Day 17 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 186.2
Yesterday: 173.0
Today: 174.0
+1 lb. GAIN Overnight
12.2 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
0.72 Avg Daily release

Well... there it is, my first gain with no deviations yesterday. I didn't get quite as much water as usual, but it was a good VLCD day for me. Oh yeah & I bought a new Weight Watchers scale yesterday. My scale is WAY off and I'm trying to decide what to do. I think I weigh about 4 lbs less than it's been showing. I'm trying to decide what to do about that. For now, I'll go by the old scale and record the new scale's readings as well then take the average and adjust my recorded weights. The new one says I'm 169.2 today... I sure do like that number, but I still gained a pound. Anyway, here's what I ate yesterday.

B: coffee with 1/2 & 1/2
L: Strawberries, grilled chicken over romaine with mustard dressing (thanks biz, good stuff)
D: Grilled chicken with boiled cabbage & an apple
about 1.5 liters of water plus 2 cups of tea and 2 cups of black coffee

I gained but nothing can steal my joy today. Yesterday was a roller coaster for me. I didn't get to read blogs in the morning because I needed to get to work earlier so I could leave and get DH to his post opp doctor's appointment. This is where we would find out if he should go back to work. We found out that he needs to stay out for another 2 weeks. Not really a big deal, but then we realized that if he can't go to work, we shouldn't go on our planned trip to Atlantic City next weekend. When I started this round, I planned a mini break for that weekend so I could eat at some really great restaurants while I was there, off of hcg. So yesterday I was trying to decide what to do about that & grappling with the realization that my birthday and superbowl party are this weekend. Those where originally going to be my load days, but I decided to start early. I figured that I could get through this weekend without deviating from the VLCD because I had next weekend to look forward to, but now that's not there as my "carrot on a stick" anymore. What to do?

Well, when I finally got back to my computer last night, I read an email from biz & I hope you don't mind that I post this, but here is part of that email:

---

Remember my post on special occasions and working through them on the
protocol? Remember my point was better that you LOSE a week of losses by
going off for three days, having your special occasion, then going right back
INTO it, then to risk the deviation WHILE ON HCG.

Deviating while on HCG is disastrous. Going off, maintaining for a few days, is much easier then deviating and then stalling for a week, at least in my book.

I know you don't have 21 days under your belt, but girl, you are so close! I have now witnessed people have a "mini" break even before their 21 effective doses and have come out the other side with success. All they lost is around 4 - 7 days, depending on the amount of break they took.

PLEASE KNOW THIS, I am NOT encouraging you to go off plan. If you KNOW you can stay on plan during these two IMPORTANT occasions, then please do! More power to you (you are a stronger person than I) - but if there is just one iota that you might cave? Then stop injections tomorrow, do your three days, have fun at the Super Bowl Party and the B-Day gig, and go RIGHT BACK ON VLCD the next day. Don't eat sweets, keep to STRICT ATKINS stuff (I can even tell you how to make some KILLER sweets Atkins style) and all you have lost is about 5 days.

Again, PLEASE KNOW I want you to succeed, that is why I am being honest here. I have planned each and every one of my rounds around events, because I am just not willing to risk it. I feel strong, and I have had great success, but something this big and this special, well it deserves a closer look.

---

Thanks for that biz. I can not tell you how much it meant to me to see that email from you. To know that you were concerned enough about my success to take that time means alot. I actually got a little emotional over it. You're like a rock star on this protocol.

After that email I had decided to do a mini break this weekend. Then I talked to DH about it & all my concerns surrounding it. He has been my diet police on this plan so far. I mentioned that on a comment to biz's blog yesterday. He told me that this weekend doesn't have to be defined by food, and that we could just alter our plans.

Here's what we are going to do:

1. We're still having people over, but I'm not cooking anything. No hot wings or potato salad... nothing!
2. On saturday I'm going to get my hair and nails done at a salon for a little mini pampering session.
3. On sunday they are going to order pizza & I'll either order steamed chicken & broccolli from a chinese food place, or just make something for myself like I have been all football season. I have no problem resisiting pizza.
4. I'll still take my planned break NEXT weekend & we're going to celebrate my birthday by going to my favorite seafood restaurant and a movie with my best friend... buttered popcorn!

He actually called all his friends last night to let them know we weren't serving food. Ok... how great is it that my husband & life long Die Hard Giants fan is willing to forgo hot wings & artichoke dip on superbowl sunday for his wife.... HUH? I know... I know... dont't be jealous.... HAHAHA.

So... like I said, I gained a pound, but NOTHING can steal my joy today.

In response to yesterday's comments.
smacmo - You are so right! Thanks for pointing that out. It's nice to have someone with similar stuff going on. That's one of the reasons I was drawn to your blog. We're in a similar place right now. Good luck to you and I'm glad the scale is on the way back down now.

maryg911 - No more test... It's going to be like any other football season sunday now. I'm going to enjoy cutting loose with my friends and making a big deal out of company and not food.

ed & jennifer - Thanks girl. My spirits are just fine today. I feel like I have new wind in my sails. I certainly don't feel like I normally would after seeing a gain. I can't stop smiling!

becca - Yup...that's what I'm going to do. I've seen others go up and down and come out ok on the other side. It sure is good to know where to find information. I don't know what I'd do without all the blogs and the message boards. I couldn't do this alone. I understand why others that did got so frustrated and disappointed, but I know what to expect and how to handle it now. That's invaluable & BTW... OMG! your pics look amazing. I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, but WOW!

Have a great day everyone & thanks again for reading all my ramblings.

