Day 17 total (day 15 VLC) and I unstalled!

So I finally dropped .4 after sitting at 213.8 for the past couple of days. And it's official: I have dropped 15lbs in 15 days! WOOHOO! Let's hope I can keep this up! No hunger either and I'm finding I have to practically choke down food and my water.
I'm hoping to stop by July 7th and move on to Phase 3 only because I have a vacation planned in September and I have to be at least moved on to Phase 3 in my second round by then. There's no way I'm going on vacation and only eating 500 calories and have to prepackage everything!

I'm going to a wedding today and that's going to try to mess me up. But I've got things planned to pack my dinner and try to sneak out and eat it or not stick around for the dinner there. Something. I'll figure it out, I guess.

That sucks because I love gatherings and getting all the food and drinking for free. The even worse news is I'm going to be surrounded by family so that's going to put even more stress on me to want to eat. :( I really do not want to go but it's my baby cousin's wedding. I'm not close to her anymore since she's had 3 kids. I can't relate to any of my cousins so I'm not close to anyone. I really don't like my family very much. No matter how much I have tried in the past, no matter how nice I am on the outside, I still feel like I am an outsider. My mother told me I have to love them because they are my family, but I learned I don't have to even try. They are people who I cannot connect with; I do not have to love anyone like that.

But anyways, in the last couple of days I received my Miracle Noodles, my Braggs's Liquid Aminos and Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar, and I am waiting on my Capella Flavor Drops so I can make better coffee and smoothies. And I also stopped at GNC to get some unflavored protein powder because I don't think I'm getting enough protein. It seems I've saved a lot of money getting healthy by not buying fast food every day of the week so I thought I could splurge a little and get the things I need to stay healthy.

They taste like rice noodles when you wash them and boil them right!

I had to share this as I have been having problems getting my coffee to taste right in the last 2 weeks. I need to have 1 good tasting cup of coffee a morning and today I finally did it with lots of thanks to my new awesome Ninja blender:

1 cup of coffee, 1 dash of peppermint extract, a dash of powdered stevia, 1 tbs of milk, 1 tbs of cocoa powder, a swish with my ninja and POOF: The best tasting peppermint mocha I have ever had! Way better than Starbucks.


I can't even believe how much easier this is getting. I also found a website with low carb recipes called Linda's Low Carb Menus and I cannot wait to try some of her desserts!

Well, since my phone cannot connect to my computer, I have no pictures to share that I took. I'll just grab some random stuff from the web and toss up here.
:)

The Liquid Aminos tastes just like soy sauce and the ACV is a bit brutal but worth it! I'm going to try an ACV rinse in my hair today. We'll see how that goes!



Well, hope everyone has a great weekend and wish me luck with my family today. *gulps*

Day 9 VLCD

Today has been better than yesterday. Hunger pains are about gone and I'm feeling almost 100%. I think that 7 drops a day dosage is working and if I don't improve in 2 days, I'm backing down the dosage.

Yesterday was an interesting experience. I wanted to get a blender to make smoothies, just to give me something else to curb the craving of ice cream and such. So I went to Walmart, got the blender then thought I'd look around for some extracts but ended up walking down every isle practically drooling at all the food I couldn't have. It was almost hysterical in an insane kind of way as I looked at cookies, nope, can't have those. Then chips, nope can't have those! To salad dressings and really, REALLY wanting ranch dressing! I had a mental image of myself sprawled on my back in the middle of isle 12 in Walmart, covered in opened boxes of crackers, cookies, and croutons, covered in ranch dressing and passed out!
Then I sighed, counted to ten, let my tummy rumble as I picked up some apples and cilantro and headed for the counter.
Now, I don't know about ya'll, but for some reason my Walmart has 20 billion lanes with only 2 regular ones open and 1 ten item or less and 1 20 item or less opened! Annoying, especially when I was about to have a carb attack!
As I waited and watched this uber thin woman in front of me, maybe about my age, with one kid on her hip and another in her shopping cart I started to sweat. I tried not to look at the candy and focused on how I wanted to be like this chick in front of me when I have kids one day. I grabbed a bottled water while waiting and really debated opening it up before I got to the register. My back was getting hot and sticky as I could smell the chocolate candy in front of me! My sense of smell has improved 10 fold. Like when I noticed it after quitting smoking, too, but this makes it worse because I can't HAVE anything! UGH.

Regardless of my mild attack, I made it out of Walmart only slightly dizzy and to my car where I downed the whole water bottle. I felt better.

I get home and opened my new blender, cleaned it out, tossed in some strawberries, powdered stevia, and a tiny bit of coconut extract and HEAVEN!

The ice was perfect smoothy/slushy mixture and it tasted like a strawberry pina colada! I really, really needed that!

Here's the awesome Ninja blender I got:

Pretty cheap and it has a blender part and a little mixing bowl part if you want to do some food processing. I'll probably make my salsa in it tomorrow but I just wanted it for the ice chopping!



