1 Down and 5 to Go

Today I officially finished  week 1.  I am now down a total of 59 pounds.  Woo Hoo!!!

I can't believe I have made it this far.  I am amazed at the changes in me since I started my journey in September of 2010.  Wow!!  Who would have ever thought. 

I feel great and the best thing is I am not hungry.  It is wonderful.  Now I'm ready for the second half.  Watch out world, here I come.

On My Way to a Smaller Me

Well with my load days behind me today was my first 500 calorie day.  I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn't hungry at all.  My massive loading must have paid off.  Whew!!  Glad that is over.  The bad news is I gained weight due to my loading, but it shouldn't take long to get that off and more.  I am hoping that by the end of this round I will be about 30 pounds lighter.  That would be totally awesome.  If I manage to lose that much that will be a total of 82 pounds total.

If that happens I will be at a weight I haven't seen in years.  Woo Hoo!!

Round 3 - the final load

Well today was the final load day of this round.  We hit the local buffet and I ate all of the food I would normally  eat in very limited quantities, if at all.  The major difference with today was that when I ate I felt no guilt or remorse.  Clam chowder, mashed potatoes and gravy and fried chicken with the skin were part of today's delicacies. 

After going shopping for a few things for the next phase, we also went home with additional items that would consumed before the end of the day.  More donuts and cheese puffs were on the menu for later.  I also ate a can of chili with crackers before going to bed.  Overall I think I did pretty good on loading this time.  Let's hope it helps with the hunger over the next few days.

Wish me luck.....

Round 3 Load Day 2

Well today has been day 2 of the loading days for round 3.  I feel sick and my stomach is making noises like it's possessed.  I feel awful.

For breakfast I ate a pound of bacon.  For lunch I ate at one of my favorite places in the mall.  I had shrimp, orange chicken, black pepper chicken, rice and noodles.  I couldn't eat it all, but made a valiant effort.  After spending a couple of hours walking around the mall, we went to Dairy Queen for dessert.  After eating that I really did feel bad.  Dinner was left over pizza.

As I am nearing the end of the loading period of this round I am so looking forward to not having to eat myself into oblivion.  I have also had another learning experience and that is that I am craving water.  I can't wait to not have anything, but water to drink.  One more day.........

Round 3 Load Day 1

Well today was the day.  My first load day of round 3.  I was more than ready. 

I started off with my doctor's appointment first thing this morning before work.  I weighed in and received my first injection.  It was good to see everyone at the office again after being off for 3 weeks.  They've become part of my cheering section.  Dr. Jones says I am doing fantastic and they took my "before round 3" pictures for an album they are doing.  I gave them some pictures I had that my daughter-in-law took before I started the diet at all and they were amazed at the difference. 

I started off my load day with something I don't ever eat and that was donuts.  Not just 1, but 3, followed by a bagel with cream cheese.  For a morning snack I had a handful of peanut M & M's and a Dr. Pepper.  I feel like I am going to explode, but I am going to do this right this time and that means loading right as well.

For lunch I had a croissant sandwich with turkey, cheese, avocado and bacon, a small bag of barbqued potato chips and a Coke and for dessert I ate a Dove icecream bar.

Dinner consisted of a piece of pizza, 1/2 a small pan of chicken alfredo and Cherry Coke.

Not too bad for my first load day.  I feel like a tick and can hardly move, but I've had another learning experience.  I've learned that when you haven't eaten a bunch of stuff that isn't good for you or that is high in fats and calories, you feel terrible when you do.  I feel bloated, sick, sluggish and down right miserable, but I know that it is going to help me in the end not to be hungry and will help the diet work better.  Thank goodness it has SOME good points to it.

My Journey's History - Round 1

I have done some hard soul-searching over the past 6 weeks.  Round 1 was awesome.  I learned more during that round then I have since.
My first round began with my first injection being on a Friday, followed by 3 days of loading.  My doctor said I could load over the weekend and begin the VLC diet (Very Low Calorie) on Monday.  Awesome, an extra day to eat whatever I wanted.

