Hi BlogWorld!

I'm alive and well.  Just on a trek across the country.  10ish states in 7 days with 3 kids under the age of 6.  Ah yea, I'm crazy but having fun fun fun!  Will share pics when I return.

Oh yea, and it's VERY impossible to keep away from starches, sugars and fast food while on a 3000 mile trek.  Just thought I'd tell you that.  We'll see how much the scale loves me when I return.

It's the End of the World As We Know It

Yes, I'm quoting REO SpeedWagon REM and totally loving Gen X Radio.  Who doesn't right?  Well, my kids don't but it's better than listening to Rush (and I don't been the band!)
You gotta see this.  It's convinced me that the end of the world is just around the corner...and no, it has nothing to do with Obama.  Check THIS out.  Bridal Diapers!

Yes, we all can remember that last minute trip to the bathroom just before going down the aisle.  Something about the adrenaline zipping through the veins that necessitates a jaunt to the little girls' room.  It's just how the body works but really.  Can you even imagine heading down the aisle with a diaper on?  Sexy, right?

PLEASE NOTE:  I really do know REM.  That and U2. The only bands I really do know.  I am terrible with music and instead of trusting that I actually knew that REM sang that one I trusted an outside source who was WRONG.  Silly me.  It will never happen again.  The part where I'm wrong I mean.  Because that never happens.  I wish.

A Silly Conversation with Little Dude

All while clipping my toe nails...

Mom, does dat hurt?

No Little Dude.

Mom, God is a busy guy.

Yep.  He's busy but the cool thing about God is that He always has time to listen to us.

Mom, der are a wot of people in Heaven.

You are right Little Dude.

Do you know people in Heaven, Mom?

Yes, my dad and my grandparents are in heaven.

Mom, I gonna eat oreos all day when I'm in Heaven.

Little Dude, that's my kind of Heaven.

Then he proceeded to clean up my toe nails (EWWW!) and put them in the trash.

I love 4 year olds!

Out of Commission

Ugh!  I hope you don't get it.  It's miserable.  Little Dude got hit pretty hard around the 1st of July with fever, listlessness, and no voice.  Within 6 days the twins had the same thing but they got a double punch with a bad cough to boot.  Thinking I'd escaped the crud, I took a big sigh of relief...make that a big inhale of germs because BLECH!  I'm sick. 

It hit last Wednesday and I'm still maneuvering a nasty head cold.   Of course it's not the kind that puts me in bed, incapable of normal function.  It's the kind where you can get through the day...you just feel like crud.  Today is day 6 of this nastiness and I'm ready to be better.  It won't stop me from enjoying an evening out though.  I need it in a big fat way. 

Oh, and in case you are curious, I'm maintaining the weight loss and doing quite well in Phase 3.  I'm back to a normal calorie load and wish I felt good enough to enjoy it.  I still haven't gotten back to my exercise routine but hope to get there by tomorrow.  Wish me luck.

Where to go from here...

So I was on a little blog kick there for a few weeks.  I woke up in the morning and actually had something to write about.  Not sure that it was "must read" writing but I felt accountable to check in and update.  Now things have calmed a little and normalized...well, as normal as life gets in casa de Ventalicious.

It's currently day 3 of phase 3 where I slowly introduce new foods to my diet.  I haven't indulged yet nor have I gone above 700 or so calories.  I'm supposed to take it slow and I'm really not hungry.  I have to be diligent in raising my caloric intake so that the body doesn't go into starvation mode and work against my progress.  I've lost another 1/2 pound which more or less takes me to 15 pounds.  Yay! 

We're going out to dinner tonight to take advantage of free burger coupons from Champps!  I love free food and it will be my second restaurant since I started all of this one month ago.  I'm definitely ready to jump into the land of the eating again...although I won't be eating the bun...and I'll be asking for broccoli instead of fries.  No hardship there though because ever since they took the trans fat out of fries they haven't tasted the same.  Trans fat must be good stuff because I rarely eat fries anymore.  Remember when they were GOOD?   Oh, those were the days. 

Best part about the free burgers tonight is that we will be kid free!  Ah yea!  Evening VBS is a great invention!

All is Well!

Okay what a weekend!  Had tons of fun with friends and even got in a little road trip to see college friends.  Yay!  So fun to catch up and also it feels good to be out in about 14 pounds lighter.  I can't even begin to tell you how different it feels.  I wish I'd done this 2 years ago.  Oh well.  Better late than ever.

YAY!

I'm down 14 pounds today and it's my last drops day.  Yay!  I'm so happy to be done.  Well, sort of done.  Now starts the hard part. 3 weeks of no sugars or starches.  Um, yea.  Not easy but after the past 3 weeks I can do anything, right?  I'm kind of hoping I lose a pound over the next 24 hours so I can claim 15 pounds...just for fun.  I'll keep ya posted.

