It's about to end...

I've been spending this last week in great thought about what I should do. You see, I'm about to run out of hcg drops, in a matter of days. I probably have enough drops for tomorrow's doses and maybe half of the next days. I really had planned on staying on the drops for all through February and a little into March but as finances haven't allowed me to purchase a new bottle in time before running out of drops, I'm thinking that I might be ready to continue losing weight in a different way now. Today is day 23 on the drops (I think, I may be including some loading days in that number), either way, I have been on the drops for the minimum amount of time needed to follow the protocol. I am really happy with my results too. I'm back down to my pre-wedding weight, I'm fitting into my smaller sized scrubs and I'm looking thin! I don't have hardly any back rolls now. Yay! Here are my stats for the last 7-8 days

• 1-26 150.6 lbs ~ I lost 1 lb from the previous day
• 1-27 149.8 lbs ~ I lost .8 lbs. I had broken into the 140's!! ~ very happy about this
• 1-28 149.6 lbs ~ only lost 2 oz
• 1-29 148.6 lbs ~ I lost 1 lb ~ very happy about this!
• 1-30 148.4 lbs ~ kinda bummed I didn't lose any more than this
• 1-31 148 lbs ~ still stuck at this same pound, but I did lose 4 oz, so at least that's something. I was fully prepared to go on an apple day if I didn't lose anymore the next morning.
• 2-1 147.4 lbs ~ So glad I got over the 148 lb hump. Apparently I'm back on period so it makes sense that I didn't lose any more over the last 3 days ~ a .6 lb loss!
• 2-2 146.8 lbs ~ very glad I've lost another .6 lbs!

So, over the last week, I've lost only 3 lbs but I'm not going to be dismayed. Like I said earlier, I'm feeling and looking thinner. I have also lost another 3.5 inches from my body from last week

I've finally broken into the 140's

and I'm pretty excited! I lost just under 1 pound yesterday, so today my weight was 149.8 Lbs. I know its on the high range of the number, but I'll take it! ;) That's all I've got for now. It's been a good day. I was feeling pretty and happy that my skin is clearing up that I went through the effort and curled my hair into these cute, sexy waves :) and I'm feeling a little more motivated to continue the progress. One thing I've noted that I haven't been doing everyday like I planned was drinking an Apple Cider Vinegar cocktail. I haven't drank one of those thingies in weeks. I should start doing it every day though because I wonder how much more it will aid my fat burning. Tonight, me thinks I'm gonna gulp one down.

My Stats so far...

First of all, I lost another pound so my weight today is 150.6 Lbs.

I took my measurements back in October 2010 and then yesterday, I wanted to share them with you.

Oct 22 '10/ Jan 25 '11
Height: 5'4
Neck: 15"/ 13.5"
Ribs: 35"/ 33"
Bust: ?/ 40.5"
Forearm: 14"/ 11.5"
Tummy: 42"/ 38"
Thigh: 28"/ 23"
Hips: ?/ 39.5"
Wrist: 6.5"/ 6.5"
Calf: 14.25"/ 13"
Weight: 177.4 Lbs/ 151.6 Lbs
BMI: 30.4/26.1

So, I have lost over 17 inches off my body. The question marks on some of these are because I didn't think to measure those ones back in Oct. So, I know the inches are a lot more :)

My Body Mass Index (BMI) is just under 4 points lower, and that means I am no longer considered obese (I had a hard time with this term) I was 30.4, now I'm 26.1

My weight for the last week:
1-20 155.8 Lbs
1-21 154.4 Lbs ~ I lost 1.4 lbs :)
1-22 153.2 Lbs ~ I lost 1.2 lbs :)
1-23 153 Lbs ~ I only lost 2 oz. Boo!
1-24 151.6 Lbs ~ Made up for it today: lost 1.4 lbs :)
1-25 151.6 Lbs ~ Didn't budge, weird but oh well.
1-26 150.6 Lbs ~ I lost 1 lb :)

So in 7 days, I lost 5.2 Lbs. Not bad.

I'm pretty happy with the results so far. I still have a long ways to go, but at least it hasn't slowed down as bad as it did last round. I still would like to be 120 Lbs before I finish the drops. If I can go longer, then that would be great too ;) I'm 5'4 tall so I could be in the 110's and not be too tiny, I was once there, but I also realize that that was over 6 years ago, I'm 29 years old, I'm not a young chick anymore :( All I want is to look healthy and fit. I'll accept whatever the scale says and hope to start working out and maintaining my new body in the maintenance phase and after that too.

Hcg Round Two: week 2

Tuesday has become my new weigh-in/measurement & photo day. During this last week, I've been noticing that I've been looking thinner each day so I was pretty excited to take my measurements today. I can't post them right now because I'm away from my home computer at the moment and my notes are at home. Let's just say for now though that I am REALLY happy with the results. I've lost over 10 inches from all over my body in this past week alone! I'm floored by that. This diet has totally deflated me :) I even was on my period this past week and I still managed to lose weight and inches ~ Hooray! For instance, I know I've lost 2 inches from my waist and 1 inch from my neck; so even my face is looking much much thinner. But like I said, I'll post the stats another day so you can see them. In total, I've lost 12 Lbs on this round so far. Today is day 11 on the VLCD phase. So my weigh in today is 151.6 Lbs. I'm really looking forward to being in the 140's ~ It's been so long! Probably since 2007 when I got married.

6 Days in, 6 pounds lost

Every day it gets easier and easier, as far as the hunger is concerned. I have been on the VLCD portion of the diet for 6 days and I have lost 6 Lbs. Yippee! Let me break down what I have done so far...

