I'm Back! R2P2D1

So...
Fell, no, jumped and ran far, far away, off the band wagon last round. My husband and I are going through some REALLY tough stuff at the moment. We probably wont survive the year together but that's beside the point and details I don't need to be writing about here. So for my own sanity, I ended the diet. I didn't do the maintenance phase and I jumped right into fast food, chocolate, sugar and all those, bad for my body/good for my soul, foods. I avoided the scale for a few weeks... When I stepped back on it, I was shocked to see I really hadn't gained weight! I fluctuated up to 5 pounds higher than my lowest diet weight but at my last weigh in I was at 229, that's 17 pounds less than where I started last time! I didn't weight this morning because I was running late so we'll see how much weight I put on loading the last couple days but I'm back. I'm shooting to loose 15-30 more pounds by June so wish me luck and send skinny thoughts my way :)

R1D11P2

I passed my mini-goal of 15 pounds lost this morning, I'm down a total of 15.2! I'm going to strive for another 15 pounds in the next two weeks. That's just a tiny bit over a pound a day on average... we'll see. If not, I know I'm doing great anyways!
Another goal was reached today, one I thought would take at least 30 pounds to reach. I fit into my bridesmaids dress! I figured since I was down 15 lbs I'd try it on to see how far up I could zip it. Well, I got the zipper all the way up! It's still a little snug in places but it's totally wear-able. How exiting would it be if I ended up having to take it in?!?! I took pictures of course. I still want to lose a lot more but this is a big relief. I guess now I'll have to go buy a different cute outfit to try and fit into... maybe a swim suit!

Salisbury Steak and Zucchini

Ok, so zucchini is not technically on Dr. Simeon's protocol but several clinics and other sources say that many people have added it as an option with no negative affects. There are only 20 calories in a zucchini and I really prefer them to cucumbers.
For this meal I weighed out 3.5 oz of lean (93/7) ground beef. I added some 0 calorie seasoning salt and a dash of dried onions. I then divided the meat up into two portions and rolled them into little balls, then flattened. I threw them in the frying pan with no oil or butter. I then chopped up the zucchini and threw it in the same pan. I added some seasoning salt to it. I left it on a little while after the beef and added just a bit of water to get to my preferred done-ness.

Calories= 220
Beef= 180 calories
Zuchini = 20 calories
Onion flakes = 20 calories
Seasoning salt = 0 calories.

Discouraging...

Ugh, just got told "out of love" that I'm starving myself and being unhealthy. It's very frustrating. I think I would know if I were "starving" I seriously have not had much hunger at all the past couple days. I KNOW the drops are doing there job. I usually get mild hunger around meal time before taking my drops. Once I take them, the hunger is gone. I also can SEE that the weight is coming off of my tummy, back, neck and arms. Not my face like a lot of people who starve themselves. Also, how healthy can I really be carrying all this excess weight around anyways! Even if this diet is (which I'm firmly believing it is not) detrimental to my health, I know being 100+ pounds overweight is at least as bad. I have to take medication for my blood pressure which is directly correlated to my weight. I messed up my foot (and it didn't get better till Friday) just by walking around Disneyland.... My poor feet aren't made to carry this much all day. That CANNOT be a good sign of my health. I've read all the possible issues. People regularly go on long fasts and survive just fine so how could this really be that much worse? HCG, especially in homeopathic amounts, occurs naturally in, and does not harm, our bodies. I've known enough people who have succeeded on this diet and have met even more since starting the diet. To me, at least, it's worth the POSSIBLE side effects. Sorry for the rant, just had to get that out of my system.

R1D6P2

Well I survived the Superbowl with very little cheating (a little celery and no fat cottage cheese) and I'm down a total of 9.6 today! My first mini goal of 15lbs lost is looking like it will be reached by the end of this week! Sorry for all the exclamation marks... I'm excited! lol.
My hunger continues to drop almost as quickly as my weight. I'm sure I didn't get enough water in this weekend. I can bee a water snob and prefer crisp, filtered, cold, ice water. Our fridge water line has a leak and is disconnected until the hubby gets on with fixing it. That means I've been stuck with tap water at home. Luckily at work we have a water cooler with filtered water, so during the week, I get lots of water in :) I hope that will help up my losses again as this weekend they've dropped to about 1.5 pounds lost per day. I know that's still incredible but I was spoiled with those 2+ pound losses and was hoping to keep that up as long as possible.
Well, I think that's all for my post weekend update. Hope all is well on your end too!

