Maintenance - Day 6

Well, so far so good.

I haven't yo-yo-ed as much as I expected to. I lost close to another 3 lbs, then gained just over a pound back yesterday, but that was totally my own fault. I went over calories. Not going to do that again, let me tell you! haha

I've found some really great recipes online that I want to try. It's amazing how many recipes can be made sugar-free by substituting Splenda instead of sugar, and how many recipes are gluten/starch free.

Example: I was on King Arthur Flour, perusing their products, books, ingredients, etc, and drooling all over my keyboard. I love KAF almost as much as I love Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table....and I guess Chef's Catalog, too. But seriously, I LOVE KAF.

Imagine my surprise when I started following them on Twitter, and found that they were doing recipes for Passover (which I believe is next week....I'm not Jewish, so I wouldn't know for sure). Anyway, one of the recipes they had was for a chocolate cake. OH MY HEAVEN! I so want to make this cake. You have no idea. It looks so good! It does use sugar, but that can be easily substituted out for Splenda. And the chocolate chips...well, you can order unsweetened chocolate chips from KAF. I supposed you could use unsweetened baking chocolate and chop the crap out of it, but whatever's easier for you.

Anyway, I'm seriously thinking about making this cake next week. Maybe I'll take it up to my parents' and we can all enjoy it together on Easter. I'd love to see their surprise when I start eating a chocolate cake! haha

Also, did you know that Almond milk is lactose free, unsweetened, and tastes like watered down skim milk (or blue milk as it's fondly known at our house)? It's not bad with peanut butter cookies. My husband gags everytime I get it out, and it is a little pricey, but it's not bad. Definitely an option I'm going to keep in mind. It only has 40 calories per 1 cup. How much does milk have? Ummm...more than that, I'm sure. :D Definitely a healthy alternative to my binge-drinking milk and cookies/cake days of old. (I used to love milk)

And cream cheese muffins are delightful with a tablespoon of Sugar Free Log Cabin Syrup drizzled over the top. Oh they are to die for!! MMMMMmmmm MMMMmmmm.....I want one now. Good thing I don't have any left in the fridge!! haha

Sugar free candy's not so bad either. You have to be careful, because the calories are still higher, but there's no sugar, so it's okay to have some in moderation. I personally LOVE the Werther's sugar free hard candies, the Dove raspberry truffles, and I'm liking the Russel Stover's peanut butter cups. I haven't tried any other kinds yet, but so far the Werther's are my absolute faves. I'll let you know as I try the rest of the stash (I bought some of everything a few weeks ago in preparation for maintenance, just in case I got a sweet tooth craving).

Maintenance, Day 3

So, this morning when I weighed, I thought I had gained 2.2 lbs. Silly me! It must've been too early, because in reality I lost 0.8 lbs!! haha So, no correction day needed yet.

I'm really quite happy that it's going so well. It is a little tricky at times, because yes! I want another muffin with my breakfast! haha. I've got to re-learn self-control all over again. The first time was with 500 calories a day, and now it's with the 1900-2100.

I've been having fun making all these different recipes, though, and there are some definite favorites that I want to keep around after maintenance is over. Like, the cream cheese muffins drizzled with a little bit of SF Log Cabin brand syrup. Mmmmm.....so good! And the "Magic PB cookies" are fantastic. Bonus about the cookies? My 3 y.o. LOVES them! He loves all things cookie, anyway, but these are healthier, because they are sugar and gluten free, and use natural PB instead of the preservative loaded stuff.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "Oh no! She's become one of them! Those people that only eat SF, Gluten-free, preservative-free things!" I haven't. I'm just saying that some of the SF/gluten free recipes that I've been using are really good, and I'd like to keep them around. Don't worry! :)

OH! OH! OH! OH! OH! I almost didn't tell you all! I've decided to do another 49 day round of the HCG protocol. I have 3 weeks of maintenance, then a 3 week waiting period before I can do it, but I so want to. My SILs, MIL, and husband are going to do it all together (probably). My DH has been researching some things, and has learned a lot. I still have 29.4 lbs until I reach my goal weight, and I would like to reach it before we go on family vay-cay this year (at the beginning of July). I figure that if I start as soon as I can after the 3 week waiting period, then I can jump right in and be done with maintenance the day we leave! I know, cutting it close, but totally worth it if I can lose another 30 lbs or so on a second 49 day round.

So! Here's to a successful 3 weeks of maintenance, 3 weeks of waiting, and 2nd round of Phase 2! :)

Maintenance, Day 2

I gained 2 lbs from my weight yesterday. At first I was freaking out that I'd have to do a correction day. I got out my paperwork, and it says that the weight you go off of is the last injection day. Well, I pulled out my paper, and I haven't gained or lost from my last injection day. I stayed the same! Yay! No correction day for me!

