I rarely suffer from it these days, but the past week I've had terrible insomnia, despite taking valerian and being dog tired all day long. This post, typed at 11:36 pm when I originally sat down for bed around 8:00, would be exhibit B in the rather unfunny joke that is my current sleep schedule. I have been exhausted all day from poor sleep last night, but I am having a heck of a time shutting my brain off right now. It might be diet related, but I doubt it. More likely hormonal, as I'm also struggling with head hunger and cravings this evening. My period is a bit screwy on the hCG, but I'm not technically due for another week. Still, whatever the reason, the sleeplessness affects both my performance and the scale. For that reason, I really hope some shut-eye will be coming sooner than later!

Food was good today - breakfast, as always, was chai tea with my tbsp of milk and some stevia. Lunch was some baked daikon radish 'chips' with some new spice rub I acquired at our local tea and spice emporium, along with some chicken sautéed with water and the same. The grissini and an apple topped it off. Dinner was shrimp, homemade cocktail sauce for my vegetable, my grissini, and some grapefruit with Erythritol to sweeten a bit. All satisfying and appropriately filling, which makes me sure my cravings for P3 and P4 foods tonight was more head related. My stomach isn't growling and I had plenty of water, so I'm just ruthlessly shoving down the cravings as I toss and turn. They'll be gone by tomorrow, they always are, it's just a matter of my head overruling my emotions regarding food and keeping on plan.

I have been noticing what might be some immunity issues regarding hCG, in both my slowed loss pattern (and tons of little stalls) along with an increased desire for P3-style meals and more food-centric thoughts again. Simeons' absolute maximum round length was 40 effective injections, and I'm over the minimum and just two weeks away from the maximum. My losses have been great and I'm honestly content with ending sooner than later and getting into the next phases for six weeks, as the strictness of P2 is both mentally and physically taxing. I've had so much success that I'm happy to work on stabilizing like a rock rather than pushing for a longer round, as I originally thought I might do. With those thoughts in mind, I have decided I will transition off of my hCG and into P3 either at 40 days or when I reach 177 pounds, whichever comes first. That gives me a window of 175-179 to maintain within for the duration of P3 and P4 and puts me solidly in the 170's, a place I haven't seen since high school.

I am really hoping those six or seven pounds come off sooner than 40 full injections, but either way I think it is a great number to end this loss cycle on and very respectable. I will have lost 30 pounds this round if I reach it.

My clothes are getting too loose, so I will be heading to the Salvation Army to get sme interim stuff for the stabilization part of the round. I'm really looking forward to picking through their stuff, my friend has assured me that right now the selection is excellent, especially among dressier church wear, which is primarily what I am in need of. It is just one sweet reward along this journey, right up there with looking awesome, feeling lighter, and being fairly free of food cravings aside from rare times like tonight.

My plan is to mix up one more batch of fresh hCG tomorrow, on the off chance that sme of my head hunger and restlessness is due to my batch beginning to lose potency. It should take me right through 40 days if needed, with another two boxes of Hucog standing by for mixing either on a future round or if I should have to extend my current round due to a poorly timed period (it is bad to end your last dose during your period, it tends to screw up stabilization, so taking extra doses through the end of it is necessary if dates should fall that way). That makes a nice tidy number, a tidy dose amount, round length, and everything else. I would be tickled pink if I could resume my better losses and get off the last little bit of weight in a week instead of two, but I'm counting on it taking longer and will just be pleasantly surprised if it doesn't ;)

Now. Hopefully my brain will shut off and I can get some rest. If I sleep immediately I can still get seven hours before the alarm goes off. And this, on a night when I went to bed in time to get 10 solid hours. Oy!