Day 40 - Weight 115: Post HCG Day 2 of 3 - Measurement Day

My sister-in-law, her mother and stepfather, and my 4-year-old nephew have all had some horrible kind of stomach flu over the last couple of days. Some had it for 24 hours. Some for 36. It's so sad when I come to visit and then they are sick and I feel like I can't visit them. Who wants to get sick???

Well, even though I thought I had stayed at arms' length, last night the bathroom ogre called on me. Fortunately, I didn't throw up and only suffered on the other end. For about three hours I was doubled over in horrible cramping that gave me an immediate mental throwback to labor pains. Aaaah! It was awful but in the end, everything subsided and I was able to fall into a deep, deep sleep. Kind of like passing out, I guess. When I woke up this morning, I felt fine. A little worse for the wear but healthy and ready to take on my day.

Today is measurement day. I'm not sure what affect being sick might have on the measurements. What I've learned over this process is to weigh and measure regardless of circumstances. Factor in what you must after-the-fact. Because, over time, you'll see an average and "real" weight and measurement that holds true regardless of where you are at in your cycle, your health, your eating pattern for yesterday, etc.

Weight: 115 lbs. (-3 lbs.)
Bust: 34" (0")
Waist: 25" (-1/2")
Abdomen (read: GUT): 34 1/4" (+1 1/4")*
Saddlebags: 38 1/2" (-1 1/4")
Left Thigh: 20 1/2" (-3/4")
Right Thigh: 20 1/2" (-1/2")
Left Knee: 14 1/4" (+1/4")*
Right Knee: 14" (0")

TOTAL LOSSES for this week: 3 lbs., -1 1/2"*
(* Somehow I GAINED an inch-and-a-quarter on my abdomen and a 1/4" on my left knee. The "gut" I can explain with being swollen after being sick. The knee... hmmm, no explanation. The body can be funky and I'm not worried about it. We'll see how the next measurement day goes. I'm going to measure my abdomen in a couple of days to see if it goes back to normal).

TOTAL LOSSES TO DATE: 15 lbs. and 15 1/4" (EXCITING!!!)

It was a great day but a busy one and my eating schedule went all to pieces. I didn't plan well, didn't take any food out with me, didn't want to drive "all the way home" to eat, and thought if I broke up my stride I wouldn't finish everything I wanted to do today. I know myself fairly well and I was probably right. But, knowing myself as I do, I should have planned much better for my health and wellbeing. I ended up not eating anything at all until around 7 p.m. This would not be completely abnormal for me in my pre-HCG diet life. It wouldn't be an ordinary, every-day-day, but it definitely would fall within the norm of something that happens several times a month. I don't want to do that anymore. However.... ('However' is just a more refined way of getting that "BUT...." in! And that always makes me laugh). Ok, let's try this again...

However, I accomplished so much today and I'm proud of getting all of my "outside the house" running around done so that in the next days I can get all of my "inside the house" work accomplished. :-) For groceries, I hit up both Costco and a fabulous new health food store out in Washington, Natural Grocers ( http://www.naturalgrocers.com/ ).


It was my first time in Natural Grocers. They just opened in June. I was in heaven! I thought I had stepped back in time and was in a health food store of 20 years ago. Life was a lot different then in the "health food" world. It had not become the huge market share it is today and was full of "real" health products without all of the hype and the advertising and, frankly, the lying that you get in a lot of the "natural" products today. I really appreciated the "What We Won't Sell and Why" page on their website. If you are partaking of any of these products, you may want to rethink your strategy.

( http://www.naturalgrocers.com/wontsellandwhy.php )

The store is fabulous and if there is one near you, I highly recommend that you take advantage of it. Terrific prices, too!

I bought a car for my youngest (yes, it was more of an ordeal than those 6 words indicate!), conducted auto insurance policy update and financial appointments, and sauntered through a VERY long & VERY enjoyable trip to Barnes & Noble where I was "only" going to get some Fancy Nancy books to complete my niece's birthday gift but ended up perusing a good deal of the store shelf "real estate" and came home with treasures for me, too.




