Days 33-36: FINALLY (and updated measurements)

I saw no weight loss from Days 32-34. I have a sneaking suspicion it has to do with a certain unwanted monthly visitor. I have never paid any attention to what my body is going through when the bitch is in town, but I had no choice now. That sucks! Remind me again why women have to bear children. Oh wait, if men had to do it  the population would never survive. Whiny bitches, they are.

Anyway, yesterday, Day 35, I saw a .6 pound drop and felt a bit better. I was getting very concerned that I wasn't doing a very good job watching what I was eating and was somehow eating like 2000 calories. I knew that probably wasn't the case, but I couldn't be sure. Especially since I'd been gaining or staying steady from Day 29 on. ACK!

I got on the scale today (Day 36) and I was down TWO pounds. Holy jeebus! My total net loss is now over 20 again.  I'm not really supposed to go outside of two pounds - either way - of 212.5. Part of the problem I have with that is that I was at 210.8 the day I stopped the drops, then somehow jumped up to 212.5 the next day. 

Also, I'm not particularly hungry. Most days I have some Naked Juice for breakfast, three slices of deli turkey for lunch with 2 chunks of cheese, and for dinner something chicken related or maybe my sloppy joes. I'm not eating large quantities of everything. 

I absolutely refuse to force myself to eat if I'm not hungry. Eating when I wasn't really hungry is how I got myself into this mess in the first place and I am NOT going to get back there again. The idea of going  through the 1st 500 calorie day and being stuck with bland chicken for weeks on end is enough to make me cry. 

So yeah, if I keep losing beyond the 2 pounds that I'm supposed to, I'm going to be okay with that.

And oh yeah, I forgot. I cheated yesterday. I really wanted some Coke, so I had it. I didn't have much. I filled a cup with ice and poured maybe two ounces into the cup. It may not have been much, but HOLY HELL IT WAS DELICIOUS.

MEASUREMENTS

Upper Arms: 15.75" (no change)

Upper Thighs: 27" (no change)

Hips: 41.75" (.25" down)

Waist: 36.25" (.25" down)

Day 33: 213.8

Day 34: 213.8

Day 35: 213.2

Day 36: 211.2

Days 31 and 32: Less cheese???

Rather than bore you all with the day-by-day stuff, I figured I'd post a couple days at a time, or when something particularly interesting happened.

I've been either stalled out or gaining weight for the last few days and I may have discovered why. In doing some research (read: Googling like a mad woman), I discovered a few things:

1. I was supposed to slowly work my way up to 1500 calories.
2. Cheese is supposed to be eaten in limited quantities or not at all.
3. I can have things that contain starch/sugar, but only when it's a VERY small amount.

The important one here is obviously #2. I've been eating TONS of cheese! TONS!

I've been drinking water like it's my job. And I will tell you this, I'm back to peeing like it's my job. Adam Sandler has a skit called The Longest Pee. That's me.

Also, I'm not really supposed to be losing weight right now. I'm supposed to stay within two pounds either way. So, I guess as long as I'm not over that mark and forced into a steak day I'll be okay with this.

Monday's Weight: 213.6
Tuesday's Weight: 213.8

Day 30: More energy

This is the first day in a while that I haven't been completely wiped out by 8pm. I assume I was just tired because I've been eating so few calories throughout the day. Nice to not feel like an old lady for once.

I'm feel like I'm getting a little stronger. Going up my stairs hasn't been killing me like it was a week ago. Good since I make regular trips on the stairs. I want to get out and exercise more, just walking, but I want to wait another week or so. I figure that's enough time for my body to get used to eating 1500 calories per day. I can't believe I've only been on this phase for four days. I almost don't even remember what it was like only eating 500 calories a day! (Thank God.)

I made a new chicken dish tonight: Chicken slathered with pesto on one side, rolled up and wrapped in prosciutto. Yum! I think it's the first meal I've made in a while that wasn't drowning in cheese. Mmm...cheese.

I think the pictures show that I'm making progress, slow as it might be. I'm hoping that the slow pace of the loss will help me sustain it. I do NOT want to re-inflate myself after all of this hard work! (Okay, it hasn't been THAT hard, but you know what I mean. Come to think of it, depriving myself of Coke for this long IS hard work!)

