Oh did I forget to mention the Popcorn?

Starting weight on this round: 172.8 - 11-24-7
LIW 160.4 12-18-07
Yesterday's weight 163.2
Today's weight 163.4
Gain of .2 lb
3.0 over LIW

Okay, I confess that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have the buttered popcorn at the movies yesterday. Other than that I was a pretty good girl. But that was yesterday and today I might not have been such a good girl. We went to Old Chicago tonight so my husband could watch the start of the Ohio State game and I had some spaghetti and meatballs with a white zin to wash it down. I ate mostly meatballs but I think there might have been a little bit of spaghetti mixed in there. LOL! But I ate a salad first and when the main course came, I got full very quickly and brought home way more than half of what was served to me. My stepson will be a happy camper tomorrow.
So if we were going by some of the "other" clinic's rules, I'd be within the acceptable range, but I'm going by Dr. Simeon's rules and I know that I'm 1 lb over what is allowed and 3 lbs over where I'd really like to be. So I'll be a little more careful tomorrow.
But I'd like to take a moment here to explain that I'm not meaning to sound as if I take the 2 lb rule lightly and that I'm totally ignoring the idea that a steak day should be done as soon as we go over 2 lbs by as much as an ounce. I still strongly believe that the key to completely resetting the hypothalamus and to maintaining your weight is to strictly adhere to the maintenance phase once you have reached your optimum weight. So I want to emphasize that after this next round of P2 and once I have reached my ideal weight, which will hopefully be determined by listening to my body and ending the injections and the VLCD when I stop losing and begin feeling extreme hunger, I fully intend to follow the maintenance instructions to the letter. I will completely avoid all sugar and starches and continue to do so for a full 3 weeks and not until those 3 weeks have been completed will I begin to add the sugars and starches back into my diet. I plan to weigh myself each day and do a steak day if I exceed my LIW by more than 2 lbs. Because once I've completed the protocol and have reached my goal, I am determined to be free of the dieting part of my life forever.
So I've been allowing myself a little more freedom that I probably should have, but I know that I have the strength and determination to get the job done when it really counts. I have faith in myself and in this protocol and I plan to be one of the many people who have HCG success stories and who are living prove that when it's done right it really can work...

No News, just checking in

Starting weight on this round: 172.8 - 11-24-7
LIW 160.4 12-18-07
Yesterday's weight 163.6
Today's weight 163.2
Loss of .4 lb
2.8 over LIW

Still creeping down. Hurray! Not much to report today and I waited too late to post here so I don't really have time to get into a subject that I've been thinking about recently. So I'll leave it for tomorrow maybe. Keep ya guessing! We went to a movie tonight and we were pretty disappointed. Just wasn't what we thought it was going to be. "I am Legend" had great acting by Will Smith, but I couldn't stand the... WAIT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! Don't read the rest of this paragraph if you don't want any details...
couldn't stand the mutated virus albino people who had superhuman strength and couldn't come out in sunlight. I wanted it more suspenseful without it being so over the top scary-bloody-violent type of horror. But oh well, I wasn't the one making the movie and I guess they thought they were giving people what they wanted. My husband felt the same way, so I guess we're just not the average movie goers. I won't spoil it by saying the ending, but I will say that part of the ending was terrible and part was okay.
Okay that's all for now. I know I'd never make it as a movie reviewer. Not articulate and coherent enough, but I know what I like and what I DON'T! LOL!
Bye for now. I'll try to write more tomorrow.

Grandkids, gotta love 'em...

Starting weight on this round: 172.8 - 11-24-7
LIW 160.4 12-18-07
Yesterday's weight 164.2
Today's weight 163.6
Loss of .6 lb
3.2 over LIW

