Blah

Okay, this regimen of food is getting quite boring lol. Seems like it's chicken twice a day with the same 3 choices of veggies and fruit. I do my best to mix it up a little. For instance, yesterday I made a soup with half a cup of chicken broth, and chicken bits and chopped onion with spices added. That was good. I'm looking forward to being able to eat a bit more variety. In Phase 3, as long as I abstain from carbs, I can indulge in fats a little more, and I'm looking forward to eating ham and pork, especially in a chef's salad and pot roast (2 different meals mind you lol), and definitely looking forward to being able to mix my veggies, since you can't have a proper salad with only lettuce or spinach!

Yesterday and today, I deviated from the strict meal plans, because Dr. Simeons stated that on occasion, he allowed his patients to have eggs, as long as it was 1 whole egg mixed with 3 egg whites. So, for breakfast yesterday, and dinner today, I had scrambled eggs seasoned with salt and pepper. It was a welcome change from the constant amount of chicken. It's good, don't get me wrong, but I can only eat something so many days in a row before getting sick of it. It's like eating birthday cake every day, twice a day, to the point where if you never see birthday cake again it will be too soon!

I have only 5 more days of taking HCG, and then I have to stay on the low calorie diet for 3 more days. So, Saturday will be my last day of the low calorie diet. Which is unfortunate, since my friend's wedding is Saturday, and I'm going to be going all the way to Portland to see her, and I won't be able to eat any of the delicious food after the wedding (Russians make the absolute best food in the world, second only to Italian!). I'm wondering if it will hurt if I stop the HCG one day early so that I can eat the food at the reception (particularly the sweets... refer back to my comment about Russian food, only this time it's bar none!!!). I'll have to look it up.

Weight loss is slower now that I've lost all the water weight, so I'm averaging much less per day, but that's okay. I lost a pound this morning (143.5) and I've had my smooth move tea today, since it didn't seem to really work last time. It worked this time, so I'm anxious to see how much weight I've lost tomorrow :D

By the way, kind of adding on to yesterday's post, you know what I did today? My son came in and sweetly asked me if we had any cookies. I told him that no, we didn't, but we had graham crackers. He then, Oh-SO-Sweetly asked if he could make some cookies! Well how could I refuse that cute little face being so polite?! SO I told him that yes, we could make some cookies. Turns out we didn't have any chocolate chips, so I told him we could make Oatmeal cookies. He thought that was quite funny. He's never had them before, and couldn't decide if it was normal to put oatmeal in cookies or not. But, we went ahead and made them (with him holding all the measuring cups above the bowl for me to pour into - he's such a good little baker!) and you know what? I wasn't even tempted to take a taste of either the dough or the finished product. I'm so proud of myself. I am so going to deserve that butterscotch pudding!

I have the willpower and strength of a stone statue!

On Monday my uncle took me out shopping for my birthday (I'm so excited to now have the food slicer attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer!!) so before we left, I quickly grilled up my lunch and dinner chicken breasts, an orange, a tomato and handful of cabbage, made my strawberry drink and put it in a metal water bottle, and packed it all up with my 4 containers of water to drink. While we were out, my uncle and Luke started getting hungry, so we went to the Subway that was in the shopping center we were in. I did not sneak even one bite! The cheese looked SO good, and it would have been so easy, but I didn't. I sat there and ate my chicken and tomato! (I had already drunk my strawberry drink while we were shopping.)

Note to self - we are out of parsley. Gotta get more!!!

For dinner I had the rest of what I had packed, but I was already home. The problem though, is that I ate really late at night, because lunch was so late. As it was, I had to really force myself to eat my dinner. As a result of eating so late, I think, I didn't lose any weight by the next morning.

Yesterday was a bit of a challenge. I had to take my daughter to the doctor's because she was choking and then throwing up after every bite of food. My daughter is not a choker. She eats all the stuff they say you shouldn't give to kids - popcorn, chips, toast, crackers, it doesn't matter. She is not a gorger like Luke was at this age, she is a dainty biter kind of eater, and she has never choked, and she's been eating table food for about 6 months now. So it was necessary to take her in. Turns out she's teething. All 4 of her molars are coming in at the same time. So she's not chewing her food properly anymore, and so choking. Makes perfect sense. Also makes me feel a little neglectful for not having noticed it. I had no idea the canines might come in AFTER the molars. Luke got his canines first. Not to mention Kaitlynn only has 2 teeth on the bottom. The pediatrician said she was just getting her teeth in backward, and that it's perfectly normal. Anyway, that wasn't the challenge. The challenge is that because her appointment was at 10 in the morning, I figured I'd be back in time for lunch, plus I kind of overslept so didn't really have time for cooking, especially since I was late as it was for the appointment. At any rate, I called Jim after the appointment to let him know about Kaitlynn's teeth, and also to find out where to meet him since he'd kept Luke. When I get there, he says to hop in the truck so we can go to Seattle to look at cabinets (we went the other day but couldn't find what we wanted). I said okay, but the only problem was that I was starting to get hungry, and I had no lunch! The possibility was there that we might not even be home until 3 or 4! So I did the best I could with the circumstances.

