Stall~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~grrrrrr

I have hit a brick wall...and I am very frustrated. I have tried to go back over my foods and activity to try to find out if there are any triggers. The only thing different over the last few days, is the surgery in my mouth. Don't get me wrong, 18lbs in 18 days is amazing. But I really wanted to reach my round goal of 21. I only have 5 more days of vlcd left. grrrrr.

For three days, I stayed at 202.2, then gained .8 and have been there for 2 days. Maybe this is an old set point. I am so close to ONEderland that I can taste it. 3.1lbs from round goal, 3.1 from ONEderland.
I am trying not to be a slave to the scale, but it is very difficult.

I am almost afraid to step on the scale this morning. I want so much to see it change. I have been POP. I have probably been "under" my caloric intake.

 Although, I didn't get all my water in for the last 2 days because I was out and about. I didn't  want to have to search for restrooms while running my errands.

I also have a little bit of added stress. I leave in 5 days to go see my son graduate. I am stressing a little bit about making sure that I have everything packed, that I have all my animals doled out and being taken care of. And sleep has been a little lacking over the past few days.

I guess it's just a combination of things. I won't be mad if the scale doesn't move.....but I will be a little disappointed.

I did go shopping yesterday and bought some new clothes, just a few things to tide me over. I made sure that what I bought could be easily altered. (because there will be more weightloss.. :).

Today I am going to hit the trails at the park. I will have to tape up my heels pretty good. The ginormous blisters are still there. Unfortunately, there is a 30% chance of rain today, but I'm not sure when it will hit. Hopefully it will hold off until after my walk. If not, there is always plan B, coming home and finishing off on the elliptical machine.

Okay....So here goes nothing. WOOOHOOOO! the stall has broken (I hope) down 2.3 today for a total this round of .7 to ONEderland and 1lb to round goal. 5 more days left.

Menu for the day

Orange
Walk
Protein shake
Lunch: roast beef lettuce wraps and onion cucumber salad
Snack:
Dinner: orange roughy and asparagus

Stall~~~~~~~~~~

Grrrr. This is the most frustrating part of this diet. Up~~Down~~Up~~Down.

Seems I've put the brakes on today. Same weight as yesterday, 221.4. I only have 3 days left of HCG injections and 6 days of VLCD. I am really wanting to get to my goal of 36 pounds lost in this, my first, round. C'mon it's only 1.4 lbs. This makes me want to starve myself for the next 5 days. But I know that I can't Grrrr

I'm not going to stress too much. I did work out kind of hard yesterday. Hopefully it is water.

I'm still trying to cope with the fact that my son is gone. Even though he can be an ungrateful thing, I miss him dearly. At least I have his address now and can flood him with mail. I am trying to write him and send cards every day.

Today I have errands and chores to do. Lots of them. One of them is to get my sons mountain bike to the shop and have it repaired into working condition. It's been sitting for a while. I have a co-worker that I want to start riding with on different trails. Man-made of course. Miami is flat as a pancake.

Then to clean my sons room. It looks like a disaster area. Clothes everywhere. I don't know what's washed or not. So, I'm just going to wash everything. This should take a few hours. Maybe burn off some extra calories.

I'm hoping that the scale tomorrow will reward all my hard work today. I am totally POP (perfectly on protocal) and I know that I have downed over a gallon of water today.

If you are reading this.....please send good ju-ju my way.

The menu for the day...

Lunch: beef and onion fajita salad with salsa

Snack: apple drizzled with english toffee stevia and cinnamon (tastes like a caramel apple, yum)

Dinner: Blackened shrimp grilled in the Foreman, roasted asparagus with lemon pepper

Long Weekend

It's Friday January 27th and I have a 3 day weekend. Yay for me. I have lots to do. I'm up early and ready to go. The one thing I vow NOT to do is obsess over this HCG diet. I haven't gotten on the scale this morning. After yesterdays gain, I'm not real anxious about it.

My favorite little Blue Jay, who I've name "Blue", (I know, not very creative for the creative type like me), is sitting outside my bedroom window. As he does every morning. Sometimes he stares right in at me. Other times he shows off on the branch and turns to see if I'm watching. My little guardian bird. He gives me inspiration every day to keep moving along.

I need to run to the store, do a little housework and get some work done on the e-stores. I have been neglecting them horribly.

Now, as afar as the diet goes, I need to do some ab-work. Seems the only place that I am not losing is my waist (or lack of it). I also need to take in some jeans.