Moving in the right direction today. Hope the trend continues.
Today was all about Grandkids and taking down the Christmas lights. We had the two babies today. Little Sofia is 4 months old and a little darling, but she will NOT be ignored. Generally very happy but will just call out for your attention if you leave her sight for more than 5 minutes or so. So I just kind of lug her around everywhere with me. And Heath is 15 months old. He walked late at 14 months so is making up for lost time. He's been sick though so is VERY fussy. Constantly hungry but will only eat a little bit of whatever I'm giving him. Just can't decide what he wants to eat. Hmmm, sounds a little familiar to me... Oh yeah, that's what I'VE been doing lately too! Funny story about Heath, when I was on protocol, I ate broccoli at practically every meal, and we discovered that Heath absolutely LOVES broccoli and would eat practically half of my portion. So I started making it just for him until my stepson sees me feeding it to him and says to STOP giving him broccoli cuz he gets the WORST smelling gas when he eats it! LOL! So now I just give it to him when our son isn't around, because it's very good for him and WE don't have to sleep in the same room with him, so we don't care if he has gas! LOL!
So back to my story... I had to send my husband to the store and he was gone for about 35 minutes and I had both babies to myself while he was gone. So when he came back I was soooo happy to see him. One was just constantly YELLING to be fed faster and the other just wanted to be held the whole time. ARRGGHH. One at a time please!!!
Then nap time came and we got the lights down and packed away in the bins. So just a little more tidying up tomorrow and we'll be back to normal at our (quiet once again) house.
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B, Thanks for stopping by to check out my blog. No, the white bikini thing is a little "out there" you have to be a hollywood type to have the nerve to do something like that. (Not to mention the implants and plastic surgery!)

Biz, Yes I'm pretty lucky to have this big lug in my life. He's a keeper. Yes I've noticed that the bloggers are kind of taking it easy lately. Just wait till they're all back on P2, then I'm sure it'll be quite busy.

Mary, I just realized I never did get the walk in. But I feel like I got a LOT of exercise anyway...

Starting weight on this round: 172.8 - 11-24-7
LIW 160.4 12-18-07
Yesterday's weight 164.2
Today's weight 164.2
Loss of 0 lb
3.8 over LIW

No loss today, but no gain either. I'm still not taking the P3 eating seriously enough. I'm not eating LOTS of starches and sugars, but I'm not completely avoiding them either. I am planning to get some exercise this weekend though. It's back to the gym for me. I went skiing last weekend and realized just how out of shape I really am. My legs were sore for two days just from a few hours of skiing. Pretty pathetic. Problem is that we're babysitting our two littlest grandkids tomorrow. So I'll have to appeal to my husband to take over with both of them for an hour or two so I can get a little workout in. If nothing else, we'll put them both in the wagon and go for a nice long walk.

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Biz, my DH and I have been married for 7 years after dating for 5. He's a peach!

Mary, someday we will face pasta without fear...

Lili, this weekend is babysitting and Katrina clean-up for me...

Starting weight on this round: 172.8 - 11-24-7
LIW 160.4 12-18-07
Yesterday's weight 164.4
Today's weight 164.2
Loss of .2 lb
3.8 over LIW

So cool, I'm down .2 today. And this is after going out to dinner last night for our anniversary. I had Orange roughy with some sort of creamy sauce on top, a side of broccoli and although it came with a HUGE mound of mashed red potatoes, I just had a few bites and left the mound where it lay. And I had a glass of white zin. Oh, and did I tell you that this was in an Italian restaurant? I didn't have pasta, can you believe it? Didn't even really want it. My husband offered me a taste of his and all I wanted was one of the beef tips that was mixed in.

I was talking to my friend this weekend about the HCG diet and she said you seem really happy about it. And I said yes I am... Sometimes I think this is all a dream and that I'll wake up, and then I DO wake up and it is a dream... a dream come true!

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Hey Biz, don't even think about changing your Dial soap routine because of my post. It sounds like there is a valid reason for your using it. And especially if you're getting good results from it. I am just against the idea of indiscriminate, uninformed and unnecessary use of antibacterials out of the silly fear of germs. Germs aren't all bad! Some germs are friendly germs! But it is better to use regular soap for washing hands and such. Yes, just one more thing we have to watch out for... And yes! My husband finally came around. Now if he doesn't back out. I'm almost tempted to just start him out now, before he has a chance to change his mind! LOL! I was also thinking of a short round for him and depending on his schedule it's a definite possibility.

Mary, cool that we're on the same page about the anit-bac and anti-biots! And so cool that your kitchen is coming along. I'm working on getting the Christmas stuff put away. It looks like Katrina took a turn through my house!

ANTI-ANTIbacterial Soapbox...

