Matching My Mind

The Long Awaited Final Summation of the All You Can Eat Diet

2012-06-20T10:47:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. If you've been following this blog for any small amount of time, you know just how much I suck at updating it.

It is amazing to me that I was once able to bang out, not one, but THREE columns a week, AND that I did one of those columns THREE TIMES per week.

I guess it's different when you're getting paid for it.

So, this time I actually have a pretty decent excuse, or set of excuses, if you will, for not updating. But, before we get to the whining, let's talk about the All You Can Eat Diet.

When last we spoke, I was embarking on Fowl and Tomatoes Day. I did great on Fowl and Tomatoes Day. I could eat Fowl and Tomatoes for the rest of my life. With some cheese and chocolate thrown in every once in a while.

The day after that was Fowl and Veggies and this is where things start to get a little hinky.

See, F&V Day was also the day of the PTO's big major fundraiser at my daughter's school. I was on the planning committee for it this year, and was volunteering during the event as well. What that translated to was some cold cut turkey and lettuce for dinner and a couple bites of cupcake. And then, going out with the rest of the committee after the event for some food and some drinks.

The next day was supposed to be Miracle Soup Day, but I had forgotten to purchase the ingredients for the Miracle Soup, and you know what? I screwed it all up with French onion soup and chocolate cake shots the night before anyway. Whatevs.

So, all told, I lost seven pounds, without actually finishing the diet the right way.

My final word on this one? I think it's an awesome post-vacation diet. For example, "OMG I ate my face off last week in Vegas. Lemme do that All You Can Eat Diet to get myself back where I was."

I don't think it's something I'd like to do several times a year, but mostly because I am really not a fan of the whole yo-yo thing. I don't want to go up ten pounds, diet for a week and be back down ten pounds. I want to just stick to about the same weight.

When I figure out how to do that, I'll let y'all know.

In the meantime, now you get to hear all about my fabulous week. Strap yourself in.

The week started out great. The stress from the PTO fundraiser was behind me (mostly. I still have to go pull signs down from around town.), I had spent a couple hours out with the girls and was looking forward to fun goings on in the week ahead.

Wednesday was The Princess' birthday, and Friday was her birthday party. Saturday I was set to go to a bridal shower for a cousin, followed by cheese and chocolate fondue with one of my besties. It was supposed to be an awesome week.

But, on Wednesday, the Princess fell and broke her wrist at 7am. I woke up with an itchy rash all over my face. By Thursday, my itchy rash had spread to include enough of my body that I went straight to the doctor after dropping the Princess off at school.

I had to get a shot. In my rear end. From the cute male nurse.

But, just in case that wasn't mortifying enough... On Friday night, at the birthday party, I was recreating those chocolate cake shots from last week. BAD MOVE.

The good news about that, though, is that I wasn't itchy, at least.

On Saturday, I had rashiness by my eye, so no contact lenses, and behind my ear, so no glasses. So I couldn't see to go to my cousin's shower.

AND the final insult. My husband ended up having work every night, which meant I had to cancel Fun with Fondue. Curses.

So I'm sure you can imagine that the blog wasn't uppermost in my mind this week. Although, I did think of y'all when I was being injected with steroids and antihistamines. The thought was "Oh thank goodness I just lost some weight, before I had to drop trou in front of this guy. Can't wait to blog about this one."

Now, friends and neighbors, I am off to the end of the year party at the Princess' first grade class. I will try not to scratch myself to death, and I will endeavor to not eat an entire pizza pie on my own.

What's going on in your world today?

Fowl tomatoes and house painting

2012-06-08T10:38:00.000-04:00

Yesterday went well. It helped that I stayed INSANELY busy for most of the day.

Pee-pee yellow. See? I wasn't kidding.

My amazing parents came over to help me paint my house. I spent a good portion of my day power washing, moving things away from the house (like plants and mulch) and then painting.

We're going from pee-pee yellow to a gorgeous deep beige. I can't overstate the amazing difference a coat of paint has made.

Because of my level of busy, I was really grateful to not have to think about food all day. When I felt hungry, I snagged a banana. When I was thirsty, which was often, I grabbed some water or skim milk.

I've never been a milk drinker, but since I did Jenny Craig a couple years ago, and followed their recommendation to drink one glass of skim milk a day, I've found that I don't hate it as much as I thought.

Another discovery; if you put some chocolate flavored stevia in skim milk you have a wonderful approximation of chocolate milk. That's amazing, because I hate chocolate stevia in just about everything else.

This is something to stick under my hat for later. I try to avoid sugar and artificial sweeteners, so making good chocolate milk is a PITA most days. Unless I want to heat it and add cocoa powder, but, generally, when I want chocolate milk, it hits me, like, NOW.

So, on to today! It's "Fowl and Tomatoes" day. My husband saw that and said, "Oh, look! Tomorrow you get to eat fowl tomatoes!"

Yeah, he's a riot.

Chicken, turkey and six tomatoes. That's my diet today. And I am beyond excited for my chicken and turkey! In fact, I had three turkey sausage links before I even had coffee this morning.

I eat a pretty high protein diet, under normal circumstances. So, cutting out meat for the past four days, and dairy for three of them, as well, really shocked my body. Shocked it into losing six pounds in four days, in fact.

I weighed myself this morning and that's where I'm at, with three days to go.

Of course, I've seen this number before. The last twenty seven times I dieted, in fact. The challenge, for me, is staying here (or lower than here) long enough to convince my body that this is better than 152 pounds.

For some reason, my body loves 152 pounds. Maybe it's holding on to some extra fat in case there's a zombie apocalypse or something. Pretty good forethought, but I'd rather be skinny enough to run away from them, than be able to live off my fat stores for a year or so.

After all, canned food and twinkies will survive anything.

I'm going to go eat a tomato and paint my house. What's going on in your world today?

Yes! We have no bananas!

2012-06-07T09:38:00.001-04:00

The title is misleading. The fact is, all we have today are bananas. Well, that and skim milk.

I woke up this morning and a thought struck me. I can drink coffee with a ridiculous amount of skim milk in it today.

It's coffee. Despite the proclaimed love of chocolate

The truth is, I've been having a cup of coffee in the morning, because caffeine dep is just too cruel to contemplate during this diet. This is far down from my usual coffee consumption. I figure even though coffee isn't on the diet, I'm still doing better than I normally do.

I usually take my coffee with a bit of cream or a bit more of half and half. Today, it's skim milk, in an effort to stick with this as closely as possible (without giving up my coffee).

Coffee with skim milk is just bleh.

Even with half a cup of skim milk.

Who in the world thinks skim milk is a good idea for anything? It's basically white water. With some other stuff. Not a lot of other stuff.

Anyway, all skim milk angst aside (at least it's got some protein in it. I'm dying for some protein), today will be a good day of not thinking about food at all.

When I did HCG, I loved to do an apple day once in a while, because it was so no pressure. I didn't have to figure out what was for lunch or dinner. Apples!

I have a similar feeling today. It's gonna go like this. "Hmmm, I'm hungry. Banana!"

