Why NO ONE should ever even consider Bariatric Surgery

Because food is not the enemy.
But if you have Bariatric Surgery, food will become your enemy.


If you are considering Bariatric Surgery, (surgically creating a tiny stomach) no doubt you ALREADY feel that food is your enemy.

That was me.  I regretted every morsel I ever ate because I kept getting fatter and could not lose an ounce, no matter what I tried - and I tried everything, except Bariatric Surgery - and I'm so thankful I never tried that!


Listen.  It's not your fault you are fat.  It's your hormones' fault.

If your hormones were working properly, your body would have used the food you ate as fuel.  Instead, your body stored it as fat.  Not your fault.  You feel you overate and 'deserve' to be fat?  Well, why did you overeat?  Because you were still hungry.  Hormones control hunger levels, not stomach size.  If you surgically shrink your stomach, your hunger will remain and then you will waste what's left of your now miserable life mashing and drinking tiny quantities of food, never eating normal food, never able to share normal meals with loved ones.

As Dr Simeons wrote in his 'Pounds & Inches'; "to accumulate...fat...is a very definite metabolic disorder...I have always held that overeating is the result of the disorder, not it's cause."

If you are fat, you have a metabolic, hormonal disorder.

WHY are your hormones working against you?  Some say 'metabolic disorder' can be traced to all the processed 'food' we eat, filled with chemicals, additives, and excess sugar.  But trying to stop eating that way cold turkey is difficult, as a lot of those chemicals and additives are not just unhealthy but actually addictive! 

With Dr Simeons' Protocol, you eat real food, food with only ONE ingredient (chicken, spinach, eggs, strawberries, etc), and with the help of the HhCG spray, you feel so much less hungry, you're able to break free of old bad eating habits like eating chips or drinking soda pop.  People joke that chips are addictive - well, check the label! If you see monosodium glutamate, then you are seeing an additive put there to make you finish the whole bag and crave more.  Or soda pop and 'juice', check for high fructose corn syrup, it's designed to make you crave more, buy more, and consume more!  

Following Dr Simeons Protocol you'll eat REAL food, and, using the HhCG spray, you can look forward to losing weight at an average of a pound per day(!), without being hungry(!!!), without exercising(!!!!) plus you can heal your metabolic disorder(!), and feel better than you have in years!  You will NOT need to exercise while you are losing weight - you can be a sedentary (or as active) as you are accustomed to being.

If you are really fat, you know exercise is out of the question, nearly impossible.  My knees ached just thinking about it and, at my fattest, I knew I would look pathetic, trying to jog down the street.  I was not in the mood to look pathetic.  I was in the mood to hide.   I probably would have considered Bariatric Surgery myself, if I had not found HhCG first.  I thank my lucky stars every single day that I found out about HhCG before any more of my life slipped away, and now, food is my friend!

Let me say that again: Food is my friend!
I'm not on a liquid diet, I eat really delicious food all the time!!! I cook my eggs in butter, with cheese, I add in a bit of salsa or fresh basil, I have toast and sausage and coffee loaded with cream - and that's only breakfast! Would you want to drink that breakfast in a smoothie?!!! Heck NO.  You will, if you have Bariatric Surgery.  Or you can have two bites before your surgically cinched stomach rejects the food and you throw it all up.  Good grief.

I eat SO WELL, I want to yell from the heavens: "You can too!!!"  (You can buy the same spray I used here.)

Last night my family went out to eat at a lovely Italian restaurant.  It was a warm summer evening and we were seated outside on the patio.   My youngest sister was visiting from New York.  (Yoga teacher, always been thin, very pretty, no children) She commented on my cute outfit and I had to smile - I felt like I looked just as cute as she always does, finally! -  I ordered a Salata Caprese  which is a whole plate of fresh mozzerella, layered with tomatoes and fresh basil, drizzled with olive oil and vinegar - and ate it all myself.  I also ordered a Ceasar salad topped with grilled chicken (the chicken was really tasty and moist, sooo delish) and I ate it all- including the dressing(!).  I also had several glasses of iced tea with lemon, that I sweetened with stevia that I'd brought along.  

Notice I had no desert.  Sweet (w/stevia) iced tea quenched my sweet tooth anyway and all the healthy fat in my meal had left me feeling deliciously sated and perfectly full.  
The children were reasonably well behaved and even adorable, my sister seemed charmed and my husband looked so handsome across the table, I could see he was proud of his brood - it was a meal worth remembering.  

