{round 2...a little update...8 months later}

Not that it seems like anyone reads this or anything...
so maybe just for my own posterity.   :)

It's been 8 months since I started R1 (round 1) back last February.  I stayed on hcg for 62 days, a technically off-protocol, extra long round.  I was still losing, and found my "groove" so to speak, so I stayed on it as long as I could mentally handle it.  I knew for me, it was so hard, that I didn't want to have to do multiple rounds.  I have several plateau-memory weights that it would take me awhile to get past, so really...the whole process just took awhile.  In hindsight, I am so, so glad I did the long round, but it was probably the hardest thing I've ever done.  I learned a lot about myself, my eating habits, and made some real changes.  I ended up losing a total of 32 pounds.  Wahoo!  I went into the spring and summer feeling so much more confident in the way I looked.  My last dose weight was around 118.something or the other.  I seemed to stabilize fairly well.  Not within the 2 lbs Simeons talks about, but within the 5 lbs the long-time moderator of the yahoo group I'm a part of says is more normal now in our chemical and hormone-laden food environment.

I had always tentatively thought I may possibly do another round in October.  I knew there were at least another 10, maybe even 15 pounds I'd like to lose.  Like I mentioned earlier, my pre-baby weight was 103, but I was only 17 then, so I don't know that it would still be a healthy weight for me now at 32.  Regardless, I know 118 is still a bit high for me, I can still see noticeable belly fat, not just baby flab, so I figured if I could wrap my brain around it I'd try it again.

As the summer went on, and the kids were super busy, I found myself eating fast food more and ahem...indulging more often.  My weight was still around 123, so not too bad, but I could tell it was slowly creeping up...so round 2 it is.

I kind of got into a pre-loading mindset the week before I planned to begin, so my total pre-loading and "official" loading gain was a little over 4 lbs, but that was still almost 9 lbs over my LDW (last dose weight) so even now, on vlcd 5, I'm still now down to my LDW from R1, but it is what it is and I think overall I've done fairly well.  Learning to change a lifetime of eating habits, emotional eating, boredom eating, stress eating (which I've realized this summer may just be my main trigger) and also change one's palate is a process.  I'm in it for the long haul.   :)    

This time my youngest sister is a partner in misery joining me, so somehow that makes it better.  I will say, while I've had my moments, round 2 is proving SO much easier on me mentally than round 1.  I know anticipating it to be a short(er) round and the excitement of getting my weight down into territory I've not seen since my late teens is exciting!

So there you have it.

tastes just like fried potatos{alternatively titled, "i'm saved!"}{phase 2}

After a particularly rough day yesterday
(yes, I know I keep saying that)
I was ready for the weekend.
Yesterday I took my little kids to a Valentine's Day party
and also took my oldest son out for his "day" with me which means he got to choose his lunch as well as get a treat.  I was feeling quite pathetic.

But being home today with my sweet husband is good for me.
AND I discovered a radish recipe that tastes just like fried potatos.
I'm not joking.

_______________________________________

Radishes sliced into rounds

Phase 2 compliant chicken broth (or you could use water with spices)

Onion Powder

Garlic Powder

Garlic Salt

________________________________________

Slice your radishes into rounds.  

I had a nice bunch of radishes and measured out it was only like 3oz and they made a very satisfying amount.  It was enough to make my "side portion" of my plate look full so it was also mentally satisfying.

Boil them in the chicken broth and generous amounts of the spices until they can be pierced with a fork but are not mushy.

Drain the chicken broth.

Put them back in the dry pan.

Sautee in the dry pan until they seem a bit crispy.

Season generously with garlic salt and regular salt and pepper if you desire.

Watch them and stir often so they don't burn or stick.

I have never had radishes before but have heard they can be spicy.  

These were not spicy at all and are so much like fried potatos or french fries I can scarcely believe it.

This is going to be a game changer for me, I can tell.

Hcg Phase 2 French Fries has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Or how about Hcg Phase 2 potato chips?

