I was able to do quite a bit today, though it drained me quickly. Even though I am feeling better I am definitely still in recovery.

Shingles aside, for a moment, can I just say how thankful I am to have found this plan? How perfectly timed the entire change in eating and habits was? Praise the Lord! I am so grateful for the option to go high fat, ditch the wheat and sugar, use caution and much fermentation with the dairy, get AWAY from unsatisfying diet food, and most of all, ditching the inflammation? It is wonderful!

I am taking stock of myself here, approximately two weeks in. My bloat and bowel issues? Gone. I noticed they were gone because the antiviral messed with my guts and made them come back - I hadn't even realized how regular and mellow my stomach and intestines had been until something gummed up the works again! Hunger cues? Fixed! I don't really get hungry on this diet, and that's the way it is supposed to work. But that burning desire to eat the whole house, munch constantly, scarf every carb in sight? Gone. Sore throat, runny nose, headaches? Gone.

Really, other than one minor headache during detox and the shingles, I have been doing remarkably well. The protocol has cleaned up my system, cleared out the junk, given my body time to repair itself and my brain much time to absorb and mull over how great this all is and what permanent changes to make to keep it this way.

And darnit, I'm excited to lose weight again! Not complacent, thinking I can't control this or content with not being at goal but not being 'huge' again. I'm making plans for what new clothes I want to buy, imagining new hairstyle to try, new items to knit to spiff myself up, how I'm going to look when I visit my family. I'm content to put off another baby for a bit, as my husband needed me to, in order to lose more weight. That is huge! I'm enjoying feeling good after eating - not sick or constantly wanting more. I'm definitely looking forward to eating fattening, lovely, real food in P3.

The injections don't bother me, the meal plan is simple, the maintenance plan is so perfect and doable for my life it's remarkable. God has been so good to me in answering my prayers regarding diet, exercise, and food. I wasn't ready for so long, but now that I am in a better headspace and willing to move forward with this, I'm raring to go!

This stuff needs saying just as much as the dry, daily nuts and bolts or the complaints. I have to cheer at how good I feel and how well this works, even in the midst of a horribly painful illness. I can't ignore that this has been wonderful for me and these lessons must be taken with wisdom. Grains and processed, sugary junk aren't my friends. Artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucrolose? Give me headaches, spike my insulin, and make me crave sugar even worse than sugar, itself! Going gluten free isn't enough - I really have to watch my starches carefully and fill up on fat and protein, with a delicious side of low-sugar fruits and vegetables, and leave the grains to the very occasional splurges and heavily fermented, well broken down porridges. They just don't play nicely with my body's chemistry.

I am itching to get to 190. You cannot believe how ready I am - even now I can see so many inches lost and bloat just melted away. My belly is flatter, my face is bright, my energy (sickness aside) is solid... I want to get down the scale and stay down it more than I remember ever wanting it in my life. I have not cheated a lick, crumb, swipe. Not a bit. And my desire to, for the most part, is nil. I am so looking forward to the way of eating at the end of the protocol I don't even miss my previous indulgences that I could never quite control. Very occasionally I want a bite of pizza. But I can make up something healthier and tastier and more satisfying at home - why not? And if I have pizza once a season at a restaurant? That's a choice I can make (and my guts will have to live with it). But when there are so many tastier options that don't fight me all the way into the toilet? Why would I go back?

I have to keep reminding myself that this is best and not forget why I ditched my previous standard American diet for good. Why just calorie counting wasn't working. Why grains are bad for me. Why simple substitutions like coconut flour for all purpose is going to make as tasty a goody but with far less negative impacts on my health. Why 190 pounds on my frame wasn't a place I was willing to stop forever.

It is good to sit back and take stock on occasion. Especially when I am uncomfortable, like with the shingles, tallying all the wonderful blessings I have had and can still look forward to is a wonderful way to spend my time. Almost as wonderful as imagining myself thinner and healthier, in a particularly cute dress ;)

Weighed in at 195.0 again today, which is the same as yesterday and pretty close to the last two days before that. No big deal, but not my favorite. My body had to adjust to these rapid losses and I can tell, visually, I'm losing inches in my torso. My cup size has diminished by at least one (made my husband sad, but he'll live ;) ), my belly is smoother, my back rolls are less, you name it. I know I am sticking to the protocol like glue so I just can't complain about a stall or two. Given that I am still on my period, antivirals, and pain meds with very sore muscles? Some might be water retention I just can't control, too.

The best thing I can do is stick to the plan and let it work. That includes days of stalls or small gains. The human body, on ANY diet, is not a machine. It doesn't work like a well-regulated clock. Expecting it to is setting oneself up for a lot of disappointment. As for me, I'm looking forward to a nice whoosh here soon.

My shingles are hurting slightly less today, the skin is still hypersensitive and the band of muscles aches, but it's not tear-inducingly bad. I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things and adding some chores and such back into my activities. It's a slow process and somewhat frustrating, but I can't rush healing.