Since we were in the McDonald's parking lot, we went through the drivethru and ordered a grilled chicken breast sandwich with extra tomato. I am not sure what spices they use, so I scraped off as much of the outer layer as I could. I didn't know how much it weighed either, so I had to eyeball it, and ate about 3/4 of the breast. I also ate the tomato, and gave the rest (bun and lettuce) to Luke who enjoyed it. When I got home at 3 I ate the rest of the tomato and a strawberry drink. I'm disappointed that I don't know if I ate the right amount of calories, what the fat content of the chicken was, etc, etc. I feel like I cheated, against my best efforts. I also did not lose any weight when I weighed myself this morning :( But there also could be another reason.

Without going into too much detail and giving out TMI (too much information) I am prone to an overgrowth of yeast. I've been researching it, and discovered that if your body has an overgrowth of yeast, not only can you be prone to repeat infection, but you can also have issues with body odor, which I do. I can take a shower, and within an hour smell like I need another one. I've changed soaps, body washes, scrubbers.... none of it matters. So it just makes a lot of sense to me that I might have an overgrowth of yeast going on. Monday I felt the onset of an infection, so while we were out, bought some Olive Leaf extract. I have discovered that it is really powerful against yeast. I took 3 tablets Monday. Tuesday I realized that the feeling of an onset was gone. As a precaution I took 3 again last night with dinner, and will probably take another 3 today to finish up. Dr. Simeons recommended that you not take supplements or vitamins with this diet, as they may interfere with weight loss, but I did not want to have a yeast infection that is very uncomfortable and tend to be pretty severe and long lasting for me if I don't treat. And since my normal treating method is not available to me (eating tons of yogurt) I have to do the best I can. But I didn't lose any weight, and it may or may not be related.

Also, without giving too much detail, I think it's time for some more smooth move tea :)

I did have an excellent dinner last night. I chopped my chicken up into small pieces, and put it in a pan with 2 tablespoons of milk. I sprinkled a bunch of spices over it. I lost track of them all, but I know there was majoram, savory, thyme, and something else. I would have added parsley, my favorite, but I'm out!! I cooked it up and had to add about a tablespoon of water. There was a little liquid left over, but the chicken was so flavorful! I'm almost out of cabbage and can no longer peel anything off of it, so I just cut some off, weighed it to be sure I was getting the right amount, and just ate it like that. Also, I remembered that I'd already had my strawberry alottment, and I realized that I really did NOT want an orange. My only other option, since I don't like grapefruit, was an apple, and I didn't have any applesauce. So I turned to the microwave. I cut the apple in half, sprinkled cinnamon all over it, and microwaved it. when it was done I scraped all the apple out of the peel, threw the peeling out, and then added a little bit of water and smashed it all up. It was good, and it'll do in a pinch, but I much prefer the taste when it comes out of the crock pot. Something about slow cooking it seems to bring out the sweetness of the apple really well. My meal seemed overly large, although I know it was the same as always. I felt stuffed at the end of my meal :)

Mom... are you sitting down? Try not to faint!

I ate an entire 100 grams of FISH! Yes, that's right, I ate the thing that is my number one top HATED food. At the beginning of my diet when I was telling Jim about the foods I could eat, he said he bet fish was on the meat list. I told him yes, but only certain ones, and I couldn't eat stuff like salmon. So he looked at the list and then told me I could have halibut. I had to check, grumbling under my breath. He has been after me almost since the day we met to let him cook me some fish. I've tried it for him, a few times, and never really enjoyed it, and mostly downright hated it. But he asked very nicely, again, so I told him he could cook me A halibut serving. Well... tonight was the dreaded night.

It actually wasn't horrible, and I did eat the whole thing, but I certainly didn't enjoy my dinner tonight with the same relish I have the last week and a half. I tolerated it more like. The highlight though, was my yummy strawberry drink :) I made the boys 1 to share, and then a 2nd, and even after that, Jim was asking me to pour some of mine into his cup (Um, how about KEEP AWAY FROM MY ONLY PORTION OF STRAWBERRIES!... honey...) and Luke kept asking for a drink of mine too lol... think I found a hit here lol. Also for dinner I had a tomato, which I had run out of and had to stop at the store. On a side note, how did a stop at the store for tomatoes, strawberries, laundry detergent, fabric softener and cat litter turn into an $80 shopping spree?!?

Breakfast took about 2 hours today :) It feels really good to not feel really hungry. I was really afraid yesterday might become a regular thing, so I'm almost jumping up and down that I have felt really satisfied all day. I didn't even eat dinner until 8:30, which is SUPER late for me. Well actually, that's pretty much right on time in the regular eating world, but during the diet I seem to get hungry around 6ish.

Learning: Set out your water for the day in the morning. I realized that I might not be getting enough water. I've been drinking out of water bottles, and just refilling them, but I can't ever remember how many I've gone through. So this morning, I set out 4 bottles, filled them, and set them aside. I started drinking out of one, and just replaced a new one with the empty. That way I can make sure I am getting enough, even if that means forcing it. Today, I've already drank my 4, and I'm well into my 5th :) Doing much better I think.