People; they crunch, they are salty, and you can eat them with your fingers!!!

I'm saved!!

Many thanks to Terri on the {HcgDieters yahoo group} for the recipe.  You are a life saver.  :)

{it's a good thing he's so cute}

Today was a bit disappointing.
I'm on vlcd8 and lost zero weight yesterday.
That would be 0.
"They" say that's normal and perfectly acceptable.

So it was nice when my 11 year old son looked at me this morning and told me with a shy smile that he could tell I'd lost weight.  Did I mention he's my favorite kid?  ;)

I was promptly set in my place about an hour later when my four year old son was making a joke about a fat mama.  So I said, "What?  You think I'm fat?"

"Yes," he giggled as he patted my tummy.
"But just right here."

Good thing he's so cute.

::sigh::

{why my husband rocks}

My husband is awesome.
Not only is he an amazing dad to our 8 kids,
but he is also a stellar husband.
The never-in-a-million-years-would-you-have-ever-deserved-someone-so-awesome kind of awesome.

But he is a skeptic by nature, so going into the whole hcg thing he had his reservations, despite the fact that he personally knows my friends that have done it with great success.

"So...you're taking a hormone from the pee from women in another country and putting it into your body and by doing this you are going to lose a lot of weight and keep it off long term?  Okay, cool."

Yet, despite his skepticism he is full-on supportive.  He counted calories once as a teenager and remembers it being crazy-hard.  He prayed for me the night before I started; because he's cool like that.

He knows it's hard for me, especially being here with the kids all day.  He knows how much I enjoy eating out and how much I always look forward to my nights out with my sister and my aunt.  The guy cares.

So far he has offered to skip our Sunday eating out meals, to which I declined the offer since the kids love them and it makes coming home after church and going straight to naptime a heck of a lot easier.

He has called to see if I need anything at the grocery every day.

Has told me repeatedly that it is totally cool if I don't feel like making dinner; he and the kids will deal.

He has refrained from eating treats.  Well, at least around me.

.....and, wait for it...

Has offered to be in charge of all the grocery shopping AND making dinner every night until I'm done.

I haven't taken him up on that offer completely,
I at least have to hang onto a semblance of being a good wife.
I do have my dignity, you know.
Plus I want him to still be alive when I'm done.  ;)




 

feeling smaller in my skin{day 6 stats}

Being on the hcg diet is great for being motivated to get out of bed in the morning.  My youngest still doesn't really sleep through the night and even though I'm up with her once or twice I'm still eager to hop out of bed and see what the scale says.

I may or may not weigh myself during the night when I am up with her.
I mean, no one sees me, do they?  So it must not be happening.
Me, OCD?  Never.

I have noticed when I'm up that I feel...smaller.  Truly.
It's not my mind playing tricks on me.
I can kind of tell.

It's nice when the scale confirms it and the clothing fits a bit better.
150 is a lot for my frame.
It's a tad heavier than in my profile picture.
Not terrible, but my face was increasingly puffy and I was becoming miserable in my clothes.  I was wearing my yoga pants and the same black shirt every.single.day because none of my clothes were fitting.  I was feeling frustrated and depressed about my weight all the time.  I became desperate.  Hence the hcg diet.

On the morning of vlcd/day 5 I was down to 143.7, a loss of 6.1 lbs
On the morning of vlcd/day 6 I was down another pound to 142.7
This is a total loss of 7.1lbs in 6 days including my loading weight.

Today my face is noticeably thinner and my clothes are fitting better.
Progress!
Yay, me!

Rosemary Chicken & Spinach Soup{Pretty Much A Fail}

Today I went into the kitchen intending to water sautee chicken with a bit of garlic and rosemary.  I still hadn't decided what to do for the vegetable portion seeing as how I'm, you know...
{Vegetable Challenged.}

While I was throwing the chicken in the pan I had the bright idea to turn it into a soup.  I'm a bit chilly today and wanted something that looked like more food than it was so soup seemed like a good idea.