• I did an extra loading day. I had to work a double a few days before starting and it was overnight and I still hadn't recovered from it, I didn't even go grocery shopping so I felt that it wasn't wise to start the VLCD portion on the day I had to go get the groceries.
• I've been taking the drops around the clock; 8am, 4pm & 12am, so that it is in my system all the time.
• Sat. 1/15 ~ After the first day on the VLCD, I lost 2 Lbs. So, my weight was 160.2 lb.
• Sun 1/16 ~ I managed to lose another 2 Lbs. the next day ~ 158.2 lb.
• Mon 1/17 ~ I had to work another double Sunday (2:30pm-5:30am) and I didn't have a "back up meal" for the unexpected shift change. I ended up ordering a fish sandwich in the cafeteria and cheated on the diet. I thought, hopefully, not too much harm would be done to my diet. My weight went back up to 159.6 Lb. I accept that consequence... I jumped back up on the diet, eating only the right foods but made sure I got plenty of water and rest
• Tue 1/18 ~ I only lost 2 oz. (159.4) That was to be expected, I just stuck to the diet...
• Wed 1/19 ~ Miraculously, I managed to lose 3 Lbs. overnight! I couldn't believe it! ~ 156.4 Lb.

I know that I had a cheat right at the beginning, and as bad as that is, I'm not going to scold myself too much because I've found that if I start to feel really bad about cheating, I'm more likely to shrug it off in a negative way and go ahead and "blow it" some more. Does that make sense? I just wanted to put it behind me, accept whatever the consequences are and MOVE ON. I'm really astonished that I have managed to lose 6 Lbs. in 6 days, it averaged itself out, yay!

Hopefully, I can keep up the progress!

hCG Round 2

I know it's been a very long time since I updated this blog. Infact, that last I wrote on here was even before the maintenance phase. That came & went pretty good. I was able to maintain the weight within the 3 weeks of being on the drops. Christmas week was a different story, and really since then. I guess you could say I went hog wild :) I didn't limit myself on anything, and I think that I told myself, it's okay to eat bad now because I'm going to be doing another round and so I gradually gained weight back. To my dismay, I am back to 162 Lbs. I'm pretty mad at myself for going back into the 160's. That's just crazy!

At least now I am back in hCG mode. Today is my first VLCD day. I think I am in a funk today ~ maybe it's because I am feeling apprehencious about what my results will be... I added an extra day of loading, so I did 3 loading days this time. The reason for that was that yesterday should have been my first VLCD day but I hadn't yet bought my groceries for the next 2 weeks, it was my day off, and I was catching up on some much needed lost sleep after working a double shift during the night over the weekend. I hope that dosen't hurt me too bad. I feel like I got to eat all the things I wanted to before starting back up on this diet. I'm sick of food, and I really missed the pure foods and smaller portions. Weird.

Some things I'm doing differently on this round:

• I have made up a menu for 10 weeks (if I need to be on the diet that long)
• I'm adding different vegetables this time round to add more variety. I'm adding celery, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce salads, onions, along with my staples: spinach and asparagus
• I'm not going to eat the same vegetables in any one day. I didn't do that last time
• I'm going to have 2 ACV cocktails a day
• I'm eating 1 grapefruit every day. It speeds up the fat burning :)
• I'm going to walk 1 12 minute mile everyday starting tonite! :)
• oh, and for the other fruits, I'm switching it up to have strawberries every three days too. That way, I'll have more variety in my diet, and hopefully, less likely to be tempted to cheat.

I've learned from the first round, that it's absolutely not worth cheating. I've also discovered that I need to be serious about changing my lifestyle. I'm not surprised I gained weight back because I just reverted back to my old ways. I know I over-indulged and I'm going to have to be very aware of what I'm tempted to do after the diet is over. I hope to overcome my stronghold with food.

It's going to be really great this time round because I have a friend who is doing it with me, yay!

I hope to also stay faithful with this blog. Perhaps I'll add some photos for real this time...

The Weekend

So saturday was supposed to be the day that I had been looking forward to forever, it was even the one of the main reasons to go on the hCG drops diet. My first Army Dining Out experience with my husband. I was excited to lose 3 dress sizes for this event. The day had was overshadowed though by my back molar tooth breaking (again) and exposing the nerve. It was so painful, by the end of the night, I was in agony. I tried to grin and bear it though throughout the banquet. It was actually an enjoyable night. I met some nice people and it was a learning experience for me, as far as protocol and correct references to rank.

All day sunday, I was miserable with tooth pain, and barely ate anything. I was able to get some scrambled eggs down at least. First thing monday, I made an appointment with my dentist to come in and get that tooth extracted. It was beyond repair.

I'm supposed to be on the maintenance phase, and so I can eat anything I want except for starches and sugars, but that leaves limited choices when you're unable to chew properly and pain-free. Later on that day, my husband ordered out from McAlister's and I ate mashed potatoes and mac & cheese. It's funny how I expected to gain from it and that I would probably have to go on a steak (or egg) day the following day because I imagined I would have gone over two pounds. Alas, that did not happen! I actually lost a few ounces from my last dose weigh in day. I was down to 153.8 Lbs. Maybe it was a case of calories in/calories out. I really didn't eat very much.

Now that my tooth (-less) space is healing, I'm more able to eat regularly so I'm going to go back to eating proper Phase 3 foods. I'm very positive that I will be able to maintain this weight. I hope that my hypothalamus resets properly even though I had this hiccup in my diet. We shall see...

The last week kind of fizzled out...

No, I haven't disappeared off the planet, online, well yes, that is a different story. I have begun the maintenance phase. I'm happy to be eating more food now. I'm currently on day 2 of Phase 3. I'm still only allowed to eat 500 calories but I've been eating salsa, cheese, and forbidden chips. I know I shouldn't be eating those but yeah, I've been cheating on this diet. The last week on the drops, as you know, I ate at Carlos O'Kellys, had Thanksgiving dinner, and what you don't know, I also ate out at Logan's Roadhouse where I had some nachos. I tell you, I've been craving mexican food like tacos like nobody's business! anyway, as far as the circumstances go, with cheating comes it's disappointments. I stalled out on any weight loss since the Thanksgiving dinner. So they brought my weight loss to a halt. Not any gains, so that part is good. But I didn't do as good as I had planned. I would have liked to be at least down to 150 Lbs. But my last weigh in on the drops was 154.4 Lbs.