Day 16 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 186.2
Yesterday: 173.0
Today: 173.0
0 lb. Released Overnight
13.2 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
0.83 Avg Daily release

AARRRRRRGH!!! This stair stepping thing BLOWS! ok... there. That's out. Is it a stall or is it the long term effects of sugar 3 days ago? Hard to tell without a gain. Plus this is a set weight for me as well, so I know it'll be hard to beat. Well it certainly wasn't yesterday's menu. Here's what I ate:

B: Yerba Mate tea with stevia
L: grilled chicken with essence & sauted garlic spinach. Strawberries
D: shrimp with essence & sauted spinach. 1/2 grapefruit.
S: 2 melba rounds. Stevia lemonade.
3+ liter of water

Well, today is my first 125 injection as apposed to 175. I guess I really won't see a difference today because yesterday's dose is still in my system. I'll just see what happens. I do know one thing though. I definately need a new scale. Mine seems to be dieing. I have to get on it 2-3 times in the morning because the 1st weight is usually whatever it was the last time I got on it. I guess it's got some kinda memory problem.... so, off to get a weight watchers scale. I hear they're the best.

Ok... last week, I only lost 2.6 lbs all week. This week has GOT to be better than that. I say "only" but in the WW world, I would have been jumpting up and down. What has happened to my brain?

It's going to be a difficult temptation weekend for me. The dreaded superbowl party is sunday and my birthday is on saturday (groundhog's day). I have a plan, but it'll just come down to shear willpower really. Luckily the party is at my own house so I have control over what's here. Originally I was going to use this weekend as my load because of my birthday and this party, but I just couldn't stand all that extra weight anymore so I started earlier. The way I was going, I would have probably been another 5 lbs heavier than my starting weight by now. Losing over 13 lbs is a great gift to myself.

In response to yesterday's comments.

Biz - I've learned my lesson. No more sugar for me.

Ed & Jennifer - I am DEFINATELY making some of those brownies as soon as I can eat some sugar. I got the recipe from her so I didn't have to be tormented that I was missing an opportunity.

Day 15 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 186.2
Yesterday: 173.2
Today: 173.0
0.2 lb. Released Overnight
13.2 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
0.88 Avg Daily loss

ok... I'm happy about that. I'm probably still paying for my brunch, but I'm still losing. That's a great thing. I really thought I would see a gain today. I had 539 calories yesterday too because I had chicken and beef in the same day. Normally I have fish on the day I eat beef to balance out the calories, so I didn't eat my 2nd fruit, but I was still over. Not hungry though. I still think THAT's pretty amazing.

Here's what I ate yesterday:
B: nothing
L: grilled chicken, sauted chard, an apple
D: steak & carmelized onions with bragg's amino acids, essence & water(this was great, thanks Jennifer!)

Ok... I've been wanting sugary stuff since yesterday. Could that be because I had my first sugar in 2 weeks at the brunch the other day? I've heard that sugar makes your body want more sugar. Someone offered me a brownie yesterday and I really came very close to eating it, where before, it was pretty easy to turn things down. Well... it was gooey & she had baked it with a hershey bar in the middle. That might have been why it was so tempting too... LOL!

I'm going to try to have a low salt, high water intake day today. I'm due for a big loss & I don't want any hinderances. Well, that's all I've got today.

In response to yesterday's comments:

Biz - Thanks, it was hard. The brunch was at an expensive hotel with a view of the baltimore harbor so the food was probably great. I calculated my calories for that day and they were only 418, so maybe that's why I didn't gain. and about my friends... you know, I look alot different in my clothes than without them. My friends probably have no idea that I have back fat! & I hold my stomach in everywhere I go... always have, so I can understand their reaction to me losing any weight, cus I already wear a size 10.

lili - Welcome lili. Thanks for stopping by. After I wash my hair, I towel dry it and heat up the oil in the microwave in a shot glass for about 30 seconds. I pour in over my hair while it's still wet. I put a plastic cap on my head and sit under a hooded dryer for about 20 minutes. Then I rinse out the excess oil without shampoo because my hair is very dry and needs the oil.

maryg911 - oh boy was that a dosey. 40 bucks! I try not to think about it, but I used to spend that on weight watchers every month and that turned out to be a waste of time and money, so I put it all in perspective.
People think they're giving you a compliment when they say you don't need to lose any more weight. I let it go in one ear and out the other now. I know what my limits are.

cb9094 - Hi... welcome to my blog. That's exactly what I'm going to do today... water water water.

Ed & Jennifer - Since ed's adding his postings now, I'd better start saying hi :) I will probably only notice a difference in pics when my rolls are gone. Interesting how we look at our own bodies.
Those indulgences were GOOD too :) They certainly were worth it.

becca - Evil evil buffets. I can't tell you how happy I am to not have gained over that.

Thanks everybody for checking on me every day. You guys are with me all day long. I think to myself, "If I cheat, I'll have to post it and answer to them." Thanks for keeping me on track.

Day 14 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 186.2
Yesterday: 173.2
Today: 173.2
0 lb. Released Overnight
13 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
0.92 Avg Daily loss
6.98% body fat lost to date

I updated my loss. I had .8 up there but it's really 0. Oops...
I guess that's the results of my brunch day. I didn't gain and I really thought I would. Here's what I ate there:

About 2 scrambled eggs made with butter, 4 large steamed shrimp with cocktail sauce, 5 strawberries, about 1 tablespoon creme brulee, bite of a brownie, bite of peanut butter cookie, bite ok key lime pie, 1 cup of coffee with splenda and cream & 1 cup of tea with splenda and lemon. No other food for the rest of the day. 3 liters of water.