I can honestly say that the one thing that I don't like about the HCG Diet Protocol is the fact that you CAN"T work out. I know this seems odd. This would appear to be the perfect diet. Lose alot of weight and don't work out. But I am frustrated by not being able to work out. It really goes against the grain of years of dieting and research. Can't wait until Phase 4. I want to sweat!

Be back later for the menu and stats for the day.

Snack: apple, protein juice
Lunch: roast beed lettuce leaves, asparagus
Snack:
Dinner:

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Phase 2 day 18....and another gain! WTH? Up .5lbs. This really sucks. That's the bottom line. I know, I know. Look at the end, it will even out. Quit focusing on the scale, if you're not losing pounds, you're losing inches. The problem is, being so big to begin with, even my 22 lb loss is still eluding me visually. I can feel some change in my clothing, but everything around my gut (my worst area) seems to be staying the same.
I really don't want to get discouraged, and I know that I have lost alot in 17 days, But to limit yourself so severely and stick to protocol to a T and see stalls and gains, is just disheartening. The thought of doing the infamous "Apple Day" (nothing but 6 apple for a whole day plus water), seems like torture to me. But I see it in my future.

I will try not to obsess with the lack of losing. I will carry on and continue staying on protocol. It's hard not to throw in the towel and just say "well, I'm not losing anyway, why not just eat what I want"

But I will suck it up and move forward.

Back later for the menu

Snack: apple, protein juice

Lunch: tilapia, spinach

Snack: strawberries

Dinner: onion crusted veal steak with roasted brussel sprouts

Why am I slowing down so much?

Day 17 of Phase 2 of the HCG diet and only down .6....grrrrrr. However, I did work out yesterday and historically, I gain the day after I work out. Could that be it? Am I slowing to a snails pace? It's very frustrating to restrict yourself so much that all you get is a .2 loss. I'm beginning to wonder if I will reach my goal. I still have 25 days to go. I'm sure that if I do another round, I will follow the 800cal program. I really think that 500 is too low for my body weight.

Yesterday I was not feeling well. I ended up leaving work early because I had a fever. I feel the same this morning. I may go ahead and take some more pictures of myself today.

I need to break out the sewing machine and take in some pants. I tried on smaller jeans. They fit in the belly, but swallowing me in the butt and legs. Just my body type I guess. I've never had hips. Sort of straight up and down, even when I was thinner.

There are 2 other girls at work that are starting the program today. I enjoy that forums and facebook pages I belong to, but it will be nice to have someone in the flesh to talk to and compare notes with.

I have a follow-up doctors appointment on the 31st. I would really love to be down 25 by then. I'm still obsessing about the diet a bit. I really need to back down and just go about my day.

It's very early so I don't have a clue about todays menu.

Menu for the day:
Snack: apple w/ cinnamon, protein juice
Lunch: Onion Crusted veal cube steak, cabbage
Snack: Orange
Dinner: Crab/shrimp ceviche over micro greens salad

I also decided to do a Detox bath. How? You assk?

Fill the tub with the hottest water you can stand.
1c epsom salt
1c sea salt
2c baking soda

Soak for at least 40 minutes and make sure to drink cool water while you are in the bath. You will sweat alot. I started with the water kind of low and kept addin hot water to keep the temp up.
Felt wonderful afterwards.

On the Right Side of the Hill Again

Good morning. It's day 16 of the HCG Diet, Phase 2 VLCD. I back on the right side of the hill again. After a .4lb gain yesterday, I am down 1.3 today. Total loss so far, 21 pounds.  I'm going to work out again today, so I will pay close attention to the weight loss/gain tomorrow morning. I was feeling a little constipated so I drank the smooth move tea last night before bed. I didn't quite work the way I thought it would.

Yesterday I decided to try on a pair of smaller jeans and they fit! whoohooo. I have clothes in storage that are smaller. I'm heading to the shed today to see what I can find.

I'm also going to try my miracle noodles today at some point. Need to find some recipes. They say there is an art to cooking them.

Not a clue what the menu for the day is. Maybe roast beef and fish. Not sure yet.

Menu for the day:

Snack: apple, protein juice
Lunch: lean turkey burger, mexican style tomatoes with miracle noodles
Snack: Orange
Dinner: Roast beef lettuce wraps (yes I'm addicted to them), sauteed spinach w onions, grissini

The miracle noodles are the bomb. I rinsed them thouroughly, them put them in a dry frypan on high to get the excess water out  and then put them into the tomatoes. Slightly chewy, but not bad. Sure does fool the eye. And I need the fiber. We'll see what the scale says tomorrow.

