The Results....

Let me say, I had absolutely NO INTENTION of sharing my before pictures AT ALL.
I've been really reluctant to post my B&A's. I really appreciate those who have done it to motivate me, so I will pass it on. I hope others will do the same!

My goal was to get down to 125, I almost made it. I think my body was just done. My training starts back up in a few weeks, hopefully I can get down a few more pounds and firm up more then.

Before starting hhcg, I felt trapped my my fat body. I didn't look or feel like a personal trainer, a marathoner or a triathlete. I certainly didn't look like I worked out 1-2 hrs a day, 6 days a week, and I didn't look like I ate a clean diet either. I was miserable and felt hopeless and a victim to hypothyroidism. I am SOOO glad I tried the diet despite my reservations!

For those who are skeptical of the homeopathic drops. Let me just say, they work just as well, if not better (no immunity) as the RX. If they didn't work, I would have starved myself and lost muscle. Instead, it looks like I gained muscle in some areas! Finally after all the hard work, I can see muscle!

My Stats:
Before Size: 10/12
After: 4/6

Weight: 151 (preload, 153 postload)
LDW: 128.6

Inches Lost:
Chest 3 1/2
Waist 4 1/2
Stomach 3 1/2
Hips 3 1/2
Thigh 2 3/4

BF% -
-7% from "Obese" to "Athletic"

P3 + Camping = Disaster

P3 Weekend Re-Cap

P3 + Camping = Disaster

I don't know what got into me, but I had no self control. I had some chips, then had 2 smores. We couldn't have a bonfire to cook our meals since there was a burn ban in effect, so we went to a Pizza place which was near by.
The salad bar was terrible, the only protein was egg yokes. UGH YUCK. I knew lettuce wasn't going to fill me up. I have never taken toppings off a pizza and just ate that. But I had already had chips and didn't want to make it worse. So I picked off the toppings and it wasn't half bad. I guess when you're hungry anything is good. I didn't drink water all weekend though because I didn't want to be up all night going to the bathroom!

I was afraid to weigh myself Monday, and wasn't planning on it, but I did and was pleasantly surprised I was only 1 lb over my window. Actually, I'm giving myself a 3 lb window, so I was still in MY window, just not Simeons. :) I wanted to get down since I just started P3, so I did a steak day on Monday. Actually it was a modified steak day. I was starving when I woke up and by noon, really grumpy, so I had 2 eggs for lunch and ended up having 3 coffees throughout the day to fill me up.

I love steak days. Hubby grilled an amazing steak! I get left overs today. I'm sure it won't be quite as good, but that's okay.

10/15 - LDW - 128.6
10/18 - Camping Fiasco - 131.4 +2.8
10/19 -129.8 - 1.6

My goal today is to drink lots of water to make up for the weekend and eat clean. No cheese, or minute muffins, or cream cheese muffins. :( LOVE those muffins!

Today's Menu

Bfast - Coffee, Eggs w/tomatoes & grn chilis, and spinach
Lunch - Steak & Salad
Snack - Hard boiled Eggs
Dinner - Steak & Salad

My head is definately back where it should be, I just really hope that I didn't mess up resetting my hypothalamus. Grrrrrrrrr.

No Dosing D1 128.4 -.2

I'm DONE!!

Only down .2 today. after being the same weight for a week until my steak day, I think my body it telling me it's done.
Perfect timing however, because I just found out my training group starts in 3 weeks and I have to be off P3 by then, so I guess it all works out. I am sooo excited to see how losing 23 lbs improves my run time! That is like running with 2 (11.5 lbs dumbells - if they came in those weights )

I'm a little disappointed I didn't get to 125 because that was my goal, but I think my DH might just be right that my tummy is extra skin from pregnancies, not fat.

I'm thrilled I went from a 12 to a size 4 and lost 23 lbs. Woot! Never thought I'd be under 135 and a size 4!

I also lost inches.