I weighed in at 195.0 today, which is .8 down from yesterday, for a grand total of 12.4 pounds lost in eleven doses. I'm quite happy with that, I must say!

As for the shingles, I am hesitant but hopeful, my pain seems better this morning even without my Vicodin. Maybe they're actually beginning to heal? I still have the hot poker pain in my ribs if I burp or have any involuntary expansion of my chest beyond a shallow pant, but the skin and muscles, themselves, aren't throbbing quite so badly. I also slept more soundly, which was a boon. There may be light at the end of this tunnel of ouch, after all. I don't want to jinx it, but I'm praying this is relief!

Yesterday I had to force myself to eat dinner - how weird is that?! I am the girl who always out-eats the boys and can put anything away, anytime. And I seriously had to force feed myself a measly 250 calorie dinner? I was pleasantly shocked. It seems between the fat burning effects of the hCG and the obliteration of all my carb cravings, my uncontrollable hunger and lack of satiety cues are actually being fixed! That was what I was hoping the hypothalamus reset that this diet aims for would do for me, and I'm so pleased to see signs of it. Now, I know I cannot maintain this state if I go off the rails and start overdoing it on sugar and starch in maintenance, but knowing that excluding those foods gains me control over an area I previously had none? I am in awe of that.

I'm also pleased that, for all the calorie and fat restriction of this diet, I look less emaciated in my face and neck than after a month of small-restriction calorie counting. It really does on burn the stored fat - my structural fat under my skin is in perfect shape and I look healthy and bright, not sunken, dry, or 'hungry' (you know what that looks like, it ain't pretty!). Whenever I hit 190 I'll take another batch of pictures and measurements, I think it will be interesting to see how not-starved I look ;). For a fairly 'extreme' diet, I am taking very well to it (shingles response aside) and I know that P3 and P4 will be right up my alley as well. I do great on protein and high fat, I'm excited to get there. Heavy cream on berries and a nice ribeye sounds positively delightful right now!

I'm still incredibly sore and not healed yet, but the Vicodin can stay on the pain well enough that I can lay in bed. Last night I didn't take enough of it upon going to sleep and spent half the night awake, in agony, waiting for the next time I could dose. Ow... Then I slept until 1:00 pm after taking my morning dose, to catch up on some of what I lost in terms of rest.

TOM is still here but the protocol indicates to only cease injections for the three heaviest days, which means I'm back on this morning. My weight was 196.0 (I gulped water, so I actually think it was the same as yesterday's 195.8) and we'll see what it does tomorrow. When I'm not hunched over in pain I can definitely see some visual differences in my shape and fat but I won't measure again until I hit 190, then we'll see what kinds of inches have been lost.

I'm still sticking to the plan with as much perfection as I can, giving it my level best shot even with pain and soreness like I have right now. These shingles really need to heal, the sensations they create are like electric shocks or hot pokers jammed into my body. Go away, evil disease!

... That's a side effect o haven't experienced, before! Every nerve in my body is twitching and tingling, begging for a scratch. Still, the pain in my ribs, shoulder, and neck has been blunted, so I'll take some opium-induced nerve sparking for a respite from that awful pain. I'm also taking the Vatrex generic to get the virus under control and hopefully that will shorten the duration of my illness and keep the possible secondary effects (including pain that persists months after the outbreak has cleared) from occurring.

The VLCD might have stressed my system enough that the chickenpox virus could flare up again (it lays dormant in the nerve cells around the spine after having it as a child, and thus shingles outbreaks can occur at any time, multiple times, over the course of one's lifetime), but beyond that possible opening there is no correlation to my current diet and my illness. I'm grateful, because this is working marvelously for me and I feel great. No cravings, no flare ups of food allergies, even when I eat dairy or eggs as my protein for my meal, nothing. No bloat, acne, worsening of my seborrhea, or anything like that. This was exactly what I needed to reset my body and break from the things causing reactions and inflammation in my system.

So I'm going to ride out the shingles and persist with my full hCG course. Then I'm adopting a paleo-style of eating for maintenance, where I am limiting the things I react to or crave and fermenting what little bits of grain I do have. That seems to be the ticket for my best health. I will still bake for my family, but I'm choosing recipes that neutralize the anti nutrients like phytates, so it is healthier and easier for all of them to digest.

And should my next round of P2 cause another outbreak of shingles, I now know exactly what to look for and how to treat it. It's all a learning experience ;)

Well I did it - to see if nutrient issues were at the root of my pain I ate a protein and fat heavy breakfast yesterday (three eggs and six pieces of bacon) but to no avail, I didn't see any improvement. Thus, I continued on the rest of the day plan.

This morning, to my surprise, I was 195.8, which is 1.2 pounds down from yesterday, despite the breakfast experiment. This is my third day in a row with no injection, as I am on my period and am supposed to cease hCG for the three heaviest flow days. I'll be back on the normal injection schedule tomorrow.