Oh, yes, my weight for the day is 216.8 which is a -1.4lb drop overnight. :) I'm pretty happy about that. :D


Lunch yesterday was tilapia on a bed of spinach and dinner was cajun style shrimp with raw celery. I didn't know how much celery to have, so I just grabbed like 5 stalks. I was hungry by dinner!

Today's lunch was veal on the go and cucumbers with my apple for breakfast and my usual cup of coffee. I did stop at Mustard Seed Market which is this big, fancy, slightly pretentious organic food store and got some Vanilla Creme liquid stevia.

(which was $14 btw! WTH? Too expensive!) I'm going to try it in my coffee tomorrow as everyone says it's great in coffee. I think I might try it in a strawberry smoothie for my snack today.


Some random things I was thinking about this HCG diet as I was driving around today: I'm on a birth control called Reclipsen which allows me to skip my periods up to 3 in a row so I don't have to worry about that dreaded "time of the month" like most women. I'm happy about that!

I adjusted my drops up 1 extra drop per dose, but people say to decrease your drops if you're feeling ick. If I am after this weekend, I'm dropping them down to 5 drops 6 times a day.

I'm drinking only coffee, water, and my slushy today. No green tea. I want to see how it effects me with out the green tea. Tomorrow I'll drink it again, but someone said on the forums you want the majority of your liquids to be just plain water.

I noticed a difference in how I looked today when I was going to the bathroom in the store. I can see it gone in my belly, with my sides and top belly fat shrinking and my boobs. Would love to get the fat off my arms, soon. Legs, I can cover them as it's not terrible. I have muscular legs from all the walking and dancing I've done. I am looking forward to taking more dance lessons as soon as I can. Also, I need to read up how long I should be on P3 before I jump into round 2. Or do I have to do P3 and P4? (adding of more foods then adding of sugars and starches) I need to figure that out. I updated my ticker all the way at the bottom of this blog...10.6 pounds lost and 57 to go. I'm going to be happy when I at least get this 34lbs off. A few more weeks, maybe?

Day 8 VLCD6 and...

I feel MUCH better today! I think it had to do with I added another drop to my dosage and I was getting over my physical addiciton and crankiness. I think it's kicking in today!

Woke up to 218.4# which is a 1.2 # loss since yesterday! Hurray! Also today is measurement day (I'm doing it every week on Thursday since I started on Thursday) and it's as follows:
W: 44in B: 43in Hips: 45in No change in my arms and legs yet, though they feel a bit different. That's 2in off my waist, 4inch off my bust, and none from my hips yet. Can you tell I need to lose it more in my tummy and boobs? However, I feel good about this now. I was skeptical and yesterday was a trying day but it seemed to really pay off after only 1 week of hard work.

If it's hard then it's worth it! That phrase has gotten me through a lot of tough times in my past. I can do this because it's hard and rewarding in the end!



Last night I was so grumpy about food, while I sipped my chamomile tea and watched So You Think You Can Dance for 2 hours I kept track of every single food commercial. Neurotic, I know, but I was also curious as to the brainwashing, errr advertising we get constantly.

Wendy's x3
Can't Believe It's Not Butter
Kit Kat x2
Olive Garden x2
Subway
McDonald's x3
Magnum Ice Cream x2
Red Lobster
Reeses's PB cups minis
Taco Bell
Jello
Chili's
Panera Bread
And even 2 non food commercials LOADED with close ups of food to tempt me: LG Appliances and Charter One Bank


It's interesting, isn't it? In 2 hours I was bombarded with poor food choices on tv and if I wasn't conscious of my food decisions (okay, desperately craving bad foods!) then I wouldn't have noticed the advertising and brainwashing being done.
All of these foods are not good for you. Either high in fat, sugar, processed foods, man-made ingredients, and not healthy foods, at least, that's not what they are advertising directly!

I loved Subway's the best because they are making you believe you are making a healthy choice by adding avocado to their menu. *snorts* Sure, you can go in there and get a salad with all of their..."fresh" vegetables that come from a bag or jar, (I know this because I've had friends that work at Subway and won't eat there ever again!) and don't get me started on their processed meats! Twist the truth anyway you want, Subway, but I don't buy it and I won't again! Remember that whole Jared thing? Yeah, I loved that. Get one guy in a billion to say he lost weight losing their food and make him your spokes person and instant star overnight! Oh, he's a real person, he did it eating Subway, now you can, too! But the normal person goes in, buys a whole sub, cookies, chips, and a fountain drink and don't do the low fat choice. Why would they? That would be HARD to make that decision alone when you are bombarded by advertising to eat more than you need every day!
And it's not just Subway. Wendy's was advertising their Berry Almond Chicken Salad which has 450 calories, 16g of fat, 42 carbs, 30 sugars, but high in vitamin C, A and protein. Sure, it might be a healthier choice, but then you have to add the human factor into it. Maybe I'm paranoid, or getting more paranoid, but it's hard for me to trust fast food workers anymore. (A friend of mine found a piece of chewed gum in her salad from a well known fast food place. Will not say where!)

I honestly now prefer to make and prepare my own food. That way I know what I'm getting into my body and making a better choice for myself instead of someone making it for me.