NOTHING prepared me for how I felt on Monday and Tuesday.  Anytime you shock your body by abruptly taking away the amount and types of food it is used to, it is not going to like you very much.  Mine was no exception.  I felt like I was going to die.  My mind was going in a million different directions.  I thought, "oh great, I just spent a bunch of money on this diet and they said you wouldn't be hungry and I'm starving", "Ahhhhh, another diet that isn't going to work", and my favorite was "if I continue to feel like this, I'm quitting".  But the worst was yet to come.

I got up early on Wednesday morning to go to the bathroom.  My stomach was growling and it hurt so bad all I could do was sit there and cry, but what I noticed was the change in my mental outlook.  I was craving carbs when I suddenly remembered that I could have Melba Toast.  I was thrilled and all of the sudden my hunger subsided.  That was my first learning experience of many more to come.

Something I have noticed is that all of the tv commercials focusing on food come on when you are on a diet and can't have it.  I would fix my dinner and sit down to watch tv with my husband, only to be greeted by "have it your way" and "think outside the bun".  I craved a big juicy hamburger sooooooo bad, but I was determined to stick to my diet.

The cravings and obsession with fast food lasted for about 2 1/2 weeks, then they were gone.  All of the sudden I realized that I didn't care if I ate or not.  I found I would eat, but I got full faster and sometimes wouldn't be able to even eat the 500 calories a day that I was allowed to have.

My mental attitude had changed.  I began looking at the amount of food that people were eating and realized that the amount of food I had been eating was the reason I weighed what I did.  I realized I didn't need that amount of food and I began listening to my body.  My body and I were in tune.  I learned how to pay attention to whether I was actually hungry or if I was eating just because I loved to eat?  Better yet, I learned how to pay attention to when I was "content" and needed to stop eating.  Another learning experience.  

In the Beginning....

For many of you who haven't seen me for awhile or those who I haven't talked to for awhile, I have been on an incredible journey since September of 2010.  

Without going into a bunch of details about what lead up to it, I had experienced some health issues since November of 2006 which resulted in me putting on about 40-50 pounds.

I began thinking of the many diets I had been on over the years and what did and didn't work.  Having awesome insurance at work, I even contemplated either the lapband or gastric bypass, but due to my health issues, at the time that was not an option.

In July of 2010 I hit my desperation point.  Besides the feeling of desperation I also felt hopeless, depressed and felt like I had no viable options.

One day my husband came home and told me about a friend of his who had started the HCG diet.  As the weeks went by I would check with my husband as to his friend's progress.  Every week he would report that his friend had lost an incredible amount of weight.  I began doing research on the HCG diet.  I wanted to know everything about it.  What were the side effects, how did the diet work, were there any restrictions as to who could do it and most of all did I think it would work.

After reading everything I could find on the diet, I decided to talk to my husband's friend, who had offered to answer any questions I may have that would help me make my decision. He told me he had gone through his first round and lost an incredible 40 pounds.  He was now on his maintenance phase and told me he found it hard to eat as much as they wanted him to.   

After talking to him I made the decision to start the diet.  He gave me the name and number of his doctor so I called and made an appointment.  I was told I would need to come in for a preliminary appointment to establish myself as a new patient.  I would need to have bloodwork done and have an EKG.  Since I had had both of these done about 4 months prior to my appointment, I was instructed to bring my records from my other doctor. After I had my initial appointment I decided on a date of when I wanted to start my diet and made my appointment. 

The day finally came to start my diet.  I arrived at the doctor's office and checked in.  My name was called a few minutes later and I was taken back and weighed.  This weight was to be my beginning weight.  I was then shown to a room to wait for the doctor.  The doctor came in holding a vial and the office manager came in with a bag, a red container and a brown envelope.  In the bag were all of the syringes and alcohol wipes I would need for the next 6 weeks.  The envelope contained all of the instructions for the diet and a list of the acceptable and the forbidden foods as well as some recipes.  The red container, I found out, was for the used syringes.

The doctor opened one of the bags of syringes and took one out.  He showed me how much I should withdraw from the vial each time I injected and then told me to pinch some loose skin on my stomach.  He injected me with my first dose of HCG.  I couldn't believe it.....I ddn't feel a thing.

I left the doctor's office with a new sense of hope.  What if this actually works?  Little did I know.....