I also snagged a couple yogurts at Wegman's last night. They didn't have the Weight Watchers ones, so I got Dannon Light and Fit. We'll see how that goes.

I was going to get all preachy about the evils of artificial sweeteners, and really, they are evil. But I have a feeling I'm going to want something besides 'nanas and milk at some point today, so I decided to have a back up plan.

Also? I have a diet Pepsi habit that I need to kick.

Hard to get on my soapbox about the artificial sweeteners in yogurt when I'm drinking the same crap in soda once a day or so.

Although I didn't enjoy my morning coffee, I did have the best banana I've ever eaten in my entire life mere moments ago.

I don't hate bananas, but they're far from my go to food. In fact, I often skip them in recipes for smoothies and such, if I'm not feeling the banana flavor.

Often, I'm just not feeling the banana flavor.

Today is not one of those days.

Also, I have an idea to blend up a banana with some ice and skim milk today and try to talk myself into believing it's a protein shake.

Or maybe skipping the ice and trying to convince myself it's pudding. That might be even better.

Fruit and vegetable day went alright. I wasn't starving, which was nice. And I wasn't even really tempted to raid the kid shelf in my pantry, which is a definite improvement over where I'd been the prior two days.

I didn't really feel it till I got home from work/errands last night around 9 and sat down to watch the rest of the Devil's game with my husband. Would have been a nice spot for a beer. Instead, I had some grilled pineapple slices.

Not. The. Same.

Anyway, come back tomorrow and I'll let you know how banana and milk day went!

Fruit Day Down. Veggie Day Down.

2012-06-06T09:47:00.003-04:00

And I'm still alive.

That being said, I have cheated. Not massively, but yes, I admit it. I found it very difficult to stick to only fruits and then only vegetables.

On fruit day, I somehow found two of my kids' chicken nuggets in my mouth. And you know, once they were there....

Yesterday, I had the same thing happen with a couple pieces of chocolate.

I swear, they jumped in there of their own accord.

But, whatever, it's a new day! It's Fruit AND Veggie Day!

Does anyone else think I'm turning into that insane fad dieter?

"If I just put a little dirt on the tip of my tongue..."

(That's a line from a very old, very funny Sinbad stand up special. It's on Netflix.)

When I started this diet, I figured, if I lose weight, woohoo. And if I don't, whatever. The idea is, if I blog about it, I'm essentially doing a review of this insane diet for YOU, my good reader.

So, see? I'm going through all this fruit and veggie nonsense for you.

I hope you appreciate me.

So far, I can tell you that fruit day was worse than veggie day. I think, and I'm no scientist here or anything, but I think that veggies have more fiber than fruit? Maybe. So they made me feel fuller.

Not full enough to back away from the chocolate, but fuller.

I am looking forward to tomorrow, which consists of nothing but bananas and skim milk. I have never, in my entire life, looked forward to drinking milk. But my body is screaming for some protein.

Which brings me to a question I'm sure you're all wondering about.

Is this really a good idea? Is this really a healthy way to lose weight?

Well I'll give you my take on it.

Modern man (woman) has a huge variety of foods available all day every day. We can go to ShopRite and get any kind of produce, regardless of the season. We can even get things we have no hope of growing around our own homes, ever.

For example, pineapples don't grow in Jersey. But there's one on my counter, waiting for me to slice into it and grill it up later on with my dinner. And oh, boy, I am going to do just that.

We can get any type of meat our hearts desire, whenever we want to. Who here doesn't have some sort of meat at least once a day? (Vegetarians, you do not count. Well, you count, but not for this random poll.)

But it wasn't always like this. Our earliest ancestors would go days, weeks, or however long they had to until they shot down their next wooly mammoth or snagged a fish, or whatever, so they could have some meat. They subsisted on what they could forage. Berries, greens, etc.

Our bodies are designed for this, really.

I recently read The Four Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Weight Loss, Incredible Sex and Becoming Superhuman by Timothy Ferris. There are lots of neat tips in there, including the "incredible sex" part. (This is not THAT kind of blog, though, so I'll move on.)

One of the things that I really enjoyed reading about was his eating style. He carefully follows what he terms a "slow carb" diet, all week long. Then, once a week, he totally gluts himself on everything he can get his hands on.

And I'm not talking "oooh let's drizzle some chocolate on our strawberries!" I'm talking bear claws and pizza.

It kind of mimics our ancestors' diets, in that there were times of plenty and times of not so much.

Check out the book, it's worth a glance through. Push past all the science stuff if you have to. I had to. He backs up everything with lots and lots (and lots and lots) of research.

The point I'm making is this: I do not think this diet is unhealthy, especially in the extremely short term. We're talking about a week, although I've read that some have done several weeks back to back. I think that might be a bit much for me.

A short term fast, detox, cleanse, what have you, is very rarely a bad idea. Unless you just finished a different one yesterday or something. OR unless you have been advised by your physician not to do such a thing.

I think it goes without saying, ALWAYS CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR. But just in case it doesn't go without saying, I'm saying it.

Well, there, now that's out of the way. Let's move on with this diet. I'm going to stop typing and finish my grapefruit. And then I'll probably finish the half of a peach one of my daughters left on the dining room table. And then I'll have that half of an apple the other one left in the living room.

Has anyone else done this diet and lived to tell the tale? Are you thinking about doing it, but waiting to see how I do, first? (I don't blame you one bit.) Leave me a comment to let me know!

An All You Can Eat Diet? Sign me up!

2012-06-04T16:51:00.001-04:00

I swear, you guys, these last ten pounds (or so) are gonna be the end of me. I could do another round of HCG, but honestly? I am not in the right head space for that at all.

And three weeks sounds like a really long time when I'm staring down my daughter's seventh birthday, a PTO fundraiser and various barbeques and other summer stuff.

So, here's my plan of attack. I found a pin on Pinterest that sounding promising. It was an infographic for the "Eat Your Heart Out!" diet that claims I can lose 10+ pounds in 7 days.

I'm not shooting for all ten in a week, honestly. I'll just be happy if the scale budges. In the right direction (as opposed to what it did last week).

I followed the pin to the Justin, Ashley & The Sidekicks blog, where I read up on the diet (Ashley's got a great FAQ up) and read an uncountable number of comments about it, as well.

Ashley says that she was given this diet plan by a physician and that she does it several times a year.

This diet is strict, but not as strict as HCG, so if I can do that for three weeks, I figured I'll have this in the bag.

Basically, every day of the week is dedicated to a different food or pair of foods. Then you finish up on the last day with a day of nothing but Miracle Soup.

So today is day one, and that is Fruit Day. You'd think, since this is all you can eat, that I'd be feeling full to bursting by 4:30 in the afternoon.

I've hit on a very important truth, though. Fruit is not filling. Unless you dip it in chocolate. Which I cannot do.

Also? Lots of fruit = lots of gastrointestinal fun.

I will admit to a small cheat of coffee with a bit of milk this morning.

And I am having a diet soda, now, which I'm not 100% sure is verboten or not. It does have some sodium, so I probably should not be drinking it. But, really? After a day of strawberries and watermelon... well, it's helping with my hunger, anyway.