In other words, I am 65 lbs less than I was just this past spring, and I love my life.  I am able to share wonderful meals with my family, whether we eat out, or in. I get to wear cute outfits, I enjoy my children more and we had a lovely time.  I do avoid sugar, because I know now that sugar messes with my metabolic hormones, but by that simple omission, I am able to eat like a queen and this morning, my weight had dropped 2 tenths of a pound.  Ha!  Take that, metabolic disorder!

I have friends online, on the TrimYou site and on the Protocol2Health site, all of whom are following Dr Simeons Protocol with the help of the HhCG spray, who have shed much more or less weight than I have, and many more who are in the midst of shedding.  I am so happy and proud of all of us, but I am so sad for those who don't know about this protocol and how they too can get the help they need to change their lives so quickly into the life that always felt out of reach, so I'm commited to writing this blog, to try and help get the word out.  

Please please PLEASE do not have surgery until you at least try Dr Simeons Protocol and the HhCG spray.  There is a whole community of people who can help you and I am just one of many who feel this is the BEST thing I ever did for myself and for my family as a result.
Please feel free to contact me if you have questions!  Let me help.
All the best to you!
Autumn

My story thus far...with lots of pictures!

If you're new to this blog, let me introduce myself; 

Hi! My name is Autumn and I am a 43 yr old mother of 6, my eldest is 9 and my youngest is nearly 6 months old.  

I'm writing this blog for YOU, because if you have found this blog, you must be interested in the things I am here talking about (weight loss, HCG, pregnancy, family, motherhood, diabetes, and pathways to health and ultimate vitality)...and I'm writing this blog for ME, because I need somewhere to vent all this great information, because not everyone wants to listen to me talk about this subject as much as I want to...and I am motivated because If I can make these positive changes and shape my life into the life I want, then you can too!

I was terribly worried that I was following in my mother's footsteps in that I gained 60 lbs or more with each pregnancy and could not get the bulk of that weight off, no matter what I tried, and then gained more weight with the next pregnancy.  My mom never was able to lose her pregnancy weight gains. I saw myself following in her footsteps to a future of ill health, and for some time it seemed unavoidable.

Then, 2 yrs ago I discovered HCG and Dr Simeons Pounds and Inches Protocol, (actually using HhCG, the homeopathic version of the hormone) and was able to shed 65 lbs in 4 months.  For that spray go here.

It was life-changing in the best way. Through following that strict, healthy protocol of only eating certain wholesome and healthy foods while completely avoiding anything processed, or anything 'not on the list', I learned that my body was capable of burning off a pound of fat each day, and that my body was not broken, and that it was NOT MY FAULT that I was overweight.  I also learned that vitamins can actually work, that magnesium is vital to my body's ability to function properly, that unprocessed sea salt is very different from the pure white stuff, that we don't need to be afraid of salt, or of fat, and perhaps most importantly, that I was capable of creating a positive, transformative change with each and every accumulative step I took each day.

I also learned that the spray made my body exquisitely sensitive to certain foods and that even a small taste outside protocol could have big consequences, but that knowledge helped keep me on the straight and narrow.

On the website that supports the particular spray I use, I read hundreds of personal stories, and made new online friends by the dozen, with all of us going through the same transformation, all using the same protocol and spray - I learned so much, and was profoundly changed.

If you'd like to as me questions about this homeopathic HhCG spray, send me an email and I'll respond right away - just scroll down and look for the link with the blue hydrangea flower picture on the right hand side of this page ---->  You can also order it here.

After the birth of our 6th child I had another 50 pounds to lose, and by using the HhCG and following Simeons Protocol again, I have only 10 more pounds to go till I reach my goal.   It is SO empowering and exciting to know I have control over my weight; it is a real departure from the feeling of hopelessness that used to hang over me!  I think I actually enjoy my children more now, which is so sad really, because I did not know I was resenting them or blaming them for my inability to lose weight, but I must have been.

One big reason my weight was in 'locked-on' mode was because of the hormonal changes that occur with pregnancy and breastfeeding.  Happily, I no longer feel like my pregnancy weight gains are 'locked on', because I have HhCG to 'unlock' my fat stores.

