Fit Friday - The Clothes Connection

This week I finished my first week (second round) of HcG shots and 500 calories a day.  Just like in the first round, I experienced a precipitous drop in weight (which I know won’t be sustainable over the next 2 weeks).  I’m getting closer to a weight I haven’t seen in over 16 years.  Other than the obvious health benefits, the most exciting part of this has been the clothes.

I haven’t purchased any new clothes yet, but I am rediscovering clothes I have been storing (waiting for “some day”), as well as a few items I purchased a while back that never did fit or were too tight to wear in public.  This has been so much fun, especially because there are some items I don’t remember.  It’s like shopping in your own closet.  There are some things that are out of date, like that bright raspberry colored suit with long pleats, so those are going.  I’m also fortunate that my sister has also been doing HcG and has passed on a lot of her clothes, especially the casual clothes I will need on our upcoming trip to Hawaii. 

Now comes the confusing (but happy) problem:  when do you buy new clothes?  I’m pretty much at a point that my work clothes are starting to look silly because they are so big.  However, I still want to lose about 20 pounds more, so I don’t want to spend a lot of money on things that will be too big in a month or two.  For now, I’m going to try to stick it out with what I have as long as I possibly can.

Clothes can be such a great motivator, both to lose weight and to see where you've been.  I don't want to be someone who has clothes in 5 sizes, but I may keep a couple of things just to see where I've been (and hopefully to take that picture where you hold out your "fat jeans" out in front of you :)  I'm keeping in mind that they're not the only reason to lose weight, but it is the immediate gratification.

On the exercise front, there’s not much going on and that needs to change before I’m on stabilization in two weeks.  Maybe I need to visit that gym place . . .

Happy days!

cindy

Fit Friday - Crossing the Gorge

It's been a very busy week and I'm sad to say there has been no exercising going on here.  I started round two of the HcG diet on Monday.  The protocol requires that the first two days of the diet you take the HcG shot but you have to GORGE yourself.  That's right, eat as much as you can for two days.  Sounds like a dream, but is a bit gross and exhausting.  So here's lunch on Tuesday:

Boy, that was good, but I hope to never consume that much food in one sitting ever again!  As a contrast, starting Wednesday through the next three weeks I will be eating 500 calories a day.  On Wednesday for lunch, I ate raw spinach with a little bit of balsamic dressing, 100 grams of skinless chicken and an apple.  I wanted a picture, but probably consumed it so fast I couldn't.  I've lost 5 pounds in 2 days.  The results are great, but this is a down and dirty diet not for the faint-hearted.

I plan on doing some limited exercise during the next 3 weeks and finish the 500 calorie thing on my birthday in three weeks.

Wish me luck!

cindy

It's a Fit Life

Anyone who reads my blog knows that I have been in a weight loss journey since October.  I am just finishing the stabilization phase after my first round of HcG shots.  I'm a little over where I should be, but I have been maintaining a fixed weight.  Next week I start round two.  I wasn't sure I was going to do another round, but knowing I could lose up to 20 pounds in less than a month (if I'm strict) is too enticing, especially because I would see a weight I haven't seen in more than 10 years.
In the meantime, Kim from "It's a Crafty Life" has started Fit Club so bloggers can offer support and suggestions for each other to get healthier in 2012.  I'm excited to be part of her effort.  There's still plenty of room on this bandwagon for anyone else who wants to join.  I'm going to be doing "Fit Fridays" to show my progress (even if it's only to myself) every week.  If you want to see more suggestions and maybe inspirations, come on over!




cindy

Adventures in Weight Stabilization

O.K., I had to change the name or I would end up with Part 125 of "New Adventures".  My HcG course (Phase 2) is over and I'm happy to say I lost 34 pounds!  I'm not done losing weight, but now I have to go through 6 weeks of "stabilization."  That involves staying within 2 pounds of my current weight (over or under) for the next 6 weeks.  This is where the real challenge begins.

The important part of stabilization is learning the basic formula for losing or maintaining weight (especially for those of us who struggle with the up and down parts).  That formula is simple - balance the number of calories consumed with the number of calories burned through exercise.  Simple enough, right?  Yeah, sure.  If that were the case, I would be a very rich woman because I could solve the biggest loser of a problem with a simple formula.  But it is just that simple.  Now I need to learn it.

The rules of this stage are no starches or sugar, keeping the fat intake relatively low (about 22 grams per day) and watching the glycemic values of certain fruits so I can stay away from things like bananas, grapes, raisins and a few others.  I need to keep the water intake up too.  I have to figure out how many calories I want to eat each day, in large part based on how much exercise I'm committed to doing.  I'm not a big exercise gal.

I'm excited and intimidated at the same time, but I'm also loving the fact that I'm in different clothes now and looking better.  Keep up the positive thoughts and prayers - it's going good so far!

cindy

New Adventures Part 4

I'm now about a month and a half into this weight loss journey and am happy to report that as of today I have lost 30 pounds!  I'm very excited about this milestone, especially as it comes the day after Thanksgiving.  It wasn't nearly has hard as everyone thought it would be for Thanksgiving - after all, 500 calories in a day won't even get you past the sweet potatoes and stuffing.  But I went into it knowing I couldn't eat any of those starchy foods, so I was happy to join the family eating a little turkey breast, broccoli and jello (sugar free).

