Nearing the end of this round

Yesterday was my 40th injection for this round, so today & tomorrow I'm sticking with the 500 calorie plan, then on Tuesday I'm moving on to Phase 3. In P3, I get to re-introduce all kinds of goodies! On the very top of my list is:

• coconut
• cheese
• nuts
• anything other than chicken!

I'm almost as giddy as a school girl at the thought of Tuesday night's book club, where fabulous fondue will be served. :D :D :D

So, for this round, I lost a total of 33 pounds, on the nose. My losses were a little slower this round, but the results are still amazing! So far I'm down 60 pounds since January!!

Wednesday is my 9 year anniversary with my best friend & sweetheart. We'll be celebrating by heading to the Temple to do some family sealings & remember the covenants we made with one another so many years ago. Afterward, we'll go to some nice restaurant where I plan to enjoy a delicious steak & my company. :)

The almost ironic part of it all is, as anxious as I was to make my way in to the 100's with this round, my scale didn't agree with me. At yesterday morning's weigh in (my last injection weight or LIW), I was 200.2. I kind of feel like someone's pulled a fast one on me or something, being *that* close, but I'm okay with it. It just means that in 7 more weeks, the only numbers I'll be seeing on the scale from now on, FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE (!!), will start with a '1'. Now that I can live with! :D


Though the disembodied head is a little creepy, this t-shirt embodies my thoughts. And though it's taken more than just thought to get me half way there, that's exactly where I find myself. I'm half way to my long-term goal! Sixty pounds down, another sixty to go.

Upon reflection, I find I have a lot more faith in my ability to do good things for myself than ever before. I've heard it said, & even repeated it more than a few times, "if you think you can, you can, and if you think you can't, you can't". In this battle to find myself, regain my health, build my faith, & begin to fully realize that I can do so much better (& that I'm deserving of so much better than I'm used to), my attitude is vitally important! Combined with hard work, & of course prayer, I can do anything! :D

8.6 pounds in 8 days?

Can I do it? I'm certainly going to try. I only have 8.6 pounds left to go until I hit my short-term goal of 34 pounds gone forever in this current round of hcg.

Just around the corner is a phrase I stole from other bloggers... one-derland! I'm only 8 pounds away from kissing the 200's goodbye forever!

I was thinking about this the other day while in the shower (it's where I do my best thinking, for those of you who wanted to know); I'm going through my options & thinking about the future. I know I won't maintain this weight I've lost if I return to my old habits when I finish with the diet. When all is said & done, I plan to join Weight Watchers. I know that sounds kind of backwards, but really it's just for the knowledge more than it would be for further weight loss. Plus, I told my husband I want a gym membership for Mother's Day. And I want him to join me with that membership.

A gym membership isn't likely on the top of the list for other mother's, but I'm fairly practical & it's something I've been wanting for a long time now, so it seems ideal for me. Plus, I figure if I get one & start getting more in shape, the husband will follow suit.

If I can get these last 8+ pounds off quickly, the sooner I can start using that membership! :)

VLCD25

After deciding not to pay attention to the days as they pass (it makes being on the diet a bit harder if you're aware of exactly what day you're on at all times) when I log my daily weigh-ins, I was pleasantly surprised to find I'm on day 25 of the very low calorie portion of the diet. :) As of this morning, I'm down 21.6 pounds!

My losses have slowed dramatically over the past week & a half, after my period graced me with its presence a whole 2 weeks early, so I'm hoping to get back up there in the 1 pound loss per day average again soon.


Another thing that I haven't been keeping track of is my total weight loss since starting the protocol in January, so when I was thinking about it the other day I figured up that I've lost nearly 50 pounds since I began this journey less than 4 months ago!! Amazingly, I'm 60 pounds lighter than I was this time last year. Just typing that makes me smile. :D


My clothes are looking pretty baggy on me these days. Since I decided I wouldn't go out & spend a bunch of money on new clothes until I was finished with this round, I instead went out & spent it on a new 'do. :) For years now I've wanted to put a little color in my hair, yet was never brave enough to take the plunge. I've done some crazy things with my hair in the past (going through cosmetology school umpteen years ago will do that, along with supporting a friend & raising money for St. Baldricks & shaving it off entirely a few years back), so this little streak of color shouldn't have seemed like such a big deal. Well I finally took the plunge & let my little wild streak show on the outside, instead of just tamping it down on the inside like I tend to do.




The little girls in my class at Church yesterday were very sweet with all their compliments. There mothers, not so much. ;) (no one had anything bad to say, but I did get some looks) That's alright though... I'm happy with it & I'm glad I finally did it.

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

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!

Enjoyed My First Steak Day!

Okay, so not really. Because who really wants to be forced to drink water until you're floating, then for dinner force down as much steak as you can stomach!? Not me, I learned yesterday. Not me.


