There's Something In the bacWater

Hellooooo Phase 3

2008-06-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

Ok. I'm going to make this very short. I leave for Texas in 5 hours, so I needs mah beauty sleep. So with that, I'm not going to make a fancy excel spreadsheet. Just now that I dropped 8 more pounds but like gaineed 3 of it back, making me 182, which puts me in phrase 3. I probably won't blog as much during P3, especially this being my vacation. That and I have to wait 2 months this time before I can start the next round... except that I have to buy more hcg, bleh. alrighty then. 182 it is to maintain. Can I do it?? Realisticly I know I'll probably go out of my range, but hopefully this time I have more restrainst! So with that, I bid you all farewell, until round 3! I just didn't want yall thinking I dropped off the face of the earth. Cuz that would hurt.

I'm baaaaack.

2008-05-11T20:17:00.001-07:00

Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah under 200 club baby. *does the running man*

Made A's and B's in my classes *does the cabbage patch*

..made a C in organic chem *curses teacher that decided to throw use questions from old MCAT exams*

And other news... I gotta stop my injections this week... I'm running out of hcg =( Didn't really expect that. And I think I'm gonna rotate between IM and SC because that puts ease on my muscles. So... yeah... but that's okay.. cause I joined the under 200 club *does the electric slide*

So uh.. yeah... I'll be reading yall's journals throught the week cause I wanna see what yall been up to while I was away! But in the meantime I'm gonna dance like a monkey with epilepsy... cause that how I look like when I dance..

BRB

2008-04-18T05:23:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I need to take a hiatus from the wonders that is the world wide web. My finals are in a few weeks and, honestly, there are some classes that I've neglected. >.< so, that being said, you won't see me for a little bit. But never fear, I'll still be here... just not "here".... okay I don't know if that made any sense.

P.S. - I'm gonna kill Aunt Flo and bury her in my backyard.

Blah.. stupid time of month.

2008-04-12T18:07:00.001-07:00

It has also occured to me that because of my false round 2 start a while ago, I am running out of syringes! =( I probbaly have about 14 left or so. Speaking of which I've been doing my injections Subcutaneously just to give my muscles a break. It seems to be going ok.

Today I was cleaning the house and decided to take a half shot of rum. Don't ask me why, the bottle was just staring at me in the cabinet. Let me tell you. It was as if I downed a glass. I was feeling all sorts of goofies. Oh well. Bad girl.

I need to up my water.

1 down, 9 to go.

2008-04-06T12:02:00.000-07:00

Day 5-6

2008-04-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

Day 5 - 216.5
Day 6 - 212.5

Holy crap wtf happened? That's awesome.

Those WASA cracker were more filling than toast. Porous, but filling.

And awaaaaay we go.

2008-04-02T10:08:00.000-07:00

Alright. So um, I wish I ate normal now... cause I gained more during the last time. Bleh. bleh bleh bleh. but. oh well. I'll just have to take it day by day. Speaking of day by day:

Day 1 - 216.5
Day 2 - 219.5
Day 3 - 218.5
Today - 217.5

Alrighty then. I'll probably write more after class. I just wanted to post the stats first.

2nd time's a charm?

2008-03-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

Alright. I need to make this brief. I have to write a paper about thiol production in skunks (thiols by the way are the compounds that gives the skunk its smelly reputation). Isn't organic chemistry wonderful? No.. no it isn't. It's the reason why I haven't posted in a while.

I'll be starting my round 2 again sometime this week, just depending on my free time. I don't want to make the same mistake I did last time. Since I took a 3 week break I figure I might as well load. But I'm not sure. I would like some input if anyone is willing.

And now to reply to some comments from me last entries:

maryg911: Thanks. The thermos idea just hit me one day. And it actually keeps the vial at a cooler temperature than my fridge.

cb9094: Thanks for those words of encouragement. I think what you said is true. I believe the struggle will help me pull it off quite successfully. And also, meeting my best friends in a month and a half or so after 2 years of her being in the navy is becoming quite the motivation.

Becca: "...You deserve to be a thin and healthy person and you CAN be..." Thanks for saying that. That just brightened my day, or evening to be precise. Something so simple, yet has a lot of impact in its words. And omg the Body Worlds Exhibit. I saw it in Houston. It was awesome. I just love stuff like that ('course then again I'm a biology major). And I also saw the splices of the the obese man vs. a normal man. It's the type of visual apparatus that just makes you "aware" of yourself. I shall thank Gunther Von Haagan if I see him.

B's Journey : Thanks B. I'm glad someone there can relate to my words. I didn't by the Bare Minerals brand, as I'm not one to spend $65 dollars on makeup! I'm a low maintanence kind of chick. Always will be. But I do like the occasional foundation and I've grown to love these mineral makeups. The brand I bought is Joelle. It's not bad at all. And much cheaper than BM.

applebottomblues : I'm glad someone's glad I posted the ups AND downs. I really didn't want to post it, but I thought it was important for people to see that I'm not a perfect being. I want people to see that even though I screwed up, I'm still going to try again, and this time succeed.

Lili : I hear you on that. Might I recommend the Discovery Health Channel? Also the library has programs of the specials on TV.

BizAdventure : I'm coming, I'm coming! Thanks for checking up on me. It helps me stay on track that there are people watching me behind my back ... as creepy as that sounds. =P

AllToLove : Welcome Sharon! Yes, this is definitely an adventure worth doing. You can't lose, except pounds. lol. And I thank you for the detailed post, I enjoyed reading it.

Okay, so I've run out of time, which means I'll be doing my blog rounds tomorrow. 'Can't wait to see how my hcg partners in crime are doing!

Back to the Drawing Board

2008-03-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

I bet you might have been wondering where I ran off to. Well, for starters, I decided it was in my best interest to take a break from the protocol. It was the perfect time since this was my spring break. I realized the second time around I jumped into this without the mental preparation I needed. The first time, this was all new to me. I read, and researched, and exhausted all my pro's and con's. It was foolish for me to think I did not need think things through next round. So yeah, I learned the hard way.

But while on my break I sort of did some inspiration searching. I need reaffirmations as to why I started this whole journey in the first place.

On my spring break I watched a lot of discovery health channel. There was a show about the science of obesity. Rather visually informative. there was a clip where a woman was walking and they showed her computer graphic copy walking along beside her, only showing the extra amount of fat she was carrying. That was real interesting to see visually just the amount of fat the obese carry around with them. And then I got to thinking. Sometimes people would say, "I'm basically two people put together". I said it myself. My two best friends who happen to weigh like 105 each, together are basically one of me, in terms of weight. That's a perception I don't care too much for, but it works for motivation purposes. But also, here's another perception we often overlook. If I were really two of my skinny friends put together, I would look pretty good at 210, because technically, I'd still be within my body fat percentage. Women are supposed to have 20% on average of body fat, up to 22% I believe. So, if a woman weighed 140 lbs., roughly 3o lbs. should consist of fat. Well, if that same woman was obese, say 260, and carried an exta 12o lbs., not only is she the weight of two people combined, she is carrying enough fat/energy for 4 people! Now that's more alarming.

I also found pictures of me when I was somewhere between 6 and 10. I was very athletic then. I looked at those pictures for a long time to. I realized that I wasn't always "the fat kid". It made me realize that I simply over ate and somehere down the line my hormones, hypothalamus, endocrine system got out of whack as a result. I understand that genes play a role, but only a small factor. Although my dad and grandparents are overweight, they were all skinny in there youth, up and past there 20's. So I know enviornment played the bigger role. I know how messed up our health is in America, but I am tired of playing the victim. I may be bummed out that I missed some crucial parts of my teen years, but I'll be damned if I let my weight define who I am, where I go, what I do, what I wear, how I approach people, how I look at myself, and so on, from this point on. Hcg has given me the tools I need to take back that part of my life again.

I also bought some makeup for myself. Okay, so that may not have anything to do with the whole hcg thing, but it was more of a confidence booster. I bought some of that mineral makeup (hcg approved), and honestly, it's the most awesome makeup in the world. It took a while to apply it right, as I was trying to do it like those people on bare minerals, and they make it seem like it takes 3 seconds to apply but once I got the hang of it, my face really did look flawless like on tv.

Oh and one more thing. I want to thank ALL of you who have been commenting on my journal this past week and a half. Those were some of the most encouraging comments I've had in a long time. It seems like no matter how much I mess up there's always someone who there for support. Sometimes I brace myself for negative criticism after I type up a journal entry, but to my surprise it never comes. This is not to say that there are no constructive comments, it just means that I'm always given advice in a supportive manner, and that's why you guys are awesome!

R2 Day 19-26

2008-02-26T12:09:00.000-08:00

Day 19 - 209
Day 20 - 209.5
Day 21 - 209
Day 22 - 210
Day 23 - 208
Day 24 - 207.5
Day 25 - 207
Day 26 - 206.5

Blah! Why do I feel like a failure?! I thought I would so be out of the 200's by the end of Febuary. Now I'm not so sure that's going to happen. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time with this round compared to the last. I know in the beginning it was all a breeze, and I struggled a little towards the end. But at the start of this time, man. I'm more hungry this time around than before, and I don't know what's up. Should I go buy a pregnancy test? Possibly. Honestly it is my fault because I've been sort of playing the Phase 3 game during P2, and that's not good at all. But I can't help it I'm just more hungry this time around, and I didn't have to deal with that before so it wasn't an issue. Argh! I just realized when I said that out loud I sounded like a pirate.

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2008-02-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

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R2 Day 14-18

2008-02-18T07:01:00.000-08:00

Day 14 - 205
Day 15 - 204.5
Day 16 - 210
Day 17 - 209.5
Day 18 - 209

Hmmmm..... yes... I know what you're thinking. What the hell happened on day 16?!?! Okay... let me explain. Three things: Chinese food, birthday cake, new scale.

Chinese food: My kryptonite. I was trying to "blend in" at the dinner table.
Birthday cake: Brother turned 6. Couldn't help it.. okay, more like, didn't help it.
Scale: Brand new.

