Best Omelet Ever

I'm onto the next phase!

I finished my shots on Thursday, but I had to stay on the 500 calorie diet for two more days. My weight moved between 128 and 129 from Tuesday onwards, due I'm sure to my hormonal cycle. Friday brought particularly bad cramps and a desperate need for some extra protein, which I did not deny myself, so I probably had 600 calories instead of only 500 for those two days, but at least I was able to get to work (barely!).

Today, Sunday, I start the next phase of the diet... and it now includes eggs and I'm able to combine foods in one meal. I've been waiting for this day. I had the best omelet ever this morning! I caramelized some sweet onions, browned mushrooms, and folded them into two beaten eggs with a little fresh basil, some hot peppers (flakes) and sea salt. Barely any calories other than the eggs, and yet so incredibly delicious!

I'm told it's unhealthy to love food so much, and I really am trying to care. I'm not there yet. I'm going to behave myself and stick to the items on the list from Dr Purcell, and not overdo the calories (which you really can't if you stick to the list - lean meats and green veggies, 2 eggs a day, 1/4 cup of nuts, and 1/3 cup brown rice)... but I'm coming up with some great ideas for recipes to make it all as fabulously yummy as possible! Dried spices have been my savior. They can turn even a bowl of steamed cabbage into an appealing lunch.

I was 129lbs this morning, and my waist was just under 28 inches. I'll have to monitor this closely in the days to come to make sure neither one increases. I'll be exercising a lot more than I was able to in the last 4 weeks, which seems to help bring my blood pressure up for the day. That makes me feel a lot better! When my blood pressure is too low, I'm exhausted and dizzy, and I need to lie down. Not ideal for working in a gym!

128 and Feeling Great!

I've had a really rough few days, but I'm feeling great now. I was SO lethargic, and I was blacking out every time I got up from laying on the couch (which is where I spent the whole weekend, and most of yesterday). Awful! It turns out my blood pressure had fallen even further - yesterday afternoon it was 76 over 44. No wonder I felt so dreadful! So I worked out last night - just a light kettlebell workout - and I went for a vigorous walk and did 6 sets of stairs this morning. I also had three cups of green tea today, and I think the activity combined with the caffeine did the trick. I feel great! I wish I had tried that a few days ago. Maybe it would have worked then, and maybe not, but I sure am grateful it worked today.

I only have two more days of morning shots. Oddly, I'll kind of miss them. Even though I've been losing weight very slowly for the last week or more, I'm still losing. 13lbs so far!

Into the 120's

Finally! Another couple of pounds gone. I'm now 129... 12lbs down!

Yesterday my husband and I pulled ALL of my clothes out of my closet and I tried everything on. If it fit, it went back in; if it was too big it went to Goodwill. He was the judge; I am not to be trusted. I will wear clothes forever. Just add a belt! There were a precious few things that I love so much, I just couldn't part with them. So he made me promise to alter them to my new size right away. He's also taking me on a shopping spree when I'm all done because he knows I would never spend the kind of money he does on clothes, and he thinks I deserve them.

The biggest "oh-my-gosh" moment to date was yesterday, when I put on a pair of jeans that I finally slipped back into just a week or so ago. They looked great then, and if that was as far as I got I would still have been happy. But I put them on yesterday and they were HANGING off me. I'm not kidding - I was shocked speechless. Mouth hanging open, hands to my face, tears in my eyes, SHOCKED. Wow!

It's really easy to be too critical of ourselves, or see ourselves as chubbier than we actually are (in extremis it's called Body Dysmorphic Disorder - think of anorexics who really believe they're still fat, even though they are skeletal - I've been there). So I'm keeping those jeans, and anytime I'm not sure if my body has really changed that much, I'll put them on again and shock myself back to reality.

The only regret I have so far is that my butt is disappearing... I loved my big butt! And getting it back will be TORTURE. Hundreds and hundreds of lunges, squats, jumping stairs... groan! Please, when I'm dying of sore legs and tush and can barely stand up to work, will someone remind me to go and put those old jeans on again?!

I'm still plateau-ing every other day, which is totally frustrating. It turns up the volume on the voice in my head that tells me to quit. But I'm way too stubborn for that. I said I would do this and I will!

More Pictures

I just looked at the 141lb "Before" picture I posted two weeks ago, and the one I posted earlier today, and the 10lbs that's missing doesn't seem clear enough to me. So here are two more pictures:

Hopefully this is obvious, but the upper one was this morning, the second one below was two weeks ago and the third (side view) was also today.

Stalled... and grumpy!

I'm still pretty much plateaued. It's very depressing. Which makes me grumpy.