Since Monday, I've been exercising doing a 12 minute mile walk (jog) and also a 30 min. whole body toning DVD everyday and I managed to lose half a pound doing that. I'm going to continue them. I have a special event with my husband; an Army Banquet this saturday, so I'm trying to tone up for the dress I bought. I'll post on that later :)

Back to me losing half a pound, this moring I weighed in at 153.8 Lbs! I realize I need to maintain my weight, but I am also going to continue exercising, and will probably lose weight still. I just need to be careful that I don't gain any.

Today and yesterday, I've been scouring over all my cook books and online planning my menu and finding recipes that I can enjoy. I'm getting excited about cooking again.

I'm super excited to be off work for the next 3 days. I'm going to pamper myself tomorrow to prepare for the banquet.

• manicure
• pedicure
• face mask
• find and practice a cute updo

This is the first one I've ever been to so I'm excited, since Nathanael is a Luitenant, he gets to wear his Dress Blues. Sexy, sexy! I really do love a man in uniform! ;)

I'll try to post pics :)

What I've been up to lately...

This past 2 weeks, I've been in correspondance with a lovely woman who wanted me to make her grandson a special mobile for his Cowboy Themed nursery room. It was based off my Carousel Horses Mobile. I had a lot of fun creating this and was sad to think that I couldn't post any pictures of it on Etsy as the one that sold (it became a custom order) So, anyway, here it is!

When I think of a little boy's room with cowboys; red, yellow and blue come to mind, along with horse shoes and cactus. Granted, who's ever seen a blue cactus before??? I thought it was cute :)

I really hope that the grandson loves it.

I'm thinking of making a listing of this one on Etsy, maybe there's other little boys who would love something like this in their room?

It's always hard for me to pick just 5 photos so these last ones are combined!

Hope you enjoyed! What do you think?

It's a Miracle!

I'm hoping that your Thanksgiving was as enjoyable as mine! I got to debut my new skinny(-er) body :) While that was neat, even better was just being around loved ones, all the delicious smells of food cooking and then getting to enjoy it! Which I did tremendously!!! I told Grandmother that I've been having dreams of her Sweet Potatoe Casserole, mmm mmm good. All in all, it was a lovely day.

My husband and I woke up in time for the Macy's Parade, and around lunch time, I was hungry so I ate my lean ground beef and 1/2 a can of spinach. Thanksgiving dinner would be ready to eat at 4 pm.

I prepared devilled eggs the night before, and forgot about my diet and licked the spatula and bowl clean ~ it's funny how guilty I felt after doing that. During this whole diet, I've always been kind of scared to cheat on it, even by just a little bit. They say that if you even come into contact with fats or oils on your skin, it can have an effect on your results the next day. Well, I found that it didn't really hurt me at all the next day.

During Thanksgiving meal, I had heaps of everything, just about. While I felt full, it didn't bother my tummy like it had when I cheated on Monday at Carlos O'Kellys. I couldn't believe it! I sipped my water, had my drops as my arsenal for the day, and I even ate a slice of pumpkin pie later on. Before I went to bed, I weighed myself and it showed that I gained 2 Lbs. at the end of the day, (157 Lbs) I was ready to accept some pounds back but I couldn't believe what happened this morning, a miracle occured...

During the night, I got up to use the bathroom and decided to weigh myself, I removed my clothing and stepped on the scale, to my astonishment, I weighed 155 Lbs. on the dot. I went back to bed thinking let's see what it is when I actually get up for the day. Later on, when I did get up, I had dropped even more... I weighed in this morning at 154.4 Lbs!!! I know it is just a few ounces that I've lost but still!!! How can that be?

Today, I am on an apple day and lot's of water. I hope to be down to at least 153 something tomorrow :) We shall see...

What is this Phenomenon?

I work at a hospital and one thing that I love about my job is what I get to wear; I get to wear scrubs every day and it is so comfortable! No one can tell or see all the hidden fat under my scrubs. I know that sounds silly but it has kind of been like a security blanket for me. Since scrubs are usually baggy, almost pajama-like clothes, I feel like they have allowed me to become lacksadaisy with my weight over the last 4-5 years.

Our hospital often has scrub sales that occur each season and so I have an assortment of scrubs in different sizes. Today, I noticed especially that my scrubs are looking pretty baggy and big on me. I noticed myself having to keep pulling up my pants like they're falling off of me. As annoying as that is (I hate having to adjust my clothes constantly) I was quite delighted at the same time. What is this phenomenon??... what ever it is, I'm enjoying it :)

I think I'm going to have to break out my smaller size pants and say good bye to my fat pants!!! Yippee! It's the small victories that make this diet so awesome :)

My Moment of Weakness ~ I Cheated!

Where in the world did my resolve go to not cheat? That is what I'm left asking myself. It felt dirty and wrong; like it ought to. Of course, anything associated with the word 'cheat' should. I was disgusted with myself.

My husband picked me up from work early, I had some library books to return like Kevin Trudeau's The Weight Loss Cure, and Sam's Club was next to the library so we browsed around. Nathanael was hungry at this point and the amazing thing is, I wasn't really, like at all. I just had a strong craving for food. The food that I've mostly been craving this whole time while I've been on hCG is tacos. I love me some tacos!!! We both had an inkling for Mexican food and we passed Carlos O'Kellys. I literally begged Nathanael for us to go there. He tried to talk me out of it and we drove past it but I insisted, vowing that I would only get a taco and have a water and would work out the next day and have another apple day. My craving was fierce! I don't expect to hold my husband accountable to me staying on my diet. Nor do I want to feel resentment towards whatever he is eating that tempts me. I told him that I would accept whatever the consequences are for this cheat. So we turned down another route and ended back at Carlos O'Kellys.

I'm not going to go on and on about how good the food tasted, but I'm not going to lie to you, it was scrumptuous. To my amazement, I filled up so quickly. I had the chips and salsa and just a few bites of my nachos (they didn't have any tacos, can you believe that? weird) I was happy that I didn't continue to eat although that is what I would typically do prior to this diet. I thought I was fully prepared to not feel good afterwards and 'pay' for my cheat.