R1D3P2

Down another 2.4 lbs today for a total of 4.6 lbs in two days! I'm feeling a little better today than the past two days. I think my drops are starting to kick in. I just realized that Sunday is the Super Bowl. I already agreed to come out to my parents house for dinner... this is gonna be tough. I'm not a football fan and normally only attend Super Bowl parties for the food. I think I will ad some exercise to my routine that day so that I can up my protein portion a bit. I'm also thinking about making some kale/spinach chips. and I will probably allow some slight cheating on celery through out the game but we'll see if I even need it. Hopefully the drops do their job and keep me from being hungry! I'm allowed a TON of leafy greens so I suppose I can always munch on them.

R1D2P2

Down 2.2 lbs today! It's nice to see the scale go back the other way! I hope I have good losses for a while. I'm a little discouraged still about the fact that I gained 8 lbs loading!!! The entire 8lbs that I somehow lost last week. Maybe I wasn't supposed to have lost them... I guess I should be grateful I lost before starting so I didn't end up even higher after my load days.
Last night we went to Walmart to pick up some things, oh boy, that was hard... at first it wasn't. We were on the non grocery side getting things like a measuring tape (so I can keep track of inches lost) but then we ventured into the food side. I needed more veggies and meat. It was really hard to walk past all the cheese and hostess treats. I'm starting to realize, I have a food addiction. To be fare, I feel it's forced on a lot of us. Not being able to eat anything and everything, I've noticed how much more advertising for foods there is! Every other billboard on the drive home made my stomach growl. I literally couldn't even let myself look at food at the store. But the way I see, for just 40 days, I can do this!
 I'm glad I have so much unexpected support. A few of my co-workers have asked what diet I'm on, so I've told them. I was nervous to say anything at first but people have mostly been inquisitive and not judgmental. I'm also glad I've told enough people that I feel like if I give up, they'll all know. My stubbornness will get me through this!

Chicken cabbage wraps

This was my lunch today :) I cooked about 3 oz (uncooked weight) of chicken with some HCG safe vinaigrette and garlic. I served it wrapped in a cabbage leaf and shredded my extra cabbage for a "salad." I added some HCG safe "ranch". The chicken was amazing and the cabbage for a wrap was crunchy enough to almost seem like a taco shell! The "ranch" was interesting... I didn't hate it by any means but I wouldn't go as far as to say it tasted like ranch dressing. It was tangy kinda like vinegar and a little sweet.

R1D1P2

Today is day 1 of the very low calorie diet (vlcd). So far, I'm doing fine but it's early and I'm not much of a breakfast person. I'm having a cup of coffee sweetened with liquid Stevia in Vanilla Creme flavor.... I think I added too much... It's... interesting. Kinda tastes like Splenda to me... I forgot to bring my fruit with me. I was supposed to have an apple or orange mid morning. I might call down to the deli and see if they have any I can buy but only if I really need it.
Last night the Hubby and I went to a Chinese buffet for my Last Supper. I managed to gain back all that weight I lost last week on my loading days :( Hopefully it will drop off fast. From what I've heard, it should. After dinner we went to Sunflower Farmer's Market and stocked up on lean meats, veggies and other things I'm allowed to have on this diet. I was happy to find Stevia, some HCG safe dressings (vinaigrette and ranch!), Zevia an HCG safe soda, and everything else I need! I weighed out and portioned up my beef and chicken for the week. I've got it marinading in the vinaigrette in the fridge. I might cook it all up tonight. For lunch today I cut my 3oz piece of chicken into three strips and cooked them with some dressing and garlic. I will be wrapping them in cabbage and maybe adding ranch. I can't wait to see how it tastes!
Hopefully tomorrow I will get to report a loss. Even though the scale has gone up, I actually feel a little better than usual. I think I'm retaining a lot of water right now but I'm sure my system will flush itself out soon.