Another reason my weight was 'locked on' was due to eating too many sugars/starches and  avoiding fatty foods. Now I try to keep sugar and starchy carbs to an absolute minimum for me and my family. AND, I eat fatty foods!  All the time! Every meal, in fact! Ha! I feel absolutely devious and yet eating fats with your low carb/hign protein meals is the best way to feel sated and get your body into 'un-locked' mode.  It's a pretty delicious way to live too.

During Phase 3 I learned a lot about metabolic hormones such as insulin and ghrelin and adiponectin and leptin - all the known metabolic hormones (more is learned all the time so you need to stay tuned-in!) - and these days I'm reading about our medical community and issues that my mom is dealing with...I've only started reading about thyroid and iodine, inflammation and arthritis, and potentially devastating statins and how CoQ-10 can help...I read a LOT and I will include sources whenever it's applicable.

Dr Mercola's site and newsletters are filled with good natural health info; I'm always learning something there that leads me to new ideas and information - for example now I know when Nature offers up vitamin D and now I get my family outside to soak it up!  Before, I was doing it all wrong- sigh.  Before reading Dr Mercola's articles I usually had us outside at peak UVA times, which increases skin cancer risks(!) instead of peak UVB times which increases Vitamin D! -  Yikes.  Well, now I know. 

Mothering magazine is a great source for information and articles about parenting, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, etc. I was sorry to see them go out of print, but their online archives are fantastic and founder Peggy O'Mara is still involved in making it a relevant and reliable source of good, solid and up to date information.

Pathways to Family Wellness, a printed magazine with an online presence, is another wonderful source of information about achieving natural health and vitality for everyone, with a focus on family.  Recently there were several articles on homebirth and interviews with midwife Ina May Gaskin that were just wonderful.  I discovered this wonderful magazine in a chiropractor's office.

I hope to help my mom to regain her health, and help my father-in-law avoid knee replacement surgery, help my kids grow up healthy and strong, help my husband and I to live in health and vitality forever, and really, I wish health and vitality for everyone(!)  

So, I'm writing this blog for YOU and me, because if I can make these changes and shape my life into the life I want, then you can too!

All the best to you!

xox 

Autumn

Mom and Dad on their wedding day

Mom and Dad some 45 yrs later, before statins and before 'official' diabetes diagnosis

John and I on our wedding day

Mom and my 5th baby Lucy

Me and my 4th baby Olivia...

Me turning into my mother, standing with my slender sisters...(one of which was pregnant at the time, and still looked great, while I looked Big!)

Me and my family in 2002, before Mom's health crisis, before I had kids

Me now, with 6th baby Veronica, half-way back to my ideal weight - photo courtesy of 4 yr old Olivia

:D

Should we weigh in every single day?

This question, the question of whether or not to weigh in every day has come up a few times in my HhCG community over on Suzannes site: Protocol 2 Health.  And, well, NOT weighing every day does seem to help some people to keep their spirits up, and I 'get it', because I sure can get gloomy if the scale shows me a stall for several days - (Booo!)

However, weighing yourself every single day IS part of Dr Simeons protocol.  It's what he told us to do.
Why?  Well, I think because it keeps us on track, gives us accountability, and let's us know when there's a problem.

Just a few days ago I was shocked to see a +2.8 lb spike in my weight and if I had not been weighing every day I would not have known I had a serious problem in what I had eaten.  I would have no clue why on earth I only shed 1 lb this whole week, and would not have known there was anything wrong or that needed fixing.  It actually took me 3 days to figure it out, that I'd mistakenly eaten the kids's full fat cottage cheese. I only realized it when I opened their container and saw I'd portioned it out as if it was MY fat free container! Yikes.  So, it has taken about a week away from my 40-50 day shed to recover, but that's Ok, because now I FULLY realize the consequences of eating 1/2 a cup of full fat cottage cheese and can be EXTRA careful about checking which container I'm reaching for.  The same sort of thing happened when I was eating a wee bit of unsweetened baking chocolate, thinking I could sneak it in without consequences - but nope.  Good to know!

So, for me, I'm weighing in, like Dr Simeons suggests, at the same time every day, unless I totally forget and drink a bunch of tea first, which I've done too :), and then I just will wait till the next morning.  But there really is a reason and a purpose for everything he has as his protocol and I do best when I follow it to the letter.