But it didn't happen in ways that I was expecting. I was expecting to have gained a substantial amount of weight back. That didn't really happen. I only gained 6 ounces. Weird. After eating, I felt so stuffed and instantly felt physically ill. The guilt kicked in instantly too. This was my first deliberate cheat. My stomach ached, I felt bloated and for the rest of the evening, I had a dull pain where my gall bladder is. Today, I have had a fierce headache on and off all day long.

Today, I have been doing an apple day, sipping green tea and lots of water and that's helping me. I honestly cannot believe I didn't gain like 2 pounds! Who knows what my weight will be tomorrow ~ we shall see.

What I've learned is that it is not really worth cheating. I didn't enjoy it as much as I would, had I ate it guilt-free. Plus, I hardly ate anything so it wasn't worth the money paid. I'm going to still go ahead with Thanksgiving dinner but have the tiniest amounts of servings. I do not want to gain a lot on that day and feel yucky afterwards too.

Has anyone else experienced cheating? What were some of your results? I've heard horror stories and I was ready to accept that to happen to me (stalling again for days, gaining extra pounds back, etc.)

I feel very sheepish writing this post but it did happen and this was my experience with it. I guess I'm not that strong yet with my cravings.

I'm still taking 60 drops a day but I'm trying something new. I'm taking 30 drops at 12 pm and will take another 30 drops at 12 am ~ that way it will be consistently in my system around the clock. I wonder if I'll have better results with it this way. I haven't been taking them at consistent times in the past, and wonder if that affects my results.

The Second Apple Day was a Success!

I'm happy to report that this morning I lost 1.2 pounds by doing the second apple day for no reason.

I want to state again the reasons why I did it. I had a stall this last week for 5 days. After I did the apple day the first time, (which was on the 5th stall day) I lost 1.6 Lbs. and that was great and all, but I heard that the apple day is supposed to break a stall and get you back on track to losing a pound a day again, well that did not happen to me. I only lost 6 ounces the following day. That made me sad and frustrated. That's why I decided to do it again. I'm glad I did because I lost 1.2 pounds doing it.

I have to admit that the apple days are tough! By the end of the day, I was grumpy, fed up and desperately wanted to cheat but I didn't! I just took my last dose of drops (which I've increased to 60 drops a day) and sat and watched tv with Nathanael and played with our puppies. I went to bed in a good and relaxed mood.

Today though, I am back on the protocol. I even took the Apple Cider Vinegar cocktail and have found that it seems to run through you, at least that is how it feels. I added 13-14 drops of liquid potassium to it and gulped it down before I left for work today.

All in all, last week was a disappointment as far as results go. I always measure myself on Mondays and take photos. The results show that I only lost under 3 pounds all last week! But I lost 2 inches off my body so that is good, I guess. That brings the total weight loss to 23 pounds, 19 inches off my body being on the diet since Oct. 25th ~ 28 days.

I really shouldn't beat myself up. These are great results and I'm thrilled to pieces! Go hCG!!!

The real test will be after Thanksgiving day. I'm praying that I won't gain too much. I expect to gain maybe 2 pounds but anything over it will be horrible. Oh well, I will accept whatever the consequences are of my actions. I'm going to go ahead with doing an apple day before and after though.

Doing a little experiment here...

I haven't mentioned this yet on my blog, but I love to make lists. At home, I have a spreadsheet that has all the details about my progress on the hCG regime; the dates, my weight, my body's measurements, what my stats were before starting the diet, days left on each phase, when I start the maintenance phase, when I take a 3 week break, etc. I also document what my projected weight should be (based on the prospect of trying to lose at least a pound a day).

Well, according to that last one, I am about 5 pounds shy of losing a pound a day. I've been on the VLCD portion for 26 days now and I have lost 22 pounds. I'm not complaining, but like others who are doing the same diet as me, this is hard work and takes a lot of determination. I assume those others, like me, want to acheive the absolute best results that they can get.

I am going to do an experiment, because maybe this will help someone else out. I am going to do another apple day. Even though I managed to lose 4 ounces yesterday ~ that dosen't cut it in my books. That's not nearly enough for me right now. I want to finish off these last 8 days with a bang, not lose the bare minimal!

Because of this frustration, I am going to eat nothing but apples today (6 of them, if needed) Dr. Simeons suggested doing an apple day when one has stalled on their weight loss for 4-6 days, and I stalled for 5 days only a few days ago. I've tryed to research online; in different hCG forums to see if anyone has tried this and I didn't have much success in finding anything. So I'm going to do it. I would love to have another 1.6 pound loss in the morning like I did the day after the last apple day I did. I would love to catch up to my projected weight loss. We shall see...

Right before I did the apple day the first time, I used my resources at the place I bought my drops from, yourhcg.com. They have live representatives that answer your every question. I asked Bryan how I could maximize my results and he gave several options; to name a few:

• Drink water that measures half your weight in ounces. For me that is 80 oz. (give or take)
• Drink 2 cups of green tea a day
• Instead of eating apples with your meals, try eating oranges, 1/2 grapefruit or strawberries
• Leave out the Melba toast
• Drink an Apple Cider Vinegar cocktail everyday: 2 tbs ACV, with 8 oz. water and a dash of Stevia to make it go down easier :) It's pretty harsh stuff, but it gets things moving, if you know what I mean!
• Eat 1/2 grapefruit everyday
• Take potassium everyday
• Try not eating anything after dinner to lunch the next day

I implemented all these tips but still, yesterday I only lost 6 ounces. Boo!!! Another reason I'm doing this experiment. I even increased my dosage to 49 drops rather than only 36. I'm not worried about running out of drops because I realize that I am going to probably have to order another 2 oz. bottle for round 2. Although, I do have quite a bit of drops left in both bottles now. Hmmm...maybe I should be increasing the doses up to the max. 60 drops (200 IU's) for these last 8 days. Why not? If anyone has any thoughts, I would really love to hear them.

