P4 Day 12

Long time no see! I'm sorry to all my lovely friends that I've been absent, but things really have been a zoo around here. First, we were vandalized on Halloween. Our car windows were broken out. Luckily, my baby was (as always) in the garage. Then we had a death in the family so we had to leave town & take care of all of that. Finally, the flu hit us. Both of my kids and my husband, anyway - I was spared. One of my sons is on his 2nd round of it and it still home from school today. It seems all I do is clean & disinfect.

I wanted to be sure to let you all know how phase 4 is treating me. It's unfreakingbelievable, that's what it is. I started P4 a few days early (so I'm probably more on day 15 of P4) as Halloween candy was everywhere and I wanted some. Plain & simple. I've been consistently eating bagels, pitas, falafel, tortillas, rice, bread, etc. with absolutely no problems. The only thing I've found didn't sit well was potatoes. I ate a baked potato and felt bad for the rest of the night. No gain to be found, I only felt ill to my stomach. I have to admit to even going a few days without weighing myself. It's like I KNOW that my weight is stable and I don't need to worry about it. The other night we went to BK and I had an italian chicken sandwich & onion rings. I actually lost the next morning. I remember one night we went out for sushi and I was worried the sashimi and tempura might put me over. Nope, weight didn't budge. It really is amazing. I have also enjoyed a few oreos with milk and even birthday cake & ice cream. To clarify, I've also eaten plenty of healthy foods, I merely wanted to highlight that my body handled the other foods just fine as well.

This is all proof to me that this protocol is the answer. It takes simply listening to your body on phase 3 and phase 4 to know when you're hungry. I think it's very easy to overanalyze these two phases as we are so accustomed to having everything spelled out for us while on P2. As soon as I learned to relax and only eat when I was hungry (not eat to reach a specific caloric/protein amount), all was well. I've also put all my worries to rest that P4 would be a huge challenge. Most everyone I've spoken with has taken a shortened P3 and never even went into P4 between rounds, so now I'm proof that it does in fact work. Whew.

I'm starting P2 again next week and already anxious about it. I'm ready to start, and yet nervous all at the same time. I'm so excited to start losing again.

I hope this update finds everyone well. I'll try to no longer be a stranger. :)

P3 Day 16

LIW <.4>

Breakfast was a veggie scramble with 2 pcs NSA turkey bacon.

Mid-morning I had a chocolate-blueberry smoothie. I'll post that recipe today, too. So good!

Lunch was some homemade polish sausage, sauerkraut, and stuffed olives on the side. The polish sausage is really easy to make. Next time I make it I'll write it down so I can post the recipe.

I wasn't all that hungry by dinnertime so I fixed tuna with hardboiled eggs, mayo, spicy mustard, relish, and tabasco all wrapped up in romaine. Even the kiddos ate it that way. On the side we had some baba ghannouj with celery, mushrooms, etc for dipping. Oh, I also had a glass of wine.


Throughout the day I also ate a ton of the biggest, juiciest red grapes. Yeah, literally a ton. LOL! Little did I know that grapes apparently work just as well as milk of magnesia for moving things right along! ROFL! Sorry for the TMI, but I just realized that might explain me being down today. Good to know. :)

Well, lookie there. I'm actually below my LIW. I've done nothing differently, so it's just one of those things. It feels so wonderful to not have to worry about counting calories and just eating when I'm hungry. P3 really is a snap if you just listen to your body and Dr. S. as to what you should do during this time. It's amazing.

Lots going on here today. Contractors galore and it's really, really, really hard to concentrate with all the racket so I pretty much forgot everything I wanted to post this morning. That figures. I'll try to post more later. The sun is beaming like crazy here so I have to go soak some up! Happy Tuesday!

P3 Day 15

LIW +.6

Well this weekend wound up being busier than I anticipated so I didn't have much time to post. My husband's antique kimono didn't make it from Japan (surprise, surprise), so we were running around everywhere after football to try to find him a replacement. We couldn't find what we were looking for anywhere. We ended up getting some asian silk fabric and whipping him up something. I am by no means 'crafty', but it worked and he got all sorts of ooooh's and ahhh's at his costume, so it did the trick. I didn't get pictures but someone else did so hopefully they'll send them to me.

In between football and the party we stopped in at a chinese buffet for lunch/dinner. There was plenty for me to eat there and still stay on phase 3. That was a relief. I didn't have time to bake anything to take to the party that evening, but didn't think I'd be that hungry anyway. The hostess ended up having a huge spread which included lots of things I couldn't have, but more importantly things I could have - a veggie tray with spinach dip, deviled eggs, and stuffed olives. The party was just okay. I'm not a big party person. Well - not that sort of party. I don't really see the point in sitting around someone's house and getting drunk. Perhaps I'm just getting old - even though everyone else there was older than me. LOL! Anyhow, I was mostly just sort of annoyed all night. It just wasn't my scene, man. :)

On Sunday, we went to Worlds of Fun and spent the day there riding coasters and soaking up the sun. When it came time to eat we left the park and headed for Subway. We never eat at the park as the food at those parks is overpriced junk we don't eat, so we either usually take a picnic lunch, or head to a close restaurant. Subway worked out well as you can turn any of their subs into a salad instead. It wasn't necessarily the best tasting, as the veggies were bland bland bland, but it was food. When we got home we all crashed for the night and then woke up a bit late for school this morning. Oops!

I'm also still on my menses. This makes day 13. My period has never lasted this long before. I figure if it doesn't wrap it up by the end of this week I'll get in to see my doctor. Ugh.

I think that covers it. I'll probably think of everything I forgot to include in a bit. For now, I'm off to rake leaves. Does it ever end?

P3 Day 13

LIW +.2

Breakfast was a couple scrambled eggs and NSA bacon.

Mid-morning I had a pineapple/coconut smoothie. Yum yum yum.

I wasn't very hungry at lunchtime so I had a small salad with cottage cheese, celery, cukes, tomato, and red bell pepper.

For dinner I had planned on making chile relleno, but when I went to my stash of poblano chiles, half of them had gone bad. Erg! So instead of making something else I informed the family we were headed out. We ended up at an Italian place and the choices for me there were very, very limited. Most everything that fit the bill for phase 3 was $29.99 and over. I decided on a glass of wine first & foremost, along with a house salad which had artichoke hearts and feta topped with red wine vinegar & olive oil. I also got the antipasto appetizer for one and it had some salamis, cheeses, pepperoncini, stuffed olives, toasted ravioli, fried mozzarella stick, and fried eggplant. I gave the ravioli to the kiddos but the mozzarella stick and eggplant were still sitting there taunting me. I really love my eggplant. I took all the breading off of one of the eggplant pieces and ate it. Blah. Wasn't all that. So the other one I ate breading and all. I know I know - starch starch starch. But it was SO good. As was the mozzarella stick that I ate as well. I figure I did a good enough job simply staying away from that fresh baked bread and butter with the herbed oil. So looking at the scale this morning it didn't seem hurt me at all and that's good to see - not that I'm going to be making a habit of that.

Later that night, I ate a small piece of sugar free dark chocolate. It was pretty good and hit the spot.

So Amy pointed out to me that I haven't mentioned anything about hunger while on phase 3. This made me realize I haven't talked much about the protocol at all for a few days. LOL! OK, so I ramble sometimes. ;)

Anyhow, things have really seemed to balanced out for me now. I don't count calories. I don't keep track of them in any way and I no longer even journal all my foods like I did during phase 2. I do keep somewhat of a mental note so I can post it in my blog so you all get some idea of what I'm eating. The only thing I'm doing is what Dr. S. said - no sugars, no starches. I'm eating any fruits I want, even those that others have called 'off-limits'. I eat bananas. I eat pineapple. I eat peaches, grapes, and pomegranates. For me, this is what works. I made banana pancakes (mushed up bananas, egg, spices) with some homemade strawberry syrup for the kids the other day. They ranted & raved about it, so with their seal of approval I'll try to get that recipe up on the site this weekend. It makes for a nice change from eggs, eggs, eggs. I also like to have smoothies and toss in raw egg whites for a bit of protein. I find that I'm most hungry in the mornings and not so much for lunch or dinner. I also try eating every few hours to keep my blood sugars level, whethers it's snacking on celery sticks and NSA peanut butter or chomping on a piece of fruit.