I'm pleased with my progress and how I feel. Even if I did gain today...

Today's weight: 213.6 (up .6)

Yet another set of unflattering photos

So, I skipped last week. Shame on me. I had lighting issues. Laundry issues. Blah blah blah.

Here's a comparison of the 4 weeks I did take photos. I couldn't get the zoom right this week, but I don't think it really matters.

Comparison of Week 1 to Week 5:

I still have some work to do :)

Day 29: Updated Measurements

So, things are moving along. Nothing exciting. However, here are the latest measurements. No change in anything except my waist.

Upper Arms: 15.75"
Upper Thighs: 27"
Hips: 42.5"
Waist: 36.5" (-1")

Today's Weight: 213.0

Day 28: 1500 calories is a LOT

Do you have any idea how hard it is to eat 1500 calories after eating only 500 per day for weeks? Especially when you can't have any starches or sugars? Pasta would get me there pronto. Cookies. Cake.  COKE. All of it would get me there quickly. Can I have any of it? No.

I made some important observations today. I can only have so much cheese in a day. I'm lactose-intolerant, I've known that for a while. One glass of regular milk and the stomach pain is almost intolerable. I used to have cereal for dessert at night and I was constantly waking up at 1:30am with gut-wrenching pain. Once I figured out milk was the culprit, I switched to lactose-free milk and my stomach was fine. I don't love milk anyway, so it's not a big deal. For the most part, I'm fine with ice cream, milkshakes and cheese.

Or so I thought. I used to eat all kinds of whatever before and I often didn't feel particularly well. I constantly had headaches, my stomach would get upset, I was tired, etc. Once I got into this diet, my headaches disappeared and I only occasionally had stomach issues. I've been a bit tired, but I think that has something to do with the amount of calories I'd been consuming and the fact that I don't believe I'm really much of a morning person.

So now, when I get a headache or a stomachache, I can trace it back to what I'm ingesting. Earlier this week we learned that I can't have prepackaged lunch meat. The stuff from the deli is okay though. I had cheese with two of my meals today and ended up with a stomachache. I guess I'll be limiting my cheese intake a bit now. Sort of sucks since cheese is an easy way to get more calories, but I'd rather not be sick. I could probably also live without all the fat it comes with.

I also noticed that unless forced, I don't tend to eat fruits on my own. Tonight I forced myself to have an apple for dessert. Not a bad call since I can't dip into the box of Star Crunches I have (Damn you, Little Debbie), and I do like to have something sweet every now and then. Oddly enough, Naked juice satisfied my desire for something sweet yesterday.

Lord, I'm a whole new person now! Using FRUITS to satisfy my cravings for sweets! Who am I?

This morning I fortunately saw a dip in my weight as well. I hope the downward trend continues!

Today's Weight: 213.0

Day 27: Now the real fun begins!

So now the true test begins. I have to stay within two pounds of my weight on Monday. Which will be challenging since I'm not free to eat anything except starches and sugars.

Today's highlights:
1. Went to Red Robin for lunch and had a bacon cheeseburger.
2. Ate dinner out while playing cards.
3. Had something other than water to drink!!

Today's lowlights:
1. Did not get to have french fries.
2. A burger really goes best with a Coke.

I miss my Coke.

I loved being able to drink something other than water today. I still had loads of water, but it was nice to slide something else in there as well.

I think I ate right around 1500 calories today, I hope I don't see weight gain like I did this morning. That would make me sad.

Today's Weight: 213.4 (up .2 pounds)

Day 26: Norm

Today was a pretty easy day. I wasn't nearly as hungry as I'd been yesterday. I had an apple for breakfast, string cheese for a snack, turkey heated up with cheese and a couple pickles for lunch. Later on I had a breadstick and cheddar cheese stick.

I made myself a pretty decent dinner of thin-sliced chicken breasts rolled with prosciutto and muenster cheese and baked. Very moist (okay that word is just gross to describe food) and delicious. Strawberries and cheese for dessert.

I'm sure I ate more than 500 calories today, but I have no idea how much I went over. Tomorrow is the first day I'm supposed to be trying for 1500 calories in earnest. Shouldn't be too hard since I'm heading to Red Robin for lunch to celebrate my food freedom, but I doubt I'll be able to eat everything I order. I suppose we'll see.

