Days ELEVEN thru TWENTY FIVE

The past two weeks have been a roller coaster ride. Seriously, this diet is awesome and totally works. My body is changing and I can see results and feel fabulous. Especially when you start feeling different driving in your car, or sitting in your favorite chair, not to mention taking a shower and shaving your legs to find your legs smaller than before, that is the best! I am a total fan of HCG. However, my will power is starting to get weaker. I am not really hungry, but I sure do miss eating the way I used to. Being able to eat whatever, whenever. I have discovered that I like to eat when I am bored, I like to eat when I am super busy and need a quick little break, food used to be my peace. Now that I am limited to my food and can't really eat when I am feeling this way, it is much harder to resist whatever is in my pantry or fridge. Luckily, I have not purchased anything super dangerous, so the only things to snack on or cheat with are actually healthy and/or sugar free. BUT the HGC stops working if you don't stick to the protocol. I of course want it to work, I want to lose the pound per day like I was in the beginning, but my will power is failing me in these weeks. Part of the problem that got me sidetracked was Easter Sunday. I hosted it at my house and that was the worst thing to do. I made a honey baked Ham and fixin's. Then the desserts really did a number on me, as we had all sorts of pies, which are my weakness. Needless to say, I cheated all day long and figured it would be OK. Well, to be honest it wasn't. It was not OK. I gained three of my pounds back. That was totally not even worth it, well maybe the pie was, but what I am saying is that it took me three days of eating great to get those pounds off and I blew it because I couldn't resist the "normal" food that I used to always eat. I am happy to say that I've lost those three gained pounds but now I am on a plateau of no weight loss for a few days. I miss the taste of certain things. Like milk and cereal. I also miss pasta. However, I have not once cheated with a piece of bread. I thought about it, but then didn't crave bread. This is a small miracle right here. ME not eating bread, not craving it or wanting it??? This stuff is amazing. Eventually, in a few more months I will hopefully be on my maintenance plan and will omit bread from my diet completely or at least mostly. I've lost a total of 15 pounds to date, would have been more if I was stricter with this and had a bit more will power. I am also measuring myself and the even more exciting fact is that I have lost almost 6 inches on my waist and 4 inches on my hips. The HCG is working it's magic regardless of the actual weight loss. My hope is that I can get under the 200 mark by the end of my second round which will start in about a week. When this happens I will be overwhelmed by all sorts of emotions. I've been over this mark for over 15 years. This is about to change.......

Day TEN

Woke up today and only lost 1/2 a pound. Was a bit irritated by that, but then I stopped and figured at least it was a loss and not a gain right? Yes! I am really starting to see a bit of a difference in my appearance now, nothing crazy, but subtle. I am soooo thrilled that this diet is really working. I am really loving the way this works and hopefully come August (my birthday) I will be wearing a size 12 or smaller that is my goal! I know I can do it!!! Little Jen is going to be blowing out her 36 candles and wishing for new clothes!!!

Day NINE

So yesterday was a good day. I had tons of energy and felt great. BUT today I felt horrible and really had no energy. I was like NO!!! I hope to God that this is not going to make me sick now that I am doing so well and feeling great. But today I was pretty out of sorts. Super tired and today I can honestly say I felt like I needed something more than what I was eating. I almost felt a bit nauseous. I could have slept all day. I was worried so I got online again and read that I am most likely in detox mode and that this is normal and will pass. I sure the heck hope so, as I am not one to be lazy and that is exactly how I felt. I did get some more energy later in the day, but the whole morning and early afternoon was seriously the hardest day ever. I had to push myself to walk from point A to point B, I had trouble focusing. I ended up eating a bit extra protein and also cheated with a spoonful of cottage cheese. I know it wasn't a bit cheat, but still I felt like if I didn't I might pass out. I am hoping tomorrow I will feel much better. I am starting to take a multivitamin like they suggest to see if this makes a big difference. I found some awesome super potent ones called "Alive" at The Vitamin Store and hopefully these will sustain me while I am in this stage of my diet. Since my last post I have lost another 3 pounds. In nine days I have lost a total of 12 pounds! Whoo hoo. I am seriously excited about the transformation that is already starting. My face is looking thinner and I can see my stomach is getting smaller too. Now I only have 60 pounds left to lose. I am 12 pounds closer to being LITTLE Jen.