I added more water, threw in some garlic powder, rosemary, ginger, a squeeze of lemon juice, and some onion powder.  It looked like it was creating a nice broth.
When the chicken appeared mostly done I took it out to cut it up for the soup and meanwhile tasted the broth.

I had forgotten the salt.

I reached for the salt grinder since we use sea salt.
You know, because we're healthy like that.
But seeing as how I'm a salt person, I said to myself,
"Forget this," and reached for the bag of pre-ground salt.

You probably shouldn't do that.
You should also go easy when using rosemary.
Just sayin'.

But wait, it gets better.

Like I said, I'm a salt person, so I could deal.
Added a bit more water and put the chicken in it.
Took my very full bowl back to my desk and took a bite.

Like I said, you probably want to add salt in smaller quantities.
And, the chicken tastes much better grilled or sauteed with the spices, not boiled.

So I kept the broth and spinach and went to fix another batch of chicken.
I sauteed it like I did for the {Sauteed Chicken w. Spinach} and it was much better.
So I decided to not throw it into the soup.

With great reservation I retreated back to my desk and enjoyed my now lukewarm broth and chicken.
It was an okay lunch.
::sigh::

6 days in{a little perspective}

This is vlcd day 6.  I haven't died.
And I haven't eaten out, so part of me feels like it's dying.
I have to keep telling myself

 "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels"

                  and

"it will all be worth it, it will all be worth it, it will all be worth it."

Shoot, this is hard.
I want to eat and I am highly irritable about it.
I sure hope that aspect gets easier.
A lot easier.

You know the saying that there are two kinds of people; those that eat to live and those that live to eat.  Yeah, I'm in that second category.

I hope to arrive on the other side of this with a significantly decreased desire to eat fast food, snack all the time, emotionally eat, and eat out of boredom or just because I can.  I want to eliminate my cravings, my palate, my likes and dislikes, my preferred foods of choice, and be better equipped to feed my family healthy meals.

I mean, we're not horrible eaters by any means.
By most standards we're fairly "crunchy" and eat pretty healthy.
My husband was diagnosed with ::celiac disease:: four years ago.  That did a lot to change some of our family's eating habits but there is still tons of room for improvement.
One of my greatest roadblocks is I'm a southern girl through and through.  I grew up on meat and potatos, vegetables cooked to death (often in fat and/or sugar), and casseroles.  That's how I learned to cook.

I can see that I'm already learning to be a bit more creative, but I am going to need to learn creativity with a lot of foods, not just these select few.  But I am trusting that will come with time.

For me personally, another huge aspect is spiritual.  I've not really mentioned spirituality on here so far, but the truth is that my faith is the absolute bedrock of my life.  I know some of my body image issues and eating issues have emotional and spiritual roots that need to be dealt with during this time.

I firmly believe that this is the "right" time for me to be doing the hcg diet and I also believe the severe restrictions are serving a huge purpose in helping me deal with some of these things.  I believe it is an answer to prayer.

Spinach Salad w. Sweet Grapefruit Dressing{Phase 2}

This was a definite improvement in the vegetable department!
There is hope for me after all.
::happy sigh::

I've pretty much been saving both fruit servings for the {Baked Apples w. Caramel Toffee Sauce} and the {Chocolate Covered Strawberry Ice Cream}

However, tonight my second son is getting his Arrow of Light in cub scouts and we are having a banquet so I know I'm not going to be home during the evening.  I also woke up craving a grapefruit.

As I was slurping the juice down like a crazy person drinking the grapefruit juice it occured to me that plain or even mixed with a little stevia it would make a really great spinach salad dressing.

I promptly called all the kids in and threatened them with bodily harm nicely asked them to please, please not throw my bowl of grapefruit juice remains out when they cleaned up the kitchen.
They nodded while giving each other that look where they all silently agree that Mom has once again lost her mind.