So, yeah. All those factored in. I always weigh more on the "more accurate" scales. I really didn't eat that much cake, maybe a few big bites. But the chinese food was what got me. Bleh. All in one day. I have no way of really knowing which one attributed more to the weight gain, or how big of a discrepency my new scale is from the old one, since I broke the old one (dropped it on the corner - it split apart).

Sooo.. I broke out with the tape measure to make sure I wasn't gaining inches. And to my surprise I lost an inch in the stomach and and 1/2in in the chest and an inch in the thighs. So, all is well. Of course, that doesn't really make sense to me, but then again, who really know what is going on under the skin, except for Dr. Simeons. But damn, it sure would be nice to finally see that number go under 200 by next week. Sure would.

In the meantime, I'm finally getting in my water. Just had to fit it in my schedule. I have a liter with me during the day that I try and finish, and when I get home around 3 I drink another liter before I go to bed. Depending on the day I can get an extra .5-1 liter in.

I was trying to experiment with weekly updates. I find that I can get a bigger picture of things when I do it this way, and it's a little less stressful. But when I did daily updates, I scrutinized myself more, which places me under a tad bit more stress. Perhaps I'll do both, do daily updates, then weekly updates on my skip day.

R2 Day 9-13

2008-02-13T07:05:00.000-08:00

Day 9 - 208
Day 10 -207.5
Day 11 -206.5
Day 12 - 206
Day 13 -205.5

Welcome to the round of cockiness! That's exactly what it is. I completely stopped weighing my vegetables. I can look at my moms plate of chicken and go, "Hmm, 210 grams, give or take 8." Is that sad or what! I do weigh the meat though, when I'm cooking that is.

And something must've happened in the last 50 years or so because I am making all kinds of variations and I'm still losing weight. I'm still trying to work the kinks out, but I'm having all sorts of bold fun. For example. I ditched the melba toast for Wasa brand crisp in light cracker. Has the same if not less amount of calories than melba, taste better, and is bigger. I started experimenting with mixing veggies, but I had to be careful with that as some veggie combos were better for weightloss than others.

Now I know judging from last round I did better for the 1st part than the last, and that's something I'm going to have to consider down the line.

Oh and by the way, an herbal omelet with tomatoes and scallions is just downright delicious with tobasco sauce.

R2 Day 6-8

2008-02-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

Day 6 - 210.5
Day 7 - 209.5
Day 8 - 209

Hcg jumps out of the fridge in search of BB, but she is nowhere to be found. Then on a hunch, he makes a dash to the living room, bacwater shaking in his amber glass, hoping his suspicions are dead wrong.

But as Hcg turns to face the couch his fears are confirmed. He gasps in shock to find BB... hunched over a box of cookies.

Hcg: I knew it! You're cheating on me! I caught you red-handed!! How could you BB! How could you?!!!

BB was momentarily taken aback, as the expression on her face resembled a deer in headlights. She quickly regained her composure.

BB:Hcg! (wipes the crumbs from her mouth)It's not what it looks like -
Hcg: Oh really? Because I think it's EXACTLY what it looks like!

Hcg snatches the box away from BB and chunks it in the trashbin. He did this with such ferocity a few cookies fell onto the ground next to the bin.

Hcg: After all I've done for you! I thought we had a great first round! I gave you all that you wanted, and then some. I forgave you once because it was thanksgiving, and I didn't want to make a seen in front of your family. But this... no. If this is how it's.... BB!!

BB was eye-ing the cookies that didn't make it in the trash the whole time. She suddenly snapped out of her daze at the sound of her name.

BB:Huh? What? Oh. Well I couldn't help it! C'mon Hcg, give me a break! It's girlscout season! They get you at Walmart I tell you ... and they ambush you at BOTH entrances! I tried to get away, but they attacked me with, with (BB looked as though she was about to break down) Carmel Delights! (Begins to sob) Damn you Samoans!

Hcg was unmoved.

BB:Look, I know I can change, just give me another chance! I can do this! You're my only hope. Atkins was a dick. He gave me false hopes. But you've been true to your word from the very first day. I won't let you down again!

Hcg rolls his eyes and lets out a long sigh.

Hcg:Well, I guess if it wasn't for you I'd still be in Europe getting pissed off by some raging hormonal pregnant lady. Tell you what, if you can prove your worthiness to me for the next month and a half or so, I'll take you to P3 again. And then after that, we can go to P4. I hear they have a nice buffet.
BB: (Her face lights up) Really?? Oh Hcg, I don't know what to say.
Hcg: Well, I'm still a little upset about the cookies. But I guess I've been kind of a prick in the butt lately..
BB: and arms.
Hcg: Yeah, I guess so.
BB: and thighs.
Hcg:Uh, yeah
BB:and
Hcg:Look are you gonna prove to me you can commit to this relationship or not!
BB:Yes!
Hcg:Good. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I think I'll go back into the fridge. It's a little warm out here.

Hcg turns around and heads back into the kitchen. As he opens the door he remembered something he wanted to tell BB. He walks back to the living room.

Hcg:By the way, we're out of grissini so when your at the store why don't you--- BB!!!

BB was kneeling by the trash, on the verge of stuffing a cookie in her mouth, until she looked up and locked eyes with Hcg, still holding the cookie inches away from her mouth. A few seconds of uncomfortable silence passes, and BB looks over Hcg's shoulder and points.

BB:Is that Customs walking to the door?!
Hcg:(Turns around in a moment of panic but quickly turns back as he feels something rush beside him...)

BB is nowhere to be found. The cookies from the trash are mysteriously missing.

Hcg: DAMNIT!

So... lol, yeah. That's what I've been going through these past few days. Needless to say, I haven't been the best Phase two-fer in these past 72 hours. I'm starting to wonder whether I went into round 2 P2 a little prematurely. I was under the notion this would be a walk in the park after the 1st round. It could be that it's just the first week, although I didn't experience all that much hunger in round 1. Been wondering if I should start over with heftier loading days. Or maybe not. I guess experience differs from person to person.

R2 Day 4-5

2008-02-06T07:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 213
Today - 210.5

-2.5 lbs.

Hooray, I rock! Now, I probably would've lost more had I not eaten that cookie, but for a split second I forgot I was back on phase 2. Sometimes it feels like I just picked up where I left off from round 1, and sometimes I need to remind myself when I pass up the Burgerking that I'm not in phase 4 anymore. My hunger cravings today came in waves. Through french class my stomach was growling but once I was let out it dissapeared. Then I came home and ate some chicken soup and an apple and I was fine the rest of the day. I'm still having a hard time going back to drinking my half gallon of water. I need to get the ball rolling on that because I'll lose more when that happens.

I noticed I'm more sleepy that usual. Just a tad bit more fatigued. It's serves to my advantage though 'cause I sleep longer and feel well rested when I wake up, which is a rarity in itself, me being the total opposite of those ... grrr... "morning people".... (I'm not actually growling, just to let you know. There's too many people around me and I want to blend in with the crowd not stick out here people). perhaps I'll start taking ~~crack~~ ~~caffeine~~ coffee in the morning, but any form of stimulant usually has me bouncing off the walls.

I think that's all I have to report on. The one thing I hate about blogspot is that you can't reply/subcomment, so I think I'll start doing what other people are doing and and just reply in my blogs.

Biz - Thank you! I spent long nights thinking about how I was going to make it work.

cb9094 - Thanx! I'm glad I make at least one person laugh.

R2 Day 3 (VLCD)

2008-02-04T16:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 213
Today - 216

+3 lbs.

Well! I guess I did good loading then, hehe. Let's see today's menu:

Apple
Orange
Celery n' chicken soup x 2
Grissini

I was a little hungry in the afternoon, but it was by no means unbearable. Focusing on my schoolwork helps. I'm trying to drink a half gallon of water within the next 2 hours. I'm sure that'll result in a zero loss on the scale in the morning, but I'm more relaxed this round.

Also, if you don't already know I'm hiding the fact that I'm on this diet to my parents. It's very hard to do this when they both work in the medical field. So much for the "medical diet" excuse right? Last round I just told them my amber vial in the fridge was a biology project I was working on (yeah, on myself), but I don't want to use that excuse again. So... I bought this:

A minifridge! brilliant! This particular one gets really cold and I can even plug it in to my car when I travel, if I needed to. There's just one drawback. The fan on top is sort of loud, about on par with a computer fan that's unusually noisy. It takes me a little longer to sleep and get used to. Also, I started thinking, maybe one day someone will get curious and open it. So I came up with this idea:

It turns out, an insulated thermos provided the -perfect- means of a way of keeping my hcg constantly cold, better than a fridge I would even say. We usually think of a thermos as trying to keep our coffee as piping hot as long as possible but it works even better for keeping things cold and for longer periods of time. I tested this out first by filling it up with ice and water and checked on it the next day. 12 hours later it was still extremely cold, with ice still unmelted. This time I just filled it with ice, and by the end of the day there was more ice left than the first trial. I stuck my vial in a ziploc bag, even though it's airtight. The temperature was colder than my fridge will ever get. So all I have to do is replace the ice after I do my injection and maybe in the afternoon just to keep it extra cold. I'm wondering now if I'll even need the minifridge I got for sale..eh.. I'll still use it... it's a pretty neat thing.

R2 Day 1-2 (Loading days)

2008-02-03T17:59:00.000-08:00

Day 1 - 214
Day 2- 213

Awesome. I lost a pound. I loaded pretty well the first day. Then pretty well this morning. But afterwards, I didn't feel all that hungry. This is what happened to me last time. Knowing now how important it is to do a proper load, I tried to eat as less volume of as much fattening foods. Sooooooo.... I ate a stick of butter! OKay okay that sounds gross but I didn't literally shove a raw stick of butter down my throat. But what I did was melt half a stick with honey in the microwave, added a splash or two of milk whipped it then chugged it down. It was actually pretty good. I imagine that's what butterbeer would've tasted like, for those of you into Harry Potter. Made my inside warm and fuzzy. then after that I added the rest of the stick on a yam (along with brown sugar) then ate the whole thing sans the skin. Now that I think about it I had 1/4 stick of butter this morning on my pancakes... so yeah I had over a stick of butter today. I also had a few pancakes jam/toast, chicken n rice, milk, and I think I'll go take a few shots of condensed milk after I'm done, then I'll -really- be done.