The true test will be this evening. Can I stick to this diet through a playoff hockey game? I'm thinking if I have a pint of blueberries to stress nosh on, I'll be okay.

So, stay tuned. Tomorrow is veggie day. Unless I cave and eat an entire chicken for dinner. Which could actually happen. No, for real. I'm hungry.

Wanna know what I'm wearing?

2012-02-10T13:29:00.000-05:00

I'm wearing.....

.....drum roll, please......

MY SIZE SEVEN BLACK BONGO JEANS.

In case you don't remember, here's the original post about The Black Jeans.

My husband? Happy guy.

Happy guy who is down 30-something pounds. And whose best friend asked me where he can get his own HCG.

I'm pretty freaking happy too. In case anyone was wondering. :-)

Two weeks in; One week left

2012-02-01T09:31:00.000-05:00

Good morning, ladies and gents!!! Why am I so freaking chipper, you wonder? Because I am officially in the last week of Phase 2, AND because I currently weigh less than I have in a LONG TIME. Like, SIX YEARS.

The past week has been rough on both me and the Mister. We've both been leveling off in our numbers, and seeing very small losses, followed by small gains, followed by a stalled scale. It's frustrating when you're following protocol and aren't seeing these huge losses that you were seeing in the beginning.

You know what's more than frustrating? Going to the movies, sitting next to someone eating Twizzlers, who is sitting next to someone eating popcorn, eating the cut up apple you brought with you, and GAINING A POUND THE NEXT MORNING.

No shizz. It sucked.

The movie, however, was pretty excellent. If you're a fan of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books, I recommend the movie version of One for the Money. And I'm hoping to heck that they start filming Two for the Dough soon.

Not just because I want to see Morelli get kicked out of a car naked, either.

Anyway, back to this diet stuff. We recently discovered that our last day of the drops is supposed to be SuperBowl Sunday. This thrills me not in the least. I was considering stopping a couple days early, so I can eat wings and Phase 3 pizza during the game, but I have a feeling my darling husband is not on board with that program.

He is Mr. HCG, folks. I haven't seen him snag one thing off protocol. (Whereas I typically grab a piece of chocolate once a day. Also, I did have a small glass of Bailey's one night last week, after speaking to an editor who no longer requires my services. It was a small glass. I swear.) He doesn't forget his drops, he carefully measures his food.

Ironically, the one day he didn't really measure his food and just eyeballed it, is the day he broke a stall. Sometimes our bodies need to be shaken up a bit. The extra protein shook his up. When I tried extra protein, I saw a gain. So that, obviously, doesn't work for everyone.

In fact, yesterday, I accidentally skipped lunch, and showed a great loss this morning. I'll be interested to see what happens tomorrow, after eating normal meals again. I'll report back on that, but I can tell you I am RAVENOUS so far today.

So one more week and I can start eating cheese again. Look out, fresh mozerella. I'm coming for you.

Current Standings

2012-01-21T18:50:00.002-05:00

At the end of our first week on Phase 2, I figured I'd do a little update blog to let you know where we're at.

First, I need to tell you that I have totally been doing a half-assed Phase 2 here. The numbers are going down, but not very quickly. Mostly due to those string cheese sticks in my fridge and the walnut delights that used to be on my counter. *burp*

On to the stats!

I have lost my loading weight. That's about it. (My own fault, I'm fine with it. Pass the Dove sugar free caramels.)

Paul is down 9.2 pounds. NINE POINT TWO. IN SIX DAYS.

Good stuff going on over here.

Now my Irish is up and the competition is on. He's still going to kick my ass, but at least my ass will be skinnier when we're done.

Okay, I lied...

2012-01-17T21:04:00.000-05:00

I'm doing another round of HCG.

Wait, hear me out!

My husband has decided to do a round, and I am being super-supportive, by doing it with him. He'd like to lose about 20-30 pounds (which, I have no doubt, being a man, he can do in one stupid round. Grrrr). I'll be happy if I lose these last 10 stubborn pounds, but since this round wasn't exactly my idea, I'm not too married to that number.

That's got an up side and a down side. The good part is that I am totally non-stressed about the number on the scale. In fact, I didn't even weigh myself before or after I loaded. I weighed myself today, after my first day of VLCD and am up very slightly from where I was at the end of my last round. Probably still loading weight I'm taking off.

I might weigh tomorrow. I might not. Very freeing, all told.

The down side is that I'm having a hard time staying committed. I've been cheating little bits here and there. One of my friends calls it "Phase 2 plus cookies." I call it "Phase 2 plus walnut delights." (Thank you, dear MIL, for bringing them over this weekend. Now if I could just stop EATING them! LOL)

My husband is the picture of HCG Protocol. He isn't eating anything he's not supposed to, very carefully weighs out his meals, and doesn't seem to be hungry at all.

I am hungry. No, that's not entirely true. I'm MUNCHY, but not always hungry.

Anyway, here we go again. More to come. :-)

And on to the rest of my life...

2011-12-12T14:05:00.000-05:00

I've gotten down to the mid-140's and have decided I've gone as far as I want to on HCG. I'm sure I could stand to lose another ten pounds or so, and maybe I will, but quite possibly not on HCG.

It is a HARD diet, you guys. Yes, there are dramatic results, because it is a dramatic diet. And because it's so dramatic, it is hard. The key, if you decide to do it yourself, is to remind yourself that it is super temporary. 3 weeks on Phase 2, if I can do it, anyone can.

It gets really hard when you're getting closer to your goal weight and the pounds aren't dripping off anymore. It gets even harder when you're close enough to your goal weight that you start thinking things like, "eh, what's another 10 pounds, anyway? This is close enough."

I'd love to tell you to just muscle through these thoughts, but since I can't do it, I'm certainly not expecting anyone else to.

So the rest of my life...what shall I do?

One of the things that I love about the HCG protocol is that I cut out all the really bad stuff in my diet, overnight. After a couple brief days of detox, I felt amazingly wonderful. Light, and happy, and energized. Without exception, every time I finished a round, and started going back slowly to bread, rice, crackers, etc, I started to feel sluggish, bloated, moody, and well...more like my "regular" self.

This past round, in fact, I cheated one evening with a donut while I was on Phase 2. Within 20 minutes or so of eating the donut, my mood plummeted, my stomach was bloated and distended, and I had stomach cramping. I was so uncomfortable. And I know that this is how I was mostly living before. I never realized it wasn't normal, for example, to feel bloated after eating.

But here's the deal, it's not. After eating, we should feel energized! We just ate ENERGY! Quick aside, did you know that in Europe, calories aren't listed as "calories" in nutritional information? They're listed as "energy." Food is energy!

If you're not eating foods that energize you, I posit that you are eating the wrong foods. Like I've been doing for a good long time.

Being on HCG showed me what it really feels like to eat foods the work with my body for optimal wellness. It also showed me what it really feels like to eat foods that work against my body. And I don't like that.

So, somewhere over the last couple rounds, I started wondering with some of my friends, what are we going to do next? When we get to the end of our weight loss with HCG, how will we eat? Almost all of us said that we don't think we ever want to go back to sugar and nearly the same amount have decided to do without wheat.