I also worked out for 20 minutes today. In the past, the next day brings a stall or gain. Keeping track!

20lbs gone Phase 2 Day 14

I did it! Crossed over the 20lb mark. 13 full days of the HCG diet.

Down 1.3lbs for a total loss of 20.1lbs. I am kind of surprised because I had a moment of weakness, well not really weakness. I was hungry, gnawing hunger. Water didn't work and I was feeling dizzy and couldn't sleep. So I grabbed a couple of slices of roast beef and ate it. Why the sudden hunger?

I can only suspect a couple of things:

a) yesterday was my injection skip day

b) early in the day I felt like I wanted/needed to do some exercise, so I got on the elliptical machine and before I knew it I had been on 30 minutes and burned 330 calories.

c) I also did some crunches.

To date, 2 weeks, I have been completely consumed with the HCG Diet Protocol, almost to the point of obsession. I have tried to educate myself to the best of my ability, reading forums and facebook page documents. I think it's time to just make it a part of my day without thinking. I am pretty comfortable with allowable foods and portion sizes. I credit this to journaling on FitDay. And get back to doing everyday activities, focus on my jewelry making, which I have put off for the last 2 weeks.
With my son getting ready to leave, I have things to take care of in regards to that too.
Time to just carry on and quit stressing and obsessing about it.
Haven't decided the menu for the day, it's still very early. Probably shrimp and chicken for my proteins. Maybe asparagus and cabbage for veggies. I'll be back to update the menu.
Menu for the day:
Snack: 1/2 apple, protein juice
Lunch: Grilled chicken salad
Dinner: Curried Shrimp and Cabbage Soup, Grissini
Snack: Strawberries

Found out today that we can have brussel sprouts. I'm happy because I don't eat most of the allowable veggies. Fennel (yuk), Beet Greens (can't find them) cucumbers (not that into them) Tomato (never whole, just use them sparingly)

Time for bed. Stay tuned.

Phase 2 Day 12 and I Gained

I'm not real happy this morning. I woke up this am hoping to be as close to a 20 pound total loss as possible. But when I stepped on the scale, I was UP .4. WHAT? There's just no way. I was POP (Perfectly on Protocol) and even burned some extra calories. I have a sad face on today. But I will not be discouraged. After reading tons of information, I keep seeing this Whoooosh Effect. What is that you say?
Well, apparently, when your body starts to burn the fat, the fat is released from the cells, leaviong them deflated. Until your body realizes that the fat is not coming back, it temporarily fills them with water. Then, when your body has decided that the fat really isn't coming back, it will all of a sudden release the water in the cells....giving you a big release of water, hence, the Whooosh!
This could be it, could be a stall, who knows. I have stayed on protocol and will just wait it out.

No work for me today. Hitting the grocery store for a few things. I have seen that Wasa crackers are allowed along with the melba toast and grissini breadsticks. I'm going to pick up some of them to have some variety. And I'm also going to pick up some boars head roast beef. Lean steak is tough and I have a hard time digesting it. So I figure roast beef is a good option and Boars Head has not msg, sugar, addtitives. There is another brand Dietz and Watson that is the same as Boars Head.

I went shopping and found this scale from Emerson. I already tried it and it's so much easier than the manual one. On the maual scale, you have to eyeball the line so I believe this will be more accurate.

Got the Wasa crasckers, 2 different types and the roast beef. I am in love with Winn-Dixie Brand horseradish brown mustard, O carbs, no oil and yummmmy. I also found a habanero mustard (also legal) very spicy. I bought a few other spices too. With only using 2 ingredients to cook with, I figue that is the best way to change the flavor.

I saw a recipe for roasted radish chips. Sliced thin, spiced and put in a low oven til crispy. Cant wait.

I am also making the apple cinnamon chips, sliced apple, cinnamon and 1 packet truvia. Slow low oven (kind of like dehydrating them)

Menu for the day:

Lunch: Roast beef lettuce wraps with horseradish mustard and radish chips

Snack: apple chips

Dinner: Shrimp, cabbage, wasa

Snack: strawberries  didn't fel like eating them

Thought I would share my lunch.

 I overcooked the radish chips a little, but they are still tasty!

That meal right there is only 175 calories!