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?...