Day 29th

I thought I would post an update on our results after 29 days. I was a little amazed at the results according to the pictures, because I hadn't noticed much a difference in my body. I mean I noticed my clothes being looser, but until I saw the pictures, I didn't believe that it was that big of a difference.



                                         BEFORE 3/21                                                             SO FAR 4/18

                                                                                  

One day 29, which is when these pictures were taken, I was down a total of 18.2 lbs and 17 1/2 inches

Here is John's before and after. This is actually his last day of the diet, right now he is in maintance.

                                       BEFORE 3/21                                                               AFTER 4/18

On day 29, John was down a total of 18.4 lbs and 15 1/2 inches.  I have to say, I think my man is looking mighty fine!!

Day 26

I reached my first goal!! I have officially lost 18 lbs since starting the HCG diet. I am so happy.

Day 25

I am within 0.4 lbs of my first weight goal and seeing numbers on the scale that I haven't seen in forever. I am so happy to be getting ready to see the scale read less than 200 lbs. I haven't been under 200 since a couple months pregnant with JJ. After having Alex, I lost most of my pregnancy weight and got down to like 185, but after JJ I think the lowest I saw was about 205. I am so excited.

I am a little bummed that I am still fitting into the same size clothes, but all my clothes I wore while I was heavier were stretched from my flub and really lose. I went and bought some new pants and shirts and they look so much better.

And I have to say that John is looking mighty fine!! We both are getting compliments from people, guys at John's work have even complimented him on losing weight. Praying we take what we have learned from this diet and use it after we are off the diet.

Day 21

After last week having a hard time losing and/or gaining, John and I seemed to break through it. Easter John ended up having no pop what-so-ever. He woke up the next morning with a pound loss and today lost .8 lb lost. He is so happy to be down to 210, a weight he hasn't seen in years.

I am getting ready to see a low weight that I haven't seen in over 4 year 1/2 years. I am so excited to be under this weight and to surpass it!!

Day 20

For the past week, John has been going back and forth between 2 weights. He has been sneaking pops and coffee and that is effecting his weight loss. He is getting really frustrating beccause he can't loose. I can understand his frustration. The other day after eating some cheese on my salad, I ended up gaining a lb and I had about 5 days of little or no loss and it stunk.

I also wonder if the little or no weight loss or gaining could be because the weights we were trying to get pass was one we hadn't been to in years. Maybe we hit a wall until our body worked through getting under that weight.

John has still been losing inches this past week, so it isn't a total loss, but I think he is about ready to say he is done. I am praying he wakes up today and has a lower wieght.

Day 14

I have been frustrated the last couple days. On Sunday I had only lost .2 lbs and then yesterday lost nothing. I have been sticking to the diet and hardly cheating. I did have a little pop yesterday and the day before I had a string cheese. Finally today I had lost .8 lbs, but I am pretty sure I know what the problem with the slow or no weight loss. My system is plugged up because of the change in diet. I need to get something to help with that problem. I am now to the point where I am hurting from all the built up pressure from being plugged up.

But I am proud to say I am only 7.2 lbs from my 1st goal. I hope after I get this little problem cleared up I can be even closer to my goal and maybe pass it by next week. That would be awesome!!

Day 12

Well after weighing ourselves this morning, I was a little discouraged. I didn't have a huge weight loss yesterday and then today I lost .2 lbs. Then John tells me that he lost 2.6 lbs. Jerk!! So far, I am down 10 lbs from my weigh in after our binge days and John is down 13.6 from when we started the HCG drops.

Today we went to eat after church and forgot our drops. Of course that had me all worried, but I read on the internet that they recommend you take them 30 before meals because it is easier to remember and then you take them around the same time. So we just took them when we got home. We went to a local resturant, Merricks and John and I both had the small chicken breast salad with light italian dressing. It was tasty, but the brown gravy had me drooling!!

John then went to get us a smoothie, because he was trying to be nice and thoughtful, but honestly I can't drink it. I don't want all the syrup to mess me up, plus after not having sweets in so many days, it is way too sweet to me! I noticed when I take a sip of the kids cokes, that that is way to sweet too. Maybe I will not be drawn to sweets as much after all this.

