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R5P2C4 Starting Weight 150.6
Yesterday – 146.6
Today – 145.6
1.0 lb LOSS Overnight
2.6 lb UNDER LIW of Round Five Cycle 3 (148.2)
5.0 lb Lost Since Start of R5C4 (VLCD) 09/02/08
105.2 Total Lost Since Start of Protocol (VLCD) 06/26/07

Another good day.  I was looking over my numbers, like I usually do in the morning, and I started to get just a tad down on the percentage, as you know that is something that I look at all the time.  But this is the first break I have taken that I didn’t gain massive amounts of weight to lose quickly so my numbers are not meeting up to the past.  Once I figured that out, I felt better.  Yup!  I am 5 lbs down so far on day 5 - not too shabby, that is 1.25 lost per day - and I am no longer playing catchup, this is all virgin territory!  GOTTA LOVE IT!

My menu for yesterday is here:

• Coffee with 2% Milk
• Cottage Cheese and Blueberries
• Tuna with 1 T Light Mayo, Mustard, SF Relish and Lettuce - Chopped hard boiled egg
• One of the 48 Calorie Shakes - recipe to follow sometime next week!

UPDATE ON HANNA:  It was pretty nerve racking last night, the winds were howling and the rain was pelting - but we made it through unscathed.  Thank you everyone for your concern - things have indeed worked out for the best.

Support

Whenever we deal with anything in our lives, it really helps if we surround ourselves with people that share the same values, goals, passions, ambitions and beliefs.  This is even more important when a very focused part of our lives, changing the way we eat to lose weight, comes into play.  Just like anything else in life, we can do this by ourselves, but when we do it with a group of people that share our ideals and direction, well then, it makes the journey much more enjoyable.

I knew early on with the HCG Journey to Weight Loss that I was about to embark on that I was going to need a strong support group to help me with my journey.  In the beginning, I chose the HCG DIeters group over at Yahoo Groups, because back then, they seemed to have the most knowledge and were very true to the protocol - which as you all well know, was the purist attitude I maintained during most of my journey.

One thing lead to another, and I found myself becoming part of a support team that to me is unbreakable.  I went from the original group, to another YahooGroup (HCG2) to an online support forum (that was actually more my cup of tea format wise) to what you see now available at My HCG Journey Community Forums - and all along the way, I have surrounded myself with little pieces of the puzzle that pretty much created the team of members that I call my ROCK with this protocol.

Creating a Core Support Group

To create a support group, two things have to take place.  First, the important aspects of you, what makes you tick, what your passions are and what your needs are, they need to be rock solid in your own mind - in other words, you need to know what you want in order to know how to ask for it.  Then you have to give them reasons to want to support you - most importantly realizing that this is a two way street.  You must also GIVE support in order to GET support.

Your should surround yourself with a team that handles things you do not excel at, so that they too can fit into the puzzle - one person should never be greater than the next, it should all work like a well oiled machine so that as one, the goals of the GROUP can be realized.  Then you have something you can work with that can accomplish ALL your goals.

The team I have surrounded myself with, they fulfill different needs in my journey, which I am hoping that I do the same in return for them (they tell me I do anyhoo) and in so doing, I have seen 3 of the core group of 6 that I surround myself with already reaching goal, and maintaining nicely I might add.  Their reaching goal while on this HCG Journey while I am a part of their lives has given me more motivation than you can ever imagine.

Extending That Group

In My HCG Journey, I have come across literally THOUSANDS of like minded individuals that have shared the same goals, desires, ambitions, beliefs and so on (in regards to the HCG Protocol).  Some are around for just a moment, others hang for the time frame that it takes them to lose their weight, and still others flutter in and out of my life, but each time I have a moment in life with one of these individuals, I deem it a privilege to have shared in this journey with them.  I cannot tell you how exciting it is to see an email from someone that I have been in contact with along the way that I haven’t heard from in a while drop me a line to tell me how they are doing.

All This to Say…

Thank you for being a part of my support group.  I truly believe that I couldn’t have done it without each piece of the puzzle you all have provided being here to help along the way.  I am here, here for the duration, here to help in any way I can to share this miracle with anyone who will listen.

•Get my updates via eMail: Subscribe to My HCG Journey - Blog
•Click here to JOIN the My HCG Journey Newsletter and here to see the September, 2008 Issue!
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R5P2C4 Starting Weight 150.6
Yesterday – 147.0
Today – 146.6
0.4 lb LOSS Overnight
1.6 lb UNDER LIW of Round Five Cycle 3 (148.2)
4.0 Lost Since Start of R5C4 (VLCD) 09/02/08
104.2 Total Lost Since Start of Protocol (VLCD) 06/26/07

Not too bad.  I had some soup yesterday, and although I usually make it with a low sodium chicken broth, all I had available was Bouillon Cubes and so I have a feeling my loss was not as good because of the sodium.  UGH - peeing like crazy today, so I know I am getting rid of the excess - no worries.  Also, TOM is vicious, once again.  UGH!

