Day 44-46

ive been struggling because the scale seems to not be going in my favor. I'm apparently 209lbs according to yesterday morning. i didnt even try it today but ill check it tomorrow. Saturday was the first time i cheated, it was my friends birthday. i had a small sliver of cake, a small slice of pizza and some 151 rum mixed with 0 cal flavored sparkling water. it wasnt a big splurge and i actually didnt gain from it either, i weighed 209.6 before that day and lost some a couple days later. i really need to focus on eating green foods. more veggies and fruits! Today i also had a new first, my first time at a restaurant since my diet and it went well. i had a small ceaser salad and half a hamburger patty. I shared it with my good friend liane who's also watching her waistline. it was really delicious but definitely a cheat because of the dressing so i'm eating light the rest of the day and trying to eat more apples. i'm still staying within my calories each day but i can see the types of food im eating makes a huge difference. when it comes to peanut butter or small amounts of cheese/dairy i def need to moderate it. no more than 3 times a week for the peanut butter and the cheese maybe once a week. it sucks that i have to be so strict with myself! i guess its for my own good. i really want to get back on the losing track. thank god i'm not over 210 though, i'd be so upset with myself.
i'm also trying to get myself to work out more. its tough on days where i have a lot of work to do or social stuff but i really need to do the aerobics! Thats definitely going to help me burn the most fat.

wish me luck and pray i can get out of this rut xo
Lady C

Day 40-43

Its been a rough couple daysfor me emotionally. Yesterday was a good day for sure but the others had me feeling bummed. I've been eating between 1000 and 1400 cal a day, usually on the low side and I've been sticking to the program but my scale still tells me I'm up to 209lbs. What the crap? I'm so aggravated, is it my body adapting to new food? Ill give it the week and then ill explore other options in doing aerobics again. So sick of it.
Tonight is the first night I'm going to cheat. Its my friends birthday and I'm having a little bit of alcohol and a small sliver of cake that I made for her. Let's see how much that fucks up my scale lol
Till tomorrow,
Lady C

Day 39

woke up to the weight of 207.4lbs. a slight drop from yesterday! My calorie intake has only reached around 1200cal since i started eating more after phase 1 of HCG, but after 1200-1300cal i'm soo full! i'm eating all day, meals and snacks, and i feel great so i'm not going to worry about forcing myself to eat more. 1200 is low but not unhealthy and since i'm full, i'm not worried.
Today was a very productive day! I wish all days were like this. I ran errands, made jewelry for clients, cleaned, did laundry, and even did yoga! my plan for tomorrow is to cook some chicken to eat off of, do some graphic design work for clients, do yoga and ship packages. I need to keep this momentum up so i can accomplish all of my current goals and make all my recent expansion ideas for business become reality! Hopefully this healthy food and healthy attitude will help me stay balanced enough to stay on track. Of course this weekend i have some fun plans. Friday will be a fun shoot day with a friend and Saturday is a party at Miss A's house where i'm planning on having my first drink since dieting! trying 151 and some kind of sugar free drink like diet soda or flavored soda water to start out. I know i won't get drunk or anything but it will be fun to try it out.
Today i reintroduced tuna back in my diet for the first time and it was delicious! I had it with lawrys salt, lemon pepper, lemon juice and an avocado! I often use mayo with my tuna but not today. Today i used avocado instead to make the lunch a little bit heartier and it helped add the bit of creaminess i needed to not miss the mayo at all! I then had strawberries and for dinner some left over mexican chicken and guac. my late night snacks are celery with peanut butter and an apple! I love apples!
Tomorrow i'll make some lemon chicken and beef for a new assortment of foods to try to keep myself from getting bored.

