Day 12... and a major revelation.

I'm down 2 measly ounces today. And I know why now :( My friend Ali- my HCG HERO- checked out my fitday.com food log to see what could be causing my issues and found that the program is calculating the calories of my chicken portions incorrectly. It figured 189 calories for 3.5 oz. of raw chicken when in fact, it is only 110 calories. So, everyday that chicken was one of my meals, my calorie count for the day was just barely over 400. Good way to send my body into starvation mode, preventing weight loss... I cannot believe that I was surviving on 400 calories a day. Anyway- hopefully this will help and I will see the scale start moving again. I'm 30 calories short again today due to the chicken issue, so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

ON A GOOD NOTE- last night was the fire department Halloween Party. I dressed up as an old lady, and Dan dressed as an old man- I will post a picture here shortly. Although I was the only female there NOT showing an ounce of skin, I WON THE COSTUME CONTEST!!! YAY ME! Guess what I won? $25 in dutch bros. bucks. NOT YAY ME. Oh well, I guess I will have a lot of money to go spend on plain black coffee :)




You would not believe the amount of food available at this party. All of my favorite candies... and I couldn't have any of it. The final straw was when I sat down at the bunko table next to a little canister of gumdrops. I about cried. But, knowing that I had to get up the next morning and weigh myself, I toughed it out. I ate a total of 3 cucumber slices and a can of diet soda the whole night and I am SO very proud of myself! Trick Or Treating was quite easy tonight too. The boys came home, and Kasey kindly showed me a small bag of Swedish Fish that he received, and said "Hey look mom, your most favorite candy ever!" I politely thanked him for reminding me. I just went into the cupboard to get my tea supplies, and there was the tiny bag of Swedish Fish in the location where I keep all of "my" things. I asked him what he left them there for and he said "so you can eat them when you are done dieting!" Isn't that sweet??? Well, kind of anyway? He meant well. He tells me all the time that I don't need to be on a diet, and that makes me feel happy :)

Well, wish me luck - hoping the digital scale Gods will be kind to me in the morning! After all I even cut out Melba Toast today!

WAHOO FOR JACKI!!

She started the VLCD (very low calorie diet) on Saturday and is ONE OUNCE SHY of losing 10lbs in 6 days! WAY TO GO JACKI :) Now I have to talk her in to letting me post before and after pictures, and her measurements.... also, a shout out to Nicole, who is starting her first day of loading today! Good luck Nicole! It is SO MUCH FUN to have friends to go through this with!

Day 11... down 14oz

Well, at least it was a drop... I think I'm becoming OCD over this whole thing! In my mind, there is no reason why I should NOT be losing 1lb per day right? Unfortunately my body isn't agreeing with me. I think that when I finally hit the 10lb mark I will be happy. But then again, once I hit that mark I will start obsessing about the next point I want to reach which will be the 15lb mark.

I need to remind myself, that if I were doing this on my own- I probably would have lost about a pound of real weight int he 11 days I've been doing this. So, I should be very happy with my results so far!

Day 10... and up 5 oz.

Oh the joy... up 5oz since yesterday. Total loss so far 8lbs. I WANT TO HIT THE 10lb mark dangit!!!! I think I found the culprit after reading some posts on an HCG forum - I used Walden Farms dressing on my dinner last night, which has sucrolose in it. SUGAR. Booh. Not sure if this is the reason- but I find that everytime I try to be sneaky and add something to the original protocol, I end up going up instead of down. SO... As you are my witness, I'm sticking to the protocol - no additions, no subtractions!!! So far today, my menu is as follows:

Coffee for breakfast
Medium Size Orange
1C. Lettuce
3.5 oz. Steak
3 Melba Toast
1 tsp. mustard (which I found might not be a good idea unless you prepare it yourself)
3.5 oz. Shrimp
3.5 oz. Tomato
3.5 oz. Strawberries
2 + liters of water
Total of 496 calories

So, I hope with being as stringent as possible today- I will see the scale go down in the morning :o) Tune in tomorrow to find out!

Day 9... down almost 8 lbs!

Can I round up :) Lost 1 lb 10 oz since yesterday. AND I think I found the culprit of how I went UP 5 oz yesterday. I was miscalculating calories - and was coming in UNDER the 500 mark! (that and needed some smooth move :) tea) I think it is imperative that instead of just eyeballing your fruit portions, weigh them instead. 3.5oz of grapefruit, and 1/2 grapefruit (2 oz) is quite a big difference when you are counting calories. Same goes for apple portions!

I have been tracking all of my food intake at fitday.com - even if you aren't on a "diet" this is a really cool site that helps you keep track of what goes in your mouth. It's amazing at how fast calories add up!

One Week Anniversary!