While we were in the middle of these discussions, one of my friends mentioned Mark's Daily Apple, which is a site dedicated to "Primal Blueprint" living. Mark's a cool guy, he lays it out as it is. He's done his research and he knows his stuff.

The Primal Blueprint way of life is basically approximating our lives to being as close to those of our ancestors, the cavemen. He uses "Grok" as an example of such a person, and gives us really easy ways we, too, can "party like a Grokstar."

When we first got our dog, his trainer mentioned giving him a biologically appropriate diet, instead of buying kibble at the grocery store. We researched it, and decided that we didn't like the idea of commercial dog food, and went in the direction suggested by his trainer. Baxter has been eating foods that his canine body has been designed to digest.

In similar fashion, I think humans should be enjoying foods that our bodies were designed to digest. That includes meat, vegetables and fruit. A little dairy. But no grains.

Yep, NO GRAINS.

As it turns out (and if you want to read all the research, I highly recommend Mark's book, although you can also find a ton of information on his website), humans weren't exactly designed to digest grains. This has played out in my own life, as I've explained, with the vast differences in how I feel on HCG and off HCG.

Here's the really amazing thing about this. When I shared a lot of the body of evidence that Mark sets forth in Primal Blueprint, against grains, my husband agreed. He said it made a lot of sense. Guess who else is grain free, now? We're working on the kids.

I don't want to give you the idea that if you stop eating grains you'll be living a primal lifestyle. I mean, that's a nice start, but there are other things involved. Take a good look at Mark's website for a ton of information.

I also don't want to give you the idea that Mark is the grand high guru of primal living (although he did "write the book"so to speak). There are other books out there, there are other websites. There are TONS of people who are doing this, who are writing about, who are advocating it. It just so happens that I find Mark's information to be the most accessible. He thoroughly researches, then reports back everything in a humorous and easy to read way that makes me look forward to reading about all these boring reports he's slogged through.

So this is where we are for now. We're finding it not as hard to be grain free as we'd thought. We're working out some kinks (if we're friends on facebook, I'm sure you read my status update about thickening gravy without flour!) and we're finding some new stuff that we love. (Coconut bread, for example, is like a yummy morning muffin, without all the ick and bloating that goes along with regular morning muffins.)

This is working for our family right now. We feel great, we're losing weight (I'm still losing weight, even off protocol and without really trying at all!--The kids, I should mention, are not losing weight. LOL They definitely don't need to!), and we're excited about this way of life. It's not a diet, or even just a dietary change. It really is a way of life, and we're looking forward to this journey together.

Shattering the Stall

2011-11-14T19:51:00.000-05:00

I didn't just break that stall, you guys, I shattered it. It didn't work right away. Yesterday, the scale didn't move. Today, though, 2.6 down! That's about seven and a half pounds in a week, which averages out to a little more than a pound a day.

I think I'm losing a little better on this round than I have on previous ones. I should tell you that I'm using different drops this time around. I snagged these on sale at CVS. They are not homeopathic and contain "HCG amino acid." I dig that they're not homeopathic, because it means I can keep up my mint tea habit and I can dye my hair without worrying about these things negating the homeopathics. It tastes absolutely awful, but I only have to deal with it twice a day, and I'm actually getting used to it. I don't make my "cough medicine face" after I down it now.

So when I took the time to sit down and think about it, I'm pretty sure I figured out that my stall was caused by too much red meat. I'm going to try to keep my beef meals to one or two a week and rely on chicken and eggs for the rest of my protein. This would be much easier if I ate fish at all. I wish, for the three billionth time in my life, that I could stomach seafood.

Two women at the bank today asked me if I've lost weight. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, that is the best feeling in the world.

Anyway, looking forward to the coming two weeks, I see Thanksgiving rapidly approaching. My husband asked me today if I'm going to be on protocol through Thanksgiving and I said yes. We're cooking here, so I am planning on making veggies that are completely protocol friendly, cheating slightly with turkey instead of chicken and cheating a little more with a sugar free, gluten free (ie Phase 3 friendly) dessert. I've been looking at a few pumpkin custard recipes and am trying to find my favorite one. I'll totally be topping it with some sugar free whipped cream, as well.

Quick note to anyone who hasn't read through this blog much, when I say "sugar-free" I am totally NOT talking about nutrasweet, asparatame, or any other artificial sweetener. My sweetener of choice is liquid stevia. It's totally yummy, completely natural, and doesn't cause an insulin spike like sugar does.

Unless something more exciting happens, next entry, I'm going to talk about how I'm successfully "cheating" on this round. Yeah, I'm cheating. It involves chocolate. Stay tuned.

2011-11-12T20:15:00.000-05:00

I hate stalls with a serious mad passion. But I've come to expect them. So I'm not totally freaked out that the scale didn't move at all this morning. In fact, I seem to have entered Challenge Mode without even realizing it. I spent the better portion of my online time this afternoon looking for tried and true methods to break through a loss stall on hcg.

Here are some of the better ideas I've found, just in case you also require a way to beat a stall into the ground.

1. The Apple Day. I actually kind of love Apple Days, and I've been known to do one even when the scale is moving just fine. On an Apple Day, you get six of the biggest, juiciest apples you can find and eat them throughout the day. That's it. And by "that's it," I mean, that's all you eat and that's as easy as it is. The first time I decided to do an apple day, I was very apprehensive. Apples are yummy, sure, but nothing except apples for an entire day? Blech. However, I found that I really enjoyed the freedom of not having to plan my meals or carry food around with me if I were going to be out during a meal time. I just brought a couple apples with me. So on days when I know I'm going to be running all over creation, I sometimes will do an Apple Day, just because it's easier.

2. The Detox Bath. I am a big fan of baths. I love to sit in warm water with some music playing, a large glass of water and a book or magazine. It's one of my favorite ways to unwind. This bath is like that, just a little different. This bath is full of all kinds of fun stuff to help pull the gunk out of you. Through your sweat pores. If you don't like to sweat, get over it. Add 2 cups of baking soda, 2 cups of epsom salts and 1 cup of sea salt to a bath that's as hot as you can stand it. If you've got some, throw in some ginger, maybe a little tea tree oil. If you want it to smell good, add some lavender oil, or another that you love. Soak in it for 40 minutes. You are going to sweat. If you're not sweating, make the water hotter. I also use a portable heater to make my bathroom warm, since my skin is pretty sensitive to hot water. When the 40 minutes is up, drain the water and rinse off in a warm shower. Don't plan on taking a normal shower and washing your hair and stuff. Your body needs to rest. In fact, this is an excellent time to go to bed. You may continue to sweat for a good while after your bath. Awesome! More detox! (If you have high blood pressure, you probably should skip this bath.)

3. Journal your Food. I use SparkPeople to track what I've eaten throughout the day and my daily weigh ins. When I'm not on protocol, I also use the site to track my workouts and calories burned. If you're not writing down everything you eat and making sure you're hitting and/or not exceeding your allotted 500 calories for the day, you might want to start doing that during a stall. Remember, not eating enough is just as bad as eating too much!