Lets just hope i can keep this healthy balance up!
Both in diet, work and in life!
Lady C

Day 38

same weight today. perhaps this the plateau i was expecting. i just cant help myself, that peanut butter and celery is so delicious! i've been eating under 1200cal a day so i know its not my amount of intake, it just must be the transition. i'm trying to eat as much good green foods as i can but i seem to eat a lot of meat and stuff thats only "ok". i'm not going to worry as i haven't strayed from the program, i'm just going to continue and hope the plateau goes away soon.
in the meantime i really need to get myself to exercise!

wish me luck,
Lady C

Day 37

woke up today to 208.2lbs. perhaps yesterday was a fluke? who knows.. weight fluctuates so often its hard to count on it. today my plan is to do some jillian michaels yoga for 35 minutes, work most of the day and try and catch up on things ive been lacking in. i'm thinking that even though i havent been eating my full days worth of calories, perhaps ive been indulging in my new foods a little too much. i shouldnt have avocado twice a day or peanut butter everyday. my meal plan for today is leftover chicken and guacamole, strawberries and apples for snacks and for dinner tonight, steak with asparagus. yummy!
today i also got a grande coffee instead of a venti. i havent been drinking all of it recently anyway and i keep feeling like its been giving me stomach aches. either that or i just really cant figure out whether i'm hungry of full. my stomach isn't registering properly with my mind, but on the other hand it never used to. the only time i used to know i was full was when i was STUFFED! portioning out my food helps me prevent that feeling and since my body has a hard time letting me know when i've had enough, i think portioning is what i'm going to have to do from now on to feel comfortably full.

i'm off to go work all day and psych myself up for yoga tonight. wish me luck!
Lady C

Day 36

As of today i weighed in at 206.6lbs. I suppose i was wrong about the plateau! At first the scale was saying 205.6 and i was like "no way" so i let it reset and did it again. The scale i have is usually accurate but weight fluctuates so much its definitely not something to count on.
I've been getting so so SO FULL on every meal i eat lately! I've only been eating around 800calories or so because thats all i can handle. I'm slowly raising it day by day and i've been eating every couple of hours but there is no way to go from 500 cal to 1500 cal in a day without making myself extremely sick. i already feel almost uncomfortably full after each meal and i'm not eating a whole lot. I'm not worried though because i'm taking vitamins for calcium, b12, vitamin c and such and everything i'm eating is very high in protein and such so i don't think i'm lacking any nutrients. I'm trying to increase my intake a little each day. I'm sure by next week i'll be saying the opposite and trying to decrease again. I've definitely shrunk my stomach.
Yesterday i had celery with peanut butter, coffee, an apple, chicken and 1 avocado worth of guacamole. I have this app on my android called "noom" and its really great to help calculate calories, exercise and make a weight loss plan! I've been using it the past couple days to track my calories. Instead of calculating each item individually like usually, it calculates things by the amount of calories and what kind of food it is. if it's a good food its green, if its ok its yellow, if its bad its red. I havent eaten any red but most of the food i eat is yellow. yellow encompasses all lean meat, avocados, peanut butter, etc.. green has every other veggie and fruit, tofu and other really healthy items. ideally you should eat 50% green, 35% yellow and 15% red a day. I probably have 30% green and 70% yellow a day. i'm trying to increase the green but i just love all the things in the yellow category! definitely need to fill my diet with more veggies and fruits everyday. now i see why people get frustrated eating so many veggies. i LOVE them, but having to eat a ton of them everyday is tiresome.

Anyways, i'm off to get my daily coffee and pick up a few things at the store.
Keep you updated!
Lady C

p.s. i definitely recommend all android users download the free Noom app! It's super helpful for weight loss and staying on track!

Day 35 cont.

Had peanut butter and celery for the first time today and man did it make me full! The peanut butter was organic and 180 cal for two tablespoons! Paired with 3 sticks of celery, it made the perfect snack! Now I know I can't have this all the time, but I think once in a while it will make a nice little treat! Yay

Day 35

Woke up to no weight loss or gain. I have a feeling I'm going to experience a long plateau transistioning into eating more food and having new kinds of food again. That really sucks but as long as I don't start gaining when I'm doing everything right than I'm okay. Just gotta stay on track, take things slow and kick my butt into working out more!
Lady C

