I'm Baaaacckkk, Didja miss me?

Hello Bloggies!

How are you all? I'm doing much better, thank you. =)

The trip was a bit hectic, but the end result was well worth it.

I flew out on Thursday... on a tiny torture chamber. I HATE SMALL AIRCRAFT. I hate planes, period. I get so incredibly sick on airplanes. I think I need to buy stock in Dramamine or something. So I started the trip incredibly sick, trying to hold it together so I wouldn't throw up on the plane, which I was successful at doing.

I arrived in AZ and nearly melted straight away. It was 110 degrees and I was sitting on a bench on a concrete slab with no shade waiting for the airport shuttle. It was so hot! The wind felt like fire on my skin. But I was soaking it up, for a minute or two anyway. ;-)

Once I got to my hotel room, I was basically stuck. I had no transportation or way to get food. Besides room service. Luckily I did have a suite with a kitchenette, including a mini fridge. So I ordered room service; there was a $20 minimum order, so I ordered a pizza and a salad. Those were my options... pasta, pizza or salad. I knew salad would get slimy after a day or so and I was there for 2 full days. So I ordered an 8" pizza and a pasta salad. It was sooooo good. To the tune of 3 pounds gained in 2 days. :-O

Anyway, I did get to see the doc and he chuckled to himself after seeing how far off my hormones were, saying he knew why I felt like I was going crazy. I was. It sounds funny, but it was just really nice to have a confirmation that there was something chemically wrong. Sometimes I doubt myself and wonder if I'm blowing things out of proportion or if everyone feels like that but can handle it better. But when I see with my own 2 eyes that my hormones are whacked out, it helps.

Anyhoo, like I said above, I subsisted on pizza (margherita... mozzarella, fresh basil and tomatoes. So delicious!!!) and a salad with sun dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and more mozzarella cheese. I wasn't surprised to have gained so much weight. I was eating wheat and cheese, and basically nothing else. I also was having some major, erm... waste management issues.

Anyway, I made it home safe and sound (albeit sick again from the ding dang plane exhaust, heat, etc...). I was so glad to see my kiddos again! Josh was off on a trip with our church youth group so I didn't see him til late Sunday evening. It was 6 days we were apart, the longest we've ever been away from each other. So I was real glad to see him too. =)

Oh, I also asked Dr. Ray about the HCG diet; whether or not he was familiar with it. He chuckled again and said, "Oh yes, we do it out of our office all the time!" In fact, while I was there a lady was in having her original consult! I asked if the diet (since it does use hormones) could have made me go off the deep end. He thinks that it could make a marginal difference; for example if my hormones were already heading out of normal territory, or were already out, that the drops didn't help anything. But he did say if I continue to take my drops from him (that help my hormones stay in balance) as well as my digestive enzyme and antioxidant, all will be well.

SO I started my HCG again. Saturday and Sunday were supposed to be binging days, but since I had already gained 3 pounds I didn't go all out by any means. I did have some chocolate and cheese and chips, blended coffees, etc... I was very scared to see the scale today, but I was rewarded with this:

How I went from 157.0 yesterday to 154.8 this morning is beyond me, besides the fact that I didn't eat wheat.

I'm very happy to be starting my second round at the same weight I ended my first round. We'll see if it affects my ability to lose weight; the fact that I didn't really binge on the right days. I figure, I *DID* eat quite a bit of fat on Thur and Fri, so that should count. ;-)

Anyway, I'm back and feeling much better. I'm excited to lose more weight; I can not wait to be in the 140's. I'm hoping to be there by the end of this week. We'll see how it goes. I don't plan to substitute this time, like I did last time, in hopes that the weight will come off a bit quicker. I've had an apple, 3.5oz chicken and 3.5oz broccoli so far today, as well as almost 2L of water. So far, so good! Keeping my fingers crossed.

We are going back down to my family AGAIN this weekend. Actually, we're going to our church conference center for a family vacation week. I'll be a single mother again since Josh has to work, so it will be interesting. I'm already baking and freezing my chicken and hamburger for the time I'm there, so it will be easy to grab and go. I will be taking my laptop, so I'll be able to post daily... or so. =)

I'm off to check a few blogs and then finish my laundry. Hope you all are doing well!