Monday weigh-in

So I am happy to announce that I have not gained any weight. I am not sure how I am accomplishing this because I have made terrible food choices this past week, but let me tell you the things that I am doing. I am staying away from fast food. I no longer have a craving for this type of food. I would rather have a nice fresh juicy steak instead of a fried greasy hamburger. I also am still having a problem eating all of my calories. I notice I am the most hungry at dinner time. I am not sure why my body continues to act this way, but I am not complaining because I am not gaining. I just hope this doesn't creep up on me later on. Here are the stats for this week

Weight: 211.6
Loss/Gain: 0

Just another manic monday....

Here we are at week 2 of phase three and it has been an interesting week. I am having a really hard time adding in more food. I don't eat all of the calories that I am supposed to because I am full and food is the last thing on my mind. You would think that this would be fine, but I was told that the people that follow the plan and eat all of the calories that they are supposed to are the ones that loose. I have weighed myself throughout this week and I have gone down, and I am now up 1 lb today, which is not a huge deal for me. I am in my two lb range. You would never think that this is a complaint, but I really do want to eat more. Two positive things occurred this last week. I went to the Dr. and she actually said she was proud of me and congratulated me on my progress. She said if I continue to loose, I will not have to take my medication for my PCOS, and weight loss is what makes this condition go away. On Sunday my mom said she wanted to talk to me and for some reason this scared me. It was like oh no, what am I in trouble for now. Isn't it silly that even as an adult if you hear this from your parents you still get scared. Anyway it wasn't nearly as bad as I had dreamt it to be. She had a new shirt for me that she had just bought from the mall and she wanted me to wear it for my work x-mas party. I tried it on and it fit perfectly. As I was trying the shirt on, my mom noticed my naked body and said you really are loosing weight aren't you. That was the best compliment ever. I will continue to try and eat this week and see if it gets any better. Here are the stats for this week:

Weight: 211.6
Loss/Gain: + 1 lbs.

Phase 3

Here I am at the beginning of Phase 3. Phase three is pretty simple, you continue to eat the foods you ate in Phase 2 but you also add the following and try to reach 1800 calories (this is based on my goal weight)

Meat- Any kind 4-6 0z twice a day
Green Veggies- Unlimited
Colored Veggies- Limited to 3 times a week
(Corn, squash, beets, carrots, etc)
Fruit- 1 per day
Beans- 1/2 cup
Tomatoes- Unlimited
Egg Whites- Unlimited
Egg Yolk- 1 per day
Dairy- 1/2 to 1 cup per day

Olive Oil- 2 tsp daily
Raw Nuts- 24 nuts per day
(almonds, cashews, pecans)
Dry Oatmeal- 1 cup cooked

Foods to avoid:

Breads, Pastas, Potatoes, Chips, Rice, Sugars, Candy, Baked Goods, Fast Food, Soda, Alcohol

I decided to start this eating plan today. With Thanksgiving last week it was hard to follow. Even though I wasn't following any type of plan last week, my body still wouldn't let me eat a lot. This is an amazing change for me. Food really isn't that appealing to me anymore, and I crave all natural food. The idea of anything fast food doesn't appeal to me at all (thank goodness). Also with Phase 3 I will only be blogging and weighing in on Monday morning. This will be a nice change, although I have become addicted to weighing myself every morning. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 210.6

Beginning of a new week

I thought last week was an awesome week and I think what happens is you get confident because you loose a little bit of weight and think that since I have done so well I can eat a little bit. I totally fell into that category at the end of last week. So I have now gained back most of what I lost last week, but I am going to focus on the positive today. Even though I have gained, I still feel like I have lost inches (which does occur). On Saturday I took my daughter and nieces to the pool and I have never felt more confident walking around in a swimming suit. I can't even remember the last time that that has happened. This is my last week of Round 2, and I am actually relieved that it is almost over. I want to have that renewed excitement about loosing weight that i did in the beginning and the only way to achieve that is to give myself a break. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 211.6
Gain/Loss: Not sure because I didn't track my weight this weekend.

What a great week!

So I woke up to yet another loss. I wasn't expecting anything this morning just because I had a huge loss yesterday. At first I was really kicking myself for not sticking to this diet plan, but truly in the end I think my body was saying it was done, so thank goodness for do overs. I am not really sure how much more I will loose, but any lose is good for me at this point. The next trick will be to not gain. This is especially hard because of the Holidays and all of those eating party's. At work they are having a little contest where you weigh yourself this week and you weigh yourself at the beginning of January. If you don't gain any weight over the holidays, you get a free movie ticket. I thought this was a good idea to keep me in check. I will let you know if I see a free movie in January. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 209.6
Loss/Gain: -.04

I have never been at this weight, so a lot of celebrating is going on!!!