Day SEVEN

I know I've missed days 3-6, but hey I'm a busy mother, wife and business owner and sleep came before blogging. So today was Day 7 and I was thrilled to get on the scale and see I am down 9 pounds since Day 1. NINE pounds and feeling terrific! Seriously, I feel great. I am not hungry or shaky. I am not craving anything either which is kinda strange and the best thing is I have super will power. Let me tell you how I went to my favorite sub shop and ordered a few subs for other people and didn't even desire one for myself. I also had a friend bring me a banana bread which I carefully avoided. I baked my daughters a batch of Toll House chocolate chip cookies and didn't have a single one, nor did I really want one. I also made a trip to Starbucks and ordered a regular coffee with sugar free Cinnamon Dolce pump vs. my usual. I have also avoided a piece of pizza at a pizza party, I went for the salad instead and splurged with a bit of regular Italian dressing (less than a teaspoon). Today I felt so amazing by what the HCG does for you and I know without a doubt that this is the diet that is going to change my life. It's so crazy how I actually enjoy cooking all the meals for me & my hubby, I also am making much better choices for my two girls, who I have to also think of as they need to eat a bit more than we are and more regular type of foods. So I am hoping that our entire family is going to benefit from this diet. I know it has only been a week, but my husband & I have bonded in this short amount of time, as we shop together, cook together, weigh in together, and talk about the diet together. We are really excited to see such quick results and feel so good too. Today we measured our chests, waists, hips, arms, and thighs. WOW! I can't wait to see the difference when we measure ourselves next week. We decided to do this once a week vs. daily. I won't tell you how big my arms are, but that sure was an eye opener and I truly hope to NEVER EVER get this large again. I seriously, don't even know how this happened to me. I am not a huge over eater and I try to do good. I don't eat a lot of sweets, I am not someone who eats ice cream every night or junk food every day. I don't drink soda, only water & iced tea. So why am I so big?! I am not sure, but let me tell you.... HCG is going to make me little. I can already see results. NINE pounds lost! Can't wait to wake up tomorrow and weigh myself again. It's been a pound or more a day since we started. So happy for my hubby too, he's lost TEN pounds. YAY!!!

Day TWO

I am so afraid to look at the scale as I ate like a cow yesterday! I get on.... 247.8. WHAT? No way I thought. So I get on the scale again and sure enough I lost a little more than a pound. However, today is day two of "Loading Day" so I have to eat like a pig again today, so perhaps tomorrow I will see a weight increase that they say is normal. I am not going to worry about that now. Now I am going to eat! Breakfast: Two sausage & egg burritos from McDonalds, plus a hashbrown AND today I am really going for it, a sausage biscuit off the $1 menu. I couldn't eat it all. I was actually SICK. I couldn't do it! Lunch: Insult to injury, McDonalds again. I did NOT want to go there, but I figured I need high fat and Pita Jungle and my favorite sushi place is not going to have enough there for me to do this. So I indulge in a Filet-O-Fish sandwich, a small chocolate shake and a large french fry. I ate the sandwhich & drank the shake without a problem, but midway through the fries I feel like I am going to throw up. I am done!! I think I know how the guy on Super Size Me must have felt. Like shit! Dinner: My last supper! OK, so before I started this diet I thought I am going to make my last supper a special one. I am going to eat my most favorite thing on this earth. The braised beef and tortolini from Olive Garden. It's sure to have tons of fat and since I know I won't be eating this again, at least not for a long long time, I want this for dinner. Well now that the night is here and I have absolutely NO appetite, I don't care what I eat. So my husband decides he wants Mexican food and wants a burrito, so we go to Caramaba's and get our favorite burrito's and some chips and salsa as well. Now we have never had a problem eating these burrito's and also the whole bag of chips and salsa that they give you before. However, tonight we seriously ate two or three of the chips and only 3/4 of our burritos. We both felt miserable, we felt disgustingly full and had no desire to finish them and both refrained from eating anything else the rest of the night. The night when we could have had anything for dessert. We just can't do it. The HCG is definitely working already and I am loving that my appetite is leaving me. It's kinda scary in one way, but also a relief. I am going to do this, it's going to work! Today I am BIG Jen, but tomorrow I will get a wee bit littler. I can feel it! Tomorrow we start the 500 calorie diet program. I have premade up all our lunches/snacks to make it easier. Wish us luck!