Today I weigh 155, and I'm feeling good, but I'm already more than half-way though this round, so I don't want to lose ANY more days to slip-ups!  I'm really hoping to get a lot closer to my goal before the clock ticks down to phase 3, so wish me luck!

If you want to check out my true daily weigh-in, click here.

Happy shedding everyone!

Sick kids, homeopathy and vitality

Whoooeeeee last night was a doozy.  

At around 3am I actually bandaged a warmed, peeled garlic clove, dipped in olive oil, against my 4 yr olds aching ear, stroked her neck (trying to milk the pressure from the eustacean tube) (as per this ear ache fix link!) and tried to sleep with her on the couch, but nope, so I carried her back to bed...

...just in time for my 2 yr old to wake up crying and coughing and hot, so I gave her some homeopathic tablets, (spongia tosta, pulsatilla, belladonna and I forget what else) and she fell right back asleep, 

...just in time for my 6 yr old to wake up claiming he could not sleep, so I gave him some homeopathic for restlessness and went to get him water, by the time I brought it to him, he was back asleep, 

...just in time for my 3 month old to wake up mad, she is teething and her nose is snuffly and though the teething pain seems to come and go, she hasn't experienced being sick before, so I think it's all making her grumpy, so I gave her some Hylands homeopathic teething tablets but she would NOT fall back asleep nursing, did NOT want to lay on Mama in bed, or rock in the rocking chair in Mama's arms and she definitely did NOT want her diaper changed (oh my goodness no, she really communicated well about that) so I put her in her swing and - wow.  

She went right to sleep.  Of course, I didn't, and Daddy was all muttering sleepily; " I'd help you but it's a big day at work tomorrow" yeah, yeah yeah, but it's ok, he gets the big kids up, packs their lunches and drives them to school, so I can deal with night time rigamarole, and he does help at night too, just not last night...

...but my point in all this is: despite the crazy night - 

I woke up to a big 2.6 lb shed!!! Yay!!!! Hooray!!!! 

And my 4 yr old slept in, and woke up to a pain-free ear! 

"Guess what, Mama?! This thing in my ear really worked! My ear doesn't hurt anymore!" she yelled, holding the garlic clove at arms length with her fingertips - too funny, this kid HATES stinky things and yet she was able to put up with the wierdness as well as honor the helpful, albeit stinky, clove.  Awesome.  

And my 2 yr old woke up fever-free, she seems completely better, ready to play!  And the big kids all returned to school today, and the baby is giving me big gummy smiles after sleeping late, everyone seems much better!

I really appreciate how following this Pounds & Inches protocol has taught me to trust in homeopathics, to shop for clean foods, and to believe in our bodies ability to heal itself and work correctly, given the right tools; like fresh air, sunshine, fresh fruit, veggies, and un-processed foods, plus a nudge from homeopathics. 

I've been visiting a chiropractor lately, even had all the kids adjusted (at $5 each, pretty great, huh!) and there's a magazine in the office there called 'Pathways to Family Wellness' that I just love - and the underlying premise is 'vitality'.  I never knew or understood chiropractic before, but apparently it's a whole belief system about helping the body achieve vitality - a "'vitalistic" philosophy.  

Anyway, I find it all very interesting and helpful, and Dr Simeons's protocol fits right in with it all; healthy, clean living, with a nudge from homeopathics or a slight adjustment in alignment and most times the body can correct itself, heal itself.  (Of course, not always, but maybe if we lived clean from the start, we could side-step many of the diseases that can't be treated this way, that more and more we discover come from acidic bodies, indoor living, toxic environments and toxic foods.)  Maybe even the 'hokum' about energy flow and spinal adjustments and alignments is actually true and helpful, and even vitality producing!   

To attempt to live full of vitality, I think it's worth trying!

Motivations...

Today I am looking for motivation, my real reasons to keep me plodding along - because my kids are sick, and I'm not sleeping much, and sleep is SO important to shedding weight (check this out here)...and I need to re-focus on why I'm doing this, this strict 2 meal a day business, and remember why I'm not going to just stop and have myself a slice or two of the steaming hot pizza Mr brought home last night or maybe have a big ol' mocha java this morning...

