It's an amazing time!

I'm down 41.8 lbs as of this morning and now weigh 174.8 - lower than my lowest ever lapband weight. Lower than my lowest ever Nutrisystem weight. I survived my first round, including Phase 3, and am back in Phase 2 for my second round. I'm sorry I've been out of touch but have been working my butt off. I posted this today in one of my FB groups, but it has been edited for my privacy.

It's the little things...Rated PG

Our shower got bigger! It used to be so small, and there's so much room in there that hubby and I were able to shower together for the first time in 3 years....and we used to shower/bathe together all the time...it was our "down time" as a couple and kept us close. He walked up to me tonight and wrapped his arms tight around me. It felt so wonderful. He said to me, "have I told you how amazing it is to be able to put my arms all the way around you?"

Each day, I'm finding ME again, not that woman who was eating herself into oblivion, and just waiting to die. 

Perhaps on some level it might be fundamentally wrong to base so much of ME on how much I weigh. But I've never been a member of the club that says "I'm fat and that's how it is. You should love me as I am. Big is beautiful." No offense meant if anyone here thinks like that. It's just not me. As my weight went up, my self-esteem went down. 

Anyway, just a moment in my busy mind :)

If you're interested in learning how you can have my kind of success with your weight loss, plus improve your overall health just let me know!

Exciting days!

So much has been going on lately that I almost don't know where to start!

I believe in the Omnitrition products that I take for my weight loss, that I've become a distributor for them! If you're interested in weight loss, or even just general health products, see my sales page at:

https://www.omnitrition.com/helencarey

I've also become an affiliate for two places that I purchase from. One is Capella Flavor Drops. Capella makes awesome drops that you can put in water, or yogurt, or coffee, or food, or where ever you want flavor! The water drops are sweetened with stevia. I use their New York Cheesecake in my greek yogurt with strawberries. OMG, so good!

The other place I've become an affiliate for is Vitacost.com which is a nice website to buy any type of supplement, and flavored stevia.

I hope you'll check them both out :)

As to the weight loss, being in Phase 3, I should not have been losing weight, but I have been. This week has been up and down tenths of a pound, but I'm currently 185.4. I begin loading for Round 2 on Friday and can't wait! I'm hoping this next round will get rid of the remaining 35 lbs I need to lose. If not, I'll happily do one more round after that.

Finally, I created a Facebook group for hCG droppers. If you'd like to join, please feel free to contact me on Facebook and I'll send you an invite.

189.0

Blah. Up today, but that's fine, because you know, I had my hair down today for the first time in a long time. I usually keep it in a braid, day and night, because it's been just a mess since the lapband surgery. Was falling out in big handfuls...for years. My hair has thinned by half, I'm sure.

Amazingly, being on Omni stopped that! I've noticed it during periods that I had it down, that it's softer, not as brittle and doesn't fall out in unsual amounts anymore, just your typical few strands during brushing. I don't know if its the hCG drops, or if it's the fabulous vitamins by Omni.  But with hair almost down to my waist, having it look good healthy again is sure a nice side effect!

188.4

5/4 - 189.0 -1.0
5/5 - 188.4 -0.6

Wow, I'm surprised. I never expected to lose this kind of weight during maintenance! I keep reviewing my food logs to see if I'm doing something wrong, but I'm not. Everything there that should be (or should NOT be!) I was way under calories yesterday, only 864, where I should be 1200, so I think that accounts for the 0.6 loss this morning. Or, maybe I'm slowing down. We'll see tomorrow.

I want to make note here that I am exactly 13 lbs from my lowest weight with the lapband (175.4). I still have the lapband, and still have the .8 fill (I'm assuming. I haven't had it removed or adjusted). Oddly, I never vomit anymore, where I was vomiting nearly daily before starting the hCG.

My husband says he's so proud of my determination to do this. "Doing this" doesn't seem to be a problem. "Maintaining this" seems to be the problem. If I can start wrapping my head around that right now, hopefully I will keep it off.

190.0

4/27 - 191.4 - R1P3D1 - Maintenance -.2
4/28 - 191.6 +.2
4/29 - 192.6 +1
4/30 - 193.0 +.4
5/1  - 193.0 -
5/2 - 191.0 -2
5/3 - 190.0 -1

As you can see, the past week has been a little up and down. I'm hoping the downward trend continues and that tomorrow I'll finally break that barrier into the 180s! I've struggled a little with actually getting my calories UP to 1200. I have no problem staying under 1200, but I'm supposed to be between 1200 and 1500 per day.

I think the bumps up in weight were because of a couple of things.

One, our annual BBQ was on April 29...and I took a couple of bites here and there of rogue food, including a sliver of birthday cake, and STILL struggled for 1200 calories!

Second, and probably most importantly, it just took a bit for my body to adjust to not having the drops, and to adjust to the increase in calories. Down 3 lbs. in the past two days...wow!

Maintenance

April 24 - 191.2 - 25 lbs gone!
April 25 - 191.0
April 26 - 191.6 - Grrrr.

Yeah...this week has been a struggle. I finally decided it was time for maintenance, and tomorrow at 7:45 am, my 72 hours will be up. On to Phase 3 for 21 days. I was really hoping to hit the 180s before I did stop the drops, but maybe I'll hit it in Phase 3.

I'm really not thrilled to be going into maintenance. I do very well with the structure and routine of the P2 foods. I feel now like I'm just facing a big bad food world!

My current plan is to just increase my P2 foods by double, and add a breakfast of eggs each morning, to add in additional calories and protein. I do, however, have a few recipes I want to try, and I'll be religious about keeping a food log so I can see what may cause a problem.

23.8?

On April 20, I hit 192 lbs, a total of 24 lbs gone, and have been fighting the same one pound for the last 4 days.

April 13 - 195.4
April 14 - 195.4
April 15 - 195.0
April 16 - 195.0
April 17 - 193.8
April 18 - 194.0
April 19 - 193.0
April 20 - 192.2
April 21 - 192.6
April 22 - 192.4
April 23 - 192.6

After watching these numbers for a week, I've reluctantly concluded that it's time to end my first round, and move into maintenance for three weeks. I'm terrified to do this. I really do well emotionally with the structure of the program and the limited food choices. My last drops will be tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m.

I plan on eating mostly P2 foods, with few additions. That said, this is one of the recipes I want to try.

http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2012/01/cream-cheese-pancakes.html