Now, as for my mystery, miserable, malady. It appears I have shingles without a rash (herpes sine zoster). The muscle relaxants and ibuprofen aren't touching it, it is definitely nerve pain in an isolated area, and it looked like I had the barest splotchy rash pattern where the pain was. Except for the rash, every symptom fit perfectly, so I am waiting to hear back from my doctor about prescribing me some heavier duty pain killers that can affect nerve pain, and some acyclovir or other herpes-type mediation to address the chickenpox aspect of it. I am praying this is my road to recovery, as this has been brutally painful to the point that I oftentimes can't lay in bed to sleep and talking/walking/rustling clothing hurts.

I should be getting my other test results back from them today, as well. Hopefully those will be normal.

On the diet front, other than this unrelated pain I am doing fine. I made it through Christmas without a cheat and am moving forward with what has proven to work for me. I'm in a miserable spot where my husband has to help prep my meals, because I can't move my right arm and ribs without pain, but he's been very accommodating.

If I'm remembering correctly, I am down about 12.2 pounds from my first injection day to now. Not too bad, eh?

This drives me nuts to say, but I think it may be in the best interest of my body healing if I do a planned interruption and eat more than I have been, to give my body some fuel to repair these muscles. I just started my period, too, so I'm off the hCG shots, anyway, for the next three days. I didn't take one yesterday or today, and I will likely eat mor today, tomorrow, and until my shoulder and ribs get better. I don't want to do this, but the pain is debilitating and if a protein or mineral deficiency is to blame, I'm going to heal much slower on the diet.

I admit, I'm waffling on this big time. I'm at 197.2 today and have lost ten pounds, I don't want to turn around and regain it all because I stopped in the middle of an hCG cycle. But I can't even put on my own makeup, my arm is so screwy, nor can I lay in bed without tears. The muscle relaxants and ibuprofen are barely touching the pain. Ow.

We'll see, but I think giving my body a break is wise until it heals. Not ideal and what I want, but wise.

Yes, my shoulder and rib muscles keep seizing up, it's terrible. I'm still waiting for lab results but if they don't call me tonight I'm going to go get calcium/phosphate/magnesium supplementa anyway and deal with this, myself.

The weight loss is still marvelous - 197.4 today, which is down ten pounds in ten days. If these spasms do persist I may have to get out of P2 in the minimum amount of days - 21, with three days of VLCD but no shots - and see if that remedies the pain. I want to lose a ton of weight in one go, but if I am just not getting enough nutrients to keep these spasms under control I may have to do more rounds in shorter time than a few, longer ones. It isn't what I want to do, but the pain these muscle cramps are causing is immense and debilitating.

I'll be on plan throughout Christmas Eve and Christmas. I wish all of you a wonderful Christmas, without too much weight gain ;)

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This was originally supposed to be injection day ten, but I forgot to take it again and so I'm just making today my rest/off day from shots and will resume then tomorrow. Whoops!

I got a call from one of the nurses at the clinic and unfortunately that only got back one of my results - my magnesium a which was normal. I was advised that if I felt the same or worse to go to the emergency room. I haven't decided if I will or not, but I am mulling it. It's not particularly straightforward, since I will feel better one moment and then seize up the next. I'm glad to hear the magnesium was normal, but that would have been the easiest thing to fix if there had been a deficiency. We'll see what happens with the other tests. If things get worse I will head in, but right now I'm hoping ibuprofen and the Flexeril will keep this under control. I have a chiropractic appointment on Jan 3rd and I may pair a massage with that, to see if that will help things ease up.

I'll expand upon this later when I know more. Right now, we're doing this quick. Weighed in at 199.2, which is a one pound gain from yesterday. I stuck the the plan perfectly and my body stalled and is bouncing around, which is very normal. I'm not worried in the slightest.

What has me worried, and may account for the pound gain, is that I may have strained or torn a muscle in my ribs and back. I am heading over to the urgent care center right after this, but basically my right side under my breast, around to my should blade, and on top of my shoulder and neck hurt so bad I can barely breathe. I have to pant, any deep movement of my chest makes it ache and burn. I used that arm to pull myself into our car and twisted a bit last night, I think that is when the Injury happened, but it is so bad I cannot lay on my back or left side and still get air. So I'm going in to have it checked out and make sure it is nothing more serious like a blood clot, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to need muscle relaxants and pain killers. If I did injure the muscle, my body would be using glycogen to repair it and that would equal water weight retention. It all makes sense, we'll see what the doctor says.

So ouchie chest and bye for now :(

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Update: the doctor was, predictably, very uncomfortable with and skeptical of the diet (he obviously hasn't done much research on it, I can't blame his assumptions as I had them too, before looking into it) but didn't harp excessively. He thinks I have some muscle spasms that may be caused by an electrolyte imbalance or insuffient nutrients (magnesium and potassium). He drew blood for a panel and I should be getting results back tomorrow.

I've been prescribed NSAIDs and Flexeril (muscle relaxant) and need to focus on resting. Even when the muscles aren't seizing back up, now my right ribs, chest, neck and back are so sore they ache, regardless. It really sucks but I am hoping it goes away soon.