Day 34 - Phase 2

Today i weighed in at 208.6lbs! Since i have finally finished my drops and got the hcg out of my system, today i started phase 2! Phase 2 is where i up my caloric intake and introduce more healthy friuts, veggies and meats back into my diet. What you're supposed to do in phase 2 is maintain the new weight you are at, but as i'm seeking to continue to loose, i'm not going to focus on maintaining. What i'm focusing on is sticking to the program with food and upping my daily calories to about 1500 calories instead of the 2000+ id need to ingest in order to maintain. Today i had taco chicken with homemade guacamole made from avocados, tomato, onions, garlic, lime juice and taco seasoning! delicious! Super filling as well. i'm so happy to have avocados again! I know its a fatty veggie but its good for you fat and it makes so many things feel more satisfying.
I took after pictures today for my completion of Phase 1 to show a progression of my weight loss in each phase and after im done with this diet and continue to lose the weight from eating healthy and exercising. below are my before and after stats for my first phase and some pictures.
xo Lady C

Day 33 cont.

Made a meal of taco beef with diced tomato and sauteed onions! i'm halfway through and stuffed! I sauteed the onions on the stove using water as a base instead of oil or anything else and put some garlic salt/powder on it. put a lid over it to steam and it cooked perfectly. made the meal i was having a lot more hearty and i'm not sure i can finish it all. I'm really craving fruit but not sure if i should toss the other half and have an apple or save it for later. i don't know, i guess it all sounds too nit picky. honestly i was just stoked i could get some decent tasting onions by cooking it with water instead of the fatty usual way with oil and still have it taste good!
if i'm getting full this easily, i wonder how tomorrow will be when i up my intake.. hmmm...

Lady C

Day 32 & 33

I just got home from a nice little trip with my mom to Donner Lake the past couple days to visit family and relax a bit. I didn't have a scale there so i haven't weighed in 2 days but i feel like i'm under 210! I can definitely see a major difference in how i look and feel! Not only do i look leaner but i can move so much more freely without getting asthma! That within itself is worth it all! Before i was getting asthma by laying down simply because my fat was pressing on my lungs! While i was growing up i was used to getting asthma during any physical activity but just by laying down? That's not right. I was using my inhaler multiple times a day and i should really only use it during exercise.
The past 3 days have been without the drops but continuing the 500cal vlcd diet until the Hcg is out of my system. I thought for sure i wouldn't be able to do it but it's proven to be much easier than i anticipated. This is my last day to do it and since i've been up since early this morning (i drove home the 3 hours at around 9am and didn't sleep well the night before), i do think i might eat more today. Its not even 3pm yet and i've already had most of my days worth of food, but since im only splurging on more strawberries and a little more meat on my entrees, i'm not going to fret. If i gain, i gain! I can focus and lose it easy.
Its going to be interesting tomorrow to eat more. I'm bumping my daily calories from 500 to 1500! Its still a diet amount but it will allow me a lot more food and leeway to introduce more foods back into my diet. I want to reintroduce slowly as to not shock my system too much with a bombardment of new or fattier foods than i was having. Perhaps it wont make a difference if i'm eating 1500calories, as my maintenance calories is about 600cal more than that. I guess this phase will have to be a little trial and error, but on the other hand i might just be psyching myself out.
Grocery shopping for new foods tomorrow and i can have more veggies, fruits and meats than before! I can even have limited dairy and limited nuts/peanut butter! I'll definitely try to not splurge on that though until i can reintroduce sugars and starches back in my daily routine. Luckily enough i am starting to crave healthier snacks like celery and peanut butter or yogurt! Even granola bars look good to me at this point.
Not sure what new goodies i'll be buying tomorrow but i'm pretty sure avocado, tuna, raspberries, and other good things will be on the list. Maybe even salami! Didn't even know i could have that before! :)
I'm debating whether to take after pictures now and after each stage or just when all the stages are done. I'll probably ask Miss A to take some for me next time i visit her. It would be fun to see a progression!