I drink beer, wine, even gin & tonics. I don't drink them every day, but when I want one, I have one. I started out tasting those low-carb beers I bought to try and most of them were cuh-rap. I like beers that have body & flavor and they simply didn't. I've stayed away from Guinness and similar stouts, as that's an entire meal in itself, but no real restrictions when it comes to others.

We're going to that Halloween party tonight so that might be a bit of a challenge. I'm going to sit down this afternoon (in between football and costume gathering), and make up a list of some R.I.P. halloween dishes I'll take with me. I've thought of taking a spider pumpkin cheesecake, booberry muffins, or bloody cheese fingers. Miss Indecisive has not yet made a decision, but will eventually.

Lots more to blog about but just checked the clock and I'm running so late already. I'll make my rounds later today. Happy Saturday! It's sunny and gorgeous here so I must soak it all in while it lasts!

P3 Day 12

LIW +.6

Breakfast was a veggie scramble with a side of NSA sausage and a plum.

For lunch I had some homemade polish sausage, a small salad with feta, olives, cukes, and sprouts, and some celery with NSA peanut butter. OK, I'm not usually a big fan of peanut butter, but that was the damn best peanut butter I have ever tasted! LOL!

Dinner was completely changed at the last minute and the boys & I made pork stir fry with peppers, onions, zucchini, and sprouts.

Typing it out makes it look like a lot more than what I thought it was. I guess it was just that I didn't do much snacking on fruits/veggies/cheese throughout the day.

OK, so I'm posting this early in the day just for Biz. :)

Well, I stepped on the scale this morning and was surprised to see it down. Not just down, but down 37 pounds! I couldn't figure it out. Step on, step off. Back & forth over & over and it still saying 37 pounds lost! What the heck? Hubby was still here as he's going in late today and told me to check the bottom since I apparently never even thought of that. Duh. Sure enough, there was a piece of dog food that had snuck underneath it that was setting it slightly off balance. Too funny, though. I was happy to see those 220s on the scale even if it was all a mean scale-tease.

The kids are home and I'm so so tired. My husband didn't get home until 4am so I stayed up painting/reading. On top of all that, I'm out of coffee! Oh, the horror! We'll be running up to the grocery very quicklike as I'm not going to make it very far into this day without some.

We have a pretty busy weekend ahead of us. Football game tomorrow afternoon, followed by a Halloween party that night. Yay! Halloween is definitely my favorite holiday. We had planned on being Shrek & Fiona this year but I changed it at the last minute (of course). So now we're going as a Samurai and a Geisha. Funny thing, all that's came so far for my husband are his shoes and his wig. I ordered an antique kimono for him with the promise that it would be shipped so we would receive it by today. Well, it wasn't shipped until Wednesday - from Japan! We're screwed. His pants & sword are due to arrive today so I told him worst case he will go as a topless Samurai. He said only if I will as well. Yeah right!

My oldest twin is going as SWAT and the youngest as Mario from Mario Bros. Even though they're twins, they're so very different. I love it. I'll try to remember to take pictures. I always forget as I've intentionally been hiding from the camera for so long.

Sunday we are going to Worlds of Fun for some coaster riding. We love coasters! We'll probably spend the whole day there and hopefully the weather will cooperate.

We also have a birthday shindig to squeeze in there at some point. Not enough hours in the day sometimes for sure!

I'll try to update this weekend when I can. Happy Friday, everyone!

P3 Day 11

LIW +1.0

Crazy crazy day. I've been having entirely too many of those as of late. Ends up one of our very good family friends that we've known over 15 years (who also happens to be my husband's direct boss) was involved in a car accident up in NE today. Someone ran a stop sign and his car is completely totaled. My husband just returned from NE a day or two ago (I'm losing track) and now has turned around and headed up to visit him in the hospital. He just called me and apparently they're going to release him tonight so he's going to drive him back down here. These experiences really reinforce that you need to use every opportunity to tell those close to you that you love them. Ever since I lost my dad unexpectedly years & years ago, I've tried to remember to do just that. It never hurts to put out a reminder, however. :)

I'm very glad our friend is okay, but I have to admit selfishly that I'm glad my husband left NE early. He would have been riding in the passenger side on the way to this appointment and that's the side that got t-boned. Scary just thinking about it.

Anyhow, I've been a ball of stress today and haven't eaten as much as I should. I know, bad me. Hopefully it won't affect me too much tomorrow.

So, in closing, standing true to my word - I love you, man! You all have each played an integral part in me succeeding (finally) in a weight loss protocol and I feel as if I owe each of you all so much. Thank you, big hugs, and mushy mushy kisses all over your ever-shrinking cheeks. That is, the cheeks on your faces, you perverts.

P3 Day 10

LIW +1.6

I had a pretty busy day yesterday and therefore didn't even notice my blog post wasn't really posted. Oops! I also can't remember most anything I ate yesterday so there's no menu to post. Seriously, where the heck does one's memory go sometimes? We had a double-header football game this weekend and one of the moms asked me what my favorite TV shows were. Now, I'm not really a TV watcher, but I couldn't think of one single tv show I enjoyed, even though I knew they were out there. Then as we're driving home I exclaim in the car "Californication!". My family thought I was nuts (nothing new), but at least I remembered. Sheesh.

I was also contacted yesterday by someone at zsweet.com. They apparently want to use my pumpkin pie recipe on their site. I haven't replied yet as it still seems as if I'm being punk'd. That's sort of neat-o though, yes?

Most importantly, I received the most wonderfulicious package yesterday from my dear friend, Lili. It really made my day, nay month, and I felt so appreciated, and loved, and spoiled! I know I told you privately, but thank you again, L. You're the best.

And now to fully completely my ramble, I've been doing some thinking lately. Something that most of you don't know about me (since this is primarily an hcg blog) is that I love to travel. Now, I don't simply mean I love to travel, but I must travel. If I don't travel often, I truly die slowly inside. It drives my husband crazy as he could take it or leave it, but experiencing and living in other cultures really is a huge part of who I am. I am artist, hear me roar.

Today is the day we were supposed to leave for Paris for a short stint. My husband has only been on this continent (while I've been on almost all of them) so I was excited to get him the heck out of here finally. I did, however, end up deciding to postpone the trip due to this protocol. I knew I would be on phase 3 by this point, but I still wouldn't be able to enjoy bread. Seriously, being in Paris and not eating bread??? That's criminal. The last time I was there I had to lengthen my trip simply because I found this quaint neighborhood deli around the corner of my hotel and they made the best baguettes I'd ever tasted. Not to mention they had a beautiful fountain with these little benches right out front which made an ideal spot for sketching. Perfection. So we'll be doing that sometime next year.

Talk about digressing.

Anyhow, I've been getting this mad itch to once again flee, dragging the entire family along with me. I was talking to my MIL and my BIL won't be able to make it up for Tgiving due to work obligations. This upset me quite a bit. Some backstory on him. About 3-4 years ago he met (supposedly) the love of his life over the internet. He picked up & moved his entire life (after them flying back & forth for 6 mos or so) and moved to LA. During this time he worked day after day, supporting her & her ever-growing college tuition, all with the plans that as soon as she was done, she would start working & would then return the favor and help pay for him to finish his schooling. Now that she's a few months away from being done with undergrad (and tuition is paid), she dumped him. Four years and then one day out of the blue she comes home and says I no longer love you, move the heck out. He has literally fallen apart. Such a sweet sweet young man and my heart breaks for him. He's been through so much while down there due to Katrina, quite a bit of bad luck, and now this. I know it's best he knows now rather than after they got married (they were engaged) and I know he will get through this, but it has to be that much harder when you have no family there for support.

Yes, my name is Renee and I am a habitual digressor.

Soooooooo, I made the official decision that we're going to pile in the car & drive down there for Tgiving. I spoke with my MIL to make sure she wasn't going to be upset by us not being at her house. We don't really do all that much with my side of the family as they are crazy. And I don't mean ha-ha crazy, I mean crazy. Don't get me wrong, I like crazy. Hell, I'd rather hang out with crazy people any day over people that insist on acting 'normal'. But these people put a whole new spin on over-the-top closed-minded maniacal crazy. So talking with MIL, it turns out that her & FIL might go down with us! I have visions of us cooking in his new apt, then him dragging in late that night to a huge spread of Tgiving dinner. To me, it sounds perfect. Especially with dear MIL there to do all the baking! HA!