Just stopping by to say Hello

So my plans of starting on a Monday, last Monday in fact didn't work out so well, but I had my moment of truth you could say and decided to finally get my butt in gear and finish the rest of Round 2, starting yesterday. I was actually really shocked this morning when I stepped on the scale. I lost 3.8 lbs. How is that possible?? Here are a few of the reasons why I think this occurred, I could be wrong, but this is what I did. First I increased my shot to 250 from 200, next I stuck to the vlcd, third I drank my oolong tea twice (Chinese slimming tea), fourth I had smooth move tea the night before (gets you all regulated) and last I went in the steam room at the gym and most likely sweated out a lot of stuff. Like I said I am not sure if this did the trick, but I like the results. I feel like this round is not so much a wash after all. My hope is that I can loose at least 5 more lbs. My last shot for this round will be next Tuesday, and then back to managing my eating. I do have to point out that I HATE fast food, and am realizing it even more when I ate it the other day, Give me a steak any day!! Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 210.0
Loss/Gain: -3.8
Previous weight: 213.8

Update

Hello All,

I know it has been awhile since I have posted anything. It is a busy time of year that only is going to get busier. I would love to report that things are fabulous and I have lost a ton of more weight but that is not the case. I talked to the clinic about why I have not been losing and how I seem to deviate ALL the time, and we figured out that the recent change in medications are most likely the culprit. She wanted me to increase my dose and ride out the last 9 days or so and see how that goes, and I was all for that until I realized how much I had going on this week all of which revolves around eating. Not that I am going to go and pig out, but for me it is so much easier to really focus when I have no other distractions. So the current plan is to start my injections again on Sunday and have a really great week and see what the results are. I am still planning on resuming another round at the beginning of the year with the hopes of more success. I think that is one of my biggest fear is that I will gain back what I have lost, but I will not let that happen!!!

Day 25

Wow, I can't believe it is already Day 25. I would love to say that I have made wonderful progress in that time, but that isn't the case. I was racking my brain yesterday to figure out why and here is the conclusion that I came to. I did not take a long enough break in between rounds. I have read numerous places that there should be a 3-6 week break because you can become immune to the HCG. I think this is exactly what has happened to me. On my last round by this point I was not hungry at all and sometimes could barely finish the food that I had, this is not the case this time. I am starving, and even hearing or see commercials about food drive me crazy. I am even dreaming about food. So what to do about this. I still would like to loose at least 5 lbs before I am done here so I am going to take this day by day and try my best. I have set this goal because it is one that I think I can achieve. and if it is more than that, it will just be a bonus. I will do maintenance after Nov 23, and will start another round at the beginning of Jan, where hopefully my body will be ready to loose some more weight. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 210.4
Loss/Gain: - 1 lbs

R2- Day 23

So last week was a totally mess. I simply just gave up. But to tell you the truth I felt horrible the entire week. I was eating whatever I wanted, but it was not sitting well with my body. I think it is so used to the foods that I am eating that whenever I eat something that is not on the plan my body is really good about letting me know. My new goal is to get to 200 lbs by the end of this round. I have 18 days left to accomplish this. I am also going to do phase 3 during Christmas and do a round 3 at the beginning of January. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 211.4

Loss/Gain: None

Here are some more scary pictures, plus some new ones. This helps to remind me of what I never want to look like again.

R2- Day 20

Happy Halloween everybody. I unfortunately have horrible stats, frightening in fact, so I am going to work on those this weekend and report back on Monday. I have attached a picture from my work Halloween costume contest. I am happy to report that I won!!!!

R2- Day 18

Here I am at Day 18 and I am feeling a little discouraged today. I feel like I am not loosing like I did on round 1. I lost 12.5 lbs by day 18 on round 1. I know I should really look at the whole picture here, but now I am wearing clothes that actually fit me and I just noticed my fat more today for some reason. I don't want to be all negative here so I will talk about some positive stuff. Yesterday I went clothes shopping and I went into the regular sizes. It is still so weird to me because there is a much larger selection than the women's and it actually makes it much more difficult. I came out of the store with a glazed look on my face. I came to the conclusion that I really don't know what my style is or what it should be. I haven't had to think about that in years. So it really is a transformation, which is the positive in all of this. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 211.4
Loss/Gain: + .08

R2- Day 17

Here I am at day 17 and once again the time is flying by so fast. I went to a Dr's visit at the clinic that I go to and she said the next visit, which is in two weeks she will talk about maintenance. I think that word scares me. I actually really like the 500 vlcd. I know exactly what to eat and there is not a lot of thought process involved. I am thinking if I do maintenance, I will try the weight watchers method, because I know that they are near the 1800 calorie diet, and that is another diet plan that was easy for me to follow. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 210.6
Loss/Gain: + 1 lbs

Not sure why there was a gain, because I was really good yesterday, so hopefully that will show in the next couple of days. Because Halloween is coming up here is something scary to see. This is me last year. This is a good reminder of what I never want to look like.

R2- Day 16

Here are a few stats from the weekend. I am still happy with my progress. I have had a few bumps in the road, but totally self inflicted, but I still have lost 8.2 lbs in 16 days.

