VQ's Big hcg Adventure!

[verbqueen]

Got so excited about telling loop4 about my dieting history that I forgot today's check-in. I am down 1.6 pounds, to 156.2. So more or less back where I was before Christmas derailed me!

My plan is a few more days of hcg, to really "own" this weight zone again, and then back to P3, on to P4 and on to real-life maintenance, which I may do with JUDDD, depending on things go.

loop, I'll be back shortly to tell you all about JUDDD, which is also an effective and exciting way to lose weight!



(P.S. Small challenge tonight, in that I am going to a New Year's Eve dinner with some friends. It's a neighborhood progressive dinner that their neighborhood puts on every year. I think I'll be ok--it's a salad course, a soup course, and a dessert course. I will eat some protein before I go, then I'll go heavy at the first salad house, maybe have a bite or two of soup, and of course, skip the desserts. I'll take a glass of champagne at midnight, have one sip to ring in the new year, and conveniently set my glass down somewhere and never pick it up again!)

[verbqueen]

Well, I didn't exactly get back "shortly," but here I am! I was SO productive today. I washed towels, tablecloths, all my clothes, all the bedding my company used while they were here, etc. I took down and put away both of my larger fake trees (my little OSU tree is still up, for good bowl game mojo.) I moved, with my handy-dandy dolly, the furniture back into the living room that had to be taken out to make room for the Christmas tree. I watered all my potted plants, indoors and out. I ran the dishwasher.

I washed and styled my hair for the first time since getting it done the other day. My hairdresser always uses way too much heavy product in it and it gets all flat and greasy, but I try to leave it alone for a few days after so the color can "grab." It was getting pretty gross, though. Eww. But now I'm fluffy again!

So, about JUDDD.

What the letters stand for is Johnson's Up Day Down Day Diet. So there should really be one more D!!

Dr. Johnson figured out that when you confuse the body with unpredictable levels of calories each day, it will let go of weight. It works, too. I had already figured this out many years ago when I was doing Weight Watchers. I stalled long and hard after getting to about a 20 pound loss, and I was able to get it going again with something called "the Wendie Plan," which took your allowed "points" and divvied them into erratic amounts--like 15 points one day, 30 the next, 22 the next, 12 the next, etc. For the week, you got your full allotment, but it wasn't divided evenly through the days of the week. It worked AMAZINGLY well to break that stall! (I'm pretty sure the Wendie Plan is still out there on the interwebz somewhere, btw.)

Anyhoo, JUDDD is kind of like that. You eat only 500 calories one day, then you eat whatever you want the next day, then back to 500, and so forth. Dr. J suggested you eat to satiation, but not count calories on the Up Days, but many of us here at LCF found that we had to count, or we'd binge.

I tried it to break my Atkins stall, and it did break it, although the losses were slow. But then Christmas came that year and I put it back on and stalled anew. I decided to find another plan in the following year, and that's when I stumbled upon hcg, which has been a complete miracle to me!

Now, I still plan to live my life eating low carb. Besides controlling weight and hunger, it has done so many wonderful things for me. My lifelong gut problems, which I thought were IBS, were probably in reality gluten intolerance. I have NO problems at all, no gas, no Big D or constipation, nothing, when I eat low carb. My eczema went away. My hair and nails got stronger. My diet-induced blood sugar ups downs, feeling weak and shaky between meals, etc., disappeared. So I'm a BIG believer in low carb eating.

I'm not saying that it's the right path for everyone. But for many, many of us who tolerate grains poorly and overreact to sugar and corn syrup, it's a lifesaver!

Hope that helps. (And sorry I'm so long-winded. That's why I'm the verbqueen!)

[glamazon]

All three! YAY JESS!

[verbqueen]

Happy New Year to my low carb friends!

I ate ENTIRELY too much tonight, did not stay on plan at all, and will probably wake up to a gain. But I'll deal.

Hope 2012 is a glorious one for us all! Sweet dreams.

[verbqueen]

Happy 2012!

As I feared, my indiscretions extracted a price and I'm up a pound and change. I have confessed my sins,weighed, logged into ****** and recorded the bad news. The past is gone. So I'll mind my Ps and Qs carefully today and get that pound+ back off by tomorrow,with luck!