My weight stabilized and I weighed in at 213.2. No change from the day before, which is excellent. I'm working on taking in more water than I had been and I believe my body is responding favorably.

Today's Weight: 213.2

Day 25: Uh oh

So, I'm on my second day of no drops and I feel like I'm going to be in some trouble. My weight went up...again. I totally don't get this since I know I'm not even eating anywhere near 1800 calories per day, which is about what my body burns just to keep me going.

I'm concerned about this and I'm not sure what I'll do when it goes up again tomorrow. I could do a steak day like they recommend, but I was hella hungry today. I can't imagine what it'll be like to go until DINNER with nothing but water! That's just craziness!!!

I suppose we'll see what happens when I get on the scale in the morning...

Today's Weight: 213.2

Day 24: No drops!

Today was my first day without the drops. I had a righteous headache all day, but I think that's probably related to my consumption of turkey and chicken that came from packages and their preservatives, rather than anything that had to do with the diet. I guess time will tell.

I added cheese to my diet today. I like knowing that it's not upsetting my stomach. I don't care that it's not supposed to be part of my diet right now. I doubt it's making much of a difference. I'm still eating well under 1500 calories. My guess is that it's under 700. It's amazing how little I've been eating.

Not sure what's been going on, but I'd gained 1.7 pounds when I got on the scale this morning and it currently reflects an additional 2 pounds on top of that. From my understanding of the diet, this is a critical period. My weight can't increase by more than 2 pounds in a day, so that my metabolism gets reset at the right level. How I'm gaining ANY weight eating the way I am is beyond me. The drops are supposed to prevent me from losing muscle mass and are supposed to encourage my body to burn fat for energy. In theory, it should still be coursing through my system.

I don't think I've had enough water recently, so I'm going to make sure my body has enough of that as well. Perhaps it's a water weight issue. I suppose we'll see.

It was nice not having to worry about remembering to take drops. I hope the rest of the transition off the drops is as smooth.

Today's Weight: 212.5

Day 23: Almost there!!!

After what has seemed liked forever, I'm at Day 23!!! This is my last day for drops and I'll spend the next three days without them on the same 500 calorie diet I was supposed to have been on for the last three weeks.

Obviously I've cheated a bunch in the few days. Today I stuck mostly to it, but I had pickles instead of cucumbers. I had a little snack of cheese at one of the Costco sample counters as well. I'm okay with all of that.

I don't know what happened yesterday that got my body into losing mode, but I actually managed to drop 1.3 pounds yesterday after stalling out - finally making it over 20 pounds lost!

I owe y'all some unflattering pictures, and you'll have them. Just as soon as I get the light over my bed replaced. You won't be able to see anything in the photo without it!

WOOHOO!!!

Today's Weight: 210.8

Day 22: Holy Cheating, Batman!

Not going to lie, I cheated. All day today. For lunch I had chicken and apple sausage and an egg scrambled with mozzarella cheese.  I had a pickle as a snack. Then, for dinner, I had PF Changs - Ginger Chicken with Broccoli.

I went to bad movie night with some friends, and I had some potato chips. And a tater tot. And it was glorious.

I'm so over this diet :)

Today's measurements!
Upper arms: 15.75" (.75" overall)
Upper thighs: 27" (2" overall)
Hips: 42.5" (2" overall)
Waist: 37.5" (4.5" overall)

Today's Weight: 212.1

One more day of drops!!!

Day 21: See Day 20

I was a bit surprised when I got on the scale this morning and saw no change. I was sure my good behavior day would make up for the cheating. Apparently not.

Oh well. I don't really care right now. Just want to get to the end of the 500 calories and move on to MORE!!

Today's Weight: 212.1

Day 20: Nothing unusual

Today was more of the same. As I suspected, my cheating kept me from losing weight, but I also didn't gain any, so I'm going to call that a victory. The cheat was worth it. Mmmm...chicken and apple sausage.

I went with meals of chicken (shoot me now) and shrimp (still yummy) with cucumbers as my veggies, so I should be back on the losing track tomorrow. That's how it's gone in the past anyway. 

As much as I've been whining and complaining lately, it's amazing that I only have 3 more days of drops.  I'm excited about that. I'm that much closer to an expanded set of foods (I've been shopping online so I know where I'm going first for more exciting foods) and also that much closer to going for a few days without my mouth tasting like crap (quite possibly literally, but I can't know that based on my own experience).

