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