R1 P2 Day 18

220.8

Down another .2 ounces.

Well, again its a loss but I'm really hoping to see a bigger drop soon. I don't want to cheat anymore because it really hurts my weight loss efforts. I keep telling myself how much I've invested in this program and how little time I have until my first goal date arrives. I need to stay focused. It's really just 3 more weeks and I can add a wider variety of foods to my palate. I can do this!

Breakfast:

coffee w/Cocoa Pro

Lunch:

steak

lettuce

zucchini/squash

orange

Dinner:

chicken soup

celery

salsa

melba toast

strawberries

Today I tried some melba toast with my soup. What I figured out is that I can eat my salsa with some of the mini-toasts I have. I can only have 3 mini's to equal 1 regular melba toast but it's great to have something to dip into my salsa! Tonight was my first of a series of finance classes by Dave Ramsey. My dinner was interrupted as I tried to eat it before class but couldn't get more than a few bites in... I ate the rest about 2 hours later - at 9pm! I'm hoping that I can still see a loss when I hop on the scale in the morning, even after eating late.

R1 P2 Day 17

221.0

Yay! Down .6 ounces. I was hoping for more but I'll take a loss over a gain by all means!

Back to work...

Lunch:

hamburger patty

lettuce

tomato

mustard & sugar-free ketchup

Dinner:

chicken

broccoli

soy sauce (sugar-free)

apple

1 cup (12 oz) coffee w/Cocoa Pro, stevia & 1.5 tbsp milk (YUM!)

The coffee with cocoa pro was pretty good. I wanted some coffee to try and move things along in my body since I was feeling like my weight loss was hindered by "heaviness". It didn't work, but at least I enjoyed a nice hot cup of chocolatey, coffee goodness!

R1 Phase 2 Day 15

221.4

Up .2 ounces. I expected a gain but still lucky that it is a small amount. Whew!

Okay, so I didn't keep up with the blog over the holiday weekend. Now I can't remember what I've eaten on which days. So now I'll just tell you want I do remember. First, I made taco salad - I was able to eat that over 2 different meals - DeLish! Also, I prepped some veggies: zucchini & squash, enough for 3 meals. I had steak with squash for one meal and a hamburger with lettuce, tomato, mustard & homemade ketchup (sugar-free) for another. All in all, I made it through the rest of the weekend without issues.

R1 P2 Day 16

221.6

Up .2 ounces. I really don't know why but I keep pressing on with my meals. Eventually doing the right thing will pay off.

R1 Day 14

221.2

Wow! I'm down 2 POUNDS!! I totally wasn't expecting that but I'll take it! I figured I'd be on the straight and narrow today. Again I was wrong - weekend activities get in the way again. I'm just not prepared for grab-n-go eating! That's something I need to work on tomorrow as we are staying home and my meals should be in line with protocol - as well as thinking ahead for a few more meals. I had prepped meats for the weeks but I forgot about prepping vegetables. This time I will prep for both so I don't run into these problems again.

Anyhow, a little mini-golfing and a movie while out and about away from home and the foods I can eat led to this:

Lunch:

McDonald's

3 chicken nuggets

1 cheeseburger no onions, 1/2 bun

small french fry

Movie:

popcorn

pepsi

Oh boy... I really just don't have any will power and when I'm not set up to grab healthy choices, I just don't make them out in the "real world". I haven't had dinner yet as I took the dog for a walk this evening and was out over 45 minutes (trying to work off some of those earlier calories!) and now I'm just thirsty but not hungry. I figured after my shower I would cool down and try to have some chicken soup or "taco" salad (hamburger, lettuce, tomato w/salsa). Instead I've been posting these messages so I better go get something.

R1 Day 13

223.2

Yesterday was a busy day so I'm posting my information on day 14 but I'll still update for yesterday. I'm down .2 ounces - back to the lowest since starting this diet.

So, after work I picked up Marissa and got her dinner at Chick-fil-a, then home for a bit of rest before taking her back to school for the football game. I did have a couple of her waffle fries and a chicken nugget. I thought that would be cheating enough. Boy was I wrong. I ended up falling asleep on the couch during my 1-hour fast between my evening hCG drop dose and when I was allowed to eat. Then when I woke up it was time to get her back to the school. I had tried to make some cabbage soup with cooked hamburger in it but that turned out gross. I took a bite and almost brought up my lunch. YUCK! Down the drain that went - no time to make or even grab anything else to eat - time to go!