I'm also worried about Thanksgiving. I fully intend to enjoy that meal and cheat a little. I was going to try to do an apple day before and an apple day afterward. Hopefully doing this apple day today, it can show me what to expect when I try to counteract gaining weight on Thanksgiving food. I don't know, but I feel like I am treading on unchartered waters here by doing this. I don't know if I am going to get good results from this or not. Again, we shall see...

The Dreaded Apple Day

Everything seemed to be going so well. Then bam, 3 weeks into the weight loss, I stalled for 5 DAYS. For 5 days, I was at the same weight, (158 pounds) give or take a few ounces. Talk about frustrating! It has now dawned on me why it probably happened. I'll get into that in just a little bit...

At first, I didn't think that the 6 Apple Day would be all that bad. I was actually excited to do it because of the guaranteed results. I had been feeling hungry for days and so that didn't help. I went to work that day and had 2 apples in a row because the first one did not suffice. Not drinking a lot of water was difficult for me too. It's funny because as I have researched different sites online about doing the apple day, I have read conflicting things; some say to drink plenty of water but according to Dr. ATW Simeon's manuscript, Pounds & Inches, he says that one should only drink enough water to quench an uncomfortable thirst. So that is what I did. Along with the apples. I was starvin' marvin! I really craved protein and other flavors. I also read in the manuscript that if less than 6 apples are enough, don't force yourself to eat all 6. As hungry as I was, (I think it was more psychological than pure hunger) I managed to only eat 4 apples. I went to bed that night praying for good results and I got them! I managed to lose 1.6 Lbs. which left me at 157 Lbs. on the dot! I am satisfied with this. I heard that others have lost up to 2 pounds after an apple day. No fair! Nah, I realize that each person is going to have unique results; apple day or regular VLCD day. I need to focus on the positive. It broke me from my stall (Lord, I hope!) and I've been measuring my body from when I began and I have lost 17 inches from my body!!! unbelievable!

I had to do some soul searching and really investigate why I stalled. That was easy to do. I hope others can learn from my experience and not deviate from the original protocol. I ate green beans on some days. This is not an allowed food item on the original protocol. I just love them so much but I'm going to cut them out. I also had malt vinegar with my baked cod and spinach, like, doused it in the stuff (I was born in England and also grew up in Ireland, what do you expect?) I have now discovered that I am not allowed to have malt vinegar. I also have been consuming beaucoups of salt because I'm finding it very hard to stomach the blandness of the foods I'm eating. After a while, the diet gets boring. I am going to go back to Mrs. Dash blends. I've already finished one bottle of the Herbs & Garlic flavor and I picked up a new one the other day; Fiesta Lime. So far, it's pretty decent on grilled shrimp.

It's not that this diet is hard or easy, I am just finding that I really miss regular foods. I am certain though, that eating such a clean diet is the best for me, as I'm seeing the results of it, but I would still like to be able to eat "bad" after this every once in a while. One thing I'm for sure of, I am going to eat "clean" as a daily thing from now on. I'm so desperately looking forward to the maintenance phase. Even though I cannot have any starches and sugars, I'm looking forward to the freedom of eating everything else! Dec 4th cannot come soon enough.

Stay tuned because next week is Thanksgiving!!! Oh my goodness, that makes me nervous.

The results are in!

My experience with the Keratin Complex Smoothing Treatment by Coppola

As an early Christmas present, Nathanael encouraged me to go get it done now (albeit a month prior to Christmas) so that way I could get some enjoyment out of it during the holiday season. I didn't think twice. This was something I've always wanted to do, so I booked my appointment!

I decided to wash my hair the night before, and let it air dry so my hairdresser could see what she's working with here. So this is pretty much my hair left to air dry. It has been combed but as you can see, it is pretty wild and unruly and the longer it gets, the more knots there are.

Don't get me wrong, I've always liked the texture in my hair, I like having the wave and volume but it dosent always look nice curled with products, so yeah.

3 hours later, this is the result, Magnifique! I honestly don't like my hair this pin straight because it looks weird with my face and being right up against my head. Not attractive on me.

This is me and the very beautiful and talented hairdresser, Choua. We pretty much bonded over our mutual obsession with Youtube personalities like the Shaytards and Michelle Phan. This gal is very talented and she does an amazing job at coloring too. Choua did my high and low lights less than a month ago and I've been very happy with her service. She's a sweet gal too.

Oh, and my worries that it would affect my hair color...in actuality, it improved it! When they put the clarifying shampoo in your hair, it cleaned out all my brassiness and redness from previous hair dye jobs. I'm quite delighted about that!

After 3 pain-stakingly days without even tucking my hair behind my ears (I stayed indoors the entire 3 days) I finally got to wash my hair. I didn't really notice any texture difference while shampooing but when I rinsed the conditioner out, it felt very manageable and soft.

Now to the best part of all! Blow drying my hair was like a dream come true. It literally took less than 5 minutes to blowdry. I didn't use any other product in my hair other than the shampoo and conditioner, and I didn't even need to use a curling iron to smooth it or a straightening iron to straighten it. This was the literal results! These last pics were taken minutes after I was done. Look at that shine!!! My hair has never looked so shiny!

Side view. I like how it isn't flat against my head, I had some body to it, yay!

I wish I had a better back view of it but the pic was too blurry to use. Sorry, I'm kinda picky on photos like that.

Hope this helps anyone out there curious of giving it a go. I would recommend it!

A break from my weight loss updates

Tomorrow I will be going to my hair salon to get the Keratin Complex Smoothing Treatment on my hair. I am excited and nervous because this is something I've always wanted to do. I'm nervous because some of the reviews...hair falling out, hair thinning, turning hair color orange. Yuck! That's the last thing I need. I have put my hair through enough torment and bad color dyes to last a lifetime. All I want is to have hair that is non-frizzy and smooth. I love the texture of my hair but it is too frizzy. The Keratin treatment claims to get rid of 95 % of the frizz and the curl. Plus, it can last up to 5 - 8 months! I would love to be able to just wash my hair and let it dry naturally without worrying and trying to tame the frizz and weird kinks & curls. So, I'm going to give it a go. It's my early Christmas present. Yay! I'm going to do a review on this. Hope it helps someone else out there. I'd love to hear stories about other people's experience with it. The good and the bad.