I have to admit though I've gotten a slight headache after eating that yam, watching it do backstrokes in the pool of butter. I know I'm going to feel like crap this week.

For my VLCD tomorrow I put some chicken breasts, sliced celery, and seasoning in a crock pot that I'll take for lunch tomorrow. I'm at that point where I can look and see how much chicken I need to take and eat. Oh! I almost forgot my water. It's been awhile. hehe. Well, that's all I can think of for now.

On your mark, get set, ready....

2008-02-01T23:58:00.000-08:00

In just a few hours I'll be whippin' up a batch of hcg for round two. I can't sleep. I really really wanted to do this round justice so I've been going back and reading some things from the protocol. To make extra sure I've stocked my normal fat reserves I did a little pre-loading as Dr. Simeons suggest for people who have dieted in the past. Although now in retrospect it may not apply to people doing repeat rounds. I know I didn't load well as good as I wanted in round 1. So, yeah. The only thing that sucks is that I put on an extra 6-7 pounds because of it, but Dr. Simeons states, 'no matter how much weight is put on'. I'll trust him on this one.

My goal for round 2 is to get to 185. This time I'll be trying 125IU's instead of 150, just to see if that makes any difference. I want to experiment with the duration of treatment this round. I might go beyond 43 days to see how my body responds. I'm getting a little bolder. I feel like a pro. Hehe, don't worry I'm sure something will come along and pop my ego. I just feel that my body can take more is all. But we'll see. In the meantime I've gone ahead and stored all my lotions and oils under the sink cabinets and replaced them with baby oils and other hcg approved paraphernalia.

And with that, I bid Phase 4 adieu.

Uncharted Territory

2008-01-28T15:59:00.000-08:00

Well. I ordered my supplies last Tuesday from GPZ services like the other time, and my order came in that Friday. I love GPZ services, did I mention that? Anyways the only things I didn't buy were the loading needles since I bought those last time and have some left over. It was cheaper this time around. $38 dollars (including shipping) for a 50 day round.

My plan was to start P2 on Feb 1, but my parents' friends want to go out to eat next wekend, you know, do something together. So me thinks I'll wait next weekend. I don't mind waiting a few days... I hope.

Hehe, I've been engaging in more "preload" outings. I guess I'm trying to get it out of my system. Gained a nice 3 pounds because of it, but it's going down. It truly is a strange thing to see the number go down as I stop eating junk food. It's like my body is more responsive to not only what I eat but what I don't eat. Does that make any sense? Maybe I just want to see that, but whatever the case may be, the point I'm trying to make is if for some reason I were to gain a reasonable amount of weight back I imagine it would take a lot less fitness/diet strategies to reach my LIW. Just a theory.

Oh and here are my inspiration pants I bought right before I started P2. They're a size 12. Not my ultimate size goal (which is an 8), but they were on clearance at Walmart for $5. I like 'em.

Another thing I noticed after I bought the jeans... the brand name: Uncharted Territory. For some reason the name strikes a powerful chord in me. It's as if you're driving alone in your car one day, maybe feeling a little depressed, and a thousand trivial but nonetheless stressful thoughts are running in an' out of your head. Then catching you off guard a song plays on the radio, giving you weird vibes because the lyrics seems to dictate your life to the letter. It freaks you out at first, yet you can't help but feel like everything's going to be all right. That's what the brand name does for me. Maybe it's symbolic to the hcg. Perhaps to this whole experience being on the protocol. Uncharted Territory.

Well, I don't want to make this too long as I have to research a debate I'm doing tomorrow (should we place a monetary value on nature as a way of teaching people the value of our natural world... just in case you wanted to know what I was debating about... and I'm debating against it)

TTFN!

And the beat goes on...

2008-01-22T13:19:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that time again. I just ordered my batch of supplies that I'll need for Phase 2 round deux! That's french for two by the way. And I have to admit my diet before hasn't changed one bit, although I do eat more cottage cheese and salads (thanks to P2 habits). I've also been mantaning at my new weight of 209 pounds. Yes it's 5 pounds over my LIW but technically it worked, as I've been eating what I want and still maintaining. I just wasn't a very good P3 person which upped my weightset point. Oh well, that'll change very soon. I have to kiss P4 goodbye for the time being =( but there's always loading to look forward to. And I'm going to do it justice this time around! OOOOOOOh I got myself all excited I need to simmer down now.

Phase 3 Days 18-33

2008-01-14T13:41:00.000-08:00

Wow. It's been a while. I've been putting off blogging but now that school's back it's been a little more hectic. Especially the time I wanted to devote to writing out all my experiences in the past two weeks.

Technically I don't think I'm in Phase 3 anymore. I guess I'm in what you call the "unofficial" phase 4. I say unofficial because technically I still have a few rounds of Phase 2 to do. Admittedly I haven't been paying attention to my carbs. In fact, I've been eating out and not really paying attention to my diet this round. Now I can see you pointing your finger at me, but let me tell you. I'm only 3 pounds over my allowed weight range. And if this was any other fad diet, I would be more like 10-15 pounds over. I haven't been gaining during phase 4, and I did eat fast food and sugars. BUT! It's not exactly combo meals and supersizing. More like a cheeseburger or a chicken sandwich from the dollar menu. And sometimes I may gain half a pound the next day, but I would always lose it the following day. I haven't been eating huge meals so much as I've been grazing. I think it's a phase 2 habit. I see what it's meant though by eating absolutely no sugars or starch for P3. When P4 came around my weight seemed to stabilize to the new 3 or so pounds I acquired during P3.

I haven't been on the yahoo group in a loooong time. Honestly I find people's blogs to be the most inspiring. And did I mention less drama oriented? =p

This is all good and well for right now, but I guess the real test will be in the long run. I can officially start round 2 phase 2 on January 26. This means I need to reorder my hcg supplies. This time I think I'll try 125IU's. Last time I did 150IU but if I can get away with 125 it might prove to be the better dose for me. Don't know how excited I am to start though. My goal for round 2 is to get to 175, which means I'll need to lose 35 pounds. Last round I lost 27+ so I think I can pull it off. I will be really excited to lose this round. It'll really show (or at least it should) as the percentage of weightloss will be 50% higher if I meet my goal. So everyone cross their fingers, now!

Phase 3 day 11-17

2007-12-30T20:29:00.000-08:00

I meant to update 3 days ago, but life has been hectic. Well, more like, other people's lives have been hectic, therefore effecting my life, as it goes. Dad has a bundle of problems and my sister is in jail for trivial warrants, well I guess not that trivial to land yourself in the slammer. But I'm not here to talk about that am I. The protocol, yes.

According to my dad's scale I weigh 215. Been hovering that number throughout the week. Yeah, I almost dropped dead on the spot there, cause that would mean I'm 11 pounds over my LIW.

..BUT...

My dad's scale has a 6-7 pound discrepency compared to my scale at home. AND I had my clothes, shoes, wallet, etc. on. For the protocol I strip down to get my weight, but here I can't just waltz in my dad's room in my birthday suit and hop on the scale... Although he is a heavy sleeper, and it would make for interesting small talk around the breakfast table if for some reason he ... what in the world am I saying. I swear I type whatever comes to mind... bubbles.

Well, what all this means in all honesty is that I'm probably only 2-4 pounds over my LIW, according to my scale. I'm seriously considering buying one of those portable scales I've been hearing about. At least one better than the one I have. I remember spending $10 on it at Walmart, and I almost went for the $20 one, but the advertisment displayed on the box was so persuasive I decided why not and save $10. Next time, I think I'll go with my gut feeling.

As for food. Well, that's been tough. My mom and dad live opposite lives. my mom and her husband are the healthfood junkies that would probably disown me if I came into the house with a Coke in my hand. My dad on the other hand, well. Let's just say, he's single and can't cook. which means, the fridge is filled with nothing but ready to eat meals. Least to say, it's a bloody nightmare. His cabinets are full of soda, and there is NOTHING in the house that is phrase 3 approved except for: eggs, deli ham (I checked the ingredients), tomatoes, bell peppers, and lettuce. In other words... I've been eating omelets. I've been buying some stuff from the store, but money for me will be tight until school starts, which thankfully will be in about a week.

Some other things. Dairy products don't seem to hurt me, so I'm glad for that. Honestly I've been taking this phase less seriously than phase 2, mostly because things here are more hectic and less organized. But I also noticed that I don't eat as much. In fact I can take my food in a small bowl now as opposed to a plate as I don't use the extra space. I'm thinking it's a habit I devloped during phase 2. But here's something else I noticed. On days when I meet my suggested caloric intake (even if I ate a starch or sugar) I do fine, but if I eat below I don't do as well, and those are the days when I adhere most to the phase 3 diet.

Now I understand when people talk of this part of the protocol. If phase 3 was a person I would be giving it the finger right about.... now.

Phase 3 Day 5-10

2007-12-23T18:44:00.000-08:00

Uh! I knew I was forgetting something! I forgot to pack my scale! *slaps forehead*

So yeah, I come to my dad's house, and the only thing to eat are chips, soda, cinnamon buns, rice, deli ham, oh you know, -just about everything I CAN'T eat. Seriously. My sister doesn't cook, she's always out clubbing and whatnot. My dad can't cook anything so he buys foods that don't require much prep time.

I know I probably gained a few pounds since I left, given my poor selection of foods. I have no choice but to spend money that would've otherwise gone to people's gifts on groceries on myself. Bleh. I hate being a broke college student.

On the positive side, I did find my dad's old scale, which is supposedly good & accurate, but it's been handled much. I remember I always weighed 6-7 pounds more on that scale. I think what I'll do is weigh myself first thing in the morning on that scale and then just try not to go above that number. I wonder if exercise will help me go back to my LIW. bleh. this sucks.

Phase 3, Day 1-4

2007-12-17T08:52:00.000-08:00

First of all I want to thank everyone for the comments on my photos. I'm glad people can see a difference in them. I guess it takes the prespective of a third paty to make you notice the difference. I'm hoping the second round I'll -really- see a major difference. Not trying to diminish the success from the first round, but I expect the 2nd round to be the round that hits the abnormal-fat ball out the park. Yes I know. I'm a dork. Hell I don't even watch baseball. But oh well.