I patiently waited for lunch.
(Have I mentioned the most difficult part of this whole hcg diet is not being hungry?
In fact, I'm hardly hungry at all.  The most difficult part by far is just not being able to eat
when I WANT to.  I've mentioned that already?  Yeah?  Well, I'm mentioning it again.)

I took my grapefruit juice, mixed in a couple of drops of lemon stevia, and tossed it with my spinach.
I also had the {Grilled Tilapia} which I'm becoming quite fond of.
It was so good that I sent out an SOS to the two yahoo group that I'm on asking how big of a deal it was to have the same meal twice in one day.
Apparently it's a non issue.
For some reason in {Kevin Trudeau's book "The Weight Loss Cure"} he says not to have the same meal twice, but in the original {Pounds & Inches by Dr. Simeons} there is no such restriction.
Whew.

I may or may not have licked the plate.
I mean, no one saw me, so it didn't happen.  Right?
Apparently that theory is true in my four year old's world.

{Dear Little People}

Dearest Little People That Reside In This House,

I know I bought you the bananas and oats & dark chocolate granola bars.
I know I convinced you they were delicious.
Please do not come and ask me to open them for you.

And you know that whole "don't eat upstairs" rule we have?
Well, you can pretty much disregard that for the next few weeks.
Feel free to hide when you eat.

Love,
Mom

4 days in{the stats thus far}

I mentioned earlier that I didn't realize I would need more than a 23/26 day round.  The last time I had looked at the scale I was about 25lbs over what I would like to weigh, or so I thought.  After ordering I realized, much to my horror, that I was a whopping 46lbs over my ideal.  46?  Dude.  I mean, I knew I had gained some weight, but seriously?   ::sigh::

I should also add here that I'm not sure what my ideal should be.  I weighed 103 pre-babies, but I was barely 17 when I got married and I am now about to turn 32.  As I have been pregnant and/or nursing literally non-stop for the past 14 years until now I really have no idea what to expect from my body, but I highly doubt that a 17 year old, no baby body is realistic.  So my amazingly awesome ideal is 110, for my bone structure it's not out of the question, but I just don't know.  We'll find out.

So.  Starting weight, pre-load was about 147ish.
Starting weight after loading, VeryLowCalorieDay (VLCD) day 1 was 149.8

VLCD2 - 150.1.....what???
After moving the scale back to the original spot it read 148.7
I got that consistently a few times (whew!) so  -1.2lbs  Yay!
I had a mild headache all day on day 2.  I'm assuming it was some kind of detox.
I wasn't hungry but taking my daughter to her friend's I passed all the places where I'd normally probably stop and get a snack and it was a little overwhelming.  But a good part of my motivation in this diet is to change my eating habits, get rid of cravings, and learn to eat healthier overall, so it's good.  But it definitely takes some adjusting to.  I am learning that planning is absolutely crucial.  I cannot imagine trying to pull this off if I had a job outside the home.  I know plenty of people do it but I am super glad to be able to be at home while I'm figuring it out.

VLCD3 -1.6
That was grocery shopping day.  You know, the one I mentioned about being the day before the Super Bowl.  Costco was samples on steroids.  I was trying to figure out how much of the grocery shopping I may be able to put off on my husband these next few weeks.  :)   And taking my oldest daughter to get a burrito at Blue Coast....::groan::.......

VLCD4 -1.7
Mild headache this afternoon.  Today I refused my sweet husband's offer to go home after church and sucked it up and said the family could eat out as we often do after church.  I had brought the {Baked Caramel Toffee Apples} with me, so even though I would have loved to have eaten Zaxby's it was okay.  I also brought my stevia to put in some unsweet tea.  And a melba toast with garlic salt on it....thrilling isn't it!

Total lost so far is 4.4lbs.
Okay dokey, I'll take that.
Good thing, too.  This diet is depressing at times.

Just keeping it real, folks.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Ice Cream{Phase 2}

I am totally serious.  This will be great for doing the hcg diet on Valentine's Day without cheating!

