Day 72

130 lbs. Awesome! Staying away from the Blooming Onion last night was a good choice. The dessert had no effect and was totally worth it. I'm liking all this.

Since my weight is pretty much stabilizing and I'm learning how to maintain or fix my problem days, I will likely start posting less frequently. Unless something dramatic happens, I'm thinking of posting on a weekly basis from here on out until I start round 2 of the hCG Diet again in June. A pound or two back and forth is really quite boring. What is important is that I continue to weigh myself every day and correct mistakes when they happen. Moral of that is: always have steak on hand! It's amazing how a steak day can fix everything. Carbs really are diet killers, but in moderation they can be sublime. According to the back of the Triscuit box, for someone on a 2000 calories per day diet (which I'm not), the amount of carbs recommended are 300g. Six Triscuit crackers have 20g so that leaves a pretty big spread to get to 300g. This amount can vary of course, and can be tweaked to find one's optimal level. It's part science and part common sense.

This whole path along my journey has been quit remarkable. Never have I been on a diet that on the surface sounds like you're starving, but is really giving you all the nutrition your body needs. I especially liked the fact that the weight came off so quickly because that was the encouraging part and it increased my determination to get through the program, once, twice or however many times it takes to rid myself of the excess weight.

People should be encouraged by the rapid weight loss and find support in those of us who have struggled day to day and not cheated. Cheating, I could see from the reports of others, was a pitfall I wasn't going to step into. You do have to have a certain amount of commitment and willpower.

My relationship with food has changed. I now know what the better foods to eat are and WHY. I never knew the why before. I've always liked the foods that were on the diet, so that really wasn't a challenge for me. The "load days" were a treat because you were able to, and were strictly encouraged to, eat as much as you could handle. I look forward to those days again! But, in the meantime I will strive to maintain my weight, eat and drink what I want and have the tools available to correct mistakes. Keeping that in mind, there should not come another time where I pack on 30-40 extra pounds. I've been battling my yo-yo weight since high school and I'm ready to stop the cycle. My overall health and well being depends on this becoming my new lifestyle. I have a child who needs me to be there for her as she navigates her life. Fortunately, she is thin and won't likely have any weight problems.

See you next weekend....