Ok, so I think I did pretty well at the brunch considering. There was an incredible breakfast and lunch buffet spread and it cost me $40 bucks. Normally I would eat until I was completely stuffed to get my money's worth. This time I tried to focus on the fact that it was a birthday celebration for my friend, and I was spending money to be there with her. Pulling out all that dough for basically 2 eggs and some shrimp and strawberries nearly drove me insane though! That's probably why I caved on the small amount of desserts, plus the girls kept pushing them on me. I got the whole bit "You're thin enough already", "We like you more with a little meat on your bones".... They think they're helping & I love them for it, but they're really not. So all things considered, I'm proud of the way I handled it. I did make a note to go back there on my next load though :-). Oh yeah, one more thing, yesterday was my skip day and I wasn't hungry at all for the rest of the day. hcg is amazing stuff.

Now, about those pictures yesterday. Everyone seems to see a difference but me. I can feel my clothes fitting differently & I see the inches gone on the chart, but I just don't see it in the pictures. When I see other people's pics, I always see a difference, but not my own. I guess that happens with everyone. My friends even noticed yesterday, and I was wearing a blazer!

Well, I'm going to eat very basic food today. I'd love to see a loss tomorrow.

In response to yesterday's comments:

maryg911 - I think I did ok. It could have been alot worse & in the past it has.

jennifer - I really did enjoy those bites of desserts that I had & I felt pretty good about not eating the whole thing.

Biz - Now I know what you meant by not being able to see a difference in your own pictures. Now that you mention it, my bra IS fitting differently though. I'm sure I will actually SEE it in another 2 weeks. Thanks for the specific observations. It makes me look closer.

becca - Thanks so much. That's great to hear (read). I really feel great right now & those measurements are a real incentive to keep it going.

Have a great day everybody!

Day 13 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 186.2
Yesterday: 174
Today: 173.2
0.8 lb. Released Overnight
13 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
1.0 Avg Daily loss
6.98% body fat lost to date

Losses 2 days in a row. Love it, love it, love it.

Yesterday's menu was:
B: Yerba Mate tea with stevia
L: steamed shrimp with old bay & boiled cabbage seasoned with garlic and spices
D: baked flounder with essence & an apple

I had a pretty boring day yesterday, but it was restful. I got to clean my house a bit, and I'm really settling into my VLCD. I have committed the allowed foods to memory and I have a few meals that I enjoy that are easy to prepare. I've got a nice little comfort with it now. That's a good thing because today will be my first social test. It's one of my friend's birthday today & we always go to a brunch at a hotel in the area. I may go off the diet a bit for the first time. I've pretty much decided to get an egg white omlet made with onions and peppers. I know they're going to make the omelet with butter, but I'll tell them to go easy on it. I'll drink coffee and water. Hopefully they'll have an apple or orange that I can grab with that & I won't eat any other meat today. That's the plan, hopefully I can stick to it.

I've decided that every other sunday will be picture and measurment day so here they are.

	Day 1	Day 13	CHANGE
NECK	15	14	1
BUST	41	39.5	1.5
UNDER BUST	36	35.5	0.5
WAIST	36	34.5	1.5
HIGH HIP	40.5	39	1.5
LOW HIP	40	40	0
UPPER THIGH	25.25	25.25	0
LOWER THIGH	22.25	20	2.25
KNEE	15.5	15	0.5
CALF	16	15.5	0.5
UPPER ARM	14	13.5	0.5
LOWER ARM	12	11.25	0.75
INCHES LOST			10.5

I'm out of time for now. I will update this post with pictures later on today. I need to get ready for my brunch.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, I'm back from my brunch. I'll give an update on that tomorrow, but for now, here are my progress pictures:





Oh yeah... I did a hot oil treatment on my hair with baby oil yesterday. It worked great! It helped my hair to hold in moisture and it was much less brittle this morning. I also used the brilliantine today. I love it... it's just what I need for daily use & it smells nice too.

In response to yesterday's comments:

Biz - I know I'm all over the place & I know I need to just let the protocol do what it does, but it's hard to not speculate about what I might be doing wrong. I am going to lower my dosage though.

Jennifer - You are so right. It is loaded with salt & it's got MSG too. Thanks for calling me on that because I didn't check before, but just for you I went and found a recipe for homeade old bay online today. I'm going to try it and if it's good, I'll post it later. I need to get a few more spices first though.

maryg911 - wow... another eye twitcher? That's why I try to post all of my experiences. It feels good to have company in little things like that.

ewewho - I will definately be getting frozen shrimp from sams or bj's. They're probably less expensive that way. Thank YOU for the info.

Day 12 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 186.2
Yesterday: 174.2
Today: 174.0
0.2 lb. Released Overnight
12.2 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
1.02 Avg Daily loss

Alright... there we go. The scale's moving the right way.

Yesterday's menu was:
B: coffee with half & half
L: orange chicken & cucumbers.
S: mid afternoon orange
D: steamed shrimp with old bay, sliced tomato, strawberry smoothie with stevia.
Okay... I did splash about a half cup of freshly squeezed orange juice into my smoothie, but it was sooo good.
S: 2 melba rounds

That old bay steamed shrimp will be my P2 fast food. They steam it right at the deli counter for me & I just get some raw ones to cook at home later. That way, I can weight the raw ones and I know how many of the steamed ones I can eat.