Day 11

I think both John and I are getting to the point in this diet where we are maybe expecting the pounds and inches that are coming off to make more drastic differences in our appearance. I mean John has to date lost 11 lbs and I have lost 9.8 lbs and I don't see a big difference in my body. I have noticed that my clothes are fitting better, though. But I have honestly wondered at times, is this really working. Am I really losing the weight. Maybe a little HCG fairy lives in the bottle and everytime I open the bottle to take the drops, it pops out and messes with my scale so that it shows a lower weight. lol

I know that it is really working, I just am so ready to be in a smaller size cloths and have all my flub gone.

I did get on Wii Fit today for the first time in over a month and I was happy with what it said. I had started cutting out on pop and eating better before starting the diet and so I had lost some weight before starting the HCG diet. Anyway when I got on the board today to weigh myself it said I had lost 11.5 lbs since the last time I weighed in. It actually told me that it was concerned caused I lost so much weight in a short amount of time. It said that that sits a person up for gaining it all back.

That is one of my fears. I don't want to go through all this and then gain it all back right after. My big thing has always been I don't want to live my life where I can't eat anything ever again. What this diet has shown me is that although after I get done with this diet, I will be allowed to eat bad foods again, it should be in moderation. I want to try to maintain the diet I have now(obviously with more calories than while on the diet) but keep with the healthier foods and limit pasta, sweets, and definately pop!! I want this to be a change that last.

Weekly Update

So today was our weekly weigh in day. Officially John has lost 9.4 lbs in one week. With him, it really was a week of losing. He never gained on the load days, so he lost from day one. I have lost 7.2 lbs which is from 5 days of the diet and losing because I did gain on our load days.

We also took measurements today and John is down 4 1/8 inches from last Wedensday and I am down 6 inches. I have to admit I am alittle upset that although I lost 7.2 lbs and 6 inches I don't see that much difference in the mirror. I mean, yes my clothes are fitting better and I can tell I am slimming down, since I am losing all over, it is like I am shrinking and it is harder to notice a huge difference in my waist when my hips are also slimmer.

Today has been hard because instead of eggs and such for breakfast, I just had 2 oranges and that seemed to set me off on a day of being extremely hungry and craving everything bad that I could think of. Other than a couple bites of Livie's potatoes and a small amount of coke, I made it without pigging out. I definately am going to eat my eggs tomorrow so that I don't go through this again. John said he was really struggling with cravings today too. It seems like after years of unconcious bad choices our bodies are starting to resent our new healthier choices. I am just praying this diet gets us more aware of our choices and we continue with our better way of eating.

Changed Starting Weight

I decided after talking with others who have done the HCG diet to change my starting weight to my highest after my load days. So I changed my goal weight by 3 lbs to reflect the higher starting weight. This way I can claim all my weight loss instead of minusing the load weight gain.

Day 5

Today I was amazed at how when you have less food, you take more time to really ENJOY the taste of the food. You savory it. Instead of hurrying and eating all my plate so I can get some more, I made each bite count and enjoyed the flavor. And I didn't walk away from the table starving or even craving another bite. I am amazed at how food isn't holding me anymore. I don't go through the house and stop in the kitchen for a bite of something, I don't have the desire. I am praying that this is something that continues after I quit the diet.

I think I might do another round after this round, depending on my results. The big reason I am even thinking of it I have to admit is my husband. Right now my husband and my weight isnt that much different. About 5-7 lbs. The other day I forgot clothes for after a bath and grabbed his basketball shorts to wear for a minute and they fit, they weren't big and baggy AT ALL. That is very depressing to me. And John said he has a goal weight in mind that if he can reach he would really like, which is my 3rd phase goal. I want to be smaller and weight less than my husband!! He told me he thinks I look great now and that I shouldn't be so hard on myself after having 5 kids, but still I want to know I am lighter than my husband.

Anyway so here is our menu today
Breakfast: Same as yesterday
Lunch: small chicken breast salad at Merrick's with italian dressing
Snack: Strawberries
Dinner: 4 oz of talipia and 4 oz of steamed mushrooms(soooo yummy)
Snack: Strawberried

Weight Loss
John- 1.4 lbs(down 6.6 lbs from starting weight)
Me- 1.6 lbs(down 2.6 lbs from starting weight, 4.4 lbs from binge days weight)

Day 4

Today was our second day on the low calorie diet. I have to admit that I was excited all night to weigh in this morning. Well I got up around 6:30 to go to the bathroom, so I weighed and was shocked that I had lost over 2 lbs. But when I got up later which was closer to my weigh in time from the morning before, I decided to weigh myself again. I had lost more weight and ended up with a weight loss of 2.8 lbs in one day. Which with the gain from the binge days, I am down 1 lb from my start weight.

