R2 VLCD #12

Well I FINALLY lost that pound that I gained three days ago.  So I guess it just proves how TOM really messes everything up.  =(
At least I'm back down to my lowest weight and everything from here on out will be a step forward. 
I'm really craving coffee with CREAM today.  Coffee w/ flavored stevia just isn't cutting it.  My husband needs to hurry and come home.  I'm tired of not getting good sleep.  =)
ETA:  I made the yummiest dinner tonight.  I cut up my chicken in bite size pieces and put them in my cast iron skillet over med-low heat w/ 1 teaspoon of coconut oil.  I then took about 1 cup of asparagus cut into bite size pieces and tossed them into the skillet as well.  To the skillet I added 1/4 C up water, and seasoned the mixture with smoked paprika and cajun seasoning.  I cooked it until the chicken was cooked through and the asparagus was fork tender.  It was out of this world!!  YUM!  I think I'll make some more apple pie filling for dessert later.  =)

R2 VLCD #11

Didn't lose anything today,  =(   Boohoo!!
I dug out my measuring tape and lost another 2 inches for a total of 40 inches lost!  TOM is almost done, I sure hope the scale starts moving again soon.  This is driving me crazy!! 
ETA:  I'm feeling really good today.  I made "apple pie filling" for an after lunch dessert.  It was awesome!  I peeled a granny smith apple, cored it, and cut it into 1/4 inch slices.  I put them into a small pan and added 1/4 cup of water, two packets of sweetener, cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of salt.  I cooked the apples on medium heat until the water evaporated and the apples were very soft.  YUMMMY!!!!!!!! 
It's about dinner time and I have no hunger what so ever.  Last night I cooked up big pot of chili (made 9 servings) and I divided it up into individual containers.  I was getting tired of making it every day.  Anyhoo, hope you all are having a good day too.♥

R2 VLCD #10

Phooey!  I slept horrible last night.  It's definitely hard for me to get good sleep when my husband is out of town.  =(  I woke up early and weighed myself and it showed I was up a pound.  grrrr
I had to get dressed and put myself together since I am babysitting today.  Cramps are bothering me again today as well.  It's amazing how TOM really screws things up.  I've read it on countless blogs that it makes you feel extra hungry, extra tempted to eat non protocol foods and gain and or stall.  I wish we could just eat phase 3 foods while TOM was taking up residence.  Oh well.  I'm going to eat really well today and hope for a loss tomorrow.  I need to go to the store and get some more veggies this afternoon.

 

HCG R2 VLCD #9

R2 VLCD #9

Apple day seems to have helped push things along nicely.  I dropped 1.4 lbs this morning for a total weight loss of 37.2 lbs.  YAY! I slept SO amazingly well last night.  I woke up at 6:30 am refreshed and ready to start the day.  My husband will be out of town till Friday night.  I miss him when he's gone, but it helps when I don't have to make these big production dinners.  The kids are happy with sandwiches and apple slices.  Next week he'll be gone M-Thurs as well.  By then I'll be over halfway finished w/ my 2nd round.  woohoo!
Happy Monday, Ladies.  =)

R2 VLCD #8

I can't tell if I lost .2 lbs today or nothing at all.  Either way, i'm gong to try and push past this with an apple day.  TOM, you're throwing off my groove!

R2 VLCD #7

I swear I already wrote a blog this morning, but apprently I didn't save it or something.  Grrrrr.

I woke up to a .6 loss today.  I'm a bit suprised after last night's crazyness. 

I have to admit I feel like total CRAP today.  TOM started with a vengence.  I'm SUPER tired, pretty darn hungry and am craving chocolate like a crazy peron.  =(   I hate TOM, hate hate hate it! 

I'm sure my losses are going to slow way down now too....so not fair.  =(

We went to a park in Spokane today for 5 1/2 hrs to support some friends of ours whose kids were running in some cross country races.  It was a looooong day.  I got sunburned.  I was hungry.  I had cramps and had no medicine.  I brought no girl supplies with me because I didn't know that TOM was going to arrive.  I wore long pants and a long sleeve shirt and it ended up being 80 degrees.  So now I'm cranky, tired, hungry, and worn out. 
I just want to hide out in my closet with that box of peppermint patties and have myself a good feast.  I won't, but it doesn't mean I dont' REALLY want to. 