Books, books, books. I really don't think that you can have too many. I love my Kindle (one of mankind's most fabulous inventions!) but I still love a B-O-O-K. Always have. Always will.

At 7:00 p.m. I ate:

• One whole Grapefruit
• Asparagus, 200 grams
• Heirloom Tomatoes, fresh, 200 grams

I'm going to do much better tomorrow.

Day 15 - Weight 122.4 - Measurement Day

Weight: 122.4 (- 2 lbs.)
Bust: 34" (no change)
Waist: 26" (- 1")
Abdomen (read: GUT): 35" (- 1 3/4")
Saddlebags: 40 3/4" (- 3/4")
Left Thigh: 22" (- 1/2")
Right Thigh: 22" (-1")
Left Knee: 14 1/2" (-1/2")
Right Knee: 14 1/8" (-5/8")

TOTAL LOSSES for this week: 2 lbs., 6 1/8"

TOTAL LOSSES TO DATE: 6.6 lbs., 12 3/8"

I really can't believe how many inches I lost this last week. My weight did not reflect it and I thought the inches would look something like the weight lost. I'm so excited. Frankly, I don't care if I weigh 200 pounds if my measurements are what they should be for my body type! LOL! By the way, I don't think I ever published my height and I probably should have. I'm only 5'2" tall and wear a size 7 or 7 1/2 shoe. I'm pretty small boned - always have to have links taken out of bracelets or watches to have them fit my wrists, that kind of thing. When my son was about 4 years old, we could wear the same belt size. No kidding. I was on the largest hole and he was on one of the smaller ones, but still, most people could not share a belt with their 4-year-old. I'm not super skinny like Nicole Ritchie but I'm a fairly petite woman who isn't genetically supposed to be a size 8 or 10. Size 10 or 12 for a larger woman may be fit and fabulous. Size 6 for my frame and height is definitely too big, out of proportion, and not healthy for me going into the next half of my life.

Last night before I went to bed I took two Alka-Seltzer Night-Time Cold tabs, my over-the-counter med of choice for colds or flu. Beats Nyquil by miles! This infection has seemed to be moving into my head now and I really needed a good night's sleep. I slept great but when I woke up I felt both exhausted and disoriented. My husband had to get up and take Daphne out. Then I somehow thought it was Saturday (In reality, today is actually Thursday, the blog is a couple of days behind...) and wondered why dear hubby was up and taking a shower so early before I dropped back into a blissful deep sleep. At 7:00 a.m. when he walked over fully dressed in suit and tie, delivered Daphne to the bed and kissed me goodbye, I asked him where he was going. Only after he said he was going to work ("On Saturday?") did I realize that I was totally out of it. It was pretty funny and he laughed.

By about 7:30 I could tell that Daphne needed to get up and I got up and went about my day feeling much better and not tired at all. In fact, I really got quite a bit of serious work done around the house today re-organizing and transferring furniture between the office and the guest room and even doing a little bit of laundry. It felt so good to be accomplishing something.

By the late afternoon, though, I was getting pretty tired. I had overdone it. This is a commonly recurring theme for me in my life in general and particularly after I've been sick. (You just want to DO SOMETHING after you've been laying in bed for days!) Call me the "Queen of the Energy Burst."

LIQUID

• 2 liters water
• 1 C coffee
• 1 C black chai tea
• 1 C chamomile tea

SNACK

• 1/2 grapefruit

LUNCH

• Steak (recipe below)
• Tomato
• Melba toast

SNACK

• Apple
  

DINNER

• Steak Salad w/ Pre-cooked steak strips (for Hubby)
• Chicken Salad w/ pre-baked chicken (for me)
• WASA/Melba toast
  

I used the warm chicken "broth" as my salad dressing. Yum!



"INDIAN" STEAK & TOMATOES

• Steak
• Tomatoes, diced bite-size
• Garam masala, salt

Rub the steak with the garam masala. Place steak and tomatoes on tin foil and salt to taste. Wrap foil tightly into a sealed pocket. Cook over grill pan at high heat for about 3 minutes. unwrap immediately and serve.