Well... the good news and the bad. Weighed myself this morning and was up the 5 oz. I lost yesterday. I could have cried! In a panic, I decided to wait until husband and children left the premises, and measure myself. Here is what I found:

Chest: 36.5" - down 2.75"
Waist: 29" - down 3.25"
Hips: 37" - down 1"
Thighs: 41" - down 1.75"

So, I guess that is why it's called "POUNDS & INCHES" - because I cannot believe that happened in just one week!!! This and the jeans I wore yesterday I can now pull down with out unbottoning/unzipping them. I'm down 6lbs in 7 days - I do believe I am retaining water among other things- tried to take the smooth move tea last night before bed to no avail so I think that is another reason why the scale went UP instead of down. Also, I think that the soda and the sparkling water contains too much sodium, so I'm going to cut that out- and see what happens tomorrow. The only other thing that I added over the last two days was jello. Hence that will be eliminated from today's menu as well. What a balancing act this has been! It's amazing that so many things can affect forward progress!

Day 7... oooops.

Why oops? Well, down only .5 lbs from yesterday. I went through my food journal, and found that I was under 500 calories by just a tad... AND the roasted garlic melba toast that I bought has 1 gram of fat and 1 gram of sugar. SO, I bought he plain melba toast (boo hoo), and tried that today- and will MAKE SURE that my calories are right at 500 or slightly above. Also, I think I walked a mile yesterday between the 2 football games so I probably got more exercise than I should have :)

I also purchased Weldon Farms Blue Cheese and Caesar dressing today- excited to try it out tonight with my plain lettuce!

Tomorrow is my 1 week anniversary! PRAYING for a big drop- I'd love to reach the 7 lb mark and I'm so close!!!

Day 6 - whoopieee!

Down another 1.5 lbs today! Feeling great too - this is so exciting!

Day 5.. woo hooooo! The scale MOOOOOVED!

1.7 lbs down from yesterday!!! I've lost over 5lbs in 5 days!!! I'm so excited :) Not bad for 5 days work! Just had a nice steak salad lunch, trying to determine if I want to purchase some of the Weldon Farms condiments that are fat free, gluton free, sugar free, sugar free... wonder what's in them then????? Kinda makes you wonder doesn't it? Anyway, my sister used it through out her diet and had NO problems, so I might give it a try for a few days to see if it affects my results. I'd sure like some salad dressing - dijon mustard just ain't cuttin' it.

I am AMAZED at how I feel. In the past when I've tried to eliminate sugar completely from my diet, I ended up completely miserable. Headaches, shakes - just felt crappy. I have not felt that way at ALL. I was highly addicted to sugar- especially with the Costco tub of Licorice sitting right next to my desk. Maybe it's because I can still have coffee? I think if I were to have to cut out caffeine I'd have to find a convenient bus to throw myself in front of!!!!

A huge shout out to JACKI who started the 500 calorie portion of the diet today... Amy, a gal I work with started this on the same day I did and is down over 8 lbs today!!! Ali, aka skinny Minny now- is down to a SIZE TWO and just concluded her HCG program. 35lbs lighter!!! WAY TO GO! Angie, my big sis - is finishing up her last week and is down over 30 lbs as well. This thing works guys, it's amazing.

I found this awesome blog the other day... look at all the before and after shots, and I love how she writes too :) What I love most, is that she has KEPT it off - never have I been on a diet this strict and actually kept weight off after I went back to eating normal. I will have to monitor Ali and see how she does now that she is in Phase III of the diet. I think she went off on Thursday- and still lost weight as of today.

http://hcgskinnytime.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html

Day 4... my first stumbling block day

I hopped out of bed WITHOUT pressing the snooze button this morning... headed for the bathroom to strip down so I could weigh myself, and was disappointed to see a loss of only ONE OUNCE. Ugh. I've been bummed all day long!

So what could the culprit be... not enough water, the need of Smooth Move, not enough calories or too many???? Today I'm upping my water intake, will not be eating my fruit in the morning but with lunch - and will not have any diet soda. We shall see what tomorrow brings...

Day 3 - It's Getting Easier Everyday!

Ok, woke up this morning... let me tell you it's easier to get up because I'm excited to see what the scale will say :) and I'm down another 2 lbs! Still struggling with drinking all the water/liquids each day but found that just a tad bit of spicey dijon mustard sure spices up plain lettuce salad. I've also been dipping my meat into it too- takes some of the blandness out of it. I also finally found Melba toast! What a difference, I feel like I'm actually eating BREAD! Ok, I can dream can't I?

I noticed since I started this diet- how much people eat without even realizing it. Kasey woke up with an upset stomach the other morning, so I told him I'd get him some saltines to see if it helps. I cracked open the box, opened the sleeve and immediately went to load one of the bad boys in my mouth. I actually shrieked out loud! AHHHH! I almost ruined it on the first low calorie day!!! Yesterday, I made a nice dinner for the boys (all 3) and was transferring the white rice to a storage container and caught myself trying to shove the rice spoon in my mouth to clean it off. Geesh. About had another heart attack there!