Challenges: Quit talking to me about food! lol I'm not upset with you mom, don't worry. I just got off the phone with you talking about chef salads, and I started imagining it and then my mouth started watering, and I had to come up with some way of getting it out of my head. SO I drank an entire bottle of water all at once. It worked... there was so much liquid in my stomach I didn't think anything would ever sound good to eat again lol

Thoughts: I have to say I am truly feeling great about myself right now. It's nice to look in the mirror and not feel disgusted because my upper arms look like someone's thighs, or because I have a double chin if I glance down ever so slightly. It's nice to see some angles come back into my face instead of this roundness I never quite got used to after getting pregnant. I'm enjoying the amount of energy I have, and the fact that I don't feel exhausted in the middle of the day like I just need a nap. Even if I wake up early.

However, I am looking forward to adding some things back into my diet, like pasta, and bread, and eggs (I can have eggs on the diet, but only one whole egg mixed with 3 egg whites... it just doesn't sound as appetizing), and also looking forward to being able to mix my veggies, so that I can have that chef's salad! (Cheese included!)

Over halfway there!

When I started this blog back at the very end of June, I had about 32 pounds to lose to get down to my ideal weight of 130. Now I have just over 15 pounds to lose. I have officially lost more weight than I have left to lose :D

I was 146.5 pounds yesterday, as I was the day before. Two things occurred to me. One is that I haven't been keeping as good track of my water intake as I had been, and my digestion has slowed down. My friend Susan suggested some smooth move tea, saying I should probably take it at night. I'm glad I didn't listen and got impatient lol. I drank the tea in the late evening, and in about 2 hours my body was doing its thing. I also made sure I drank a LOT of water yesterday. This morning I had lost a pound :)

Yesterday was the worst day I've had since starting this diet. Kaitlynn woke me up really early, and I had a really hard time waking up. On top of that, I got hungry a lot earlier than usual, so had to start trying to stretch my meal out at around 11 instead of 12:30-1 which is when I usually start eating. For lunch I ate chicken grilled with parsley and garlic salt, and drank my strawberry/lemon drink (Oh so good!!!) at about 12:30 I ate the last of my cabbage and bread stick. I was still kind of hungry :( To make matters worse Luke has been begging to make cupcakes. So I helped him make a batch (he got to add all the ingredients and stir them up... he is really starting to get into wanting to help cook). So now there were cupcakes and cake (from the leftover batter) sitting on the counter. I was guzzling as much water and tea as I could to try and stave off the hunger, and on my way to the store for dog food (around 4ish), I called Susan for a quick pep talk. Sounded something like this....

Me: "Susan, tell me again how hot I'm going to be when I lose all this extra weight."

Susan: "You're going to be really hot..... um, why?" lol

Susan reminded me that if your bowels don't move properly, it can add to feelings of hunger, and then suggested I come pick up a few bags of the smooth move tea from her. After I started cooking dinner, and munching on my bread stick, I started to feel a little bit better.

For dinner, I had grilled steak with salt, grilled asparagus, a bread stick, and an orange, which I ate a while later. After dinner, I didn't feel hungry anymore. I drank more tea (not the smooth move this time lol) and lots of water, and went to bed feeling very content, all food cravings gone, thank goodness! This morning I felt normal again... meaning not hungry, good energy, and no cravings. It's almost 11 and I have yet to really feel any kind of hunger, just thirst, which I've been taking care of with water and tea. It feels good to be back on track :)

YUMMY!!!!

Okay, I found another amazing recipe and a great way to get my strawberries (not that I don't enjoy eating them whole, but I'm trying not to let my meals get too boring). It's a virgin strawberry margarita.

6 strawberries

Juice of half a lemon

1 1/2 packets of stevia (since I have drops, I used 8 and that seemed to be perfect)

4-5 ice cubes

(I added water because there was basically really thick slush that I couldn't even get to pour)

Now, I've never had a strawberry margarita, because alcohol is

gross and makes me want to puke, so I have no idea if this tastes similar to actual margaritas, but I can tell you with certainty that it is absolutely delicious! I made one up for Luke too, although I forgot to add the stevia for him, but he said it was really yummy, so I didn't mention sweetening it. Jim tried the unsweetened, and he liked it too, so maybe I'm just spoiled when it comes to sour. Those 2 like sour patch kids too, and I can't stand them. Although I like war heads, so go figure lol

So... now I've got fun ways to get my 2 fruits a day, now I just need to come up with something for my veggies. I have a few recipes I may try, but I don't like to post ones I haven't tried yet, so I'll do those as they come.

For breakfast, I ate garlic chicken with parsley, half an orange, and half of my bread stick. I finished the orange and bread stick around 4, and then realized that I hadn't eaten my cabbage that I'd set out, so I ate that around 4:30. I hope that doesn't effect my weight loss any :(

For dinner tonight I sliced up a tomato, grilled some garlic chicken with parsley, and had my strawberry drink. I also ate my bread stick, of course. A lovely picture of my dinner :)

Today is day 10 of my diet. I'm going to start writing VLCD. It means very low calorie diet, and I will use it in conjunction with the day that I am on. Since my loading days don't count as part of the VLCD, just add 2 to figure out what day of the diet I am on.