We also have a few other trips over the next few months in the works and I can't wait. I've done most of my traveling solo, but I really look forward to opportunities to enjoy my passion with everyone else along with me. Kids love it, husband puts up with it. ;)

Today & tomorrow kids have half days & then Friday is no school. We had talked about camping this weekend, or going somewhere but funds just won't allow it. With so much house renovation, etc - it's probably best I simply put up with being locally bound for a while. I'll survive, but I have to admit my feet are itching to walk the earth once more. Soon!

P3 Day 9

LIW +1.2

I'm going to try to remember what I ate yesterday since I'm no longer really keeping track.

For breakfast, I started off with a plum and then had my usual omelet, this time filled with NSA sausage, feta, and veggies. Mmm mmm good.

I had a salad for lunch that was filled with all sorts of yummy stuff. I'd been craving those veggie filled salads for a while. So glad I can finally have them! I also had some celery, broccoli, etc dipped in some homemade baba ghannouj. I couldn't resist. I just had to make me some. Thanks, Lili! ;)

Dinner was shirataki noodles with homemade pasta sauce and ground turkey meatballs. The rest of the family got to enjoy fresh baked bread with theirs. Man, that smelled good! Talk about torture! However, my dinner was nothing to sneeze at. Really delicious and I've missed my usual pasta sauce.

I also snacked some throughout the day on bits of cheese and surely some other things I can't quite remember.

OH! After dinner I also had a small bowl of NSA vanilla ice cream and NSA chocolate syrup. Now that was a treat!

Holding steady. I'm feeling so much better since I made those slight changes. I'm much less stressed which I think helps my body overall. Now, if this silly period would be on its way all would be sweet. Funny how all I wanted was for this menses to arrive and now I can't get it to leave! Figures.

Remember me mentioning yesterday that my husband was out of town? Well, about an hour into his drive he got a call that he wasn't needed until Tuesday so he turned around and came home. Needless to say, he was at home all day so nothing really got done around here. At least nothing *I* needed to get done. Here's hoping today is more productive!

P3 Day 8

LIW +1.2

Wow. Yesterday was one busy day. It started out at the farmer's market where I can spend entirely too much time, especially on a day when I apparently didn't have any time to waste. I left with arms full of eggplant, and cabbage, and avocados, oh my - among many other things. Then went to the china town market and wandered through the grand opening of a store there looking at all the packages for which I knew none of the ingredients. Then it was off to Whole Foods to pick up a few items for my morning of baking before the festivities began. I made a blueberry cream cheese coffee cake, blueberry muffins, and chocolate cupcakes. Everything went over really well and they didn't even realize it was 'diet' food. I think we might need a new oven though. It's cooking at crazy speeds. If something normally takes 30 mins, our oven is cooking it in 15. Weird.

I had no problems staying on phase 3 yesterday. My only issue was when we went to my in-laws, I expected one of her fabulous fresh from the garden salads, and it was nowhere to be found! There was plenty of corn, and baked potatoes, and bbq beans, and fettucine alfredo, however. Too bad for me! ;) So I settled on the grilled chicken, fresh tomatoes, and cottage cheese. Sound familiar phase 2ers?!

So much to do today and so little time. Amazing how quickly a house can turn into a wreck when mom suddenly gets ill. Time to get started!

Happy Monday!

P3 Day 7

LIW +1.8

Pretty dang relieved to see no need for a steak day today.

No time to really update in a proper manner. We have those three birthday parties and my husband is going out of town (again) come Monday morning so there's lots to get done. I felt really good yesterday just eating what I felt was necessary (for me). Also, I'm 100% ready for this period to be over done fini. I usually only go 2-3 days and as of today I'm at 5 days and counting. I know - more info than what you bargained for but it's time for this horse to move out to pasture already.

P3 Day 6

LIW +2.0

Argh. I'm exactly two pounds over LIW. How frustrating! I'm really confused about why this is. Some people tell me I'm not eating enough calories. Some say too much. I'm eating nothing off plan and I simply can't get my weight to stabilize. I try varying my calories between 1500-2000 and nothing seems to be working. I really don't want to have to do a steak day every couple of days. It would be one thing if I was pushing the limits of phase 3, but I'm not.

I'm not doing a steak day today since I wasn't technically more than two pounds over LIW. So that means tomorrow, the day of 3 birthday parties, will most likely be a steak day for me. Ugh.

All this makes me want to do is take a ride in my trusty time machine & speed up the days so that I can get back on phase 2. But I have to admit that this worries me on how maintenance will be once I get all the weight off. I don't want to have to do a steak day every other day for the rest of my life. I don't see me following through with that and I don't think it's always feasible. Frustrating. At least I'm no longer feeling nauseous, but I am feeling depressed and just want to cry.

Hopefully most of this is due to my menses arriving way early and things will settle soon. I know Dr. S. makes mention of when to end your phase 2 so that it doesn't end close to your menses arriving. I made sure that there was a 2 1/2 week break between then, but that didn't work since apparently me getting off of the hcg triggered my period to begin early.

Please know that I'm not saying any of this to worry you lovely P2ers, simply giving you my experience. What is my experience, will not necessarily be yours. I only want to be real with you as to what is honestly going on with me while on this journey.

Update:
After doing some thinking today, I've decided I'm going to try something a little different. I read in P&I the following in regard to a steak day:

Most patients hardly ever need to skip a meal. If they have eaten a heavy lunch they feel no desire to eat their dinner, and in this case no increase takes place. If they keep their weight at the point reached at the end of the treatment, even a heavy dinner does not bring about an increase of two pounds on the next morning and does not therefore call for any special measures.

The point that stands out at me is where Dr. S. states that if someone has eaten a heavy lunch, then they have no desire to eat dinner. He doesn't state this is a bad thing or that we must eat in order to maintain a specific caloric intake. This conflicts with what I've come to understand based on previous messages I've read about what I should be doing on phase 3. I have been stuffing myself to try to keep myself at a calorie amount. This has left me feeling like a failure which leads to low self-esteem as I also feel like I'm forming bad habits by eating when I'm not even hungry. I don't think that's working for me - or my body. So, for now, I'm going to stop counting calories altogether and simply eat when I am hungry. This doesn't mean I'm cutting my calories drastically or anything like that. Only that I'm not going to push myself to reach a specific caloric point if I'm not that hungry for some reason on that day. That simply makes more sense to me and pretty much matches up with what Dr. S. says about all of this. And honestly, I have nothing to lose at this point.

P3 Day 5

LIW +.0

The past couple of days have been a dose of very eventful days. Not only was I full of the grumps due to my inconveniences and hellacious pain in my eye, but I also started my menses and had to do a steak day. Upon waking yesterday I was 2.8 lbs over my LIW. Holy shocker. I figure that it was a combination of the vicodin I was popping and the fact my period arrived - over two weeks early. "Happy Birthday, Honey. Not only did I not bake you your pumpkin pie, but I can't see much of anything, I'm going to be a complete b!t@h for a couple of days and I started my period! Hooray!" Well, to be honest, the latter was a bit of a present as we both thought there was a possibility I was pregnant due to an uh-oh moment not long ago. No longer a need to worry about that! Also, my boys & my husband have been complete gems while I've been hurt. It's amazing how much the slightest injury to your eye can have such huge effects on your simplest of movements. I slept the day away yesterday not even leaving bed until around 3pm. And then had no problems at all going to bed & sleeping again around 10. Crazy.

Anyhow, at first I was somewhat looking forward to doing the steak day. I thought, here I'm being told exactly what to eat again. What a relief - I can do this. But as the day wore on, I didn't enjoy it much. Not eating anything really played havoc with my hypoglycemia. I started feeling pretty weak and light-headed. I decided to break the rules a bit and ate my apple at 2pm. Then around 6pm, I ate the big steak. Not being much of a steak-lover, that was somewhat of a chore, but I got it down. And, of course, it paid off this morning with me once again being exactly at my LIW.