So.... phase 3....

I happy that I can finally start eating a little bit more normal now. In fact, even though it's just 4 days I already noticed myself being satisfied on portions that could pass off as normal. This makes me happy. =)

One thing about the whole starch and sugar deal. I'm finding that there are things I've eatened in my life that contain hidden sugars and starches. For example, ketchup. Now I knew that ketchup had sugars in it, I mean a tomato is a fruit. But what shocked me was the type of sugar in ketchup: corn syrup, along with high fructose corn syrup. *sigh*, the ingredient labels don't lie (although some like to hide their ugly natures behind simple names... I'm looking at you "spices").

I'm wondering though if I should use my last injection weight from the last injection or from the day after the 72 hour hcg withdraw process. there's a .5 pound difference (I gained a half pound on the third day). 203.5 or 204? Am I being too picky? I want to do 204. on my 3rd P3 day I was 206 and today I'm 204 so I think 204 is a safe weight to use.

In the meantime I believe I wil go find myslef a portable glycemic index chart (and perhaps an atkins menu) to keep myself at bay with the "absolutely no sugars and starch" deal. I'm being stubborn by eating dried fruits and the occasional fried dumpling, and I need to stop. Although I'm getting a little better by eating more protein and fats. It sounds weird for me to being able to go a little liberal on the fats.

One more thing, if anyone has any advice on this: fitness. I shouldn't think (an)aerobics will effect us negatively like in P2. I want to do some strength training for P3. My only concern is I hear that just doing any fitness related activity for a short period of time gradually loses whatever health benefits it may have brought once you cease to continue. I say this because I would most likely have to stop once I start my second round. I train hard. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. I should probably be thinking about fitness after the whole protocol. I don't want to get ahead of myself and take on more than I can handle.

Well, anywho's, This was my attempt to make up for several days of absent. But you know I think for me it's makes sense to report every couple of days. I have more to reflect on as more things can happen over the span of several days as opposed to one. In the meantime, yall take care! I'm off to Texas tomorrow to see the rest of my immediate family. I'll let yall know if people noticed anything different about me. ;)

before and after

2007-12-13T22:12:00.000-08:00

I finally took some pictures for the after shots. Now, I've been deciding whether or not to post them on the yahoo group. Ever since that whole Yancy fiasco I've been afraid to do so. I don't think I'll ever muster up the courage after what people said in reference to that.

So what I'm going to do is this. If you want to see before and after photos, email me and I'll send them to you. It's just me in my underwear. You might want to wear goggles though, to prevent yourself from gouging your eyes out once you've seen them. There, I've gone and put up the disclaimer so you can't sue me. I don't see the difference like I see in some people's, but oh well. I think the most visible I myself can see was my collar bone. When I scratch there I can feel the clavicle is more prominent. It's almost, dare I say, uncomforatable - like trying to reposition your elbows when you lay on a bean bag, but can feel the floor through the stuffing and you just can't seem to get enough styrofoam underneath. I almost feel like if I was to lose all the abnormal fat, sitting in a chair without the exta padding would feel somewhat uneasy.

Day 43

2007-12-12T08:12:00.000-08:00

yesterday - ? Didn't weigh
Today - 203.5

Well... apparantly I lost regardless of what I weighed yesterday. Now I don't want to stop injections, lol. But I really must listen to my body, instead of my psychological "want" to get under 200 this round. But now that phase 2 is over, well I guess officially in a few days, it is time for.. measurements!

inches before/inches after
bust - 50/46 -4
chest - 40/37 -3
waist - 38/35 -3
stomach - 46.5/42.5 -4
hips - 50/47 -3
thigh - 31.5/28.5 -3
calf - 17.5/16 -1.5
upper arm - 17/15.5 -1.5
forearm - 12/10.5 -1.5
total - 302.5/278 -24.5

Round 1
Starting VLCD - 231.5 lbs.
LIW (last injection weight) - 203.5 lbs.
Total weightloss - 28 lbs.
Total percentage loss - 12% of body weight
68.5 more pounds to go!!

While 135 isn't my personal goal weight, it will be for this protocol. Once I reach that weight I will no longer be considered "overweight". So whatever whatever weight I'll be after that once all the abnormal fat is gone will be fine with me. Maybe all my abnormal fat will be gone by 135.

But I'm thinking once that happens I can finally start toning my body, and I want to use those Power 90X series to do it. I have turbo jam and other power 90 series now but it was a little difficult moving at my size, although turbo jam is quite fun to do and watch.

I will still keep everyone posted during phase 3. I have to go back again and read now that it pertains to me!

Day 41 and 42

2007-12-11T21:37:00.000-08:00

Day 41 I was violently ill for whatever reason. I don't know if it was a migrane I'd experienced but the left part of the crown of my head pulsated with a taste for vengance. I felt all sorts of naseau and weakness. I vomitted numerous times. Towards the end I had nothing left in my stomach, yet I still felt the urge to regurgitate any residual caloric substance that may have been lurking bewtween my somtach muscles.. It wasn't the kind that after you just puked your brains out you felt loads better. I actually felt worse. I don't know what it was. Did I eat something bad? What exactly was in that beef? It couldn't be the beef though, the same beef I've been eating since the start of this whole thing. Blah. I was so sick I forgot to weight myself too. >:I

Anyways. I decided that today will be my last injection day. I really don't want to go any longer as I feel Dr. Simeons was right about going for more than 41 injecting days. It does take a toll on you to some extent. And in retrospect I'm just not that die hard to forego that one little tidbit, albeit I can't cite myself as someone who followed the diet to a "T". I'll never understand that phrase.

Day 41

2007-12-09T12:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 205.5
Today 204

-1.5 lbs.

Interesting. okay. I believe ovulation might have been a factor in this. This past week I had the closest thing to a TOM I've ever had in a long time. In this sense I feel better because that means my periods are coming back, which is a good thing for me. I don't want to believe that my hcg was the case, because in essence it shouldn't have gone bad just yet. But just to be sure I'll go back to my 150IU. If I still lose, then TOM was to blame. If I don't then potency issues are to blame.

and I want to thank everyone for the encouraging comments and adive/suggestions. I totally forgot about the TOM issue. Yall are too good to me!

Day 40

2007-12-08T20:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 205.5
Today - 205.5

I don't know what's going on, but I upped the dosage for today from 150 to 175. I did feel better throughout the morning but I had the same hunger again in the afternoon. Now I don't know if it's psychological or physical. tomorrow I'll try and up the dosage to 200 if it doesn't work. It can't be the food, it's what I've always ate since day 1 of vlcd. Blah. Not as fustrated as I'll always have round 2 to look forward to. It just... sucks!

However, I did change the storage location for this vial a little while back. In my fridge there's a section where you can control the temp./climate and I stored it in there. It's not freezing but it is sure colder than the rest of the fridge. I wonder if the lower temperature have anything to do wih it.

Day 38 and 39

2007-12-07T19:41:00.000-08:00

yesterday 204.5
today 205.5

+1 pound!!

what the %&#*($@. okay now I'm mad. I didn't do ANYTHING wrong. I have a very, very sneaky suspicion my hcg has lost potency because while I have been losing (and gaining) this past 1.5 week I have noticed my hunger is increasing every day. It has become harder to ignore cravings now. It's almost to the point of torment now. I was looking up and down at a salad I was making for my family like it was a big mac and I wanted it to be my pimp. Uhh I only have maybe a week left but I really think something's up. I would feel disappointed not seeing myself below 200 but at the same time I've lost another inch and a half but now I don't see any improvement. *sigh*. I wonder if I should stick till next week or stop now cause I don't want to lose normal fat.

Day 37

2007-12-05T15:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 204
Today - 203.5

-.5 lbs.

woohoo. okay. Gotta study group in a few minutes.

Day 36

2007-12-04T16:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 204.5
Today - 204

-.5lbs.

Any loss is still a loss so I'll take it. For some reason I just feel down today. Maybe it's the fact that finals are right around the corner and I have yet to study "assertively". I was really hoping for all A's this semester but I might just end up with B's, and maybe one A depending on how well I do on the final. I also noticed that I am starting to get a bit hungrier these days, and the only thing that curbs my appetite is water. And I know we're supposed to be drinking water, but I never really -needed- it to keep my hunger at bay. At first I thought my hcg was losing it's potency but I'm still losing apparently. I wonder if I could be building up an immunity to it. That would suck.

During the day today I was hungry but because I was busy working I wasn't phased by it. I wonder if my hungry is due to not eating anything throughout the morning and afternoon. Sometimes I find myself eating my first meal after 4 or 6. Before, I would have an apple in the morning, my first meal around 3 (when I come home from school), and my second meal sometime after 5 or 6. Depending on how hungry I am I would eat my second alotted fruit. I swear something happened to me after thankgsiving. I guess I sorta got lazy and when I plateaued I sort of lost my thunder afterwards. I was losing so so well in the beginning. Didn't help that we had guests come about either.

These are things I definetely want to consider on my next round. Next round there isn't a holiday in sight, unless you count Valentine's Day but I haven't a hubby or BF so no one to suprise me with saturated chocolately fats there.

(warning: the next paragraph has some graphic details about -womanly- issues. You have been warned!)

Something else also happened today. I should probably note first that my periods stopped in 2001. Since then I haven't had a -proper- period. And I know this isn't the best course of action, but I've been too scared to go to a doctor. I'm one of those people who just rather not know. Since that time I've had a brown disharge here and there. I've inquired about these and one doctor I asked said this is normal as it is just old blood being pushed out. And from my researched I've come to the conclusion that it was because of my weight, possibly PCOS and insulin resistance maybe, that has haulted my periods. This morning I had a brown mucousy discharge that was moreso than usual. And this evening I went to change my panty liner and I noticed there was a little blood there. It looked like the start of a period. I even saw blood clots. So I'm wondering if my periods are returning now. I don't know if I should be excited or not, because I don't know if this counts as Aunt Flo coming to town. More like stopping by cause she forgot her keys, then sneezed or something before walking out the door. I've never in my life had regular periods. I would get maybe 4-6 a year and they would be -very- heavy and last for weeks. I was actually relieved to see them stop but now I'm thinking maybe I'll want kids someday, whereas before that idea wasn't on my things-to-do-before-I-die list. I've never had cramps or pains ever....