So. I'm at VLCD 8, and down 6 pounds. Not bad, huh? lol

The Plateau is over!

I've lost another half a pound after 3 days of not losing anything. It's pretty typical to lose a bunch of water weight right off the bat, and then to start losing at a slower pace. Remember, the average weight loss is calculated at the end of the diet.

So... let's play a little catch up here. Yesterday morning I woke up with just the slightest hunger pang, and so drank my tea, and the hunger was gone! For lunch I had chicken breast smothered in parsley and garlic salt, half an orange, and cabbage. I ate the rest of my orange around 3 after feeling slightly hungry, but other than that I didn't feel hungry again until dinner time. My friend came over and since she's on the diet I welcomed her to stay for dinner. We prepared steak with salt, steamed asparagus, and since she'd already had an apple, she saved her fruit for later, and I had apple sauce (yummy lol).

Challenges - Last night I had to go to Duvall to pick up Jim's computer. While I was there, there were a few things that had to be finished up. Unfortunately, right next door was my all time favorite Pizzeria, Sahara's Pizza. As if that wasn't bad enough, the computer tech's cousin came in with what I thought were breadsticks. The tech was on a diet too, so we both grumbled as his cousin took the food into a back room where we could hear him loudly smacking his lips and groaning in pure pleasure at all the yummy tastes. I discovered later that it was bbq chicken, which doesn't entice me at all, so I felt a little better, but THEN he brought ACTUAL breadsticks in, sat down behind me playing his X-Box and ate the breadsticks. He even offered some to Kaitlynn (after making sure it was okay with me of course), so then she's happily munching away on my absolute favorite food while I couldn't partake. So that was pretty difficult for me, but I managed okay. Now I know what else I'll be eating in addition to the pudding cup after my diet and maintenance are over! :D

Dilemma!!

Tonight I hit a hard spot as I debated what to do. To bathe, or not to bathe. Okay, well maybe not bathe... it might have been more like shave... and wash my hair lol Not to totally gross everyone out, but I haven't washed my hair since the day before I started the HCG drops, which would be last Tuesday. EWW I know. I've been wearing a cap to hide my hideous hair. The bottoms look fine, but the top looks like a 70's guys' hairstyle gone horribly wrong. Nasty. That and my legs and pits are starting to make me look positively bearish. The reason for this is that while on the HCG diet, you have to be careful of what you put on your skin. Bathing hasn't been a problem, since I've got an approved brand of soap. But I haven't been able to find anything online about shampoos and shaving cream brands other than like 2 organic ones, and lets face it... this girl ain't rich enough for the organic stuff which is 2-3 times more expensive than non organic.

Finally, out of desparation, I started just looking up all the ingredients in my shaving cream, and discovered that yes, the second ingredient is a fatty acid derived from the oils in animals. So that was out. Not to be thwarted, I slathered up my legs with my soap and went from there. Man do I hate shaving with soap... it leaves my legs all itchy. But itchy is better than furry.

There are WAY too many ingredients in my shampoo and conditioner to look up (I use Tresemme) but there's just no way I can keep hiding my disgusting hair. Sooner or later the cap is going to fall off and I'll look up to see that suddenly there's a 10 foot wide circle around me in which people hold their kids back from getting any closer to the beast that my hair is. So, I took a very conservative approach. After my bath, I drained the tub. Then I turned my hair upside down, put shampoo directly onto my roots, and then really quickly lathered and rinsed, before it had too much time to settle into my scalp and hands. I did the same with the conditioner, but only did the ends, and rinsed immediately rather than waiting as I usually do. I immediately wrapped my hair up to keep any leftover conditioner from soaking into my body. Extreme? I think so. I'm laughing at the image of myself attempting to not allow any possible oils or fats to seep into my skin and ruin my weight loss! I think it's ridiculous. But until I know if there's anything to be wary of, this is me, when my hair gets so bad I'm offending myself.

The good news is, I've completed one week of my HCG diet!! Only 2 left to go before maintenance. And I don't have to be around any family until then :) so I'm good to go with my nasty, greasy, cap-covered hair.

There's more good news too! So, earlier, I wrote that I had saved half of my tomato and strawberries for later. Well, I went and did some manure shoveling in an area Jim needed to work in, and then worked with the horse a bit. I burned some extra calories, and got hungry, so I'm really glad I saved that food. It was about 3:30 when I finished them. I had a meeting this evening, so prepared my food, put it in my handy little lunch box containers, and headed out. About the time I was headed there, at quarter to 6, I was feeling a little snackish, so ate half of my bread stick. Apparently that was enough, because even though I had intended to eat the rest of my food when I got to the library meeting room, I completely forgot about it, and didn't realize it until after 7! Even then I was only feeling slightly hungry, so I ate my chicken. Around 8 I ate my bread stick and apple sauce. I was drinking lots of water and feeling great. THEN... on my way home, I suddenly realized that I hadn't had my cabbage yet, and still needed those calories for the day! The only problem was that I wasn't even slightly hungry. I know how important it is though, to get all 500 calories, so I set them out on the edge of the bathtub while I initially soaked and read a book, and snacked on them. I was feeling almost stuffed by the time I was done with the portion.