My eye is still not fully healed but I can at least open it now without a shooting pain running through my head. I still won't be online much or checking emails as the computer really hurts my eye(s). The boys only had a half day today so they helped me get this one posted. Hopefully by Monday I'll be able to be back online as normal. Hope everyone is having fantastic losses. I'll check back in soon.

P3 Day 4

Short & sweet. I can't update properly today as I hurt my left eye yesterday and I'm currently not able to see out of it. They say it should heal in a few days, so for now, I'm stuck being half blind. The thing is, when I have my good eye open and my bad eye closed, when my good eye blinks it also blinks the bad eye which makes it rub against the eyelid. Ouch. So, for now, I'm stuck bumping around the house all day wearing my night eye mask which covers both eyes. Oh, what a sight I am.

To make matters even better, my husband left this morning to go out of town for a couple of days. Hopefully things get better soon so I can at least function a little better around here. Sheesh.

I'll post again when I can. My son had to bring up the site so I'm typing blindly. Here's hoping you can even read this jibberish. :)

P3 Day 3

LIW +.6

Pre-breakfast, I again had NSA yogurt with sliced banana.

Breakfast was a 3 egg omelette with purple bell pepper, onion, tomato, a touch of habanero, and mozzarella. I love the fact I can finally enjoy all the veggies from the garden. Yum!

I once again wasn't feeling very hungry at lunchtime. I made some pinwheels out of sliced roast beef, spreadable pepperjack/jalapeno cheese, and cucumbers. Really simple and made for a quick lunch when I wasn't all that hungry.

We went out last night for dinner with some friends (after 2+ hours of football practice - ugh) for my husband's birthday. It was this local new york style pizza place that has a fantastic salad bar. It was so wonderful to enjoy a salad with all those healthy fixins. Divine. I also ate the toppings (only) off of one slice of pizza. It was alright. I'm not a pizza person and it tasted too greasy - which probably explains my stomach upset for this morning.

Calories were once again right around 1800.

Man, this is really scary. Logically, I know this is what happens. I know that my weight will fluctuate, especially this first week. I know that I trust this protocol and that if these fluctuations go too much over my LIW, I can do a steak day. I know that I'm doing everything right and not eating any forbidden foods. I know all of this. And yet, there's that little part of me that's doing the freak-out dance. The part of me that says 'here we go again'. It's psychologically difficult to see that scale increase. I thought it was hard on phase 2 to only see it go down .4. Pfffft. For me, this is much harder and now puts everything more into perspective.

I have to say, I really miss phase 2. P2 was good for me as it was very strict. It told me what, when, why, how. I loved it. I needed it. After all, those foods on P2, that's what my family usually ate every day of our lives anyway. This phase 3 throws me for a loop, however. I know what I can/can't eat, but for some reason it still makes me very uneasy. I'm going to take some time today to plan out my meals for the rest of this week. The family is eating what I'm eating, so all of this really shouldn't be as difficult as what I'm making it. I know it's simply my uncertainty that's causing me to feel this way. And if my mind isn't comfortable, neither is my body.

Today is my husband's birthday so we're all going out for sushi tonight. Sticking to phase 3 won't be a problem there and I'm looking forward to it. Even though the scale was up today, I'm glad it wasn't 2 lbs up. I was worried it might be and then I'd have to do a steak day on hubby's birthday. That would have been a stinker. I'm making him a birthday dessert that will be phase 3-friendly so I can share it along with the family. It will probably be a cheesecake or a chocolate cake (made with almond flour) as those are his favorites. I'm not really a 'baker' so here's hoping they turn out edible. :)

Also, I'm taking a break from posting at the yahoo groups for a bit. Now whether this is only for today or for a week or for longer - I don't know. I only know that I'm currently feeling very disillusioned and I don't feel like putting any more of myself out there in regard to those groups. I'll try to continue to read sometimes, but the days of contributing hours of myself are over. For now.

Sorry for the negative nelly type of post today. I blame the clouds. I don't mind the rain, just give a girl some sunshine, too.

Happy losses to everyone.


Quick update:
I just returned from the grocery to pick up a bunch of things to make hubby's bday dessert. I ended up grabbing enough to make a pumpkin pie, a pumpkin cheesecake, a cherry cheesecake, and a chocolate cake. You'd think I was PMS'ing or something. Anyway, I probably should have called him before going to the store to find out what he wanted, but at least now I have these things on hand. We have a total of 19 birthdays in our family for this month so there's always a party going on. This will give me the chance to try out even more on-protocol desserts and see how they turn out.

Oh, he picked the pumpkin pie. I will post that recipe tomorrow.

P3 Day 2

LIW <1.0>

Pre-breakfast I had NSA strawberry yogurt.

For breakfast, I had a 3-egg omelet (with purple bell pepper, onion, tomato, and monterey jack) and 2 slices of NSA bacon. I also had a weird craving for a glass of milk, so I had it. I don't even like drinking milk but it tasted SO good. Weird.

Mid-morning I had a venti latte and it was heaven.

By lunchtime I was not hungry at all. I emailed Biz to ask her if I just HAD to eat lunch - knowing full well what her answer would be. Surprisingly enough, Miss Sunshine wasn't at my beck & call so I was on my own! I knew I had to eat something, so I had 10 green olives, a banana, and tuna salad. I also had about 4 oz of Sauvignon Blanc but I blame the fact that I had to taste-test it since I was using it for dinner. Oh the sacrifices I shall make!

Dinner was turkey, stuffed mushrooms, a quick version of green bean casserole, and a Rock Green Light beer. Everything was wonderful except for the beer. Way too watery for my tastes. I'm in the process of checking out all these different low-carb beers that are out now. I certainly hope I find something I like. When I was at the grocery, I saw they let you build your own 6-pack for $7 so I picked out 6 different ones to try. We'll see how that goes.

Well, it's still sort of hard to see that gain on the scale. I know it's all a part of this process, but I've been programmed to really look forward to those losses. Really though, I almost felt like I should have gained 87 pounds after all that food I ate yesterday. It felt like so much!

All in all, my total cals for the day was around 1800.
1800!
I freaked out a bit when I put in my cals for breakfast and they were more than I ate in a whole day while on VLCD! I know, I know, I'll get used to it. It was just a bit shocking at first.

Also, today I feel horrible. I'm sorry to bring all you lovely folks down, but my system isn't liking this switch. I know it will take a few days to balance out, but I am incredibly nauseated and feeling downright ill. Hopefully that will pass as my body readjusts. It's almost 10am and I still haven't eaten anything. I know I need to since the day is going to get away from me quickly.

Here's to a happy loss day to all of you. More later...

P3 Day 1

LIW <1.6>

Well, folks, here we go! I have to say, I'm hungry! I haven't eaten yet but I'm certainly ready! I also noticed that after my 2 or 3 trips up & down the stairs in our home this morning, that I am really fatigued. That never happens! I think my body is trying to tell me to give it some d@*n fuel! Last night, I could not get to sleep for the life of me. I tossed and turned until about midnight. I had this weird ache in my belly (possibly hunger?) and I was full of nervous anticipation for today. I'm anxious to see how this phase plays out.

OK - I couldn't wait. I had to go grab me some sugar-free yogurt. Holy goodness! Seriously, people, if I could have this yogurt's babies right now, I would. Sorry all you phase 2ers, but I'm in freaking strawberry yogurty heaven right now.

Also, I have to ask. Do you think a recipe blog is even necessary for phase 3? I've started adding recipes to my new blog and it's seeming to me that most of them are just regular ol' recipes that people might not really even need for this phase. So please give me your thoughts. Thanks!

VLCD Day 45

48 Hrs past last injection

Only one more day to go! I thought I would be hungry by this point since I haven't had any hCG in over 48 hours. But I'm not. I also have to admit I never weighed myself yesterday. It felt a bit like vacation to be able to wake up, not take a shot, and not have to worry about what my weight would be. I knew that since I was still on the VLCD everything would keep on grooving along. I won't be skipping the weigh-ins any other time, mind you. But it was nice for that one day. When I weighed this morning, I was down over a pound from my LIW so that gives me a little extra wiggle room once Phase 3 rolls around tomorrow.

