Phew it's HOT!!!

It's hot and I'm fussy...not because of the heat but because TOM has arrived and I'm doing the whole no NSAIDs thing.

TOM (time of the month) started yesterday. I was wondering why my weight loss slowed down to a crawl! That and I haven't been hungry at all. I was actually relieved when I figured out it wasn't because of me and how I was doing on HCG.

So while I am relieved that my slow losses just had to do with my natural bio rhythm I'm not so happy with my real pain tolerance. Seriously!!! I don't remember ever having cramps this bad. It's making me seriously want to run down to the store and grab a bottle of Ibuprofen. Honestly.

It feels like I'm going through some sort of withdrawals or something. One minute I'm fine and coping ok then the next I'm feeling like I'd eat my own child just to get one of those little brown pills. It's really scary. I never realized how dependent on pain relievers I was. Crazy!

In order to lessen the cramping and to ease my psycho brain I ate a tomato and cucumber salad with LOTS of dill!!! Dill is supposed to help with cramps. It definitely took the edge off for a bit. But I probably should have just stayed still.

I really want to make this happen in my back garden!

I went outside to plant a few plants I picked up today. I got through 4 pots before I had to stop. My arm decided to join my uterus. LOL Why?! Ugg!

Other than that I'm doing pretty good! :D Really!!!
Today is P2VLCD12 and I'm down 11.3lbs so far! I actually am seeing with my eyes the difference! The measuring tape shows that I've lost almost 2 inches around my waist and a solid inch around my bust, ribs, hips, thighs and ARMS!!! Seriously!!! This is so Awesome! Real results that you not only see on the scale but actually see in real time!

So tomorrow when I hit that scale I don't expect to see any change...maybe a gain because of water weight.

I'll let you know! :)

HCG P2 Thai Chicken Cucumber Salad

Here's a salad where I took a recipe and augmented it to fit my taste buds. This is what I do for lunch or dinner with my leftover chicken breast. Make it into salads!
This recipe is for a family of 4 eating dinner in my house. You can lower the recipe to fit one meal by quartering the ingredients.
Hope you like it!

P2 Thai Chicken Cucumber Salad   With Dressing that can be used as a Sauce!

Ingredients:
2 Cooked Chicken Breasts Cubed
2 Cucumbers Cubed or Julienne like in the photo

Sauce/Dressing
1 Green Onion Chopped Small
3 tbs Chopped Cilantro
2 Large Basil Leaves Rolled and Cut Thin
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder (or 2 Garlic Cloves Mashed and Chopped Fine)
1/4 tsp Chille Pepper Paste or more to taste
1/4 tsp Lemmon Grass (dried)
2 - 4 tbs Braggs Liquid Amino's (it's salty so you might want less or to cut it with water)
2-4 tbs Lemon Juice
2 - 4 tbs Rice Vinegar (No Sugar)
Stevia to taste

Mix all Sauce/Dressing ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Cut your chicken breast in to cubes and set aside. Slice/julienne your cucumbers and put on top of your chicken. Pour your dressing mix over the top and toss.

Remember I said that Braggs is a bit salty! This is where your tastebuds come into play here. If you're ok or craving salt go ahead with the 4 tbs. If you're not use less and substitute with water. ALSO if you make it with all the ingredients at full strength you can add water to lighten the salt. This can be a sweeter dressing if you'd like. Just add Stevia to match your mood!

I also will use this Dressing as a Sauce over chicken while it's baking or just cook it up to reduce it a bit and pour over my chicken after it's done.

Enjoy!!!

Well Then! ~ & ~ a Yummy Summer Salad Recipe

Well! After that little post about NSAID's I'm back to fill you in on my HCG journey!

These were chickens roasted on the spit from last year. Don't they look Yummy!

They are much larger than the little Cornish Game Hens featured below. 

Yesterday was a FUN day filled with running around and fixing our gargantuan barbeque. It has sat broken down and missing a jet for over a year now. Last year my husband decided to take the barbeque back behind my shop and deep clean it. While doing so he removed the jets to inspect and clean. While removing one jet it came out in two pieces. That sucked but we figured we could find the part and have it back up and running in no time. NOPE!