This means it is really working. I'm doing good on 500 calories a day. What's funny to me is that people who believe everything the FDA tells them say that "of course you're losing... it's the number of calories and has nothing whatsoever to do with the HCG." If that was true, though, then why is it that people who have a really hard time losing weight because their body is in starvation mode can eat 500 calories and not lose and ounce, but as soon as they add HCG to the mix they start losing? The other thing I find funny is when people who work for the HCG injection companies point to the homeopathic version as being a scam... even though it is doing exactly the same thing as the shots. If I wasn't in starvation mode, and was losing weight on this 500 calorie diet, I'd be exhausted all the time, no energy, I'd be weak, my body would be breaking down. Instead I feel really good, I'm not hungry all the time (the periods of time in which I notice hunger are always around the time I usually eat, and as soon as I start eating I fill up really fast). I'm not tired, in fact I'm able to get up earlier than usual and feel just fine without needing a nap or going to bed early.

I guess I'm a pretty firm believer. The mirror and tape measure don't lie. This stuff really works :)

Good Day :)

So, I woke up yesterday and got all bummed because the scale still said 148.5. A while later, after it was too late to reweigh, I remembered that I'd forgotten to take my robe off! Ugh. I hate not having an accurate weight for yesterday, because today I'm 147, and I don't know if maybe I stalled today, or lost yesterday and gained today, etc. The reason I'm in such a snit is because I added a new thing yesterday. When I went to get water bottles yesterday to stock up for my trail ride (love horsies!) I discovered a flavored packet thing (goes in the water bottle) that is 5 calories and has stevia, lemons, and raspberry juices). If I don't have an accurate weight every day, how am I supposed to know if something I ate is something I shouldn't eat again while on the low calorie diet?!

Anyway, on to yesterday's food. I ate my breadstick at the beginning of my ride, and then took my drops. A while later I started drinking my flavored water. Along the ride, every time I had finished about half of my water, I'd pour more water into it, to make the flavor last longer. I drank about 48 ounces that way. We stopped in a field and I ate my tomato. A while later, after goofing off for a bit, we continued down the trail, and I ate my chicken, and then had more drops. A few hours later I peeled my orange, and grazed on that over a period of about an hour and a half, all the while drinking lots of water (I brought 5 bottles with me, 16 ounces each). My friends and I got back to the barn about 5:45ish, and I made my dinner by 6:15. I ate it around 7... chicken, applesauce (so super yummy!!!) and cabbage, and of course, my breadstick. I didn't finish all of my cabbage, because I got full, so I finished it about an hour later and took more drops.

I really had no hunger yesterday until right before I started my dinner. I'm so happy this is going so well for me!!

Today, I've learned from yesterday's experience of not eating my whole lunch all at once. So, I ate my chicken, half a tomato, and half of my strawberries, and my breadstick for lunch. If I start feeling hungry in an hour or so, I'll go ahead and eat one or the other.

Dinner and cheating... NOT WITH FOOD

Okay, so I had a really good dinner tonight, and actually felt quite full when I was done. I had a steak, grilled, about 8 small strawberries, about 8 spears of asparagus (first time ever I ate them without mayonnaise!) and my bread stick.

My friend saw me today (she hadn't seen me since day one of the HCG drops) and said she noticed a definite difference! So, now we come to the cheating part. I said I was only going to take pictures and measurements once a week, on Wednesday. Well.. I was obsessing over the fact that Susan said I looked thinner, so I grabbed a tape measure and took a few :) I am so encouraged now! I've lost inches in my thighs (2), stomach (1.5), and hips (1) (that's all I measured... the rest will follow on Wednesday as planned lol) for a total of 4 1/2 inches lost and 4 pounds lost in almost 6 days.

My resolve is so much stronger now!

SUCCESS!!!! (and lunch)

I have found a very agreeable way to eat my apple!!! So what I did was dice up the apple, put it in my mini crockpot with approximately 3 tablespoons of water (I say approximately because I couldn't find my tablespoon so i used a quarter cup that wasn't completely full) and sprinkled liberally with cinnimon. I forgot to unplug it before I went to bed, so at about 3, Jim woke up to go potty, remembered his roast in the big crock pot and went to put some potatoes in it, and unplugged the mini while he was up. This morning I opened the lid and smelled it. It didn't look very appetizing because the apples were completely brown, but I wasn't going to waste it. So, just a bit ago, I transferred the contents of the mini crock pot into a bowl and squished all the apples up. I just took a few bites and it is SO DELICIOUS!!!!! So... now I know how to make healthy apple sauce without anything but water and cinnimon, and can transfer that knowledge to after I'm off my diet and can make big batches of the stuff. It has to cook for a minimum of 2 hours, so it's not something you can decide on the spur of the moment. "Hey, I think I'll have applesauce for lunch (and it's already noon)... think I'll get it started!" lol... doesn't quite work that way... gotta plan ahead. I've been doing pretty good at that, I think.

So, in addition to the very yummy applesauce, I'm also having cabbage, a piece of chicken breast I sprinkled liberally with parsley and grilled in our Foreman grill (gotta love that thing!) and a breadstick.

