm OK with that.  I managed to average more than a half-pound lost each day, and I think that's respectable.  I guess we (my body and I) are just in need of a break.  


I'm not even wanting to change my diet drastically.  (OK...maybe a wedge of cheese here and there.)  I just don't have the same level of energy I had even a week ago, so I'm beginning to think that I need more protein.  So there you have it...I decided I need to eat more.  I'm actually AFRAID to add some foods back to my diet.  Pasta, bread, crackers....I'm afraid that once I start eating them I won't stop, so I'm not so sure I'm going to eat them at all.  


HS has been plotting his upcoming weekend breakfast menu, but I still haven't decided what I'll do.  I'm not a big fan of eggs, but they are a good high-protein option, so I may have to learn to get used to them.  I don't mind an omelet now and then...as long as it has a bunch of "stuff" in it, and that doesn't really fall in line with my "add-one-thing-at-a-time" plan, so I don't know yet what I'll be eating this weekend.  All I know is that LittleGirl is VERY excited for us to be done with Phase 2.  I'm sure it won't be too long before we indulge in a night out at her favorite restaurant!


Back to the doc in the morning for my end-of-cycle measurements.  According to my scale, I've only lost two pounds since last week, so I'm curious to see if I've lost any more inches.  Regardless of the outcome tomorrow, I'm still pleased with my losses.  Remind me of that if I'm bummed tomorrow.

Pretty Cool!

171.2

SS did a great job with the remodel!  I didn't login over the weekend so this was the first time I've seen the site, it looks great dear!

Had a good loss this morning, another pound.  So far I've lost 33.4 pounds, pretty amazing.  Still have a few more days left of the 500 calories and only one day left of the shots.  Can't wait for this to be over.  It hasn't been difficult or anything, I'm just impatient.  So impatient that I've already planned what I'm going to have for breakfast on the 31st.

Another thing, and I know SS has brought this up before, the saturation of poor food choices all around us.  SS talked about TV and how "events" tend to revolve around food, but today I really noticed all the ads on the radio for fast food places and how on every corner there was a fast food joint on my way in to work.  It was only when I was on the highway that I didn't see fast food places but their billboards where there!

Lastly, today I start day 1 of the push-up routine.  I'll let you know tomorrow if I survived.

An Important Public Service Announcement

Please, for the good of this country, lose weight! Jobs are depending on it!

Day 40: Foggy

I don't know what's up with me, but I've been in a fog the past few days.  Could be the flu that I never really got.   Could be the bump on my noggin.  Could be cheese withdrawal.  I was wondering if it could be hypoglycemia that caused me to faint the other night and has been making me feel crummy.  I've been monitoring my blood sugar, and while it isn't hasn't been TOO low, it's lower than what my body has been used to for the last several years.  (Yeah, I had gestational diabetes with LittleBoy and was also warned that I was close to pre-diabetes.)  I did a little reading today and found that Dr. Simeons had this to say in "Pounds and Inches (emphasis mine):"

Towards the end of a course or when a patient has nearly reached his normal weight it occasionally happens that the blood sugar drops below normal, and we have even seen this in patients who had an abnormally high blood sugar before treatment. Such an attack of hypoglycemia is almost identical with the one seen in diabetics who have taken too much insulin. The attack comes on suddenly; there is the same feeling of light-headedness, weakness in the knees, trembling, and unmotivated sweating. But under hCG, hypoglycemia does not produce any feeling of hunger. All these symptoms are almost instantly relieved by taking two heaped teaspoons of sugar.

In the course of treatment the possibility of such an attack is explained to those patients who are in a phase in which a drop in blood sugar may occur. They are instructed to keep sugar or glucose sweets handy, particularly when driving a car. They are also told to watch the effect of taking sugar very carefully and report the following day. This is important, because anxious patients to whom such an attack has been explained are apt to take sugar unnecessarily, in which case it inevitably produces a gain in weight and does not dramatically relieve the symptoms for which it was taken, proving that these were not due to hypoglycemia. Some patients mistake the effects of emotional stress for hypoglycemia. When the symptoms are quickly relieved by sugar this is proof that they were indeed due to an abnormal lowering of the blood sugar, and in that case there is no increase in the weight on the following day. We always suggest that sugar be taken if the patient is in doubt.