I have a little over a week to go with the HcG shots, then it's time for "stabilization".  That's the 6 week period where you can't gain or lose any more than 2 pounds from your base weight.  I have to admit I'm really not looking forward to this phase.  First of all, I want to keep losing weight, with or without the shots.  My "base weight" isn't going to be my ultimate goal weight and I want to keep moving.  Second, in this phase I will have more choices for food and I need to incorporate exercise.  You know, it's so much easier to stay focused when you don't have to make food choices or schedule exercise into the day.  So maybe I should be happy about 6 weeks where I can learn to balance food with exercise, while still negotiating the holiday season.

Anyway, I'm very happy I cleared the first big hurdle of the holidays - Thanksgiving.  Bring on Christmas!

cindy

New Adverntures - Part 3

It's been a while since I updated the weight loss journey.  I my first installment, I talked about my goals and how I wanted to get there, and in the second installment I bragged about how fast the weight was coming off.  This installment is about reality.

I'm just over a month into this and I've lost 20 pounds.  Better than that, I've noticed serious inches coming off in all the right places.  That's the promise of HcG proponents - that the weight loss comes from "bad" fat, or fat that is in the wrong places.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that life has been getting in my way for the last two weeks or so.

Don't worry, the excuse parade isn't coming just yet.  Having said that, I have been pretty sick with a wicked sinus problem that nearly became pneumonia.  I made a decision about a week into the infection to eat a few more calories.  The problem is that once you start eating more (and whatever you want), it can be very hard to get that discipline back.  So I've had some days that just weren't so good, resulting in a serious slowdown stop gain.  (Serious gain for this diet means 2 or more pounds.)

This for me is one of those crossroads.  I have a strong perfectionist streak, so when I'm not perfect, I beat myself up and become a "failure."  It's a little hard to come back from that, but I've got a lot more to lose, both in weight and what would happen if I gave up or continued to limp along.

So I'm gritting my teeth, pulling up those big girl "you know whats" and getting back at this.  I need to reestablish my discipline before the holiday mine field is upon us.  This year the holidays are going to be about pretty, creative things, looking good in my clothes and NOT about food (unless I'm making it for someone else :)

cindy

New Adventures Part 2

It's now been 2 weeks since I started dieting with HcG and I'm happy to say I have lost 15 pounds.  It's pretty incredible, I can hardly believe it myself.  I don't think my head has kept up with my shrinking body because it's going so fast.  It's not easy and I think at some point I'm going to have to be really creative to think of different ways to eat with pretty limited choices.  For the record, that's 100 grams of chicken breast, steak (once a week), eggs or fish; an apple, half a grapefruit, strawberries (which are now out of season) or orange; and 150 grams of cabbage, romaine, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes or cauliflower.  That's one of two meals a day - the meals are exactly the same makeup.  Results, however, are incredibly motivating.

While I'm in automatic pilot eating what I have to, I've been starting to notice when I want to overeat.  Sometimes I'm bored or thirsty and sometimes it's when I've waited too long to eat and am famished.  I also have sweet temptations all the time.  The worst is that I tend to eat while I cook.  I'm focusing my energy on becoming conscious of those times and trying to come up with coping mechanisms to deal with them.  I'm also starting to formulate a plan for when I will be done and how I want to hit the ground running with a strategy for long term maintenance.  I already know one habit that is a keeper - I'm tracking everything I eat to review the calories and nutritional value of what I'm eating.

Overall I'm very pleased with the results and it hasn't been too painful yet.  I'm still not sure what effect blogging about this is going to be, and God forbid this doesn't work - yikes!  In the meantime, hopefully soon I can update with a change in clothes size :)

cindy

New Adventures

This isn't my comfort zone, but I'm going to give this a try.  I am about to start a new adventure in weight loss.  Those who know me "in person" know I've struggled with my weight all my life.  I've been on the roller coaster - up/down up/down - more times than I care to admit.  This time around I'm trying with HcG injections and a very restricted calorie diet.  I'm not going to get into how this works - you can read it on the internet.  I will say this - I'm not drinking the kool aid on the theories behind it.  I'm sure it works because let's be honest - if you're eating 500 calories a day you WILL lose weight.  If HcG helps me do that without going insane, it works for me.

Yesterday I had my first B12 injection - OUCH!!  My arm is still smarting.  My doctor said it was like a flaming golf ball rolling down your arm to the elbow and I think that's a pretty good description.  This morning I had my initial lab work done and took my first self-injected HcG.  The self injection part wasn't bad at all.  I used heparin during both of my pregnancies and this was much easier.

Today was day 1 of Phase 1.  Let the craziness begin.  For the next two days, I must GORGE myself.  We're talking 4000 calories (yes, that was four thousand) more than I normally eat.  This is like the mother of all binges.  I'm saying this with a smile as I eat the first of two McDonalds bacon egg and cheese biscuits with a carmel frappachino venti from Starbucks.  I'm going to have fun with this until the stark reality of Monday morning hits with 500 calories a day (Phase 2).

I'm told one of the early side effects is irritability.  Yah think??  Two days of fatty, sugary excess followed by at least 6 weeks of 500 calories a day without sugar or starches doesn't sound like a recipe for giddiness.  Anyway, I'm committed to this and I am pretty good at keeping commitments once I make them.

I'm not changing the focus of this blog to a weight loss forum.  I'm still primarily interested in family and crafts.  However, I will engage in a little self-indulgence now and then by describing this new adventure and hopefully reporting some progress.  I appreciate those of you who send some positive thoughts my way during this journey.

cindy