We found the part and ordered it. Waited and waited and waited...no part delivered. This was after a month. We called and they said it was on back order. So we waited again. More time goes bye and still no part or no contact from the appliance sales people. We call again and this time were informed that they discontinued that part but they were on back order if any parts should be around they'd be the first to receive them and they'd ship our part out to us as soon as they got it. We ordered this part in May last year. This was in August of that same year. And then back to them again in October. We finally have them refund us and sit and sulk. We use our barbeque all the time! Good thing we had our tailgate barbeque! While tiny it still cooks steak ok.

So a couple weeks ago we were looking at replacing our monster barbeque and my husband had a great idea. Let's see if we can find the part once more before we go looking for another. This is a huge Jenn Air Grill and is not going to be cheap to replace. So I agree. He looks and finds it in 10 minutes! AWESOME!!! And it's actually in stock. The only problem is that it's not like the original part but is a re-configured part that was made to work and replace the old jets. So we order it.

Ok, I'm thinking for 100.00 it better work! But mostly I'm thinking it better actually be in stock and get shipped. You know?! Sheish!

So it arrived on Thursday! Yay!!! It's definitely different from the others. But we'll see. It took a couple hours to tear the beast apart and put the new part in. We fired up that baby and my sweet husband cooked us some Cornish Game Hens on the spit! Oh So Yummy!!!

I wish I had taken photos! They were so pretty!!!

Well, remember for HCG we don't do fat, starch or sugar of any kind! So I had my portion of a game hen without skin. Which is cool anyway because YUCK! Unless it's crunchy. This one had crunchy skin in spades. But YUCK anyway! Yep! Keep telling myself that! ;)

I made a cucumber and tomato salad. So delicious and super easy!!!

Cucumber Tomato Salad ala Sabrina

1 Cucumber cut into cubes
2 Tomatoes cut into cubes
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1/4 c Rice Vinegar (No SUGAR Added)
1/8 tspRed Pepper Flakes
1/2 tsp Liquid Amino's
1/8 tsp Garlic Powder (or 1 clove fresh)
1/8 tsp Onion Powder (or 1/4 onion chopped fresh)
Stevia to taste

Mix and Eat! Now when I say stevia to taste you choose if you want to have a sweet salad or a salty salad. You can add it or leave it out. What ever goes with the meal you're making or your mood. I omitted the stevia last night because it fit the meal.

The reason I didn't use fresh onions is that I have Vidalia Onions which are super sweet/high on sugar content. I had the 2 veggies above and don't want to add more to my caloric content. I have made this with all fresh raw ingredients~ Garlic, Onion Cuc's and Tomatoes before and it's delish! So you decide how you want to make it.

Now if you want to know how the cornish game hens were cooked it's simple...
Grab your thawed hens, season them with your favorite seasonings and slip on the spit. Cook until they reach a temperature of 160 (breast area) -170 (thigh area) on your meat thermometer.

We seasoned them in this order:
Sea Salt rubbed in
Sprinkled them with part of a packet of "Balsamic & Roasted Onion Veggie Roaster" by Urban Accents. Weird I know but Oh So Good!!!
And finally a bit of Johnny's because that's a staple in our house.
They sat after that for about 30minutes waiting and marinating and then were trussed and put on the spit then placed on the rotisserie until they were done.
Easy Peasy!

My VLCD5 Results (This is after my 4th day of 500 calories):
Down another .7lbs!
I decided I needed to see if anything was actually happening besides eliminating water weight. There is!!! I have already lost over an inch on my waist! Seriously!!! I didn't measure anywhere else because that was enough to reassure me and to thrill me for today. :) So far so good!

By the way! I've found that by using the freeze-dried unsweetened unsulfured fruits like apples, strawberries, blueberries or raspberries I can satisfy that need for a sweet crunchy snack. They run about $3-5 depending on what you pick out. Go check them out! Yummy!!!

Each bag is listed as a single serving with 130 calories. If you break these down into smaller portions your purchase goes farther and gives you the space for the foods you're supposed to eat like protein. In other words they're good for a snack like your apple is. BUT don't go crazy!!! They are a snack not a meal! That's 130 calories of your 500 calorie allotment. Be smart about how you want to incorporate these delicious treats into your food program.

Ok, I'm off! Errands this morning and hitting the torch to fill bead orders this afternoon!
Have a Great Saturday!!!

NSAID's are Killing Us Silently!!!

I woke up this morning in pain like I do often. I have a shoulder injury that was caused by an Allegiant agent while I was working at our local airport. I have permanent damage and will always have pain whether mild or severe. The injury is in my shoulder which throws my back and neck into spasms or gives me tight muscles etc. The list really goes on to include constant headaches and migraines. It's nuts! But there is nothing that can be done except pain management.