Saturday
Weight: 210.0
Loss/Gain: - 1.6

Sunday
Weight: 210.6
Loss/Gain: +.6

Monday
Weight: 209.6
Loss/Gain: - 1.0

Total loss for last week 4.8 lbs
Total loss for Round 2 8.2

R2-day13

So I was up one pound this morning when I weighed myself, but there is a really good reason why. I had a date last night who took me to a really nice restaurant, yep a date. I was really good at ordering a steak and fresh broccoli, but then I caved in on the mashed potatoes and bread. It will do it to you every time. This is a first date in which seems like ages. I am so much more confident in myself and my body and felt like it was time to put myself out there. My date was fabulous by the way. I had such a great time, and the guy was so nice. I hope he will ask me out again.

I have come to the conclusion that I am not going to beat myself up for a gain, but instead celebrate my success and the journey getting there. I think as women we are often times quick to be upset at our disappointments, but yet we don't know how to celebrate the positives in our life. So here is to happiness. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 211.6
Gain/Loss: + 1

Rd 2- Day 12

My oh my, my weight is coming off like butter. I woke up to a huge shocking loss, and had to do the weigh myself several times trick just to make sure, I had read on the forum that I peruse that digital scales are correct the first time and each time after your first weigh in it calibrates itself and keeps adding to your total, or something like that. It just proves my point that if you stick to this plan, it actually works. I went to visit my mom yesterday because I haven't seen her in a few weeks and she just got back from a vacation. She gasped when she saw me and said "Oh look at how beautiful you are". That was the best comment in the whole world. Here are my stats for today:

Weight: 210.6
Loss/Gain: - 2.6 lbs (Yikes)

Rd 2- Day 11

Wow, once again the time has flown by. I am already at day 11, and it has been another great morning/Loss. I am on my way down. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 213.2
Loss/Gain: -1.4 lbs

Rd 2- Day 10

Thank goodness for do overs. I stuck to the eating plan yesterday and had a great loss this morning. This should be a good lesson for me. I like the feeling of loosing and want to continue. I do have a ways to go and don't want to sabotage myself. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 214.6
Loss/Gain: -1.8 lbs (Yeah!)

RD 2- Day 9

So this is the part of the story that I have to admit I really screwed up. It all started on Saturday when I had a bunco party to attend. There were so many great foods to eat, that I decided to give in. It continued the next day where I decided to eat what I wanted. As a result I had a 2.8 gain in the last two days. At this point I am kicking myself because I knew better. Here I am at day 9 and I am virtually back to where I started on Day 2, so I am really wasting my time, ugh. I can tell this is already helping me by writing and hopefully will help others. I want to continue my journey to skinny, and I will not let anything else in the way from now on. Here are the stats from the past few days:

Day 7
Weight: 213.4
Loss/Gain: -.4

Day 8
Weight: 214.8
Loss/Gain: +1.4 lbs

Day 9
Weight: 216.4
Loss/Gain: +1.6 lbs


Here is to seeing that number go down. This is a public promise that I will keep

Rd 2- Day 6

Today is Friday and boy am I glad. It has been a very long week. I am not sure if anybody else has experienced this before, but for some reason last night I was starving, and this was after I ate dinner. I think I did read that this does happen when starting again. I gave into my hunger pains and had a few things that I wasn't supposed to. It is really funny too because my daughter is right on top of my back. She told me that the only reason that I was hungry was because I was eating something with fat and that causes me to be more hungry. I looked at her with a puzzled look and asked her how she knew that, and she said that I had told her that. You forget that your kids actually listen to you. At that point I was so proud of her and the fact that I am teaching her something that she will remember all of her life and hope that she will not be in a position where she is having to loose a lot of weight. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 213.6
Loss/Gain: +.04

Not too bad for eating bad yesterday. Hopefully it will not show up on the scale tomorrow.

Rd 2- Day 5

Yeah for day 5. I have officially lost 30 pounds!!! This is such a huge accomplishment for me. I have not been at this weight in 8 years, and it feels fabulous. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 213.6
Loss/Gain: -1.2 lbs

Total for this week so far is 4.2 lbs :)

R2-Day 4

Today is day 4 of round 2 and I realized just how quickly this process goes. Next time you think about it your half way through. I have had such a fun time wearing clothes I haven't worn in years. The last two weeks I have been wearing something "new" everyday. It is fun to wake up in the morning and selecting something different. I am so glad I didn't get rid of all of my smaller clothes, or I would be stuck right now trying to buy new clothes that wouldn't fit me in the next couple of weeks. I was telling one of my sisters last night that I wanted to loose 30 more pounds and she couldn't believe it, she thought I had already lost what I wanted to, but had to reminder her that I am still over 200 pounds. It was nice that she thought that I looked good at where I was now. Here are my stats for today:

Weight: 214.8
Loss/Gain: +.6

Not a loss, but not a terrible gain either.