Challenges: So I discovered that while I am not particularly hungry in the morning before I have tea, I do feel sort of weak, and that doesn't seem to go away until lunch time. In searching for a solution, I think I will try eating half my fruit in the late morning, early afternoon. The reason is that weakness can be a sign of low blood sugar, so if I go ahead and eat part of my fruit an hour or so before lunch time, I won't mess with my diet, and I won't feel weak. I'll have to see if that works tomorrow. My other challenge is that I did not buy nearly enough fruit :) I have one more serving of strawberries, 2 more apples, and 2 more oranges. I need to go shopping again :) It's almost time to pull some more meat out of the deep freezer too, since I've got about 3 more servings worth, which, since I'm alternating meats every day, means I've got 3 days worth of meat left :) I'm very pleased with myself for not cheating.

Into the 140's!!!!

Oh my goodness my weight loss is better than I could have even hoped!!! The scale said 148.5!!! Sheesh, I would have been happy with 149.5! I'm so excited that my diet is working. This is excellent news :D

Day 5

Well, my lunch experiment failed miserably :( I was trying to come up with an interesting way to get my fruit in, so I blended an apple with some water, a few drops of stevia, and some cinnimon (one of the allowed spices). My stomach is still reeling from that catastrophe :( I think it's a texture thing. It was basically like water with gunk in it. ((shudder))


I had my chicken/onion mixture for lunch (man, I cannot get enough of it!) but I did have one difference, and that is that I did not mix up my breadstick with it. I discovered yesterday that I received enormous pleasure and satisfaction from eating the breadstick whole. So for lunch I had the chicken and onion (with garlic salt and parsley), the horrible apple mixture (yes, I forced myself to finish it) and a breadstick.



I'll update this tonight after I've made dinner. I haven't made up my mind yet on whether or not I will have a tomato or cabbage for dinner. They both sound really yummy!

*I forgot to update last night. For dinner I cooked a whole steak, seasoned it with just a bit of salt (an allowed seasoning), a diced up tomato, an orange, and my grissini breadstick which I had to rescue not once, but TWICE! First my husband tried to hand a piece of the breadstick to Kaitlynn, upon which I squealed and shook my head (my mouth was full and I was trying not to spit). So he snatched it away before she could grab it, then tried to take a bite himself!! I about socked him one lol Not really. I swallowed my food and explained that this was the only food I could eat, and that he should not be eating part of my portions. He apologized and all was good :D I was tempted to have a little dressing with my tomato, and checked the label. I was thinking just a tiny bit to dip the tomato pieces into, and the serving size on the label was 2 tablespoons. For that amount, it had less than a gram of sugar. I really had to think about it, but since it's not on the list of approved foods, I decided against it. I really don't want to jepardize my weight loss. It's really important to me to stay strong, BECAUSE.... Thanksgiving is coming up and if I stick to the diet, Thansgiving will be 2 days away from when I can add starches and sugars back in to my diet. I plan to cheat, knowing that I might need to have a steak day the next day. If I dont' stick really closely to my diet up until then, I may not have reached my weight goal, and I may not be close enough to the end of maintenance to be comfortable cheating. So I have to be strong!



In the fridge, I have hidden a butterscotch pudding cup. It is my prize for acheiving my goal. After I have gone off of this diet and can eat regular portions of any food, that pudding cup will be my reward. I keep looking at it and thinking to myself "This diet will so be worth it to be able to eat sugar foods (in moderation) without worrying about gaining weight!" That and "Stick with it, because look what you're going to have the day after your diet is done!" lol Now if I can just keep it hidden from Jim and Luke long enough to actually be able to eat it! lol

By the way, check out my weight loss! I'm down to 150.0 today! Tomorrow I should break into the 140's! I'm so excited!

Stevia and the FDA

The following information came from the Wikipedia article. Now, generally wikipedia is not a great source, since anyone can go in and edit, so it's important to check sources. In this case, this information can be found with a simple google (or bing) search from other places. I opted to post this from Wikipedia since it was a lot of information in one place :)

"In 1991, after receiving an anonymous industry complaint, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeled stevia as an "unsafe food additive" and restricted its import. The FDA's stated reason was "toxicological information on stevia is inadequate to demonstrate its safety." This ruling was controversial, as stevia proponents pointed out that this designation violated the FDA's own guidelines under which natural substances used prior to 1958, with no reported adverse effects, should be generally recognized as safe (GRAS) as long as the substance was being used in the same way and format as prior to 1958.

Stevia occurs naturally, requiring no patent to produce it. As a consequence, since the import ban in 1991, marketers and consumers of stevia have shared a belief that the FDA acted in response to industry pressure. Arizona congressman Jon Kyl, for example, called the FDA action against stevia "a restraint of trade to benefit the artificial sweetener industry." To protect the complainant, the FDA deleted names in the original complaint in its responses to requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act.

Stevia remained banned until after the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act forced the FDA in 1995 to revise its stance to permit stevia to be used as a dietary supplement, although not as a food additive — a position that stevia proponents regard as contradictory because it simultaneously labels stevia as safe and unsafe, depending on how it is sold.