4. Check your labels. I'm not talking food labels; I'm talking personal care products. If there is oil in, say, your moisturizer, your skin may be absorbing enough that it's having an impact on your scale. And check all of it, not just obvious things. Oil can be in anything from lip gloss to shampoo.

5. Add some variety. If you're eating chicken and spinach for two meals a day, your body is liable to think there's not enough food around, and start holding on to everything it's got. If you're stumped for things to eat, check out Lianne's blog over at My HCG Cooking for some great ideas.

6. Chinese Water Torture. Okay, not really. But upping your water intake can get the scale moving again. You should be drinking 2L of water per day, as it is. If you're doing that and still facing a stall, try drinking even more. My rule of thumb, whether I'm on protocol or not, is that my pee needs to be nearly clear. If it's not, I'm not drinking enough water.

7. Poop. Yeah, I said it. There's something about this diet that makes bowel movements somewhat rarer than they'd been previously. Lots of people swear by Smooth Move Tea. I am not a big fan. A friend who is an RN suggested Milk of Magnesia instead, and on the few occasions I've used it, I've been happy with the results. Please understand that taking any kind of laxative is not PART of this diet and is not in any way required. If you haven't had a bowel movement in a few days, though, you could be facing some compact issues, and might need a little boost in that department. Some people suggest taking a daily fiber supplement while you're on protocol to avoid this problem altogether.

8. Exercise. A little. Too much strenuous activity on 500 calories a day is going to backfire. You're likely to make your stall last longer, and do some damage to your body in the process. Best case scenario of overexercising while you're on the Very Low Calorie Diet, you're gonna end up with hands like Madonna or Sarah Jessica Parker. (Google them. Frightening.) So you definitely don't want to overdo it. But, a nice walk, or some gentle yoga, even a little extra playing in the yard with the kids can help to break through a stall. Again, I'd avoid anything having to do with weights, because, seriously, look at SJP's hands!

For my part, I did a nice detox bath last night, drank enough water to drown a cow, and took a half mile walk today. I'll report back in the morning!

HI! Miss me? ;-)

2011-11-11T18:34:00.000-05:00

I missed you too! I took pretty much the entire summer and most of the fall off from all things HCG, and here I am, ready to start my next (and possibly last!) round.

I must confess that I have gained some of my weight back. I'll tell you why. First of all, I haven't done a full, real Phase 3 since my first round, and second of all, wheat is not my friend.

Phase 3 is just as important as Phase 2. In Phase 2, you lose the weight. In Phase 3, you tell your body, "Okay, this is where we want to stay." Phase 3 is vital to stabilizing. Obviously, I KNOW this. I just have a hard time DOING it. Interestingly, I'm back to where I was at the end of my first round. You know, the time I did a full Phase 3. (headsmack)

I cannot tell you how much different I feel without wheat, in any of its insidious forms, in my body. I spend the first few days of any Phase 2 talking about how light I feel, and how energetic. I'm not bloated, I'm just...different. A better different. Then I leave Phase 2, do a half-assed Phase 3 and remember how delicious mozzerella sticks are. (headsmack 2) Here's the thing; in moderation (for me), yes, mozzerella sticks are fine and delicious. When you eat something breaded and fried more days than you don't.... problem.

I was doing okay, honestly, and then I went on vacation. Somehow in my mind, vacation=license to eat everything on the menu. Twice. And I went on TWO vacations. A week with my family and then four days in Vegas. It's kind of amazing, really, that I haven't gained everything, plus some, back. Again, I point to the fact that, eating whatever I wanted, for a couple MONTHS, has put me back to the point of my last real Phase 3. This just goes to prove that Phase 3 really is resetting our hypothalmus, and it's not all smoke and mirrors.

So, I loaded this past weekend, and in the past five days, I'm back down 4.8 pounds. That puts me about 10 pounds away from my lowest weight on protocol and about 15 pounds from my goal. I might be able to eek that out on one round. We shall see!

In the meantime, I'm making meatloaf for everyone tonight and I am really excited to eat mine with a little of Lianne's ketchup, designed specifically for Phase 2. :-) Go to her site and browse the recipes, there is some incredibly yummy stuff on there. I am so jonesing for some Phase 3 pizza!

WOOHOO!

2011-06-15T16:56:00.001-04:00

Guess what I did today? (Besides, obviously, writing a new blog on this poor, neglected site. ;-) )

I had a Groupon to use at Old Navy and so I hit it up today between getting my hair cut and a meeting. I wanted a pair of their 5" shorts, but could NOT find a size 10 anywhere. Well, I could, but in mustard yellow. No thank you.

So, out of desperation, I snagged a size 8, and figured I'd try them on, see how bad it was, and then decide if I was going to get them or not.

I hit the dressing room with those shorts, and a couple other finds, and the very nice (very gay... I wouldn't mention it if it weren't important. Stay with me.) gentleman showed me and my seven items to an open stall.

I figured I should get the most depressing part of this over and done with first, and grabbed those size eights. I eyed them against myself, first, and raised my eyebrows. They actually didn't look as small as I remember size 8's to be. They looked like they might actually fit.

I pulled them on, zipped them up, did the button, took a deep breath, and let out a "WHOOP!"

Remember that very nice gentleman working in the dressing room? From outside, I heard, "Oh, Lawd, Jesus! Are you okay in there, honey?!"

I nearly laughed my butt off, except, like, you know, there's not too much there anymore to laugh off, and assured him that I was fine. I shoved the other shorts and the skirts I had over the door and asked if he could find them in size EIGHT for me. I heard him pause while he, I'm sure, looked at the label to see what size they were. And then, a whistle and a "You go, girlfriend. I'll be right back."

While he was gone, I snapped a photo and was going to text it to half a dozen people, but ended up just posting it on FaceBook. Just easier.

He brought back the rest of my stuff in the appropriate size, and holy crap, you guys, the ALL FIT! I had a seriously hard time choosing what to buy, because I was so excited, I suddenly wanted to buy one of everything in size 8 that they had in stock.

Oh, Lawd, Jesus, indeed. I own size 8 shorts, and they freaking fit. I haven't seen size 8 since a year before I got pregnant with my princess. That's like, EIGHT YEARS ago, people!

In other news, I got to see one of my besties who has also been doing HCG this past weekend at the Princess' birthday party. She's down over 60 pounds and looks A-FREAKING-MAZING. I wish I could easily see all my other friends who are doing this, but we are scattered all over the country. Luckily, we have the internet. ;-)

I feel like a cheerleader. YAY, HCG! I'm almost the same size a cheerleader!

Dr. Oz talks HCG

2011-03-10T17:01:00.000-05:00

Did you catch Dr. Oz talking about the HCG diet recently? If you missed it, you can catch the entire segment, in a few parts, here.

Dr. Oz isn't typically my favorite talk show host, but I did appreciate the treatment he gave the HCG diet. He basically says that, while no studies have been done that show that this stuff works, the results he sees from people who have done it prove that this stuff works. He advocates against the homeopathic versions you can get on the internet, and suggests instead, that we all spend upwards of a thousand bucks to get the injections of real HCG from a physician who can monitor our progress.