I hope tomorrow is a better day.

cheated =(

I don't know what happened to me this evening.  I went to costco to get some groceries and diapers.  I walked out with a box of mini York Peppermint Patties.  Within 5 minutes of getting into the van I opened the box and popped one into my mouth.  =(  WHY WHY WHY?!?!?!?!?!  I only had 1, but still it's like 50 freaking calories and has 10 grams of sugars.  Wahhhh!!!!  My husband wanted to go out to dinner tonight.  I ended up eating some chicken and asparagus before we left so I wouldn't be tempted to eat at the BBQ joint.  I did take a bite of plain brisket and ordered a diet coke.  Today started off so well, it just didn't end so good.  =(   booo

I'm scared to get on the scale in the morning.

BTW I confessed to my husband that I bought the candies and asked that he hide them from me so that I wouldn't be tempted to hork down the entire box.  I know what I'll be giving out to the kiddies this halloween.  lol 
I will save a few so I can enjoy them on my next load.

sigh

R2 VLCD#6

I hit a nice little milestone today.  35lbs lost!  I lost .8 lbs today, not too shabby.  I'm feeling great mentally and physically.  My birthday is in about a month.  My goal is to be 50lbs lost by the time my birthday rolls around.  If I continue to lose an average of .5 lbs a day, I should be able to reach it.  =)  YAY!!  I think I'm going to cut out ground turkey for a few days and see if my losses pick up at all.  Instead I'll use ground chicken or ground sirloin.  Now I just need to go find my old fashioned meat grinder out in the garage. 

HCG R2 VLCD5

R2 VLCD#5

Feeling better today.  Zero hunger, my mood is up.....the drops must finally be kicking into full gear.  Yay!  I lost 1.2 lbs this morning.  Putting me at 237.2 lbs and a total loss of 34.2 lbs.  =)  I cannot freaking wait to be under 200!!!!  Fingers crossed that I'll be under it by Christmas. 
ETA:  Just finished filming another youtube video.  It should be uploaded within the next few hours.  I HATE how long it takes to upload!!  I'm craving chocolate peanut butter cookies today. 

R2 VLCD #4

Feeling cranky and hungry today.  Only lost .2 lbs today.  grrrrr  Trying NOT to let that ruin my day.  I downed a liter of water and a bowl of strawberries so far today and still am feeling hungry.  Not starving, but annoyingly hungry.  I don't want to make and eat lunch before lunch time.  I was woken up by the darn dog at 5am and he was barking up a storm at the cats.  So I didn't end of getting the sleep I normally do.  stupid dog.  I really want an "everything" bagel w/ lots and lots of cream cheese right now.  Funny how as soon as I start up the vlcd again....all my cravings come rushing back.  I'm looking forward to losing all my weight and so I can relish in stabilization mode.  I hope in the time it takes me to lose this weight that I'll have learned my lesson and will treat food differently than I had been. 
I watched the season premier of The Biggest Loser on my laptop this morning.  This is the 1st time since the show started that I officially weighed less than all the of girls who are going to be on the show.  This is the 10th season and I always have weighed the same as most of the women starting out.  BUT NOT THIS YEAR!!!!  YAY!! 

R2 VLCD #3

Woke up to a 2.8lb loss!  I'm now officially BELOW my lowest weight on round 1.  I don't EVER plan on being in the 240's again!  238.6 is my new weight.  5 lbs in 2 days, I'll definitely take it!  Esp. for round 2.  I ate the same thing for my meals yesterday that I ate the day before, they were just way too good!
ETA:  I've been craving chocolate cake all day.   *annoyed*

R2 VLCD# 2

R2 VLCD #2

Lost 2.2lbs today.  I was hoping for a 3.5 lb loss like I got in my 1st round on day 1.  Oh well.  I'm at 241.4 , I am looking forward to getting into the 230's again.  Hopefully by tomorrow.  ;)   I feel good and slept pretty good.  I'm a bit hungry right now though.  I think I'll go grab my water and suck on that for a while before I cave and eat an apple. 