Chest 3 1/2
Waist 4 1/2
Stomach 3 1/2
Hips 3 1/2
Thigh 2 3/4

So, a tad disappointed? Yes, but I'm calling goal!
I may get brave and post B&A pics....still deciding!!

R2D17 VLCD 128.6 -1.4

Hallelujah! FINALLY a release after 6 days!

I went down from 130.0 to 128.6. With a 1.4 release. Whew! that was hard work!
I hope I continue releasing until next week so I can get to goal. At least I have something to carry me forward now.

B-fast - Latte
Lunch - Hamburger w/Tomato & Grapefruit
Dinner - Franks Chicken & Cucumber
Dessert - Chocolate-Strawberry Sorbet

R2D16 VLCD 130.0 -.6

OMG! I can't believe it! STILL 130. I'm at a TRUE stall. :(
(5 days or more at the same weight according to Simeons.) I went out and bought a couple steaks to jump start anyway, never thought I'd really still be at 130. I'm thinking I am either staying here because my body just doesn't want to release more fat, or because I've been at this weight before LONG ago for years and it's a set point. When I got to 138, I experienced the same thing.

I'm going to press on and press forward. My stubbornness is now kicking in and I'm slowly getting my mind back in the game so I can finish out my week strong and lose the last 5 lbs. My friend just finished an Ironman. 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a marathon. Yes, 26.2 mile run. I'm thinking this diet is nothing compared to the mental toughness of that so I'm sticking it through.

Menu Today

Throughout the day - Coffee -Water - Faux Sprite
Dinner - 4:30 Nice Big Grilled Steak & Apple

Dinner is early because of football games again tonight.

I made cocoa crack (I prefer to call them cocoa drops!) yesterday as a snack and didn't even need to have my fruit because it really took care of my sweet tooth!
It tasted like a fudgecycle! YUMM! Really filling too.

I don't watch much TV anymore because it puts subliminal messages in my head that I need to eat. I know that sounds crazy but it does. Have you noticed every commercial is about food? Nearly every show has food on it too. So, I just don't watch it anymore. Don't have much time for it anyway.
I really wanted to relax the other night and watch a movie though. I rented "No Reservations" Cute movie, but the main characters are Chefs! So of course the whole movie had food in it. Tough to watch.

R2D15 VLCD 130.6 +.8

Yesterday I was 130.0. I thought for sure I'd be in a new decade today. But nope, I went up. 130.6.

I wouldn't be so mad if my head was in the game, but it left about a week ago and each and every day has been such a struggle to stay on protocol with our social calendar. This week is even worse as far as that goes and camping with Scouts this weekend.

I had a dream last night I "cheated" and decided, to heck with it and move on to P3!
I'm taking it hour by hour seriously. I am happy with the size clothes I'm in, I had to get a belt today because my 6's are sagging on me. BUT I still have more to lose in my darn stomach and I'd like some wiggle room for P3.

I guess I'll see what the scale says tomorrow. Part of me thinks I could just move on and lose it in P4, but part of me just wants to get it over with and not go above 130 in P3. Part of me is scared to death I won't be able to lose it and this is my chance.

But with TOM looming, my schedule and incredible munchies & cravings.......

Today's Wonderful Menu (Insert Sarcasm Here )

B-fast - Hot Chai Tea
Lunch - Eggs, w/Spinach and Diced Tomatoes (the Mexican seasoning ones I use in the Taco Soup. It was actually really good) No fruit since I counted the tomato as a fruit. Grissini
Snack - Latte (P2 friendly)
Dinner - Sliders, Grapefruit, & Grissini

I am SO over this!

R2D14 VLCD 130.0 -.8

SO close to a new decade!! Tomorrow is the day!
Two weeks down, 1 to go and it can not happen soon enough! My schedule is so busy and I'm so tired of making all my meals in the morning and eating my meals in the car while everyone else eats yummy food. Yesterday, I watched them eat donuts and kolaches, which normally doesn't tempt me, but I was STARVING.
Today we went for a drive to the country and stopped at the best BBQ in TX. Oh man! It was sooo tempting. I sat in the car and ate my taco soup.
This week, more football games and practice, girls night out, and camping. UGHHH.

