January

This month has gone by pretty quick, with exception to one thing... my eating. At the very beginning of January we were over at a friend's house and she was starting her 2nd round of that crazy hcg diet. While we were there she offered me an extra bottle that she wasn't going to use. That bottle was worth like $50, so I wasn't about to not take advantage of it, especially since I know she lost a good 25 pounds using it. So, I geared up for a long, non-fun food month.

Here is a quick rundown of the hcg diet. You use the hcg drops 3 times a day. The first 2 days of the "round" you pig out and gorge as much as you can. Which I was REALLY good at. After all, that's pretty much just how I've lived the last couple years! Day 3 is when the real work begins. You are VERY limited in your diet. You are allowed up to 500 calories a day. Now, obviously this sounds dangerous... only it's not with the hcg in your blood stream. The hcg makes it so that your body burns old, stored fat as energy versus your "healthy fat". So that's why I'm not all malnourished. Here is what you're allowed: You skip breakfast. For lunch and dinner you can have 4 ounces of a lean meat, either chicken breast, white fish, shrimp or super lean steak. A veggie at each meal, choosing from spinach, lettuce, onion, tomato, cucumber, asparagus or radishes. Although you may not mix the veggies in a meal. Then you get a fruit from the choices of an orange, grapefruit, strawberries or an apple. Then you get one grissini bread stick or 2 pieces of Melba Toast. That's it. Absolutely NO other foods. If you're hungry in the morning, you can eat your lunchtime fruit for breakfast.

Here is the thing with the hcg diet... if you break a rule, you GAIN weight super easily. I've had a couple days where I broke down and had a Diet Coke, and the next mornings I hadn't lost any weight. There have been 2 days I've fallen into temptation. The first time I licked the knife I used when making the girls' peanut butter sandwiches. And the 2nd time, I licked the spatula Brent had used to dish himself a piece of a pudding pie he made with a graham cracker crust. I LOVE those crusts and I saw the spatula all covered in crumbs and had a moment of weakness. And of course, the next mornings on both those days, I was up half a pound.

You have to weight yourself every morning and on average should lose about a pound a day, assuming you don't listen to the fat girl inside and go around licking dirty dishes. Today is my 18th day on the diet and I've lost 17 pounds, even with my "bad days". I have about another 10 to go and I really aim to try and lose another 10 pounds. The maximum number of days you can do this diet is 40, but I think my hcg will run out about day 30.

Some days are really easy to live through and others are torture! Like the day Brent made that blasted pie. Even though it was vanilla pudding (boo!) I still wanted some. And the days Brent has made himself quesadillas have been kinda hard. After about 14 days of charting my food and weight loss, I came to realize that my body wasn't handling the beef very well. So in order to make it work as best as I can, I'm off beef. So I'm seriously bored with the same 5 meals over and over and over, but I just remind myself that it's not going to be forever. The hardest part, I think has been eating separately from the rest of the family. I'm eager to start making family meals again and all eating at once.

So, once this 500 calorie phase of the diet is over, then you gradually increase your calories to about 1500-2000. But you have to maintain your weight for 6 weeks when it's done. This apparently resets your metabolism to this new weight. For the first 3 weeks you are still totally off carbs and sugars. Even potatoes, beets and bananas. After that 3 weeks you can slowly start adding carbs. Starting with one new one a day and then go on from there. After the 6 week maintenance is over, you can start trying to lose weight again, or even do another hcg round. Although I know I won't do this again. It's been pretty tough!! You have to be even strict to watch what cosmetics you use. Make-up, deodorants or lotions with any fat or oils in them make you gain weight, the oils soak into your skin and it messes up the whole thing.

So that's what I've been going through this month. While the diet is seriously strict and boring. I've also really enjoyed it. The fact that you can't mess up, even a tiny little lick's worth, has taught me that I can control my eating. I can be alright without desserts every night. I can be alright without stuffing myself so full I want to puke. I've come to learn that, for me, hunger is a "state of mind" and that I really don't need to eat that much. I'm eager to get over the 6 week maintenance and to start losing weight again with my new found self-control. I'm thankful for this experience and hope it will help me with my eating issues for the long term.

Brent has started his new class. After it's all done, he'll only have 7 more to go. He had just over a month off and that was nice, but now it's kind of hard getting back into "master's mode". It will probably take a couple weeks to get back into the swing of it. He hasn't been able to bike much at all this winter, it's been so cold. We're hoping things will warm up enough for him to bike in the next couple of weeks.

Mariska is really eager for her little preschool to start back up again. They didn't have it in January because they were out of town, but it starts next Wednesday and we're all excited!

Brynley is doing just fine. She's fallen in love with Barney and makes me sing the ending song about 100 times a day... but the hugs make it totally worth it!

Here are some pictures from January!