Half Way There!

My current goal is to lose another 34 pounds & as of this morning I'm currently down 18 pounds. Due to gaining some weight between rounds, a bit of incorrect math in the first round, & my loading days, I'm not down 52 pounds like I should be, but just under 45 pounds.

45 pounds!

I feel really good about that number. And I'm starting to notice a difference in the shape of my face, which I'm very pleased about. I used to be a pretty girl. I even found proof (albeit kind of ragged looking) a few months ago, when I stumbled across my senior picture!



I know even if I got back down to my high school weight, I would never look like that again. Things have shifted over the years. I've had 4 children & nursed them all. The girls aren't where they once were. But I'm okay with that & I embrace it. I just want to be healthy again. :)

Lacking in the Math Department

I didn't think I was that bad at math until recently. I've been miscalculating my weight loss numbers, so the other day's 10 pound loss was actually more like 9. I know, I know... it's these 10th's of a pound that are throwing me off, I think. Someone needs to let the scale makers know there are 16 ounces in a pound & they need to make a scale that reflects this new knowledge. I guess reading down to 1/10th of a pound is better than the alternative of 1 pound increments. *GASP!!*

So, here are my new numbers.


As of this morning, I'm on my 8th day of the VLCD & I'm down 11 pounds. (!!!)

Amazingly, I not only made some really yummy looking raspberry cookie bars, as well as some to-die-for white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies for last night's book club I was hosting, but I managed to send off the leftovers with the husband to work today, to share with his co-workers today, without even a teeny morsel crossing my lips.

See that Kit Kat & Twix in the front... yeah, THAT'S what I'm talkin' 'bout!

Last night my dreams were about food. All night. Cookies, & cakes, & all things that are good (bad). Yesterday, I visited Freed's Bakery just to look around, inhale the sweetness that engulfs you the moment you open the door. Heaven, I tell you! I actually found myself looking (drooling) at the cookies in the glass cases, mentally trying to come up with an excuse for being in there. The girl behind the counter was on the phone, so thankfully I had both time to drool & time to come up with a creative excuse for my presence while not walking out with something (or an order for something) in my hands. Maybe this was the cause of such torturous dreams.

Note to self: Don't visit the best cakery in town when you're on a diet.

We'll Just Call It 10

This morning's weigh in revealed another 2 pounds gone! Forever!! I haven't been at this weight in over 8 years!



So that makes the total now 9.6 pounds, which as you know from a prior confession, I'm a rounder when it comes to the scale. Considering that's only based on 4 days of restraint (& if we're being honest here, I wasn't perfect yesterday... more on that later), I'm very pleased! This time in my last round with hcg I only down 6 pounds.

So yesterday I was out running around with kids & picked up a protein-style double-double (with no cheese, hold the sauce & tomato, with some onion, a teeny bit of ketchup, & some mustard) from In-N-Out Burger for lunch. Can I just say how incredibly YUMMY that was!? We're allowed 3.5 ounces of lean ground beef & that's about right with this burger. My no-no was mixing my veggies. Since it was wrapped in lettuce, I should've skipped on the onion, but who eats a burger without some onion slices on there!? Well, besides the husband, that is...

I'm excited for 8 a.m. tomorrow!! :D

I want to support you!

I've had so many inspiring, amazing friends, both old & new, who have stepped up to support me on my journey... they make me want to emulate them. No matter how you're going about your weight loss journey, I know we can use all the support we can get. If you have a blog, or even if you don't, leave a comment with your link or email so I can encourage you along the way.

MUCH LOVE!

Coconut: How Do I Love Thee?...

This drawing is entitled "Coconut Dreams"... it took me a sec to get it, but gave me a chuckle when I finally did. :)

And miss thee!!

What I wouldn't give for my new favorite night time crunchy snack right about now!? Coconut is so good for you, yet it isn't on protocol. So my recently acquired habit of buying 2 coconuts every few days (& my kids' hysterical laughter at my efforts to find the easiest way to crack one... it's seriously a show they gather to watch around here) must wait for another month or so.

Young coconuts are the bees knees! They aren't found at most grocery stores, but are worth the trek to Whole Foods or (if you're lucky enough to have one in your area) Trader Joes. The juice, of a young coconut is packed FULL of electrolytes & the meat is naturally fat-free & is really delicious.

This ends my (not) paid plug for the consumption of coconuts. :P

P.S. I'm down another 3.4 lbs. as of this morning! :D

VLCD2

That's 'very low calorie day 2', for all you non-hcg speakers. ;)

This morning's weigh-in was a good one. I'm down 2.4 pounds, which I'll take any day of the week! If only every weigh-in were so good! Still, I can't complain. My average daily losses were about 1 pound, which is amazing!

Last round I had headaches for the first 3 days, but so far I'm doing alright there. I would love to skip over that entirely! I was a little bit tired at mid-day, but only feeling a little bit drained is an improvement from my normal.

My stomach protested a bit last night & let me know it was empty, but other than that I had no signs of hunger all day yesterday. This round I've decided to lower the dose of hcg to see what happens, since I'm told that sometimes less is more, so I'm on the look-out for any signs of the lower dosage not working for me. I've heard there can be better results with a lower dosage, so I guess we'll see.

For those of you on the hcg protocol, I'm using 5000 iu's of Hucog & am doing 150 iu's for my dosage. Last round I used the same product, only I used 200 iu's for my dosage. Since 200 is typically the highest dosage, I wanted to see if lowering it would produce different (hopefully better) results. We shall see!

Back in the Saddle!

Today is day one of the very low calorie diet & MAN am I happy to be working on losing weight again! The past 6 weeks have felt more like 6 months, waiting for this day.

I gained 2.6 pounds in my loading days. Last time I think I lost weight instead of gaining in the loading days. I made sure not to allow that to happen again this round. ;) I dropped hints left & right about how much I wanted some ribs & corn muffins from Famous Daves, & my sweet husband finally grasped the message & gave me the green light. So yesterday I stuffed myself until I felt like I'd gone to a sushi bar, eaten all I could eat, then eaten all another person could eat as well... then drank a few liters of water.

It was miserable to be me last night! Pepto Bismol was my friend & today I'm grateful to be watching what I eat. I'm even somewhat grateful to be running to the bathroom every 15 minutes with all the water I've been drinking. I feel like I need to carve a tick mark in the wall after every visit though. "Was that the 18th or the 19th time I've been in here today?"