Unless I get worse I am not reconsidering this diet, as there is no proof it is linked, but I am definitely going to consider supplementing more calcium, magnesium, and potassium to prevent the cramps. This is no fun at all, but I am glad there doesn't appear to be anything significantly wrong. He is doing a blood test for detecting possible clots, just to be on the safe side, but I'm not too concerned.

Despite the pain and funky midday sleeping and such, I stayed on plan with a blended strawberry/cocoa/spinach shake for lunch and a spinach frittata for dinner. Hopefully I won't be retaining such a huge amount of water tomorrow, but as long as I am sore I'm not holding my breath that the glycogen repairing the strain won't affect the scale.

So I had an airhead moment today. Well, more than one, but only one you're going to hear about!

It was such abuse morning getting the kids ready to leave, cooking my daily food before the gas and hot water went bye bye, and then doing tech support for my MIL (well, my husband did it, but I watched!), that after journalling I completely forgot to take my injection! Thus, at 1:45 pm I dosed, instead. Not a big deal, but I can't believe I walked by my supplies so many times today and it didn't occur to me I hadn't yet stabbed myself. Doh!

Weighed in at 198.2 today, down .6 from yesterday. I stayed completely on plan, the slightly lower loss can be attributed to either a previous set point (definitely possible) or just my body taking a breather. It's still well within the range to be expected and I'm happy with it.

Today is going to be a cold one around here - my husband will be replacing our broken hot water heater and to do that, he had to turn off the gas to the house. No fireplace, heater, or over/stovetop. The girls will be going with their grandma for an overnight 'camp-out', as we call it, while Seth and I hang out today and Peter is frantically plumbing and soldering. On the upside, our new hot water is a tankless Rinnai and the savings each month for this much more efficient model will be substantial, and well as lessening the likelihood of running out of hot water at any given time, like we used to. The downside, of course, is this installation.

As I said earlier I am doing fine and on plan, though I have noted two negative side effects to extremely low fat diets that are known to occur, I just hadn't expected to see them in me. First, dry skin. I kind of expected this, but in the dead of an already-dry winter, it's an itchy affair. The second and less expected side effect is zero sex drive! As a married woman, this is a problem, though my husband understand it is brief. Even during the load days, where I was stuffed to the gills, I still wanted sex just fine. In fact, my libido was better during the highest fat days (known to happen). Now, in the trenches of a low fat phase that would make Dean Ornish proud, I am about as interested in sex as another glass of water (I drink a gallon and a half or so a day!). It's not the end of the world, but after a few days of watching this one I can only conclude that this is not normal but a definite consequence of the diet. Interesting stuff to watch, actually. I am in the luteal phase of my period right now, too, which also contributes to a low sex drive. Either way, it's all conspiring against me to make my husband bored and lonely ;)

If this was NOT a brief phase, where I know it will be over in about a month, max, I'd be seriously considering changing my diet. This just proves to me that humans in general and me, on particular, thrive on a diet of whole animal products and plants with cooked, properly fermented grains and dairy (sparingly, still!). The high fat, low sugar, low starch diet is perfect for my needs and my biochemistry responds very favorably to it. Ultra low fat, super lean, calorie restriction? It is useful for a phase but nothing I could or would want to sustain long term.

That being said, I am becoming more positive the mechanism of hCG for burning fat stores is absolutely legit and working beautifully in me. My face and hands are still supple and full of vitality - no gauntness or ill health apparent. But my midsection, breasts, and thighs are all visibly shrinking. My abnormal fat stores are disappearing while the quickly lost and replenished sub-dermal fat remains largely untouched. That is the only way I could be living on so few calories a day with no hunger or visible emaciation, and no negative side effects but a little tiredness, some dry skin and no sex drive. Given the incredible calorie deficits I am pushing (21-2500 a day) that I am not impossibly hungry or miserable speaks to the metabolic mechanisms working.

I don't possess inordinate willpower and even minor calorie restriction tends to be tough for me to stick to, after a few weeks, due to hunger and cravings. Those are all but gone. No cravings for sugar and carbs (just fat and protein), no aching hunger, no overwhelming need to cheat or nibble... None. I'm not particularly great and staying on plan, historically, so my ability to adhere to this is God helping me and a fair bit of sensibility to the (admittedly odd and extreme sounding) plan.

We'll see if my losses are better tomorrow. I should be coming up on TOM, which would slow them for a few days.

Weight this morning was 198.8, down 1.2 pounds from yesterday for a total of 8.6 pounds lost. I'll take it!

My arm hurt so bad last night in bed I had to get up and hunt down our Traumeel, which is an arnica-based analgesic and anti inflammatory. Good stuff, and it helped me finally get to sleep. You don't realize all the things that put crazy pressure on your forearms until you can't do them anymore. Most of my normal typing, sleeping, and sitting positions are out. Stupid icy driveway... And if that isn't bad enough, we got more heavy, wet snow on top of it last night. It just makes things even more slick. Fortunately the six-hours-too-late new salt did wonders on the ice below it, so I'm hoping that makes up for the decreased traction that comes with that type of wet snow (think wd-40 on an ice rink).

