Let's try this again!

Well, it's almost been a year that I started trying to do HCG.  I supposed I've been successful.  I've lost around 30 Lbs depending on the day.  It feels good some days, and other days, I feel FAT.  Ugh.  I can remember when I was heavier, that I wished I was 175.  I would have been so grateful for that.  Now, I'm 175, and feel FAT.  I feel like I did when I was 240 pounds.  So does that mean it's all in my head?

Truth is, I don't feel strong.  I don't feel healthy.  I don't feel in control.  But I can't decide what I need to do to change that.  I want to feel good, happy with myself, content... 

Truth is, I haven't committed myself to HCG like I did on my first round.  Do you suppose that's why I feel bad?  I haven't given the diet my 1000% commitment.  Is that why I feel so negative?

Truth is, If I just decide that I'm worth working hard, maybe I will feel good about myself no matter what I weigh.  Commit, do my best, be honest, pray and push forward dam it!

SO that's what I'm going to do. 

I've been half-assing a round of HCG right now, and doing miserably at it.  SO, 21 more days starting tomorrow!  An honest, 1000% effort starting tomorrow.  On Mothers Day, my gift to myself.

My wonderful Hubby is on board.  He's going to help me, and away we go. 

Then, I'm going to take some time off of HCG and try to transition into a life routine.  Working out is on the agenda, it's what's bringing me down!  Summer is around the corner, being outside and being active is what will make the difference.

Here is my pinterest board for recipes.  Making good food on this diet is a must!

Back in the Saddle - Phase 2, Round 4, Day 8

Hello, hello world.  Who ever is reading this...

I'm back at it.  I've given myself a few days to get this thing going, now I can start updating, because I know I'm going to keep this train on the track so to speak.

Today P2R4D8

Starting Weight (after holidays):  185.4

Today's Weight:  177.4

Total Loss:  -8.0

Truth be told, I've seen this number before!  I believe Round 3 produced this number towards the end!  For what ever reason, I wasn't as invested in tracking my progress during Rounds 2 & 3.  Possibly for this reason, both of those rounds were short, sweet, and amounted in a smaller weight loss.  I've decided that this time around, I'm going to push it to 48 days.  It's simple.  More days on VLCD=More Lbs. Lost.

I had some slip ups this weekend.  My sister's birthday, a day off work, All day car shopping.  There was just a lot of things going on and I let myself cheat.  So this hasn't been a cheat free Round!  But in all honesty, I don't think any of them have been.  The trick is to stay prepared.  Plan ahead, have things ready to eat, drink and stay FOCUSED.  Be HONEST!  Don't forget, DRINK WATER!!!!!

Today's Timeline:

5:30am - Woke up, weighed myself, cup of coffee and smidge of creamer.

7:30am - Driving to work, took 1.0ml of drops.

9:00am - Cup of coffee (time to get the water started)
10:00am - Apple and water
12:00pm - Cottage Cheese and pretzels!  Yikes, a cheat.
2:00pm - Apple
5:00pm - Nibbled Becca's Hamburger & another apple.  Also snitched a graham cracker on the way home from kids snack. 

This wasn't the greatest day!  I was feeling disappointed and not at all inspired by anything I had around to eat on the diet.  I'm bored with my food choices today, and that leads to cheats for me anyway.  So, I got on-line, and I found some good blogs and recipes to try and spice things up a bit.  Made a soup out of things I had on hand, so we'll see how that goes.  It made three containers, so there are a few good lunches ready to go.

I posted the blog in my blog roll, but it's HERE too.  Check it out.  It's not just for the diet.  She has other great ideas for maintenance and any other days too!  It will be one I check back with often. 

I hope I don't gain tomorrow.  Gotta get back into finding things I like so I can keep this diet going!!!

A quick Before and After

 This was Before HCG.   This past Fathers Day.

This is 30 Lbs lighter in October. 

With the Holidays coming to a close, I will be starting another round of HCG on January 9th.  I accomplished 2 small rounds of the diet, one of them in between Halloween and Thanksgiving and lets be serious, they were buffers for this wonderful time of the year.  All in all, I've stayed within a 3 lbs window through it all. 

It's time to get serious again.  Back to keeping track of my day to day in this blog.  I have another 30lbs to go, so let's get to loosing.

My News Years resolution will be to commit to this diet again, and all the things that made it successful for me the first time.

R2D5 VLCD

FYI, R=Round D=Day VLCD=Very Low Calorie Diet

Down a little more this morning, -.5 to be exact!

Starting weight R2:  190

Today's Weight: 182.4

Total Loss R2:  7.6 Pounds

It's nice to be back into the week as I find I do better on this diet when I'm at work.  It's easier to manage and keep my mind off things at work.  So I'm hoping this will be a strong week for me.  My losses slowed a little over the weekend.  I think that happens to correspond with TOM, but I'm still losing, which in the land of HCG is a miracle!