Well, that's a nice thought, but I don't have that kind of money, and the HCG drops certainly seem to be working for me.

Side note, remember those size 12 jeans I was so ecstatic to get into shortly before Christmas? Well, my BFF is wearing them today, and I couldn't be more excited for her! (So much so, that I'm mentioning it in my blog. That is love, folks. ;-) )

Today I had ground beef, with cabbage and tomatoes for lunch, which reminds me so much of my grandmother's stuffed cabbage, I get a little misty when I eat it. Tonight it's garlic chicken and spinach.

What did you eat today? Did you sneak any of your kids' goldfish crackers? (I ask because I had to talk myself down from them before, myself!) Are you drinking enough water?

Summer's almost here! Who's going to be wearing a bathing suit at the beach with me?!

The Black Jeans

2011-03-03T14:17:00.000-05:00

I'm going to share some information that might make my husband blush. He'll have to deal with that.

So, back when we were dating, I had these jeans. They were black Bongo jeans. They had the typical early 90's high waist and tapered leg. Apparently, they did great things for my ass. I know this, because, almost 20 years later, if I say to my husband, "Hey, remember those jeans?" he perks up and says "Oh, The Black Jeans?"

Yeah, The Black Jeans.

When I nearly lost my mind because I was wearing size 12 jeans at Christmas, he said "When will you fit back in The Black Jeans?"

When my favorite ever size 10 jeans fit up over my hips, he said "You are really doing great. But, um, when will you fit back in The Black Jeans?"

When I could button those size 10's, guess what he said?

Yeah.

Don't get me wrong, Paul is the most wonderful, loving and supportive husband ever. When I first decided to start this diet, he challenged me to a contest to see which of us would lose the most weight. He dropped out when I plowed past him, but you know, he got my competitive juices flowing. He is totally on board, completely behind me.

Part of it is because he loves me. Part of it is The Black Jeans.

So, I got my butt into my favorite size 10 jeans. I don't mean that out of all my size 10 jeans these are my favorites. I mean that out of all the jeans I have ever owned in my entire life, these size 10s are my favorite. I can wear them every day if I want to, now. I do, actually, wear them ALL THE TIME.

Right around the time that I realized I could pull them up, zip and button them, and still be able to breathe, I started to have problems staying on protocol. I didn't see it at the time, but taking a step back and staring it down, now I can see that my self-sabotage had kicked in. And it had brought reserves.

Well, first of all, let me say that, I think we all have a bit of the self-sabotage bug in us. How many times in your life have you been so close to something you wanted... so close you could almost touch it... only to have it fall out of your reach. And when you think about it, was there something you could have done to change that? Yeah, that's self-sabotage. Maybe a less violent form than what most people would think of as self-sabotage. But that's it. Maybe you were shooting for a promotion and then forgot an important report. (Maybe you didn't even forget it, so much as you just never got around to it?) Maybe you were losing weight, and could see your goal on the horizon, only to end up at McDonald's for lunch. And, hey, once you ate that Big Mac....

So, I know I have a tendency towards self-sabotage. I was waiting for it to show up, and here it is.

But, you know, this was more than self-sabotage. I mentioned reserves, and guess what they were? Complacency. Comfort. I was content. I was fitting in my favorite jeans again. Why on earth was I still trying to lose weight?

I realized this little bit of slime was worming its way through my subconscious one day while I was chatting with a couple friends. And when I realized it, I was determined, right at that second to kill it.

And I thought of The Black Jeans.

The original pair of Black Jeans were a size five. Well, now, I've had two kids and my hips have spread a bit. I think a size five might be a little unrealistic and I don't want to set myself up for failure, which will just kick my self-sabotage back into gear. So, I went for a size seven.

Apparently, Bongo doesn't make the exact same jeans anymore. No more high waists. Which, like, okay. It is 2011 and not 1992. And, I am destroying my muffin top, little by little. So, I ordered a pair of low waist, SKINNY black Bongo jeans. In size seven.

I gave myself something to work for; something to look forward to. The numbers on the scale weren't enough for me anymore. I needed something tactile to move towards.

The Black Jeans.

Then I moved to Phase III, so I wouldn't do any damage till I got my head on straight.

So, The New Black Jeans arrived, and just to see how far I had to go, I threw myself into the bathroom and pulled them up.

Did you catch that? I PULLED THEM UP!

No, of course I can't button them or zip them just yet. BUT I PULLED THEM UP!

I'm feeling ready to jump back in again. Thank goodness. I'm 145 pounds, a little over 20 pounds gone. That is nothing to sneeze at, but it's not where I want to be. I know I can lose more than this, and I want to. In fact, I've been rethinking my goal. I've been saying 135 all along, but really? I think I can go down a little further, and give maybe even give myself a little leeway to gain some back.

Now, when I say "gain some back", I'm talking muscle mass and not fat. I have plans to start jogging this spring, and I'm saving part of my tax returns for P90X, I think.

Wow, I am looking forward to physical activity. I can't even tell you when the last time was that I was looking forward to physical activity. Probably last time I was in the Original Black Jeans. Hmm, wonder if there is a correlation there? ;-)

I'm going to spend some time putting together a menu for next week today or tomorrow. Lianne is thinking of putting meal plans up on My HCG Cooking Blog, so don't forget to check her out and subscribe for new posts. Oh, she's got a Facebook page, too! So go "like" her. Yay for delicious, EASY, HCG friendly food!

One other thing I wanted to mention is that it seems Amazon has pulled most of the HCG they carried, including the D140 that I've gotten for this round. You don't have to buy it from Amazon, if it turns out to be awesome. Once I finish guinea pigging it for you, I'll find a good, reputable, and reliable resaler for everyone who is interested. Unless it sucks. And then we're all going back to EVOKE.

Smoochies!

No, I didn't die from lack of food

2011-02-27T12:44:00.000-05:00

I'm still here! Still eating! I'm back in Phase 3, and stopped blogging for the past month or so, because my head was someplace else entirely.

I'll tell you what, I'm getting close to my goal, and I think my natural tendency towards self-sabotage has been kicking in. I'm working on that. Probably anyone who does this diet should have a therapist on hand. Or at the very least, a group of really good friends who you can talk this all out with. I have the friends. And a blog, which is kind of like therapy. Right?

Anyway, a couple new things on the HCG front. First, it seems that there is a questionable batch of EVOKE HCG drops floating around. So far, two friends and one complete stranger have reported problems with their drops, all from lot number 90476. The people at EVOKE are suggesting that it could be improper storage, or body chemistry changing. However, I think that's highly unlikely, given the fact that we're dealing with three different people, who were all having the same issues, before discovering that their bottles all had the same batch number.

What issues were they having? Well, they were hungry all the time, dealing with impossible cravings and barely losing weight. They all mentioned that their drops tasted different this time, too. I'm really not sure what the problem with this batch might be, but if you're feeling like you're starving, instead of feeling good on this diet, check your lot number, and please notify the company if you have a bottle from batch 90476 and feel that it's not working. They have promised to send a new batch to one of my friends. I'll keep you guys posted on how all that pans out.