FREE Chick-fil-a TODAY ONLY!!!

Dress up like a COW and get free Chick-fil-a!  It's Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a and this is the easiest way EVER to get free food.  Grab a trash bag and a black spot or two and head on over to my favorite restaurant for free food.  Bring the herd.  It's worth it!

PS.  I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich for myself and only ate half the patty...and still lost 1/2 pound that day.  I wouldn't recommend this on a daily basis because of the grease content.

Just for fun, check out last year's visit to Chick-fil-a!!!!

Day 23 is my fave so far!!!

Yep!  Lowest point yet!  I'm down 13.5 pounds.  The strangest thing?  Most people are not noticing...or at least commenting.  Isn't that amazing that someone can lose 13.5 pounds and no one notices?  Does that mean you can GAIN 13.5 pounds and no one notices? Scary, my friends.  Scary.

Day 22 My Friends and...

I have good news!  I'm down 12 pounds!  12 pounds!  Yea!  It's been tough going over the past 10 days but I'm seeing real progress again.  I knew I needed to stick it out but doing it is easier said than done.  It's day 22 and I didn't think I'd make it this far.  I think I'll stick with it through Day 24 or Day 25.  I haven't decided for sure but if everything goes as planned, that would take me to a total weight loss of 14 pounds or so.

I'm still struggling with my ideal weight.  I have no idea what that number is but I do know that I'd like a little cushion as weight tends to oscillate a bit coming off the second phase of this protocol.

Time for my morning coffee which I actually look forward to these days.

Here's a tip I've learned over the past 3 weeks:  Do you throw out coffee each afternoon?  Here's a great idea.  Put leftover coffee in the blender, add 8-10 ice cubes and blend.  Next add a few drops of chocolate stevia and vanilla-creme stevia.  Grab a straw and enjoy a yummy coffee blend for practically free!

Dang it!

Just an update...no I didn't cheat.  Last night while I was working the swim meet I got a ton of sunscreen on my hands (repeatedly) while I was writing names on the swimmers' backs.  I washed my hands several times but didn't see any results this morning, meaning I didn't lose and I didn't gain.

Then today I went to the grocery to stock up on my strange food assortments and bought the wrong melba toast.  Grr.  That's my one "treat" of the day and let me tell you...it tastes just like those toasts babies eat.  I bought the garlic roast flavor that has sugar in it.  Dang it.  I took one bite and knew it tasted way too good to be on protocol.  I looked at the ingredients and sure enough, 1 gram of sugar per 3 crackers.  That means I had a 1/3 gram of sugar which just might ruin me.  If sunscreen can keep me from losing than one little melba toast can wreck it.

It's officially Day 21 so I have some decisions to make.  I'm going to stick with it a little longer but I just don't know how long.  I'm getting a little hungry...time for 3 ounces of chicken.

You've Got to See THIS!

Yes, he's okay.  My 6 year old boy fell asleep after swimming 2 25 meter freestyles.  He's wasn't feeling so hot and decided to curl up on the concrete under some shade and take a nap in 90 plus degree heat.  Poor dude.  I wouldn't have brought him to the meet if I'd known he was feeling so cruddy.  Did I mention over 100 of our closest friends witnessed this event?  Yep, Mom of the Year award will be on my doorstep any minute, I'm sure of it.

It's Day 20 and...

I'm down again! Another 1/2 pound.  I'm now at the lowest point I've been yet!  Progress, sweet progress.  Love it.  I have 4 more days ahead of me at least.  Help me decide blogworld.  Do I go at it for a longer period of time?  How does one decide how much they want to/should way?  I really don't have an answer to that.

I suppose I could go another 10 pounds if I stayed on for another 3 weeks.  I just don't know if that's where my body should be.  Part of the reason I've struggled over the past week (I think) is because I may have found the weight that is right for my body.  I don't have an answer to this question and google is letting me down.  Maybe I'll try Bing.

UPDATE:  Here's what I found.  Check it out.  It's the Happy Weight Calculator.  Take it with a grain of salt.

A Question from Blog World

Here's a question from Jen:
I'm desperate to hear all the details on this. Did you get all of their shampoo/lotion/sunscreen/cosmetics? Are you using normal stuff? TALK TO ME! Because my stress eating over the last month hasn't been a great thing...

Okay, so here we go.  I stuck with my Pantene shampoo and it hasn't seemed to have any negative effects on weight loss.  Don't ask how often I wash my hair though.  It probably couldn't hurt to use an oil free shampoo like Neutrogena.  I've avoided cosmetics but apparently mascara and lipstick are fine.  If you want a sunscreen or lotion make sure it says "oil free".  I'm using Neutrogena sunscreen (make sure you do this...the very first day I didn't have an oil free sunscreen so I didn't wear anything...I was so burned!!!)  