Garam masala is actually a blend of spices. The name is derived from the the Hindi garam, meaning "hot" and masala, "paste." There is no one blend that makes up garam masala because it varies regionally throughout India. However, commercially produced garam masala often contains: pepper (black & white), bay leaf, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, coriander, and turmeric. The spice mixture is ground but not roasted and the flavors only truly come alive with heat. Indian food is known for slow cooking and the true fabulousness of the spice will not come alive in a three-minute dish. Still, I enjoyed the difference from a traditional grill salt or BBQ flavoring on the steak and the spice combination worked well with the tomato.

(This photo was taken from the Wikipedia site).

Day 7 - Weight 124.4 - Cabbage Rolls

OK, here's the scoop. It's been one week. I've lost a total of 4.6 pounds and 6.25 inches. Here's how the measurements went:

Weight: 124.4 lbs. (-4.6 lbs.)
Bust: 34" (-1")
Waist: 27" (-1.75")
Abdomen (read: GUT): 36.75" (-2.25")
Saddlebags: 41.5" (-.5")
Left Thigh: 22.5" (-.5")
Right Thigh" 23" (no change)
Left Knee: 15" (no change)
Right Knee: 15" (-.25")

Yes, you read that correctly. I LOST 2.25" OF GUT FAT! (It sounds gross because it is gross). But losing it feels fabulous, fabulous, F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S! It is definitely motivation to continue.

LIQUIDS

• 2 C coffee, 2 liters water, 1 C Chai tea (Not the yummy kind you get at Starbucks with the milk in it. Just the Indian tea with spices added).

COMBO SNACK/LUNCH

• Grapefruit & WASA Crispbread
  
• Dover Sole
• Beet Greens/Asparagus

I didn't have a full 100 grams of either veggie, so I combined the two. This is a no-no and definitely against the diet rules. I cooked the sole in 1 C water with pinch of Thai Spice*, Salt, Pepper, and 2 TBSP lemon juice. Sole is very thin so it cooks very quickly. Then I added the greens and asparagus and cooked the "soup" on medium heat just until the veggies were tender, about 2-3 minutes.

My husband had the Crab Salad w/ Strawberries for lunch and he really liked it. He called me from work to tell me he had eaten his appetizer and to ask me when his entree was arriving... lol!

SNACK

• Grapefruit (I ate this right before dinner)

DINNER

• Cabbage Rolls (recipe below)
  
• WASA Crispbread
  

This dinner would make a really yummy appetizer. I've never done stuffed cabbage before and I struggled with getting the leaves off in one piece. If you were cooking for a "real" meal, you could steam the entire head, halves, or quarters. For the diet, because you have to weigh the cabbage uncooked before cooking, you have to try to separate the leaves to get an accurate reading. So, I didn't have very large & lovely cabbage leaves to stuff and roll with the filling. Still, it was delicious. As always, not enough bites.... sigh....

CABBAGE ROLLS

• Cabbage, whole leaves as possible, 100 grams
• Laura's Lean Beef ground beef (91% lean)
• Salt & Pepper
• Bragg's Amino Acids
• Garlic Powder
• Sambal Ulek

Steam the cabbage with water and a generous splash of Bragg's until just soft & pliable, not mushy. Brown the ground beef with the spices. (I added the Sambal Ulek to mine but not to Michael's. He's not as crazy about the spicy food as I am). Lay out the soft leaves on the plate and put about 1 teaspon of ground beef "filling" into center. If your leaves are too small, you may need to lay two or three together, just overlapping the edges so they stay together as you roll. Then fold in the ends over the filling and roll into a little "burrito" shape. For me, it was just like making dolmathes (a common Greek dish using grape leaves as the shell and filled with flavored rice and sometimes meat). You can eye your leaves and filling to spread the filling out equally. Some of my rolls came out beautifully and some didn't. I ended up with about 4 small rolls per person. I have to admit that while the cabbage rolls tasted delicious, it was a pretty sad looking plate.

