No, I didn't die from lack of food

I'm still here!  Still eating!  I'm back in Phase 3, and stopped blogging for the past month or so, because my head was someplace else entirely.

I'll tell you what, I'm getting close to my goal, and I think my natural tendency towards self-sabotage has been kicking in.  I'm working on that. Probably anyone who does this diet should have a therapist on hand. Or at the very least, a group of really good friends who you can talk this all out with. I have the friends. And a blog, which is kind of like therapy. Right?

Anyway, a couple new things on the HCG front. First, it seems that there is a questionable batch of EVOKE HCG drops floating around. So far, two friends and one complete stranger have reported problems with their drops, all from lot number 90476. The people at EVOKE are suggesting that it could be improper storage, or body chemistry changing. However, I think that's highly unlikely, given the fact that we're dealing with three different people, who were all having the same issues, before discovering that their bottles all had the same batch number.

What issues were they having? Well, they were hungry all the time, dealing with impossible cravings and barely losing weight. They all mentioned that their drops tasted different this time, too. I'm really not sure what the problem with this batch might be, but if you're feeling like you're starving, instead of feeling good on this diet, check your lot number, and please notify the company if you have a bottle from batch 90476 and feel that it's not working. They have promised to send a new batch to one of my friends. I'll keep you guys posted on how all that pans out.

In the meantime, I had to order a new bottle of drops for my next round, and was hesitant to order EVOKE again until I knew what was going on there. I will say, now, having seen how they handled this (offering to replace the product to one person that I know of at this writing--I'll update if I learn anything about the others), I would not hesitate to order from them again in the future.  I had no problems at all on the EVOKE drops for my first two rounds.

My next round, however, I'll be using D140 Dr. Simeons Drops w/ Thyroid, Hypothalamus, Pineal Support.  I'm intrigued by the extra "support" offered with these drops, and I"m looking forward to reporting back to you guys to let you know if I'm feeling any different, better or worse, on them.

The other thing I want to tell you guys about is a little more exciting. One of  my BFFs has started an HCG cooking blog, STUFFED with yummy HCG friendly food. Stuff for Phase 2 and Phase 3. She's got everything arranged very intuitively and even goes through the trouble of letting us know when something isn't 100% protocol, by putting ROGUE in the title.

Mmmmm rogue food.

The other great thing she's doing over there, that I think more cooking blogs need to work on, is giving really basic tutorials on things that some cooks think we should all know already. Like how to make whipped cream. Or how to hard boil an egg.  Seriously, I still call my mother to find out how long to cook those stupid eggs for.

One last thing I wanted to tell you guys: I bought a pair of size 7 jeans the other day. There is a story behind that, which I shall share in a forthcoming blog. Size SEVEN y'all. I'm not there yet. But almost. :)

Slow and Steady Wins the Race, right?

Holding steady at 20 pounds gone. Still.

I'm getting frustrated, but hanging in there.

PSA: If you're new and wondering about my diet, please read the post linked in the sidebar. If you're wanting to try it yourself, check out the links, also in the sidebar. It's IMPORTANT.

Today, I'm going to begin challenging myself to go back to the beginning of this diet. Back to the basics. I was careful, in the beginning of the last round, to count every calorie, and make sure I was getting enough water. (Half my body weight in ounces. Which was 10 more ounces last round than it is now!) I'm going to go back to that, and take it one day at a time.

I CAN stop after this week, if I find that I'm burning out. But, with only ten more pounds to goal, it seems counterproductive to move to P3 and give myself three more weeks at 145-ish.  I'll have to gauge where I am one day at a time.

Which is what we should all be doing, right? Living one day at a time?

Crap, did I just start my own 12 step support group or something?

Ten pounds left, but the chocolate won't let me go!

Hi! If you're visiting from IComLeavWe, thanks for stopping by!  If you're new here, please take a few minutes to read the post in the sidebar!

Holding steady at 20 pounds gone. That's fine. According to my super awesome scale, I'm also retaining water like that kid from WonderTwins.  (Have you ever seen my brother and I do our Wonder Twins impersonation? Oh you totally have to. I'll video tape it one day.)

I'm having a hard time with The Munchster this round. I did great last time, but this time, I am finding that it's easier for me to pop little things into my mouth throughout the day. I have a particularly hard time when I'm cleaning the kitchen. Or walking through the kitchen. Or thinking about the kitchen.

I'm not having huge binge cheats. The bag of Doritos I didn't get to when I was loading is still there, unopened. But, I'll snag a Hershey Kiss from my kids' snack box. Or...ugh...I found a chewy Werther's in my cabinet yesterday and snarfed it before I could even blink. 

WTH?  Trying to get my head back on straight, because these last ten pounds are going to fight me every single way possible. Sneaking pieces of chocolate isn't going to encourage my body to release them any quicker. 

So, today, lunch will be chicken soup, which I'm really looking forward to, because I've got a wicked cold coming on.  How about you? What's for lunch, folks?

My Magic Roller Coaster Ride

Down a little, up a little, down a little, up a little.

Sigh.

I have decided that I was entirely too rough on my poor womanly functions last time around. My weight loss has followed the exact same pattern this round, without a visit from AF.  So, maybe it wasn't my period's fault that my weight loss slowed down.

I'm forever preaching about reading Dr. S' book and following it to the letter. You'd think I'd have believed him when he said that the weight loss will slow down as you get closer to a healthy weight!