____________________________________

4oz frozen strawberries

1/4c. cold water

10-20 drops of Chocolate Stevia (I like the Sweet Leaf brand)

5 drops or so of English Toffee Stevia

1T milk if you haven't used it for the day.  Otherwise leave it out.

After discovering this I have intentionally kept my calorie count lower so I can have a larger serving of this in the evening.  It's so nice having something to look forward to.

You could easily use other flavored stevias to have more of a strawberry vanilla ice cream or a stronger english toffee ice cream.  

 ____________________________________

Combine all of it in a blender or food processor until the strawberries are well-pureed and wala!  Chocolate covered strawberry ice cream phase 2 hcg diet friendly.  

Believe it, people.

~Adapted from Reese Ramblings which has given me a lot of great ideas starting out. 

Thank you!

Salsa and/or Bruschetta{Phase 2}{Partial Fail, but Promising}

The first day I had the grilled tilapia I had the brilliant idea to create a salsa to go with it.
A protocol-friendly salsa.
Which means I could use a tomato
and everything else was going to have to come from spices.
I had tilapia with salsa once upon a time at Red Lobster that was very good,
so I was excited.

Was.

It was a fail.
I chopped the tomato, added salsa-sounding spices
like onion, garlic salt, and cilantro flakes.
It was a no-go.
I may try again and add some pepper-spice to it, but unless I can find a jalapeno spice I'm not sure I can recreate the salsa flavor.  I'm not sure if they even make a jalapeno spice and even if they do I'm not sure if it's allowed.
But it *is* something to think about.

So I decided to turn it into bruschetta.
I added oregano and basil.
It was promising.
I think I should have looked up what all is in bruschetta but I was in a hurry to take my daughter somewhere so when I was sitting in the car and took the first bite I literally told her to run into the house and grab the oregano and basil.

I ended up eating it on melba toast.
I can see how one could create a mini-bruschetta with that.
I mean, it would be all of like two or three bites.
Or even four or five if you want to really take your time with it.  ;)

Grilled Tilapia{Phase 2}

This one is pretty straightforward.

I used the {indoor, smokeless grill} I got,
and also used the {McCormick's Perfect Pinch Garlic & Herb Salt Free} seasoning that I am currently loving.
I used a good squeeze of lemon juice on both sides and grilled until just done.

I can't remember what vegetable I had.
Oh wait, yes I do.  It was the salsa-fail-turned-bruschetta-still-a-fail-but-tolerable day.
Yeah.

Back to the fish.
I will probably do this again and utilize the skillet method I've mentioned in a few of the chicken recipes to see if I can create a glaze to go with it.

Again, I need veggie inspiration and desperate help.
The whole no-mixing-vegetables rule is not really very much fun.
I wish Dr. Simeons had bothered to include some of the recipes they used at these clinics he ran.  I could resort to salads, I suppose, and use the glaze as a dressing of sorts.
Hmmm...there is an idea.

Grilled Steak & Carmelized Onions{Phase 2}{Partial Fail}

First I should confess the carmelized part hasn't happened yet.  But it will.  The idea just occured to me and I have no reason to think it won't work.  If it ends up being a fail I will come back and alter this post.  Pinky promise.

On my very first vlcd (very low calorie day) I had a grilled steak for lunch.  It being February and all a good {indoor smokeless grill} is a very good investment on this diet.  I easily forsee our family using this a lot during the winter and possibly when we go camping.

The one I purchased is {here}  and so far it is exceeding my expectations.
Gotta love Amazon prime.

Anyway, I turned it on to like 325ish, sprinkled on some garlic salt, grilled it to medium and it was delicious.

The fail part was that I attempted to grill an onion.  I kind of burnt it.  Normally I like steak and onions but I realized I usually have other vegetables with it and in this case I was left with a very strong onion taste since I didn't have any other veggies to balance it out.

I most definitely will be having grilled steak again and will probably attempt another onion but I may try and do more of a carmelized thing in a skillet with some water and stevia.