Speaking of which, I had a great breakfast of sliced apples that tasted like apple pie!
I combined the juice of 1/2 lemon, a capful of ACV, a small dash of imitation vanilla, a dash of stevia, some cinnamon and nutmeg, and put it in the microwave for 20 seconds. Then I coated the apples in the mixture, then poured the rest on top of the plate and nuked it again for another 30 seconds. SO GOOD I can't even tell you! Just try it yourself.

I also needed to up my coffee since I like coffee with my creamer, not vice versa.
I added 1 TBS of cocoa powder, a dash of vanilla, 1 TBS of our allotted milk, and stevia and mixed it together with my coffee! MUCH better. Like a mocha which I really needed today. Going to make lunch in a bit and I'm not hungry! YES!

Today is a better day. :D

Day 2 eating VLC

..Very Low Cal. I'm learning the lingo and abbreviations used in some of the HCG forums!

So yeah. Last night after I wrote my update I started getting a massive headache. Right behind the eyes and I thought, great, here we go! I'm guessing it's the stress on my body with the drops and the food because I woke up to...223.6#! Holy crap in a basket! That's like 4 lbs in a day!

Meh, I'm not THAT excited yet. I'll be really excited to see my measurements next Thursday. I decided to do measurements once a week to see some results but happy to see the scale drop for once. We'll see.


I had the breadstick for the snack and drank some chamomile tea with Stevia to try to get rid of my headache. I decided to take a hot bath with sea salt to help pull out some toxins and that seemed to help slightly. I just felt off and fog headed. Still kinda foggy headed, though. I guess I didn't load well. :/ Next round on my load day I am chugging that freaking heavy cream!

I went to bed and was woken up after 2 hrs sleep by the boy...a fight ensued, it was ugly, and I went back to bed with my head still pounding. I got enough sleep to wake up to the 4 lb loss and so far today no headache, but it feels like it might come on or it's about to.

I had my breakfast of an orange and coffee again and lunch was a shrimp salad with romaine lettuce and a dressing of white vinegar, lemon juice, S&P, and garlic powder. With the damn breadstick on the side.

It was okay but not as filling as yesterday's meals. It wasn't as tasty either. I got the shrimp for this week but I don't think I want to do a salad again soon. I need more substance, I think.

Also, something to note, I have had to pee about every 30 min or so today. Drinking lots of green tea and I feel like a race horse! Good thing I got tp at the store this week, but trying to conserve as I'm using more than usual.

Then I've been doing my usual research on some HCG forums and discovered what people call "Cocoa Crack" which is cocoa powder and coconut oil and other ingredients. It's not P2 protocol with the oil, but one girl swears it helps get her out of her stalls. I'll get some if needed but what I did see were cocoa powder ideas and suddenly I wanted chocolate!

I jotted one recipe down and ran to my cupboard. Good thing I have cocoa powder! I tried to make it with Stevia and just not to my tastes so I used Splenda instead. Even though Splenda's not good for you, in small moderate doses like today, it's going to be fine.

So here's what I made:
3 TBS of cocoa powder
1 TBS (ish. I went by taste) of vanilla extract
1 packet of Splenda
3.5 TBS of water
a pinch of kosher salt
Mixed all in a glass bowl

Put this in the microwave on high for about 20-25 secs until it started bubbling. Then pulled it out and stirred until smooth.

HOLY YUM, Batman! I was like, I can have this? For Reals???
So for my fruit snack, I dipped my strawberries...nay, let them BATHE in the chocolate sauce and devoured each piece of fruit with ravenous delight! Yes, finally, I can get down with this! Though, I will not use it every day, it really made me feel much better today. I hope I still get the dramatic loss tomorrow. *crosses fingers* I can still taste the chocolate on my lips. Mmmm I will be keeping this recipe close!

Tonight will be chicken and asparagus which is already marinating in ACV (apple cider vinegar) with cumin and the usual S&P. I miss my EVOO and butter to cook stuff in. I'm looking forward to P3 so I can basically do the Atkins thing again. I am also craving mashed cauliflower which is like mashed potatoes but just as good.

I also realized today that I'm a bit hungry, but it's been more mental hunger than anything. I've caught myself in my head a few times going, Oh, I want Taco Bell. And I could just go into the fridge and eat some eggs and cheese, no big deal.
But it is a big deal! These thoughts feel just like the same thoughts I had when I kicked the smoking habit! The exact same! I would be in a situation like getting into my car and think, Oh, I need to light one up while a drive. It's the same nagging and pulling in my head like smoking. It's the food addiction, I know it. I talked to the boy about this and he said I would always complain I was "hungry" as soon as I got into the car. It makes a lot of sense. So I figured if I can kick the smoking habit, I can kick the food habit. It takes one solid week to get over the cravings then one more week to push the thoughts out of my head completely. I can do that, again. I know what to expect this time.

Maybe this is why people complain about being hungry all the time? Is it physical or is it mental? A lot of people complain in the first week. I would have to say, from my experience, this has got to be mental as you are kicking the food habit.


Have to run off to the bathroom again. Wow, I can't even type a little without getting up to go pee! I wonder what this week will be like?