A lot of people have told me how impressed they are that I've stuck it out with this diet. It's weird to hear that since it hasn't been that hard. Sure, I miss cheese, Coke, breads, pastas, other meats, going out to eat, ice cream, candy, etc. I craved TACO BELL. That's just gross. It's not even real meat. But really, this isn't HARD to do. I haven't even been tempted for a big cheat. I don't crave the Coke anymore. I read a lot of blogs and stories where people were saying that this is the easiest diet they've been on. In some ways, that's very true. You know what you can eat, you don't really have to count calories every day since you're eating the same thing over and over. You just run with it. In some ways, it tests your will. You hit a plateau or you have YET ANOTHER piece of chicken and it's just UGH and you don't want to continue on. (Then you read the packaging that says you HAVE to and you're like, "Fine. Be that way."

What I'm curious to see is what it's like to go back to an expanded diet. I was hopeful about salads (quite unusual for me), but I probably won't be having many of those since my dressing options are limited to what I can make myself (at least initially since they all contain sugar). I'm thinking my breakfasts will consist of an egg scrambled with cheese and a fruit of some sort (likely apples since I have a gajillion of them). Lunches are probably going to be simple with lunch meats and cheeses to go with them - essentially Lunchables without the crackers. Dinners will be more interesting, with me experimenting with recipes I found on allrecipes.com. I'm sure some of that will make its way into my lunches. I'll just be glad I'm not cooking something for every meal. That's a bit tiresome.

All in all, this is my last weekend of what I expect to be the most awful part. Three more days of low cal and drops and then three days of low cal. I CAN DO EET!!!

Today's Weight: 212.1 (That is kind of a cool number)

Day 19: So so good

I enjoyed my cheating very much, thank you. It felt good to eat something not chicken. Of course, I'm not sure how much my body enjoyed it. I felt a little sick after I ate, but I'm still glad I did it.

I'm curious to see how this will impact my weight loss. As expected, the ground beef put a halt to any loss I might have had today. Good thing I was planning on that or I might have been a bit upset.

I'm just so over this. If I weren't eating just 500 calories per day of the same stuff I've been eating over and over, I wouldn't care if I lost another pound on this phase. Almost 20 pounds is a big accomplishment, but I'm bored with it now. It's like the challenge is gone. And the benefit now too. Other than my 2 pound drop the other day, I'm not really losing much. I could do that just eating a modified diet. Certainly more than 500 calories and with a wider variety of foods.

Oh well, only 4 more days with the drops, then three more with the low calorie diet. Here's to well-deserved endings and exciting new beginnings!

Today's Weight: 212.1

Day 18: Ready to Cheat!!!

I don't know what this says about me, but I actually PLANNED to cheat on this diet. A lot of people, when they cheat on a diet, it's sort of a spontaneous thing, an impulse thing. Like at Costco, you're walking around and those damn free samples are everywhere. How do you turn that down? Or, you're at a party and there are snacks... I get it.

I, on the other hand, am PLANNING to cheat. I made the lunch with the contraband in it. I have been planning it since yesterday. I have given it thought. Worked it out. Weighed the pros and the cons. And still decided to do the "wrong" thing. I'm thinking it can't possibly set me back that much. I had my sloppy joes from Saturday night - the delicious beef ones - for lunch today because I couldn't tolerate the idea of more chicken. Pretty sure the scale will show me what a bad idea that was tomorrow morning.

I think I just don't care anymore. I'm down 19.8 pounds. That's a lot of weight in 16 days. I've done SO well. I ate a little extra last Friday since I felt sick, but I haven't gone off the listed foods yet at all. I'm losing weight pretty slowly now, and I just don't see how sticking at my current weight for a couple days is going to kill anything.

On the other hand, if I have to have chicken tomorrow, *I* may kill something. Best to just have the delicious chicken and apple sausage tomorrow for lunch and ensure everyone else's safety. See what a good person I am?

Today's Weight: 212.1

Day 17: Goodbye Plateau and I'mma Cheat

Well, I woke up this morning down two pounds. I doubt I'll have the same experience tomorrow, but only time will tell.