Til Tomorrow and the beginning of phase 2!!!
Lady C

Day 31

Didn't sleep last night as my hours are wacky and i had to get up early to drive to the lake to see my family. I did weigh though and my weight for this morning was 210.8lbs! I'm not bringing a scale with me on the trip and i wont be weighing until thursday or friday so we'll see what happens! I'm just praying i can make it through these next couple days without any more drops and still stay within the VLCD. I'm prepared that if i'm starving i'll allow myself a little extra food of the foods i can have.. i'll work it off when i get home, but i'm hoping i can stick to it normally without trouble. We'll see as the days unfold..
I'm also worried about temptations as my cousin and aunt love to make brownies and such when we go to the lake, and the smell of fresh baked brownies is just torture. Hopefully they put lots of nuts in them and then it wont seem as appealing! haha :) I was happy to learn today while looking at my HCG app on my android phone that i can have small, limited amounts of peanut butter in the next phase! I'm going to try and find some low cal organic kind to try out with some celery as a snack, but i think allowing myself that once in a while will help me stay away from other things. I'm apparently also allowed small amounts of dairy, which is nice! I might try it but i think i might hold off on it until phase 3. The slowly integrating seems like the best way to go, but i feel like because my body isn't used to those things anymore, its going to fluctuate radically when i do have a little dairy or sugar or starch in the near future. Even if it's just a little, my body is going to be confused. I guess i should look at phase 2 as a good way to explore all the other veggies and fruits i can have and try to fall in love with things i wouldn't normally have eaten before this. Like raspberries, carrots, zucchini, grapefruit, blueberries, certain kinds of squash, green beans and even other veggies and fruits i wouldn't normally eat or even touch. Some of my favorite veggies are unfortunately off limits like potatoes, peas and artichokes.. but i understand considering the high starch content.
I'm really looking forward to being under 200lbs. It's going to be marvelous! But i'm aware that after these drops, it's all up to me to exercise and eat right and within a certain amount of calories to keep seeing that scale go down. My goal is to be under 200lbs by October. I think that could be reasonable! A month and half to lose 10lbs. But i wont stress if i don't accomplish that goal. I need to stay on track and keep up with the exercise and those two things are the most important. Consistency is key.

Lets pray i can stay on track!
Lady C

Day 30 cont.

The drops are finally done and gone! :) 3 days left until stage 2!

Day 30

Weighed in today at 211.4lbs
Weight is such a funny fluctuating thing. Driving to donner tomorrow to spend time with family, bringing my own food to cook to stay on track, won't be easy! What with my family making treats and dessert every night. I'll be finishing my drops tonight and the next 3 days are gonna be tough! After you finish the drops you sick with the very low calorie diet for 3 days until the hcg is out of your system. Lets hope it goes well! After that I get to eat more and I'm so excited! Lets just hope I have enough will power to not cheat! :)

Until then,
Lady C

Day 27-29

I've been lacking in updates because i havent had much to report on. I weighed in on the 27th day at 212lbs, but in the past two days i've fluctuated up between 212.2 and 212.8 because i either ate a little more of my food or slightly cheated with some sugar free mints that i probably should have left in my purse. Last night my friend had a party and it was my hardest temptation yet! Not only did i want to drink but i desperately wanted sweets! I had to eat 3 or 4 mints just get the idea off my brain. it might be what threw me off since my body isn't used to that kind of fake sugar substitute.
Today might be an even harder task as i'm going to the movies and dinner with my mom and a few friends. Avoiding movie theatre food is hard enough but to then have dinner at black angus and have to order a steak cooked without butter with veggies that have nothing on it and cut 2oz of the steak off to give away, just so i can eat dinner out.. its excessive. i'm going to try it, after all i only have less than a week of phase 1 left and i'm going to have to learn to readjust slightly to eating outside of the home. This may make tomorrow's weigh in just as disappointing since i cant control everything with how the food is prepared, but for the rest of phase 1 i'll just try to be as strict as i can.
I really can't wait to be done with phase 1. It's not the cravings i can't handle, it's the lack of food. i cant wait to eat more. I am nervous i wont have enough willpower to not cheat on phase 2.. so please help me pray for that! I need all the strength i can muster to get through this and keep my daily diet on a steady and healthy path!