I'm really happy that I had a loss this morning, but I've been thinking about something lately. I am currently using 175 iu's of hcg daily and I skip sunday's. I chose to use 175 because of reading KTs book, which I haven't picked up since reading pounds & inches BTW. I know it's only been 12 days, but I think I want to try mixing a batch of 125 to see if that works for me. It's not only because of my stalls that I'd ike to do this. My right eye has been "jumping" every day that I've been on the injections... just these little spasms that feel really weird, but are pretty much harmless. I have no idea what that means, but I just feel like I'm probably getting more hcg than I need. I'll mix my 125 batch on tuesday unless I learn by then that I really shouldn't switch for some reason. I know Biz and others use 125 and they're having great results, I just figured that somehow I would be different and would need more to get the same results. I'm not bailing on my progress or anything. I think my progress is great. I'm just really curious as to whether I can make it on 125.

My brilliantine came yesterday. I haven't tried it yet, but it smells good and it's petroleum based. I'm surprised that Dr. S. allows this on P2 because it's so greasy, but it will be perfect for my hair. I'll use rubber gloves while applying it though. If this is allowed, I would imagine that he would have allowed other hair moisturizers as well which would explain why others aren't having problems with their hair products.

One more thing. I came across this little poem a few days ago.
You can replace the 1 with .2:

Only One Pound

Hello, do you know me?

If you don't, you should. I'm a pound of fat,

And I'm the HAPPIEST pound of fat that you would ever want to meet.

Want to know why?

It's because no one ever wants to lose me; I'm ONLY ONE POUND, just a pound!

Everyone wants to lose three pounds, five pounds, or fifteen pounds, but never only one.

So I just stick around and happily keep you fat.

Then I add to myself, ever so slyly, so that you never seem to notice it.

That is, until I've grown to ten, twenty, thirty or even more pounds in weight.

Yes, it's fun being ONLY ONE POUND OF FAT, left to do as I please.

So, when you weigh in, keep right on saying, "Oh, I only lost one pound."For you see, if you do this, you'll encourage others to keep me around because they'll think I'm not worth losing.

And, I love being around you - your arms, your legs, your chin, your hips and every part of you. Happy Days!!!

After all, I'm ONLY ONE POUND OF FAT!!!

Ok... on to yesterday's comments:

Biz - Thanks sweetie. I always try to stay positive, but it's pretty easy when you're down 12.2 lbs in less than 2 weeks. Can't forget that .2 :) Thanks for the kind words. I can stair step all the way to my goal. Stairs always get to where they're going.

ewewho - No problem. let me know if you have any questions. My email is
Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate it whether you post or not :)

jennifer - Thank so much. My goal was always to look better in my clothes & as long as that is happening, I'm just fine. BTW... My great attitude is fueled by reading others success, so thanks for posting you and ed's progress.

maryg911 - Yup, fitting into my old clothes feels really good because I know how they fit before, but I can't wait to go shopping for NEW clothes. There's nothing like a store fitting room mirror to tell you the truth about your body. I always thought those things were evil.

becca - Thanks becca... I took a peek at your blog just now. Fantastic! you're doing great too!

Day 11 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 186.2
Yesterday: 174.2
Today: 174.2
0 lb. Released Overnight
12 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
1.09 Avg Daily loss

Womp, Womp.... Guess I'm a stair stepper too, but my clothes are fitting so much more comfortably this week. I wore a sweater yesterday that had been uncomfortably tight 2 weeks ago. I'll take it!

Here's what I ate yesterday:
B: Coffee with half & half (was a little tired)
L: orange chicken & orange flavored spinach with an orange (good lunch)
D: baked flounder, lemon flavored spinach(not that great) with strawberries

Well I guess I'm a stair stepper too. If I am, I'm glad I got enough hcg for 2 rounds because I'm 29.2 lbs away from my goal & at this rate I won't lose that by the end of this cycle. I don't mind that one bit. That was the original plan anyway.

Last night I actually dreamt about being slim. Now... I would only do that if I truly believed it would happen. This is the first time that I actually believed I would reach my goal weight and be able to stay there. I've been losing and gaining 15 lbs for about 3 years now. I've never been able to get below 160 on just diet and excercise, even Atkins. I really see myself doing that this time. This diet is easy for me. I'm eating less than on any other diet I've been on, and I'm not hungry like I was on those diets. When I am hungry, I know EXACTLY what I can and can't have. It's a no brainer to pick up an orange or a grapefruit. Dr S. takes alot of the thinking out of it. He seems to have thought of everything. Ok... so I have to plan my meals.... well some wonderful person on the hcg2 dieters group created a spreadsheet so I don't even have to look up calories to plan out my day. If I want to know more detailed information, I can plug my meal into fitday.com. I feel great, my clothes fit better, & I've never lost weight so quickly. This plan really works.

Can't respond to individual comments today. No time, but Thanks for checking on me everybody & especially for all the encouragment through that stall.

Winston - Thanks for visiting. You're success is amazing! I showed my hubby and now he's thinking about starting the program too. Now I have to tell him you're a Giants fan. He'll be all over it! There are thousands of free skins at http://www.pyzam.com/. Copy the template code you want. Go to the template editor for your blog and click on Edit HTML. That's where you put the template code. Make sure you download your current code to your computer because if you've added lists and pictures to the template, you'll need to re-add them to the new template. You can emial me at if you have any questions.

Day 10 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 186.2
Yesterday: 175.8
Today: 174.2
1.6 lb. Released Overnight
12 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
1.2 Avg Daily loss









Stall BROKEN! That was the longest 3 days ever!

Yesterday's menu was:
B: Apple cinnamon tea
L: Lemon pepper chicken, boiled cabbage, strawberries, 2 melba rounds
D: Flounder seasoned with essence, sliced tomato, apple, Smooth Move tea

Short post today. I'm running a little late, but WOO HOO. The fat's on the move! Thank you everyone for your encouragement. You all contributed to my good attitude over the last few days. Thanks to everyone's input I really think it was water retention, because of my major thirst for the past 2 days.