John ended up with a loss of 3.2 lbs from the day before, so he has lost 5.2 lbs total. He makes it look so easy. And his stomach looks so much smaller. And the big punk actually had to pull out his smaller size pants cause his pants kept falling down on the second day of the official diet.

I have to admit that my head feels a little weird lately. Not horrible, just kinda disconnected at times. And John pointed out earlier that he felt like he was not really sweating, just kinda warmer than normal and glowing for lack of a better term. I have felt that way too. I guess that makes sense since we are burning off all the fat.

So here is our menu for Day 4 or 2 depending on how you count it
Breakfast: 1 egg and 2 egg whites, small glass of spicy V8, and cutie orange(John didn't eat this since he slept in, his 3rd meal will be at the end)
Lunch: 4 oz of steak cooked in chicken broth(drained off before serving) and a few pieces of onion and 4 oz of asparagus with a touch of butter(A very good meal and actually 4 oz of asparagus was a surprising amount)
Snack: 4 medium-large strawberries
Dinner: 4 oz chicken breast and 4 oz cucumbers
John's third meal(basically a late snack since he woke up not long before lunch and he has to work until 3 AM): greek yogurt and apple

I have to say again, I am really amazed at how I feel really satisfied after I eat my meals. I look at the amount of food on my plate before hand and think, how will this fill me up, but when I am done, I don't want anything else, I seriously feel full.

WOW!!

I weighed myself this morning and was so amazed. I was down 2.8 lbs in 1 day. So I am officially 1.0 lbs lower than my starting weight. I am so happy to see instant results. And the best part is knowing that more weight is still going to come off. This is just the beginning!!

Day 3

Day was our first day of the reduced calorie diet. It wasn't all that bad really. I think a big part of it is getting past the thought of "I really want it because I can't have it." I am not usually one to snack constantly or eat breakfast. But today after eating breakfast, all I could think of was when lunch was. And I found myself tempted to grab some chips while I was picking up after lunch. And I have to admit I grabbed 2 chips.

So here is what our menu was for the day.
Breakfast: 1 egg with 2 egg whites, a small glass of spicy V8(the direction said if you did very light excersising you could have both these items) and 1 cutie orange.
Lunch: 4 oz of broiled chicken and 4 oz broccoli
Snack: baked apple with stevia and cinnamon
Dinner: 4 oz of talipa and 4 oz celery sticks

I have to say I feel pretty satisfied after dinner. I think what is missing is the feeling stuffed sensation which when that feeling is absent I take that as still hungry. I feel like I ate enough to satisfy my hunger, without stuffing myself to the brim. This month will make me better at recognizing that feeling and aiming for it, instead of aiming for the stuffed feeling.

I started the day 1.8 lbs higher than I did on Wednesday, but the direction said that you usually gain during the binge days. John actually lost 2.0 lbs, the big jerk.

I am so full!!

Day one and two are bingeing days and let me tell you, at this point I am pretty sure that really the way this diet works is that you make yourself so full and sick the first two days that you don't want to eat the rest of the month. I am so sick right now! I feel like exploding!!

1st Day

Today is the beginning of John and my's weight loss journey together. Since having kids I have put on alot of weight that I wish was hanging on someone else. I have done excerising and dieting half-heartedly except for after having Alex when I lost all my baby weight. But since then I have not had the motivation to stick to anything. I am praying with John doing this with me we will motivate each other.

We decided to try HCG drops and the diet that goes with it. Now I know there is some contraversy over this diet, but after research and talking to friends and family who have done it, we are trying it.

So we each have a goal in mind. John's goal is 25 lbs. I have a low, middle, and high goal. I want to at least lose 15 pounds which would put me under a number that made me cringe when I hit that mark. My second goal is 25 lbs, and my ultimate goal is 35 at least. I think it would be awesome to get to my heights healthy weight but that would mean I need to lose around 50 lbs and I don't know if that is even possible. I mean I don't think I even weight that little when I got married at the age of 17, almost 18 and I was thin then.

Maybe I will try 2 rounds of this, depending on the results I get. Who knows, but I do know I hope whatever we lose, we keep off. What is the point if we just go right back to getting like we do now.

Here is starting pictures. Hoping to see a big difference in about a month-month and a half.