I am sick of this diet. My mouth tastes like what I imagine ass tastes like. (No, I don't actually know.) I want to eat other food and I'm pretty damn sure I'm going to be cheating in the near future. I'm down almost 20 pounds and I think that's pretty good. I've been told I'll continue to lose even after I get into maintenance.

I have to keep the drops up with a low calorie diet until 23 days are up. I can't exactly find anything that says why, but I guess I'll keep it up. I do see some chicken and apple sausage in my near future.

I'm so close to feeling physically sick thinking about eating the same food over and over and over again. I realize I don't have that much time left with this, but right now, it seems like FOREVER. Of all of the people I'm working with who are doing this, I've lost the most. I don't even know that I'm supposed to lose as much as I have.

When I get like this, I try to focus on the "one day at a time" mantra, but that stops working after a while. Perhaps if last week hadn't been so rough this wouldn't be so bad. Maybe it would. Who knows. We're all about ready to be done with this. I do appreciate what I've learned about cooking and varieties of foods, and I'll take that forward into the next phase. It's not like things get WILDLY better once I go there. Still no sugars or starches. But cheese, glorious cheese!

I'm going to try to hang in there...

Today's Weight: 212.3

Day 16: Hello Plateau

I woke up this morning excited to get on the scale. Not sure why, SINCE I DIDN'T LOSE ANY WEIGHT. AGAIN. Today is my THIRD day at 214.3. UGH. I'm feeling so much better, I just assumed the scale would cooperate.

Spent some time reading up about plateaus and have decided to exorcise ground beef from my diet for a while. I'm doing everything else right, so I can't see what else it might be. Hopefully this works. I'm not keen on having an "apple day." Yes, that would be a day where you eat nothing but 6 apples. As good as the honeycrisp apples are, I will have to pass on that.

Otherwise, I'm doing fine. I don't feel sick at all anymore. My energy levels seem to be back up. What I did notice though is that I am having trouble getting all the way up my stairs without having to stop for a break. I live on the 3rd floor of a building with no elevator. It's legitimately three flights of stairs. My legs are ready to give out somewhere around the second floor. My arms also got really tired while I was flat ironing my hair. I read that this will happen to your muscles after a while since the fat that was living between them is gone. I hope it's not my muscles that are going. I would be displeased. The whole point of this is that the muscles DON'T go.

I'm eating only chicken and shrimp today, along with my cucumbers, apple ans strawberries. Hope that kicks the crap out of the plateau.

Today's Weight: 214.3

Unflattering Photos: Round 3

It's Sunday so you know what that means! FOOTBALL!! Oh, and unflattering pictures!!

 

The last two photos are both from today, but the red shirt was hanging a little loosely, so I threw on the pink one to give a better idea of the real shape.

Looks like progress...

Day 15: I'm alright plus measurements

I woke up feeling much better today than I did yesterday. No stomach queasiness at all.

I ventured forth for sustenance, my sights set on the honeycrisp apple. I left my last orange and work, and frankly, I'm tired of my hands smelling of citrus all day. Those apples are AMAZING. So crisp and juicy.

I decided to change things up a little and acquired some strawberries as well. Apples and strawberries will now be my fruits of the day. I'm also abandoning tomatoes for a while. I think I've had too much. I'm not sure how much I love cucumbers anymore, but right now they're better than strawberries.

I downloaded an app for calorie counting so I'll be prepared for the next phase of this diet. (Yes, I realize I'm jumping the gun a bit since I have 11 more days of a 500 calorie diet to complete. Today I also bought the chicken and apple sausage for the first breakfast in the next phase of the diet. CANNOT WAIT.) What dawned on me is that I probably haven't been eating enough. I believe I'm consistently coming in under 500 calories. After a while, I imagine that would wear on my system.

I also read that it'll stop the diet from working properly. You have to eat at least 500 calories, obviously not many more, but at least that many. Oops.

So, I'll be upping the amount of meat I eat during the day. Speaking of which, I made some delicious sloppy joe like meat tonight. I used tomato sauce (which isn't technically allowed, but tomato paste is, and that's pretty much all tomato sauce is - tomato paste, water, citric acid, and onion powder. I figure it'll work.) I added some garlic powder and a lot of chili powder (which totally impressed me, I always thought chili powder would kill me. Turns out, it's really quite useful).  Anyway, it was fantastic and made my tummy happy!