TOM is still around, but I still had a loss & I've got no cramps so I'm not sweating it. I've got 12 days until my planned mini break & I hope to lose another 8 lbs before then. We'll see.

In response to yesterday's comments:

Biz - Thanks for the info about TOM. Could you tell I was freaking out yesterday?

Mary - I didn't give in, but I would have been close today. Glad that's over. didn't have any Melba toast last night. I've been eating them at every meal, but I'm going to slow that down a bit. I'll still eat them as a snack if I'm hungry between meals though & I'll pay attention to my losses when I do eat them.

Jennifer - The blogs and the boards keep my spirits up. I was all over them comparing notes and stats. It kept my mind occupied, and I never doubted that the stall would break eventually.

Smacmo - The smooth move tea did it's thing. I'm good now.

becca - Yeah... this was a set point for me. I wonder if that was the reason though because I did have TOM as well. Who knows. I'm just glad it's over and this plan really works!

lili - I'm so glad you stopped by. DH suggested M of M last night, but I didn't think I could take it on P2. I may try that next time cus the smooth move works a little too well in the smooth department for me.
I will definately be using my inhaler everytime I need it. That was a very uncomfortable night for me.
I'm still waiting on my brilliantine. I use baby oil on my skin & I had thought about a hot oil treatment with it, but I just didn't think it would work. I'll try it... it couldn't hurt. I'll report about that.

Day 9 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 186.2
Yesterday: 175.8
Today: 175.8
0 lb. Released Overnight
10.4 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
1.16 Avg Daily loss

Hmmm.... this is getting frustrating, but I'm hanging in there & it's still not a gain.

Yesterday's menu was:
B: organic apple cinnamon tea with stevia & lemon
L: chicken sauted in orange & lemon juice, romaine lettuce and tammy's orange vinaigrette. 2 melba toast rounds
D: chicken sauted in lemon juice & water. boiled cabbage seasoned with garlic and spices. apple & 2 melba rounds

First of all something strange happened yesterday. TOM looks like it came back! I already had that the day I started my injections and it lasted for 3 days. I noticed that it was heavier & earlier than normal. I thought that was strange cus you can set your watch by my TOM normally. Well yesterday, I thought I was just spotting, which never happens, but by the end of the day it was clearly more than that. I haven't read any posts or blogs where that's happened to anyone else. I'm not sure what to make of it. I'm going to do my injection today anyway. I guess this is how the hcg is affecting my body. I think I'll read P&I again to see if I can find any hidden clues.

Jennifer asked me yesterday what kind of beef broth and crab I'm using & I immediately thought. DUH! I'm using store bought beef broth! Hah... that's why those onions are so good! :) It's Swanson's low sodium, fat free and I'm not sure what's in it cus I transferred it to a jar after I opened it and I had it before VLCD, but it's probably made with carrots and maybe molasses or something. I should have learned my lesson with the vegetable stock incident last week, but I'm a little dense sometimes. I'm also using a good quality canned lump crab meat by Phillips. I'm sure there's a lot of salt in that. Well... besides the little bit of salt in my cabbage yesterday, I haven't had any salty food since the crab & I've been drinking an insane amount of water (for me anyway). I had 3.5 liters yesterday.

Ok... so I'm in a stall and when I think about not losing any weight I'm a little bummed over it, however when I think on it more, I realize that I've been living perfectly fine on 500 calories a day for over a week now! I actually have more energy than normal & I generally feel great. I haven't really been hungry except for bedtime & then I just drink some tea or water and go to bed. Obviously something's got to be happening because I just HAVE to be burning calories, don't I? I've taken measurements, but I've always been bad at it. They never seem very accurate when I go to do it again. Anyway, here they are:

	Week 1	Week 2	CHANGE
NECK	15	15	0
BUST	41	41	0
UNDER BUST	36	36	0
WAIST	36	35.5	0.5
HIP	40.5	40.5	0
UPPER THIGH	25.25	25.25	0
LOWER THIGH	22.25	20.5	1.75
KNEE	15.5	15	.5
CALF	16	16	0
UPPER ARM	14	13.5	0.5
LOWER ARM	12	12	0
INCHES PER WK LOST			3.25

This weeks measurements were actually taken on monday, so I guess they could be different now.

In response to yesterday's comments:

Jennifer - aw well... counting day 3 now. Still in good spirits though and not going to do an apple day. I grabbed that cursor code from this site called http://www.dynamicdrive.com/. There's alot of cool stuff on that site. It takes some web programming skill to get them to work on this blog though. I can help if you want something like that on your blog.

Biz - As long as I don't see a gain, I'm good to go. You're blog has been a huge help. I find myself going back to your earlier days on VLCD to see how you handled things. It must be great to have that as a point of reference for yourself. I'm so glad you and other bloggers are around.

Renee - I think that might be part of it as well. I've always been sensitive to salt. My feet & fingers used to swell when I had to much so I should watch it in the future.

Marshall - TOM has passed, but somethin else was goin on yesterday. No BMs in a few days. I have some Smooth Move tea, but Dr. S writes that it's normal to not go for 3 or 4 days. I'm on day 4 now. I'll drink some of the tea tonight. Thanks for reminding me.
AARGH! You're killin me, marshall! The OTHER guys need to be brought DOWN. That's ok... we're used to being the underdogs. That's when we do our best work. lol

smacmo - Welcome. Thanks for stopping by. It's nice to have a new P2 blogging buddy. I'll check it out when I'm done here.

becca - I'm a web & software programmer by profession. I'm not a web "designer" but I have a few tricks up my sleeve. I'm glad you like it. HA... after saying that, my blog probably looks kind of boring now. I'm sure I'll have a loss soon. As long as I don't see a gain, I won't get too concerned (probably)

Day 8 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 186.2
Yesterday: 175.8
Today: 175.8
0 lb. Released Overnight
10.4 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
1.3 Avg Daily loss

Day 2 of my stall, but I didn't gain and that's a good thing. I had decided that I wouldn't do an apple day before I began, so I'll just wait it out. I followed the protocol 100% yesterday so I should be fine. It's disappointing to not see a loss again though.