Breakfast this morning was great. I had a fried egg, 6 strawberries with whipped topping, and 2 cream cheese muffins with sugar free syrup dribbled over it. I'm really excited for lunch. I'm having my normal spinach chicken salad, but with 7 oz of chicken instead of 3.5. And for dinner I'm having mixed veggies and a nice, large steak cooked in butter. Mmmm.....

Okay, so even though I'm not hungry, because I just ate breakfast, all this talk of food makes me think I am, so I'm going to go work now. :)

Maintenance, Day 1

Today wasn't as bad as I expected it to be.

I ate just over 2000 calories today. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. My carbs were a little high, 14% instead of 12%, but I think I can work that down by minimizing my apple consumption.

I'm not too worried about gaining weight right now. We'll see how my body reacts to this calorie increase tomorrow, but I'm not too worried at all.

Some people have told me it's hard to eat your calories, but I didn't find it too difficult. I spread my meals and snacks out, and adjusted my pre-determined meals a little bit. There were a couple of recipes that I changed a little to reduce the portion size (like my crustless pizza, I decreased the amount of Canadian bacon when I saw the size of the pieces).

Day 49

I get to eat tomorrow morning!! YAY!!

Also, I lost another 1.4 lbs, so I have now lost a total of 34.8 lbs. I am so close to my goal of 35 lbs! I'm hoping to lose that final 0.2 lbs today. :)

I'll let you know how eating 1900 calories tomorrow feels. I'm probably going to have to gag half of it down, but oh well. We'll see.

Day 48

Had my final weigh in today. Here are my results!

Weight loss: 33.4 lbs
change in fat percent: 40.5% down to 33.8% - 6.7% decrease
BMI change: 31.4 down to 25.8 - I'm almost to the "healthy weight" BMI range. I have 4.2 lbs to lose until I get there.

INCHES LOST:
Chest: 5 inches
Waist: 9 inches
Hips: 4.5 inches
Arms: .75 inches
Legs: 1.75 inches
Calf: 1 inch
Neck: .5 inches
TOTAL INCHES LOST: 22.5 inches

I'm quite happy with these results. I mean, 7 weeks isn't that long, but to see results like this really makes me happy :)

Don't think that just because I'm done with my first round of Phase 2 (in 48 hours) that I won't keep blogging. I will. I'm going to continue to track my progress through Phase 3 maintenance and the following 3 weeks before I start ROUND 2 (hopefully). WISH ME LUCK! :)

Day 46

Today was my last shot. I'm so excited!! I did, unfortunately, have a 0.2 lb gain, which sucked, but what can you do? I've still lost 33.2 lbs.

I have 72 hours of the 500 calorie diet, and then, Friday at 10:30 AM, I get to eat actual food again! Well, semi-normal food. haha :) I'm really excited to see what happens.

I have my final weigh in tomorrow morning. I also take my final pictures. I'm so excited to see how they turn out!

Day 45

I am so close.

So close to finishing.

So close to reaching my goal.

I've lost 33.4 lbs. My goal is 35 lbs.

I take my last shot tomorrow. Then I start 72 hours of 500 calories.

Then, on Friday morning, I start eating 1900-2100 calories a day.

I'm excited. I'm scared. I can't wait to have eggs and cheese again!!!

So, what say you? I can lose 1.6 lbs by Friday, right? I really want to hit my goal. Then I'll only have 28.4 lbs to lose on my second round. I think I'll start my second round the end of April. Then I'll be done in time for family vacation in July. And I'll be hot. And skinny (hopefully). And I can start toning or training or whatever. I'm so excited!!

SHOPPING

I am so excited to start Phase 3!!!

I went and did the grocery shopping yesterday for this next week, and was so excited that I even bought a few things for phase 3. Just a few things, like:

soymilk
sour cream
Natural Peanut Butter
Sugar Free jello and pudding
Sugar Free blackberry jam
pickles
Canadian bacon
Sugar Free candies (as a treat, only)
Diet 7 UP (pomegranite flavor)
and SPLENDA (in the bag, for cooking)

I can't wait to get the rest of the stuff I need, including:

Cream cheese
Mozzarella
Swiss
ground beef
eggs
peppers
and other yummy food!

Friday can't come soon enough!!

Almost finished!!

I have 3 shots left. I am so excited!! I've also now lost a total of 32 lbs. I am so close to my 35 lb goal!!