My doctor(s), yes there are a few, prescribe methocarbamol, naproxin, hydrocodone, some migraine pills, some nerve blockers, and take ibuprofen as well.

Well, since I quit work I quit taking everything but the ibuprofen. My husband and kids were all over me about taking so many pills and what they could eventually do to my body.  They argued that since I was going to have to live with my injury for the rest of my life I should learn how to deal with the pain on my own.

My cousin was in a major car accident and has lots of musculoskeletal pain and has tossed out all his pain meds too because of the damage they can cause. I figured if he can deal with his pain on his own I could too. So I did. I tossed them in the bottom drawer and haven't looked a them since...All but the ibuprofen. I had to have something!!!

Well, today I woke up in pain and came straight out from my hot shower still aching. Not an ouch, that hurts but, but an if I have to move anymore today I'm going to cry pain. It's frustrating. So I headed to my trusty tiny bottle of ibuprofen (I used to buy the costco size) and grabbed my 4 tablets. 4 tablets equals 800mg. It's my regular dose. As I was getting ready to pop those babies in my mouth my husband says "What are you doing?"

Really? I'm in pain and I need relief. So as he's trying to get my attention about not taking ibuprofen because of all the complications that are being buried etc etc. I down them.

He's still going on and sits down at the computer saying something about being on the phone with someone Australian while at work, but can't go into it because it's work stuff, and pulls up these websites that show the complications caused by NSAID's that have been buried or washed over.

This is a huge list and it's terrifying! I'm shocked and now worried about what I've done to my body.

I know I've had a few symptoms on that list ~ gastro issues, bp issues etc. AND in one of the articles it states that "this is not just a problem associated with chronic treatment." In other words take it once in a while and you will still be doing harm.

READ THIS ARTICLE
Or THIS ONE It's where I got the photo above.

It's one of the most eye opening articles. There are more. So many more articles and studies that will blow you away!!!

Needless to say I'm tossing the ibuprofen and clearing out my bottom drawer of my meds and going to his naturopath this week. Maybe if I stop now it will help my body to fix what damage I've done already. Fingers Crossed!!!

OMG Becky! Look At Her Butt...

I have a Big Butt and I Cannot Lie! etc etc etc...

I can definitely go on and on but all I want to do is shake my rear like Cameron Diaz does in Charlie's Angels. Except it's really not as cute. My kids say it's kinda scary and that I'm freaking them out. LOL I definitely do it anyway just because of that reason! Gotta get it in before they leave home right? Because after that I'll probably be using a walker and embarrassing them is going to be in a way different category. ;) I'm assuming anyway.

Ok back to my butt! Yep! that's the subject for today. My big ass-pect. Pun is always intended when ass is used in any word or phrase.

The last time I did HCG and got down to my lowest...this is before I gained all my weight back... I lost my big butt. Literally. Saggy rear all the way. I've never felt my butt skin touch my thigh skin before so it kinda freaked me out. It didn't look bad. It was just an odd feeling. It's normal for your arms to touch your sides but not butt skin to touch thigh skin in a folding manner, for me at least.

This sagging skin is part of what I fret over with the results of loosing so much weight. I have what I call chicken tenders on the back of my shoulder area just above the bra line. These were still there last time but oh so much smaller. But my arms!!! They waved and were saggy. So were my thighs. You know when you lay down on your back to sunbath and you bend your knees up? My skin sagged down noticeably, to me that is.

The whole point of this diet is to feel better in my skin. To feel healthier. Sagging skin is a thing that makes me not feel so comfortable in my skin. I found out that I'm not alone.

While doing research on what I can do besides have it removed surgically. There have been reports that using MSM helps not only for sagging skin but wrinkles on your face. Wrinkles?!!! Yep. Wrinkles. I noticed that with the weight loss I also saw wrinkles on my face that I didn't have before because of my plump features. ;)

So to avoid this happening this time or to lessen it as it's bound to happen because my skin is stretched from holding all that fat in for safe keeping I've started a morning and night regimen of taking MSM and Powder C. I started this 2 weeks before I started this round of HCG.

I'm not going to lie to you...This stuff is BITTER! But as fast as it is bitter with a drink of water it's gone like that! Like you never had it in your mouth to begin with.