My Goals

I thought I would go ahead and talk about my goals for finishing protocol - as I am coming up to it pretty darn quickly.  I don’t know when the HCG will tell me to stop, but I know where I don’t want to be, and that is anywhere where it’s not considered “Normal” or “Average” - I want to go until the HCG tells me to stop, but I don’t want to go crazy either.

As of today, at my weight and my height, I am still considered “Overweight” by the BMI charts - my number one goal for protocol has always been to get UNDER the overweight BMI as I want to be able to get life and health insurance and have no issues in doing it.

I don’t want to be SUPER SKINNY - I don’t like that look and I know it wont work for me.  But I do want to be “average” whatever that means.  I figure that the BMI charts say that “Normal” BMI for a woman is 18.5 - 24.9 - so to be “average” I am thinking I need to be at 22 BMI - that means my weight would be exactly at 128 - which actually sounds about right, as I remember being 130 all thru high school - I had a killer bod, I ran every other day for exercise and I looked good.  I didn’t think so back then cause I had an anorexic friend that I would always compare myself to, but now I know what was realistic for ME - so my goal right now is 128 - but as we all know, that is subject to change.

My first goal was 150 lbs, because quite frankly, I never thought while I was at 250 lbs, I would ever get to 150 so that was the first number I picked.  Now when I look at things a bit more closely and I am now UNDER 150 lbs, and I see some stuff that still needs worked on, my next ‘arbitrary goal’ will be 128 - when I get there I will again assess things and see what I should do again.

So hopefully, during THIS cycle, I will be able to get to my goal of 138 - so that I only have another 10 lbs to get to 128 - two cycles to be done by the time I am “supposed” to go to Hawaii.  We shall see, everything is up in the air at the moment.  And I do want to be on a reasonable place when I go to Hawaii, but I know I will have to go straight back on P2 when I get home from there!  LOL

Hanna is on her way - no rest for the weary.  They had called last night to tell us that baby girl had early dismissal today for school (90 minutes early), and then this morning at 8:30 they called and said that early dismissal changed to only a half day, so I had to go and pick her up - the weather is going down hill right now, and we have decided to bunker down here at our home.  We said we would leave if it’s a hurricane, well it’s not, and so we are staying put.

But, as they say, it’s not over till the fat lady sings.  And IKE is right behind this one, so we are still watching things closely.  Keep us in your thoughts.

My Menu

• Coffee with 2% Milk
• Catfish with a can of green beans cooked in tomato sauce (all no salt added)
• Tomato chicken soup with a cube of chicken bullion with broccoli and tomato sauce.

You can see a copy of my FitDay here for the calorie counts.

Have a great day!  By the way?  Thanks to all of you that have welcomed me back with your comments, I have not been ignorning you, it’s just taking everything I have to update - I will get back to normal after this weekend has passed.

•Get my updates via eMail: Subscribe to My HCG Journey - Blog
•Click here to JOIN the My HCG Journey Newsletter and here to see the September, 2008 Issue!
•Click here to join in on the fun at the My HCG Journey Community Forums!

R5P2C4 Starting Weight 150.6

All I can say is that if you are even reading this, then you have you have the patience of Job! I cannot believe that I went the entire month of August without one update! I have been busy in the online HCG Protocol Community, just not here on my blog. I would like to thank all the people that kept up with me during my absence - but I would also like to apologize for not keeping those of you that read my blog and nothing else informed of my whereabouts. Let me just mention a few things, and then maybe you might feel for what I was going through in the month of August, or 2nd thought maybe you wont, but at least it will make me feel better that I at least tried to explain what was going on.

August, first of all, proved to be about the most stressful month I have ever experienced since starting Protocol. There was a lot of deviating going on, but in so doing it taught me some very valuable lessons. Do the words “let him that think he stands, be careful that he does not fall” mean anything to you? In my entire history of being on Protocol, I have never experienced a Round such as what I experienced during the month of August. The whole month pretty much was a wash as far as weight loss is concerned. I started the 3rd Cycle of Round 5 at 160.4 on July 14th and ended it on August 18th at 148.2 which was my LIW - so a loss of 12.2 - that was 36 injections - so an average of .35 per day. You wanna see how utterly AWFUL those numbers are? Take a close look a the chart. Can you say TOPSY TURVEY?!?!?!