Although unresolved questions remain about whether metabolic processes can produce a mutagen from stevia in animals, let alone in humans, the early studies nevertheless prompted the European Commission in 1999 to ban stevia's use in food in the European Union pending further research. Singapore and Hong Kong have banned it also. More recent data compiled in the safety evaluation released by the World Health Organization in 2006 suggest that these policies may be obsolete.

In December 2008, the FDA gave a "no objection" approval for GRAS status to Truvia (developed by Cargill and The Coca-Cola Company) and PureVia (developed by PepsiCo and the Whole Earth Sweetener Company, a subsidiary of Merisant), both of which use rebaudioside A derived from the Stevia plant."

Now then... isn't it interesting that the FDA broke its own rules regarding substances generally regarded as safe as long as the substance was used the same way now as it was before 1958? And isn't it interesting that they did so to protect big name companies, such as those that manufacture sugar cane sugar, aspartame, and other big name sweeteners? Not really. I'd say it's par for the course. They're doing the same to HCG being used for weight loss. Regardless of the fact that HCG when used in conjunction with a very specific diet has been causing people to lose weight for over 50 years, and regardless of the fact that those same people have kept the weight off (except for a small percentage of people who went right back to gorging themselves after they were finished with the diet), the FDA continues to state that there is no evidence of HCG causing or contributing to weight loss. There has been a mountain of scientific studies done in other countries, proving the efficiency of the HCG diet, yet here in the good old US of A, the FDA continues to try and block its use for weight loss purposes, using their 2 or 3 measly studies, that weren't even done properly, including such things as not refrigerating the HCG (required for the injections) and premixing large batches, which rendered the HCG useless (the injections have to be mixed immediately prior to injecting as the HCG quickly breaks down and is completely useless if not immediately injected.

I guess my point is this: Just because the FDA says something, that doesn't make it true. What's the motivation? Who is the big company that benefits from what the FDA says? There are people from the big meat companies on the board of the FDA, as well as people from the dairy company, and big name pharmecuticals. The thing to remember is that the FDA doesn't want you to be thin. Look at the slope here: if you're fat, and I'm talking obese here, not just a few pounds too heavy, you're very likely to have underlying issues, such as diabetes (Insulin producers profit), high blood pressure (pharmecutical companies profit) and other health problems. You may even be prone to heart attack (aspirin companies profit, as well as other medication companies producing heart medication. If you're overweight at all, you may be trying to lose weight with pills (weight loss pill companies profit), shakes (those companies profit), or other things found at the supplement store (that store profits... which in turn profits all companies that have their product at the store). So you see... being fat is best for our economy, because you spend more money!! So, all kidding aside, the FDA really is out to get you :)

Day 4

Today has been harder for me mentally than yesterday. The reason? I went and helped out with an advertising event for my horse rescue. The event was at the Camp Corey Octoberfest. They had a food booth there, with all sorts of yummy stuff, like grilled cheese and pumpkin pancakes (YUM!!!!!) Of course the other girls were eating those while I grumbled to myself about choosing the wrong time of year to start a very restrictive diet. However, thinking about that got me thinking about Thanksgiving at the end of next month, when I should be at the tail end of my maintenance phase, meaning that I can go ahead and have some small servings of starches and carbs (potatoes and rolls), and how much weight I will have lost at that point, and how I'll be in a smaller size, and be so skinny. That just strengthened my resolve to stick to my diet.

Then, of course, I came home to find a plate of my FAVORITE mac 'n' cheese (spirals... I don't know why, but they just taste better) that Jim had made for the kids in my absence, and extra in the pot on the stove, and I thought just how easy it would be for me to just eat 2 noodles. I CAN'T!! I WILL NOT BE SWAYED!!! See how strong I am? lol I am really optomistic about my diet. One thing I will be changing in the future though is this: Every morning I'm going to make a big pot of tea to take with me throughout the day if I know I might have to leave. I will still be drinking half my weight in ounces of water on top of that, but the tea kills some of the more severe hunger issues. Yes, I did have some hunger issues today, but I think it may have been more mental than physical. I was seeing people eat all this yummy food, was smelling it, and my body wanted it. Once everyone had eaten, and the smells and sights were gone, I wasn't hungry anymore. By the time I got home I was getting a few grumbles from my tummy, but since it wasn't time to eat yet, I drank some tea, and now I feel fine. I sure am glad for those 2 drops of stevia, because green tea by itself is sure bitter.

So - meals.

Breakfast - 2 cups of tea
Lunch - steak strips, a handful of cut up strawberries, a handful of raw spinach (so glad I discovered that I like raw spinach, because it sure is good for you, and tasty too!), and a breadstick
Dinner (haven't eaten it yet) - same chicken/onion mix as yesterday and an orange.

I've been drinking lots of water, and now that I'm home I'm going to add some tea in as well :)

My New Diet

Well, my HCG is here, I am all set up with the necessary food items in the fridge (wrapped in plastic bags so Luke and Jim can't see it and be tempted to eat the ONLY food in the house I can eat lol), and today was my 3rd day of drops, and 1st day of the Low Calorie diet. Wednesday and Thursday were my load days, the days in which you are creating a quick fat store for the days before the HCG kicks in fully. On the load days you are supposed to eat whatever you want, and as much as you can possibly fit into your body, on top of all the water you can swallow. The general rule of thumb is to drink half your weight in ounces, so if you weigh 200 pounds, you drink 100 ounces of water, and so on.