The best way I've found is to do it in a shot. 1 scoop of Powder C and 1 heaping spoon of MSM in a small amount of water and stir. Get it all floating and shoot that sucker! Then use the same cup for water.

You have to make sure you drink lots of water when you're taking this stuff as it's removing toxins from your body. As you release toxins the water will help you eliminate it from your body. Yep you're going to need a large amount water for HCG so you'll pee a LOT this works in your favor. Because while you need water for MSM you're already going to be drinking it for HCG. Win Win right?! :)

They say that  you're supposed to drink half your weight in ounces of water every day. I read somewhere that this counts for tea too. I'm an iced tea and hot tea drinker so this is perfect! Water/Tea are really all that I drink. I can't remember the last time I had coffee or anything else drink like that wasn't water or tea. I cannot stomach soda pop so I don't drink it.

How was that for rambling on about saggy skin and msm? I should probably share with you my daily HCG stats!

Today I woke up to a small 1/2 lb loss. BUT that's still Awesome because the scale is still going in the right direction. Small losses are still BIG!!!

Yesterday was a big loss of 2.7lbs.

So if you add my gain of 1.5
my VLCD1 loss of 2.5
and VLCD2 loss of 2.7
with VLCD3 loss of .5
you get a nice 4.2 pounds so far!

Remember this is in 3 days. 3 days!!! So imagine what tomorrow and the next day and the day after that will bring.

More Awesome Results!
xoxo

Results Already!

Yesterday was the first official day of the 500 calorie part of this diet.

I wasn't hungry. I was busy so that might have helped.

I woke up this morning down 2.6 lbs already. My scale actually said one weight the first time I stepped onto it and then when I was eager to look at it again it said a different weight .3lbs more than what it was before. Then again 15 minutes later it reflected the first weight. But I decided to stick with the higher weight because I think it will make tomorrows weigh in even better. ;) Besides if the scale can't make up it's mind I feel it's better to go with the higher weight just incase.

Today I have noticed I didn't get hungry until about 1pm -ish. It was an all of a sudden OMG I'm Starving! moment. That made for a quick grab of some chicken slices and mustard so I could calm down. After eating a couple bites I was fine. I got distracted and forgot to finish eating. Oh Well. I suppose I can make up for that with steak dinner! Yay!!!

Other than that my day has been busy and good. No longterm hunger pains. No headaches. No griping and complaining. Although I did put on my sweatshirt because I did get really cold. It was only 65 at the time so I'm blaming it on actually being cold and not the HCG.

Want to see why I was so busy yesterday? Here's a photo! 

Remember when I said I made beads? This is the batch that I made yesterday. I pulled them out of the kiln this morning. There are a couple sets and singles that I think I need to re-create for myself.

Here We Go!!! VLCD1

Day 1

It's that simple. Day 1. Today.

Today I start Phase 2. The actual weight loss part of the diet.

This is the first of several VLCD's (Very Low Calorie Diet/Day). I haven't yet finished my tea. Probably should do that because I am feeling hungry. But it's only 8 in the morning! Once my day gets rolling and I'm busy all should be good.

I finished off my last loading day with some ham cheese and mustard and one last episode of Revenge. Ooo! It was Yummy!!! I figured I'd wake up and see a 2 pound gain because I'm loading and I ate lots of fatty foods. Nope! I lost. So my 1.9 gain is now a 1.4. Easy enough to take off. I'm just hoping that it will not affect the first week of my VLCD.

The fat gained in the Loading Phase is supposed to help minimize hunger and assist your body in switching from phase 1 to phase 2 easier. I read that somewhere. I think it's all theory really.

I can theorize the loss as being water loss caused from the HCG. I can also theorize that my loss and low weight gain was caused by not having taken HCG for so long. It has been just over 9 months since my last attempted round that lasted only 2 weeks. I can also theorize that my minimal loss is a direct cause of my body being used to eating like crap already. ;) It's probably a combination of all those factors. At any rate I'm ok with it. I think my body will function the way it should on this round.

My mind is in a very different place and my body is definitely there as well. This is for more than just loosing weight to look good in a pair of jeans or no clothes at all.

I've noticed that since my weight gain I have more aches and pains in my knee's, hips, back and really just all over. It's not just my shoulder injury that hurts any longer. It's my whole body. If my muscles and joints hurt can you imagine what the inside of my body is feeling? My heart? My liver and kidneys? Not to mention my intestines!