Starting weight on this round: 172.8 - 11-24-7
LIW 160.4 12-18-07
Last weight 162.8 (Saturday)
Today's weight 164.4
Gain of 1.6 lb
4.0 over LIW

So I finally know the extent of my P3 food choices. I have been eating healthy food, but have not been avoiding the starches and the sugars completely and it shows. I am not proud of this but I'm also not going to beat myself up over it. I plan to start another round of P2 in a few weeks and although I would like to be closer to my LIW, I know that I'll be able to take care of this excess weight fairly easily once I start on the HCG again. But I do plan on using the next few weeks to eat sensibly and to try to get it down closer to my LIW. Some news of note, my husband told me this evening that if we could figure out how to manage it for him when he's travelling, since he always does a lot of travel the first part of the year, that he would be willing to go on the diet with me. I had to keep myself from jumping up and down with delight. I don't want to scare him off again! So I'm going to try to think of ways to help him keep as close to the protocol as possible. And we will try to schedule it around his travel whenever possible. Hurray! I'm so happy since I know it will work so well for him and it will be so great to have him on the protocol with me this time because although my daughter was doing the protocol with me last time, she doesn't live in the same house with me so I was still eating my protocol food alone. It will be great eating on protocol with him in the evenings...

So here's where I'll warn my readers of the Soapbox subject for today. It's aptly named since I'm going to get up on my soapbox about soaps, antibacterial soaps that is, so I apologize in advance for going a little crazy about the subject, but here goes:

I was compelled to write on a totally unrelated subject today due to a change in the wash room hand soaps supplied by the facilities department at my office. For quite some time, they have put a gentle, pleasant smelling liquid soap in the dispensers at work and in addition have placed huge industrial sized bottles of hand sanitizers right next to the paper towels. So although I have a scientific based aversion to the household use of sanitizer products, I was willing to overlook the presence of such a product as long as there was an acceptable alternative for those of us who are ANTI-antibacterial. So imagine my concern when I noticed the addition of a brand spanking new dispenser in the washroom today that is labeled and filled with “Dial Antibacterial Hand Soap”. Now, before I go getting all riled up (as you can see, that may be too late,) I should tell you that this is in addition to the mild nice smelling stuff in the generic dispensers. But of course I immediately suspected the worst, that this was just a precursor to the removal of my nice, mild, pretty smelling stuff! Oh horrors! I can scarcely stand the thought! But I can just tell that all of you readers are thinking, “what the heck is she going on about? What’s the big deal about antibacterial soap? It’s supposed to be GOOD stuff isn’t it?” Well, you know, I’m glad you asked that question, because that’s exactly what I’m planning to talk about today.
It all started years ago when I was taking a college English class that requires the student to choose a subject and research it, then write a paper using all your research sources, etc. You all know what I’m talking about, right? Well the teacher had supplied a few subjects for us as examples and one of them kind of struck my fancy. It was the abuse of antibiotics and anti-bacterial products and the negative impact it could have. So in writing this paper, I became a big convert to the theory that antibiotics are rampantly over-prescribed and over-used and mis-used and they are causing big problems in the way of resistant strains of bacteria. Just think “super-bug” and you’ll get the idea. And the other component which is along the same lines, but actually a completely different problem, is the use of antibacterial agents in settings other than those which need to be kept completely free of bacteria for clinical reasons such as hospitals and nursing homes, etc. The main point that was made in this regard is that in normal circumstances, it is completely effective to thoroughly wash hands with regular soap and water. This will remove the bacteria from the hands in a safe manner. The use of antibacterial products to wash hands and to clean counters and sinks, etc. is not only major overkill, but is actually detrimental since it not only kills the “bad” bacteria, but beneficial bacteria as well. This bacteria is necessary for human health and it serves in some instances to combat bad bacteria as well. So when you wipe out all of the bacteria, it can actually give a toe-hold to the bad kind with nothing to stop it from becoming the only bacteria on the block so to speak. Additionally these antibacterial agents which are washed down the drains can actually be harmful to the environment since sunlight can convert them to dioxins which are toxic to plants and animals.
So this really is a very simplified explanation for why I’m so against the anti-bacterial craze. And it’s been getting worse and worse. When I first began avoiding these products, I could go to the grocery store isles and find one or two antibacterial versions and 10 or 20 regular versions. But in the last 10 years or so, the ratio has completely reversed. I now have trouble finding a product on the shelf that is NOT antibacterial. And all along I kept thinking that the scientists would start getting the word out and the trend would begin to fade, but NO, it just keeps getting worse. And you know what? It really is all about the $$$. Because all of these products are more expensive and because “they” pay big money to advertise to guilt ridden housewives that they are subjecting their family to deadly GERMS if they don’t use these products.
OMG, I have to stop here for a moment and tell you that I just realized that I sound a lot like KT when I start talking about this subject. I actually scare myself. LOL! So I’m going to end this diatribe at this point, but I will leave my readers with a few links that can be used to provide further information about the subject. There are both pro’s and con’s and I would encourage anyone who is concerned to find their own sources for further research. So here are a few choice links:
http://www.tufts.edu/med/apua/Q&A/Q&A_antibacterials.html
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/sci_update.cfm?DocID=178
http://home.howstuffworks.com/question692.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no3_supp/levy.htm
http://www.drgreene.org/body.cfm?id=21&action=detail&ref=819