I'm having a phenomenon I've heard about but never really experienced - food thoughts! I'm craving the nutrients I want more of (fat and protein) and imagining the food I'll be eating in a few weeks. It's kind of sad and hilarious at the same time. I still refuse to cheat and have made very tasty stuff on this diet, but it is SO restrictive that my mind keeps thinking of 'better times'. Fortunately I know these thoughts are temporary and they don't affect my food choices right now, but when I catch myself thinking longingly about oxtails melting fat into beef broth and crispy duck skin the drool starts ;). I'm so thrilled that is the sort of stuff I need to maintain on!

No hunger besides the aforementioned dream munchies, no headaches or ill feelings. I definitely am short on energy and I notice it most when lifting stuff (my arms feel fatigued under loads they didn't used to). I'm also freezing pretty much all the time, which given the definition of a calorie (unit of energy used to heat one ml of water 1 degree centigrade, if I'm not mistaken) and the lack of them in my diet right now, makes sense. I don't feel emaciated or look bad, quite the contrary, but there are little biological signs that I am burning huge amounts of energy stores which is EXACTLY what I want.

I'm grateful I have yet to see one symptom - hair loss! When I lost weight in my first chunk my ponytail thinned quite a bit. This type of diet can be hard on the adrenals and any significant calorie deficit can cause biological stress and result in sheds. I'm pretty serious about the condition of my hip-length hair, so I'm glad it's holding up well.

Another fine day on plan - I had definite munchy head hunger for lunch because I took the kids for our lunch date with daddy and got to watch them eat tasty junk, while I sat with nothing (I was eating at home, after the excursion), but it passed without incident or cheating. In fact, everything was fine until I parked in our driveway, which had become even more of an ice rink since the time we left and was now solid, slick ice.

In trying to get out of the car my foot slipped as I was lowering myself out of the door and I ate it, big time. I slide down and under the open door, slamming my elbow on the car door and then on the ice, with the full weight of my body bearing down. It was incredibly, nauseatingly painful. I iced it immediately upon entering and that seems to have limited the swelling and bruising quite a bit, but my entire arm from elbow to forearm is so sore I can't even rest it on a couch cushion, and my fingers and wrist throb on occasion. I don't think I broke or fractured anything, which is a total miracle given the severity of the fall, but the bone bruise is nasty and will be a slow healer.

We had been meaning to get more salt at Costco tonight, to melt the ice. Clearly we were about six hours too late. Ow ow ow.

In diet related news, other than staying on plan rigorously again I have little to report. No real hunger, no headaches - I actually couldn't finish the amazing P2 Cincinnati Chili I made for for lunch, it was such a big bowl. What I did notice today, confirmed over the past few nights, is that my acne is clearing up in a big way. I have struggled with hormonal acne since having Callie, and nothing has really touched it but topical treatments to eliminate the spots. They still kept popping up, which was an issue. Apparently it is starches or dairy that did it to me, because I am having only a tbsp of each per day right now and everything else is normal food for me, but the immovable skin issues are improving. My scalp issues are also appearing to lessen, another miracle. I will have to see, as I add substances back in down the road, which ones exacerbate these issues. For now, though, they are going away and I am thrilled! I am thinking it is the dairy, but we'll see. Either way, I'm blessedly clearing and inflammation all over my body, in multiple forms, is healing. That is EXACTLY what I was hoping would happen and yet another reassurance that this course and eating style is perfect for me. Yay :)

I weighed in at 200.2 this morning, down 1.2 pounds from yesterday's weight of 201.4. Grand total weight loss is 7.2 pounds.

I am almost positive I simply took an injection break too early in the cycle. Now that the hCG is back in normal doses, I feel fine. No headaches or cravings, no significant weakness. My mom brought up a good point and I decided the same - due to the fact that exercise increases my hunger and I have some weakness, I'm just going to shelve my normal exercise block for the duration of P2 and resume it when I'm back to normal calories in P3/P4. Maybe if I'm feeling absolutely awesome I'll put it back in early, but outside of daily movement around the house I probably won't see as many benefits as drawbacks from the light exercise. I'll just add an extra half hour of sleep and call it good.

I'm taking the kids to Peter's work for our normal every-other-week lunch date at the cafeteria. Instead of trying to find something on the menu, I'm just going to eat at home and call it good. That's my plan for all social interaction in P2 - drink lots of water and maybe iced tea with stevia, but no eating outside of what I prepare at home.

Time to get the kids ready, I'll report back in if something interest comes up.

My headache subsided by the middle of the day and my slight hunger (I'm still not sure if it was the physical empty feeling or actual hunger, but it was minor in any case) is completely gone, so I am thinking the hCG is back circulating through my system in the necessary quantities to keep me feeling good. My energy, which was flagging in the morning and afternoon, is also back up. I stuck to the plan like glue today too, I'm quite proud of myself. I was making dinner for my family and didn't have one taste of the sauce I was seasoning (tricky! I had to do it by smell), a lick of noodles, and I wore gloves the entire time to prevent fat absorbing through my skin.