After dropping her off I needed to pick up my friend as we were headed to a Tupperware party. I kept thinking I'd just drink my water and if she had some snacks out hopefully there would be veggies to snack on. Well, there were snacks all right. Lots of them. Healthy? None! There was punch and sweet tea to drink (at least I had brought my own water) and here's the list of snack options: cookies, crackers, chips, cheese, sausage, pound cakes, banana bread, pie... did I leave anything out? Well, I had some... actually a few things. I had chips, banana bread, crackers and sausage - oh yeah, and some sweet tea. I figured I'd really be paying for that later. And I did.

I woke up at 2am with the worst pain in my abdomen. Figuring finally that I'd have to go to the bathroom after not needing to for at least the last 3 days I was happy that I'd actually be going but the pain was excruciating. I actually thought I could vomit at the same time. Anyway, once that was over the pain was over and I was able to sleep peacefully. Still afraid of how much I had set myself back once again.

Lunch:

chicken

tomatoes

oranges

Dinner:

1 bite cabbage/beef soup (yuck)

1 Chick-fil-a nugget

3 waffle fries

1.5 slices banana bread

5 slices sausage

10 crackers (wheat thins & Ritz)

1 serving potato chips

sweet tea

Looking forward to tomorrow's scale hop?? Not really.

Round 1, Day 12

223.4

Up .2 ounces. Yep, I gained weight after my cheater meal last night but if that's all that I gain I'll be happy about it. The real question is what will my weight be tomorrow? That will be the true answer of how much that meal cost me. I'm hoping that by going straight back to protocol it won't affect me in a negative way - unless that negative is measured in pounds and ounces!

Today I had some tea for "breakfast". I hadn't had tea for breakfast yet and the only other tea I've had during this diet was at dinner the night before. I used some stevia as sweetener for both. It was nice to drink something other than water for a change but drinking water has become easier. I don't really miss drinking other things or flavors which is surprising but at least it's not a chore.

Lunch:

"chili" - hCG friendly: 97% lean burger, diced tomatoes, onions & seasonings

salad mix

Dinner:

London broil

asparagus

apple

I really enjoyed the chili today. I enjoyed it the other 2 servings I've had previously as well. I'm so happy it turned out and tasted good (lots of seasonings and spice!). I'm looking forward to whipping up new recipes as well as trying other recipes already tried and true. I need to get away from just slabs of meat and a side of veggies. It is really boring. However, I didn't really feel hungry today and I'm hoping tomorrow's scale hop will prove successful!

New Diet - hCG!

I'm a little late but hopefully I can catch up - I'm on day 11 of the hCG diet. I take hormone drops twice a day and eat a very low calorie diet for a cycle of 35 days. After that cycle, I stop taking the hormone drops but continue watching what I eat under a maintenance period, increasing my caloric intake from just 500 per day to between 1200-1500 per day for a period of at least 21 days. I plan to do the maintenance period for at least 35 days as well. I have a goal to reach before going on vacation November 9th. I would like to lose at least 25 pounds. I know I can do it - I hope to lose more but I have to be realistic with my goals. More info on the hCG diet and the foods for Phase 2 & 3 (phase 1 is a 2-day loading period where you eat all you can eat), find the info here: http://www.hcg-diet.info/

So here's the past 10 days in a nutshell:

Starting weight: 235 (or thereabouts, I saw 238 and 236 on my "loading days" but the morning of my first hCG drops was 235 point-something)

Day 1: 235

Day 2: 234.0

Day 3: 231.4

Day 4: 229.8

Day 5: 227.8

Day 6: 227.0

Day 7: 225.4

Day 8: 224.2

Day 9: 224.2

Day 10: 223.8

Day 11: 223.2

So now I have to explain myself before I weigh-in tomorrow morning. I cheated! I had a free birthday burger to redeem at Red Robin and today was the expiration date. I had planned on buying it "to go" for my daughter Marissa to eat for dinner but then our friends found out we were going and they decided to go with us - and it became a sit-down meal at the restaurant. I still thought I could get through it until an appetizer was ordered: the Onion Tower. That's it, I was going to have one - just one! Nope... I took 2 and ate them in sweet delight figuring it was just 2 onion rings and I could burn that off quickly. Then I had dip left on my plate so I had to have another one to swipe up what was left over... please? Lol. Yep, I did it... but at least that was the end of the onion rings for me. However, I ordered my burger lettuce-wrapped (no bun) with a salad as a side instead of fries. Good for me, right? Wrong. I mean it was a good decision but everyone else had fries and I had a couple, er, well we'll say 5 - I think. Yep, it was probably 5. All in all it was a rather healthy meal on anyone else's standards but for the hCG diet - it was way off protocol!!! Don't worry though - tomorrow is right back to protocol and continuing with my efforts! I just wonder how much that meal may have set me back? I shall find out in a few hours...