During this phase of the protocol, a.k.a. Phase 3 (P3, for all you hcg'ers), if you go more than 2.1 pounds over your last injection weight (LIW), you have to do what's called a "steak day". Drink as much water as you can stand all day, then for dinner you have the largest steak you can find along with an apple or a raw tomato. The next morning, you'll find yourself back where you need to be.



I admit it worked. Really well, actually. I was down 2.8 pounds this morning, which is .4 pounds below my LIW. Now I know my body can't handle the two bowls of broccoli cheese soup I naughtily ate the day before I wound up with a steak day. Good to know. Though I kind of already guessed it might be a problem.

A BIG day, a BIG deal

Today I took my final injection for this round. When I last posted, I planned for today to be my last injection day anyway. However, the morning after my last post showed a 1.8 pound loss, so I changed my mind about stopping early & decided I'd talk the husband in to taking me out for fondue instead.

I'm telling you, seeing a nice drop on the scale is ADDICTIVE!!

I had a small loss the following day, but this morning I woke up to another BIG loss. 3.8 pounds! Thank you stomach bug!! :P This unpleasant episode actually caused me to lose enough to get me to the magic number ~ 34 pounds.
After re-reading Pounds & Inches today, the guidelines are 40 injections, or 34 pounds is where you should stop your current round. I reached the 34 pounds in 38 days (not bad!) & so today I'm done with this portion of the protocol. I get to move on to CHEESE!!! I get to have that scrumptious fondue after all! :D Hello, Tuesday (& some of the funnest group of girls out there), here I come!



I feel like I've accomplished something big. I know I've said this before, but I'm really feeling it today. It's a big day for me! :D Though I know I won't reach my goal of losing 40 pounds by April 1st (when my little brother comes home from his mission), I'm very pleased with how far I've come.

Checking in

It's been a few days since I last posted any progress. It was because there really was no progress to report. I was getting a bit frustrated with the scale because it wasn't budging for several days. I'd hit the plateau all the hcg dieters talk about.

I took it fairly well, though I almost returned my scale to buy a new one. I would've sworn it was a liar!

This morning I woke & did my thing & weighed myself... FINALLY (!!) the weight-freeze was over! I'm officially down 23 pounds now, which makes me very happy. I have another 3 weeks left of the very low calorie diet (VLCD) & I'd LOVE to lose another 15 or so pounds in that time. With this protocol, you're only supposed to lose 34 pounds (where the magic number comes from, I have no clue) in the 40. The only exception to the rule is if you haven't done all 40 injections yet & are still losing well, you can go 5 or so more pounds past if you're very overweight. Since I fit in to that category, you'd better believe I plan on pushing it as far as I can!

So today is day 23 for me & I feel so much better than I did before I started this. I don't really see a difference yet, but I had a few comments today (which totally made my day better).

I'm looking forward to adding things like cheese back in to my diet. Three more weeks... as a wise & good friend once told me, I can do ANYTHING for three weeks! :) And she's right.

A Milestone Achieved

I just realized today I've turned the corner & now have less than 100 pounds to lose! YEAH! I'd like to get my weight down between 140 & 150, which leaves me with 98 or 88 pounds left to go. I'm thrilled, to say the least. I'm a big-boned girl, so even at 140 I'd be a size 12, but I'd be happy just to get out of the obese category & get my life back!

It's nice to be out of the triple digits! :)

P.S. I had another loss this morning. I'm down 20.4 lbs now. YAY! :)

I'm a Rounder

I'll confess it now. The only thing I ever round is my weight loss. And only if it's being rounded up. If I'm two ounces away from having lost 19 pounds, I'm calling it 19 pounds. When the husband rounds things (the time, mainly) it irritates me to no end. But since it's my weight loss, I'm allowing rounding. ;o)

So, as of this morning, I'm down 19 whole, stinkin' pounds!! I had gained a pound a few days ago, then yesterday was stalled at the same weight as the day before, so the nearly 3 pound release was very welcomed!

With the hcg protocol, you must weigh in every morning when you first get up. On the mornings I take my son to Seminary, I come back home & catch an extra hour of sleep, so I don't do this right away, but I'm sure it's not affecting the numbers at all. One of the things this protocol teaches, which is contrary to nearly every other program out there, is you must weigh in daily. This, they claim, is how you can keep the weight off permanently. If you're aware of a gain, on a daily basis, you're more likely to take care of it before it gets out of hand, is the thought.

Anyway, I'm celebrating today! Not with a sweet treat, like I normally would, but with a nice big salad & maybe a juicy apple. :)

Success & Disappointment

As of this morning's weigh in, I'm down 16+ pounds now. :) That feels really good!