Ah, well, 'plodding' isn't quite right, is it.  I mean, this weight is evaporating at an average nearly a pound a day!  I should be ecstatic!  Funny how a morning's disappointing weigh-in can trample my good feelings.  Even though I KNOW these stalls are not really stalls at all, but a necessary toning and tightening process as the fat is shed, so the rest of the body can catch up, and re-shape.  It's GOOD!  But still a bummer to see the scale 'frozen' for a day or two.  Sigh.  It's just a day or two, Autumn!

Ok, so my motivations are:
To be thinner, because being thinner means:
To be healthier
To set a good, healthy role model for my kids
To be more active (soon as Phase 3 hits, baby!)
To be more energetic
To live longer and better
To look better and feel better THIS Mother's day, than I did on THAT  Mother's Day.
To fly a kite this coming Mother's Day with my kids, in my jeans that wait on my shelf
To buy cute new, NON-maternity clothes and go out on a real date with Mr!
To go back to yoga class, unembarassed
To shop for cute new yoga clothes! :)
To get that family picture taken FINALLY!!!
To climb my kids's bunk-beds and change sheets easily
To go for a run, without hurting my knees
To fit into everything in my closet
To go swimming
To avoid Diabetes

I'm sure there's more, maybe I'll continue this list as they occur to me...
:)

Down 13 lbs in 15 days!

13 lbs in 15 days! And I might have shed even more if I hadn't made that unsweetened chocolate mistake which caused a 3 day stall.  This protocol works!  I spray twice a day and I'm not even slightly hungry except at mealtimes!!!  I know I'm burning off my reserves, my fat stores - and I'm feeling pretty great, lots of energy, and for some reason, lots of inspired cooking for the kids - like I recently made homemade flour tortillas AND corn tortillas from scratch, and hosted a birthday party, cake and all, and yesterday I made a kugelhopf (like a brioche cake/bread, pictured there on the right) among other yummy things for my family, and I didn't have or want even a taste of any of it.  I mean, sure, I was curious how it all tasted, but I wasn't really hungry plus I am determined to get as close to my goal as I can! (50 lbs off !)

On this spray, I know even a nibble can cause weight gain, so I'm not nibbling, and the spray gives me the power not to nibble.  It's amazing.  Normally I would crumble into itty bitty pieces and eat.  But not on the spray! It really works 100% if you follow protocol 100%!!!  And you can live your life and still shed weight like crazy!

In fact, today I plan on making peanut butter cookies and another Kugelhopf, but I'll be fine, I have tools! What tools? My spray, seasalt, stevia, green tea, lemonade, apple cider vinegar and my meals.  I'll be just fine.  See you tomorrow!  :D

Following Jorge Cruise vs. Following Dr. Simeons Pounds & Inches Protocol

Ok.  So I had a(nother) baby (Nov. 2nd)
(That's big brother with our newborn pixie)
I started 'officially' trying to diet Dec 1st (I'd gained about 60 lbs but by Dec I'd dropped 10 lbs and was down to 180.)
Aaaaaand 2 months of dieting ala Jorge Cruise later...

By Feb 1st I'd only lost 5.4 lbs.
(you can see my progress here)
So, basically that's 5 1/2 lbs in 62 days.
That's less than 1 lb per week.
That's less than 1/2 a lb per week! That stinks!!!
At that rate it would take me MORE than a YEAR to lose the 50 lbs I need to shed!!!

Ok, now let's compare that to following Dr Simeons Pounds & Inches Protocol:
I 'officially' started his protocol on Feb 11th (with the homeopathic version of HCG in a spray).
Today is Feb 17th.
I have followed his protocol for 1 week so far and shed 6.2 lbs. thus far.
So in 7 days I lost MORE than I lost in 62 days of constant dieting? Hmmm.

What this says to me, is:
a) I wasn't following Jorge Cruise's plan properly somehow?
or
b) Jorge Cruise's plan can work if you are not breastfeeding?
or
c) Jorge Cruise's plan does not work for me.