It is a GORGEOUS morning in So Cal! Windy, but probably already 70 degrees out there and not a cloud to be seen! I'm tempted to go to Home Depot and buy new flowers for my front flower bed and plant them. We shall see how the day unfolds.

Also on my list for today: New Year's resolutions. I have a LOT, and I feel so empowered by this marvelous weight loss that I kinda think I can take on anything this year!

[CherylB]

Enjoy that glorious So Cal day, VQ! I'm envious. Planting flowers in January? You go, girl! I'm glad you enjoyed your evening and now I'm glad (for us all) that the holiday madness and temptations are over. I feel free! Free to trot all the way to goal. I will set a few smaller, shorter-term goals and reach them one by one. I'm going to go do that right now!

[verbqueen]

Originally Posted by CherylB

Enjoy that glorious So Cal day, VQ! I'm envious. Planting flowers in January? You go, girl! I'm glad you enjoyed your evening and now I'm glad (for us all) that the holiday madness and temptations are over. I feel free! Free to trot all the way to goal. I will set a few smaller, shorter-term goals and reach them one by one. I'm going to go do that right now!

Atta girl!

[verbqueen]

Wow--miss a day around here, and you drop to nearly the bottom of the second page! You can tell it's January!

I'm doing fine--this morning's weigh-in was 156.4 after yesterday's 156.8, so very close to being back at goal. I went to a Fiesta Bowl party for my beloved Pokes last night (we beat Stanford! yay!) and did pretty well--had a cup of no-beans chili and a bloody mary, still down .4 this morning. It was SO MUCH FUN!

Today I had lunch with a friend and then went to see the movie Hugo--it was absolutely a delight. LOVED it. We went to a pho place, and I had grilled beef, a shrimp skewer and salad. Dinner was a burger patty on lettuce with mustard.

I'm through with dosing--just gonna go low carb from here out and see how I manage. I just woke up today realizing that I cannot bear another day of it. It's time to move on. I've been kind of easing into that for several days, no apples or melba or anything sweet or starchy. I hope I make it back to 155 in another day or two, but I just really need NOT to be on P2 again for a nice long time.

Nitey nite, world.

[glamazon]

Good morning, Jess! Have a wonderful day!

[helpingrachel]

Jessica:

What a joy to follow your journey with all the other beautiful ladies. You really are an inspiration especially around parties and the lunch engagements. Wishing you the very best in 2012!

[verbqueen]

Good morning, Low Carb Friends!

Rachel, thanks for the kind words. Hugs to you, Angela, my favorite Mean Girl!

I awoke to a .8 pound gain today. I didn't take any hhcg yesterday, but I didn't eat very much. I'm thinking/hoping the bump-up is a combination of the sodium/msg I probably had at the vietnamese place yesterday and the fact that I need a visit from good old Aunt Berneice.

At any rate, as I said last night, I just have the overwhelming feeling of being DONE with P2, and a need to resume eating normal low carb style. I'm going to do it Angela style--3 good meals and no snacks--and just see where it takes me. For starters I will severely limit dairy and focus on meats and green veggies. I'll track very carefully on ****** and watch for trends, but I'm going to try to think longer term and not panic at the daily ups and downs. (Ha--good luck with THAT, right?) I guess I just feel that it's time to learn to live with this weight loss. I can't rely on taking hcg pellets and eating a strange diet comprised of mostly ground beef and apples for the rest of my life!

My posting may be spotty the next few days. Headed to Seattle tomorrow afternoon to see my boys. I'll take my iPad, so hopefully I can at least say hi! I will also take my travel scale, just because it makes me feel secure.

This gaining and losing of weight business is tricky and mysterious, but two things have become immensely clear to me in the last few years of ups and downs:

1. I absolutely MUST weigh and record my weight daily.
2. I absolutely MUST post, and equally important, read on LCF daily.

These two things keep my weight, or more accurately, my good health and necessary self-maintenance ("weight" sounds so narcissistic and vain!) at the forefront of my mind.