In the meantime, I had to order a new bottle of drops for my next round, and was hesitant to order EVOKE again until I knew what was going on there. I will say, now, having seen how they handled this (offering to replace the product to one person that I know of at this writing--I'll update if I learn anything about the others), I would not hesitate to order from them again in the future. I had no problems at all on the EVOKE drops for my first two rounds.

My next round, however, I'll be using D140 Dr. Simeons Drops w/ Thyroid, Hypothalamus, Pineal Support. I'm intrigued by the extra "support" offered with these drops, and I"m looking forward to reporting back to you guys to let you know if I'm feeling any different, better or worse, on them.

The other thing I want to tell you guys about is a little more exciting. One of my BFFs has started an HCG cooking blog, STUFFED with yummy HCG friendly food. Stuff for Phase 2 and Phase 3. She's got everything arranged very intuitively and even goes through the trouble of letting us know when something isn't 100% protocol, by putting ROGUE in the title.

Mmmmm rogue food.

The other great thing she's doing over there, that I think more cooking blogs need to work on, is giving really basic tutorials on things that some cooks think we should all know already. Like how to make whipped cream. Or how to hard boil an egg. Seriously, I still call my mother to find out how long to cook those stupid eggs for.

One last thing I wanted to tell you guys: I bought a pair of size 7 jeans the other day. There is a story behind that, which I shall share in a forthcoming blog. Size SEVEN y'all. I'm not there yet. But almost. :)

Slow and Steady Wins the Race, right?

2011-01-25T10:23:00.000-05:00

Holding steady at 20 pounds gone. Still.

I'm getting frustrated, but hanging in there.

PSA: If you're new and wondering about my diet, please read the post linked in the sidebar. If you're wanting to try it yourself, check out the links, also in the sidebar. It's IMPORTANT.

Today, I'm going to begin challenging myself to go back to the beginning of this diet. Back to the basics. I was careful, in the beginning of the last round, to count every calorie, and make sure I was getting enough water. (Half my body weight in ounces. Which was 10 more ounces last round than it is now!) I'm going to go back to that, and take it one day at a time.

I CAN stop after this week, if I find that I'm burning out. But, with only ten more pounds to goal, it seems counterproductive to move to P3 and give myself three more weeks at 145-ish. I'll have to gauge where I am one day at a time.

Which is what we should all be doing, right? Living one day at a time?

Crap, did I just start my own 12 step support group or something?

Ten pounds left, but the chocolate won't let me go!

2011-01-24T10:12:00.001-05:00

Hi! If you're visiting from IComLeavWe, thanks for stopping by! If you're new here, please take a few minutes to read the post in the sidebar!

Holding steady at 20 pounds gone. That's fine. According to my super awesome scale, I'm also retaining water like that kid from WonderTwins. (Have you ever seen my brother and I do our Wonder Twins impersonation? Oh you totally have to. I'll video tape it one day.)

I'm having a hard time with The Munchster this round. I did great last time, but this time, I am finding that it's easier for me to pop little things into my mouth throughout the day. I have a particularly hard time when I'm cleaning the kitchen. Or walking through the kitchen. Or thinking about the kitchen.

I'm not having huge binge cheats. The bag of Doritos I didn't get to when I was loading is still there, unopened. But, I'll snag a Hershey Kiss from my kids' snack box. Or...ugh...I found a chewy Werther's in my cabinet yesterday and snarfed it before I could even blink.

WTH? Trying to get my head back on straight, because these last ten pounds are going to fight me every single way possible. Sneaking pieces of chocolate isn't going to encourage my body to release them any quicker.

So, today, lunch will be chicken soup, which I'm really looking forward to, because I've got a wicked cold coming on. How about you? What's for lunch, folks?

My Magic Roller Coaster Ride

2011-01-23T09:23:00.000-05:00

Down a little, up a little, down a little, up a little.

Sigh.

I have decided that I was entirely too rough on my poor womanly functions last time around. My weight loss has followed the exact same pattern this round, without a visit from AF. So, maybe it wasn't my period's fault that my weight loss slowed down.

I'm forever preaching about reading Dr. S' book and following it to the letter. You'd think I'd have believed him when he said that the weight loss will slow down as you get closer to a healthy weight!

In any case, I'm still 20 pounds from where I started, and have decided that it's highly unlikely that I'll lose my last 10 pounds in the next 10 days, which is when my period is supposed to start back up. So I'm going to keep on keeping on, I think, and push right through that week. We'll see how it goes.

I'll tell you what, it is HARD to stick to this diet when you're not losing a good amount a day. It's even HARDER when the scale creeps back up some. But, I still fully believe that it is totally worth it. I mean, hello! I haven't been 145 pounds since after my little monster was born. I think. I don't even know for sure that I hit it then.

I am finding it harder to stick to protocol this round, but I think it's all mental. I KNOW it's all mental. I'm going to spend some time today in prayer and meditation and try to get my head on straight. Other than that, it's all about swimming. You know, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....just keep swimming, swimming, swimming." :-)

Oh! Look what I found! The HCG Diet Gourmet Cookbook: Over 200 "Low Calorie" Recipes for the "HCG Phase" I'll be ordering that, and requesting super quick shipping, I think! Also pulling some great recipes from The Liquid HCG Diet page. Just click on the HCG recipes tab at the top of the page.

Off to drink my second glass of water and get my poor dog fed. He's like, "Really, woman, I'M not on a diet!"

Smoochies and Huggles!

-21.2 Total

2011-01-21T12:00:00.000-05:00

Yep, that's not even close to a lie. So far, I'm down a little over 20 pounds on the HCG protocol. That's 2/3 of the way to my goal.

Are you thinking about doing this? Make sure you read the post in the sidebar, and check out the links to Dr. Simeons' book, and the SkinnyMe Forum. I didn't put them there because they're cute, people!

Sorry for the incredibly short post today, just wanted to celebrate TWENTY FREAKING POUNDS with you, but I also have an insane amount of backed up work for a client or two, and yay. Another snow day.

Love you, sweets! Smooches and huggles and all that other stuff.

The scale lives to weigh another day...

2011-01-20T14:48:00.001-05:00

Long day, and it's only half over. Sigh.

But, you guys, I do NOT have to drown my scale tonight. I'm down 1.8 pounds today. So, now I weigh 146.2. That's 1.2 pounds away from 20 lost. That's 11.2 pounds away from my goal.

That's freaking awesome.

So, the HCG diet seems too good to be true, doesn't it? All those ads on TV for all those pills and supplements and diet plans and all the rest, and here's this HCG stuff, that is scarcely heard of, seems be the "miracle product" that everyone is looking for.

If I were doing one of those loud, bright commercials, the first shot you'd see would be a picture of me, probably one of the hugely embarrassing ones of me from the Dove Chocolate Discoveries conference I went to in August ("hugely" there, can be used in a couple different contexts. If you know what I mean.) And then the 146 pound me would bust through, in my size 10 mommy-waist jeans and a low cut shirt. (I have one in mind. My husband's favorite.) I'd spread my arms out wide and my grin would be even wider, and I'd say something really cheesy, like, "HCG worked for me!"

Ugh, I just shuddered at the thought of this commercial.