Speaking of which, I still have no idea what I'm eating tomorrow. I haven't been daydreaming about it and have no real cravings to speak of. Well, that's not entirely true. I've been thinking of feta cheese stuffed olives a bit. Also feta cheese & olive stuffed mushrooms. See a pattern, yet? I'll also be picking up some of my favorite local-made lebaneh. Mmmm. OK, see - this is why I don't daydream about food possibilities. My stomach just growled!

Here's to a Happy Happy Loss Day to everyone on phase 2!

Update: It's 4pm and I'm still not hungry! I had to force-feed me my lunch about 2:30pm. I really didn't want it, but I knew I had to eat. I'm wondering if this non-hunger is also psychosomatic in some way. Meaning - that since I'm ready & wanting to eat some of those yummy Phase 3 foods tomorrow, that none of these phase 2 foods sound appetizing so it translates in my mind to not being hungry. Just a thought. If I'm not hungry later, I'll probably just make a smoothie with raw eggs (no ewwww's, people), ice, and strawberries. That way I'll at least get my protein in. Who knows though, by 7pm tonight I could be famished! We'll see!

9pm: Well, I'm still not hungry. CRAZY! I did run out to the store and found some sugar free turkey bacon that I'll have in the morning with my omelet filled with all sorts of garden veggies, mushrooms, and CHEESE! LOL! I have no idea what I'm doing for the rest of my meals. I'll have to do some planning tomorrow. I didn't get much at the store tonight since I had the hubby & kids in tow, but I did find room in the basket for that bacon, cheese, and (mmmm) beer. I'll let everyone know how I feel in the morning!

VLCD Day 44

24 Hrs past last injection

OK, I hope I can remember what all stats to include here. If I forget anything, someone speak up! My mind is a frazzled forgetful foolish machine lately.

I began the VLCD on 8/31 @ 293.6
My last injection and LIW for this round is 257.6.
That is a total loss of 36 pounds.
Average loss of <6.0> lbs/week.


Here is a graph showing my progress. Remember: You can always click any of these images to make them bigger.

When I began on 8/31, my BMI was 42.13.
At my LIW on 10/12, it is 37.0.


On my inches:


That is a total loss of 27.5 inches!!!


And now, for the pictures. I don't see all that much of a difference, but there is a slight one. So I'm posting them anyway. Here goes. Eep!




Can I get a

OK, that's enough smilie action for the day. I hope everyone has a fantastic loss & a happy Saturday! 48 hours and counting until I hit phase 3!

VLCD Day 43

Injection #40
Loss Today: <.6>
Loss Total: <36.0>


Well, I've hit 40 injections and have officially decided that today is my last injection day due to some personal reasons. I won't get into them here on the public internets, but feel it is best that I stop today. It's a bit disappointing as I didn't want to have to go so long between rounds, but I know in the end all the weight will come off anyway. I just hope I can stick with everything for the next 5-6 weeks. That seems so LONG! But really, if I can stick with the VLCD for 6 weeks, it shouldn't be a problem, right? RIGHT! I'll try to post all my final stats with LIW, etc this weekend.

These last few days have been a stressfest. I'm trying to get my teaching situation worked out and it's just not as easy as I had hoped. Next week, I'm going to talk with someone at the district regarding a teaching position they are creating at a different school. Hopefully I'll find out more about that soon.

Also, my mother isn't speaking to me. At all. I swear, her midlife crisis is enough to drive me to a rubber room. I simply wish she wasn't so passive-aggressive (pet peeve alert!) and would talk to me about what's bothering her. We're so different in that regard as I want to talk about everything. I'm also a hugger - and I don't think she's hugged me since I was 5 years old. That's something I really love about my husband's family. They hug constantly. It feels so warm & snuggly & comforting. I love it. I know, I'm getting off-track. I just really have not one clue what I could have done to upset her and my frustration is causing me to babble. We were at my boys' football games last weekend and she wouldn't even sit next to me. So frustrating! It really hurts and it's weighing on me, but what can I do. *sigh* Such is life.

I have to get back. I'll try to post more later.

VLCD Day 42

Injection #39
Loss Today: <.8>
Loss Total: <35.4>


I've had a bit of a stressful last 24 hours. I'll try to enter a proper blog entry tomorrow. I'm sorry I've been AWOL and I'll answer emails as soon as I can. Even though it hasn't been very long, I'm missing you all already.

I hope everyone's doing well.

VLCD Day 41

Injection #38
Loss Today: <.8>
Loss Total: <34.6>


Sorry to cut this so short but I'm not at home so I'll have to update this more later. I just wanted to get my stats up before I forgot. Busy day at the school today - and hopefully I'll be back to full-time teaching come next semester! Have to run...

Happy Wednesday!

VLCD Day 40

Injection #37
Loss Today: <1.0>
Loss Total: <33.8>


Today is usually my injection skip day, but since I might be wrapping up this round on Saturday, I figured it wouldn't hurt to go ahead & inject today. Not that that should give any indication that I've fully made up my mind about when I'm concluding this round. Because that still changes hourly. LOL!

Now that that's out of the way,

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!

I'm now in the 250s!!! This is a huge milestone for me! I realize it may not seem like a milestone to some of you, but for me - GINORMOUS! To get past 260 is usually quite a struggle for me. My body likes it at 260. It likes being a size 18, even though I dislike it. (Although I don't dislike it too much now since I was a size 22 only just over a month ago!)

So to now be in the 250s (even if just barely) makes this round of phase 2 all that much more fulfilling. I only expected to get into the 260s by the end of this round so this is all just gravy from now until I stop. Woweee!

VLCD Day 39

Injection #36
Loss Today: <0>
Loss Total: <32.8>


Oh, what a Monday. I apparently had a complete blonde moment since I thought I had already posted my update for today, but upon checking again - I must have forgotten. Oops! So here goes.

As you can see, no loss for today. Disappointing? Yeah. But not crushing. I figure I can attribute it to one of three things-

1. I drank more than double my usual amount of fluids yesterday. We were at the in-laws for a long while and I simply had to fill my belly with water/tea in order to distract myself from thinking about all the homemade goodies that were staring me in the face. Funnily enough, out of everything that was there (including homemade lasagna, made from scratch brownies, etc), the item that looked the most decadent was the fresh from the garden salad. I really had to tear myself away from that one! Now I can't wait until phase 3 and I get to make me one of those. Mmmm the fresh onions and bell peppers and made from scratch cheese! To die for.
   
   
2. I'll make this one short since it's probably TMI for everyone, but I haven't had a BM in a couple of days. I'll make sure to add some tabasco/chili paste and have asparagus for one of my veggies and I'll be good to go! Literally.
   
   
3. I'm currently at a weight which my body seemed to like for a good long while. I fear that it might want to plateau here, and if that's the case then I will most likely be stopping this phase 2 once I hit my 40th injection. I woke up excited to see that I would be in the next tens this morning, alas, it did not happen. Hopefully tomorrow. I still have no idea when I'm going to end this round. It's a daily conversation I have with myself to see what's going to happen. So far so good.

Or, of course, that little zero is just one of those things that happens for which there is no explanation. Either way, I'm not all that disappointed. There is that initial bit that hits as soon as you step on the scale, but it dissipates pretty quickly. After all, it's pretty hard to be disappointed when I've lost over 32 pounds.

VLCD Day 38

Injection #35
Loss Today: <1.2>
Loss Total: <32.8>


Whew, when I hit those 1 pound markers each day it still boggles my mind!

I have to say, I set the goal for myself to lose 30 pounds this round, so to already be above that is so amazing for me psychologically! I know I can do this for another two rounds, or however long it takes for me to reach my goal. Never before have I felt so empowered that I know my goal weight is within reach. It's hard for me to even put into words what that does for me. It gives me hope that I've never had before. It gives me the power to know that come next summer I'll be able to start competing in races again. That gives me such joy and confidence that I haven't had in so very long. So, not only is this protocol giving me my healthy body back, but it's giving me back (wrapped up in an all-new improved shiny bow). And I can never thank Dr. Simeons enough for that.

Lunch: I had an early lunch before leaving for the in-laws so I ate an egg/tomato omelet with apple slaw on the side.