The difficult part with this is going to be the next 72 hours after getting it done. I'm not allowed to put my hair up, put a clip in it to keep it out of my face, or even tuck my hair behind my ears. I also cannot get it wet or get any perspiration on it :( I'll be miserable.

I'm going to fill you in on my experience with this treatment. I'll post pics before, after, after the first wash, etc. This'll be fun. A nice distraction from my ongoing diet on hCG.

Psst.... I'm now 161 Lbs!

The cat is out of the bag!

Hooray! People are starting to notice my weight loss :) My co-workers are telling me that I look skinny and that I look like I've lost weight. Indeed, I have. I'm now 16 Lbs. lighter. It has been 10 days since my last update to this blog, but life has happened and prevented me from updating any sooner. Not even sure if anyone is reading this anyway...

I was going to post pics of our new puppy and I will do that soon. I just wanted to update this blog with my details. Over the course of the last 10 days in my life...

• On Nov. 8th I lost 1.5 inches around my waist. That was really the only substantial difference I lost as far as inches go. In other areas, it was less.
• I stalled. I was 165 Lbs. one day, then the next I jumped up to 167 Lbs. The next day, I went down to 166 Lbs. On the 4th day, I was back to 165 Lbs. These 4 days made me very disappointed. I had to talk to a Yourhcg.com counselor to get to the bottom of why I had gained and stalled. We came to the assumption of this: I made crab cakes which prolly had way too much sodium, I was expecting my period very soon, I drank mint tea; which she told me that that can make some people stall on their diet.
• I was about to do an apple day the next day, but I was back to 165 Lbs. so I decided to see what happened the next day and to my relief, I lost a pound.
• I think that I stalled so early at this weight because a year ago, this was my weight that I maintained for a long while. I almost expected this because Dr. Simeons talks about this in his manuscript.
• So we got Marcello a little brother; Vincenzo. The first day we brought him home, all Marcello wanted to do was mount him. That wasn't going to fly. We took Vincenzo to see our family friend, Scott, who is a veteranarian. Our poor puppy had hook worms and tape worms. We got that taken care of and he is doing great! We also discussed Marcello and his horniness, we decided that we should bring Marcello in and have him neutered.
• On wednesday, I dropped Marcello off, expecting him to do just fine and feel better later on in the evening. That was not the case. He was soo sick from the anesthesia, he pooped and vomited all through the rest of the day, the night and the next day. His eyes were glazed over and his pupils werent dilated at all; they were HUGE. I felt so guilty and scared for him. I felt horrible that we put him through this, all the while he didn't know what was going on or why he felt this way. I know it was the best choice, but it was heart-wrenching watching him be so sick.
• I'm happy to report that he is now all better and they (he and Vinny) are the best of friends. Pics to follow soon.

Even though I stalled for 3-4 days this past week, in the scheme of things, I have still lost a pound a day. There were some days where I lost 2 Lbs. in the first week. My skin is clearing up beautifully, I'm noticing an overall slimming of my body, and people are noticing! Life is good.

Soo Excited...

Today, I'm going to keep this really short and I think that in my next post, I'm going to back track a little and give a list of my eating details. I wanted to report that I have now lost 8 Lbs! That's 8 Lbs lost in 5 days. I'm noticing it in my face, my arms and I feel my pants are a somewhat loose. Hooray!!! Thrilled to pieces about this.


Todays weight: (Oct. 30th) 170.8 Lbs.

I work today then after work, at 11 pm, I have to jet back home, shower, do some finishing touches on house cleaning, puppy proof the living room, then my husband and I are packing up and driving through the night to Oklahoma for a very big surprise....we're getting a new puppy!! He's adorable. Our Iggy (Italian Greyhound), Marcello, came from the same place, and even better, these guys have the same daddy so they'll actually be bros... "brothers from another mother" I'll post a pic soon. His name will be Vincenzo :)

This drive is going to take 15 -17 hours of the day tomorrow, so I'm a little worried about sticking to my diet. I don't want to compromise the foods I can eat...

Good riddance, fat cells! you won't be missed!

Today is my fourth day on the VLCD and so far, I have lost 5 Lbs! I can tell a difference in my face, and my husband notices it too. It is slightly thinner. Yay! I'm happy to report that it has also been easier dealing with only eating the limited foods. It gets easier every day. I have found that I am really tired though by 8 or 9 pm, (If I'm not at work, otherwise, I usually have to tough it out until getting off at 11 pm) and go to bed so much earlier because I'm exhausted, my head hurts and I'm mildly hungry. I'm sleeping really good and getting a full 7 to 8 hours of sleep, which is a huge plus and such a blessing! I don't normally get good sleep. While I do have to get up at least one time to use the bathroom, I'm so tired still and easily fall right back to sleep.

I'd like to keep this entry short today so I'm going to go over my last 2 days documenting the foods I ate, when I took the dosage and also my stats - weight loss progression.

Oh, before I get into that, I wanted to share two things...I had to get a flu shot yesterday at work and today, my head feels so congested. I had to take an Airborne Formula Vit C tablet in water (so I consumed some sugar with that, ugh) and the other thing was that me and my co-worker; who is pregnant, were chuckling over the fact that I have to go pee as often, or even more so than she does because the hCG drops makes you pee 15,000 times a day. Each time I use the restroom, my mantra has been "Good Riddance Fat Cells! You Won't Be Missed!"

Not a good day...