I'm using Secret deoderant.  I wasn't ready to do that crystal stick thing.  Those are for the hard core hcg'ers.  Secret hasn't hurt me so far.  I use Tom's toothpaste.  You can find that at CVS or Walgreens.  It's not cheap and it tastes kinda yucky but I haven't minded it too much.  I think you could probably use a plain Crest but I decided not to risk it. 

The thing I like best about this HCG protocol is that it has changed my appetite and restarted my hypothalmus.  I no longer crave chocolate after each meal (although it still sounds yummy).  Miracle, people.  Miracle. 

I would stress NOT to cheat.  In 12 days I lost 10 pounds.  In the past 7 days I've lost and gained (a half pound 2 different times) and I'm still at that 10 pound mark.  Why?  I cheated 3 times in the past 8 days.  I know.  Thankfully though I can add on a few days and make up for this.  I plan to be good over the next 6 days and see where that takes me.  I may go for a few more days depending on the progress I have.

By the way, my cheats consisted of:  one chocolate chip pancake and 2 chocolate chip cookies on Day 12, organic mac and cheese on Day 14, and the catered yumminess that I encountered at Red White and Boom on Day 16.  It's now Day 19 though and I'm back to my lowest weight so far.  Here is a key:  Don't let yourself get hungry.  If you plan well and constantly eat the allowed foods you won't be tempted to cheat because you won't be hungry.  The days I cheated (except for the catered yumminess) were days that I wasn't feeding myself like I should have been.  I waited too long between foods and didn't snack appropriately.  I have a new resolve now (since the catered yumminess) and I'm finishing strong!!! 

Day 18 and...

I'm still paying the price for my indiscretion on Friday night.  A catered party, amazing food and drinks...fireworks?  I'm not made of steel people.  Yesterday I did well.  We went to a party and I was not the least bit tempted.  Not one ounce!  Today our kids were in the parade and we hit the pool for a spell. We're about to go to 3 more parties and then fireworks!!  I can hold out.  And here is why.

I'm extending a few more days on to the regimen so I can lose 5 more pounds.  This will give me a little cushion in case things go a little haywire.  I'm supposed to finish out on Wednesday but instead I might finish on Sunday with 3 days of "detox" afterward.  I'll keep you posted.  Let's see how much willpower I have and what I can lose over the next several days.

It's Day 17 and...

I cheated again!  Ugh!  It wasn't pancakes or mac & cheese this time.  Through hubby's work we were invited to a catered party downtown to watch the biggest fireworks fest in the Midwest.  They had the yummiest food and not one drop of it fit into my protocol.  Dang it!  I had already eaten most of my daily allotment but I still lacked my veggies and fruit.  So...I ate the salad.  After tasting it though I realized it had an oily (yet yummy) vinaigrette.  Did I stop after just one bite?  That would be a big fat NO.

Since I'd already ruined the day I had some hummus, bread and maybe a few bites of chocolate chip cookie.

What I have learned from all of this?  I have very little willpower and this is not easy!

Today I should be okay but tomorrow we have 4 parties and a parade.  Monday we have a few more parties and more delicious food to tempt me.  I've got to get my act in gear though.  I have 5 full days in front of me with 3 non drop days.  Then on to the maintenance phase.  I have the option of extending my time.  The minimum amount of time on the drops is 21 days but the max is 40 sooo...do I have the willpower? 

Day 16!!!

I didn't post yesterday.  Sorry.  I haven't fallen off the wagon, I promise.  I'm officially down more than 10 pounds in 15 full days!  Yay!  The past 4 days have been a bit up and down.  Down overall but since my scale doesn't measure in .2 of a pound I can't know for sure.  It's been a little discouraging because it's nice to see those full pound drops.  I've seen that lower number in the "tens" section of my weight once but it might have been a fluke because of my cruddy scale.  Either way I'm a half pound away from new territory.  Bummer is that it's the 4th of July weekend and here in my town it might as well be Christmas.  We do up the 4th like no other.

I LOVE the 4th of July and totally look forward to the catered fireworks we are attending tonight, party at the pool tomorrow and neighborhood cookouts the 2 days after that.  It's going to be tough to stick to the plan.  I wish I had the resolve to tell you that I'm going to be "good" but I'm already tempted and I haven't even gotten to the first party yet.  If I do cheat (look...I"m already setting myself up to fail!!!) I plan to stay on the protocol a few days longer than the 21 I had planned for.  The protocol prescribes 21 straight days of no cheats taking drops 3 times per day.  I might be able to get away with a bite or two...Oh, what am I saying?  I'm going to try hard...pray for me!