So--off I go to do laundry, water plants and all around get ready for a trip. Have a great one, ladies!

[verbqueen]

Good morning, world. Checking in from So Cal at 156.8, so down some but not all of yesterday's bounce-up. I'll take it. I'd prefer to remain firmly at 155 (pun intended!!), but I'm hoping I can knock that pesky pound off with low carb, sooner or later.

I am TREMENDOUSLY enthused not to be on P2. Today, I ate leftover Pioneer Woman steak bites for brekkie, and it beat the HECK out of half an apple, I can tell you!

I'm packing for my Seattle trip, and will leave for the airport in a few hours. Tomorrow's check-in will be from the Seattle condo. Have a good one, friends. (If there are any friends out there...)

[misslatte]

I think I feel you on the P2. I'm in P3 now (think we got the same R2P3 ickyness) but I just want to P2 it to 155 and be done with this business!

Have a nice flight to Seattle! I went there a few years ago to visit a friend it was a nice change to see water that's not in a creek. Whoa. lol.

[verbqueen]

You're getting close! I'm with you--I think I'd want to just white-knuckle it all the way to goal!

[CherylB]

Have a safe and happy trip, Jessica! Love you. You'll get this P3 stuff down. I just know you will. (((HUGS)))

[verbqueen]

THERE you are, Cheryl! I worry when you disappear on us!

I'm checking in from gray, chilly Seattle this morning--missing my sunshine and my kitty-cats. Weight is up a pound and a half, no doubt the result of the two bags of salted nuts and can of Coke Zero I had on the plane. So today's goal is to focus mostly on meat and plentiful water!

Wishing my LCFs a wonderful weekend!

I'll check back in later.

[shelbyla]

Hi Jess! Just popping in to say have a wonderful time in Seattle with the fam... Good luck with maintaining while there. You can do it!

[verbqueen]

Hey, Shelby! Nice to see you here, and I appreciate the positive vibes. Yikes--I need them. Yesterday was NOT a good eating day. It started well enough. Ian (my son) took me to the grocery store and I bought some protein items (like bacon and sausage!!) and came home and cooked and bagged them up. But then our friends on Vashon Island invited us over for dinner, which was pizza and beer. I knew I should "scalp" the pizza but I just didn't want to be that food weirdo in front of people I didn't know (it was a big group.). So that was the decision I made, and the results will be my problem to deal with.

Alas not sure exactly how much damage was done because the bathroom where the scale is was occupied when I got up, and I wanted coffee, as I always do, NOW! So we'll see tomorrow. Today will be more gadding around and eating out, and being cold and drizzled on....but I will do better.

I think if I lived here I'd probably weigh 300 pounds. The weather makes me want to burrow in and eat!

[shelbyla]

Hi Jess! So sorry about the "pizza incident" but that's life, ya know! I'm not sure what I would have done in that situation. I love pizza but I am VERY picky about it so a lot of times I pass up pizza because it isn't exactly the one that I like. Anyway, I'm sure you're fine and moving on. I hear you on the weather, though. Lordy, grey makes me tired and gives me the munchies...

When are you coming back? The girls and I were talking about a SoCal meetup maybe at my house to swap P2 foods and have coffee/tea....

[verbqueen]

Good morning, friends. Still in Seattle and it's still gray and cold. Shocking, huh.

I weighed this morning and it was HORRIFYING. I've tried to be cautious since the pizza incident, but every meal has been at a restaurant so lord only knows what's been in my food.

But hey, this is real life. I can't huddle at home avoiding all human contact and obsessing about my diet, so I will enjoy my visit, then get home and get my weight back where it needs to be.

Hope you all have a great day!

[verbqueen]

P.S. Shelby, I'll be back tomorrow night. I'm always up for a get- together, so keep me updated!

[glamazon]

Hi Jess! Just droping in to say hello and hope you are having fun in Seattle! I love that place. On a clear day it is one of the most glorious places on earth. Lucky! ha ha you are only 3 hours from me. One of these days we will time a trip up there when you are!