One thing I fast realized about doing this diet with someone else - it's not really easier to cook for two instead of one like it is in real life. With the HCG Diet, it's actually twice the work. Each portion has to be weighed separately, cooked separately, and served separately. That's something I hadn't really considered. Also, when my husband leaves for work he needs to take his lunch with him. So, that means I'm getting up earlier in the morning to cook & prep his lunch even though I won't be eating for several hours. I've got to figure out a better way to plan this. Maybe I'll pre-cook some meat portions and have them in the refrigerator so he can mix them with salad greens. I'm not sure exactly what I'll do but there's a better way to do this and I'll figure it out.

My Appointment Day!

AmaraMedSpa ( http://www.amaramedspa.com/ ) was a great experience. The facility is modern and beautiful and the staff is professional and pleasant. I filled out my paperwork and then they took me into a small room to watch an orientation video about the HCG protocol. They asked me whether I wanted to do the HCG injections or take it sublingually. I said "injections" and they gave me a packet of detailed information. (I'm not doing sublingual, so I can't really say anything about that). The video was "home grown" by the lead physician at Amara, but it was concise and really detailed the protocol and covered all of the questions most people would ask when considering or starting on the program. I was very impressed because I felt that they were honoring my time as well as theirs by conveying the information so clearly and efficiently.

I saw the nurse practitioner for my appointment and she went over my medical history. And then the dreaded weights & measures! Here's how it went:

Weight: 130 lbs.
Bust: 35"
Waist: 28.75"
Abdomen (read: GUT): 39"
Saddlebags: 42"
Left Thigh: 23"
Right Thigh" 23"
Left Knee: 15"
Right Knee: 15"

The truth is she only measured my bust, stomach-at-the-belly button, and hips. So, her record will look different than mine. They measure in the exact same spot on every person so that no matter who is doing your measurements they will have an accurate reading of what you gained or lost. But for me, I really want to track the areas that are important to me. For example, I really don't like my fat knees. I never had great knees but they didn't used to have those fat pockets on them. I know it sounds petty but you have to take that into consideration when you're wearing skirts or shorts! :-) So, I put those measurements in, too.

After the measurements, she got ready to give me a Vitamin B-12 shot which is part of the protocol. You get one B-12 injection per week. I have read and heard different things about why it helps the diet but I honestly don't know all the exact reasons. Some of the reasons are appetite suppressant, energy booster, helps to produce the myelin fat that surrounds nerve cells, etc. Definitely all good things...

The NP asked me if I'd ever given myself an injection. I said "no," and in my head I wondered how many people actually say yes to that question. I wouldn't think it would be very many... She said, "OK, then I'll let you give yourself the B shot so you can get used to giving yourself the injections." I really hadn't been that freaked out before by the thought of injecting myself. The injections go into the large muscle not into your veins so it's not like I could get an air bubble and kill myself or anything. But suddenly with her standing there watching me I was kind of nervous.

She showed me how to push the muscle together, hold the syring like a dart and... boom! It's in, you push the fluid through, and it's out. Honestly, I couldn't really even feel it. The needle is so tiny. Almost like a hair. You don't even feel a pinch. It's much less painful than having your blood drawn or getting an innoculation shot. In fact, since you can't really feel it, it's not even in the same ballpark.

I asked her if I would get my first HCG injection today, too. But she said that I had to start that first thing tomorrow morning. Urgh! Still no HCG. Oh well. I'm this much closer and I'm getting even more excited.

She was able to make some recommendations about other things, too. For example I wasn't sure what kind of food scale to purchase (I've never weighed my food or counted calories before) or what kind of scale I should be using to weigh myself. I don't even own a scale. She said that digital was preferable for weighing me and that a simple food scale that measures in both grams and ounces would be fine. Grams are more precise so it's important to have that option. She also recommended that I purchase a food scale that you can set at zero when it has the bowl on it so that you don't have to subtract the weight of the bowl every time you weigh something. Good advice.

Because I was headed back to California in a couple of days, they gave me a 20-day supply of HCG injection syringes and two prepared B-12's. I'll use the HCG's daily and the B-12's once a week until I return for an evaluation at the center and pick up my next set of HCG. They stressed that the HCG has to be refrigerated so instead of heading out to buy both my food and "person" scales I headed home to put everything in the fridge. I'm literally fluttering with excitement. Tomorrow is the day!!!