I think I'm just ranting now about my dysfunctionalness. I really need to get back to study. But yeah, so much for the supposed hiatus of the blogs, lol.

Day 34 and 35

2007-12-03T06:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 206
Today - 204.5

-1.5 lbs.

well.. I seem to be on track again. Not far from being out of the 200's. my god wouldn't that be something. I drank more water. I believed that helped (as usual).

Also to note. The next two weeks are going to be somewhat hectic for me, due to finals. So with that being said, you'll probably noticed I won't be updating as regular, as I'll probably be somewhere in the corner of a library cramming as much organic chemistry as my brain can muster. And when that fuse blows out, I'll do the same for statistics, then french, and so on. Alrighty then.

And I want to thank all the people that commented on my journal and gave me feedback with such fantastic support because yall helped me keep going. I probably would've waved a white flag to phase 2 and went into phrase 3 a week ago, but yall gave me the strength to see through my whole phase, so for that I give thanks.

Day 33

2007-12-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 206.5
Today 205.5

-1lb.

Cool.

Well I have some interesting news, not so much in a good sense though. My my grandpa came to visit from overseas, so my mom made her oxtail dish with dumplings as usual (by the way, if you've never had oxtail, it's goooood). Anyways... I already ate my meals before 3pm., so I drank water for the day, as I wasn't in a fruit mood. My mom asked me if I was going to eat, and I just told her I wasn't hungry (which was true). By the way they know I'm dieting but they don't now know I'm on Dr. Simeons protocol. Soooo when I said no my mom started to suspect I was eating very little. Basically it came down to the point where I had to eat again in front of her to make sure I looked like I was eating enough. She probably thinks I'm trying to be anorexic or something. I know my mom. If I didn't do that she probably would've looked more into it. Her being a physician makes it hard more me to do this diet without scrutiny, especially with her not really knowing the full nature of the whole thing.

Day 33

2007-11-30T17:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 205.5
Today - 206.5

+1 lb.

LOL. I knew it! I drank almost a gallon of water, right before I went to bed (I chugged that sucka down!). Now I don't usually do THAT but I guess I got so overenthused by the apple day results. I tried to measure how much the water weighs before I finished it. I put my bottle on my scale first then tried to subract that weight when I reweigh with water. And I learned something that night: My scale only goes up to 6 pounds. Anything more it'll read "Err", I guess that's how food scales spell error. I believe it was biz who said water weighs 8 pounds? I'll take her word on that. But this morning, needless to say, I took the longest piss of my life.

Day 32

2007-11-29T18:33:00.000-08:00

yesterday - 206.5-207
Today - 205.5

1-1.5 lbs.

Now that's what I'm talking about! Finally out the funk! I only had 3 apples yesterday. I didn't feel like eating more. I thought I would be really hungry only having to eat apples but it was the opposite.

And today I felt normal. Not much hunger. a few Cravings, but no hunger. and those cravings lasted for 2 minutes literally. I've only had a bottle of water. I can probably try and drink half a gallon now until I go to bed (I've done it before) but I know that will register as a gain or a stall tomorrow. It usually does. But I really need to get back to drinking my water. I guess that's all I have to report for now. I'm really noticing a difference in my shoulders and collar bone. They square off more and aren't as "plump". Awesomeness.

Something I wanna change: I try to eat my meals at a certain time whether I'm hungry or not, just to keep a steady schedule. But I think from now on I'm just going to eat when I'm hungry. honestly sometimes I don't feel like eating two meals, but I still have this notion in my mind that I have to eat something because we all learn that skipping meals is a bad thing. But, on this protocol it isn't an issue, because what I forget is that the body is being flooded with the release of our fat storages. And this is what I want to get in to the habit of doing. Only eating when I'm hungry. It's weird. On the apple day when I ate only when I was hungry I only had 3 apples. Today I ate according to a schedule and I still had some cravings between meals, even though they'd quickly disappear. So I wonder if it's a physical or mental thing? One thing this protocol has let me do is be more in tuned with my body and I notice a lot of things about myself. I tell you though I'm eager to do my second round and compare the differences.

2007-11-28T13:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 206.5
Today - 206.5/207 (grr.. stupid fickle scale again)

So today I decided to do the apple day. I've have only 2 apples so far. I'm a little tired right now... but that probably contributes to staying up till 3:something to finish a project I had to present today [in french]. So I think I'll go and take a nap, and dream about inches melting away or something like that. à bientôt!

Day 31

2007-11-27T13:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 206.5/207
Today - 206.5

So....

Instead of me ripping my toilet from the floor and crashing it on the scale, I quickly decided to go measure myself with a tape measure to find out what the *$@! was going on...

I -lost- inches.

I'm definitely losing fat.

It's apparent to me now that I've plateaued.

Now, rereading the plateau part in Dr. Simeons manuscript I don't NEED to do an apple day because what's going on internally isn't being affected. Soooooooo, because I'm confident that I'll get under 200 before round 2 is up, I'll keep going.

Now, if Dr. Simeons meant plateau as in not losing anymore weight on the scale but still lose inches, I'll go ahead with the apple day. Although I'm gettin to the point where I'm starting to appreciate the tape measure loss almost as much as the scale loss, psychologically speaking, I -need- to see that scale read below 200. And that's that!

Day 30

2007-11-26T09:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 206.5
Today - 206.5/207 (scale is fickle today)

Uh... ok. So, I've been hovering around 206.5 for the past 4 days. I think this calls for an apple day. I'll go ahead and do the VLCD for today, but if I don't see a budge in the scale I'm busting out mah apples. I feel great otherwise.

They were taking pictures of our group for our research presentations on Splenda and we just got the pictures. I was suprised at how small I look. Granted in one photo I'm standing in the back and the shortest out of my group, but I could definitely see a difference in my face. It was hard to tell in the rest of my body with what me having black hair and dressed all in black looking like Darth Vadar. But yeah, I was shocked - I noticed my face looking more squarer and not so round. It just dawned on my that I have a strong jawline under all that fat. What I see in the mirror is not what I saw in those photos. Isn't it funny how differently we perceive ourselves with our own two eyes?

Anyways, I have roughly two weeks left of my protocol and only 6-8 pounds away from my round 1 goal, which was to be under 200. Wouldn't that be something? (and good for me too cause I put 188lbs. on my driver's license!)

Day 28

2007-11-24T17:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 206
Today - 206.5

+.5 lbs.

Well, I guess I'm back to my regular diet. I grew some balls and started cheating to test out what I can get away with ever since Thanksgiving.. must have been a one time thing. But I also noticed that my stair step approach to weightloss is a little weird. It seems to be more like a downward wave. I think. well, so much for the pound per day deal. I guess it was expected, me being female and all (damn you guys and your metabolisms).

Today I bought all natural beef chuck. I haven't figured out which cut of meat is the leanest (fill me in if you know). Anyways I got the idea (from camping) that I would put each piece of 100g. meat in a piece of foil with my favorite season Tony's Creole and a splash of liquid Braggs Aminos. Then I would take a handful of veggies and put them in each foil, close them up tight and bake at a low temperature. I used handfuls of chopped onions in one, cherry tomatoes in another one, cut up asparagus in another, cabbage, and so one. I baked at 300 for like an hour or so and the meat came out really tender and made it's own juices. Everything from the meat to the veggies were so flavorful, it was like cooking in a crock pot. I put all the foil pockets in a big container, so when it's time for lunch I can just take one out, pop it in the microwave and eat (w/the foil removed!) . Woohoo. Lunch made for the week.

Day 27

2007-11-23T10:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 207
Today - 206

-1lb.

WHAT!?? HOW!?? It's not possible!??

How the hell did I LOSE weight on Thanksgiving?!?!?!? I went ahead and decided that I wasn't going to hold back, I'd just enjoy myself and eat whatever I want, although I decided to skip out on the apple pie cake. But I ate turkey with skin and gravy, the classic green bean casserole with bacon bits, cranberry dressing, pilaf, and a sweet potato casserole full of walnuts, pecans, butter, coconut oil, brown sugar, marshmallows, and butterscotch schnapps (my secret ingredient). How can I eat this and still lost weight?! And I had a bit of amaretto sour. What in the world? Oh, and to top it off, a few bites of an egg roll and half a bite size pack of twix.

Here's what I did. I decided to not eat anything but the thanksgiving dinner, that way in case I over indulge it wouldn't be that bad. Even though I said I'd stuff myself I was very conservative about my portions in the beginning, although I was planning on going for seconds, even thirds! Here's what ended up happening. My "seconds" were about 2 tablespoons of green bean casserole and 3 tablespoons of sweet potato casserole. I didn't finish my turkey, cranberry sauce, green beans, and pilaf. There were even some sweet potatoes left (although not by much). I was actually -full-. Sure I probably could've just as easily eaten more, but the "desire" to eat more just wasn't there, as simple as that. I was completely satisfied with what I ate. It was insane. Was it the hcg? Or was it my hypothalamus on the verge of resetting? I don't know. According to Dr. Simeons I was supposed to gain, or at least not lose anything. I can't understand it either. I was soooo expecting to see a gain when I got on the scale this morning. I was planning in my head what meals I was going to prepare to bring my weight down the quickest after my so-called glutfest. So you can imagine the shock on my face when the scale showed a LOSS instead of a gain. I'm wondering if it's water weight, but I thought my body would want to hoard my water for not drinking enough the day before. I just don't know.

I should be happy and excited and I really am, but at the same time, it doesn't make a darn sense to me and I wanna know why. When my family and I were fixing that dinner we didn't hold out on butter or flavor. I have to say though, we used healthier alternatives. Instead of sugar we used brown sugar. I only used half the butter for the sweet potato casserole and used coconut oil for the rest. The turkey was naturally free of hormones and whatnot. in fact, the only thing I can think about that was processed was the cream of mushrooms and the french fried onions for the green bean casserole which were canned. The green beans were fresh. Even the gravy.