Stevia is my new best friend.  We're bffs.  True story.

Lemon Chicken w. Cabbage{Phase 2}

This is pretty much the same as the {Sauteed Chicken w. Spinach.}

The only real changes were the addition of the juice from one small lemon and instead of spinach I used cabbage.  I think I preferred the cabbage as it absorbed the flavors from the lemon, herbs, and chicken more so than the spinach did.  It also retained a nice crunch factor whereas the spinach was quite limp.

So if you like lemon (it *is* quite lemony) then follow the above recipe using the same spice blend but with the addition of the juice of a lemon and substituting shredded cabbage for the spinach.

It was very yummy and I literally licked my plate.  Literally.

Asian-Inspired Steak & Cabbage{Phase 2}

{Braggs Liquid Aminos.}
Obviously not on The List but from my relentless forum and yahoo group reading seem to be okay.
I used it last night and was down 1.7lbs so I'm cautiously optimistic.

________________________________________

100g or 3.5oz steak.

I left mine whole because I like it medium and was afraid if I tried a stir fry thing that it might get over done.

Shredded cabbage

________________________________________

Put enough water in a small skillet to cover the bottom.  Add a squirt of {Bragg's Liquid Aminos.}

Just a squirt.  It's strong stuff.

Cook steak, watching the water/amino liquid level carefully to aviod burning.

Add more water and aminos if needed.

Add cabbage and cook until steak is desired done-ness.

(Is done-ness even a word??)

Close your eyes and pretend you are eating hibachi.

Hibachi?  Did someone say hibachi??

Sauteed Chicken w. Spinach{Phase 2}

This was great.  The chicken was super yummy and the spinach was good even if it was limp.
I'm still feeling very challenged in the vegetable department.  Very.

______________________________________

100g or 3.5oz raw chicken breast

(I am finding that it is much easier to buy chicken breast tenderloins.  So far 2 tenderloins is almost always right around the correct amount which makes things very easy.  Easy is good.  Very good.)

{McCormick Perfect Pinch Garlic & Herb Salt-Free Seasoning}

(I found it at Publix but am just linking to it here for the visual picture.)

However much spinach you want to use

________________________________________

Add enough water to your skillet to cover the bottom and then add a tad more.

Turn the eye to medium-high and add a generous amount of seasoning.

Season your chicken on both sides.

Add to water and sautee until just done.  You want it done, but still moist.

Watch carefully and add more water if needed.

Turn eye down to med-low, add spinach, and cook until desired consistency continuing to watch the water.

Add more seasoning to compensate if you have to add more water.

My goal here was to have the chicken moist with the flavor well incorporated into the chicken and spinach as well as having enough liquid left to have a bit of a glaze/sauce while eating.

It turned out perfect.  

In fact, it is what I'm planning to have for dinner again tonight to be followed by {Chocolate Covered Strawberry Ice Cream,} also phase 2 friendly.

Shrimp & Ginger Soup{Phase 2}

I made this the first night of the VLCD
(very low calorie diet...you know it's all about the lingo.)

I was trying to figure out what to make the family and what to make myself and thankfully this just pulled itself together in my brain.

It was pretty good.  And pretty filling since it was a soup; which was mentally a very good thing for me at that point.

_______________________________________

100g or 3.5oz frozen or thawed shrimp.  I had a bag of precooked frozen shrimp from Costco so I just went with it and used slightly less than 100g.

2ish cups of water.  I actually made this in my little omelette pan and I just filled it up.

A generous amount of garlic powder.

A generous amount of onion powder.

A conservative amount of ginger powder.  You can always add more later.

A dash of paprika

A squeeze of lemon juice.

However much cabbage, green onion, regular onion, or spinach you would like.  You could probably easily use many of the other greens allowed in the protocol but those are the three I like so I'm listing them as my options.

I used cabbagae and it was good.  I will probably try spinach next time.