Today has been a rough day. It started off horribly. It's sunday am, I've had my first dose already at 7 am and I am killing time before I have to get ready for church. As I went to go brush my teeth, quite suddenly, I feel such a sharp pain in my chest underneath my breast on my left hand side. I could hardly breathe. Every time I tried to take a breath, the pain was so intense that I had to take tiny, rapid shallow breaths and even that hurt. I woke my husband up with it. I've experienced this before but it hasn't lasted as long as this time did. I kind of thought I was having symptoms of a heart attack but I have asthma and pleurisy (which is inflammation and lack of fluid between muscle and my ribs or lungs or something like that) I need to re-educate myself on what that is and how to treat it. Anyway, this was so intense and really freaked me out. Asthma attacks leave me feeling so weak, jittery and shaky and just plain weird feeling. It made it so hard to load my diet up with fats, sugars and high calorie foods, Oy! I really hope I don't have repurcussions from this. All this time I've been looking forward to these loading days and I'm not able to do them to their full potential as I'd like to. They say that if you really don't load up on the first two days while getting hCG doses; you are more likely to suffer from difficult hunger pangs. Oh well, I'm so tired of eating this junk anyway. I managed what I could and it goes as follows:

• 7 am: First dose. I left it under my tongue for 5 minutes and then 30 minutes later, I ate Cheddars left overs with a Mt. Dew
• 10 am: Dose Two.
• My husband brought home some Schlotzski's Deli home (I'm quite proud of myself for spelling that correctly without having to look) I ate an original sandwich and drank a regular coke with it.
• 1 pm: Dose Three. Promptly got ready for work, I was feeling much better from earlier.
• 4 pm: Dose Four. There was seriously lacking yummy food appeal in the cafeteria today. Called 'Thanel to please bring me some dinner. He got me a Spud Max and Sweet Tea from McAlister's Deli. I have yet to eat the potatoe, I'm feeling so sick of food right now that it is hard to fathom eating another meal.
• 7 pm: Dose Five. I still haven't ate the Spud but instead, I had, um, 3 candy bars....Don't judge me! This is what I'm supposed to do! ;P I ate 2 bags of M&M's Pretzels peices and one Twix bar. I love these, they're kind of like my fav. candy right now and I wanted to have some for the last time, you know?
• 10 pm: Just took my last dose for the day. I kinda think that it is already suppressing my appetite because, again, I cannot think of eating anything more! I can't believe that this stuff really does not make you feel hungry... well, at least for now. Or maybe this is because I've had a crumby day healthwise.

Okay, so I wanted to now talk about my armpits. tee hee. While on the hCG diet, you're supposed to use beauty and hygiene products that do not contain oils, fats, and sugars. Well that eliminates regular deoderant and I was reading that you can actually just dust and rub in baking soda on your pits. It absorbs moisture and also odor, so I wanted to test this. Yesterday and today, I used baking soda on my pits and I have to say that yesterday, I seriously felt like I stayed dry and non stinky all through out my shift at work, cool huh? Today, about 5 or 6 hours into my shift, I started to feel wet and that made me feel bad and a little paranoid. The last thing I want is to be stinky and left high and dry with nothing to combat that. It's not exactly feasible to reapply this stuff while at work. I'm not exactly confidant that this is the only option I'm going to use but I think I will use it on days when I'm not out of the house too much to where, if need be, I could reapply the stuff and continue on with my day without a care in the world. I'm going to have to look for the Thai Crystal Stick Deoderant that was on the approved list. I haven't ever seen the stuff at Walmart but maybe I wasn't really looking hard enough. So that is my mission tonight...

Loading Day One

I must tell you that I have awaited this day with much anticipation. My mind has become pretty darn obsessed with my plans for this diet and how my results will be. I am completely ready and gung-ho for sticking to the strict vlcd (very low calorie diet). I'm even seriously considering using only organic products in place of my regular beauty and personal hygiene products that I currently use. At the very least, making sure they are oil free. I picked up some Tom of Maine's toothpaste. They're actually a really awesome company and I've seen it at the store before but never tried it until now and I have to say, I'm not terribly thrilled with it. One very big concern I have is that I want my breath to smell fresh and I don't get that total confidant feeling after using this toothpaste leaving a cool, minty fresh taste in my mouth. sigh. I havent found any breath mints or gum that does not contain sugar so I think I'm going to have to haul this toothpaste and brush in my tote everywhere I go, so that way, I'll at least be able to brush my teeth and have decent breath throughout the day. They do say on every tube to brush after each meal...does anyone do that? I'm about to!

I realize that was a very long winded rant about my concerns over not having sweet smelling breath! ha, now on to the main topic of this post...

Today is my first loading day. This is the first phase of the hCG diet protocol. You get two days of what's called 'loading'. This consists of eating as much high fat, high caloric foods you can; thus loading up your fat reserve to it's fullest capacity. Sounds crazy dosen't it? I swear I am not making this up! You're supposed to do this so that it will help the hypothalamus reset your setting point for your metabolism to a normal rate, but also, it takes 3 days for the hCG to fully get into your system and circulating in your blood stream. You have only 2 loading days. Sounds like heaven to me! I'm actually only kidding about that part. My body has been so jacked up for weeks now and I really can't go on the way I'm going. I feel so gross after I eat; stuffed while only being able to eat very little, (this has alot to do with the food choices I pick). I feel constantly fatigued and bloated, and have had some minor health issues that I'm tired of dealing with (headaches, nausea, sadness, worthlessness, laziness). I know it's all due to being over-weight.

I digress, they say that you will have an easier time during the first week of the vlcd if you do the loading days as best you can. I have to tell you, I'm having a hard time stomaching it all. I mean, yes, this diet is no shock to my system but I feel so tired and sick of what I'm eating. I'm also to the point where soda drinks taste horrid to me. How weird is that? In my last post, I was worried how I'd be without it!

I guess that's a good sign, right? This has all been a part of me trying to mentally prepare myself and I am ready. Last night, I weighed and measured myself.