Wish me luck xo
Lady C

Day 25 & 26

Did Yoga on the 24th day but then got my dreaded "lady time" the next day. I've been dealing with that for the last 2 days and its made my weight fluctuate slightly. Today was a family birthday party day and not only did i bring my own food but i resisted cupcakes and homemade ice cream! Man it was hard, i've been craving like crazy this past week! I can't wait to finish my drops. Hopefully i'll be done this week, i'm so so so ready to eat more! I can't wait lol i've been hungry a lot the past couple days.

keep me in your prayers. i need the support :)

Lady C

Day 24

Woke up today and weighed in at 213.2lbs. :) having some filet with broccoli tonight. Filet mignon at trader joes goes for around $10 so indulging in it is much easier than it used to be. At safeway its about $20 and very very marbled with fat.. trader joes is much leaner and cheaper! Definitely worth it. They also have amazing strawberries. The batch I got today was a little dissapointing but its probably because I'm quite picky! I hate bruised parts of fruit, bugs in veggies and fat on meat. But those are just some pet peeves! Haha my average grocery bill now for 3 days worth of food is about $30-$40! That's a huge difference from all the fatty processed food I used to eat that would cost $50-$100 for 3 days.. if that.. now if only my mom would follow my new food schedule so we could actually cut our food bill in half!
Now the rest of my night is planned for work, yoga and sims 3! Haha need some relaxing time. :)

Finding balance is a really tricky thing because its hard not to focus on one particular part, but lifes a constant learning process.

Lady C

Day 23

Day 23, i weighed in at 213.8lbs! I definitely see a difference in my arms, face, everywhere! I've even had the local barista tell me she can see it. I of course told her i was on a diet first though, she was wondering since i changed my order. She told me about another women who comes in who was doing weight watchers, and before she started she would get a latte with whole milk, whip cream and 7 packs of splenda every day. I was like, you might as well get a frappachino! Needless to say she didn't think she lasted on her diet. I'm thankful all i gave up was a 190cal drink. I used to drink caramel frappachino's everyday when i was in high school! It definitely made me gain weight. I'm so happy i can't drink those anymore, in fact i refuse to in fear of liking them again! LOL
So i didn't exercise today or yesterday because my workload was crazy and body was sore. I'm feeling better though now so i'm going to resume it tomorrow! Definitely need to do another shopping run tomorrow as well as i ran out of strawberries and tomatoes tonight. I need to find some more recipes to try because i'm getting sick of tomato and chicken! Maybe i'll try chicken soup? I don't know. I still have left overs to finish. But the Taco salad has been quite a treat! I'm loving it! Will need to pick up more beef tomorrow as well! My drops are almost out, i probably have a week left in them. I've only been taking two a day for the past week to make them last longer but i'm about done with this. I'm excited to move on to the next stage and eat more! Even though its just eating more healthy food and meats with no carbs, sugar or starch, i'm excited! I cant wait to have tuna with avacado and lemon juice! hehe
I'm REALLY excited to reintroduce carbs again in my diet in stage 3! Miss A and i found pita bread at target for 100 cal or so for the whole bread and it was definitely large enough for a personal pizza! I was SO excited. At Trader Joe's all the pita bread is like 200 cal for a thing, or more. That's too much, i wanna have some room for good toppings! like cheese! OMG CHEESE. I miss you. lol :D

My will is strong and my head is clear. i can even watch man vs. food now and not want to kill myself because of the cravings! That's a huge step for me! I can feel a difference inside and out, i'm just praying now that it lasts.. permanently!