Yesterday's menu was:
B: none, just water
L: 1/2 grapefruit, tomatoes & a 3.5 oz crab cake. I just followed my own recipe omitting the egg & mayo.
D: Strawberries, 3.5 oz lean steak, 1 carmelized onion

My crab cake:
I just followed my own recipe omitting the egg & mayo.
I didn't measure anything, but here are the ingredients
7 oz crab meat
dry mustard
onion powder
garlic powder
essence
squeeze of lemon
4 crushed melba toast rounds moistened with a bit of milk
dried parsley

Shape in a custard cup or muffin tin. (it won't keep it's shape with no egg). Broil for about 10 minutes or until it's brown on top. Makes 2 servings

I hope the steak isn't causing my stall. I'll just eat chicken and fish until I have another loss. I'm hoping that others are right and it's just my body playing catchup, but I can't help 2nd guessing myself. I knew my daily average would start to even out to about 1 lb a day, but I was hoping that it wouldn't happen so drastically. Hopefully, I'll have a loss tomorrow.

Not much happened yesterday. We just sat around playing video games & watching movies. Good times :)

In response to yesterday's comments:

Renee - It's actually been easier than usual to stay away from the junk. It must be the hcg. I love that. As far as the half & half goes, I'll use it as a treat. I can find other uses for my 1T of milk that I can use skim or 2% for.

Becca - I buy a shoulder roast and cut it up into 3.5 oz servings. Heat the pan up to high heat. I use a stainless steal pan for this to get a better sear. Put the steak in the pan with your seasoning on it, but no liquid. Cook about 1-2 minutes on each side depending on how you like it & how thick it is. If it's getting too brown and you want it cooked more, you can throw it under the broiler to cook through, but I like mine pretty rare. Take the steak out of the pan & deglaze the pan with beef broth. Throw in the onions and saute them on high heat until their a translucent and a little brown. Keep adding beef broth as the pan gets dry during cooking with no oil.

Jennifer - I really did enjoy my day off. Thanks. I'm not so sure about the tea tree oil anymore. I did wash it out. I think I'm just in a normal stall cus I didn't do anything shady yesterday and still no loss.

Biz - I did take new measurements yesterday by your suggestion, but I don't have time to post them today. I will say that I lost a total of 3.25 inches though, so something IS happening thank goodness.

Renee - Yup... my thoughts exactly. Thanks so much for the encouragment. It really means alot.

Day 7 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 186.2
Yesterday: 175.8
Today: 175.8
0 lb. Released Overnight
10.4 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
1.5 Avg Daily loss

I didn't gain :) I'm happy about that because I was expecting it after washing my hair with tea tree oil & peppermint oil shampoo, and then putting olive oil moisturizer in my hair yesterday. I'm going to try to not put anything in it until I get the brilliantine.

Yesterday's menu was:
B: 1/2 grapefruit & coffee with half & half
L: Grilled chicken with Emeril's Essence & salted sliced tomato. 2 melba rounds
D: Crab cake from tammy's cookbook (no onions) over a bed of romaine lettuce (very tasty)
Snack: 1/2 a medium apple (I couldn't finish it)

It was such a great day yesterday! We had company over for the Giant's playoff game & had a great time. As you can see I changed my blog skin... at least until the superbowl :) I made everyone hot wings, and I had my crab cake salad. I only got a few questions about it. I said I was trying to take off some holiday weight and that was that. One of DH's friends brought him oreo double stuffs though. That was the only real temptation I had cus I make hot wings all the time during football season & I was kinda getting sick of them myself, but the crew's just gotta have them. No biggie. For the superbowl party, I think I'll have Baked Cajun Chicken, but since I like it really spicy, I'll dip the chicken in hot sauce instead of milk.

I've been having half & half instead of skim milk in my coffee and I'm not going to have any this week. I made a conscious decision to have it because I think my coffee tastes awful with skim milk, but I don't think half & half is really allowed. I just decided today that I'm being so careful about everything else so why am I having half & half? Coffee is not a necessity for me anymore anyway. By the way, I broke my addiction when I was on Atkins. That was the best diet I was ever on before this. I lost 50 lbs on that and cured myself of my addiction to carbs and coffee. I gained everything back except the addictions :) Since I don't like black coffee, I'm going to go without it or I'll just have it once in a while with half & half if I'm really going insane. I still had a loss when I had it, so it must not be a horrible offense for me.

Ok... off to have a great day off from work!

Renee - I'm gonna have that steak and onions again today. That was so good, it felt like cheating!

Jennifer - There's no way I could go without moisturizing my hair either, especially in the winter. I wear it natural so it's more delicate because of the tight curl. All my hair would fall out!

Wendy - Thanks a bunch! I feel wonderful on this. I'm so glad I found it. I'm even more happy about the giants win last night. None of the ESPN commentators picked them to win either. On to the superbowl!

Biz - You know, I think I only saw it because I was looking for a loophole for my hair situation. Funny how the mind works.

WE'RE GOIN TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!

NY GIANTS! From a wildcard to NFC East Conference Champs! That game was intense!

