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.