Saturday, May 26, 2012

Delayed

Sorry for the lack of updates.  It has been long and difficult couple of days.
First, the 500 calories a day has made me very tired and very hungry and very crabby!
Second, I was not able to keep my blood sugar high enough to feel well through this process.  My blood sugar got as low as 55 and only as high at 87.  It was dropping after I would eat, which is the wrong direction!

I knew there was a chance that my PCOS and insulin resistance would complicate this process, but I didn't know how much.  I also did not loose any weight.  On the up side, I did however, successfully cleanse myself of soda and caffeine.  Until I can decide what I am going to do now, I will remain caffeine free!

My apologies for those of you who might have been looking for a great result, I know that I am bummed!

Amy

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Here Comes the Hard Days

Today was day 2 of Gorging and HCG drops.  It was tough for me to gorge today as I was not as planned as I should have been.  Hubby and I spent a lot of money on fast food for these 2 gorge days as we knew these items had a high fat content.  I am just hoping that we did enough to prevent us from struggling tomorrow.
Start weight today for me was 215.  Might be a fluke, but it was down 2 lbs.  Hubby's weight was a mistake yesterday.  His initial weigh in was 252.  He weighed in today at 250, also down 2 lbs.  We shall see is this trend keeps up.

So the rest of this week's meals are as follows:
Wednesday: Breakfast-none & drops.  Lunch: 100grams Chicken breast (cooked on forman grill), Sliced cucumbers, strawberries.  Homemade dressing for the cucumbers. Drops & lots of water.  Dinner-Taco salad a la HCG regulations. Drops & lots of water.
Thursday: Breakfast-none & drops and water.  Lunch: Asian Salad (with chicken and orange), drops & water. Dinner: Bunless burgers, cucumbers, & Apple Salad.  Drops & water.
Friday: Breakfast-none & drops. Lunch- Apple Cobbler, Celery Sticks & 100 grams steak.  Drops & water.  Dinner- Chicken fajitas with celery and grapefruit. Drops & water.

I will post my recipes when I have more time.  Right now I need to prep for tomorrow's meals.  I am pre-cooking the chicken breasts and pre-measuring out the beef so that it all matches the regulations.

Thanks for the support!

Amy

Monday, May 21, 2012

Day 1 (Gorge Day)

Today was day 1 of the HCG diet.  Stats: Me: 217 lbs, Bust: 49 '',  Belly/Waistline 45 3/4'', Hips 45''.  Hubby: Wt 257#, Neck 18'', Chest 48 1/4'', Belly/mid-section 49 1/4 inches, Waist 46 1/2''.

Gorge day is the first day of HCG drops and we are supposed to gorge ourselves until we are full.  The more we gorge on, the less hungry and cranky we will likely be the rest of the week after the gorge days.  It was actually tough to gorge for me, because as a result of the drops, I had no appetite.  Here's what we ate: Fried egg and cheese sandwich, cereal bar, almonds and walnuts, popcorn, choc. chip cookies, Chipotle for lunch with lots of sour cream and guacamole, hot dogs, mac and cheese, doritos, red velvet cup cakes and peanut better toast.  YIKES!!  Not to mention, I almost drank half my weight in ounces of water today.  OY!

Tomorrow is more of the same, as it is the last gorge day until we start the VLCD (very low caloric diet) portion of the HCG plan.  Now that I don't feel like I am hungry or have an appetite, I think I can manage this for 30 days.  Check back with me and forgive me if I have changed my mind at the end of the week.

I will be posting our beginning photos and our menus plus shopping experiences, so stay tuned....



Amy

Sunday, May 20, 2012

What it is

In my last post I explained that the hubby and I were beginning the HCG diet/cleanse very soon.  Well, it struck me that there might be people who do not know what the HCG diet is.
Basically, it is taking natural Human Chorionic Gonadotropin and eating a 500 calorie diet for 26 days.  There are no refined sugars, no sugars, and no cheating.  We are supposed to stick to a very strict menu of food items and cannot eat anything processed {hence the cleanse portion}.  There is no working out during this 26 days as we will be burning far too many calories to eat only 500 calories and exercise on top of it.

