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

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