So here are my stats:

• Current weight: 176.2 Lbs (when I began this blog, I had lost some weight but that was short lived, sigh)
• Height: 5"4 foot tall
• While I am highly uncomfortable about stating the following, I believe it's important to have this documented...
• Tummy: 42"
• Thigh: 38"
• Hips:43.5"
• Forearm: 14"

My first loading day:

I am taking the drops as directed on the bottle; 6 drops, 6 times a day = 36 drops a day. I'm going to do them spaced out every 2.5 hours.

• 8:30 am: I had my first dose, I stood infront of a mirror and took 6 drops and held them under my tongue for 30 seconds, then swallowed. I noticed right off a mild alcoholic taste and burn but that quickly diminished in seconds. I had a slight aftertaste, not at all unpleasant. I laid back down because, hey, it's saturday and I was still pretty tired.
• 9 am: I ate 3 waffles with butter and maple syrup and washed it down with a Mt. Dew (um, yes, that happened)
• 11 am: had my next dose
• 11:30 am: I ate some teddy grahams and another Mt. Dew

I'm trying to eat all my Extra's Fruit Sensations Watermelon chewing gum while I can, so I've been eating tons of sticks of this throughout the day and I'll do it tommorrow too (my second and last loading day). I'm going to miss that stuff.

• 1:30 pm: dose number 4.
• 3 pm: ate a cheddar, bacon burger with some fries and a regular coke at work. At this point, I'm feeling tired. yuck. I have feeling this way while at work. Lucky for me though because I brought another Mt. Dew and also a Starbuck's Coffee Frappunccino chilled drink.
• 6:30 pm: dose number 5. The thought of eating anything now is sickening to me. I think I'm loaded up! I'm now sipping iced water. But if I can, I'm going to try to eat more. (I want to do it the way they suggest).

I'll have my next and last dose of the day at 9 pm. Geez, this has turned out to be a very long winded post.... tune in tommorrow when I talk about my arm pits. seriously.

I can almost taste it now...

The sweet, sweet taste and feeling of being skinny minnie :) I realize I'm a long ways away from it, but I'm still excited already and the reason is that my hCG drops came in the mail after only 3 days from ordering it. I'm really happy with the site I ordered them from. If I ever had a question, I had it answered immediately due to their live chat representatives they have available.

I'm going to start my first day (loading day one) on saturday, Oct. 23rd. I plan on taking full advantage of that. This is probably some of the last times I'm going to eat by gorging myself with such an unhealthy diet. I fully intend and am mentally preparing myself to change my lifestyle and attitude I have towards eating food and nourishment for my body. Taking hCG ensures this by resetting my hypothalamus by reprogramming my set point of maintaining my newly fat free body.

I plan to report next time when I have started the first day of taking the drops. See you saturday!

Is anyone reading this?

I can't really even think of an appropriate title for this. I realize it's been 2 months since my last post on this blog ~ so much has happened since my last post, let's see...

• My husband came home from Ft. Knox at the end of August. The month of September was spent loving on him :)
• We both celebrated our 29th birthdays; his on the 15th and mine on the 24th. Momentarily after my birthday, I could have sworn that my wisdom teeth experienced a growth spurt because all three of my impacted wisdom teeth are coming in and I have pretty sore gums and headaches occasionally.
• My husband's good friend came over and built me a new computer so now I have one to myself ~ Finally! Oh how I missed it. I hope to be able to stay up to date with this blog.
• I'm having a ball with my other blog ~ Let's See Etsy! ~ I'm all organized and have themes for well into the next year :)

Okay, now getting to the main topic at hand. How's my weight loss coming?

Let's just say that I have done some drastic measures

• For one, my husband is being my "personal trainer". I'm now doing strength training exercises with him. We were doing them pretty regularly 2 x's per week.
• I've decided to do the hCG Diet. Are you familiar with what this is? It's been around since the 1950's and was discovered by Dr. A.T.W. Simeons who studied and had a clinic in Rome, Italy for his hCG patients. He wrote a manuscript on it called "Pounds & Inches, A New Approach To Obesity". His book talks about curing obesity by using a hormone that is excreted in pregnant women only ~ hCG which stands for human chorionic gonadotropin. This hormone is used to "unlock" your stored fat that is not readily available to use without the hCG drops. While taking the hCG drops, you are on a very restricted calorie intake diet. Even the foods you eat are restricted but by doing this, you are burning up to 3500 or more calories a day! That's a pound of fat burned every day! You aren't supposed to feel hungry because the "unlocked fat" is providing the energy that's being used and burned and so suppresses your appetite.
• Forgive me if you are skeptical of this, I probably am not explaining this very well :/ I've personally known people who have done this diet, lost the weight and kept it off.

I ordered my first bottle this last tuesday and am now impatiently waiting for it to arrive in the mail. I am so pumped to do this. I am mentally preparing myself because that is all I can do.

One thing I am excited about is that I haven't told anyone my plans of doing this. Only my husband knows and is supportive of me doing this. I want to start the diet then see if anyone notices my results. If so, then I'll proudly announce what I'm doing. 'Course they'll know if they read this blog but yeah... :)

Have any of you heard of this diet? Has anyone tried it and got incredible results? If so, I'd love to hear from you!

Life is Like a Bowl of Cherries

What does that even mean? anyhooz-its,

I've been sick with a cold. In the middle of summer. I'm going to keep this post short. Due to my lack of appetite, I've managed to get back down to 175 Lbs. Hopefully in my next post, I'll have some better results to post and I'll include my other stats too.

Remember how I was excited about going on a grocery haul? Here's some things I got:

Underneath these lucious cherries are a bunch of red grapes ~ I love those!
Here's my bowl of cherries, don't they look great?
I also got some peaches but they weren't ripe yet so I stuck them in a brown paper bag
Love Gala apples

This has been the scene in my house for the last few days, what you don't see are the crumpled used tissues.

Hey, do you see the sweet pic of me and my hubby in the background? man, I miss him lots. I won't see his handsome face until Sep. Hope I can manage to lose some noticeable weight before he gets back.

That'll be a nice welcome home treat, don't you think?