______________________________________

Season your shrimp with the seasoning you would like.  Add a tiny amount of water and sautee the shrimp long enough to incorporate the flavors into the shrimp itself.  Otherwise the shrimp will be bland within the soup.  Ask me how I know.  ;)

Add the rest of the water and the amount of seasoning you think looks good.  

But remember, you can always add more later.

Add the veggie of choice and boil until veggie is the desired consistency and the shrimp is done.  If you are using raw shrimp you will want to make sure you get it done.  This soup took literally minutes for me to make but my shrimp was pre-cooked.

The paprika gave it a good kick and the broth was delcious.  

{recipe woes}

My biggest challenge has been finding protocol-friendly recipes.  If you google hcg recipes you can find all kinds of things but that majority of them alter {the official protocol put forth by Dr. Simeon in Pounds and Inches.}  I am pretty good with the protein as I am a high-protein-need person, but I am having a bear of a time with the veggies.

The allowed veggies are:

spinach
chard
chicory
beet-greens
green salad
tomatoes
celery
fennel
onions
red radishes
cucumbers
asparagus
cabbage


The first day I grilled a steak on my handy {indoor, smokeless grill .}  (Seriously, if you are doing this diet you need one.)  I also grilled an onion with it which was a big fail. Normally I like grilled onion but I slightly burnt it and I usually eat it with other veggies and since it was flying solo it left a very strong taste in my mouth.

I keep being tempted to mix veggies and have broccoli.  Those are both "not allowed" per the official rules.  I have looked all over the various forums and websites and the consensus seems to be that it doesn't bother some people but it does cause others to stall.  Which basically tells me nothing.  Maybe after awhile I'll be more willing to be adventurous, but as of now I pretty much want to play by the rules.

So I will be posting my recipes, and some of my recipe fails.  If anything just so when my brain is frazzled at dinner time I can get a quick idea.  And maybe it'll help someone else out in the meantime.  :)

{my hcg}

There are as many different ways to do this diet as there are people.  Seriously.  There is so.much.information it can be quite overwhelming!  Homeopathic drops, homeopathic pellets, Rx sub lingual, Rx subcutaneous injections, Rx intramuscular injections, Rx nose spray, and even though it doesn't really qualify there are tons of people that are buying the scam stuff at places like Walmart that isn't even really hcg at all but a laundry list of amino acids that supposedly mimic hcg.  Whatever.

Out of my friends that have done it, I know one did homeopathic drops, another did SC (subcutaneous injections), and I'm not quite sure what the other two did.  But in the time since my friends did homeopathic, hcg has been majorly cracked down on in the US.  And even though I'm a huge fan and advocate of natural remedies and healthy living, homeopathic remedies (not to be confused with herbal) have never worked very well for me, so I decided I wanted to go for the real stuff.

It took me forever to find somewhere that looked reputable and sold real hcg.  At the time I couldn't quite get my brain around the idea of mixing it myself so I wanted to find it premixed.  I did, and even though it cost me an arm and a leg, comparatively, it was great for a beginner.  Of course I ended up ordering it at the beginning of January when everyone and their brother decides to lose weight so it ended up being on back order.  Boo.  It took three weeks to get here but that three weeks gave me plenty of time to do more research online and really gear up mentally for it.  So not all was lost.

It arrived last Monday and being overly eager I went ahead and did one dose that night.  Yay me.  I then proceeded to "load" on Tuesday and Wednesday and gained close to two pounds during those two days.  Not fun, but "they" say it's necessary, so who am I to dispute "them?"


This is now my sixth day dosing sublingually.  It only took me about a day and a half to realize that holding liquid under my tongue for five minutes three times a day and not being able to eat or drink 30 minutes before or after wasn't really going to work out for me all that well.  It's kind of hard to not talk when you have eight kids and you have to homeschool five of them.  Not to mention planning my meals and the timing of them around their meals.  It was complicated.  So off I went to research another dosing method.