R2 VLCD# 1

I gained 3 lbs from yesterday.  Eeeek!  My total gain from my LDW is 3.2lbs .....not awful, still freaked me out when I got on the scale this morning.  Feeling good so far.  I slept really well last night, HCG apparently makes me sleep really well.  No complaints there. 
I'm looking forward to getting through today and getting on that scale tomorrow.  =)  This is when the fun begins.
ETA:  I had a yummy lunch that I wanted to share with you guys.  The recipe is from a gal I subscribe to on youtube.  Here's the video.....

http://www.youtube.com/user/MizRachelB#p/u/3/jzPfSbw4I_8

Loading Day #2

I woke up this morning to a 1 lb loss.  Weird.  I never did eat dinner last night. Although when I was getting ready for bed around 10pm I started to feel a bit hungry.  I realized that besides two maple bars I had no junk food or high fat food in the house whatsoever.  There were some avocados, but they weren't ripe and I wasn't in the mood to whip up anything with coconut oil, so I went ahead and ate both maple bars.  Blech!  It felt more like torture than anything.  I need to take my drops this morning and then figure out what I'm going to have for breakfast.  Benjamin wants to go out to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  I think I'm going to order potato skins for dinner.....I loooooove potato skins and with bacon and cheese and sour cream, that should be a decent loading day dinner.  Anyhoo, off to bake up a batch of cinnamon rolls.  I still have some dough from the orange rolls that has to be used up today.  Happy loading!

HCG Round 2 Loading Day #1

Round 2 LOADING DAY #1

Oh round two, I almost didn't believe you'd ever arrive.  =)

My friend won't be here w/ the donuts for over 3 more hours, sigh.  I woke up this morning and realized that I just signed up to do another 9 weeks of VLCD and phase 3 foods.  After my two loading days I won't be able to eat what I want until Thanksgiving!!  Eeeek!  I'm not sure why food is still so important to me that I'm stressed about when I'll get to eat what I want again.  I feel like a lame fat idiot for thinking those thoughts.  I know I'm on a path that is allowing me to lose weight, gain my health back, and gain my LIFE back.  I do NOT want to be the mom that cannot enjoy physical activities with her family because of her size.  I want to go sledding, swimming, hiking, biking, roller blading etc etc etc.  I not only want to do those things, but I want to ENJOY them!!  I can swim but it's painful because of my horrific body image.  Roller blading hurts my feet too much because of all the weight they have to carry.  I haven't gone sledding with my children EVER.  My husband has taken them, but in 8 years I have never done it.  I've watched from the side lines because trying to get on a sled was hard when you have that much weight to lose.  And because just climing up the sledding hill would make me so winded I was not going to humiliate myself. 

You see what I'm doing here??

I'm pumping myself up.....I'm not going to allow food (I don't care how boring it is) to hold me back ANY LONGER!

I will succeed, I will follow this protocol, I will enjoy my maple bars this morning.  =)

♥ to you all!!    Heeeeeeere we go!

ETA:  ok so I started off this morning with a FRUITITO from Davis Donuts.  It's like a burrio filled with an apple cinnamon filling,deep fried,  then dipped in glaze and topped with a crunchy cinnamon streusel.  YUM!  Unfortunately within 6 bites I was already starting to feel queasy.  I sipped on my raspberry mocha and started to wonder if it was really ever as good as I remembered it to be.  Three hours later I had a maple bar and felt like I was going to blow chunks.  I'm SOOOO done with donuts.  I never thought I'd ever say or think that....but it's truly how I feel.  My maple bar obsession has offically ended.  LOL

I don't want to eat anything.....the thought of food is just gross.  Figures.  So much for taking advantage of my loading days.  I was super excited to have a dairy queen brownie batter blizzard, but now I'm thinking that sounds more like hell than heaven. 