B-fast - Coffee
Lunch - Taco Soup, Grissini and Apple
Dinner - Grilled Chicken & Spinach
Dessert - Strawberry Chocolate Sorbet (My new favorite "cheat")

R2D13 VLCD 130.8 -.8

Okay, somewhere, some how I miss counted my days. I'm on day 13 today. Oh, there it is, I had two "Day 6".

Down .8 which is nice from my salad mishap yesterday but it seems it shows up 2 days after, so we will see what tomorrow show. But I am encouraged that I weighed way earlier than normal because of an early game, and I still had a loss. :)

Last night the party went well. I cooked my soup ahead of time and ate it before going in. It worked fine because it was nice and filling. I stayed away from the food table and socialized instead of ate.

B-fast - Coffee

Lunch - Hamburger patty topped with tomatoes & 1/2 Apple and a Grissini

Dinner - Grilled Chicken, Grissini & Spinach

Dessert - Chocolate Strawberry Slushee

R2D11 VLCD 131.6 +.8

So, I went up .8 today. A late reaction to my girls night. So that evens out to a .4 gain since I lost yesterday. It's really not too bad. I thought it would be way worse, so I'm not going to stress about it.

I am totally clean from here on out. It won't be easy though. I have lunch with a girlfriend today, a party tonight, we might be going out of town for the weekend and next week is girls night out and camping over the weekend.
Can P3 please come any faster!!! UGHH!!!

I'm so tempted to just be done and lose the last few lbs when I start training. I'm hoping I will have correctly reset my metabolism and lose a few then. Knowing I can not dose anymore is soooo tempting!

B-fast -Coffee

Lunch - Salad w/Chicken Breast

Dinner - Taco Soup & 1/2 apple

OMG, lunch was a disaster. A friend wanted to meet up that I haven't seen in 2 months since I'm not running anymore, so I couldn't turn down lunch. I thought Cafe Express would be the safest place and I checked the menu online before I went to figure out what I would order.

I ordered the Grilled Chicken salad and had them leave off the croutons, pecans, and bacon crumble (all the best stuff!) and no dressing. So, my order comes up and it's all on there. So I have them take it back and re do it. It comes out and they took everything off but the cheese. Grrr. I didn't realize cheese was on it, but my friend had an appt afterward and it was busy, so I just took the salad. So, another set back.

I have 10 days left to eat clean and pray to get to goal. Even if I don't get to 125, I will stop dosing, because I have to start training for a big race in the Spring. So Hopefully I will reach goal!

R2D10 VLCD 130.8 -.2

I had a blast! Oh my gosh, it was so great to be with friends and relax and laugh, and laugh and laugh. Wonderful therapy! Life is good. So what ever the scale said today was going to be worth it!

I did want to try to be as good as possible. I ordered Chicken breast and a salad and didn't realize, they put shredded cheese in it. No way to pick that out, so I didn't worry about it. I poured salsa on it for dressing. Mmmm yummy.

I had a few chips and a glass of red wine. It was really good, but I really enjoyed the company and relaxing and forgetting about everything.

So I weighed a little late today which is usually quite disasterous for me. I was scared to get on the scale. BUT I went down .2 I'm 130.8 So close to a new decade!

I don't know if it will catch up with me tomorrow or not. I was ready for eggs today, but think I will just eat super clean and no fruit or Grissini.

B-fast - Coffee

Lunch - Taco Soup (I'm addicted!)

Dinner - Franks Chicken & Asparagus

No fruit/NoGrissini/TONS of water

UPDATE:

My Meals totally changed today! I looked up at the clock to decide when to start lunch and realized I was supposed to leave for an appt in 15 min. That wasn't going to work with my lunch since my beef still wasn't defrosted for my soup. So I made 1 egg and 3 whites and scrambled it with the Mexican spiced tomatoes I had left over from my soup. 1/4 of a cup. It was really good.