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes! Should be busy and eventful :)

Till then..
Lady C

Day 22

Woke up to a weight of 214.2lbs. Down from yesterday :) Didn't exercise today to rest my body, ill do some yoga tomorrow! Have soo much work to do its really stressing me out. Its good thoug to go throug this and teach myself to not go to food for comfort. I'm trying to take one thing at a time.
Changed up my taco lettuce dinner to be a salad tonight and it is so much easier to eat! I added a little lemon juice over it and it made it even more delicious!
Not much else to report..
Till tomorrow,
Lady C

Day 21

The exercising had me sore all day so I decided to pass on exercising today. My weight fluctuated up .4lbs to to 215 but I'm not worrying. Perhaps its muscle from working out? I don't know but its not a big deal. Hopefully tomorrow ill be back on track! Tonight I'm eating lettuce and diced tomato tacos! Ground beef with taco seasoning on romaine lettuce with diced tomatoes, yumm! surprisingly filling too! Here's a picture of how it turned out.
Not much else to update on today.

Till tomorrow,
Lady C

Day 20 workout

Tried Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown and it was definitely a nicer more gentle workout than the 30 day shred. I wanted to workout today but was still sore from yesterday so the new yoga dvd I got was perfect. I feel refreshed! Its a very nice feeling, I think ill switch off between the two each day. Now time to relax and get some sleep.. :)

Day 20

Woke up today to a loss of 1.4 lbs! I'm now 214.6! That's crazy how much of a difference exercising last night made. I went to target today and got some new exercise goodies to try out and some new weights for the 30 day shred video. I only had one and switching off didn't work well. I'm definitely sore today, mainly in my abs but also in my legs! The thing is its a good kind of burn.. it was hard but an hour or so after I finished and relaxed a bit, I never breathed so easily in my life! I can def see a differance :) tonight I'm cooking some beef filet to have with asparagus and some ground beef with taco seasoning to have on top of romaine lettuce with a little diced tomato! Should be delicious. Not sure if I can mix lettuce and tomato on the diet since it says the only veggies you can have together are tomato and onion but ill just have half a tomato instead of a whole and I think that will work! Only a week or so left on phase 1! Feeling good :)

xo
Lady C

Day 19 workout

Just finished jillian michaels 30 day shred workout level 1 for the first time and damn, she is no joke. My heart is pumping, my asthma flaired, my body is feeling it, but it was totally doable. I can see that after a week or so this will get easier. I definitely need to buy 2lb dumbells, I only have one 5lb one and switching off didn't work too well. I also need to have water and my inhaler handy! All and all I can feel the burn and I'm excited to gain more strength, flexibilty and endurance! I think I need to buy a yoga dvd too for days I rest.. I need recomendations though cause I have no idea what to buy. Hm...

Send me good vibes and wishes! Let's hope I can keep this up!

Lady C

Day 19 cont.

My chicken fajita dinner with diced tomato and onions :) not as much flavor as my not so healthy version but it is delicious!

Day 19

wow! woke up and was 216lbs! i wonder if all that chicken stalled me and the beef helped at all? strange. but yay! guess i'll need to introduce beef a little more into my diet. after i finish these chicken fajitas of course. or to be exact, chicken with taco seasoning, onions and diced tomato lol :) i'll post a picture of how that dinner turned out tonight! for now i'm off to get some coffee, take some "before exercise" pictures and try my new jillian michaels dvd! wish me luck!

Day 18 cont.

My first beef dish of the hcg program! Excited! Now let's see how the chicken fajitas turn out..

Day 18

Down to 217.2lbs today.. going to try making fajita chicken and filet beef tonight! Yay for new recipes!

Made my own taco seasoning! Used a recipe I found online but modified it for taste. Added salt, garlic salt, more garlic powder, more ground cayenne pepper and lawrys on top of the amount they said in the recipe which I posted in yesterdays post. The recipe they gave was kinda bland so it needed more salt and spice.

Ill let you know how it turns out! Yummm

Lady C

Day 17

Same weight today. Had a bad day dealing with website issues and problems and i've been so frustrated ever since i woke up! Its been a rough day and the cravings tend to be worse on stressful days like this, but i didn't give in. No matter how much i wanted too. 


To distract myself and help my cravings go away, i've decided to look up and plan meals for before and after this diet :) I need some new recipes for this diet because i'm becoming entirely too sick of my current ones. lets see what i find..