Phase 3 Day#25

25 days on P3 seems like an eternity.  I was so mentally ready to a change after six weeks on P2.....now I'm so mentally ready to go back on it.  haha

Just thinking about maple bars make me feel all twitterpaited!!  One more day, one more day, one more day. 

Orange Rolls

Today is my handsome husband's 33rd birthday.  He's going to be out of town all day and tomorrow so I made him a plate of orange rolls that he could enjoy for his birthday breakfast.  I LOVE orange rolls!!  The house smelled amazing as they were baking.  I am proud to annouce that I didn't cheat, I didn't eat any, even though I really wanted to.  Yay! 

I haven't gotten on the scale yet today.  I started babysitting the son of a friend of mine.  I don't usually weight myself till around 8:00am, and her son comes at 7am.  Soooo yeah.  Although she's running late today and hasn't dropped him off yet.  I doubt the scale is going to show anything too eventful.  I ate really well yesterday. 

2 more days till maple bar heaven!

Phase 3 Day# 23

I wish I could say I am as strong as my friends with eating and temptations.  I've been battling some issues with my sister.  I'm beyond angry, beyond hurt, and really want to just turn my back on her so I can move on with my life and not think about her poor choices she keeps making.  I ended up eating about a third of a sin dawg to dull the ache inside. (This is a sin dawg in case you're curious) http://bread-and-honey.blogspot.com/2010/04/sin-dawg.html It didn't help.  Food never does.  I didn't gain any weight today, thank goodness.  I'm really struggling today.  I want food in the worst way, even though my brain knows it's not the answer.  Why are food and emotions so linked?  Why can't we be like dogs and eat the same thing every day and not mind?  I really want to end phase 3 on a strong note and not blow it by giving up and eating garbage food.

Oh a happier note......I found an answer to my donut dilema for Friday.  The dilema was this....do I buy maple bars on Thursday so I can have them 1st thing on Friday and risk them tasting stale....or.....do I buy them on Friday and wait until I can get to the store so that they're nice and fresh.  LOL  Who knew life was so difficult? LOL

Here is the answer.  A girlfriend of mine is going to go to starbucks and grab a couple drinks and then swing over to Davis Donuts and pick up the order that I will have called in on Thursday.  She will then deliver the goods to my home around 9:00am.  Hot dog!  We're going to enjoy coffee and donuts and have some much needed girlie gab time. 

Mia I sure wished you lived here!  I think we'd have some fun loading together.  ;)

Phase 3 Day# 22

Technically I could start loading today....and that thought is making me go crazy.  lol

I lost 1 lb when I got on the scale today.  No matter what I do I can't seem to get on the under side of my LDW, it seems I'm constantly fighting to stay within my 2lb limit.  Grrrrr

All in all things are really going quite well.  In 3 weeks of phase 3 I really have pretty much stayed exactly where I was supposed to stay.  I'm afraid that when I load again I'm going to gain like 20 pounds.  =)  Oh well, like I said before....two steps forward one step back.  I'll get there, eventually.

Maple Bars!

5 more days till I can sink my teeth into one or seven of these babies! 

Phase 3 Day#21

I'm frustrated today.  I woke up to a 2lb gain.  Seriously it's so annoying.  I don't think I drank my normal amount of water and I am starting to get cramps, so TOM might be on it's way.  Flipping fantastic.  I'll be eating lots of protein today and upping my water big time.  Hopefully it'll show on the scale tomorrow.  If not, it'll be another steak day for me.  (fingers crossed)

Phase 3 Day#19

Dropped 1.2 lbs from yesterday.  This is such a crazy diet.  I'm glad to be much closer to my LDW.  I was teetering on the edge again yesterday and it makes me nervous.  I cooked up a spaghetti squash last night and topped it w/ homemade tomato sauce and a piece of low carb chicken parmesan.  It was terrific!  I haven't had spaghetti squash since I was 5 or 6 and I remember HATING it.  lol   Funny how our tastes change as we get older.