On another aside, kneading bread with gloves on? Interesting task and not particularly straight forward, but it worked well enough. Better than coming into contact with a ton of oil and accidentally stalling myself out. The fat really acts like a hormone interference substance when it comes to the protocol, so even the tiniest amounts could cause issues and temporarily stop the hypothalamus response the hCG is affecting. I've been diligent in gloves and scrupulous in my food preparation and consumption and, while I am not sure that is what can be credited for my losses, it can't hurt!

It came to my attention today that Simeons, in Pound and Inches (pg 57), says that the only weight to count as a start weight is not the one prior to loading, but on the first day of the VLCD. As I want my record for this experiment to be correct and record weight daily, regardless, it is really six of one, half dozen of the other for me. But since that it how most other protocol dieters record their weights, for uniformity I should do mine the same way.

What that means, in practical terms, is that I have lost 6 pounds in five days, from 207.4 on Friday to 201.4 this morning.

I guess it makes sense to calculate it that way since the load gaining was not water weight, it was actual extra calories consumed as per the diet instructions. In which case, I am losing marvelously fast for feeling so good! A light headache that hasn't needed Tylenol and a little tiredness for one day? Not bad at all!

That rate of loss will surely taper off, but I'm happy to ride it! If I would see my ultimate low from the summer (191) by the end of the week or beginning of the next? I would be elated. And if I 'only' lose half a pound a day from here on out, I should still be firmly around 180 by the end of my course, so long as I keep being mindful and diligent to follow the protocol to the letter. If I'm going to do it, I'm doing it right. That's what I keep telling myself. It gets me through those moment of cravings and head hunger, or prepping for the rest of the family when I want a taste SO badly.

I don't want that taste more than I want to get this weight off lose these allergies. I don't want that junk more than I want to slim down for my husband. I wasn't in that place for a lot of months - the one where I was willing to work hard and sacrifice my temporary satisfaction for long term benefits - but now I am. It is GOOD to be back. Will there be struggles in subsequent rounds or down the road in maintenance? Always. If I have learned anything over these past few years, it is that weight is something constantly in flux, always requiring some vigilance, and the culmination of MANY choices day to day. I know exactly what it takes to maintain and exactly what tips the balance of the scale up or down. The 'knowing' hasn't been the issue. The doing?

Well, that's where I'm at right now, isn't it?

I will not post pictures at 200, but I will at 190 and every decade of weight below that. The pictures from the last time I hit this weight are still accurate with my current shape. I'll check in with my plan tomorrow morning, and I think I'll make a habit of listing my meals, if not the full recipes for them. It will make this blog less repetitive and boring in a few weeks, if my daily blogging has something more than a number and 'losing weight, feeling great!'.

Until morning, then.

201.4 today, which is a 1.8 pound loss from yesterday. It was a little rough last night and this morning with slight headaches and tiredness, but then some insomnia, however I also had my first serving of Splenda in over two weeks. I'm going to watch carefully to see if anything is related to the Splenda, as I think it might be. I also think it may have been a bit early in the cycle to take a rest day, as my body just stabilized on the hCG and then I forced it to compensate again. Next week's should go more smoothly.

Hunger is still not an issue. I'm still battling some head munchies, whereby I am thinking about food and wishing I could eat it, but it's not physiological in nature. This is where I'd previously give in - wanting something and then acquiring it. But that isn't the mature way to manage my body, and it neither made me more healthy nor look the way I want. Thus, whether I feel like it or not, no matter how good other food may sound, I am sticking to my plan like glue. It is such a brief period of time, I am going to give it my absolute all. What's the point of doing something drastic like this if I am not going to try to glean as much benefit from it as possible? And the benefits HAVE been great. In four days I am down six pounds from my loading weight and two from my starting weight. That's a great loss and should continue at the rate of half a pound to a pound per day for the duration of the diet, with a few stalls here and there as my body adjusts.

I woke up this morning with the intention of working out. The baby actually woke me an hour before my alarm (and I got to sleep well past 1:00, thanks to insomnia) and so I got up and did my bible study, but as the time came to work out I realized I felt icky enough that I'd benefit more from additional rest than half an hour on the bike. So I rather intentionally made that choice and do feel a bit better for the additional sleep.

I'm going to experiment with some of the other proteins Dr. Simeons lists as okay, including moose (super lean game meat was said to be acceptable), Mahi Mahi (white fish), and even three egg whites and a whole egg. The egg, in particular, I will be watching like a hawk. They have been known to cause sensitivity symptoms in me before, and if they cause a reaction after a solid week of not having even a hint of them, I will have to relegate them to the 'no-except-on-the-rarest-occasion' list.