Day 6 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 186.2
Yesterday: 176.8
Today: 175.8
1 lb. Released Overnight
10.4 lb. Released Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
1.73 Avg Daily loss

I like Amie's word "release" alot better than "loss" as well Jen :) 1lb is not too shabby. lol. 10.4 pounds in less than a week... I'm astounded!

Yesterday's menu was
B: Coffee with half & half and stevia
L: Pan seared steak with 1 whole caramelized onion in beef broth & half a grapefruit with 2 melba rounds
D: shrimp over a bed of chard sauted with garlic. Strawberries & 2 melba rounds

Ok... that steak & onions was so freakin delicious! I forgot I was eating on protocol for a minute. I used the same McCormick steak seasoning that I've always used and after searing the steak I deglazed the pan with beef broth and threw in the sliced onion with some salt and pepper. I'd eat that every day if I could. The shrimp and chard was pretty good too. I've never eaten chard before but I've eaten collard greens and I just cooked them the same way without the oil. Not too bad, just a bit bitter. I might add some stevia next time to cut down on the bitter taste. If I can eat like that and still have a 1 lb release, I think I'll be just fine. Speaking of food though, I had a moment of weakness last night. I prepared some baked salmon for DH & I snagged a piece. It was a very tiny piece, but boy was it good. It doesn't look like it affected me too much. Maybe I would have lost another .2 lbs or something. So I caved on SALMON and not ice cream... Am I nuts?!

I think I have an issue that has not been discussed on the hcg dieters groups before. I am a black woman, and my hair needs to be moisturized periodically. I spent most of yesterday taking out my braids, and I remembered that I would need to moisturize my hair after washing it. I hadn't even thought about this prior to starting the protocol. I normally give my hair a hot oil treatment after I take my braids out, but I know I shouldn't do that right now. That led me to read P&I again. I found something that I hadn't noticed before:
"We also allow brilliantine to be used on the hair but it must not be rubbed into the scalp."
I've never heard of brilliantine before, but I found it at Walgreens.com & ordered some. I'll report on how that turns out. This morning I washed my hair & I just used some moisturizer that I had in my house for now. I used latex gloves to put it on my hair, and I tried not to rub it into my scalp. Hopefully it'll be fine.

Ok.. that's it for today. Gotta get ready for company to come over for the playoff games today. Go Giants!

Day 5 of VLCD Done!

Starting weight: 186.2
Yesterday: 179
Today: 176.8
2.2 lb. Lost Overnight
9.4 lb. Lost Since Start of VLCD 1/14/2008
1.88 Avg Daily loss

I decided to change my starting weight to my post load weight since it's the highest. I think that will give me a more accurate measurement of where I am & my daily percentage of weight lost. So this is Day 8 of injections but Day 6 of VLCD. From now on.... I'll use the VLCD days as my count.


Whoa... waist line, watch out! I got on the scale 3 times because I thought there was something wrong with it, but nope... same weight every time. This is a nice feeling.

Yesterday's menu was
breakfast: coffee with whole milk & stevia
lunch: grilled orange chicken & spinach salad with orange dressing, an orange, & 2 melba rounds
snack: sauted apple slices with lemon, cinnamon, nutmeg & stevia
dinner: baked turbot, cucumber, & 2 melba rounds

A few things I noticed this week. I'm not having any trouble getting my water. I'm soooo thirsty all the time. I'm usually not this thirsty so I guess it's the hcg. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this. I drank 2 liters of water yesterday & 3 mugs of tea.

Also, I spoke about having all this junk food around me at home. Yesterday, I took notice of how I REALLY feel about it. I do want it, but it's not an unbearable want like it would have been in the past. It feels like an emotional want, but the physical want is not there. That feeling of "I gotta get some chocolate or my world will end" is definately not there & it's a good thing too, cus it looks like I'm in willy wonka's chocolate factory in here! And to top it off, DH's best friend dropped by and brought him chocolate ice cream. DH doesn't even eat chocolate ice cream! I DO! I had specifically told him that if he brought ice cream over here, I'd hurt him. However... it's in the freezer & I don't want it. Is that crazy or what?! I figured it would take weeks for me to get that feeling, but yet it's only been a week.

I lost 9.4 lbs this week. I took out my old weight watchers trackers to see how long it took me to lose about 9 lbs. It took me 27 weeks to lose 9.8 lbs with excercising every day. 27 WEEKS! My starting weight was about the same as it was this time & I didn't have that big first week of weight loss because I had already been dieting and lost 15 lbs on my own from my heaviest weight of 196. Therefore, my WW starting weight was almost exactly what my HCG starting weight was 181. Yeah... I gained all that weight back, but I kept the 15 pounds off that I lost on my own... weird huh. It's nice to have both records as a comparison.

I made a new batch of hcg yesterday. I mixed it for .5 ml this time because I think it'll be easier to inject that than 1 ml. The whole 1 ml looks like so much to me.

Ok I'm done for today... I can't wait to see what the scale says tomorrow.

1-18-2008 P2 Day 7

Starting weight: 181.2
Yesterday: 18o.2
Today: 179
1.2 Loss

Loving the scale today. I'm under 180 & it's never to be seen again.

Yesterdays menu was coffee with 1T of whole milk & 1/2 grapefruit for breakfast. Lemon pepper chicken with a cucumber & strawberry salad with strawberry vinaigrette dressing & 2 melba rounds. For dinner I had a delicious piece of turbot with lemon, old bay, salt & pepper, 3 cups of romaine lettuce with lemon & 2 melba rounds.