I dunno.  His plan worked for my mom, she shed a pound a day for 20 days.  (Then she lost interest.)
But me, maybe breastfeeding made me too hungry to eat small enough portions? Or maybe my overall daily calorie intake was just simply too high? (but he says you don't need to count cals!)  - I was eating full fat cottage cheese, and creamy sauces on my veggies  - low carb, but maybe too high in calories?  Funny thing is, as an exclusively breastfeeding mom, I'm supposed to be burning 500+ cals daily just by feeding my baby, so you'd think I be buffered and able to eat high cal as long as I avoided sugars and starches, which I DID!  Ugh.  Oh well. It's a mystery to me, maybe someday I'll understand more about how hormones and weight gain/loss works.  For now, I am just SO HAPPY that I had Dr Simeon's Pounds & Inches and HhCG in my back pocket and that I decided to get back on protocol!!!!

On a side note, baby is nursing fine,she's not fussing, lot's of wet and poopy diapers, and I still occasionally leak therefore I think my milk supply is fine, - all fine - and she has moved on to size 3-6 mos clothes -  and best of all I'm noticeably less hungry(!).  Hardly hungry at all except a bit at mealtimes (which is exactly how it should be, right?!) Thanks to the HhCG spray.  Normally I'm quite hungry and was snacking 2x daily (Jorge Cruise sanctified snacks like a cheese stick), but now, on the spray, I eat my 2 meals and I'm good.  Wowzers.  Seriously, ask any breastfeeding mom about hunger and she'll tell you she's pretty hungry all the time.  But we're not hungry on the spray, why? Well I believe it's because on the spray, your bloodstream is flooded with the formerly stored calories that have now been released from your fat cells.  An average of 2500 to 3500 calories per day.  So your bodily needs are satisfied plus you are eating an additional 500 cals, so your tummy is satisfied.  And, as a nursing mom, I'd like to posit the theory that I am asking my body to release even more calories - to nourish my HhCG 'baby' as well as make milk for my real baby.  I think this may be true, because I have lost an average of one pound per day on protocol, but the average for women is 1/2 a lb per day. (For women.  Men average a pound a day on protocol, the mean bastards! hahaha)
Whatever the science is behind it all, it works.  Wow am I happy it works too!
If you'd like to join me in shedding weight quickly and healthfully, email me for a link to the product I'm using, or you can buy a very similar-though not exact-spray from Suzanne at Protocol2Health -who's link is posted on the right under 'Order your HCG Spray'.

Stay tuned, I'm gonna keep on blogging and shedding! That's my promise to you AND to myself.

Feb 15, 2012 172.2 lbs

Happy Valentine's Day! (ok, a day late, but I was BUSY!)  2nd day on spray and had to make Valentine's Day special for my family!  A love note for each kid, a love note for Mr (who I adore, btw, those are MY Valentine flowers he brought me there behind the cookies!  Primroses, my springtime favorites!), a big lasagna dinner, cookies with everyone's initial, and, oh gosh, an enormous heart shaped tin of chocolates for Mr and mini heart-shaped boxes of chocolates for the kiddos.  Sweets for the sweet!  And the kids all brought home candy from school too.  We were swimming in sugar - funny, because my Mr and I both know sugar is the enemy - but we're willing to allow the kids a sugar rampage a few days each year - Halloween, Easter, and Valentine's are our big sugar blitzes - and now, the day after, all that has not been eaten has been whisked away - either to Daddy's workplace or to, er, the bin.  :) Gotta protect the young'uns from themselves!
Here's the thing, I'm only on Day 2 of Phase 2, and I had only been spraying for 4 days, yet I was able to cook basically all day without even being tempted.  Cool, huh?
I did not indulge in even the tiniest taste of all that Valentine's feasting, instead I had my P2 meal (tomato salad with vinegar dressing, and a cottage cheese and strawberry smoothie, sweetened with stevia) and relied on the spray to dull my appetite.  It did.  I'm SO proud of myself, but really, it wasn't that hard.  I just made the decision not to taste anything, and the spray allowed me to stay on course.  I will only eat protocol foods, and I will do what Dr Simeons says and I will be nearly to my goal of 50 lbs off by late spring.  Gosh, maybe even by Easter (April 8th).  If not, then by Mother's Day (May 13th).  Won't that be awesome?!  Oh I am so excited!!!
If you want to drop weight yourself, email me for the link to the product I'm using and I'll email you back lickety split and we can lose this weight together! :)

Feb 13, 2012 Let the shedding BEGIN (again!) with HhCG

Hello and welcome to my third round of HhG!