ETA:  So I took a shower about an hour after my original post and got on the scale again.  It showed a loss of 2.6 lbs from yesterday.  I got on like 10 times and I got the same reading each time.  Odd.  I'm still within my LDW so I'm super happy.

Tonight we're getting pizza from Papa Murphy's and I'm excited because I'll get to eat some!  Mmmmm Pizza!!  I'll just scrape off all the sauce, cheese and toppings and toss the crust.  I may even just mix the toppings with a plate of plain spaghetti squash for some extra fiber.  I feel so good today.

Breakfast was ezekiel toast w/ avocado and eggs
Lunch was cottage cheese, handful of nuts, and a bowl of strawberries drizzled w/ chocolate delight. 

I'm really glad it's the weekend.  This week has been crazy busy w/ school starting and such.  I am hoping for a quiet, uneventful weekend.  =)

Phase 3 Day# 18

So today I was writing my weight down in my journal and I was flipping through it looking at my progress and I realized I've been basing my LDW wrong.  I was basing on the day after I stopped taking the drops.  Basically .8lbs off.  Grrrr!!!!  So I've been stressing for NO reason.  The original steak day I did at the beginning was legit and I was over my true LDW....but the other one I did was for nothing.  lol    figures!!!!!

I ended up not doing a correction day yesterday.  I was just not in the mood.  haha

I had avocado ezekiel toast and eggs for breakfast, a greek yogurt smoothie for lunch,  some chocolate delight for a snack, and low carb chicken parmesan w/ a green salad for dinner.  Yum!  8 more days till LOADING!  I can hardly wait! 

Phase 3 Day#17

My alternative steak day went ok.  I lost about 1/2 a pound, putting me at just 2oz away from my LDW.  Not feeling super safe right now.  I think today I'm going to do another alternative steak day and see if that helps.  I need to research some different ones and see which one sounds the best. 

Steak Day #2

Woke up this morning to a pretty big gain.....putting me in the range of needing a steak day, ugh!!  I didn't eat anything yesterday that I haven't been eating for the last 2 weeks.  Although the last couple of days I haven't been drinking much water......I'm wondering if that's the cause of my sudden gain.  I LOATHE steak day!!  Wahhhhh!!!!   I'm already hungry and it's only 8:30.  Phooey!  Oh well, I gotta do what I gotta do.  Suck it up Erica, it'll be worth it when you get on the scale tomorrow.  =)  Right??

I'm wondering if I can have a cup of coffee or if I have to only drink water until dinner time.

ETA:  I deceided to try a variation of the traditional "steak day".  I just got too hungry.  I had 2 eggs for breakfast, a steak for lunch, and I'll have more steak for dinner w/ some cheese.  I'm also drinking lots and lots of water.  Despite all the water, eating breakfast and lunch.....I'm sooooo hungry!!  I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm cranky.  I wonder if TOM is coming?  I never know....it's been crazy all over the place since it started.   sigh    hungry hungry hungry hungry
I was never this hungry while on the hcg drops.  hmfph!

Phase 3 Day# 15

Wow, I have to admit phase 3 is flying by and phase 2 went on for ever and ever and ever!!  haha  
I was over at my parent's house last night and borrowed a couple low carb recipe books.  I found a pumpkin cheesecake recipe that sounded good.  I had some pumpkin puree in the fridge that needed to be used up anyway.  It must've been a sign. 

I had a sliver just a little bit ago.  Cheesecake really needs to be thoroughly chilled before consumption for best taste and texture, but I was impatient.  shocker

It was pretty tasty!  I did put a dollop of cool whip on top.  I should've probably made my own whipped cream but I had an open container of cool whip and chose to take the lazy route.  I had about 1 T which is about 12.5 calories and just a hint of sugar.  I won't lose sleep over that.  =)

Low Carb Sugar Free Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients:
butter
1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
2 packages (8oz each) cream cheese softened
1/2 to 3/4 C Splenda
2 tsp vanilla
1  1/2 cups of pure canned pumpkin
1/2 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1  1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt

1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2.  Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 1/2 inch springform cheesecake pan.  Sprinkle the bottom of the pan w/ the chopped pecans, distributing evenly.