Dinner was the beef in chicken broth seasoned with Tony Chacheres. It was a bit salty and I feel bloated. I have tried to drink a ton of water today.
I'm a little nervous about the scale tomorrow. I did also have 3 coffees to get through my day which was about 5 T of Milk! EEEks! I had such a long busy day which started early and ended at 9 PM. The coffee was the only thing that got me through it. Thursdays are tough!

R2D9 VLCD 131.0 -.8

I didn't feel like I had lost anything when I woke up this morning. I really didn't want to weigh. So I was pleasantly surprised to see the scale go down .8!

Thank goodness the last few days have been bigger losses!

I'm going out with the girls tonight. I haven't been out with them in about 2 months and after my couple of very stressful weeks, I am ready to go out and relieve some stress! I know I won't be 100% protocol. I'm okay with that. I'm just 6 lbs from goal. The last thing I need right now is to see everyone eating all the food I want and stressing about what I can't have.

So I'm thinking I will order chicken and lettuce and maybe have a glass of wine. Not really overboard, but enough to allow me to enjoy myself and my company.

We shall see what the scale says tomorrow!

B-fast - Pumkin Spice Latte

Lunch - Taco Soup - Same I had last night. Just as yummy. My new favorite recipe! I didn't have any fruit or grissini since I'm going out tonight. I counted the tomato as my veggie.

Dinner - I'm thinking chicken/lettuce and 1 glass of wine

R2D8 VLCD 131.8 -.8

My scale is crazy! OR maybe it's my body....yeah, I'm thinkin' it's my body!

I weighed this am and only .2 release. :( Got on the scale just 45 minutes later at my normal time and .8 release! Now if I were to weigh any later, I'd see an increase. Gotta weigh in that sweet spot time frame. I wish it was earlier though, it really messes with my schedule!

Anyway.....only 1.8 lbs from my second goal (my first being 135) which I never thought was achievable and 6.8 lbs from my total dream goal.

I had an extra coffee last night because I wanted a desert. So I actually had 3 extra T of milk! () I got a .8 loss today and have been getting only .4 and .6.

I CHEATED!!!

Not really, but it felt like it! My dinner tonight was really yummy, filling and satisfying! I hope it doesn't effect me bad because I'd really like to have it again!

B-fast - Coffee

Lunch - Chicken w/franks & Spinach, Strawberries

Dinner - Mexican Soup & Grissini

Dessert - Apple Pie & Hot Tea

Mexican Soup - I cooked my 3.5 ounces of ground beef, drained it, and wiped the pan clean so there is no fat, then added the cooked ground beef, and 1/2 cup of diced tomato from a can of "Diced Tomatoes Mexican Style" The ingredients are just vinegar, and peppers. Then add low sodium organic chicken broth to desired consistency.

Dessert - Dice Apple and pour Davinci's Caramel over it, sprinkle with cinnamon. Microwave for a min or more until apples are soft. You can crunch grissini over it as a crunchy topping, I preferred to have it with my soup though.

This was soooo yummy! I felt like I cheated major. I poured the leftover caramel/cinnamon mixture in my hot tea. YUMMM!

R2D7 VLCD 132.6 -.6

I'm happy to be at a new number! Yay! Closer to 130.

Today was a really easy day, no temptation and no hunger. The day went by really fast. I'm hoping the rest of my week does as well!

Bfast - Coffee

Lunch - Mahi Mahi & Spinach, 1/2 apple, 1 Grissini

Dinner - Sliders, Strawberries

Dessert - Coffee -Yep went over on 2 T of milk. I wonder if it will make a difference. I'm being a little more bold in trying things. 1 xtra T of milk didn't change my losses, I wonder if a couple extra will. :0

I did stay away from Splenda for a few days thinking that was why my losses were small. But that hasn't changed it at all. So I had Davinchi's caramel in my coffee. YUM!