Feb 13, 2013  -  175.8 loaded and ready! (ready? YES!)
Today is Day 1 Phase 2 (P2D1)  I'm so excited, gonna get my body back and fit into the clothes in my closet, gonna feel better in my skin and I'm gonna set the best example I can for my kids.  If something is bothering you, you can fix it!  Be the best you can be!  I'm going to be the best I can be, taking it one day at a time, moment by moment.  I can look great by spring (with the help of Dr Simeons Pounds and Inches Protocol)! YOU can do this.  If you are looking for HhCG spray (the homeopathic version of HCG), go here and sign up with Suzanne.  I think you need to email her to get invited onto the site.  She's lovely, the people are lovely, and her site is new, but she has several years of experience from the other site (which shut down) and she has helped hundreds, if not thousands lose weight.  She helped me so much during my first 2 rounds and I'll be popping over there for this third round, to talk with Suzanne and my ol' buddies - if you come by, please say hello! :D

Feb 8, 2012 172.2lbs and a note on breastfeeding and a question of when to start the spray

Gee whiz.  This is some slow going weight loss. :(  It's been a week of Jorge Cruisin and I'm sure not moving downward as fast as I'd like!  If I was on HhCG I would have shed about 10 lbs by now, not 3-ish.  Ho hum.
At least it's downward!  I'm tempted to start to spray, I really want to see some progress before spring!  There's Veronica - she likes to see her Mama happy! :)

A note about breastfeeding - I've been waiting to start the spray because I am breastfeeding my now 3 month old baby.  No formula, no bottles...and I'd like to continue exclusively breastfeeding her even after I start spraying with the HhCG.  I did just fine before with my baby Lucy, who was 8 mos old when I started the HhCG spray, my milk did not seem to diminish at all...but that's the thing - I don't really know.  (Please don't tell me I would have 'known' if I was pumping into bottles - the pump never extracts as much milk as baby does, so that is a completely misleading way to measure.)  What I do know is she never seemed extra fussy or hungry, had zillions of wet and poopy diapers and I still had enough milk to occasionally soak through my shirt if I went too long between nursings (ugh) ...and she grew and grew and grew.  And I shrank and shrank.  Gosh I'd sure like to shrink like that again(!).Got a bottle just sitting here, waiting for me to be ready(!!!)...

Another concern some people have about breastfeeding while on HhCG is that one's fat stores are also where toxins are stored and that to release fat means to release toxins into breastmilk and thus 'toxify' the nursing baby with the weight-shedding mother's milk.  Well, bah, I say.  My body, however 'toxic' it may be, made a baby - and then it fed a baby for nearly two years, and she is big and smart and talkative and sweet - she's a good one, and I did not poison her by losing weight while breastfeeding her.  Not that I didn't worry and do a bunch of research and have her weighed at a bunch of random well-baby visits, I did.
Dr Jack Newman convinced me I was doing the best for my baby AND myself when I read his article about toxins in breastmilk.  Ultimately, he says that a baby's best defense against toxins is to be breastfed.  And I knew it was in my best interest to lose weight for all the usual health reasons - my blood pressure was high after the birth of Lucy, my mom and grandpa had diabetes, etc, but also because my 'mental health' was suffering and my family was suffering in that I was really unhappy fat and felt stuck at 200lbs - because I was stuck at 200 lbs! Anyhow, you know that story if you read around on this blog.  So I felt like, for me, I needed to lose the weight and baby Lucy was old enough to be ok if my milk dried up.

So now, I wonder...I did ok before...should I try?  I feel healthy and strong, been eating good, wholesome and organic foods...fruits AND veggies (yay for veggies) and taking vitamins...maybe I could,...and it wouldn't just be for me, but also an experiment for all you moms out there whose weight is stuck fast...hmmm.  I could lose weight for the greater good? Hahaha maybe!

Ok, lastly, I wonder if my body is even sensitized to the HhCG yet since I'm only about 3 months post partum...?  Dr Simeons would have his patients on the actual HCG hormone and they would become immune or de-sensitized to it over time and so he'd have them re-sensitize by taking longer and longer breaks between rounds...I think 90 days was the longest break he'd prescribe...