I'm also SUPER excited to start eating some semi-normal foods again. I bought all-natural peanut butter, some soymilk, and a bag of SPLENDA (to use instead of sugar). I also bought some sugar-free candy/chocolates, as a treat for once in a while - a special reward of sorts, since I can't eat my girl scout cookies that are hiding in the pantry!

I start eating on Friday. YIPPEE!!

WEIGH IN and PHASE 3 meeting

I have lost a total of 30 lbs. I am so excited!! I have about 7 more shots, so I'm hoping to eek out another 5 lbs by then. Then I start on maintenance. I'm scared to DEATH.

The shot-diet (or phase 2 as it's called) was pretty easy. I knew I could only eat 3.5 oz of 1 meat from the list and 1 veg from the list. I could have a fruit from the list at 10 AM, and another one 6 hrs later. I could have a total of 2 pieces of melba toast throughout my day. That's how my life has been these last 7 weeks.

But once I finish the shots, and 72 hours has passed (to get the hcg out of my system), my world as I know it will totally change. After that 72 hrs I "get" to start eating 1900-2100 calories a day. This is going to be a HUGE change from the 500 I'm used to. I can't imagine eating an entire 6 oz steak in one sitting, but I'm supposed to. I have WAY more options, fruit wise, and I can even eat some cheeses. I have to confess, I'm quite excited about the cheese. And the yogurt.

We bought a cookbook from our lady today (my MIL and I are sharing it) and I can even have natural Peanut Butter, and make PB cookies! And I can eat sugar-free chocolates! I must admit, I'm excited to be able to have some sweets after so long. But I'm still scared.

I'm afraid that I'll screw up somehow. I'm sure if I just map everything out ahead of time, I'll be fine. But, what happens once my 3 weeks of maintenance are over? I still have to be careful. I can't go back to how I was. I can't eat out every meal and king size everything and drink 150+ oz of Coke daily. NO! I'm determined not to be like that!!

I will be making smarter choices, though. Instead of making lunch one day, I could go get a salad from Subway up the street (or a sandwich, depending on my mood...you can't beat those $5 footlongs!) I'm going to be reading labels more carefully now. Like, did you know that "low fat" may not necessarily be better than regular?? In order to drop the fat they raise the carbs. What the?? Isn't that essentially the same thing? Sugars turn to fats. Sugars are carbs. More carbs, less "fat" = low fat. I'm going to definitely spend more time reading labels, that's for sure!

Everything I thought I knew about dieting has totally changed, and that scares me too. I have to re-learn it all, and I'm worried that my brain won't be able to. Of course, my brain has been convincing my body that 500 calories of food is okay...probably because there's at least 1500 calories of fat floating around in my body courtesy of the hcg releasing my abnormal fat stores.

Well, I figure I have a whole week to totally freak out before I get to the new diet. Oh, did I mention I can't have any starches or sugars while on maintenance?? Yeah, no more oranges. No more melba toast :( I'm going to miss my friends Orange and Melba. It's okay, they can rejoin me once maintenance is over. (I'm mostly just mad because I just bought a 10 lb bag of oranges! I hope they're still good, or at least that my family will eat them while I can't!)

I'm sorry for rambling. I'm going to just do my best and try really really really hard not to gain any weight back. That would totally suck.

Upcoming Goal

Just looked at my calendar. When I started the HCG diet, we set goals. Realistic goals, I should say. They told us to plan on only losing around 25-30 lbs at the most. Well, being the overachiever that I am, I set an unattainable goal to lose 35 lbs by March 12th.

Today I weighed in and have lost 27.8 lbs. That's almost 28 lbs! This means that if I continue at the rate I had this week, I can easily lose 7 more pounds by next Friday. Doncha think? I'm thinking that I might actually, for once, make a goal that I've set!

Day 34 - WEIGH IN

Had my weigh in today. Yesterday was a rough day. I gained 0.4 lbs. I figured out what it was though: my machine oil bottle that I use to oil my Gammill quilting machine (Yes, I'm a longarm quilter) gets oil on my hands, thus causing the either total stoppage of weight loss for a few days, or at least a slowing of loss. Yesterday though, I gained :( BOO!

Anyway, so today I lost a whole pound (really only 1/2 a pound though after you account for the gain). So my total weight loss is 26.6 lbs. Woot! Woot!

Also, I would just like to note my body fat % change:

Starting percentage: 40.5
Current percentage: 36.1

Last week I was in the 37's. I dropped almost an entire percent in one week! WOOHOO!

So, that's this week's progress. I'm really quite happy. I have a few more weeks left on the HCG shots and then 3 weeks of maintenance. I can't wait to see what next week brings :)

Day 32

Just stoppin' by to say:


I've lost 26 lbs!!!!