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Biz, I think I will start on the 20th as long as it fits into our schedule. It will be fun to start with a group again! I better stop gaining weight though, or I won't be able to get to my goal with this one last round! Especially since I've changed my final goal from 145 to 136. 136 is the high end of the range for my height and frame size, so that's what I'll aim for. But really I plan on listening to my body once I get close and go with what it's telling me.

Mary, I liked your list too. Painting toenails! Yes, now we can reach 'em better!

Things I want to do this year...

Hi and Happy New Year to all of you bloggers out there! Sorry I still don't have any stats to post since I didn't get home until this afternoon, way too late to weigh in. I think my weight won't be too bad though. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I had absolutely NO alcohol for New Year's Eve, party due to the fact that we were with a friend who is newly sober and we didn't feel good about drinking in front of him and really didn't feel the need to. We had a great dinner of steak and crab legs and then hung out playing cards until after the New Year rang in. So it was a very nice low key way to spend the year end. It's good to be home though, and we spent the rest of the afternoon taking down our dried out Christmas tree and packing away the decorations. Some of our kids and grandkids came over for dinner tonight so that was pleasant. I'm hoping I'll see my other grandkids tomorrow. I haven't had much time to make the rounds of the regular blogs, but I've tried to check in on Biz's every day and yesterday I saw her request for a list of things that we couldn't do last year but will be able to do this year thanks to Dr. Simeon's and HCG. So I tried not to think too much about it ahead of time and then just sat down and tried to write as many as I could think of in 10 minutes. So here's my list:

• I will be able to go back to my doctor's office with a significant weight loss and better overall health due to the reduction.
• I will go to the gym and not feel self conscious about doing an aerobics or yoga class.
• I will be able to start hiking and walking on a regular basis.
• I will be able to consider trying a beginners running program again.
• I will be able to go places with my grandkids and be able to keep up with them.
• I will feel good about going to the lake (wearing a swimsuit) instead of being uncomfortable about my weight.
• I will feel good about going camping (wearing shorts) instead of being uncomfortable about my weight.
• I will be able to choose clothes based on how stylish and cute they are rather than how to disguise my bloated figure.
• I will not be afraid to run into people that knew me when I was thin and have them see me as a "fat" woman.
• I will be able to have a picture taken without trying to hide behind everyone else in the picture.
• I will be able to start swimming in our pool when guests come over rather than when no one else is around.
• I will feel good about going dancing with my husband instead of feeling uncomfortable about my size.
• And I already kind of said this, but I'll be able to wear cute (small) clothes again and actually LIKE how I look in them.

Okay, now that I'm looking over my list, there are an awful lot of these that are all about how I look, but since I have been so unhappy about how I look with this extra weight, I guess that should be expected. I'm also thinking that I'm very lucky that I found this solution before I started having serious health problems that would not be so easily reversed. I really do feel that this will extend my life and add to the quality of my life to a huge extent. So I've said it before, but I'll never stop saying "Thank you Dr. Simeon's from the bottom of my heart!"

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Biz, I'll have to keep a closer eye on what is worse for me, salty or sweet. I always have used a lot of salt and I try to use sea salt but I don't think it really bothers me that much. It probably is either sugar or starches or BOTH! I plan to do about a 4 week break which puts me at a start date of January 18th for my first injection. So it will be very close to yours and JPS's. Maybe I'll even wait until the 20th so I'll be in sync with you guys! It's very hard to believe it will be the last one... I talked to my husband about trying it with me and he's still not sure, but I'm hoping he'll go for it along with me. I'm giving him some time to think it over and I'll be sure to give him the FAQ responses from the guys to read. (Thanks for that, the timing worked out great for me!)

Mary, Happy New YEAR girl! Hope yours was a good one. I'll post my stats tomorrow!