Once such an attack has been relieved with sugar we have never seen it recur on the immediately subsequent days, and only very rarely does a patient have two such attacks separated by several days during a course of treatment. In patients who have not eaten sufficiently during the first two days of treatment we sometimes give sugar when the minor symptoms usually felt during the first there days of treatment continue beyond that time, and in some cases this has seemed to speed up the euphoria ordinarily associated with the hCG method.

 I don't know if that's my problem or not, but I feel "off," so I'll give the doc a call in the morning to get her take on it.  Only two more days of injections!  I only lost 0.1 pounds this morning, so the "official" 30 pound mark is looking more challenging--and I'm definitely not going to push my luck.

Day 39: Why am I Still Up?

It's after 1am.  I've been up for 18 hours.  I got a little obsessed with the blog, I guess.  What do you think?  


Quick post to let you know where I am: I was down another 0.3 pounds this morning (or yesterday morning, I guess).  That puts me 26.9 pounds down from my Day 1 weight and 30.3 pounds down from my post-load weight!  Only a few days left, and I'm really hoping to lose at least 3.2 pounds so I can "officially" lose more than 30 pounds this cycle.  


Time for me to go to bed, but I'll leave you with a few links from one of my new favorite healthy food sites:


Good News! No reason to pretend to like this junk!



We're seriously supposed to feed this to our kids? What's wrong with these people!?!?



Is it OK to Eat That?

Don't be a tool!

173.5

SS learned the hard way, don't skip meals!  If you don't skip meals you won't be a tool.  Tough love baby, tough love.

Aside from SS's epic fail and LittleGirl having the flu all else is well.  Down just over 31 pounds and I still have 4 days of shots and 7 days of 500 calories left.  I should make it under 170 by the time this is all over.  I haven't figured out my running routine yet but I did smarten up a little bit.  I want to get at least one week of full calories down my gullet before I start running.  I have started the initial phase of my exercise routine though.

I believe I mentioned before that I want to start working out slowly, I don't want to go to the gym, I just want to do the basics at home.  I've always wasted money when I've signed up at a gym.  What could be more basic then running, push-ups, ans sit-ups?  I went to hundredpushups.com and I liked the routine, reminded me of doing pyramids in the Army, so I'm starting their push-up routine and sit-up routine.  I did my max on Wednesday which was pitiful and on Monday I start the push-ups, Tuesday I start the sit-ups.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Day 38: Safety Tip of the Day

I highly recommend not skipping meals on the Protocol...even if you're not hungry, go ahead and eat something. 


You may remember that I had an apple for dinner last night.  I felt fine, and went to bed around 10:30.  At 3am, LittleGirl got up with a fever again, so I got her some meds and took another dose of Oscillo myself.  Before going back to bed, I decided to check my email and Facebook.  I was standing at the counter with my laptop when I started to feel dizzy...and then I woke up on the kitchen floor.  I made my way back to my bedroom and woke up HS to tell him what had happened...and passed out again.  He brought me glucose tablets (every house should have some...they're much more effective than candy or juice for hypoglycemic episodes or sugar crashes), and I started to feel better right away.  I didn't check my blood sugar level until AFTER I took the glucose, but it was barely in the normal range, so I'm fairly certain I passed out from low blood sugar.  He also made me have some chicken at 3:30 this morning and had me promise to eat BOTH of my meals today.  My headache from bonking it on the tile floor will remind me that I need to eat.  


I was expecting to have a stall (or even a gain) today after 3 doses of Oscillo, 2 glucose tabs, and a 3:30am nosh, but I lost another 0.6 pounds this morning.  Let me be clear: THE LOSS WAS NOT WORTH GETTING SICK OVER.  I'm very lucky that, aside from a screaming headache and sore back and neck, I'm OK today.  I did not skip dinner to lose weight...I forgot about eating until it was "too late" to eat.  I know now that five hundred calories per day is not very much to eat, but two hundred calories is just plain UNSAFE.  

Day 37: Getting Sick

HS and I sat here 24 hours ago marveling at the fact that our house had remained cold- and flu-free so far this year.  "It's great," I said.  "I feel healthier than I've been in years."  So, of course, I woke up with sniffles this morning.  By 10am, I felt really run-down, so I ran out to get some of the Oscillococcinum that everybody's been talking about.  I took a dose, followed by an hour-long cat nap and woke up feeling a little bit better.  A couple hours later, LittleGirl broke the news that she wasn't feeling well, and I discovered that she had a fever, so I started her on the Oscillococcinum also and gave her some Motrin that reduced her fever right away.  She's sawing logs now and I'm hoping that she doesn't get any worse and that LittleBoy doesn't get it at all.  I still have an itchy nose, but I don't feel terrible.  Hope hope hope that the swine flu stays out of our house.  