It's completely normal to plateau when you're losing weight and you reach a weight that you maintained for some time in the past. That's where I am now. The hardest part about it, is that being stuck makes the "Sabotage" part of my brain want to forget the whole project and get myself to a great restaurant as fast as I can. Of course I'm not going to do this, but only because I'm quite stubborn and I committed to seeing this thing through. Charlie Palmer's will have to wait another few weeks.

The other thing that's keeping me going is that other people can really see the difference 10lbs has made. (I can sort-of see it, but not as clearly as everyone else.) So I'm going to print some of the before-and-during pictures I've been taking and stick them on my bathroom mirror so I don't lose sight of the fact that this IS actually working and it's worth going without cheese.

The picture here was taken this morning... still stuck at 131lbs. I've re-done two of the body fat tests and both said I lost both fat and muscle, but slightly different amounts. And my metabolism has slowed down a bit (I don't think this is supposed to happen!). We'll see what the next few days bring.

I am currently very tired - mentally and physically lethargic. I think this is emotional (caused by being bummed about this plateau), but the effect is physical and I'm taking some long naps. The past four days have not been my finest!

Being the generally happy little positive-thinker that I am, I truly believe that tomorrow will be better.

Plateau!!

I've hit a true plateau. I haven't lost a pound in 48 hours. I'm not pleased! For the commitment and discipline this program takes, I feel I deserve to lose a pound or two every day!

So now I'm on the Apple Diet. No food at all until noon, then I have up to 5 apples to enjoy. And I have to limit my water intake, which is no fun at all. Apples have been one of my favorite foods during the last two weeks, but now that they're all I can have, I almost miss my cabbage and chicken. And feeling a bit dehydrated leaves me very lethargic, so I'm on the couch watching a LOT of TV, which is one of my favorite activities, but do you know how many ads there are for pizza every hour?! It's killing me.

Clearly this is NOT my best day so far.

I really, really miss cheese

Don't get me wrong - most of the time I feel great... not hungry, not tired, and really positive and happy about this experience. But I miss cheese more than anything. Ever.

If you asked anyone who knows me well what food I would miss most, they would have said "ice cream". And yes, I'd love some. But I don't care that I can't have it. It's cheese that I'm dreaming about. Every time I see it in the fridge I want to pick it up. Hold it. Smell it. Lick the edge so I can just taste it. There are lots of other foods that I love - sweet potatoes, eggs, yogurt with strawberries... but I could live without all of them for just one more piece of cheese.

But my resolve is strong and I will not cheat. I'm down to 132lbs today!

Tuesday morning was my first plateau. I didn't lose an ounce from Monday to Tuesday. I was miserable all day. We took new pictures anyway and I couldn't look at them. I wanted to fall under a bus instead. Now I'm happy again because I've lost 2 1/2 more pounds since then. Which leads me to my next rant:

IF YOU ARE NOT CURRENTLY DOING THIS PROGRAM, DO NOT WEIGH YOURSELF EVERY DAY. Or even every week.

I've been telling women for years to throw away their scales and ask instead "Do my pants fit?" and "Are these the pants I want to be wearing?". Those should be our only questions. Answered honestly (and acted upon), they will keep us at a healthy weight. We will feel good about ourselves and our self-esteem won't be damaged on a day-to-day basis. It's too easy to measure our "success" - and therefore our worth - by a number!

So to do this program, I had to put aside my beliefs about weight (and how totally unimportant it is) and weigh myself every day, and it's taken less than two weeks for "the number" to rule my day. How damaging would that be over the course of a few years? A lifetime?

On the flip side, if I didn't weigh myself every day and continually see the number going down, I might lose a bit of my motivation and succumb to the cheese. So for now, the scale is a necessary evil. But I am really looking forward to the day when it is once more just a dust-collector in the corner.

12lbs Down :)

I've lived through eight morning injections of HCG and I've lost 12 pounds. I'm very happy with my results so far! I'm down to 134lbs.

I did great at the party on Saturday night. The food and drinks all smelled yummy, but I just wasn't physically hungry. I was so determined not to cheat again, I must have used mind over matter. I wasn't even hungry hours later!

The three really exciting things that have happened for me so far are:
1. I no longer walk straight to the fridge when I walk in the front door (for me, this was the habit of a lifetime).
2. I'm getting better at recognizing that "I'm hungry" is often "I'm bored" or "I'm thirsty"; and
3. I am no longer terrified of injections! It has been YEARS since I've had a shot and not cried (in fact, it may have never happened). I still can't watch my husband give me my injection, but I peeked out from between my fingers this morning and didn't freak out at all. My goal is to be able to watch the whole procedure calmly.