Here's to drinking all my water today!  FOCUS!

Round 2, Day 4, Deja Vu!

Today I'm on Round 2, Day 4 of VLCD.  I feel like things went well in the maintenance phase.  I held strong at 184.6 for most of the phase.  There were good days and bad, I just had to remember what I was doing and use the tools to help me along the way.

Last weekend I had a few get togethers, so I figured it would be a good weekend to Load!  I was right, BUT, my drops didn't show up till Monday, so after I consulted my HCG support group on Facebook, I found myself loading for two more days WITH the drops.  I ended the load days seeing a number that I never wanted to see again! 

Day 1 VLCD (after a goof of loading 2 days without drops and 2 days with)
Starting Weight: 190

Day 4 VLCD 
Weight: 182.9

So in 3 days on the diet, I was down 7.2 Pounds!!!  Thank God!

This feels like same old, same old, all over again.  Man, I remember this part like it was yesterday.  I'm trying to remember all my tricks that got me through the tough times.  I'm drinking lots of tea again.  Smooth move, Good Earth, anything with a punch of flavor.

LOTS of mineral water and ice tea too!

This is a great reciepe that I've already made.  If your on the diet, I recommend it!  It reheats well the next day for lunch.

Picante Chicken

1 package of fresh chicken breasts (4-5 total)

3-4 cans of Organic Stewed Tomatoes (no sugar added)

Cumin

Onion Powder

Garlic

Salt

Throw this in a crock pot, use the seasonings as much as your taste buds like!  Let this baby cook all day, and then shred the chicken.  You can eat this like a soup, or count the tomatoes as your fruit and throw this over lettuce!  Yummy!!!

No one said this was easy!

Hey All!  So, life in Maintenance has been tricky.  Just when you think things are going good, you get comfortable and it all changes.  I guess that's why this is a Life Change, right.  I'm trying to get things all figured out.  I can't eat whatever I want, and that has been hard because this part of the diet is not as strict as the Low Calorie round.  In Phase 2, it was very very clear what you could and couldn't eat in order to maximize your weight loss.  In Phase 3 (or maintenance), you have to calculate your BMR, eat from a long list of foods, and just work at stabilizing.  Your one tool is a steak day.  You do that when you have gained more than two pounds.  Sounds easy, right?  It should be.  But that is where I'm stuck.  I'm in a little bit of a twilight zone right now.  

I know that I don't want to mess up the work I've done.  So the best thing is to get a handle and not let it get away from me.

I'm sitting at 2.3 pounds above my lowest weight.

I should have done a steak day today and I didn't.

So that's where it's at, and I'm trying to get a game plan in place to fix it.

HERE is where I"m going for all my support!  If you are doing this diet, at any Phase, this is where to go for help and answers.  It's the best support I've found!

Keepin it real! - M1D4

I haven't posted in awhile.  I realized that I was needing time to just be for a little bit.  Things in life have been busy at work and home, and I was just pulled in too many places at once.  Now don't go thinkin that I checked out of this diet or anything!  That would just be CRAZY!  No no, I've just mustered up the courage to take the plunge and head into new territory with the Maintenance Phase of this diet, or better referred to as M1.  I stopped taking my drops last Thursday, and had to use my weight from that day as my lowest daily weight for entering into Maintenance.  Why, because that was the last day I took the drops....Eeek.

So life since drops has been good.  I'm getting to eat food again, like Avocados, FRUIT, Salmon and so on.  I calculated my BMR, and for my weight and activity level, I'm supposed to consume 1900 calories a day to 'maintain' this new weight.  That is the trick right now, to keep it even.  Don't go 2 pounds below or above that lowest daily weight.  2.1 in any direction will result in action being taken.  I"m doing a steak day today, which technically wan't necessary, but I just felt I needed it!  I was close, a little to close. 

Getting in the 1900 calories of the things I'm supposed to eat is a little hard.  I'd like to think I can just catch it up with a little chocolate here and there.  A few hundred calories of that, and we should be good to go!

Not so.  Protein is KING right now, along with healthy fruits and veggies.  No STARCH, No SUGAR!

So, it's day 4 and I'm holding steady.  I will start posting some recipe's now that I"m feeling like getting a little creative.  I'll keep in better touch now, I promise.

I've also discovered a pretty good deal on drops that I feel I can share now that I've tried them and think they work.  Head on over to Amazon (woot woot), and check these puppies out!  I used THESE drops for the last part of my round and can't complain.

I'm going to go drink another glass of water now and climb into bed.  More later, I promise.