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....

Day 71 ~ Phase 4

130 lbs. Well, I made it. And, tonight I will test it with a vengeance. I went out to dinner again at Outback Steak House...different city. This time I avoided the Blooming Onion that showed up at my table 2 minutes after I arrived. I did have one piece of bread with butter and I indulged in splitting a brownie/ice cream sundae thingie.  There was also the split bottle of wine that was shared. We'll see how all this plays out tomorrow when I hit the scales. It could be said that I didn't hold back. I already have steak on hand in case it's a STEAK DAY!

Day 70

131.5 lbs. Easy come, easy go. I think it might have been the 2 butterfly pork chops last night...or the corn. It's still under the LIW (last injection weight) of 132, so I'm happy.

Tomorrow starts phase 4 ~ adding in carbs and sugars. I will need to research this stage on the yahoo groups so see how people survive. I can see how one could easily snowball and fall to the bottom of the hill. It really doesn't take much in the way of carbs to derail me. I can only imagine the same would be true for sugars. Just a little bit scared. Looking forward to pizza, but not sure one piece would be satisfying. I see steak days in my future....

Day 69

129.5 lbs. Wow, I wasn't even trying to lose yesterday! I just wasn't hungry. I admit there was a time when I wanted to snack and I grabbed those peanuts. But, I was satisfied (convinced that I wasn't going back to old ways) with the one oz. instead of a cup and a half.

The other day when I gave blood my blood pressure was 130/90. This morning is was 135/75. I'd say this diet is agreeing with me. It was a frightful day (I think it was load day 1) when my blood pressure shot up to 192/88 and I had to sign a release for the Life Line people to let me leave their premises. I was a walking time bomb. I didn't feel like I was ready to explode, but I definitely didn't feel great. Living in fear like that is not my idea of optimum health, especially if you have someone who depends on you. I had to do something quick. It's great waking up in a much better place now. 
 
I'm really going to have to get some new pants. Everything is falling off of me.

Day 68

131. lbs. It really is amazing how even if you gain a few pounds during the course of a week, by eating certain foods for one day, the extra weight comes right off.

Today I had 3 eggs, cheese and salsa for breakfast. I wasn't hungry for lunch until about 1:30 pm. I had some cooked cabbage for lunch, some peanuts (1 oz. again) for a snack, and a regualr dinner of steak and asparagus. Oh, and I had a big chunk of cheese. 

Day 67

132 lbs. That dinner last night didn't hurt me one bit. When you follow the rules, no carbs and no sugar, the pounds really do stabilize. If you mess up, the steak day abolishes your sins.

This is Day 18 of phase 3. That means 3 more days of this phase and then it's on to phase 4. I'm leery of phase 4 where you're allowed to introduce carbs and sugars back in, albeit in moderation. What little carbs I've splurged on seemed like moderate to me, but had dire consequences. Not sure if I can imagine having an English muffin and then gaining two pounds the next day. I wonder if I'll be able to have bread or pasta at all? Likely, the key is to increase the exercise...i.e.,...earn your treats. I guess I should start wrapping my head around that concept, which isn't bad....really.

Day 66

132 lbs. Man, those steak days work just as they are supposed to. I did not have the apple because I was so full from the huge steak. Now tonight I went to dinner again and we'll see what repercussions if any, there will be from that. I tried to be good, but who really knows how the chicken marsala was actually prepared? The scale will tell me in the morning.