Dinner: I still have no idea what I'm doing for dinner. Something with chicken - LOL! I picked a bunch of habaneros off of our lone habanero plant - about 30! So tonight I'm making the family some hellacious habanero chili, and tomorrow they'll be having some of my hottest of the hot hot hot wings. Tomorrow my day will be filled with canning some habanero salsa, and then I'm going to have to freeze some of these babies so I can partake in their habanero-ey goodness come phase 3.

The weekend is almost over! I hope everyone had a wonderful one.

VLCD Day 37

Injection #34
Loss Today: <.4>
Loss Total: <31.6>


OK, .4 is a loss is a loss is a loss is a loss is a loss is a loss. I must keep saying that over & over in my head. AND I am still on my menses so any loss I shall take. Whew. Got that out. Now it's time for:

MEASUREMENTS DAY!

Since VLCD Day 2 I have lost <21.0> inches! Although it's most likely more since I'm only measuring one side of my body. No matter, I love to see those numbers dropping!

We have a busy Saturday ahead which includes a double header football game. And it's going to be about 90 degrees - in October. Ugh.

Happy Saturday!

VLCD Day 36

Injection #33
Loss Today: <.4>
Loss Total: <31.2>


One very positive thing about keeping these daily blogs is I can look back over my progress and compare notes. I can say now, without a doubt, that the hcg + my menses = day of depression. I thought the last time my bout of sadness hit that perhaps the depression was simply because of my body adjusting to the hcg, etc - but going back and reading my journal, I had just started my menses then as well. I had notes regarding being sad and crying and not feeling like myself. This surely isn't a coincidence. So, while the hcg doesn't seem to affect me by giving me worse cramps, heavier flow, etc - it does indeed affect my moods greatly for at least one day during my menses. So there ya go!

I feel much better today, back to my "normal" self. Now that I have made that connection, I can better prepare myself for it in the future.

Thank you to everyone for their kind words. They really mean a lot to me and did help me in those 'woe is me' moments. :) Big hugs to you all.

Lunch: I had an apple for a mid-morning snack and then had chile chicken with tomato soup. I ended up shredding my chicken and adding it to the soup. Good stuff and sooo filling.

VLCD Day 35

Injection #32
Loss Today: <0>
Loss Total: <30.8>


I'm having a very emotional day today - on the verge of tears for most of the day. I'm not entirely sure why, only that today my menses finally arrived so that could have something to do with it. I'm also a bit hurt and disappointed for entirely other reasons I won't get into. I woke up this morning feeling there would be no loss as I could plainly see and feel the bloating and water retention. Ah well. It will work it out eventually.

I probably won't be updating again today as I'm going back to lock myself in my studio and continue working on a painting.

Toodles, for now.

VLCD Day 34

Injection #31
Loss Today: <1.0>
Loss Total: <30.8>


I hit 30 pounds! It's really good to see that number. I can't believe in just 33 days I've lost 30 pounds. And without being hungry at all. Unbelievable!

I've been putting some more thought into when I'm going to stop this phase 2. I have about 9 more injections on the 40 injections schedule. This would put me wrapping up injections around Oct 13th or so. I might, however, see how I feel at that time and continue on for a couple more weeks. I feel wasteful to just toss out the rest of my mixed hcg and if I can continue on, that would give me a 3 week phase 3 before I start my next round 2 - and load on Thanksgiving! Like I said, though, it really depends on how I feel. If I need a break, I'm taking a break. I'm certainly not going to push my luck.

More later...

Lunch: I realized this morning that I had (once again) forgotten to take something out to thaw. I had remembered to take out some frozen roasted tomatoes and ground turkey to make spaghetti sauce for the kiddos later, but for me - nada! Sooo, I decided to have soup for lunch. I made cinnamon curry chicken soup with a grissini on the side. Yum-my!

Dinner: Tonight, the boys & I stopped at the sushi place for them to have one of their first take-out dinners since I've been on protocol. One of the things I always get there is their fresh crab salad. It is so incredibly good. So, I came home and made my own version of spicy crab salad- and it was scrumptious! The only thing it usually comes with that it was missing was sesame seeds, so I replaced them with crumbled grissini. It was so light & refreshing & perfect!

Besides that, my foot had a run-in with the boys' rocketship hamper and I think I might have a broken toe. Or sprained. Or just freaking hurt! It's throbbing, I can't really bend it, I can't walk on it, and it's looking like I might have to slip myself an ibuprofen or two before I head to bed. Time to go put on some ice. Ouch!

VLCD Day 33

No Injection
Loss Today: <.2>
Loss Total: <29.8>


Well - at least it's down and not up. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

This is one crazy busy day. For some reason, I always think I'll have all this extra time on my hands when my husband goes out of town but it never works out that way. I'm really tired today too, full of family and work stress, and a bit grumpy and annoyed. What a great combo! Tonight I'm definitely going to plan on getting more than 4 hours of sleep.

Lunch: I had crockpot "roast" along with a bowl of tomato soup.

Tonight, I'm planning on whipping up some cilantro pesto. Hopefully my fish will be thawed by then.

I hope to post more later...

Dinner: I fixed cilantro whitefish and had a sliced tomato on the side. Mmmm, so very good.

VLCD Day 32

Injection #30
Loss Today: <1.2>
Loss Total: <29.6>


Well, my menses is still not here. Tomorrow is technically my scheduled start date so I'll just keep riding this out until it hits. Tomorrow is also a skip day and that usually triggers it as well. We shall see.

I must say, I never thought I would be sharing the details of my monthly cycle with the world but lately I have been. Sorry if too TMI but that's how it goes. I'm all about full-disclosure.

I have so many recipes sitting in the edit bin that I need to get converted and posted onto HCG Recipes. I'm planning on posting at least 5 each day this week. We'll see if that holds true. Hubby leaves for Nebraska tomorrow morning for the next three days which just might toss my entire schedule onto its head.

Happy Monday!

VLCD Day 31

Injection #29
Loss Today: +.4
Loss Total: <28.4>


Boo. Hiss. That's certainly no fun to see the scale go up instead of down. I could feel that things were a bit off with me this morning before I even stepped on the scale. I didn't get all my usual water in yesterday. I only drank 1-1.5 litres which is about a litre less than most days. I can also feel that my body is working overtime to get this period started. Not cramps, necessarily - just bloat and slight uncomfortable feelings. Hopefully it starts today.

Off to fix an early lunch as we have another busy day ahead.

VLCD Day 30

Injection #28
Loss Today: <.4>
Loss Total: <28.8>


Alright, so today's loss isn't anything to write home about. But it is a loss. And with my menses almost here, I'll take anything I can get. Besides that-
Today is, in fact, MEASUREMENTS day!

Since VLCD Day 2 I have lost <17.5> inches! As long as those inches keep dropping, I don't mind seeing those baby steps in weight loss. It all gets me to where I want to be in the end anyway.

Busy busy day planned. I need to get to figuring what I'm going to eat and when.

Happy Weekend!

Lunch: I fixed an omelet with the perfect homegrown tomato. Yum.

Dinner: I had kung pao chicken which was so good & so filling & absolutely nothing like diet food. MMm MMm. I'm stuffed.

VLCD Day 29

Injection #27
Loss Today: <.8>
Loss Total: <28.4>


Today I am so incredibly moody that I almost wish I could detach from myself for the day. And it's only 10am. At least it's only usually one day that I have to put up with myself being this way, now if only my period would hurry the heck up. Also, I have gotten none of this so-called euphoria that others have talked about while on hcg. I'm still just me. No more energy, no less energy. I've always been the energetic sort, however, so maybe that has something do with it. Who knows.

I'm off to the store. To replace two cups that came broken with my new set of dishes. Erg.

Lunch: I had an apple for my mid-morning snack. One of the best honeycrisp I've ever tasted. Perfect.

Later I fixed my version of a french dip with a side of onion rings. I'm still stuffed! Tonight I'm having soup. I'll try to remember to post that recipe later this evening.

Dinner: For once I actually stuck with my planned meals for the day and didn't switch it up last minute. I prepared some Cioppino with a grissini on the side. I couldn't even finish it all, but I made sure to eat all the protein in it.

