That’s right, I’m back… starting Round 2 in the morning and let me tell you, drinking 4 cokes a day is a good way for me to put the pounds on.  It’s time for a change and to lose some of the weight I managed (working hard at it) to put back on.  So the lesson is, you can lose weight on this but if you eat and drink like an idiot after, you will gain the weight back. 

don’t do as I do, people!

Anyway.. stats and such tomorrow as I go into load day 1.  Strongly considering 3 days of load so i don’t have the intermittent hunger for the first 3 weeks.  I may not need it since I’ve been in about 6 months of load LOL so we’ll play it by ear on Saturday.

Yup, I’ve been MIA, it’s true – just check Biz’s blog. 

So for the curious out there, I’m alive and one of these days I will get to do my round 2. 

The short summary is that I’ve started a new job.  That would be good news except that it is a full commission sales job and this is a tough economy for full commission sales.  So  basically I’ve been broke since the first of the year.  The Lord’s been faithful to provide what I needed each week from a variety of sources, but it has been very stressful.  Needless to say I can’t afford hcg right now.  Also my father’s Alzheimer’s has been headed down hill rapidly.  He’s had to move into a long term care situation sooner than expected and so I’ve had a number of trips down to spend time with him and my mom.  And we all know that traveling and doing hcg is tough!

Now in case you haven’t heard… and let’s face it, you probably all have by now…  There is an hcg story that will be on Mike and Juliet’s morning show on Tuesday.  In Kansas City, they are on Fox at 9 a.m. 

So that’s the scoop…

I guess I’m technically in phase 4.  Because my schedule during phase 3 was crazy with Christmas and then the conference I didn’t stick well with the no starch requirement.  My weight locked in at 5 pounds over my LIW but has been steady as a rock which is nice to see.  With the PCOS that is something that never happened.  I am bummed to be over my LIW but that will come off when I’m able to go back into phase 2 again. 

Finances have been tight so I haven’t been able to order but payday is coming Tuesday and I should be able to get an order in.  I’ll be ready to go after my birthday in Feb. and I feel like I’ll be ready to go a good 40 day cycle or maybe a little more. 

Saw an old friend at the conference who hadn’t seen me in a year and he said he could really tell the weight loss in my face.  That’s always nice. 

Thanks to all of you who’ve checked in on me, especially Biz and Crystal.  Sorry I haven’t been up to answering…  it’s just one of those season.  Too many decisions that I’m pondering right now  and so it’s probably good that I’m not trying to do phase 2. 

I’ll be wandering through all your blogs to catch up with you. 

Round 1 Phase 2 Dates: 11/13/07 – 12/12/07
Total R1P2 Loss: 19.4
Total Inches Lost: 31
Last Injection Weight: 213.0
Today’s Weight: 216.2
+/- LIW: +3.2

I’m just back from Houston with my family at Christmas.  I didn’t follow phase 3 much while I was there.  Couldn’t eat very much but I did have carbs/starches/sugar.  The top point was 219.  I don’t see this as a normal pattern on phase 3 at all…  it was Christmas and I went with what I wanted to have, stopped when I filled up, which was always less than 1/2 of my former capacity.  I shot up to 219 early and then was slowly dropping in general – I think my body was adjusting to the addition of some starches.  Christmas eve was the worst day and there was another up blip.  Sorry I can’t give you details… weighed every morning but just didn’t feel much like obsessing over it and writing it down. 

 Some of you know that my dad has Alzeheimer’s and I could even see a small progression from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  There was also an incident on Christmas Eve about an hour before everyone arrived for dinner.  I walked into the kitchen and noticed my dad’s hand was slipping on the counter and he seemed to be falling.  He had also started shaking. I shouted and grabbed him to try to keep him from falling onto the counter.  We managed to get him to sit down.  We couldn’t get any straight answers out of him and he was rubbing one of his hands like it might have gone numb.  He remained dizzy and almost fell again.   He’s 6′3″ and I’m 5′5″ so it was interesting trying to grab and hold him up.  I’m waiting to hear from Mom what the doctor has said but we suspect a TIA (mini-stroke). 

We are in the midst of prep for a big conference and I’m be a little surprised if I haven’t dropped another pound in the morning.  I’ll be at a hotel sharing with a couple other ladies – internet access may be spotty and I’ll be pretty busy. 

I’ve gone back and forth about weighing but I may end up taking the scale.  It would be interesting to see what happens.  I’m not totally avoiding starches but not going crazy.  Had about 5 french fries with dinner, for example.  Since I’ve consistantly been adding them and my weight has dropped back down without a steak day so far, I’m just not worrying too much.  At the same time, if I weren’t going to be walking several miles at the conference each day, I probably would be a little more worried. 

Another big factor for me in not following phase 3 very well has been that I’ll be going back on phase 2 in mid-January and will follow phase 3 better in future rounds.  I think the final phase 3 is the most important. 

Biz – thanks for checking up on me

Lili – Hey, thanks for stopping in

Round 1 Phase 2 Dates: 11/13/07 – 12/12/07
Total R1P2 Loss: 19.4
Total Inches Lost: 31
Last Injection Weight: 213.0
Today’s Weight: 215
Change: +.2
+/- LIW: +2

I weighed this morning at 4 a.m. because I was flying to Houston to be with my family for Christmas.  This was after finally falling to sleep at 2 a.m.  So I don’t remotely trust the number.  I expect to fluctuate while I’m here… kinda sticking to phase 3 but there are some things I will be eating.  Not sure if I’ll do a steak day or not if it becomes necessary. 