Here are just some of the things I had to deal with for the month of August:

• First year of home school for my two eldest - one senior and one junior
• 3rd Grade start for my daughter
• JPS and Eldest Son both ending their protocol - hate to admit had some issues with that
• Two secret projects working on for My HCG Journey (can’t divulge yet, but you will know soon enough)
• The My HCG Journey Newsletter Release
• Some other “personal” issues

You feel sorry for me yet? Well in any case, it’s a lame attempt at explaining why I haven’t been around. One of the things I did discover is that without the daily accountability that this blog brings me, I tend to not do so well. So since I am starting another round today, I have made the decision to be “one” with my blog once again. So peeps, here we go again!

Have some new pics to share with you, they are the latest before and after of me, and my son. Like I mentioned, son is DONE - he lost close to 60 lbs and looks like a million bucks! So with that, I leave you with these pics (clickable for larger view) and look for me, watch for it, TOMORROW!

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R5P2C3 Starting Weight 160.4
Yesterday – 152.2
Today – 150.8
1.4 lb LOSS Overnight
2.2 lb UNDER LIW of Round Five Cycle 2 (153.0)
9.6 Lost Since Start of R5C3 (VLCD) 07/14/08
100.0 Total Lost Since Start of Protocol (VLCD) 06/26/07

What more can be said – look at that number, that represents the amount of pounds that have been lost by me! This momentous occasion happened this morning – I couldn’t believe it when I stepped on the scale and I saw this:

It was only 13 months ago (almost to the day as I started on this journey on June 26, 2007) that this number was a full 100 lbs higher. And in 13 months, look at what I accomplished with the HCG Protocol. Unreal.

It sure made me pay for it. On my last cycle, ending June 29th, I had a stall for the last few days and was stuck at 153. Since Monday of this week I was at 152.2 – stuck at that weight all week, never thinking that I would drop the last 1.4 lbs in one night.

I hung true to the protocol, even took measurements yesterday to see if I was indeed still losing (yes, even I get nervous still!) and indeed I was so I relaxed, and then was blessed with a nice drop to give me my long awaited 100 lbs.

It feels good, I have to tell you. Really good. It was a long time coming and its here.

I would like to thank the academy – wait, strike that, I would like to thank all of you out there reading this, whether this is your first visit to my words, or you’re a long time friend – without each and every one of you I could not have made it this far. Each one of you has touched my life on this journey in one way or another and words just cannot possibly convey the thanks that you all deserve.

I have so much to say, but as you can imagine, I am at a loss to put this into words at this precise moment. I will however reserve the right to expand on this feeling over the next few days.

So I leave you with my sassy self!

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R5P2C3 Starting Weight 160.4
Yesterday - 153.6
Today - 152.8
0.8 lb LOSS Overnight
0.2 lb UNDER LIW of Round Five Cycle 2 (153.0)
7.6 Lost Since Start of R5C3 (VLCD) 07/14/08
98.0 Total Lost Since Start of Protocol (VLCD) 06/26/07

2.0 NEEDED TO LOSE TO REACH 100 POUNDS

What a good loss for me after a few days of unreal losses! I am really trying not to think about it, because quite frankly, this is getting a bit unbelievable. I haven’t wrapped my head around the fact that I am in the 150’s and now I am right around the corner of the 140’s - how am I supposed to deal with that?

I am at the point again that I don’t see it. I was here around the 190’s - just couldn’t see the loss and then all of a sudden it appeared. I was like who is this woman in the mirror? Do I know her? Right now, all I am doing is just living day to day life on protocol. I know what to do, I know what to eat, I know what to expect.

JPS and I were talking today about how people that haven’t seen us for awhile are just so blown over by the losses that they cannot get over it. We both came to the conclusion that we have gotten to where we don’t understand it because we have now decided to “expect” the losses. We both are in tune with the thought that no matter what, we are at the point where we know it will work, it will continue to work, and so it’s not so ‘miraculous’ any more.

It’s kinda like taking an aspirin for a headache. You expect it to work, cause you know it has worked before, you know that when one comes along you can take something and it will be gone. That is how we both feel about the protocol now. To us, it’s a medically proven procedure that works if you follow directions. And it wont stop working. It continues to work each and every time we use it. So we have to be patient with those that still look at us and say WOW - we have gotten so complacent with the changes but have to understand that they have not experienced this.

I am getting excited again about being near 100 lbs lost. Only 2 lbs away - we are SO THROWING a party! Everyone must join - cause then for sure it will be ALL about me! I am hoping that it happens by Monday - one week into my 3rd cycle of round 5 - wow - I can’t even believe I am saying that!

Ok, I was looking for something on my computer today, and I came across a picture - it’s a HORRIBLE picture, and I am sure it is at my heaviest. But this was back sometime in 2001 - I wish I had a pic of me alone and not with JPS to compare it to, but I don’t so for that I am sorry, but check this out:

With that, I will leave you. And can I just say,