Tomorrow is measurements day!

VLCD Day 28

Injection #26
Loss Today: <.2>
Loss Total: <27.6>


There's that pesky .2 again. ;) I'm not surprised, and actually expected it to be less. Yesterday, my face started breaking out which is usually my first clue that my menses is soon approaching. I expect it to be here within the next 5 days. I have to say, I will gladly take that .2 loss when pre-HCG I would gain 3-5 lbs during my bouts of PMS. Besides, by now I'm used to stepping down these weight-loss stairs, instead of sliding down the slide only to land on my rear and get mulch in my shorts. And that's just fine by me.

Lunch: I had a mini meatloaf with bbq sauce and a few slices of tomato.

Just had some applesauce for a mid-afternoon snack. Yum!

Dinner: I quickly fixed some lemon mustard chicken. So yummy & so moist. I also had some steamed cabbage.

Another day down. :)

VLCD Day 27

Injection #25
Loss Today: <1.2>
Loss Total: <27.4>


I have to say, it's still a bit of a shock when I lose more than a pound in one day. Here I am 27 days into this and I'm still averaging just over a pound a day. Shocking, I tell you! I also can't believe I'm already more than halfway through this round. At first it seems to go by really slowly and then suddenly you're on day 27! Crazy. I have a busy day ahead but two new recipes I worked out last night on the schedule for today. Hopefully I'll have time to get to them.

I'm also feeling so much better today than the past two days. It definitely feels wonderful to be back to "normal".

Happy Day!

Lunch: I had hot & sour soup with a grissini. So so good. And I just finished off my strawberry sorbet. Another yummy meal.

Dinner: I didn't really feel like fixing my kung pao chicken (as I had planned) for dinner since I was feeling just a bit under the weather. I knew I had to eat though so I prepared deviled eggs with a tomato on the side. It was alright. I much prefer to fix a big omelet when choosing eggs as my protein, though. I guess that's what I get for being lazy. ;)

Hopefully tomorrow is a good day for all of us.

VLCD Day 26

No Injection
Loss Today: <.6>
Loss Total: <26.2>


I'm still feeling not so great. My throat doesn't feel as swollen but I do feel slightly feverish and just a big bag full of funk. We did have storms roll in last night so it could just be my allergies going wacky all of a sudden. Or that full moon that's due to hit on the 26th that's apparently causing anyone & everyone to lose their freaking minds. Don't even get me started on that rant.

I'll update more later.

Lunch: By mid-morning I was still feeling a bit down and not quite right so I fixed an award-winning comfort food. Apple Crisp. It was so warm and gooey and delicious. Alright alright, so it's not really award-winning, but my sons both claim it to be better than Grandma's.
They are such sweet, wonderful liars.

A couple hours later, I prepared the rest of my lunch and had Biz's Thai Cucumber Beef Salad. I'm telling you folks, that right there is an award-winner! So so good. I was a bit disappointed when I reached the bottom of my bowl.

I'm taking it a bit easy today and slowly feeling a bit better. I'm also still applying aloe like I own majority stock and it seems to not be hurting my losses at all. That's very good to know as I used to apply aloe to my face every day (before starting the protocol) to control breakouts and redness. Aloe is such my friend. :)

Dinner: This afternoon I tossed together some white chili in the crockpot and just ate that for dinner. I poured off most of the broth, added my tabasco and wowza! Nice spicy stuff. I'll have an apple in a while.

I'm feeling a bit better physically, but emotionally I'm a tad perturbed. Ah well, another hot bath and an early night to bed should help that some.

See everyone tomorrow!

VLCD Day 25

Injection #24
Loss Today: <.8>
Loss Total: <25.6>


Woohoo! There's that 25 pound mark! It seemed to take forever these last few days to get there but I did! So happy to see that one.


Lunch: I fixed baked cajun chicken with a side of celery and a grissini. The chicken was sooo moist and juicy - and spicy! Loved it. I also had an apple for my mid-morning snack.

Dinner: Feeling really under the weather this evening. I fixed french onion soup tossed in some chicken and called it a night. I can feel my throat swelling so I'm going to take a hot bath, pop some ibuprofen, and hit the hay. Hopefully that won't affect my loss too much in the morning.

VLCD Day 24

Injection #23
Loss Today: <.2>
Loss Total: <24.8>


Honestly, I am 100% surprised that I lost anything today. My fingers are so tight and swollen and I feel like a bloated whale. I'm assuming this is from getting too much sun yesterday. I've been hydrating well today so hopefully that will help. I've also been applying aloe like it's my new best friend. I'm not sure if that will affect me or not, but I'm not going to go without it.

Lunch: I ground up a steak and formed it into a burger. Then coated it with this and quickly grilled it. I served that with a side of mustard and a bowl of french onion soup. Mmm, the soup was even better after sitting in the refrigerator overnight. I also had an apple for my snack.

Dinner: I had a late night so I fixed curried broiled fish. I haven't eaten my fruit yet and might skip it since it's getting so late.

I'm not feeling so great for some reason and I'm not sure why. Perhaps because I'm still feeling bloated and 'tight'. Hopefully will be better tomorrow.

VLCD Day 23

Injection #22
Loss Today: <.4>
Loss Total: <24.6>


Another week has gone by so it's measurement time. I took them this morning and the new update is a total loss of 13.5 inches! My BMI has dropped about 4 points as well. I love those dropping numbers!

I'll be posting my weight, etc after a bit as it's not time yet this morning for my daily weigh-in. The boys' first football game is today so I'll need to make sure I eat lunch before that. They are already both out of bed and raring to go. And so the day begins. :)

Happy Saturday!

Lunch: Not much time so I grilled some chicken with a sliced tomato. I also chomped on an apple on the way to the game.

Dinner: Pre-dinner I fixed French Onion Soup with a grissini. Mmm mmm good. Even though it was a very hot day, that really hit the spot. Then later for dinner I prepared Wasabi Whitefish for everyone. I fix the husband's and mine a bit spicier than the boys', and everyone cleared it all out. Good stuff.

VLCD Day 22

Injection #21
Loss Today: <1.2>
Loss Total: <24.2>
Average: <1.1>/day


Wooo! I hit the next tens. I hit the next tens. I hit hit hit hit hit the next tens.

Yes, that was me just now dancing around the kitchen singing my new favorite tune. Now I'm so close to hitting 25 pounds - and I'm only about halfway done. I was thinking yesterday that I might see if I can continue on for 3 more weeks past when I was scheduled. Then I will start up my next round around my birthday at the beginning of the year. I'm not setting anything in stone as I will mostly go by how I feel along the way and I really don't want to push my luck. I'll update more on that later.

I said I wasn't going to do this until the end of this round but I don't know if I can hold out much longer. This may be simply from the euphoria of my 'being in the next tens' moment but here are my stats. I'm just over 5'10" and I started at, oh man here goes, 293.6 pounds. Man, that hurts to type. My goal weight is between 170-175 depending on how I feel when I get there. I may go for lower than that, who knows. I've been at 140-150 and I felt it was too small for me. At 160-170 I was a size 6 and I felt really good at that weight. So - we'll see. Well, there ya go. All my 'secrets' are out.

Today is a half day at school so I'm not doing much work today. I'll update when I can. I have lots more recipes to post this coming weekend as well!

Lunch: I ate an apple for my mid-morning snack and then fixed chili with a grissini. Good stuff.

Dinner: I tried out Biz's catfish recipe and it was yummy. I then had an apple for dessert and that wrapped up my day.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

VLCD Day 21

Injection #20
Loss Today: <.6>
Loss Total: <23.0>


Well, I thought the loss would be bigger since I didn't even weigh myself yesterday. Can you hear the disappointment in my type? I know I know - I can't let it get to me. Perhaps I didn't get in all my water yesterday since I was running around like a chicken missing its head all day. And I woke up SO thirsty this morning. Ah well. I must remember to look at the big picture. 23 pounds in 21 days is an average of 1.10 pounds per day. That's huge and I could never accomplish that on any other program. I'll simply keep repeating that to myself over & over & over again. :)

I went to the in-laws to pick up some of our fish that we had caught & frozen. I'll be adding more of that into my diet and see if that makes any difference. So I'll definitely be posting up quite a few more fish recipes soon. I hope to have a minimum of 500 recipes posted on HCG Recipes one of these days. I'm also going to be switching both this blog and HCG Recipes over to their own website so it's all in one easy location - eventually. That way I won't have to be hopping back & forth - and neither will you. :)

Here's to another great day for all of us!

