I'm here! I'm well!

Hi Guys!
Sorry for the absence the last four days; life is so busy! Good, but busy. :)

I'm still going, haven't fallen off the wagon.  The weight loss has slowed down, and it's a tad bit frustrating, but it's still going down.  And really, can I complain about 9.2 pounds gone in 12 days? No, I can not. ;-)

Just wanted to pop in and say hello (Hi MaryBeth!! Hi Tereza!!) Thanks for your comments; they really do help so much. :)

I am hoping and keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that I'll be down in to the next "decade" tomorrow.  I've been stuck in the 190's *gasp* *deepblush* since I started, and I'm ready to never, ever, ever see that number again!

Hopefully I can get on here tomorrow (or Monday) with the good news that I broke the barrier. :)

Going strong!

Hello, my friends!

I'm down a little less than 8 pounds, and I am so thankful and so excited! Although I'm tempted to be frustrated or discouraged at how far I have to go, I just keep reminding myself to take it one day at a time.  And today I was down 1.8.

It has been fairly easy so far, although I have been "cheating" and eating things that aren't strictly HCG foods.  I discovered that white cheddar rice cakes only have 45 cal and 0.5 gram of fat each, so I've been topping two of them with turkey breast and honey mustard. SO GOOD.

I've also been eating my tortilla soup with 1 tablespoon of fat free sour cream. Aaaand if I'm being perfectly honest, I've had Mike & Ikes or black licorice every single night.  I get SUCH a sweet craving! I'm really trying to watch it though, because it can spiral out of control so quickly.

I still need to work on drinking more water.  Although I'm drinking less coffee, and my tea is really good, I haven't been drinking near enough water.

I'm in desperate need of a shopping trip, so that's on the agenda today.  The holidays were crazy and I couldn't figure out what day it was for the life of me, ha ha! But now school is back in session and things are more normal around here, so that should help.

Hope you had a good weekend! I still need to do my Resolutions post, but haven't managed to get that far.  Soon, I hope. :)

Joie de Vivre

**I'm not sure what's up with the funky highlighting, but I can't get it to go away. :-/**

Joie de vivre (French pronunciation: ​[ʒwa də vivʁ], joy of living) is a French phrase often used in English to express a cheerful enjoyment of life.

Isn't that just great!? I love that; cheerful enjoyment of life.  Is there anything better? To really and truly ENJOY life?!

That's one of my New Years resolutions; to live in the moment and to enjoy the moment.  Enjoy the mess and the noise, the chaos and the craziness.  It's not going to last forever.  

I was in the library with my kiddos and niece, and a kind old gentleman commented on how fast they grow up, how fast we get old.  It's true.  Time is our life, and it passes so quickly.  I want to make the most of it, cherish the moments and not be so distracted with things that don't matter that I miss what is important.

These are such cliche sayings, but they are true:

I was hoping to write more, but my "little moments" need me, so I'm going to put my actions where my words are. ;-) I'll try to pop back on later to finish this post. 

2014

Happy New Year, to everyone!

I hope you had a fabulous celebration. I am a major grandma old soul, and was in bed by 10pm.  However, the dog barked ALL.NIGHT.LONG.  Was she scared of the fireworks? No. Did she need to go to the bathroom? No.  Was she bored? Yes. Oh my word, I was so irritated with her!

Anyway, the older three kiddos stayed up with Josh and rang in the New Year while Nora and I snoozed peacefully in our beds.

HCG is going splendidly so far!! *happy dance*

I'm down 5 pounds in 3 days, and I am absolutely ecstatic.  We had a New Years church conference, so the last 3 days have been really busy, which has helped a ton.  I was busy and not sitting around thinking about food. ;-)

I was able to stick to my diet, even while at the conference; I ate plain salad with turkey and an egg one day, brought some of my yummy bean soup that evening, and had more plain salad.  Today I took 4 hard boiled eggs... only I discovered they were soft boiled and nearly retched.  Even now, just typing that, my stomach is dry heaving.  Bleh!!! Slimy and gross.  *shudder*

Anyway, I ate the hardboiled bits on salad with dressing that I brought from home.  I'm going to have more of my bean soup tonight for supper.