3.  In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese, splenda, and vanilla until fluffy, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides of the bowl and beaters.

4.  Add the pumpkin and sour cream, mixing thoroughly on medium speed.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each one.  Mix in the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.

5.  Pour the batter over the nuts in the pan.  Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a knife placed in the center comes out clean.  Cool for 20 minutes before removing from the pan and chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Yield: 12 servings, each with 7 grams of carbs and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 6 grams of usable carbs and 6 grams of protein.

Starving!!

It's 1:00 AM and I'm freaking hungry.  I REALLY want to go downstairs and rummage up something yummy to eat but I won't.  I shouldn't  have stayed up so late reading.  Night time eating has been a bad habit of mine ever since I had Samuel 8 years ago.  I'd be up late at night nursing him and then I'd get hungry and before long I'd get up every night and eat something.....a granola bar, a sandwhich, fruit, chips, anything really.  I had a big salad for dinner around 5pm.....so yeah salads don't keep me satiated for 7 hours.  I'd better grab a big glass of water and hit the hay.  I just wanted to let you know that i'm AVOIDING temptation.  Each baby step gets me closer to my goal.  I have to keep that in the forefront on my mind.  G'night.  ♥

Phase 3 Day#14

Got on the scale this morning, Mia was right, I didn't gain anything after my cheat yesterday.  Needless to say, I'm in no mood to cheat again.  I felt sick so for many hours after eating that silly cheesecake, it wasn't really worth it.

Totally cheated

Ugh is all I have to say.  =(

Benjamin really wanted to go out to dinner.  So we went to Tomato Street since we still had several free kids meal cards.  I ordered a salad w/ some stuff mushrooms in alfredo sauce.  It was beyond delicious.  I had water to drink and no bread.  Up till that point I was doing great.  Then the waitress offered orange creamsicle cheesecake.  I thought to myself that cheesecake wasn't so bad, especially if I didn't eat the crust.  I took one bite and all my strength went out the window.  I snarfed down the entire slice in 2.6 seconds flat.  It was so yummy!!!  Within a few minutes I felt really sick and got quite the migrane.  It's probably from the sugar.  Now I'm not looking forward to getting on the scale tomorrow.  Stupid cheesecake!  It's been over 4 1/2 hrs since we had dinner and I'm still feeling a bit sick.  Blech.  I hate that feeling.  You really don't realize how awful sugar is until it's completely out of your system.  This was a very slender slice of cheesecake and most cheesecakes aren't sugar laden.  Even so, it made me feel awful.  I sincerely hope I learned my lesson and that I don't cheat for the remainder of phase 3.

Phase 3 Day# 13

Since I really don't have anything new to say and since my weight seems to be behaving like it should, I think I'll only post if something changes or if I have some good news to share.

Phase 3 Day# 12

Blah blah blah, nothing to report here.  Doing great, feeling great.....can't wait to start round 2.

Oh and I'm SOOOOO proud of my mom, Mia, and Bre for being troopers and doing awesome on this diet.  ♥♥

ETA:  So when I got dressed today I realized that my clothes felt like they were even looser than they were on my last VLCD.  So I got our my measuring tape today and took my measurements.  To my suprise I've lost another 3.5 inches!!!

32 lbs lost

37.25 inches lost! 

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

My mom gave me a pair of her size 16 jeans that were too big for her when I 1st started HCG.  I couldn't even pull them up over my hips.  They're stretchy jeans, so they definitely "give" more than normal denim.  Today I'm excited to announce that I can now wear them comfortably!!!!

Phase 3 Day# 11

I think I can officially call myself Stable Mabel.  LOL  Yahoo!!!!!  That first week freaked me out!  I'm so thankful for the HCG diet.  I still can hardly believe I'm down over 30 lbs!  Hurry up Sept 19th!!!  I wanna start losing again!

Just realized I had a slice of Ezekiel bread yesterday w/ no adverse side effects.  =)  I'm definitely going to have another slice w/ breakfast this morning.  mmmmmmm

I cannot believe it's already September!!!