{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.

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!

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.

{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.  :)