R2-Day3

Another great day and another great loss. I was really excited when I stepped on the scale this morning and saw the results. I once again had to weigh myself about 5 times just to make sure what I was seeing was correct, and sure enough it was. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 214.2
Loss/Gain: -1.8 pounds

So far this week I have lost 3.6 pounds, that is incredible, almost too good to believe. Yeah!

R2- Day 2

Today is the second day of round 2 and I am happy to report that I had a 1.8 pound loss. I am happy to know that this still works even on the second round. not that I was doubting it, but you just never know. I am happier than ever as I am still shrinking out of my clothes. I keep wondering what I will do after the clothes that I have now don't fit. Even though I like the idea of buying new clothes, I would have to do more than just buy a few things, I would have to re buy everything. On Saturday I was at Target and for the first time in 8 years I didn't have to look in the plus sizes. It was a strange feeling to not go where I am used to, but at the same time, it was fun to see all the variety in the other sizes. That is one thing about plus size clothes, they don't always have a great selection and you find cuter clothes in smaller sizes. Here are my stats for today:

Weight: 216
Loss/Gain: -1.8 pounds

I got a new scale on Saturday and it weighs by .2 increments, so it is much more accurate.

Day 1-Round 2

Today is the beginning of Round 2- Day 1. I was actually excited to start up again. I thought I would go crazy with the food on my 1 day of eating more than 500 calories. My mind said I wanted to eat more, but when it came down to it, I was full a lot quicker. These are nice changes for my body. I think the cravings are for sure gone. I have learned that if I do have a craving f0r something that I see, I will allow myself 1 bite and that seems to be sufficient for me. Here are the stats for today

Weight: 217.8

Previous weight on 10/06/08: 217

(Yeah, only a .8 gain, I'll take it)

The pictures above were taken at my company party on Friday

Changing

After a vast amount of contemplating, I decided to end my shots on Tuesday and continue with the VLCD for the three day period and have 1 day of eating low calorie before starting back up on Sunday. I had a feeling my body was done for now, and my head was just not in the game. It became easier to deviate, which I took full advantage of. I am happy to say that I did take off the 2 pounds that I gained from all of that eating. When I start again on Sunday, it will be named Round 2, Phase 2. I am hoping for the same results out of round 2. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 217
loss/Gain: -2.5 pounds
Previous weight was 219.5

Day 37

So I have decided to continue this round and end on Nov 17. I am excited to keep going and loosing more weight. I had another loss today, so I think my body is on a role. It is fun to find new things to wear each day. Luckily I kept some of my smaller clothes so I haven't had to buy anything yet. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 217.5
Loss/Gain= -.5

Day 36

Today has been the best day. I am so happy and full of life today, and I think I kinda like it. I stepped on the scale this morning to a surprising 3 pound loss. I was in shock, and kept stepping on the scale to make sure that the number that I was seeing was correct, and sure enough it was. It is so nice to be out of the 20's, and sliding my way down the teens. I went to the clinic where I get my HCG for a follow up visit today, and she said I was doing great. She told me I could continue with the shots since I was successful and was motivated enough to continue, I was not sure about this so I put this questions out there to all of the wonderful people at the HCG forum. Here are my stats:

Weight: 218
Loss/Gain: - 3 pounds

Day 35

Hi day 35. Today has been a really good day. People are starting to notice that I am loosing weight and you beam with happiness every time you hear that kind of comment. Clothes and jewelry are not fitting me anymore as well. Today when I put on my reading glasses, they slipped off of my face, I didn't know that my head was going to shrink, that was too weird. I guess I will take a loss wherever I can. :) I am now on a countdown, I have 8 more days left. I go to the clinic tomorrow and find out how I follow phase 3, which I am excited about, but at the same time I am attached to the foods that I eat now. It is really strange for me to say that, but it is such a habit to eat the foods that I eat, and wonder how I will migrate over to the 1500 calorie diet. I just hope and pray that I can maintain what I have lost so far and go on to lose even more. Here are today's stats:

Weight: 221.0
Loss/Gain: -.05

Day 34

So many times I am unsure of how to start out my blogs, it is almost like I would like to say Dear Diary, but that doesn't quite fit. I had a really good weekend, and I am still noticing changes in my body. It has given me so much confidence because I feel so much better about my body. I even walk a little bit taller. I just had a conversation with my co-worker and she said that her sister and her sisters friend also did the HCG diet. I am quite surprised by how many people are doing this diet, and here I was thinking that I was doing something that no one knew about. I have also found a forum specifically for people doing the HCG diet and I am amazed at how much support I get from just reading the comments there. For example I weighed myself today and I didn't loose again. I was worried about this because I had just lost 3 pounds and then three days of nothing, but then I started reading about how everyone is different and how most people loose around .5 a day, so 3 pounds was huge. They also said to take it one day at a time and just be lucky that the numbers are going down and not up and not worry too much about just the scale, but inches as well. This was a lot of help for me, especially today. Here are the stats:

Weight: 221.5
Loss/Gain: None

Day 32 and 33

Well my apple day worked, and it was even better than I thought. I am happy to report that I lost 3 pounds from that day, wohoo! It really gave me the push that I needed to keep going with my weight loss. I am now on a countdown, I have 10 days left until my first round is over. I would ideally like to loose around 35 pounds. Here are the stats for day 32 and 33:

Day 32
Weight: 221.5
Loss/Gain= -3 pounds

Day 33
Weight: 221.5
Loss/Gain: None

Total loss since start: 22.5

Day 31

So today is my apple day and I am on my second apple. The rest of my night last night was horrible for eating. I had a couple of pieces of pizza and some gummy bears. I don't know what has gotten into me lately. I feel like I am somehow sabotaging myself. I did read that there is usually a stall in the middle of your round but that shouldn't cause me to eat more. I have lost 20 pounds so far and I am really happy with where I am at, and I could not see going back to the weight I was. I am hoping that this apple day gets me back on track and ready to loose weight again. I have 13 more days to go and would love to loose 30 pounds. Here is to my success.

Day 31
Weight: 224.5
Loss/Gain= 0

Day 29 and Day 30

Once again combining two days together. I have been quite busy and haven't had the time to update. I have had a little bit of a stall, but I know that it is entirely my fault. On Tuesday night I decided to take my kids to dinner, and happened to take them to the worst place for me, an all you can eat buffet. I don't know what got into me, but I decided that if I was going to eat there, I would make the best possible choices. I first headed for the salad bar and had my normal salad with Italian dressing, then I went for the meats, still not too bad, but then I saw the desert bar and could not walk away from at that point. I ended up having two cookies and a huge serving of my favorite banana cream pie. All I can say is at least I didn't gain any, but I have been at this weight since Sunday. I am going to try a apple day tomorrow and see if I can get back up on my feet and loose some more weight.. I have 14 more days to go, and I want to make the most of this time. If there is anything good about this day it is that i am now starting to wear clothes that I haven't worn in years and they are also two sizes smaller, and that is a good feeling.

Day 29
Weight: 224.0
Lose/Gain: -.5

Day 30
Weight: 224.0
Lose/Gain: 0

Day 28

Ahh day 28. I thought this morning was going to be a good day on the scale but it wasn't. I gained a pound....it is hard when this happens to me because I feel like I am going backwards. I want to make the most of this diet and loose all that I can, I am more than half way through and have 15 days left. I know that a pound is really not that big of a deal, but for me it still bothers me. I guess at this moment I really have to look at the positives like I have lost 19.5 pounds in 25 days. I will keep going and see what tomorrow brings.

Weight: 224.5
Loss/Gain: +1 pounds

The pics at the top are yesterday in my skinny jeans.

Day 27

Wow, already day 27, it doesn't seem like it has been that long. It really goes by fast. This diet is now second hand to me. I think I have become a pro at it. :) I had a nice long weekend but it was for sure a working weekend. My sister and I ended up adding texture and painting my hallways. Although this sounds like a easy job, it was nothing but that. It took us nearly 8 hours to complete, of course with a few breaks in between. There was a lot of sweat involved as well. I am happy that we were able to accomplish this and also get in a workout. Here are my stats for the weekend.

Day 25
Weight: 224.5
Loss/Gain: -.5

Day 26
Weight: 224.0
Loss/Gain: -.5

Day 27
Weight: 223.5
Loss/Gain: -.5

So it seems like my body is liking the half pound loss. Any loss to me is wonderful. One other piece of exciting news, today I am wearing clothes I have not worn in two years. I am in my size 14 jean, wohoo! I tried them on last night and was in shock that they fit, so of course I am proudly wearing them today.

Day 24

Today is Friday, and I am glad that the weekend is here. I have a few projects that I am doing around my house, and it will be nice to focus on them instead of work. The weight loss is still going strong, and I am extremely happy with my results. I am wondering when people are going to start noticing? That will be the pay off to this journey, not to mention feeling really good about myself. I was watching the biggest looser last night (one of my favorite shows) and a lot of the women weighed around my same weight, and made me think I could have been on that show. I was amazed at all of their weight loss, most women lost around 15 pounds and the men averaged a 20 pound loss. It made me feel a lot better about loosing a lot of weight quickly. I often wondered if it was too quick, but obviously if they are doing it on that show, it would seem OK to me. Here are my stats:

Weight: 225
Loss/Gain: - 1 pound
Total= 19 pounds

Day 23

Hello day 23. I do have to clarify that when I started this post, it was on the first day of my injection and not the start of my vlcd, so when I say I have lost 18 pounds in 20 days, that does not include the loading days. So wow, can you believe it? I am shocked at my amount of loss in such a short time. I am still amazed at this diet and what it can do for me. I also feel really good on this diet. I am able to get up in the morning and not be tired, which never happened previously, it was always a struggle to get out of bed in the morning, and to be honest I would spend most weekends staying in bed until noon. I also have energy all day long. I have co-workers that complain that they are tired every day, and I think how lucky I am not to be in that position anymore. I am still wearing my regular clothes, but they are loose on me. I can't wait until I go down in not just inches but sizes. I do need to post an updated picture soon, so I can also see for myself where I am at. Here are the stats for today:

Weight: 226
Loss/Gain: -1 pound

Day 22

Yesterday was a busy day and I wasn't able to get to the computer. Everything seems to be going well, I am still loosing, not as quickly as I thought, but a loss is a loss. I did have a set back this week when I decided to go with some co-workers to sweet tomatoes. I loaded up on all the greens and used vinegar and olive oil for my dressing, but when it came to the soup, I couldn't resist. I had a couple of cups of soup. The next day I had a one pound gain, but it came off this morning. I am halfway through this journey and I have amazed myself for sticking to this diet, and actually learning a lot about myself. I do worry that I won't be able to maintain, but it seems like it is like everything in life, if you put enough effort into it, you should have a good outcome. I am going to be doing a second round at the end of October to see how much more I can loose. I would like to get down to 180. The last time I weighed that much was probably 12 years ago. It would be nice to weigh that again. So here are my stats for the last two days. Oh also here are my totals: I started the vlcd on August 30 and I have lost 17 pounds, so in 19 days I have lost 17 pounds, not too shabby. :)

Day 21
Weight: 228
Loss/Gain: + 1 pound

Day 22
Weight: 227
Loss/Gain: -1 pounds

Day 20

Hello,

I can't believe it is already day 20, I am half way through, wohoo! I wanted to share with you my status for the past 4 days since I was not able to post during that time.

Day 17
Weight: 231.5
loss/gain- +.5 ( I couldn't believe I only gained .5 after the horrible day that I had on Wed)

Day 18
Weight: 229.5
Loss- 2 pounds (Wohoo!)

Day 19
Weight: 229.0
Loss- .5

Day 20
Weight: 227
Loss- 2 pounds

I am so excited with the results. In so many ways I am also proud of myself for sticking with something, and trying not to falter. I have a monthly craft night with a group of girls and it was my turn to host. I was really worried about this because we all bring treats to share and I knew I would be tempted. I gave into the fact that I would probably eat some of the treats. Luckily my sister brought fresh tomatoes and cucumbers and I tried to eat as much of that as I could, and I am happy to report that I only had a little bite of a cookie. Also on Sunday my niece had her birthday party, and I decided to have a thin slice of cake, and it hasn't hurt me so far. I have come to the conclusion that you can still loose weight on this diet even if you have a little bite or taste of something sweet. Now I am not recommending that everybody should do this, but so far this has worked for me. I am still noticing change in my body, but not yet to the point that I can go down a size in clothes, but all of my clothes that I am wearing now are getting loose. I look forward to the day when I can wear smaller clothes. Luckily I kept a lot of my smaller jeans.

Day 15 and 16

I had to combine the two days because I wasn't able to fit in time to blog yesterday. Here are my stats for day 15 and 16.

Day 15-
Weight: 230.5
Loss: None

Day 16-
Weight: 231.0
Loss/Gain- +.05

This is the first time I have had a gain. I will probably have more because yesterday I decided to eat a normal lunch and dinner. I really don't know what got into me, but we had pizza brought in for lunch at work yesterday, and I figured since I cheated at lunch I might as well make it worth it by eating what I wanted to at dinner. It was nice to have a moment where I could choose whatever I wanted to eat, but then I felt guilty about it after that. I have since forgiven myself and I am back on track today, but it will slow my weight loss, so that will be the hard part. Hopefully my body will be a little forgiving. I need to be serious about this weight loss, and stick to it. I was really good for 14 days, but just gave in. I have heard that this happens, and it is not like you are going to gain all of the weight back, but I need to realize that I am paying for this diet, and I am wasting my time and money by cheating. I still need to remember that in 16 days I have lost 13 pounds, I can't ask for better results anywhere else. I hope that I have learned my lesson and that I can be a little bit stronger when the word pizza is mentioned.

Day 14

Here I am at day 14 and here are my stats:

Weight: 230.5
Loss- 1 Pound

It is still weird to think that almost every day that I wake up I am a pound lighter. This is the first time that I have been excited to wake up in the morning. It is a nice start to my day. I think what I like even more is that my days now have more planning and structure. I always know what I am going to eat everyday, so there is no fretting over that when I get home from a long day at work. The nice thing too is that my kids will eat the same thing as me, just a bigger serving. It is nice to sit down and have a family dinner every night. They say it is important to do this to keep the communication flowing, and it certainly does. At this point I don't have hunger pains, and when I eat the planned foods, I actually fill full, which has never happened before. I am really glad I decided to do this diet.

Day 13

Hello Day 13. I am glad that it is day 13, that much closer to being done. I do have to say that this is now all habit, and it really isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I know that weekends are harder, because I don't have as much of a set schedule that I do during the week. Here are the stats for the weekend. I do have to admit that I broke down on Friday night and had a small chocolate shake (and I loved every bite).