Ok... I had a craving for ritz crackers yesterday, but didn't cave, even though they were sitting on the table all day. There is snack food in my living room because my husband is recovering from surgery and he can't get around right now, so I have to prepare all his meals and snacks and keep them close by so he doesn't have to get up too much during the day. On top of that, he wants comfort food because he doesn't feel well... UGH! Therefore... there's chocolate, potato chips, crackers & cheese, & ice cream in the house right now. We usually don't keep that stuff around because they're trigger foods for both of us. He's eating healthy meals too so he's not being completely insane, but the snack food is out in the living room so he can reach it and herein lies my problem. My conviction to make this work and the amount of money I spent on my hcg and supplies is keeping me from cheating, but I just had to acknowledge the elephant in the room. I don't want to tell him it's difficult because I don't want him to feel bad, but I'm glad I have this blog as an outlet.

There... that's out. I feel much better now :)

I had an interesting dilemma last night. I have mild asthma that can be brought on by cold air, and I had to shovel snow last night. Breathing the cold air brought on some slight asthma. I didn't know whether using my inhaler would affect my weight loss so I decided to just go to sleep thinking the slight asthma discomfort would work itself out while I was sleeping. That was a bad idea. I woke up at 2 AM with a terrible asthma cough & couldn't get back to sleep even after using my inhaler. My airways opened up, but I kept coughing so I won't be doing that again. I doubt that something I breathe in will affect my weight loss anyway. Even if it does, it's not really worth it.

My first VLCD week is almost over and I've learned so much. I'm really looking forward to this ride.

1-17-2008 Day 6 P2 Oops

Starting weight: 181.2
Yesterday: 18o.2
Today: 180.2
0 Loss

uh-oh... my first stall. Well at least I know what I did wrong. Yesterday morning I had an angry looking rash under my arm, and without even thinking about it, I put some cortisone on it. That stuff is the consistancy of vaseline. That was my first mistake. My second mistake is that I made my shrimp for dinner with some vegetable stock without realizing that it's made with carrots.

Well my rash is definately better today. It looks like it'll go away on it's own now. I won't be using any more vegetable stock or I'll make my own. I was pretty hungry and grabbed what I thought was ok. I'll be more careful in the future.

1-16-2008 - Under my starting weight...yay!

Starting weight: 181.2
Yesterday: 182.6
Today: 180.2
-2.4 Loss

Look at that... I'm under my starting weight! Nice.

Yesterday's menu was pan seared cod fillet (80 grams), an orange, with romaine lettuce, & 2 melba rounds for lunch. Dinner was straight out of Tammy's cookbook, oregano chicken... mmm mmm, cucumber & strawberry salad with strawberry vinaigrette. Yesterday was a good day except I didn't actually eat 500 cal. I ate just under 400. I'll need to work on that. I think I need to eat larger servings of veggies and fruit & make sure my meats are a full 100 grams. I was full though & I did get all my water in this time.

Crystal & Biz...Thanks for the feedback on my first post. That was great advice & a very warm welcome. I'm glad anyone read it at all! You're right... I've read plenty of posts documenting cheats during P2, and I should stick to the short round. I tend to 2nd guess myself alot. I neglected to give the details of my master plan yesterday... lol. The short round would last 25 days ending on feb 5th. I leave for my trip on Feb 8th, so I would have 3 days off of the injections at home before leaving. My cheat will consist of one particular meal at SeaBlue at the Borgata. They have a lobster pot pie and this rissoto with truffles that I've been dieing to try. Can't help it... I do love a good resteraunt.

Got through the first weekend

Starting weight: 181.2
1st Load day: 182.6 gain of 1.2 overnight
2nd Load day: 186.2 gain of 3.6 overnight
Today: 182.6 loss of 3.6 overnight

I've decided to start a blog even though I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up with it consistently. Thanks DH and Biz. I think it'll be a good place to keep my progress as well.

Well... I've started my own weight loss journey with HCG sooner than I expected to. I originally bought KT's book about 6 months ago because it was cheap and I was curious. I read it in about 2 days & was very skeptical of it and decided to do a web search on it to see how much of a scam it was. So obviously I got convinced instead when I started reading the hcgdieters group. There were so many people there having great progress that I just kept reading. The reading turned into research, and I even ordered my HCG back in October so I would be prepared but I decided that there was no way I could start something like that right before the holidays and football season cus we do it big as far as party food is concerned. We're always hosting football and holiday parties with lots of goodies & hot wings. I also was really afraid that I'd be hungry during the VLCD days.

This past week, I coudn't get into my favorite apple bottom jeans, and I decided that enough is enough. I'm going to have to start taking control of this madness. I'm glad I did. So far, the fear of hunger has been unwarranted. I did my first injection on saturday 1/12/2008, and although I was a little freaked out by stabbing myself in the stomach with a sharp object, it went surprisingly well. Right now I think this will be a short round because I'm going away for a weekend in february and I plan on eating out a few times. I may change my mind and continue the injections through that planned "cheat" though. I'm not sure yet.

Yesterday was my first VLCD day and I spent it in the hospital with DH waiting for him to get out of out patient surgery. I made my lunch the night before and wouldn't you know it... I left it at home! To my surprise, I didn't actually feel hungry until about 4pm. I don't know if it was nervousness over the surgery, but I honestly didn't feel hungry. I was able to get an orange from the hospital cafe at around 5 pm or so. That dispelled the hunger. I ate my lunch for dinner when we got home at around 7pm without a fruit because I didn't think enough time had past between the orange time and that dinner. Thinking back on it, I probably should have had another fruit. I ended up eating about 208 calories yesterday.

I lost my entire 2nd day of load weight overnight (3.6 lbs). Normally I would be ecstatic, but now I think that I may have wasted the fat that would have kept my hunger at bay for a few days. I'm guessing that's how it works, but I'll find out.