When I weighed myself on Wednesday morning, I was 152.5 pounds. After stuffing my face all day on Wednesday, Thursday morning I'd only gained half a pound. Yesterday I stuffed myself even more, to the point that all the food and water sloshing around in my stomach made me think I might have to throw up. I figured I'd gained some weight, since it's not uncommon to gain during the loading phase. Nope. Not even half a pound. Still 153.

So, knowing that today was my first day of eating 500 calories, on top of all the water (approximately 76 ounces), I figured the best thing for me to do would be to prepare my food ahead of time. Since my meats of choice are chicken and beef (seeing how we have this enormous deep freezer stocked full with all the cuts your heart could desire, and also seeing how you aren't supposed to eat the same thing for lunch as for dinner) I cut up all the chicken and weighed it (100 grams per serving). For each meal you get 100 grams of meat, a handful of fruit, a handful of fruit (or one small apple or orange) and one grissini breadstick. Preparing for lunch today, I decided to combine some of those. I ground up the breadstick, chopped up enough onion for a handful, put it in a zip-lock with the cut up chicken, added a little garlic salt (very small amount) and shook it all up. For my fruit I chose cut strawberry. The steak I forgot to have Jim grab, so had to do that today.

For breakfast I had 2 cups of green tea, and lots of water. I didn't have any hunger issues until it was almost time for lunch, which I had cooked and put into a cooler since I had to run Jim his phone which he'd forgotten at home. I had my drops, went into a store to get my stevia, and by the time I had come back out, I was ready to eat (you aren't supposed to eat or drink anything for 30 minutes after taking the drops, so as to give them time to absorb). I ate slowly, and really savored every bite. About halfway through eating my chicken/onion mix I thought to myself that I wasn't sure if I'd be able to finish it because I was starting to feel full. It's really important to get those 500 calories though, so I finished it all off, and drank more water.

For dinner, I defrosted some steak, cut my 100 grams into little itty bitty strips, and chose lettuce and apple slices for the rest of my meal. Again I knew I was going to be out, so I brought my food with me in little storage containers. I ended up getting home early, so was able to sit and eat my food in piece. Well.. that is until Kaitlynn saw that I was eating apple and tried to scale the side of the lazy boy to get to it lol.... the girl loves her fruit. On a side note, the store I went to around lunch time has this absolutely amazing thing where anyone under 12 can choose a fruit for free - apple, orange, banana, etc. So both the kids got to eat a banana each for their lunch, on top of the sandwiches I had packed for them :) Gotta love PCC!! Anyway, back to my meals... about an hour before I ate my dinner I noticed that I was STARVING!!! I drank some water and tea though, before dinner, and as a result, halfway through eating, I was starting to feel full again! Often thirst will personify as hunger, and they say that if you feel hungry, drink a little water and your hunger may go away. So, I learned something from today. Being on the run made me drink less water today than I did the past 2 days. So I need to make sure that I bring my mason jar full of water, and keep a full gallon in the trunk. That way I won't experience any hunger pains.

As I'm writing this, it's about 10:30, and writing this reminded me that I feel a little hungry... more like I've got the munchies than any kind of serious hunger. This is usually about the time Jim and I are enjoying a bit of sugar cereal, so I'm guessing that's what my body is looking for, but it's going to be denied lol. No sugar for me, just stevia drops. Speaking of Stevia, that stuff is SUPER sweet!!! I opted for the drops instead of the packs, even though it was more expensive, because I wanted to have a little better control of how much I was using. With packets I'm more likely to just pour the thing in rather than pour in a tiny amount and then save the tiny packet. On the bottle, it recommends between 5 and 8 drops. The first time I put it in my tea I used 5 drops, and boy was that a mistake!! The tea was so sweet i almost couldn't drink it down! I didn't want to waste it though, so just went for it. The next time I used 2 drops, and that was perfect. It's so weird, to see 2 tiny little drops go into my large mug of liquid, and then taste the massive difference! I might be a convert! I always put sugar in my tea (although didn't this morning since Stevia is the only sweetener allowed on this diet and hadn't gone to PCC yet).

So there's my day :) I'm going to do my best to do daily updates, as time allows for it. On Wednesday, I had my friend take some pictures of me, front, side, and back (boy was THAT a wakeup call... now I'm almost afraid to let my own husband see me naked! I have rolls I didn't even know about!!) and I also measured various parts of my anatomy. I found a spreadsheet that I downloaded from the internet specifically for this diet. It has a place for your weight and for your measurements, and as you fill it in, it automatically fills in other information, such as inches lost, and pounds lost. I will not be taking pictures every day, nor measuring, but I think I will do so every week. I think it will be depressing if I can't see a difference from one picture to the next, so that's why I'm going to wait for a little longer between pictures and measurements. I'm very excited to finally be heading towards my weight goal!