Day 11-
Weight- 235
Loss- None

Day 12-
Weight- 233
Loss- 2 pounds

Day 13-
Weight 231.5
Loss- 1.5 pounds

Not to shabby huh. My total weight loss is at 12.5 pounds. I am starting to notice the weight coming off of my body. It feels good to actually roll over in bed and not feel all the fat coming with me. I have not told anybody that I am on this diet except for my two sisters. I have told my parents that I am on a "special" diet. They are encouraging and are happy that I am loosing weight. My parents and my grandma all seem to think that if I lost weight, I would find a husband. I think that is pretty silly, but in a way it is true. I myself would not want a husband that is overweight, and I would hope he would want the same of me. Here's to a great week.

Day 10

Today is day 10, and I have lost 9 pounds sp far. I am still amazed at this type of loss. When I weighed myself today, there was no loss, but there was also no gain. I should be happy about this, but for some reason it rubbed me the wrong way. I am OK with it now, but it makes me wonder why I had such a hard time with it. Maybe after seeing loss after loss each morning, it kinda shocked me, but then I have to think 9 pounds is gone from my body, that is a pretty cool thing. I won't blog again until Monday which will be Day 13. Here's to a good weekend, with no impure thoughts of food :)

Day 9

Hello Day 9, How are you today? I am lighter than I was the day before. I stepped on the scale this morning, and here are the results:

Weight: 235.0
Loss: 1.5 pounds

Wohoo!!! When I first started this diet, I was skeptical of the possibility of loosing a pound a day, but the truth is in the pudding. My total weight lose stands at 9 pounds.I think I am to the point where I know what to expect as far as eating goes, but that doesn't mean I don't still think about food. I went to the mall last night to return a few things, and the first thing I thought about when I walked into the mall was food. Of course this was my thinking previously as well. Every time I went to the mall, I had something to eat there, whether it was a meal or a big snack. I am still in the process of retraining myself in certain situations like this. I am happy to report that I took my kids to get a cookie at Mrs. Fields, and I held back and got a water instead. This is a huge deal coming from a person who 1. Loves Mrs Fields and 2. Can't walk by Mrs. Fields without buying at least 2 cookies. Here is to another day and another lose.

Day 8

I usually try to blog in the morning, so I am a little late in getting this written. It is weird how you almost look forward to writing down your thoughts. In a way it is therapeutic. Here we are at day 8, and once again, where has the time gone. I feel like I have just started this whole diet, and then I look and see I am on day 8, which is a good thing.

Everything is still going smoothly, I weighed in this morning and here are the stats:

Weight: 236.5
Loss= 1 pound

Once again I had to get on the scale about 10 times to make sure what I was seeing on the digital read out was correct. It it amazing how happy you are about loosing a pound, and even though it has only been 7 days, I am noticing that my body is changing.

I do also have to admit that I had a sliver of my sons Reese's peanut butter cup. It was near bedtime and he offered so I accepted. Like I said, I only had a sliver, and it actually didn't taste as good as I thought it would. The best part of this whole weight loss is that you start to discover patterns and eating habits, and currently the worst time for me is about an hour after dinner. I really start to think about food, especially when the t.v. is on. I did distract myself last night by getting a kitty for my daughter. My co-worker had 3 that she was giving away and we finally got to go pick him up last night. When we got home, we spent more than an hour playing with our new pet. This was a great distraction. So I have discovered if I have distractions, it helps me to not think about food. So long day 8.

Day 7

Day number 7, oh how the time goes. When I first started the very low calorie diet (VLCD) I didn't think I would make it through the first day. but here we are at day 7. Here are a few statistics:

Day 4: Morning weight 244.0 ( I gained 4 pounds from all of that eating)

Day 5: Morning weight 239.0
Loss: 5 pounds (Major Shock)

Day 6: Morning weight 237.5
Loss: 1.5 pounds (weighed myself 5 different times to make sure the number I was seeing was right)

So essentially I have lost 2 1/2 pounds in two days, and I didn't include the 4 pounds that I lost after the 3 days of stuffing myself.

Even though there is loss here, I realize I have a ways to go. This weekend was so hard, mostly because I was at home for two days straight. When I was at home, I tended to focus on food more. I continually thought about what I was going to eat next. Even seeing a commercial for food triggered my brain to want to eat, those advertisers are really good. I never even payed attention to how many food commercials were on while watching a 1 hour television program until yesterday, which was about 15. I also realized just how much my kids threw food in front of my face. They would say "Try this mom, this is so good" or "Why can't you eat a peach", or "Lets have this for a snack". I think as people we have no idea how much we really put in our mouths, because so many times during the day, I wanted to reach for something, and it reminded me of how often I really did that. A chip here, a drink there, but it all adds up.