All in all, today I was just feeling so much better. No nausea, no serious aversion to food like I had for a while yesterday. I had leftover chicken for lunch and I was wary of it. I think I just might be sick of chicken...

I feel pretty good even though I lost NO weight today. Not even a tenth of a pound. Apparently this isn't uncommon. I just hope it doesn't continue for days.

Anyway, on to the measurements! (Current (change from last week/change from beginning))

Upper Arms: 15.75" (.25"/ .75")
Upper Thighs: 27.5" (.75"/1.5")
Hips 43.5" (1"/1")
Waist: 38.5" (1"/3.5")

So, despite not losing any weight today, I'm pleased with the measurements I saw.

Tune in tomorrow for another unflattering picture!!

Day 14: Blech

I felt sick for the majority of the day today. A sort of nausea that was near vomit. I'm not sure what it was, something I ate yesterday, 500 calories per day, who knows.

I ate a bit more than I'm "allowed" at lunch to try to help - extra meatballs. I had some extra shrimp with dinner. I'm skipping the apple and most of the tomatoes.

All around, today was SUCK.

Today's Weight: 214.3

Day 13: Back on Track...ish

Despite all of my earlier ramblings about how important sleep is while you're on this diet, I decided last night to have a lengthy conversation with my dad and to read several chapters of a book. DID NOT GET ENOUGH SLEEP.

As a result, I was pretty tired by the afternoon. Which made later events less enjoyable than they could have been. First, I left the drops at work. It took me no time to get home from work today. Total breeze. So, having to travel back during some of the nastiest rush hour traffic wasn't any fun. Then, I went to a bar to play cards with a group. The french fries there are AMAZING. I wasn't particularly hungry, but damnit, I love french fries. I obviously didn't order any, but the fact that they were there and that I couldn't have any was just irritating. I really only get like this when I'm tired. Had I gotten enough sleep last night, it wouldn't have been an issue.

Now I'm just tired and grumpy and in desperate need of a french fry.

However, today's weigh-in made me feel like I'm back on track. I hope it keeps up.

Today's Weight: 214.5

Day 12: Better

Finally felt like I was getting back to normal today. Hunger pangs subsided. I was still a bit tired, so I had an easy night at home.

I discovered my love for garlic salt. Drowned my shrimp in it before putting them in my George Foreman. They were SO good. And I'm still having a love affair with my seasoned chicken. So moist, tender, juicy. And flavored just right for me.

I think one of the keys to doing this successfully is identifying foods you aren't going to get sick of and repeating them, over and over. It's not a hard diet, but it will challenge you. We're so used to being able to go out and grab whatever we want to eat (even those of us with some diet restrictions), and now it's like, "Oh, that's what I brought for lunch...okay." Hard to go out and change your mind.

Today was a low weight loss day which was sort of a bummer, but given that I weighed like 2 pounds more when I got home than I did when I woke up, I'll take ANY loss. I hope to get back on track soon.

I'm also pretty excited about the team potluck tomorrow and my coworker's delicious balls! (Meatballs of course...)

Today's Weight: 215.8

Day 11: SO DAMN HUNGRY

No idea what was going on, but DAMN I was hungry today. So much crazy hunger. I ate. A lot. All within what I was allowed, but holy junk.

In good news, my taco seasoning was delicious on my chicken. The chicken I had was killing me. I just couldn't eat it anymore. Since there's no taco seasoning I can eat (all has starch and/or sugar), I bought all the herbs and spices and made my own. I was SHOCKED to find that I'd done it right AND that it didn't taste like utter crap! Even used it on my shrimp tonight. I am SO relieved to have my chicken work for me. I have a ton of it left and haven't had enough good experiences with ground beef on my own to make that a good substitute for chicken.

I spent a good portion of the day looking at food porn. By that, I mean I looked at allrecipes.com and found recipes for things I want to make once I've moved onto other phases of the diet. Baked potato soup, chicken tortilla soup, chicken and dumplings, meatballs, BLT bacon bowls, YUM. I'm not going to do that today lest I make myself crazy with hunger for things I can't have.

I was pretty wiped out for some reason so it was an early night for me.