In any case, I'm still 20 pounds from where I started, and have decided that it's highly unlikely that I'll lose my last 10 pounds in the next 10 days, which is when my period is supposed to start back up. So I'm going to keep on keeping on, I think, and push right through that week.  We'll see how it goes.

I'll tell you what, it is HARD to stick to this diet when you're not losing a good amount a day. It's even HARDER when the scale creeps back up some. But, I still fully believe that it is totally worth it.  I mean, hello! I haven't been 145 pounds since after my little monster was born. I think. I don't even know for sure that I hit it then.

I am finding it harder to stick to protocol this round, but I think it's all mental. I KNOW it's all mental. I'm going to spend some time today in prayer and meditation and try to get my head on straight.  Other than that, it's all about swimming. You know, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....just keep swimming, swimming, swimming." :-)

Oh! Look what I found! The HCG Diet Gourmet Cookbook: Over 200 "Low Calorie" Recipes for the "HCG Phase"  I'll be ordering that, and requesting super quick shipping, I think!  Also pulling some great recipes from The Liquid HCG Diet page. Just click on the HCG recipes tab at the top of the page.

Off to drink my second glass of water and get my poor dog fed. He's like, "Really, woman, I'M not on a diet!"

Smoochies and Huggles!

-21.2 Total

Yep, that's not even close to a lie. So far, I'm down a little over 20 pounds on the HCG protocol. That's 2/3 of the way to my goal.

Are you thinking about doing this? Make sure you read the post in the sidebar, and check out the links to Dr. Simeons' book, and the SkinnyMe Forum. I didn't put them there because they're cute, people!

Sorry for the incredibly short post today, just wanted to celebrate TWENTY FREAKING POUNDS with you, but I also have an insane amount of backed up work for a client or two, and yay. Another snow day.

Love you, sweets! Smooches and huggles and all that other stuff.

The scale lives to weigh another day...

Long day, and it's only half over. Sigh.

But, you guys, I do NOT have to drown my scale tonight. I'm down 1.8 pounds today. So, now I weigh 146.2. That's 1.2 pounds away from 20 lost.  That's 11.2 pounds away from my goal.

That's freaking awesome.

So, the HCG diet seems too good to be true, doesn't it? All those ads on TV for all those pills and supplements and diet plans and all the rest, and here's this HCG stuff, that is scarcely heard of, seems be the "miracle product" that everyone is looking for.

If I were doing one of those loud, bright commercials, the first shot you'd see would be a picture of me, probably one of the hugely embarrassing ones of me from the Dove Chocolate Discoveries conference I went to in August ("hugely" there, can be used in a couple different contexts. If you know what I mean.) And then the 146 pound me would bust through, in my size 10 mommy-waist jeans and a low cut shirt. (I have one in mind. My husband's favorite.) I'd spread my arms out wide and my grin would be even wider, and I'd say something really cheesy, like, "HCG worked for me!"

Ugh, I just shuddered at the thought of this commercial.

Anyway, then I'd go on to talk about the benefits of HCG. It'd look like this:

• Lose a pound a day!
• No hunger!
• No dangerous chemicals or compounds!
• Enjoy amazing food and fabulous recipes!
• Eat out and still lose weight!

It would say all that, with the little asterisk, you know. *Results not typical

Except......

These results ARE typical.  I haven't met ANYONE who hasn't lost weight on this diet. If you follow the protocol, you can't help it.  

Give me another couple weeks, and I'll change this commercial. Instead of wearing my husband's favorite shirt and size 10 jeans, I'll be in a bathing suit. 

(Not a bikini. I've had two kids. A bikini will never happen again. I'm cool with that.)

Crafting Concrete Shoes for my Scale

I've read that it takes about 3 days to recover from a cheat. So, today is day 3.

MOVE, SCALE. MOVE TOMORROW OR YOU'LL SLEEP WITH THE FISHES.

I'll tell you what, that slice of pizza I ate at Chuck E. Cheese, or the small slice of cake, or the glass of wine I had when I got home with friends.... none of that was worth this. I hate not seeing the scale move. It is really hard to stick to a 500 calorie diet (even if you're not hungry, which, dude, I am not), when the scale is showing no results.

(I almost typed resluts, which is one of my favorite typos. Just thought I'd share that.)

The other side of this, and I think I mentioned this in yesterday's blog, is that I'm kind of close to my goal. I'm only 13 pounds away from 135, which is where I wanna be.  When you're doing ANY weight loss plan, the closer you get to the end, the slower the weight comes off. I'm thinking about contestants on the Biggest Loser, after about midway into the season, you stop seeing lots of double digits on the scale, you know?

I'm going to try pushing through this time, even if I'm not to my goal by the time my TOM rolls around again. (Even though I said I'm never going to stay on this diet through that again.) I'm just so close, it seems really ridiculous to move to Phase 3 for three weeks to lose whatever is going to be left in two weeks.

So, my game plan for the near future, is to stick to protocol, get better about counting calories, because I haven't been counting very closely, and just keep keepin' on.

I'm not officially discouraged yet, because Dr. Simeon did say it can take 3 days for an indulgence to correct itself. So, good. Day 3 of correction. And boom. Tomorrow, I will lose eight pounds. Right?

Shoot me some encouragement here, hcg folks!