*SIGH*

One of 'those' weeks ... up, down, up down, UP ... yep, mostly up ... even my inches ... that just isn't right, but those 'in the know' tell me that is common in week two with water weight filling up the empty fat pockets and that it will disappear quickly.

My biggest UP this week? It was a happy UP .. my baby girl bought me tickets to fly to Seattle and join her for a trip to CA to see the rest of the family ... or most of them, we'll only have a couple days .... in May. I was hoping to see her before she heads for Hawaii, but just couldn't see it in the cards. She has been such a blessing to me .. I'm a lucky mom!

Downs, just come and go ... nothing important to share.

I am sticking strickly to protocol, drinking tons of water, cutting out the caffeine early in the day .. not eating late. Have learned if I am eating beef, it should be for lunch and that I HAVE to keep those calories as close to 500 as possible or I'll stop losing for sure.

Was shocked to see a big gain this morning of 1.4 lbs ... am sad but as I said, folks assured me it would be gone shortly and was only water ... I will feel better when I see that reflected in the scale! I so want to get through this in a positive mode with a significant start .. knowing that will make the next round easier! Am hoping that two rounds will be enough.

For those of you who don't know .. this round will include 3 weeks of adding more calories without sugars and starch and another three weeks of adding those to get to 'normal' calorie intake for whatever weight you are at. This is a stabilization period which also allows your body to reshape and adjust to the new weight. Once you do those 6 weeks, you may start the next round. If you must do more rounds to lose more, your stabilization period is increased about two weeks for each round.

Onward and downward ... Happy Scales to those of you working this journey also .. however you are doing it!

First Day of the Rest of my LIFE??

So, I remember in my younger days when it was popular to go braless (foolish, but popular), someone told me that if you could hold a pencil under your breast, you should be wearing a bra ... does that mean if you can hold a pencil under your belly you darn well better start losing weight?? TMI I know, but even at 63 I don't find this acceptable and it certainly isn't healthy.

OK ... did two loading days and didn't actually gain weight, don't know why but this is the first day of the VLCD with the HCG. I did this a few months ago on my own, but this time I am involved in forums online and have support and encouragement rather than folks telling me I am on an anorexic diet.

This diet is not for the average person. If you thought Atkins, Weight Watchers, Jenny etc were tough, don't even think about doing this. You CANNOT cheat and get results, you MUST follow the protocol from beginning to end. There is tons of information at this website and many downloadable FREE books, recipes, success stories and more. This is where I found out that this is the actual plan/diet that Kevin Trudeau talks about in his book The Weight Loss Cure (no one wants you to know about)... and was started way before that. I do not do the injections which is mainly because I am a woosie girl, but can attest the drops under the tongue work also.

True ... it is only 500 calories a day, but when you look at 4 to 8 cups of veggies plus 8 ounces (or 200 grams) of chicken, beef, lobster, white fish AND two servings of fruit .. that is a lot of food!
On the right my cute little train will keep track of what is happening with my weight during this process. The VLC part only lasts 23 to 40 days, then you go on to different phases, coming back to this after around 6 weeks of stabilizing IF you need to lose more weight. I did lose 18 pounds on the last go round, but then vacationed, forgot about it and didn't pay attention ... gaining back about 8 pounds, so this time I will try my best to seek support from the other travelers on this journey and continue to post here even if I am the only one reading it, just to keep myself honest. Am also praying hard and long for myself for a change, as I know without His help, this is not going to work yet again and for my health and well-being, it must!

Off to the grocery store ...