R2D6 VLCD 133.2 - .4

Yesterday was a hard day. I had just been saying how this week has gone by fast and how easy it has been. Well yesterday was hard. It was a long, busy day, emotional and stressful. Kids will do that to ya.

I'm an emotional eater. I may not gorge myself, but I do eat when I'm overwhelmed and stressed. So watching the boys eat donuts, pizza & popcorn (football games all day, so it was junk food city) was HARD. I caught myself sabotaging my efforts.....

"You're almost to your goal, what is a slice of pizza going to hurt."
"The worst that could happen is you gain a few pounds, a few days back on track will get rid of it."

I'm so glad I didn't give in. I am so close and so ready to be back to P3, I want this done as fast as possible!

I really wish my scale would recognize my efforts. Unfortunately it did not. Never seems to.
.4 feels like barely a passing grade. Oh well, on a positive note, I do feel great and I can tell I'm losing inches. A pair of shorts that were tight on vacation fit very comfortably now straight out of the dryer!

Bfast - Latte

Lunch - Omelet (1 egg, 3 whites, spinach and garlic salt seasoning) 1/2 Grapefruit with xylitol

Dinner - Chicken w/Braggs and asparagus

R2D6 VLCD 133.6 (-.6)

I had to weigh about an hour earlier today, but was down .6.

I weighed a few hours later and I was up almost 3 lbs! That is why I stick with the same time! Try to anyway, sometimes my schedule gets in the way. :laugh:
Yesterday I did end up losing a solid .2 more when I weighed 30 min later. :stars:

Tomorrow I should be able to weigh at the normal time.
Cycling has sure increased my losses, but I just compared my post load losses this week (1st week of this cycle) with my very first week on Protocol and I'm losing 1/2! First week, I had lost 6 lbs, this week, I've only lost 3! :eek: :cry:

I'm really hoping I don't have to go beyond 23 days on this cycle. :aprayer:
Thankfully this week has gone by so fast and it's been pretty easy!

I haven't been posting my food because frankly, it is always the same thing! Boring, boring boring. Always the same calories.

Today I did have something different and it was delish. Here's todays menu.

Bfast-
Coffee w/ Stevia

Lunch - Mahi Mahi, Asparagus, 1/4 Apple and Grasinni

Dinner - Hamburger patty w/ Tomato and Strawberries

One thing I have noticed is that I have a bigger sweet tooth than usual. I didn't the last cycle at all and I suspect that the bit of Splenda I have been having is causing it and may be the reason I am not losing as fast as the first cycle. We will see how it goes without.

R2D5 VLCD 134.2 - .4

I can't believe it's already day 5! Praise God for this week going fast! Yesterday I was a little hungry, but I woke up in the morning a few hrs earlier than normal, and we were so busy my meals were off. I was gone from 9 AM until 9 PM UGH! Long day, I was hoping the running around all day, (literally, was racing from place to place) would help with the losses. Not so much!

I'm only down .2 today, but I'm going to weigh in a little bit at my usual time and see if it changes. I hope!! (edited to add, yes it did indeed go down .2! I stepped on the scale several times, it went even lower than that, but 134.2 was consistent, so I'm going with it. I don't know who is keeping with the clock my scale or my body, but it is quite annoying since I'm waking up earlier!)

Hubby is doing better, he only lost 1 lb yesterday, took all his supplements and we increased his protein. It all has seemed to help. Let me tell you, he is HATING this diet!! He said it is harder than Army bootcamp! He has NEVER dieted though and never deprived himself of any food.
He's never had to. He has a stellar metabolism and works out for a week and builds amazing muscles. If it weren't for hoping to help his back, he wouldn't be doing it. Anyway, aside from hating it, he's doing good. I'm glad he finally know what it feel like to diet and knows the misery I have been feeling for oh, about 22 years!