When I get home we have a massive conference that will be going on that should require me running around like a mad woman so anything that comes on weight wise should be coming off.  Plus I’ll have another phase 2 coming up.  

Round 1 Phase 2 Dates: 11/13/07 – 12/12/07
Total R1P2 Loss: 19.4
Total Inches Lost: 31
Last Injection Weight: 213.0
Today’s Weight: 214.8
Change: +.8
+/- LIW: +1.8

 Sorry I didn’t post this yesterday – I was stressed to the max and running around all day.  yep… gained but also weighed 2 hours earlier than normal.  That’s all I have to say about that.

Round 1 Phase 2 Dates: 11/13/07 – 12/12/07
Total R1P2 Loss: 19.4
Total Inches Lost: 31
Last Injection Weight: 213.0
Today’s Weight: 214.0
Change: +1
+/- LIW: +1

A little more of a fluctuation than I expected but it’s not too surprising.   A friend took me to lunch at Cheesecake Factory and I couldn’t quite bypass the wheat bread.   Had the chicken maderia and subbed broccoli for the mashed potatoes.  Again, I could only eat 1/2 so dinner was the other half.

Made another mistake at lunch – it was a late lunch around 3 p.m. and I had a lot of the mango tea – it’s unsweeted and I used some sweet and low but I haven’t been drinking caffeine.  I was up until after 3 a.m. 

Crystal – actually didn’t have sandwich meat – it was chopped bbq from a local shop but they might add a bit of salt.  I have been thirsty the last few days so it could be extra salt.  Thanks hon… am doing better today. 

Biz – could be salt, it’s never been a big problem for me but it could be the issue. 

Yesterday’s Menu
Breakfast – 3 sausages
Lunch – 1/2 chicken maderia and some bread
Dinner – other 1/2 of chicken maderia

Round 1 Phase 2 Dates: 11/13/07 – 12/12/07
Total R1P2 Loss: 19.4
Total Inches Lost: 31
Last Injection Weight: 213.0
Today’s Weight: 213.0
Change: +.2
+/- LIW: 0

Well I’m back to my LIW, no worries.   Yesterday was just one of those days that I should have gone back to bed.  Just about nothing went right the whole day. 

Biz – thanks for the encouragement.  The transition to Phase 3 was pretty easy for me and I have to remember that fluctuations are normal. 

Yesterday’s Menu
Breakfast – Sausage, 1 scrambled egg with onion and cheese
Lunch – 1/2 chopped burnt ends sandwich (no bread)
snack – other 1/2 of sandwich (no bread)
dinner – skipped – not normal but see my comments on the day above

Round 1 Phase 2 Dates: 11/13/07 – 12/12/07
Total R1P2 Loss: 19.4
Total Inches Lost: 31
Last Injection Weight: 213.0
Today’s Weight: 212.8
Change: +.4
+/- LIW: -.2

I wanted to push a little with the carb/starches and see how my body did.  Clearly I pushed just a little bit too much since I gained. 

Biz – Yes, I was pushing the 72 hour envelope for 2 reasons.  First, I had skipped two days and then only had 1 full shot and 1 3/4 full shot at the end so I didn’t feel like I had quite as much hcg in my system.  Second, I was hungry and opted to listen to my body.  It worked well for me.  I really attribute it to the skip days for Aunt Flo and just not having quite as much hcg in my system at the end.  Yeah, being single I have no problem eating alone out – good thing. lol.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs with cheese and onions and a couple breakfast sausages.  Lunch was leftover Chicken Bryan with broccoli.  Dinner was chicken breaded with some breadcrumbs (yeah, it was a little push) and parmesean cheese and peas.  Had a couple organic chocolate truffles throughout the day too. 

Round 1 Phase 2 Dates: 11/13/07 – 12/12/07
Total R1P2 Loss: 19.4
Total Inches Lost: 31
Last Injection Weight: 213.0
Today’s Weight: 212.2
Change: +.2
+/- LIW: -.8

Well, I didn’t end up eating breakfast yesterday but I ate more like phase 3 than the last day of the VLCD but you can see it didn’t really hurt me.  Went to dinner with a friend last night at Carrabba’s Italian Grill.  My friend wanted italian and I knew I could find a chicken or salmon dish.  Went with the Chicken Bryan.  Oh my goodness this is good, but I will spare those of you in phase 2 the details.  If you have a Carrabba’s near you, this dish is worth a try.  Of course, I could only eat half my salad and half my meal.  I had a couple bites of bread which is what I figure the +.2 gain is likely from. 

So, I’m fixin’ to (oh yeah, I’m a Texas girl at heart) make breakfast: egg, cheese and sausage are on the menu. 

We had about 2 inches of snow so far but we have more coming this afternoon.  I so prefer snow to ice – doesn’t everyone?  

Have a great day all!

Crystal – There is nothing like good mexican food.  Living in the midwest it’s tough to find.   I can just picture that diet coke out your nose… too funny!