I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings. Down 4 pounds in two days is making me a very happy girl!

Day 2... WAHOOO!

I woke up this morning, stripped down and weighed my self... I am down 2 lbs since yesterday!!!! Now I know if I were to tell my husband that, he'd say- "that's just water weight" BUT I DON'T CARE, I'm 2 pounds lighter! I will check back in later this evening, hopefully no headaches will crop up today however drinking a diet coke with my dinner and popping 2 Excedrin seemed to help immensely!

Day 1... first 500 calorie day

Well, today wasn't as difficult as I expected. The hard part for me will be to drink enough water. I don't know if my headache today is from a prolonged lack of sleep, (Brady was up all night again last night) lack of sugar, or lowered caloric intake. Probably a combination of all. Took some Excedrin and it seems to be better. Tomorrow I will weigh myself, and hopefully see a drop in pounds!

more fat loading.

I am NOT HUNGRY. I have been home with two sick kids, getting no sleep- all my plans of eating everything in sight, well - it ain't happening. Tomorrow is D- Day... 500 calories only, can I do it????? So far, the hardest thing for me is keeping 10 drops of hormone under my tongue for 10 minutes!!! That and I don't suggest taking your sublingual B12 drops while you are driving to work, my favorite blue hoodie now has vitamin spatters on it and I doubt they will come out in the wash.

So long Dutch Brothers... So long cheese.... So long bread...

2 days of Fat Loading, yes- you read it correctly... FAT LOADING :)

GOAL WEIGHT is 115 lbs
Age: 36 years old today
Height: 5' 2"
Weight: 146 lbs
Measurements:
Rt Arm: 12.5"
Lft Arm: 12"
Chest: 39 1/4"
Waist: 32 1/4"
Hips: 38"
Thighs: 42 3/4" (ouch, can you say thunder thighs)
Rt Leg: 24 3/4"
Lft Leg: 24 1/2"

The first day, phase 1 - is referred to as "fat loading" day. You begin taking your HCG drops, 3x per day, and eat as much as you'd like preferably high fat foods. Unfortunately I was up all night with a sick child, and my plans to go grocery shopping today and hit every fast food restaurant I could find naturally fell through. By noon, I'd eaten half a bagel with cream cheese with olive bruschetta spread.

However, things picked up this afternoon when I was able to emerge out of the cave that is now my house... Mc Donald's here I come! Quarter Pounder with cheese and french fries and a real Coke that isn't diet. Somehow, purchasing the number two meal and a "Diet" drink just seemed silly to me!!! Do I typically eat like this- no. I look at french fries and expand without ingesting a single bite so I try to be very careful to maintain my pudgy self. Have I always been overweight? No... When I was married, I wore a size 2. After the birth of my second child, by his first birthday I was down to a size 4. Was this easy and natural- not at all, I darn near had to kill myself to get back down to that size. By my 30th birthday I had a hysterectomy with a horribly bad recovery which kept me away from exercise for 3-4 months - and my body went down hill from there. Can I blame my surgery? No- I'd had 2 C-Sections and bounced back without a problem. I just got lazy, and after being away from my normal exercise routine for so long, it was much harder for me to go back. Hence my decision to do this diet. I need a quick easy fix and I'm praying this is it.

Ok. Here I am in my husbands long johns... oh this is so pitiful!

What is the HCG Diet?

Who would have thought you could find a diet where for the first 2 days you eat whatever you want, preferably foods with a high fat content? Well... Dr. Simeon of course - bless his heart! How did I hear about this diet and what is it? I first found out about this from my cousin - she and her mother were experiencing a HUGE success on a diet that sounded to good to be true. My sister then decided to try it, and then a close friend. Now after a lot of research, and MUCH envy watching the success of my closest relatives and friends, I decided to take the plunge.

I will not try to explain this diet- it won't make sense, my advice to you is to google Dr. Simeon's "Pounds & Inches" and read it IN FULL. Then, make the decision... do you want to lose 25 - 30lbs in 30 days? Is this for real? Well, stay tuned. I'm starting day ONE today... and I will be checking in every day reporting my successes, and failures. I am even going to post a before picture, yes- a BEFORE picture so be prepared to shield your eyes!!!

Why I'm subjecting myself to this...

What would be more motivating to loose weight than seeing a picture of yourself online at your most heaviest? I am 36 years old today... and today I start the rest of my life - as a much thinner and healthier ME. I started the HCG protocol diet today, and this blog will chronicle my daily weight loss, my ups and downs, my successes and failures too. Wish me luck!