Lunch: I fixed Teriyaki Fish with a side of Roasted Asparagus, and a grissini. So filling and very yummy. I previously had an apple for my mid-morning snack.

Dinner: Well, I wasn't such a good girl this evening. I didn't cheat, no way. In fact, I didn't even eat my dinner. Last night was a really busy night and we left early and then we didn't get home until late. While we were out, I did eat an orange but that's it. No protein and no veggies. I fell asleep on the way home and didn't feel like eating something when we got back so I didn't force myself. We'll see how it reflects on Friday.

VLCD Day 20

Injection #19

I didn't weigh myself today as I was up before the sun kissed the sky and didn't get home until just now. I was afraid of weighing myself not at my normal time and didn't want to 'cheat' on what my actual weight was. It feels a bit weird not knowing if I lost anything or not, but it is what it is. I'll find out tomorrow.

Lunch: I had previously cooked some chicken with onions so I warmed that up. I also had a mini-thermos of applesauce with me. I love that stuff. I've been feeling kind of down all day so that warm applesauce was the perfect comfort food.

I'll check back in later. Back to the grind!

Dinner: I grilled chicken with asparagus spears. I also had a grissini as a side and an apple for dessert.

VLCD Day 19

No Injection
Loss Today: <.8>
Loss Total: <22.4>

Well at least that silly scale moved today. Whew.

I just returned from picking up some meat from my local grocery. And it was FREE! I traded some emails with the Store Director about their meat selection and my specific needs. He told me he would order whatever I needed and get them in for me to try for free. Today I left there with 12 steaks and a roast. Did I mention they were FREE?! Yeah, free meat apparently makes me the teeniest bit excited. This will save me from 1) having to travel 25 mins to the Whole Foods store and 2) having to wait on my farm buddy to butcher some more meat. I'll still be ordering from him, but it's nice every once in a while to be able to simply pick up a few steaks rather than to always order a half a cow. :)

Lunch: I started off and had my dessert first, simply because I can! Last night I had made a few batches of the strawberry sorbet so I had some of that. Then I made meatballs with marinara sauce. Wow. Those totally hit the spot! So so good.

Dinner: We had a busy night so for dinner I shredded some boiled chicken and made quick chicken salad wraps. It was quick & easy, but I had something else altogether planned so it left me a bit unsatisfied. Ah well, there's always tomorrow!

VLCD Day 18

Injection #18
Loss Today: 0
Loss Total: <21.6>

There's that silly little zero rearing its ugly head again. Shoo shoo! Well - it happens. What can ya do? I'm sure it's just my body's way of balancing things out and I'm not going to stress about it. Too much. ;) It's funny though that it was almost exactly a week ago that the same thing happened. Perhaps my body just feels like it needs a weekly catch up? Who knows. Let it do what it wants to do as long as most days it gives me those losses.

Lunch: I ate an apple for my mid-morning snack. Then around lunchtime I was a bit rushed so I threw some chicken on the George Foreman with some ground pepper. When that finished just a few minutes later, I sliced up a tomato, tossed a tiny bit of Bragg Liquid Aminos onto my chicken and I was good to go. Plus my trusty grissini!

Dinner: Tonight I fixed my version of shrimp fried rice. Not exactly rice but it was really filling & yummy. And it certainly didn't give me that bloated feeling that rice always does. I also had strawberry sorbet for dessert. That one never fails!

Here's hoping the scale moves tomorrow. I know it will, but it always sits in the back of my mind that perhaps it won't after these 'zero' days mess with the little sense I have left.

VLCD Day 17

Injection #17
Loss Today: <.6>
Loss Total: <21.6>

Lunch: Today we're heading over to the in-laws so I fixed me a somewhat early lunch. I sliced a tomato and ate those with breaded chicken cutlets. So good! Then I ate my apple in the car on the way over. My mother-in-law always has so much yummy stuff that I thought it might be difficult for me. Not to mention she's one of the best bakers around. She had cupcakes and fresh baked coconut cream pie and strawberry cheesecake. Everything looked delicious but I didn't touch a single thing. I simply sat and sipped my water while everyone else chowed down. Woe is me. ;)

Dinner: For dinner I had my husband shell me some crab. He's much better at that than I am. Then I fixed Krabby Patties for everyone. They ate theirs with thai noodles and I ate mine with celery. And then we all had an orange julius for dessert. Those little buggers stealing my oranges! ;) It was a really light yet very filling dinner. Yum.

VLCD Day 16

Injection #16
Loss Today: <1.0>
Loss Total: <21.0>

Another one bites the dust! Yes, I was actually hopping around my kitchen singing that after seeing another one of those pounds drop off my bod. It was also measuring time so I took my measurements. After two weeks, I'm already down 11.5 inches! That's nothing short of phenomenal to me. I'm so excited!

I had to run out to Target the other day to buy a new food processor and I was wearing my ol' stretchy yoga pants. They were literally falling off of me while I was walking through the store. I had to have one hand on my pants and the other on the cart. I couldn't believe it! It will be nice to finally be down to a size again where there is not one bit of elastic in the waistband. I have lots of size 12s cargo pants, etc sitting around that are just waiting for me to get there. And then, I'll be working towards those size 6/8s that are hidden in the back of my closet. Someday! It will still be a while, but I'm finally in a mindset where I know I will be there eventually. And that feels wonderful.

Lunch: I just might have had the best lunch I've had so far on this protocol. Mmmmm. I fixed fried chicken tenders with some homemade buffalo wing sauce (I'll add that recipe later this weekend), tomato soup, and a baked apple. I'm finding there's really no reason for anyone to think this protocol is anything close to a diet. The food can be just as (or even moreso) wonderful than so-called 'normal' food. Love it! I'm not sure what's happening for dinner yet, that all depends on how my evening goes. More to come...

Dinner: We ended up getting free tickets to see the Wizards tonight so I had to toss together a meal I could take with me. I ended up making boneless hot wings with hot sauce and a side of celery. Perfect! I certainly got in my water after eating those. :)

It ended up being a wonderful night and I wasn't even tempted with all the nachos and hot dogs and (mmmm) beers rolling by. They let you carry in sealed bottles of water so I loaded up the kids & hubby and I was all set with filling up on water while we were there. And we won! In the end, so did I with absolutely no cheating here. Another day down!

VLCD Day 15

Injection #15
Loss Today: <.6>
Loss Total: <20.0>

Lookie there! I hit the 20 pound mark! Yaaaaay! 15 days. 20 pounds. Never hungry. Unbelievable. I'm still blown away by it all. What a way to start the weekend! I hope everyone has a fantastic Friday! I'll update more later today.
WOOHOO!

Lunch: Another quick meal so I grilled a steak on the George Foreman, steamed some cabbage and ate an apple.

Dinner: After I got the family settled I finally had a very short chunk of time to prepare my meal. I fixed boiled shrimp which only took a few minutes and ate that with celery sticks. I hadn't had celery in a while so that was nice & refreshing. For dessert I had an orange julius. Mmm mmm good! After the kids tasted it, I ended up having to make two more for them. That one was a winner all around!

That's it for today. Happy weekend!

VLCD Day 14

Injection #14
Loss Today: <.4>
Loss Total: <19.4>

Lunch: For lunch today I grilled a marinated steak and paired it with some onion rings. It was sooooo good. I'm getting ready to fix me strawberry sorbet for dessert. I'll probably have to wait until I return home later to enjoy it, however, since I'm so stuffed!

Dinner: Go figure, we were out late again tonight. When we got back I wasn't really in the mood for meat so I scrambled eggs with tomato. Mmm mmm good. I again fixed apple slaw for me and the rest of the family. They had theirs drizzled with some melted caramel, however. Oh man, just the smell of that caramel almost made me sick! Waaaayy too sweet. It's funny how now an apple satisfies any ache of my sweet tooth. I love it!