After the 500 cal 26 days with the drops, for 26 more days we eat an increased diet, without the drops.  We should only increase our intake by a tiny bit, but still keeping processed foods and sugars out of our diets.  It has been found that through this process the Hypothalamus {which is in the brain} resets what it thinks is your base weight.  The hypothalamus also helps regulate other stuff too.  I can actually reset my Thyroid through this process and get it to work properly again too.  When those two things are working properly for me, guess what, so will my reproductive organs.  I might for the first time since high school, have a normal/regular menstrual cycle.  As a result, when the time is right, Hubby and I may not have to use fertility treatments in order to conceive.  While the thought of getting pregnant is both thrilling and scary, that is NOT the driving force behind starting this diet/cleanse.  I know that I am not healthy enough at this time to even support and growing fetus.

For anyone out there who is thinking that I am insane for doing this and that I am making a big mistake, you should know that I have done so many other things to try to get my weight back to a normal weight and normal BMI.  I have been 220 lbs since I stopped nursing is 2010.  I was 220 lbs when I conceived Little Man through infertility treatments.  I lost weight while I was pregnant {how does that happen} even though I was not sick one minute of my pregnancy.

I have done my research and I have tried many many other things.  My endocrinologist suggested I have Gastric Bypass.  NO THANK YOU!!  So I am doing this instead!

I will share my progress and my experience through this 26 days.

Amy

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

It's GO time...

That's right, it's go time!  In my last post I talked about making changes to my lifestyle and the ruler for change and all that.  Well, I did a lot of thinking and praying and talking with the good ol' hubby about making these changes and he surprised me by saying that he would like to join in on making these changes. 
Yes folks, I did fall over in shock, as the changes that I am referring to have to do with our eating habits and making D.R.A.S.T.I.C changes to what and how we are eating.

In just a few short days, Hubby and I will begin the HCG diet.  We did not go out and buy the store HCG.  We are doing through the support of our wonderful chiropractor and are real HCG drops.  These drops will NOT make me pregnant nor will they make Hubby experience feminization (I think I just made this word up) of his body. 

Over the next 30 days, you will hear me say "I can do anything for 30 days, right?"  Please do me the kindness of responding, "Yes, you can.  You are strong enough and have the courage to make it through." I would really appreciate the support.  What we are starting is more of a life long commitment to eating and living healthier.  This is scary, but results will outweigh the struggle that we will most likely feel.

I hope to have the heart and time to blog daily through this process with how things are going and what results we are seeing.  My goal would be to help provide some support and guidance to anyone else who might be contemplating this diet and lifestyle change.  I will share how Hubby and I make this work for us and any tools that we use to make these changes.

{That's it universe.  I put this out there, now bring back good results}

Amy

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Ch-Ch-Changes

Change comes in many forms.  We all have ideas of what we would change and the reasons behind those changes.  When change isn't successful or we don't see it through all the way, we can get discouraged and give up.  This is a pattern with which I am quite familiar.    Learning how to break this pattern can be quite difficult and I feel like I am on the path to breaking it, so I wanted to share with others what I have learned. 
For a while now I have been at the contemplation stage of [big fancy psychology word] change.  I have been essentially deciding whether or not I want to make permanent changes to my life.  Ironically, my journey through the stages of change parallels that of the clients I serve through adult mental health services.  This month I have been working with clients that are not really progressing on to the next stages of change (aka...managing their mental health symptoms enough to overcome barriers to adaptable life).  So the 5 stages of this model of change are pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance.  I think that I smash together the contemplation and action stages and skip the preparation stage...guess what, this sets me up for failure and disappointment.  

When deciding to make changes in ones life, we should look at the 3 elements of motivational interviewing to really determine the level of commitment to making said changes.  The 3 elements can be measured on the Ruler of change (1 through 10, 1 least 10 most). 
When making plans for a change in your life here are the elements to ask yourself about.
1.  Importance:  How important is this to me on a scale of 1-10?
2. Confidence: How confident am I that I will be successful on a scale of 1-10?
3. Readiness:  How ready am I for this change to happen on a scale of 1-10?

If importance his high and confidence is high, but readiness is low, then changes are there will be no progression towards reaching whatever the goal may be.

This might explain why I am stuck in the contemplation stage.  Not all of the scores of my Ruler for change are high.  In fact, I am not sure that any of my scores on those 3 elements are high enough to move to another stage.  Importance is the highest ranking element, because intellectually I KNOW and FEEL that the changes I want to make are important to me and my family, but I hold no confidence that I can make it.
A little bit of me isn't necessarily ready to let my old life go and start new.  So what will push me over the edge and make it to the next stage?

Give this a try and let me know what you think...did it work and did it provide you would more successful outcomes.  I sure hope it does for me.

-Amy