As a biology major it drives me crazy that I can't explain the internal physiological reactions for this. But all in all, I'm glad thanksgiving is over. I guess I should just shut my mouth and be happy!

Day 26

2007-11-22T05:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 208.5
Today - 207

-1.5 lbs.

3 lbs over 2 days. Not bad. Not bad at all. Course as you know today is thanksgiving day, so, uh yeah lol. I'm thinking this is because I'm still sorta sick, I didn't get that much better over night, and I tend to lose several pounds when I'm not feeling well anyway. Like I said, it'll be very interesting the next few days.

Day 25

2007-11-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 210
Today - 208.5

-1.5 lbs.

Cool, cool. I would be overly ecstatic about this, but today I'm ill. That or it's allergies. I started out with runny nose then it turned to nasal decongestion, soar thoat, watery eyes... definitely allergies. I was warm for a little while then cold, then warm, now cold. Tomorrow I'm gonna go ahead and eat what I want, but in tiny portions. I'm not gonna fight anymore. I'm just hoping I don't gain like 5 pounds. Since I was sick all day too I forgot to drink my water. The next few days will be interesting.

Day 24

2007-11-20T05:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 209
Today - 210

+1 lb.

Argh! Now I'm a little ticked off. At first I was thinking it was the catfish. That's the only new thing I intorduced to my diet. But after looking at some of the approved foodlists in the group files, catfish was indeed an ok fish. And then it hit me. I did two things I wasn't supposed to do. First, I prepared my meals for the week with my bare hands. I totally forgot I mixed up the meatloaf with my hands AND I handled all the fish with my bare hands which so happens that catfish has a higher fat content than other fish (actually more than my extra lean ground beef). It didn't occur to me at first because I've done this before, but then I realized I was unknowingly very conservative about it, and I never worked the meats like I had with the meatloaf. And when I was tossing the catfish in the seasoning I was tossing with my hands. Argh! Stupid stupid stupid. Another thing, I put lotion on my arms. I did it out of habit but it didn't phase me cause I've put a pea size amount on my hands and face before for those very dry moments and I was fine. Blah. Just, grr.. @&*(_#!*$!*$^!)_%*$^%&*!%^&!%%&#!@&*%!!!!!!!

The moral of the story is: It only SEEMS like you're able to get away with certain things, but it's only because you haven't crossed the threshold yet. And when you do, you realize you were dancing around that fine line the whole time! I guess we all have to learn the hard way! So if anyone is reading this, LISTEN TO DR. S AND FOLLOW THE DIET TO THE "T"!

Day 23

2007-11-19T18:48:00.000-08:00

yesterday - 209.5
today - 209

-.5 lb. lost

Hey I'll take whatever I can get. Since I'm over half way through my protocol I might just stair step like what most people are doing. It's kind of interesting how that works.

So today I decided to take a trip to the market. I came back with ground beef and catfish. I wasn't sure at first if we could have catfish since the fishlist doc from hcgdieters is blank, but it was white so I got it.

Well I tried new things today. It was much better than yesterday. And now that I'm cooking for myself I can make things as spicy as I want. This weeks menu is lemon pepper catfish and meatloaf cupcakes. heheh.

I found some very lean ground beef today. I've heard of this brand before too. They make buffalo franks and it taste really good. Better than regular hotdogs.

meatloaf cuppies!

And catfish!

Oh and I sprinkled some cinnamon and nutmeg on some apple slices and put them in the food dehydrator. Makes for good snacking! If you don't have a food dehydrator you can stick them in the oven on the lowest temperature (usually 150-200 degrees) for 2-3 hours, it works the same way.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meatloaf Cupcakes (makes 5 servings)
500 g (or 1lb. 1.5 oz) very lean ground beef
5 melba toasts crushed to almost powder or use a food processor
1 onion very finely chopped
a good splash of Liquid Braggs Aminos
Salt and pepper
2 finely chopped galic cloves
Spices (oregano, cumin, pepper flakes, mustard seeds, cayenne. whatever you can think of)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix everything in a bowl, and mix VERY WELL. You want everything evenly distributed. (Don't use your hands, or wear gloves if you do)

3. To make sure you're dividing it equally, weigh the whole mixture, divide that number by 5, and make 5 balls accordingly. From there you're at a point where you can just eyeball and split those balls in half ( so now you have 10 little balls), and press each into a cupcake pan.
4. Cover and bake for 35 minutes.
5. 2 meatloaf cupcakes equal one serving.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seasoned Catfish (very simple)
100 g catfish fillets (however mnay you're gonna cook)
lemon pepper seasoning (read the label)
if you don't have that, use lemon juce, black pepper, and sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Toss fillets in the seasonings, throw in a pan, cover and bake for 18 minutes.

Day 22

2007-11-18T17:47:00.000-08:00

yesterday - 209.5
today - 209.5

Blah! I'm stupid. While I was eating my seasoned fish with some left over curried cabbage I realized, "oh crap I already had my second meal for today, what am I smoking!". And it's a miracle I didn't gain anything. Watch the scale go up or something tomorrow. I tell ya all the times I could have lost but didn't were for the stupidest mistakes! I tell ya I'm soooo ready for phase 3! I almost considered stopping this week cause to tell ya the truth I'm plain bored of this diet. Not hungry, just bored! I'm the kind of person that loves to try everything at least once. I love exotic and ethnic foods. I grew up eating all sorts of indian and african dishes. I'm trying to think of things creative to do. Grrr.. at first it was fun seeing what I can come up with with the strict types of foods. but now I just want it all to end (as fas as phase 2 is concerned). The only thing that keeps me from going into phase 3 is this fantastic weightloss I'm experiencing. I was even trying to psyche myself out, "well ya know, you did lose over 20 pounds... that's a lot right there," or, "you can always do another round of phase 2 later". No no no.. I'm gonna try for the full 40-something injections. bleh. I hate acting like a grownup... sometimes.

I almost forgot

2007-11-17T17:36:00.000-08:00

Since this is the half way point, it's time for me to make my second batch of hcg.

Oh and tonight I thawed up some flounder I had in my freezer. I weighed them and they were all around 95 grams, so no needing to trim. I decided to do blackened style, then halfway through doing that I sort of, well let's just say that without using butter or oil the fish stuck to the pan and made it sorta messy. So yeah I guess we'll just settled for seasoned flounder after a couple of tries. I have this blacken seasoning I wanted to use, but it had onion powder in it and I know some people said they had problems using that. So I mixed my own seasons using these spices:

And it was awesome.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seasoned Flounder
1 flounder fillet (100g)
1 tsp. of the following mixture:
salt
paprika
Black pepper
oregano
cayenne pepper (omit if you can't handle the heat! Or use little pinch of it)
garlic powder (if you don't have rosemary garlic season)
1-3 tbsp water or chicken broth

1. Heat a skillet to medium heat.
2. rub season mix on both sides of flounder.
3. Add a few tablespoons of water or broth to the skillet.
4. Drop in Flounder and cook for 5 minutes covered (don't peak!), if your fillet is thicker than a half inch ad a few more minutes.
5. Turn over and cook for a few minutes, maybe 2-4, longer for the thick fillets (my fillets were really thin, less than a half inch). You may have to add 1-2 more tbsp. of water/broth.

Note: if you don't cover your fish while it's cooking your fish will very likely stick to the pan if you're not using nonstick cookware.

Day 21 Halfway mark

2007-11-17T07:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 210.5
Today - 209.5

-1 loss!

So I don't feel so bad for trying that piece of cake anymore. Heh. But on another note, it's my halfway point! Being so, it's time to check my progress in inches now. *Drumroll*

inches before/inches after
bust - 50/47.5 -2.5
chest - 40/37 -3
waist - 38/36 -2
stomach - 46.5/43.5 -3
hips - 50/48 -2
thigh - 31.5/29.5 -2
calf - 17.5/16.5 -1
upper arm - 17/16 -1
forearm - 12/10.5 -1.5
total - 301.5/284.5 -18

Omg. I've lost on everything. I'm a frikkin' loser. ^_^ to be honest I couldn't see that much of a loss in any of those areas, but I did notice my shoulders were slimming up and looking squarer, as well as my neck which is strange... kind of makes me feel like one of those bobbleheads. Now looking at myself in the mirror I do notice a smaller proportion of myself. I'm glad my chest and bust are shrinking. As much as I like that hourglass shape I do like just a tad bit more hips and but!

My parents have noticed that I'm losing weight too. They don't know I'm doing the weightloss protocol although I told them I was on a specific diet and I was eliminating certain foods, like breads and sugary fruits. My mom is here trying to guess what I'm doing. She thinks I'm doing the atkins diet but I'm eating fruits so she's like, "ah ha I got it, the low carb diet". I really wanna tell them and yet I don't cause they're doctors and I don't know how they'd react to such a nontraditional restrictive program. I'll tell them in a year. There we go. =P

Day 20

2007-11-16T18:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 210.5
Today - 210.5

No gain. No loss. It was the sacrifice I had to pay for letting my dad shove carrot cake down my throat. Okay, he didn't literally... sort of. He made this awesome carrot cake from scratch, which I automatically said to myself, oh you're so not going anywhere near the kitchen today. But when I went downstairs to refill my water, he put a big chunk to my mouth and said, "taste". Argh! he spent all day making that cake and wanted my approval. Gah - flour, carrots, sweetened coconut flakes, brown sugar, egg yolks, olive oil...this was all going through my head and all of the ingredients were taunting me. Oh well... I'm just glad I didn't gain.