This is a short week for us, as a family. My husband only works until Wednesday, he has the rest of the year off thanks to vacation time. We have a hot water heater we will be replacing on Thursday and Friday, Christmas celebrations, and then the rest of the year will be spent finishing the bunk beds for the girls once and for all. Callie is in hers, as a single, and Lilah's is done in the garage, but the steps that connect them still need completing and then we will ditch Lilah's crib once and for all. It will free up a ton of space in their rooms, so I am looking forward to completion.

I'll be tracking my symptoms throughout the day and update if necessary. Until then!

Hola!

Report from last night is positive - I stayed completely on plan, with help from a very understanding friend who I had a late, gloriously enjoyable craft night with. My dinner was at 4:30 (apple, pickled cucumber, chicken, grissini) and I wasn't hungry by 2 am, nor when I woke up the next morning.

Today I am feeling pretty weak - not sick, just slightly drained. That's normal for this period of time and I'm taking the opportunity to rest and not overdo it while Peter takes care of the kids.

My weight was 203.2, which was really great considering I quick pickled a cucumber yesterday for dinner and it involved a tablespoon of salt >_<. The good Dr. Simeons does NOT restrict salt at all, but that doesn't mean that so much of it won't make me retain a little water, even if I am drink over a gallon a day. That's okay. I want real fat loss, not the illusion of it through water weight disappearing. And since I drink SO much water the salt is helpful in not allowing my electrolytes to get wonky. Plus, it was tasty. Very, very tasty. I used stevia in place of the sugar called for in the recipe and it worked fine, but without the negative sugar impact.

Now, onto today:

To extend the time I can dose with hCG without hitting immunity to it (where my system gets used to the amount and I begin getting hungry again, and not losing fat as well) the protocol recommends that one day a week is a rest day from injections, whereby you still follow the VLCD but don't dose with the hCG. This works because the hormone remains in the bloodstream in effective quantities for 72 hours, so skipping a 24 hour period is no hardship on the dieter and allows them to lose weight for a longer period of time. Thus, tomorrow will be day four, despite today being the fourth day on the diet, because tomorrow is my fourth injection. I'm calculating days on this diet by injections, officially, not calendar duration. It makes things slightly tricky, but is a more accurate way to do it.

Other than the weakness this morning I am feeling great, just drank my tea with a tbsp of milk and stevia, and am eating a lunch of steamed asparagus with Tony Chacheres (super yum), chicken dry-sautéed with salt, paprika, and water (also yum), grapefruit with a little stevia to sweeten and my trusty grissini. The minimal starch in the grissini breadstick and milk in the tea do not seem to give me allergic symptoms at all, which is great. I didn't want to cut those out of the diet unless I had to, but apparently my tolerance for those substances is decent enough that trace amounts don't hurt. That will make the maintenance phase much more smooth. Also, it doesn't seem to stir up cravings, another worry of mine. Other than the occasional braised hunger for more food and junk, my body is very satisfied and feeling better and better. No inflammation, stuffy sinuses, headaches, or anything else. I nixed my coffee and diet soda for the time and will probably not interject the latter back in again - I haven't ascertained if, on the rare occasions I drink soda, whether the artificial sweetener is worse for me than the sugar. It's a toss up at this point, and something I will probably just wholesale avoid except for very rare occasions.

I am keeping the salt a little lower today to see what kind of losses I have tomorrow and if it was indeed the cucumber pickles that kept me from more losing. But either way I am down four pounds from the first few days and my skirts fit looser, belly is more flat, and chubby chin issues are almost subsided again. All good things, and this diet IS called 'Pounds AND Inches' - I'll happily take the inches if the pounds are being stubborn :)

******** EVENING ADDENDUM

Ended up with a slight headache tonight, but it came about after several hours of looking at a computer screen in the dark and thus I cannot conclusively attribute it to the diet. Heading down to make dinner now, with P2 chicken chili and spinach chips.

Good morning everyone! I just woke up (it's been about sixteen hours since my last meal and said meal was about 250 calories) and NO HUNGER! Still! That's exciting to me, as my willpower couldn't withstand wanting to eat m own arm ;)

I was 204.0 this morning which is down the three pounds or so I gained during the loading, so I'm about where I was at the beginning of the week. I'll be dosing (belly, totally!) in just a few minutes. I have no symptoms to report except maybe the slightest light headed sensation when I stand too quickly, and my normally low blood pressure plus the low blood sugar from this diet would be attributed to that. Nothing negative or impacting me in a big way. Hurrah!

I came across this description of how the hCG works and thought it was the best condensed explanation of why asimeons uses hCG in the protocol. I figured I'd share.

   How does hCG work or help with weight loss?

Dr. A.T.W. Simeons' research suggests a small, daily injection amount of hCG (approx. 125 IU to 200 IU), results in an average weight loss of 1 to 2 lbs a day when accompanied by a VLCD (very low calorie diet).    

That mobilizing of fat stores is what allows the protocol to work with so few calories and no hunger issues beyond the first few days of adjusting. Your body gets its remaining calories through the fat released into the bloodstream, so long as the VLCD is observe fully and properly.