[CherylB]

Wow! I just realized I haven't seen any activity on your journal thread in a while and it turns out to be 2 days! You're back home now, aren't you? How are you doing? We love you!

[verbqueen]

Hello! Yes--I got back late last night, but had a full day that started early today!

My weight is not good--but I got seriously after it today. Rather than start another hcg round, I'm going to do VLCarb (I had typed VLC, but in hcg talk, that "c" stands for calories, so I went back and clarified.) We'll see how that works. I can't just keep putting weight on and doing hcg rounds forever--have to figure out how to manage vacations and holidays and stuff in the real world. I'm kinda thinking the weight I put on is the "out of ketosis" bump-up, so we'll see if a few days of meat-intensive meals takes it back off.

Will be checking in regularly again now that I'm home again. I had a nice trip, but boy did I miss my California sun, my big, deep bathtub and my snuggly kitties. Home feels good!

[CherylB]

There's my girl! Welcome home, sweetie! It will all come out in the wash. I'm doing Atkins right now and I am seriously loving it again, like back in the good-ole days. I'm not even starting with Induction. I went right back to things I ate in the past (like Jalapeno poppers with cream cheese and bacon bits) and tomorrow I'm cooking soup and maybe a roast (might wait a day or two more on that one.)

I hope your kitty cats were happy to see you! I'm sure they were.

[glamazon]

mmmmm big bath tub and snuggly kitties! Welcome home!

[verbqueen]

Good morning, Angela and Cheryl and anyone else who stops by! I slept really late today--until after nine, and I feel great! I just don't sleep very well at the condo--6'3" Dave and 5'10" me in a queen-sized bed....just a little too crowded. And Dave is such a human furnace that he triggers my hot flashes all night, haha.

I had dropped 1.2 pounds of my gain when I weighed in this morning, so that's always good news. I'm going to do an hcg-style yogurt day today, just for the fun of it. Those correction days always shake things up.

My kid choirs resume today, and I hope I get good attendance. We will be preparing for the Chorister's Guild spring choir festival, and we have to memorize four anthems for it.

Immediately following that, we're having our chancel choir annual potluck here at my house, so I'll have to leave everything ready to go. I need to run the vacuum on my area rugs for cat-hair removal and straighten up just a bit, but I'm in fairly good shape for company, so nothing too rigorous.

My biggest challenge will be to get my 8 or 9 foot tall ficus tree back into the house all by myself. It gets kicked out for the Christmas tree, and it is HEAVY. Dave and Ian moved it out for me, but I've had no one here to help me get it back in, so I'm going to have to bite the bullet and do it myself. I can use my dolly to get it to the front porch, but once I'm there, I'll just have to lift it. Ouch--my back hurts just thinking about it!

Think I'm gonna go do that right now and get it over with!

[privatediva]

eek...be careful. Lift that sucker with your legs, not your back.

Fun times with choirs starting back up!

[CherylB]

BE CAREFUL!!! Report back once the tree is in place, so we know you aren't lying flat-out on the floor in agony.

[verbqueen]

Well, I just plain couldn't do it! I rolled it to the front porch with my dolly, but literally could not lift it, even straining with all my might! It literally would not lift off the ground. I was disappointed--I'm quite strong, but I guess there is a limit to my strength...(And my back is telling me about the straining, too!)

Luckily, it's the day my lawn guys come, so I left it parked in front of the front porch until they got here and had them bring it in for me. They are two STRONG guys and they were heaving and hoeing trying to get it lifted, too!

Next year, I don't think I'll be able to get it in and out the door any more, so I may have to either find another spot for the Christmas tree or another spot for the ficus!

I got my vacuuming done, folding tables and chairs brought in from the garage (we usually have about 30 people), my crate of "party glasses" brought in (ultra-cheapo wineglasses from Pier One in a big cardboard crate--our choir loves wine and everyone brings a bottle!) and my three sets of plates set out on the kitchen island. I'm excused from providing any food since I provide the location, but I bought a couple of Trader Joe's spinach salads-in-a-bag, and a big loaf of ciabatta bread to get us started. And who knows what else will show up--that's the fun of a potluck!

I'll check in with you guys in the morning.