Day 20

2007-11-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 212
Today - 210.5

1.5 loss

So I'm back on track again! woohoo! So that's a tototal loss of 21 pounds in 20 days. Not bad, not bad at all. Oh and since I got tired of my onion chicken for lunch I decided to look for something new to fix up, and then was born, beef n' curry cabbage! Not only was it good, but it was filling, thanks to the cabbage, which is very low in calories - 7 calories per ounce. I think I found a regular. I cooked the cabbage separate and sliced up some leftover steak (100g).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Curry Cabbage w/Beef

1 head of cabbage (for one serving use 1/4 of the head and adjust the seasonings for one)
1/3 c low sodium fat free broth (or close to it)
1 tbsp. indian curry (or which ever is available)
1 tsp. cumin
1-2 tsp chilli powder
Salt (just enough to your taste)
1 tsp cayenne powder (only if you like it hot)

1. Preheat stove from medium to medium high heat.
2. Slice cabbage into very thin strips.
3. Pour a little broth into the pan.
4. Dump the shredded cabbage into the pan following the rest of the broth.
4. Add all the seasonings and mix/toss within the pan.
5. Let it be for a couple of minutes or until it starts to wilt on the bottom then toss again.
6. Do this until you get to the desired firmness/softness of the cabbage.
7. Add 3.5 oz. of steak sliced into strips to 1/4 of the cabbage for one serving. The rest of the cabbage can be used for other dishes or stored for later. One medium head of cabbage has about 225 calories so cutting into quarters yields 56 calories or 45 calories if you divide the servings by 5.

Suggestions: instead of beef try shrimp. Lightly cook the shrimp with a little season for a few minutes then add (one serving) cabbage and follow the directions.

Day 19

2007-11-14T06:33:00.000-08:00

Day 18 - 211lbs.
Today - 212lbs. +1 gain

!%$#($@&!!!!

I think I know what happened. I stayed after school to work on a project and came home at around 8:ish. I had dinner but I didn't want end the day with so few calories so I waiting a little while to have my second meal. Argh! I think I didn't wait long enough. It was probably like eating 1 big meal altogether. That and I was 2-3 cups shy from my half gallon.

The moral of this story: Stop being a workaholic and go home to take a lunch break. Drink more water throughout the day. yeup.

You'd think this would bring me down. But the overall success of this protocol is too profound to be disturbed by a pound of fat. Or a few for that matter.

Day 15-18 (coming back from the mirror =P)

2007-11-13T11:01:00.000-08:00

Day 12- 217lbs.Day13 - 216lbs.Day 14 -214.5lbs.

Day 15 - 214lbs. -.5lbs
Day 16 - 214lbs. blah!
Day 17 - 213lbs. -1lb. (that's what I thought!)
Day 18 - 211lbs. -2lbs. WOA NELLY!

I'm not even fretting about day 16 cause I lost 2 frikkin' pounds! woohoo. *electric slide* that means I lost a little over 20 pounds in 18 days! And I even had one sunchip too (not that I condone cheating but dangit it was a new apple caramel flavor! and oooooooooh it was good). I'm starting to wonder if it was because I drink most of my water during nighttime (it's probably why I wake up 2-4 times to use the restroom). I also had my cottage cheese delight dish. I wonder if that had anything to do with it. Hmm..

By the way, cottage cheese by itself taste good as a dip with my melba toast. I wonder how it would taste if I added a little onion and chives... hmmmm.

oh and by the way, I thrwarted another temptation. At my work sometimes the boss will go ahead and order pizza for us, which he did today, the first time since me being on phase 2. I knew one day I'd have to deal with this. Fortunately my shift was over right when the pizza got here. But as soon as I was about to walk out my other supervisor said pointing a finger at me, "make sure you get some pizza... it's free!". So I casual walked to the back and opened the boxes: Papa John's. Cheese. Supreme. Meat Lovers. Damnit. Once my supervisor saw me open the boxes and got distracted to her office by a customer, I sneaked out the store not touching one slice. Whew.

Day 13-14

2007-11-09T06:59:00.000-08:00

Day 12- 217lbs.
Day13 - 216lbs.
Day 14 -214.5lbs.

I lost 1.5 pounds!

If I had a mirror I would make out with myself! Holy crap. And yesterday according to sparkpeople I went OVER my calorie limit. maybe I just put down the wrong kind of beef. I made chili with my 100g. of lean beef, with a big tomato. Because of my +1 gain I was determined for my weight to go down yesterday. So I ate accordingly, no cheating (except I popped one grape in my mouth. it's a habit I can't shake it!) AND to make sure I get plenty of water I drank nearly a gallon, or at least 3 liters. I drank my whole half gallon jug, but just to make sure I take that pound away I filled my empty jug again to over half. I probably would've filled it to the top except my mom looked at me as I was refilling my jug and was like, "are you REALLY going to finish that whole jug before you go to bed?" She's just jealous cause I'm showing her up! But anyways, I proved her wrong and downed that jug in an hour... needless to say I woke up 3 times to pee in the middle of the night. and all those times I had crystal clear piss. I was peeing frikkin' ghost piss. I don't know if that was too much information.... but lo' and behold I lost 1.5 pounds the next morning.

So the moral of the story is: Drink! It makes a difference!

Day 12

2007-11-07T07:40:00.000-08:00

yesterday - 216lbs.
Today - 217lbs.

+1 lbs.

Uugghhhh! I gained a pound! Bleh! *shoots pound with a rifle*

Actually I have no right to complain. All this time I've been getting away with "micro-cheats": eating a grape here, sucking on a quater piece of starburst there. Then I grew some balls and had the yolk of a hard boiled egg with mayo and that was probably the final straw. X-O

Okay hcg I learned my lesson! Can you please take this pound away now?!?! Pretty pretty pleeeaaaase!! I'll be good I promise!

DAY 11

2007-11-06T14:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 217lbs.
Today - 216lbs.

Whew! 1 pound lost **happy dance**.

Ok, I'm through dancing. So while I was at that Publix yesterday I grabbed some pickles. I mean, it's really a cucumber right? Anyways I also saw these tiny pickle packs. They are the perfect snack for me to take along when I need something salty to eat (since I can't eat Gardetto's for the time being) other than my usual apple. I count them as one of my vegetables. And here's the kicker. The label says zero calories! Hah. Riiigggghhht. Of course what that means is, "we paid off some people in order to say zero if it's less than a certain amount of calories." But seriously, still, cucumbers are very very low in calories to begin with and I know most of the sodium is in the juice, which I don't drink. I ate these and still lost my pound.

I sliced my steak horizontal, so now it looks like I have two steaks. =). It's a psychological thing I guess. I cooked the asparagus in beeth broth and it was surprisingly good. I'm trying to diversify my veggies but on this protocol I know most of my nutrients and micronutrients are coming from the fat cells, so I'm like, why bother? **cause you're going to want to eat a good variety of vegetables after the protocol is over** (Shut up conscience!).

Another thing. I was either going to stop phase 2 before thanksgiving if I got below 200 or just stick it out if I don't. BUT NOW my parents are thinking, hey let's go to Florida for thanksgiving and lets go for the whole week. Drats! So I'm looking in the manuscript cause I know I read something about this and I found this:

"If an interruption of treatment lasting more than four days is necessary, the patient must increase his diet to at least 800 Calories by adding meat, eggs, cheese, and milk to his diet after the third day, as otherwise he will find himself so hungry and weak that he is unable to go about his usual occupation. If the interval lasts less than two weeks the patient can directly resume injections and the 500-Calorie diet, but if the interruption lasts longer he must again eat normally until he has had his third injection ... Interruptions occurring before 20 effective injections are most undesirable, because with less than that number of injections some weight is liable to be regained. After the 20th injection an unavoidable interruption is merely a loss of time..." (Simeons, Pounds & Inches)

Sooooooo what that means is I'll be able to do Thanksgiving after all without 'giving myself away'. *sigh* Now... the only thing I have to worry about is saying know to stuffing =(

Day 10

2007-11-05T15:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 217lbs.
Today - 217 lbs.

0 pound lost!

Lol! I knew it! Just as Dr. Simeons forewarned. I cheated and didn't lose. But I didn't gain either. I attribute that to not eating all my alloted apples and breadsticks. Today the Publix store was cruel to me. They were serving samples of baked redfish smothered in a gourmet alfredo sauce with cherry cobbler and they were handing it out in little sample plates and sample cups to hold the cobbler. Everyone around me was eating up their delectable mini-dish while I was holding a bag of organic apples. I looked at them with the intention of knocking their plates out of their hands with my bag of apples and running to my car. But I do wish to continue being a customer there, so I reconsidered my proposal. In the end I boiled down my options to either take the sample dish, or lose 100 pounds [almost] effortlessly. Call me stupid, but the latter sounds like the better deal. When I thought of it like that, it wasn't very hard to say "No Thank You" and walk away.

I reread parts of Dr. Simeons manuscript and parts of the exerts of it in the yahoo group. I haven't thought about cottage cheese but it said that once in a while when the thought of meat is disgusting 100 grams of cottage cheese made with skim milk is permitted. With that I went ahead and ate that instead of my usually beef. I was playing around in the kitchen and I came across some stuff to really "kick it up a notch" (thank you Emeril).

======================================================
Cottage Cheese Delight
100g. nonfat cottage cheese
3 strawberries chopped
4-7 drops of vanilla creme liquid stevia
1 pinch of cinnamon
1 smaller pinch of nutmeg

Combine all ingredients and enjoy! Man this tasted so good. [Note: if you overdo it on the stevia it'll end up tasting bitter]

Day 9

2007-11-04T18:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday - 218lbs./-1.5lbs. (skip day)
Today - 217 lbs./-1lb.

I had little cheats today: 2 gummi bears, and a small chunk of my grandmas chicken curry. I also tore a small corner off of some homemade blueberry muffins. Not looking forward to weighing in tomorrow! To counter it I only had 1 melba toast and one apple, along with my meals. My grandma cooked so many wonderful indian dishes today I was so angry she didn't make them while I was LOADING. I kept telling myself she'll make them again, and again.

Good news. No headaches today. Although now that the ill feeling/brain fog is over my hunger started to creep back up on me. So I tried to make something filling for dinner. I made french onion soup with sirloin steak. Talk about a filling meal. I just cubed up my steak and added it to the soup. And I made my lunch for the whole week. Vinegar 'n onion chicken. Probably doesn't sound appealing to some, but it's actually tasty. Think of salt n vinegar potato chips with an onion flavor. As soon as I get some pictures loaded I'll put the recipes for that (and the onion soup) on here.