I have been doing fairly well with my water intake, but it could be better.  I didn't want to drink a ton and be in the bathroom during the conference, cuz I needed to keep an eye on the kiddos.  But now we're home and I can work on getting more water in.

I've also cut WAY back on coffee, only having it once or twice a week.  I've been trying to drink more tea; Josh got me this DELICIOUS black tea with crushed raspberries in it, and I add a packet of Truvia and some fat free half and half.  It's really good.

All in all, things are going well and I'm looking forward to being healthy and vibrant in 2014.

I'll be back tomorrow with some of my resolutions for the New Year. :)

Happy New Year!

Hi Guys!
Sorry I went MIA.  We have been busy with the holidays, then our little family took an impromptu trip to the coast.

I am on Day One of low calorie HCG.  I had a little epiphany over the weekend while we were away.  I was having my binge days before the low cal part of my diet (and I enjoyed every bit of it). ;-)  Anyway. I was thinking about the upcoming days of eating low calorie.  And I wasn't freaking out about it.  You know why?

Because I WANTED to do it.  Not because I felt I HAD to.  There's a big difference.  Honestly, if I were marooned on an island with no mirrors and just my family and friends, I would be fine with how I am right now.  Which is saying something, because I have never, ever, EVER been this large.  Ever.  But the truth is, I want to change FOR ME.

I want to be healthier. I want to start jogging.  I don't want to have a heart attack while climbing stairs, carrying loads of stuff when we are on vacation.  I don't want to think about my clothes/what I look like all day.  I just want to be me, a healthy version of me.

I'm hoping to be down 30 pounds by the time we go to Mexico, which would put me at roughly the half way mark.  That's a little depressing, cuz I just want to be DONE, but you know what? It's a good, solid start.

So that's where I'm at.  Going into the New Year with high hopes of getting myself back.

I hope you had a fabulous holiday season!

Enjoy the Season

Hey Guys!
I officially quite HCG for now, and will start up again after Christmas, with new drops.  And I feel really good about it.

I plan to enjoy these days of Christmas with my family; we don't know how much time we have with Kris, but we know it's not much.  So we will make every day count.

The kiddos are out of school now, so I will be busy keeping them entertained. ;-)  I will post as I get time, and then begin regular posting once I start HCG again.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Distressed

Hmmm wonder what I'm going to blog about today? :-P

You guys, I don't know what to do.  After seeing that two pound gain, I kinda lost it.  I was sad and discouraged.  I didn't binge, at least.  But I did have a handful of peanut butter pretzels, and then later some salami and cheese and cucumbers, and lastly a cheeseburger and fries from McDonalds on our way to a Christmas concert. Bleh.

I didn't weigh today, and now I'm grappling with a decision.  Should I start back up today, and use the drops that I'm not sure are working, or should I just wait til after Christmas and get new drops?

Just to be clear, I can buy new drops whenever I need to.  But I'm wondering if I'm setting myself up for failure by trying to do a strict diet during this season of visiting/entertaining and it revolves significantly around food.  I'm kind of leaning towards starting after Christmas.  But am I just giving up and taking the easy way out??

I really am not sure what to do, but I do know this: thinking about sticking with the diet during this time makes me stressed.  So I think that's my answer.  I'll back off, but not allow myself to overeat.  I will be watchful and mindful of what's going in my mouth.

I will start again.  I will conquer this. I have to.  It's a fight I'm not willing to give up. I can't give up.

So I guess that's where I stand... kind of on hold with HCG but definitely NOT on hold with moderation. And not a false sense of moderation, either:

I will truly be aware of whether I'm eating out of physical hunger or soul hunger.

Here's to a successful holiday season!