Day ONE

OK so I woke up this morning and weighed myself. 249! WOW what happened to me? How did I get here? I took the drops. I have to say they kinda burned and tingled, which I wasn't expecting, so that was kinda scary, but after about a minute that went away and I couldn't wait to swallow. Wasn't too bad & kinda reminded me of doing those Crest White strips. Ha ha! However with the HCG, you have to put ten drops of the HCG under your tongue and wait 5 minutes before you can swallow. That was hard and I only made it 3 minutes. However, the remainder of the day I did better and was able to wait the 5 minutes. Today is considered "Loading Day". I was like, what the hell is "Loading Day", so I had to watch a few Youtube videos and read some articles about it first. Pretty much the first two days you have to eat as much fat as possible, so load up on the milkshakes, hamburgers, fried foods, donuts, etc. etc... And eat!!! So for breakfast: I made me two eggs cooked in butter and placed them between two pieces of toast with two pieces of cheese & some ham with a large cup of coffee with flavored creamer. Man I think I will miss the coffee & creamer most of all when I start the real deal. For Lunch: I ate a huge Angus burger with bacon and a large fry from McDonalds which made me feel sick, as I don't usually eat this stuff and I think the HCG is starting to work as I am not even hungry for lunch, but I have to eat. For Snack: I ate a yummy Greek yogurt, but then got mad because it made me really full and when I looked at the nutritional info it had ZERO fat grams. OMG!! How is that possible? They are soo good. For Dinner: We ended up going to Woody's BBQ restaurant as I wanted to have ribs before embarking on this new lifestyle and way of eating. I am so glad I did too, as they were good! However, I know that being skinny is going to be so much better than the way those ribs tasted. Ha! This day was great as I got to indulge in lots of food, but it was actually hard to do as my hunger was just not there. It was also interesting to say the least, as I spent most of the day with my mom and she has NO clue whatsoever that I am doing the HCG drops and would be very opinionated about it if she did know. Therefore, I am keeping this little secret to myself until after I've lost enough weight for her to notice and ask what is happening. I have had to sneak into the bathroom to do my drops and stay in there for 5 minutes so she doesn't know what I have in my mouth too. OMG! I don't think I ever snuck around this much even as a teenager. This is so weird!

The beginning

Hi I am BIG Jen, at least at this point of the story. My goal is to become LITTLE Jen. I want to be thinner by about 70-80 pounds. That is my goal for now. However, I will be happy to be under the 200 mark, as I have been over that mark for more than a decade after my first pregnancy. I remember the day I went over the 200 mark like it was yesterday and vowed to myself that as soon as I have this baby it will never come back up here. Well I lied to myself or at least put that vow on a very long hiatus. Today is the day before I am starting a new diet, a controversial diet, and a diet that I truly believe will work. I have been doing a lot of research and have found that this diet is proven to have no side effects (except weight loss) and has worked for many different people. People that I believe and trust, people like me. I have seen the real life results right in front of my eyes. I have met people who did this diet and say it really works. I have tried other diets such as weight watchers with really no serious results. I was on weight watchers for almost a year and only lost a few pounds here & there. I never had that OMG look at how many pounds I lost and how many dress sizes I am down. I was frustrated with this because I would do very well but with no pay off. I know my body and felt like allowing me to eat whatever I wanted and just counting the points may have been the real problem. I started paying attention to all the stuff I would eat and found the sugar content to be super high. So when I read the book, The Belly Fat Cure by Jorge Cruise I realized my problem. Sugar! I followed this book for a month and lost 18 pounds. However, it jumped right back on as soon as I stopped. Although I lost 18 pounds I still was over the 200 mark and never even went down a dress size. Seriously depressing!!! Now I know what you are thinking, she is going to start this diet and do the same thing??? Well I am not. I refuse to. This is the real deal, this is it! I am ready to start living a better life for not only myself, but for my husband, my kids, my parents, and my friends. I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and it has become so painful this past year that some days I just want to curl up in the fetal position and stay that way all day. I am not an alcoholic or a drug addict, but some days I wish I could do something like that to get rid of the pain, to escape it, to block it. However, through a bit of self discovery I am realizing that I am hurting myself, I am in pain because I am not eating right, not getting enough sleep, not taking care of myself the way an RA sufferer should. I am over weight and because of this, my joints are hurting probably 100 times more than they would if I was lighter. So, I have decided to give this new diet my all! I am ready and I am willing to do this!! I KNOW this is going to work. I know it is going to do amazing things for me. I just bought me some HCG drops. Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin. These hormones are found in pregnant women and will allow me to eat only 500 calories per day while eating up between 1500-2000 calories of my own fat (not muscle) to help me lose weight. I need this jump start to get me healthier and happier and jump start my new way of life. I am DONE eating out, done over eating, done being unhealthy!! I want my kids to be proud of their mom, I want my parents to be proud of their daughter and look at me like a gorgeous woman vs. a "big" girl. I want my husband to look at me the way he did when we first met. I now that they all love me for who I am, and I love myself too, but enough is enough. I can not bear to gain another pound and go another year of my life thinking or saying I am going to do something about my weight. Today I am BIG Jen, but tomorrow I will be doing something about it and eventually share with you my journey to becoming LITTLE. I can't wait....