D8P2R1

2007-11-03T17:19:00.000-07:00

Day 1 (loading day) - 226 lbs.
Day 2 (loading day) - 227 lbs. /+1
Day 3 (start VLCD) - 231.5/ +4.5
Day 4 - 227 lbs. /-4.5
Day 5 - 223.5 /-3.5
Day 6 - 220.5 /-3
Day 7 - 219.5 /-1
Day 8 Today - 218 /-1.5 (skip day)

I'm starting to wonder if I should keep adding these updates every post. Eventually it's going to get long. But it's so good to keep seeing my results! I decided to make Saturday my skip day since I like to sleep in and NOT wake up before 7am thank you.

I was playing tennis with my mom and she made an interesting comment. She noticed I kept spitting on the court and finally she said jokingly, "Why do you keep spitting? What are you pregnant or something!?!" LOL, I didn't know pregnant women spat, or produced extra saliva. But I'm not active like that so I'm not pregnant which leaves the hcg. Intriguing.

Today I wasn't hungry at all. I had half of a grapefruit in the morning with vanilla creme stevia which taste really good by the way. For lunch I made a burger without the bun, just a melba toast. I know someone told me that American ground beef is not good on this diet, but I don't plan on eating anything else for today, as I'm just not hungry enough.

I've been feeling the brain fog again today, and I think I have the slightest headache. I've been told potassium should help so I'll be getting that at my health food store.

I bought a water jug at Walmart for $2-3 and it's perfect for this diet as it holds half a gallon of liquid so I know exactly how much to drink every day, plus I can take it around with me.

D5P2R1

2007-10-31T19:40:00.000-07:00

Day 1 (loading day) - 226 lbs.
Day 2 (loading day) - 227 lbs. +1
Day 3 (start VLCD) - 231.5 +4.5
Day 4 - 227 lbs. -4.5
Day 5 Today - 223.5 -3.5

Woohoo! Lost 3.5 in one day. How awesome is that?! But today I cheated. I had a little tootsie roll. but what's worse is that because it's Halloween I have all this candy around me. I started to take in pieces of candy but before I could swallow I'd immediately spit it out. It was an internal battle. I could bring myself to swallow. Instead I chugged a bunch of water and that helped a LOT. But we'll see what the scales say tomorrow.

D4P2R1

2007-10-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

Day 1 (loading day) - 226 lbs.
Day 2 (loading day) - 227 lbs. +1
Day3 (start VLCD) - 231.5 +4.5
Today: (VLCD) - 227 lbs. -4.5

morning: apple
lunch: sirloin steak, saurkrat, grissini
snack: apple
dinner: scallops w/green onions, grissini

Well. I learned from yesterday not to eat ground chuck. I probably would've lost more of my loading weight had I ate leaner meat. Today I bought sirloin steak and had that. Also, instead of my usually chicken I decided to go with something different. I made scallop soup with green onions. It was delicious. I have a confession as well. I cheated! >.< I had a little lollipop, although it was totally organic. And 2 tiny pieces of homemade bread, I couldn't resist! It was fed to me, and I didn't want to be rude. But all in all the diet is getting easier to follow, now that I'm beginning to be better prepared. On another note, I noticed that some fat areas are not as firm as they used to. Not a sagginess but more if a softer plumpness. I found it interesting that someone else had the same experience. I'm hoping this is a good thing, that the hcg is releasing those fat stores!

(The evil bread of delicious doom my parents made)
==============================================

Scallop Soup
3.5 oz. baby scallops
sliced green onions
1/4 c. broth
1/3 c. water
1 tsp lemon juice
salt & pepper
cayenne pepper (if you like it hot)

1.) Boil everything in a pot on medium heat for 5-8 minutes.
2.) Scallops are done when they're no longer transluscent.
3.) Serve with melba toast or a grissini if you desire.

D3P2R1 First VLCD day

2007-10-29T18:02:00.000-07:00

Day 1 (loading day) - 226 lbs.
Day 2 (loading day) - 227 lbs.
Today: (VLCD) - 231.5 lbs.

I guess I loaded well after all. Gained 5.5 pounds which puts me back in the 230's, digits I thought I'd never see again. No matter, I have faith I'll lose it again pretty soon =). Must of had something to do with that last minute loading: 2 medium potatoes, 3 tbsp butter, 1/3 c plain yogurt, large handful of picnic bacon, chives, and a large handful of shredded cheese. Of all the days worth of loading, that was probably the only time I enjoyed every minute of it, which consequently was my last meal before VLCD. It just goes to show you how deeply psychological a connection we have to food, the more reason to do this protocol and reset my hypothalamus.

So, looked all over for melba toast. Couldn't find it. HOWEVER, I was quite surprised to find grissini at my local Publix. I mean, it doesn't say grissini on the packet, but really what is it except nothing more than a breadstick. Plus it had the Italian flag, which I think makes it safe to call it grissini. Pleasantly crunchy little things they are. Each breadstick has 40 calories. Not too bad. I only ate one today as I sort of ran out of my allotted calories. In fact I didn't get to eat all of my dinner. For lunch I ate more tomatoes than I should have, thinking since it's only 5 calories per oz. I can have 2. But I forgot I was eating ground beef tonight and um yeah. I just had half the ground beef serving and a slice (7/8 oz) of tomatoe with the grissini, which put me a little over 500 calories. Well maybe just at 500 since I counted the whole apple weights and I didn't eat the core. There's hope for me after all.

==========================================
Breakfast
organic fuji apple

Lunch
tomato basil soup with chicken

Mid afternoon snack
apple

Dinner
1 grissini
beef pattie
tomato slice

==========================================
Tomato Basil Soup with Chicken
3.5 oz cooked chicken breast
4-8 oz. diced tomatoes
2-4 basil leaves (too much basil will make the soup bitter)
salt & pepper
1-3 tbsp. chicken broth

1. Blend all ingredients except chicken.
2. Pour in pot and add cooked chicken.
3. Simmer on medium for 10 minutes.

Day 2, Phase 2, Round 1

2007-10-28T06:09:00.000-07:00

I started yesterday but was too tired to blog. Everything went fine. I had problems injecting this morning, as when I went to withdraw the needle, blood squirted out. But I was assured I was okay as I most likely hit a small vein on my way in, and no blood was in the syringe when I aspirated. I'm so glad I have the yahoo group for support. I wouldn't be doing this without them, so I want to thank them (if anyone there is reading this).

My first day of loading I didn't eat as much as I wanted but I did gain a pound. I guess food only taste good when it's "forbidden". But the times I did eat I ate big servings:

(cooking liberally with olive oil)
5 egg omelet with tomatoes, onions, and lots and lots of bacon bits ,
2 whole wheat tortillas,
BIG plate of rice and chicken,
Tall glasses of 2% milk and a glass of Nestle chocolate with coconut milk and condensed milk,
8 oreo cakesters,
Fanta Peach soda,
5-7 fishsticks,
3 chicken nuggets,
2 pork egg rolls,
and some other indian foods that consisted of fried chickpeas and legummes.

I also tried to get calories by eating the fishsticks, nuggets, and egg rolls with mayo and Newmans light honey mustard. By the way... Newmans Light Honey Mustard taste soooooooooooooooooo good. So, so good (so good). I'll try better today. I'm going to take my brother to a pizza buffet!

I also bought a large packet of chicken from Sam's. I decided to weigh each portion now and put it in ziplock bags so when the time comes I can just grab it out of the fridge knowing each bag has 3.5oz or 100grams. Which by the way, lemme tell you. I had no idea 3.5oz of chicken was THAT small! Which mean it's a lot smaller looking when cooked. Now I know what dieter's mean by looking at the portions. For the protocol it's 3.5oz but a regular serving is only .5 more ounces (says the label). NOW I can see where the calories are coming from, because I couldn't understand why I gain weight when "I don't eat that often". Oh and the meat as well. I portioned the rest of my ground beef and that was a shocker as well. They say a portion of meat, 2 oz, is as big as a deck of cards. I guess I was going by tarot decks.

It all makes more sense when you can weigh the serving sizes yourself, just to see how big our portions sizes are and how much we actually consume. I remember eating at an italian restaurant and the two meatballs in my spaghetti were just a little bit bigger than these! This diet will very much affect my way of thinking in the long run no doubt.

==========================================

Day 1 (loading day) - 226 lbs.
Day 2 (loading day) - 227 lbs.

Measurements (in inches)
Bust:50
Chest:41
Waist:38
Stomach:46.5
Hip:50
Thigh:31
Calf:17
Arm:17.5
Forearm:11

It's here it's here it's here it's frikkin' here!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

So I was driving to my house when I went to check the mail. I got a slip from the post office that said a package was missed. I immediately knew what it was. So I'm driving to the post office to pick up my delivery, anxious and barely able to drive 'cause I was so excited. Signed for it and went straight home. Took pictures of the package and now here I am typing about it. I ordered my hcg October 1, and just got it today, October 26. (I guess this means no more e-check. That's why it took an extra week, just waiting to clear). I just really can't believe I have the hcg within my possession now. This is actually going to happen. I was once so gung ho in the beginning, now I'm nervous as heck. But in the end I know everything will be OK. I'm going to go back and read everything tonight. Tomorrow, I will began.

It's been shipped!

2007-10-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

I got this in my email this morning:

Your item, posted on 19/10/07 with reference *********** has been passed to the overseas postal service for delivery in UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

W00t!!!! I don't even know what that means but I see people say it.. w00t w00t!!

My hcg should be here sometime this week. So excited! ^_^ Maybe even in the next few days. I need to go grocery shopping!

I moved my blog, AND I got my hcg supplies.

2007-10-19T14:30:00.001-07:00

My supplies are in! They forgot to include my syringe filter though. Now all I have to do is wait until I can get my medicine from the pharmacy. This all feels too weird. I can't wait, and yet I feel so nervous. When I looked at the box I was thinking, this is really going to happen. Well, I'll be glad when I can start phase 2. I've been "practicing my loading", lol. I should be receiving my ampules within a week. In the meantime I need to go make a shopping list of the foods I'll need to buy for the phase 2 diet.

Everything I'll need for round 1, phase 2

They shipped it in a shoebox package! You can't get more discreet than that. It was wrapped in another package in the box too. The only thing it said in the sender area was GPZ services with their address.