I Cheated!! and it cost me a pound

Last night I ate less than half an ounce of beef... that had been re-heated in a pan with coconut oil... and instead of losing two and a half pounds yesterday, I only lost one. Serves me right. I cheated. But I can't feel guilty about it. Only losing one pound instead of two or more has taught me a few lessons:
1. Don't sit there while your husband cooks and eats something delicious. Go outside or into the bedroom.
2. Even the tiniest cheat can make a real difference. I committed to doing this program - why not give it my best shot?!
3. Don't let yourself dwell on how much you miss fats and oils, it's only for 24 days, not for the rest of your life.

I did a kettlebell workout this morning and it felt great. I did all of my usual exercises, but with half the weight. Now I'm starving and quite tired, but half an apple and a nap should do the trick.

Tonight we're off to a party. There will be food and drink everywhere, but I will not cheat! It's not worth it. I will eat before we go and drink mineral water while we're there, and not stay too long. Really, it would be much smarter to just stay home, but it's for a really close friend, so I'm going. We'll see how I feel about it later!

Another Day, Another Few Pounds Gone

Today is Day 5, and I feel really good. I've lost two and a half pounds a day, every day this week. When I woke up this morning I actually FELT thinner. What a great way to wake up! And people are starting to notice the changes, especially in my face and hips.

Yesterday wasn't a good day - I went and walked 10 sets of stairs and it wiped me out (normally I run 12 sets and I feel awesome). After my 10 sets I was hungry and grumpy and tired all day, even though I felt good while I was doing it. Moderation in exercise is obviously very important in this program. If I don't exercise at all, I feel sluggish. Moving my body makes me feel better than if I don't do anything, but too much was not a good choice.

Day 3 - 6lbs Down

Today is my third day of the "real diet" - less than 500 calories a day. It's actually going a LOT better that expected. I am slightly hungry most of the time, but it's like being aware of hunger and just not caring.

The first day I didn't eat until almost 2pm and I wasn't hungry at all - that was my best day. But then I got a slight infection under a tooth (the re-emergence of an ongoing problem) and now I'm on antibiotics... which means I have to eat a little something first thing in the morning with the pill. Having just that one piece of Melba toast (20 calories!) makes me hungry for the rest of the day. Bummer.

I've been exercising a little bit - a light workout Monday night, and a stroll with a couple of short bursts of jogging on Tuesday. It feels great to do it, but my strength and endurance are definitely down and I'm really tired afterwards. Tonight I'll try a yoga class.

I've lost 6lbs since Monday, but really only one pound since Wednesday last week - I was 141 then, but I gained 5 eating all that fat... and now 6 have fallen off in 48 hours. Can't wait to see what happens in the next 48!

"Before" Picture - 141lbs

This picture was taken the day I did all my testing - Wednesday May 28th. I was 141lbs that day. I'm only publishing the side-on picture - the angle of the ones from the front is horrible and I just can't force myself to put such a dreadful picture of myself online. (Note to self - don't look down into a camera from front-on.)

I forgot to take a waist measurement, but my Old Navy size 8 pants were quite loose that day, and the 6's were snug.

What is Medical Weight Loss?

Medical Weight Loss is for people who have extremely slow metabolisms (from yo yo dieting, eating disorders, diet drugs or stimulants).

The program is nine weeks in total. The first 4 days you eat lots of fat. On the third "fat day" you start daily HCG injections (into the muscle of your thigh, or your tush if someone else is doing the injecting for you). You get a daily injection for a total of 26 days. From the 3rd to the 26th day, you eat a very strict diet - only 500 calories a day! That's two meals per day - 3oz of chicken breast, white fish or buffalo, plus an apple, orange or strawberries, one vegetable (spinach, asparagus, onion) and a serving of melba toast (not my favorite, but I'm sure I'll learn to love it).

Apparently you're never hungry, because the HCG injection controls your appetite and puts your body into ketosis - you're burning so much of your own body fat you're not hungry. And you're losing 1 to 2 pounds per day.

After the first 26 days, I'll be on a controlled diet (zero sugar, and no grains either). This is for three weeks. The final three weeks move me into the "maintenance" phase.

Last Supper

Today was my second HCG shot, and my last day of eating lots of fat...

Honestly, I'll really miss all the bacon and ice cream, but I won't miss eating it in such quantities. My stomach feels HUGE! I went out for one last fat-calorie-laden dinner (mexican food again), then gelato. After dinner I washed my hair one last time (I'll be using powdered shampoo after today) and covered myself in coconut oil - no more lotion for 24 days.

Tomorrow morning I start the real "diet". I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to my body in the next few days!