Let me tell you about the good part of all of this. I was able to follow the diet without any cheating. I did have a sip of my sons milk, and a bite of my daughters creamie, but I really don't count that as a cheat. This is a really big deal for me. I am excited that I am able to follow something and get results. I am not saying that it is by any way easy, but I think it will be worth it. I now know that nothing in life comes easy, you have to work for what you want, and what I want now is to loose weight. I don't care if I have a bigger frame, I just want to get ride of the extra hanging fat.

I am at work today and I haven't even had my morning snack, and I have no hungers pains. I think it helps to have other things to focus on besides food. I hope it is always this easy during the week. I am also happy to note that my daughter is eating healthy along side me. She adds a few things more to her diet than me, but she is choosing healthy foods. If I could make a difference in her life, it will be all worth it. Here is to day 7.

Day 3

Hello Day number 3. This feels like a repeat of day 2. I think the reason for this is because I have not started the Very low calorie diet, so the only thing I have to worry about is the shot, which was not a big deal at all this morning. I am very anxious to start the diet part, just to see how the diet works with the shot. I keep envisioning how I will be if I was 30- 40 pounds lighter, and the one thing I got excited about was wearing some of my jewelry that doesn't quite fit. I am sure there will be other things that I look forward to once I start loosing, but that was one thing that stuck out today.

I have already noticed what my relationship to food is, and I don't feel like I am married to it, but then I realize how food is at the head of almost every event out there. If you don't have food, they won't come. I am hoping that when there are events or activities that I am involved in, I will be able to be strong and not want to give in. I won't be around a computer for a few days, so the next time I write, it will be day 7, wohoo!

Day 2

Day 2, oh what a beautiful day. I woke up thinking that giving myself a shot would now be a piece of cake (no pun intended), but it was quite opposite when it came down to the actual shot giving. I went through the same scared emotions as the day before and asked my daughter if she would hang out with me and give me a little courage. I finally got around to the actual shot part, and the needle would not go in, so I had to retry it in another spot. It finally worked, but followed with another bout of wooziness. I cured it with a drink of water. It made me wonder if this is the way it was going to be every time or was it something I would get use to. I also worried that if I did get lightheaded, would water cure it every time, or would I need to resort to something solid like a cracker, but I really don't want to do that once I start the very low calorie diet. I plan on sticking to it and following it word for word. I am hoping it won't be that hard because yesterday when I was trying to load up on foods, I really didn't eat any differently than I usually do, I just couldn't stuff myself, plus I am not a binge eater. I think this has to do with the PCOS. That is another thing that I am worried about, will this diet work if I have PCOS? I have tried to read up on it online, and there are a few cases here and there, and most were successful, so here is to my success. The picture above was taken a month ago. I will periodically post pictures, so you can see my progress.

Day 1

Today is the first day of starting HCG. Of course I was very nervous. I went to the pharmacy yesterday to pick up all of my supplies and my hands were shaking when I handed the cashier my money. I had all of these thoughts running through my head. Am I doing the right thing here, is this really going to work, can I really stick to this diet plan.



I started out this morning by weighing myself. I weighed a whopping 240. I am trying to decide if my scale is going to be accurate enough. I bought it yesterday. It was the cheapest digital scale I could find, but it looked sturdy so in it went into my basket. I tested it out yesterday and I had several different outcomes. I am 4 pounds lighter in the morning than I was yesterday, but of course I weighed my self naked, but not so sure my clothes weigh 4 pounds. I figure the only thing I should worry about is if the numbers are going down, and my clothes are becoming loose.



The next step this morning was to give my self the HCG shot. I was overly nervous because when I gave myself a test shot in the weight loss clinic it took me nearly 20 minutes just to talk myself into it, and another 10 just to prepare my leg. Unfortunately the outcome was not good. I ended up hitting a vein and blood poured out. It really wasn't as bad as it sounds, but just the sight of my own blood on my thigh made me light headed. The nurse had to grab me some water and a cookie. I thought it was comical that a weight loss center would offer me a cookie. Good start to the diet. So I got all of my supplies to get ready for my shot and I had my 8 year old daughter at home with me, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell her that I had to give myself a shot, I didn't want to scare her. I decided that it would be best to let her know what was going to be happening every morning. I didn't want her to walk in and find me giving myself a shot and her not knowing why. I think it was the best idea to tell her, although I did tell her it was hormones and they are what help your body function for things such as mood, metabolism, and hair growth. She really didn't understand the metabolism part, so she really focused on the mood part, which I had to keep telling her it was not for my mood. I didn't want her to get the wrong impression. She watched me prepare the medicine and clean my leg. She decided the best thing for me would be to hold tightly onto her Hello Kitty doll, and to hold my hand and rub my back. Once I was ready for the shot, all of the bad thoughts came back, and I was ready to back out right then and there. I thought " How am I going to do this every day?" I decided to just go for it, and it wasn't bad at all. There was no blood this time and the wooziness was at a minimum. I am glad that this part is over. I already feel better about my decision to use the HCG and I am giddy thinking about the results.