However, I discovered my body has decided to play an ugly joke on me & sent Aunt Flo for a visit a mere 13 days after the last time she was here. GRRRR!!

I'm unable to take the hcg injections while on my period, so this will string things out unnecessarily. GRRRR!

I'm finding myself very frustrated, but not enough to do much more than enjoy some apple slices. That's a blessing, for sure. I pray it stays that way.

An accidental advantage

My old scale was acting up, so I picked up a new one last night. Of course all scales are slightly different, but this one in particular was giving me a headache. The old scale was unreliable, so every morning when I would weigh myself, I'd do so at least twice to get matching numbers before writing anything down. The more times I'd test it to see if the last reading was right, the larger variety of numbers it would give. Finally, after months of it telling me it didn't like me (not working when I'd ask it nicely to), I caved & bought a new one.

Whatcha think?

It's the lazy-man's scale. :)

First of all, I didn't actually buy a toilet seat with a built in scale. But it gives me a chuckle to think of the various ways this could be used. I've never before thought about exactly how much my bladder could hold, but with this neat invention I totally could! Hahaha

Not that I want to, though. :oP

So the new scale likes me & said my weight loss is up & over 10 pounds now. Not that I agree with it, but I sure do love it & plan to talk much nicer to it than my last POC. So, I'm back in the 240's now & plan on having another small loss in the morning.

With the hcg protocol, you are required to weigh in every day. Normally, this would lead to disappointment & discouragement, but with this protocol you actually see the results your efforts give every single morning! I LOVE weighing in every morning (unless I'm a big cheater, then I can expect a gain). It helps keep me on track.

The very low calorie diet only consists of 500 calories per day, so I need as much encouragement from my scale as possible. For those of you who aren't familiar with this protocol, yes, I said 500 calories per day. But the amazing thing about this is you actually don't feel hungry. I honestly feel like I'm eating nearly all day. My biggest struggle is in my head, not in my stomach, which is incredibly helpful. The lack of hunger is a side effect of the hcg.

With such a low calorie diet, you would expect not only hunger, but also lethargy, headaches, & various other forms of unease. When I don't feel well, I'm such a grump. Any one of my family members can attest to the fact that I'm can get really ugly when I don't feel well. With this protocol, I feel so much better than when I'm not on it.

With the daily losses & general feelings of well-being, plus a few other bonuses I'll get in to at a later time, I would recommend this protocol to anyone!

2 pounds GONE!

I got up this morning , did my thing, & I'm down another .14 ounces! So far, that's a 2 pound loss!!

I struggled a bit yesterday. I was hungry. I stayed out of the kitchen as much as possible. Even washing dishes was difficult (maybe I should mention this to the husband... ). One thing I remember from the last go at this protocol is how much better I felt, physically, while on it. I had more energy & I just felt well.

I spent 20 min. on my glider yesterday, but that was pushing it. After the walk the husband & I took, my lower back is protesting (rather loudly) to nearly everything.

One more thing I noticed is how many stupid food commercials I must endure just to watch a show. Thank goodness for the mute button. It seriously made me want to get up & EAT!

Another LOSS!

Yesterday's post of a pig represented my first load day (the day prior). If I were being totally honest about yesterday's monumental effort to consume as much crappy stuff as I could, it would look more like this:

Wow, you say? Yeah, me too. It was MISERABLE!

I wound up with another loss, only this time it was down .12 ounces from yesterday's weigh-in. You'll hear no complaining from me! That's over a pound loss in 2 days! I just hope it doesn't come back to bite me in the toosh.

I managed to get some alone time with my sweetheart & we took our dog Ginger on a walk. We went 3.1 miles & wore out the poor girl! (the dog, too) It took us a whole hour, which seems kind of long for that distance. We weren't walking slow, either.

Today is my first day of the very low calorie diet & so far it's going good. I had some crackers sitting in front of me, looking at me in that way they do, but I didn't cave. I put them away & cut up an apple for breakfast. I know it's only the first hours of the first day, but I'm feeling really good today!

Must have done something wrong...

'cause my scale read 0.6 ounces less than yesterday! Normally that kind of a loss in 1 day would thrill me, but you're actually supposed to gain a bit in the first two days of pig-out-dom. It's almost laughable that I could lose after what I ate yesterday! I really was a pig.

For breakfast I had 6 pieces of turkey bacon & a few bites of jello. For lunch I had Chicken Cordon Bleu & about a cup of mac & cheese (the latter was forced... I really hate mac & cheese, but thought it was worthy of my fat-filled-food quest). For dinner I had Country Fried Steak with mashed potatoes & gravy, & some broccoli, carrots, & cauliflower steamed with cheese sauce.

See, I really did pig out. Must. do. better. today. LOL