As a result of running to the store and then taking a nap, I didn't manage to eat lunch today until after 2pm, and I realized at about 8pm that I hadn't had dinner, so I had an apple.  I definitely ended up far below 500 calories today, but my two doses of Oscillococcinum (don't even ask me to SAY that) had 1 gram of sugar each, so maybe I'll end up OK for the day.  I was down 0.8 pounds this morning.  Keep your fingers crossed for me tomorrow!

Day 36: I lost LittleBoy!

OK, I didn't lose the REAL LittleBoy (although if his attitude doesn't change....), but I've lost a LittleBoy's worth of icky fat.  My 0.3 pound loss this morning puts me over the 25-pound mark, which happens to be how much  my 21-month old monkey weighs.  I sure wouldn't want to carry him around all day everyday, and I'm certainly glad to not be carrying the equivalent of his weight around with me permanently!  

I had a rough day today, and I honestly had thoughts of eating bad stuff...and then I remembered how stupid it would be to punish myself and my progress for something that I was quite certain wouldn't even taste good (so I tell myself).  I dwelled a bit longer on the idea of drinking some wine, but I was reasonably sure that if he were alive, Dr. Simeons would not agree that skipping my evening apple would be a fair trade-off for a bottle of Moscato, so I refrained.  I realized today that it only takes a minute to talk myself out of a binge...if I try hard enough.  Two months ago, I would not have questioned IF I should have that box of crackers or last piece of pizza...I would have thought more about WHEN I would have them.  So another "gain" from the HCG Protocol...will-power!

A few days ago I listed a bunch of my "must-haves" for following the Protocol, and I keep discovering things that I forgot to include.  

Tea: It, along with coffee is an acceptable beverage while on the Protocol, and it definitely helps break up the monotony of so much water.  Thanks to its purported health benefits, most people are encouraged to consume at least one cup of tea each day.  I've personally found that my losses tend to be better on the days I drink at least 16 oz of tea.  Some people don't like tea, but there is such an astonishing number of varieties that, especially coupled with some good-quality Stevia, even the most ardent non-drinker would HAVE to find something tolerable.  (That means you, K!  Come over and try some of my teas!)  PLUS...added benefit of always having a couple kinds of tea in the fridge...you can cook with it, too!  I refuse to bathe my food while it cooks--no water for my chicken or beef!  When I use the pressure cooker, I can't reasonably use enough broth for liquid, so I use a bit of broth and some tea.  Yesterday I also made a new dish by poaching chicken and smashed garlic cloves in tea (Bigelow Constant Comment Green Tea) with Bragg's Liquid Aminos, a spoonful of Chili-Garlic Sauce, and some drops of Valencia Orange Liquid Stevia.  After the chicken was completely cooked, I removed it and let the liquid reduce to a thick sauce that was a little bit sweet, a little more spicy, and really delicious!  

Smooth Move Herbal Tea: Speaking of tea, the name of this tea says it all.  And it's much more pleasant than drinking a half gallon of Salt Water.

Apples: This is the perfect time of year to be on the HCG Protocol because apples are such a huge part of the diet.  Sure, we're able to have an orange, a grapefruit, or a handful of strawberries instead, but the Honeycrisp Apples that are in stores right now are too good to pass up...and so much more convenient than the other choices.  I recommend trying all of the varieties that hit the stores to find your favorite.  Prior to last month, I couldn't tell you the last time I had a whole apple...now I love two apples every day!

Support:  I can't believe I left this out before, but the most important thing to have while you're on the Protocol is a solid system of support from people who understand the what/why/how of what you're doing and HELP you with it.  I'm fortunate that HS is doing this with me right now, and another person who is close to me started just after we did.  Each one of us has gone through stages of frustration from small losses, but we're able to help each other through those.  I also know that this cycle would have been much harder if I was only cooking for myself, so if you're going to be on the Protocol without somebody else in your household, I suggest getting your whole family eating a diet similar to yours...it will be good for them, too!  Obviously, their caloric needs will be higher, and they have a wider range of foods available to them, but practice portion control with them, have them eat the same protein you're having, and really try to wean them from the "garbage food," too.  

I know I've got other gems in my daily arsenal, but my tired brain needs to go to bed.  I know we have some readers now who are considering trying the HCG Protocol.  Please...if you have any questions...ASK!