R1D2P1

Yuck, up almost 4 lbs this morning! To be fare, I took advantage of my first load day. I had a Betos Arizona (carne asada, sour cream, potatoes and cheese) burrito AND shared carne asada fries with my hubby AND topped it all off with the moose track brownie swirl ice cream... Today is my last load day before I start the very low (500) calorie diet tomorrow. I go back and forth between wanting to start the diet now and wanting to eat every delicious, sugary, bad for me thing out there because I wont be able to for the next 2 months at least. I'm going to probably have a hard time leaving the sweets. A few other things I know I'm going to miss are cheese, sour cream, avocado, carbs, fresh bread, and I'm sure there are a ton more that I'm not noticing yet.
Last night's pictures really scared me. I took a front and side one in just a sports bra and panties that I'm not sharing here, at least not yet... maybe when I've reached my goal and no longer look like this. I really hope I manage to lose 30 lbs in the next month or so. People are supposed to have amazingly quick results with this but I'm still kinda skeptical.... that dress has a loooong way to zip up still and my arms look soooooo gross! Every time I'm tempted to cheat, I should just stare at those pictures for a bit...
I'm not going to lie, I was a bit discouraged by the number on the scale this morning but, hopefully those pounds will drop off fast once the HCG has built up in my system and I start phase 2.

Day 1 Round 1 Phase 1 of Homeopathic Oral HCG

Weighed in at 239.6 today when I got home from the airport. I'm down 6.6 pounds since last week! I'm not sure how that happened as I've been telling myself "oh, it's ok to have just one more, your diet starts next week."I'm thinking it my have been so soon after my TOM when I first weighed myself that I was still retaining water but oh well, I'll take it as a loss :D
So today I started taking the homeopathic drops. The protocol says to load for 2-3 days then I'll start on the very low calorie diet (or vlcd) I will probably stay on it for up to 40 days. I'm hoping to lose at least 30 lbs this time around. Then I will do the Phase 3 no carb diet for three weeks to stabilize my loss. Assuming all goes well, after that I may wait a few weeks and then start another round so that I can hopefully reach my goal of 180 lbs by the end of June. I won't be done though. That's more of a short term goal. I'm hoping by the end of the year I will be down to 140 OR where I feel comfortable, happy, and healthy!
I'm both nervous and excited to start the diet, even more nervous now that I realize this means it's time to post some before pictures... I guess I'll ad some tonight. I'm so lucky to have the support of friends and my wonderful husband. If he were against it, I don't know that I could manage it.

Ok, These are really yucky pictures. This is the dress I need to fit in for my brother's wedding in June....

Front

Back :(

The Beginning.

A few years ago a friend of mine from high school started posting facebook statuses about the AMAZING success she was having losing weight. I was always over weight through high school but this girl was at least my size. I figured what ever was working so wonderfully (and QUICKLY) for her might work for me so I asked what it was she was doing. I was expecting the usual, "healthy eating and exercise," but instead found out about the HCG diet.
At that point I looked into it. I read up about it a little and lost interest once I read about the 500 calorie a day diet. It seemed overwhelming and impossible for me to be on a strict diet. To be fair, it probably wouldn't have worked for me back then. At the time, we were living off my husband's income of about $1200 a month alone and half of that was going to rent. There were a few times we had to stop by the food pantry to make it through the month. I couldn't be picky about what I ate. There was no way I could have the specific foods required by this diet to make it work. So the thought left my mind. I shrugged it off and didn't really think much about it after that.
My friend Amanda, has been thin and healthy since I met her about a year ago. I was shocked to find out that wasn't always the case. She is super active and a great inspiration and I just assumed that's how she'd always been. One day she mentioned that she had been close to 200 pounds not all that long ago. I don't think I ever really believed her until I saw the pictures on her blog though. Whilst perusing her blog about a month ago I came across something about HCG and remembered all the success my friend from high school had with it. I asked Amanda about it and she bombarded me with TONS of useful info including recipes, charts, the Pounds and Inches book and so much more. This gave me a whole bunch of new found confidence to try it out.
That very day I started scouring the internet for more info. It got very frustrating trying to sort through legitimate info and scams put out by companies trying to sell the HCG itself. Luckily, I stumbled across the forums at HCG diet info. If you are interested in trying the diet, or just want to find out some info from real people who have really done the diet, you simply MUST check them out.
So I decided I was going to try it! I'm still a tiny bit skeptical that the HCG will do anything but I guess we'll see. After tons of research I decided I was going to do the homeopathic HCG drops. These contain trace amount of the HCG hormone. You can also take Rx grade HCG oral drops or you can take injections once a day. I've also read about pills but have heard plenty of negative things about them . Walmart carried drops and pills that say HCG on the packaging but actually contain none of the hormone. It can be very confusing trying to buy the right one. I decided to go with Just Potent. They had tons of great reviews and showed the ingredients right on their site so I knew it should work.
I will be starting the diet on Monday after I get back from Disneyland this weekend and will be posting updates to my weight-loss on here.