Well, if I were to get pregnant right now, I'd start making my own massive amounts of HCG anyhow, right? To nourish the growing fetus, right?  And I'd still be nursing baby Veronica of course, as I've nursed all my babies while preggers with the next, with no complications and with my doctor's approval? Hmmm.  I know when making your own HCG while pregnant, you make a whole lot between week 7 and week 16 (peaks at millions of units) and then it tapers off, but at week 40, full term, you're still producing between 3400-117,000 thousanth international units per millileter (mIU/ml) (check out the chart here)...so that's a lot to de-sensitize from...but we do, right? To sustain the next pregnancy? Oh, I'm sure I'm over-simplifying the science...
...but I think I just talked myself into starting my spray!!!

Oh my goodness!
:D

Feb 1, 2012 = 175.4 lbs

Feb 1, 2012  - 175.4  =  +1.4lbs
Felt too sick to eat really 'well' (meaning low carb, I felt like I needed some fruit), after eggs and (veggie) sausage for breakfast I didn't feel so well and snacked a bit through lunch...cheese and salami and an apple, and 2 tangerines, and later a spoonful of peanut butter (no sugar) with a banana and then a cottage cheese and banana and yogurt smoothie for dinner...and about 50 almonds over the course of the day. Carbalicious.  And so I'm up today.  Well, today's a new day, and I'm feeling a bit better - wonder if it's all the Vitamin D I've dropped on my tongue these last few sniffly days?...

Jan 31, 2012 174 lbs

Howdy.  Here I am again, fat again. 174 at 5'5".
Yup, that's me last week, bringing in the cake for my 6 yr old's birthday.  Sorry it's blurry but if you think you're gonna see me standing still to get my picture taken - think again. No way.  More likely to get a shot of my rear as I hustle out of the frame. (Sheesh.) (Could be worse, but could be better!)
 It's my bodies fault, I can't seem to make a baby without making myself fat (see our new baby here) - I'm sure it's a hormonal thing - so, I'm trying to control my metabolic hormones with food, instead of with HhCG, for now, while the new baby is exclusively nursing.  Ok, so right now, since December 2011 I've been trying to follow Jorge Cruise's tenets: eat low low carbs, avoid sugars like the devil, and eat high protein and high fat.  But my weight is not dropping.  (Click to see my chart here.)  Alrighty.  So, I'm going to start tracking my foods on Fitday and then report back here with my calories - because I must be eating too many, or getting too many carbs or some such thing that I can't 'see' without getting more specific about it all.
Wish me luck! (and time and patience, and stamina, and health!  I need it!)  :D

The new baby :) and the baby weight :(

So, hello again.  I am delighted to announce the arrival of our newest family member, Veronica!

She's lovely, sweet and reasonable for a baby! Really, she's delightful.  A gift.  I'm so happy. About her.
I am less happy to acknowledge the lingering baby weight that accompanied her gestation.  Sigh.  It seems that I cannot make a baby without making myself fat.  Ok.  Happily, my baby is healthy and jolly and breastfeeding like a champ, no formula, no pumping here, her weight keeps climbing and she's outgrowing all her clothes - yay! - ...but my weight is stable.  Ugh. Ok, not exactly 'stable' like a rock, but  looking over my chart, I can see I've been losing and gaining the same 5-6 pounds for about 2 months.  Baby Veronica is now nearly 3 months old and I've been trying to 'Jorge Cruise' my eating every single day for these past 2 months.  That basically means I've been keeping carbs, sugar and hidden sugar completely out of my diet and keeping protein and fat high.  I've not eaten candy, cookies, ice cream, pizza, potatoes, bread, mac-n-cheese, or milk.   I will lose a pound and then see it come creeping back for no reason I can understand.  SO Frustrating.

Ugh.
I'm waiting to start another round of Ketomist HhCG spray till baby is 6 months old, because then I will be introducing solid foods, and though I imagine my milk supply will remain just fine, like last time with 8 month old Baby Lucy (who is now a delightful, super healthy 2 yr old!), I just don't want to risk it with such a young baby who depends on me entirely and I do not want to be forced into having to supplement her diet with formula - not that I would be, but I just don't want to take that chance.

Ok, so, yay I have Ketomist to bail me out of this fix, but why-o-why isn't Jorge's method working for me???????????? My suspicion is that I'm nursing and my hormones have 'locked' the weight on.
I'm going to start blogging on here my day-by-day progress to see if I (or you) can figure it out.
Hope to see less of me soon, but for now, I'll be here, all 173.8 pounds of me. :/