After yet more investigating online and talking with my friend that did the injections I decided to switch.  I had realized after ordering my one bottle of premixed hcg that I was going to probably need more so I chose to go with SC injections when this bottle runs out.  I was a bit nervous about the idea of sticking a needle into myself.  But I went ahead and picked up a box of insulin needles to see if I could get up the nerve.

Dude.  You seriously don't even feel it.  I am not joking.  I totally wish I had figured this out prior to ordering that first premixed bottle.  Oh well.  Maybe this will help out someone else.

Anyway, that is the long way of saying that I have started round 1 (hereby referred to as R1 since I need to be savvy with the lingo and all) with premixed Rx hcg drops but will be switching to SC injections in the near future.

Unless, of course, I happen to lose all my weight with that first bottle. I would totally be okay with that.  It kind of sucks grocery shopping for a family of ten when you can have all of like ten foods. Okay, more than ten, but still.  And Costco the day before the Super Bowl....dear Lord, help me, please.  Seriously.  That is a real prayer.

Baked Apples w. Caramel Toffee Sauce{Phase 2}

I've had this two days in a row now and I can already tell this is the treat I'm going to look forward to and savor...

_____________________________________

1 apple cored and sliced somewhat thin  (don't forget to weigh it after you slice it)

a tad bit of water
one packet of powdered stevia or a couple of drops of clear/plain stevia
two(ish) drops of {english toffee stevia};
{vanilla cream} would probably be equally yummy
a generous sprinkle of cinnamon

____________________________________

There are two way to cook this.

You can either:

 A. Place in a baking dish with above ingredients for approximately 10 minutes at 400F.

or if you're really in a hurry because you're super hungry 

-which technically you shouldn't be if you're dosing properly  :)

B.  Place apples in a microwave safe bowl with the bit of water.  Just enough to steam them.
Cover with glad wrap.  Nuke for 1-2 minutes depending on how firm or mushy you want the apple.  In a separate bowl mix the other ingredients and microwave until warm.
About 30-45 seconds.
Mix and enjoy....

{the smaller mama}

I know, I know.  Another blog.

Another "weight loss" blog.

Yeah, well.  Whatever.

I've kept a family blog for years and when it came time to keep track of my weight loss journey and recipes it just made sense to make a blog.  But I don't think the people that read my normal blog would be that interested, so here ya go...I made a new one.

I'm {the smaller mama}   Well, not yet.  Okay, well, a little bit, maybe.  But I am on my way!  It is said in faith.

My {about me} really sums it up.  My husband and I met in our church youth group.  He was four years ahead of me and became a leader once he graduated, but I was friends with and also worked at an ice cream shop with his brother so when I got to my junior year we ended up hanging out in the same circle of friends.  The summer before my senior years we started hanging out more and that September we had our first date.  Two weeks in we knew we wanted to get married.  Two months later we were engaged, and the following June, two weeks after my high school graduation and at the tender age of 17 we were married.

Six months later we were thrilled to be expecting our oldest daughter and now, 14 1/2 years and 8 kids later we are just as in love as that first summer.  But busier.  And heavier.  At least I am.

Now, I'm 5'2" and while 150lbs doesn't sound huge, it is huge for me.  I pretty much weigh 50% more than I did when I got married.  That.is.depressing.  So now that I'm in a stage where I'm not pregnant or nursing I am ready to ditch the weight.

Why the {hcg diet}?  I have four friends that have lost weight successfully with it so I decided to give it a go.  It also makes sense to me as I always lose all my "chub" when I'm pregnant; my face and arms thin out and I'm all belly.  I look so much cuter and have a lot more self confidence when I'm pregnant, actually.  Then, after I give birth I still like quite a bit slimmer.  Fast forward to usually about four months postpartum and I weigh just about the same as I did when I delivered.  It has happened to me every.single.time.   Oh boy, was I ever depressed after having my oldest at 18 and realizing four months later that I still weighed the same.  I've been depressed about that pretty much ever since.  And I'm sick and tired of being depressed.

So here we go....