Anyway, then I'd go on to talk about the benefits of HCG. It'd look like this:

Lose a pound a day!
No hunger!
No dangerous chemicals or compounds!
Enjoy amazing food and fabulous recipes!
Eat out and still lose weight!

It would say all that, with the little asterisk, you know. *Results not typical

Except......

These results ARE typical. I haven't met ANYONE who hasn't lost weight on this diet. If you follow the protocol, you can't help it.

Give me another couple weeks, and I'll change this commercial. Instead of wearing my husband's favorite shirt and size 10 jeans, I'll be in a bathing suit.

(Not a bikini. I've had two kids. A bikini will never happen again. I'm cool with that.)

Crafting Concrete Shoes for my Scale

2011-01-19T09:30:00.000-05:00

I've read that it takes about 3 days to recover from a cheat. So, today is day 3.

MOVE, SCALE. MOVE TOMORROW OR YOU'LL SLEEP WITH THE FISHES.

I'll tell you what, that slice of pizza I ate at Chuck E. Cheese, or the small slice of cake, or the glass of wine I had when I got home with friends.... none of that was worth this. I hate not seeing the scale move. It is really hard to stick to a 500 calorie diet (even if you're not hungry, which, dude, I am not), when the scale is showing no results.

(I almost typed resluts, which is one of my favorite typos. Just thought I'd share that.)

The other side of this, and I think I mentioned this in yesterday's blog, is that I'm kind of close to my goal. I'm only 13 pounds away from 135, which is where I wanna be. When you're doing ANY weight loss plan, the closer you get to the end, the slower the weight comes off. I'm thinking about contestants on the Biggest Loser, after about midway into the season, you stop seeing lots of double digits on the scale, you know?

I'm going to try pushing through this time, even if I'm not to my goal by the time my TOM rolls around again. (Even though I said I'm never going to stay on this diet through that again.) I'm just so close, it seems really ridiculous to move to Phase 3 for three weeks to lose whatever is going to be left in two weeks.

So, my game plan for the near future, is to stick to protocol, get better about counting calories, because I haven't been counting very closely, and just keep keepin' on.

I'm not officially discouraged yet, because Dr. Simeon did say it can take 3 days for an indulgence to correct itself. So, good. Day 3 of correction. And boom. Tomorrow, I will lose eight pounds. Right?

Shoot me some encouragement here, hcg folks!

Round Two, and I'm coming out swinging!

2011-01-18T10:48:00.000-05:00

Well, hello there! It's been about three weeks, and I've been busy. Also? There is just not too much to talk about in Phase 3. It's not like you're losing any weight, so my blogs would have looked like, "Well, I ate a bunch of cheese and some nuts before. And now I'm eating some chicken. I might have steak for dinner. Keep you posted." And that's just no fun to read.

On the other hand, Phase 2 is a great time to write, because WOOT for weight loss!

So, I'm here tonight to report that I ended my stint with Phase 3, and have happily jumped back into Phase 2 following two loading days.

I've been at it for about a week, and am down about 7 pounds. It would have been more, no doubt, but I had a weekend of birthday parties and one of them was my own daughter's. So stress eating abounded. I wasn't even hungry at Chuck E Cheese, but I ate a slice of that nasty pizza anyway. Because, you know, woohoo.

Anyway, I'm in the middle of recovering from my cheat-ie weekend (and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that I really didn't cheat that much. You need to follow this diet to the LETTER, man), so didn't lose anything today. Hopefully being back on track today will get some pounds off by tomorrow. I'm only 12 pounds from my goal, so I wouldn't be surprised if I lose slower now, but I'd still like to be LOSING.

As we all know from my last round, being on HCG and NOT losing weight AT ALL really sucks monkey tush.

So, that's where I'm at, folks. Where are you at? Leave me some comment love so I know I'm not the only one reading this! ;-)

Some of my favorite P3 foods!

2010-12-30T12:21:00.000-05:00

Somehow it just occurred to me while I was at the grocery store the other day that I can have Caprese salads again. I love me a good Caprese salad. Tomatoes aren't exactly in season right now, but there are still plenty to be had at Shoprite, albeit, not the big, tender, juicy ones I generally prefer. So, I got my mozzerella cheese, my tomatoes and a big bunch of basil, and headed home.

Two days in a row, now, I've had a Caprese salad for lunch. (I should mention, Caprese salads used to be an appetizer for me. My stacks of mozz, tomato and basil would be quickly followed by a rich yummy pasta dish. Or something deep fried and drowned in a cream sauce. Now? A Caprese salad fills me up. Astounding.) This has led me to want to make a quick list of some of my favorite meals and snacks that I've been munching on Phase III. So, in addition to the aforementioned Caprese salad, I've also been gnoshing on:

Strawberries with sugar free whipped cream. Sometimes chocolate sugar free whipped cream. I'm not a big fan of artificial sweeteners, so I make this myself, and add a few drops of liquid stevia for sweetness.
Ice cream! Again, I make my own, by combining frozen berries with some cream and a little liquid stevia in my food processor. I actually started making this on Phase II, using my tablespoon of milk, instead of the cream. I like it both ways.
Tomatoes with melted mozzerella. Close to a Caprese salad, I know. But it's WARM. And sometimes I need something WARM.
Tea and/or Coffee with Irish Cream. I did an experiment the first time I did it, to see if I'd gain. And I didn't. Woohoo!
Cheese and pepperoni. I used to eat this with a cracker, but I can't have crackers right now. I've come to see that I like it just fine without the cracker.
Turkey kielbasa and sauerkraut. This is the only non-protocol meat I've added in regularly. I've missed kielbasa a bunch. Well, I am part Polish, you know. I'm also part Irish, which explains the Irish Cream above.
Cheesecake. Oh I am so not kidding. I've got a few slices of strawberry cheesecake (again, sweetened with stevia) in my fridge, hoping I'll snarf it down after dinner. I will not disappoint!
Soda. Homemade soda, derived from seltzer and FLAVORED liquid stevia.

You know, a word about stevia, before I wrap up. (That is in no way a complete list of what I'm eating. Just giving you an idea LOL) If you go to the supermarket and get that powdered stevia crap, it is GODAWFUL. Powdered stevia is the reason I'm not munching on snickerdoodles and peanut butter cookies. Because I baked them. But I used the powdered stevia and they are GROSS. However, the liquid stevia is amazing and I use it for all my sweetening needs. I doubt I'll go back to sugar in my tea and coffee when this is all over. I also doubt I'll go back to cans of coke, when I can make awesome root beer, cream, and even grape soda out of flavored stevia and seltzer.

A few drops is all it takes, no lie. AND WHATEVER YOU DO.... DO NOT TRY THE LIQUID STEVIA STRAIGHT. Your eyes will roll back in your head and you'll send me hate mail. Make sure you put a few drops in some tea or coffee or something to try it. It is SO sweet that you just cannot deal with it straight up. Please trust someone who was stupid enough to do it for you.

In other news, I am feeling very munchy, which can only mean one thing.... Almost time for my monthly inconvenience, which means, ALMOST TIME FOR MY NEXT ROUND! WOOHOO!!