Oh, and injections into the thigh? Yeow! That stung like crazy and ached afterward. Lower belly remains far superior for me, thus far. I'm not stabbing my leg again.

***** EVENING ADDENDUM *****

Well the end of my first full day on the VLCD has been good! No headaches or insane hunger issues, in fact I'm not really hungry at all despite being right around 500 calories for the day (540 by my count, but I overestimated the size of my tomato and head of cabbage).

Now, I feel head-hungry, meaning my brain is telling me I want to eat, but it isn't physiological, which is amazing for so little food. I have a curious empty feeling, as there isn't anything in my stomach, but that isn't the gnawing, distracting feeling of true hunger, either.

The first week or so I am expecting to be rough as some people on protocol experience negative symptoms while their systems adjust, but at least into my third injection I feel just fine. Sticking to the plan like glue hasn't been hard as I know exactly what I can eat and don't even look twice at the other stuff. The restrictive food list is actually a bit freeing, it takes the decision of what to eat and how much to consume out of my hands. At this point I am still craving some junk, but it's completely manageable and mostly in my head. I've probably had a gallon and a half to drink today, between my gallon of water and two pots of tea. Peeing like a racehorse to go right along with that ;)

We'll see how I'm doing tomorrow. Adios!

Third day of hCG injections and I must say, if I ever needed an object lesson in sodium related water retention, my dinner last night gives it. I'm up about four pounds this morning thanks to a burger and fries from Carl's jr. This, I begin today at 207.4, which will be gone by tomorrow, perhaps taking a friend or two with it as well.

Here is what I am going to be eating from now until day forty of injections:

Breakfast: Tea or coffee in any quantity without sugar. Only one tablespoonful of milk allowed in 24 hours. Saccharin or Stevia may be used.

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Lunch: 1.    100 grams of veal, beef, chicken breast, fresh white fish, lobster, crab, or shrimp. All visible fat must be carefully removed before cooking, and the meat must be weighed raw. It must be boiled or grilled without additional fat. Salmon, eel, tuna, herring, dried or pickled fish are not allowed. The chicken breast must be removed from the bird.   2.    One type of vegetable only to be chosen from the following: spinach, chard, chicory, beet-greens, green salad, tomatoes, celery, fennel, onions, red radishes, cucumbers, asparagus, cabbage.   3.    One breadstick (grissino) or one Melba toast.   4.    An apple, orange, or a handful of strawberries or one-half grapefruit.

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Dinner : The same four choices as lunch (above.)    ---------

Nifty, huh? Generally speaking, I am eating the meat, grissini, and fruit and counting calories, then filling my remaining space in the 500 calorie allotment with vegetables. The trick being that I cannot mix them, only one type per meal and better to not repeat the same veggie for lunch and dinner. But I can have 100 calories of cabbage, for example, in a broth I made with my chicken breast, and with some added spices. That turns a fairly small calorie amount into a pretty extensive meal. There are NO restrictions on salt, pepper, and most spices and herbs, other than that they contain no added sugar or fat. That means flavor plays a big part of making an otherwise very simple diet interesting, and Cajun shrimp sauté or curry coated chicken is allowable, so long as it is cooked in compliance with the protocol. I have a nice little PDF cookbook just for phase 2 (P2) that gives me a lot of good options for flavor while staying firmly on plan.

I am stating it again, but it needs to be repeated often - I am giving this my 100% try. There is no point in drastically changing my lifestyle and body's chemistry if I am going to cheat. Thus, no going back. From here on out I am staying as on plan as I possibly can, right down to skipping Christmas dinner to instead eat what I packed myself. And when I get into P3 and P4, I am using the cessation of my junk food cravings as an opportunity to permanently replace my previously grain and sugar heavy recipes with ones that aren't going to spike my blood sugar and make me a ravening beast. I'm accepting, flat out, that I cannot eat some foods in moderation, and that half a donut or a slice of cake is really a once-a-year thing for me if I want to stay slim and feeling good, without food allergies.

I'm so fed up with junk and despite what I have told myself in the past, I truly DON'T need it. Thus, from here on out I am not only sticking like glue to the protocol, going so far as to wear gloves while cooking for the family to keep from coming into contact with fats, but I'm using the maintenance periods to get myself firmly in the habit of cooking without grains and sugar. Coconut flour, almond meal, stevia... These are going to be replacements I have to train myself in using, to gradually shift how my family eats. It's a big task but I'm so ready for it. It took a lot of time and struggled to get to the point of being fed up with this current weight (195-205 range) and even more time to be convinced that the standard American diet isn't a right, nor is it something I should be bummed about avoiding. But I did hit that threshold and now I'm all in for changing it.

Everyone has to do their own journey and soul searching on this point, but I am confident with my path for the next six months or so. And being in the habit of eating pretty firmly paleo for the next pregnancy? That will make my pregnant maintaining all the easier, having broken my wheat habits prior to it all.

I'll probably report in at the end of the day with how the cooking went and how many lurking fats tried to land on me ;). Wish me luck!