Today's Weight: 216.8

Day 10: Bleh

My weight loss wasn't as exciting this morning as it has been other mornings. I hear that's the case when a lady's least favorite visitor is in town, but I hope it picks back up soon.

I was up too late reading an Amish romance novel last night (you'd be surprised how good they are) and I didn't get enough sleep. I'm totally wiped out now, ready to go to bed, and it's just after 7pm. I can't say enough how crucial sleep is on this diet. I don't drink coffee or tea, so I have no caffeine pick-me-up. I know it's artificial and probably bad for you, but there are days when I miss it.

I got so desperate for a new way to make chicken that I actually went out and bought the spices to make my own taco seasoning. I forgot the onion powder, but I have to say, the chicken came out damn well. I'm actually excited for my chicken lunch tomorrow! Too bad I can't have it with rice... Or in a flour tortilla... With cheese...

We're doing a potluck at work on Thursday and one of the guys on my team who's also on the diet is going to make meatballs!! He uses the melba toast and spices and onion to make them. It had occurred to me that I could those for some kind of breading or something, but I had no idea how on earth to do it. He's also made his own sort of ketchup/cocktail sauce thing. It was surprisingly good. He'll bring that to the potluck as well as a BBQ sauce he's working on. Should be delish!

Anyway, I'm wiped. Until tomorrow.

Today's Weight: 218.7

Day 9: Resisting Temptation

I baked. All day today. I made three batches of cupcakes, two pans of brownies, and 5 batches of cookies. Not once did I succumb to temptation. Not even a little. I didn't have any of the cake batter (which I LOVE) nor did I sample the frosting when I iced the cupcakes. I didn't even lick it off my fingers (though I almost slipped...twice). I desperately wanted to taste the cookie dough to make sure it was right (had a brain fart and couldn't remember how much flour I'd added...), but I didn't. So, good luck to the people who eat those cookies tomorrow!

Honestly, the struggle was made easier by the fact that I've felt like shit all day. I'm not sure what's going on, but I don't think I'll be having any more hamburgers while I'm on this diet. I have never particularly loved making hamburgers at home. Perhaps it's the "hamburger seasoning" that they add at McDonald's or just the fact that I can usually throw some ketchup on it, but I really only like burgers when a restaurant has made them. Or really, anyone but me. I haven't enjoyed the burgers I've had this weekend. I'm going to be happy to go back to the chicken (never thought I'd say that).

Anyway, things are still going along well though I am (still) looking forward to eggs, cheese, salad, etc.

Today's Weight: 218.9 (1.3 pound drop, 13 pounds total)

P.S. I REALLY can't wait for the day I can have a cupcake!

P.P.S. Tomorrow I'll use less parentheses. (Maybe...)

More unflattering comparisons...

Something seemed off about that last picture I took, so I took another...

That seems a little better...

Unflattering Picture - Round 2

Comparison photos!

 

And...I don't see much of a difference...

Day 8: One week down!

So, I've made it through a week of the HCG diet. Of course, it's only been 5 days of the low calorie diet, but I think this is an accomplishment. If you'll remember, the two days of fat-loading almost killed me.

I went to watch my Gators get destroyed at a bar called Spitfire in Seattle, and the call to fries and a Coke was strong. I resisted, and pretty easily. Tomorrow is going to be a lot harder in terms of challenges. I'm going to be baking up a storm and I love cookie dough. But I shall be strong.

A few observations:

1. This is the longest I've gone without a soda since I started drinking soda regularly.

2. This is the most consecutive number of days I've had healthy meals.

3. May be the longest I've gone without fast food in a while.

I am VERY excited about moving into the maintenance phase, I'm looking forward to some chicken & apple sausage, some eggs, some cheese. You get what I'm saying. I'm excited about having more food.

Anyway, on to the numbers!

Measurements

                                    September 24, 2011          October 1, 2011         Change
Upper Arms                          16.5"                                   16"                       .5"
Upper Thighs                        29"                                   28.25"                   .75"
Hips                                       44.5"                                  44.5"                      0
Waist                                      42"                                    39.5"                     2.5"


Today's Weight: 220.2 (down 11.7 pounds!)

Going forward into this week, I don't plan on making a lot of changes to what I'm doing. I had a hamburger today, because I couldn't deal with more chicken. Fro some reason, I'm not sick of the shrimp yet.

Here's to another week of success!!