I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease 8 years ago. I totally didn't believe that they were correct on the diagnosis. After all I was FAT! Really FAT! But from that time I learned that my body, joints especially, cannot handle wheat. It literally hurts my body. Weird huh. You grow up with mac and cheese and all those delicious cookies and cakes and then all of a sudden you're thrown into this world of not being able to have it unless you're willing to suffer the consequences. That's what started my weight loss journey way back in the day.

Did you know that Crohn's Disease is a disease of Industrialized Countries? It is. What do all these countries have in common? Processed Foods!!! When my gastrointestinal doctor told me that little snip-it I was floored! We lived on box foods because they VERY were affordable. By buying products that were marketed as being wholesome and affordable I was killing my body...And I was feeding my children that crap too!!!

Since that discovery I've personally cut back on purchasing any boxed foods. The kids now see mac and cheese as a treat that they get to have once in a blue moon... maybe once a year. We cook meats and veggies. But we're still stuck in the sweet's part of the mess. I'm working on that with them now. They're not happy but they will be when they grow up. We can still have sweet treats. It just won't be processed sweet treats. It will be fresh or made here where we know what's in it.

I think that's a good trade off for a healthy body and healthy children. Don't you?

Back to today! I've got a day to plan and live. I'm thinking chicken for dinner...
xoxo

Once Upon A Time in a Land Not So Far Away...

Once Upon A Time in a Land Not So Far Away...

There lived this woman who did HCG and Loved her results! She got to one of her goal weights and was feeling so good about herself! Then she quit her job to pursue her home based business/art. This was an Awesome Decision and one she would never regret! But there comes a time in a girls life when she's not paying attention to her physical being as much as she's paying attention to her business.

One day she looks in the mirror and see's that she's let the view become distorted. She's gained 15 pounds of that hard earned weight loss back. So she thinks to herself. I've got this. But in all reality she doesn't. She had forgotten the way of the clean eating lifestyle and set herself up for disappointment when she gained another 5 pounds back. And then a pound here and a pound there. Finally ending up way back where she started.

Yep! That woman is me. I did that to myself. I was all gung-ho about getting back into my next round that when I started and failed I just gave up.

The second round started off with a great 7 pound loss and ended up with my being hungry all the time and only thinking about food. Food Food FOOD! Not apples, chicken or steak. But Whipped Cream and Cookies! I was dreaming and daydreaming about that crap!!! Anyway, one cookie lead to another and BAM! No more HCG round. But I was ok with that because lets face it. I couldn't control my mind what makes me think I could control my mouth. Not to mention I was at a comfortable weight.

That was before the Christmas From Hell!!! I kid you not. It was absolute hell and we're not going to go there. ;) Let's leave the past in the past and move on.

Well, needless to say the Christmas Hell brought me full circle back to my old habits and straight into my old pants. Not a good feeling when I've already taken all of them to the secondhand shops. Yep. I had to break down and buy larger shirts and pants.

This is what happens when you don't follow P3 or P4 properly OR when you ignore those couple pounds. Don't skip those stages just because you're at your goal weight. The weight WILL come back! AND with a FATTY VENGEANCE!!! I kid you not! Look at my before and after photos. They're friggen backwards. It's supposed to be fat to skinny not skinny to fat.

 

You know, I do have to say that HCG does work! It works if you follow the protocol all the way through to the end of P4. I did it before! That's how I stayed under 200 for over 4 years. Just so you know after that first round I got under the 200 mark and was happy. Very happy. I kept it off and ate what I wanted. Moderation was definitely the key. But I could have cookies and ice cream and not think twice. It was the subsequent round where I wanted to drop from 190 to a much slimmer me. The me that I know is in there. When I didn't follow the protocol after failing my third round that's what messed everything up. I went back to my old habits with a jacked up system that didn't know that it wasn't supposed to hold onto the fats etc. 

So here I sit today with a much larger ass-pect on this process. ;) Pun fully intended here. 

I'm currently on my second day of loading (R3P1D2 ~ Yes, I'm officially calling this round three even though I did a round three in October of last year that only lasted 2 weeks. I think I can consider that a Non-Round round. Don't you agree?) 

I'm doing injections that I purchased through NuImageMecical. I weighed in at 189.1 on D1 and this morning I'm at 190.0 so I've gained 0.9 pounds so far. It's not a large gain because frankly I was nauseous all day yesterday. Might be the HCG. I did eat and drink...just not that well. 

Today I started off with my morning dose of HCG followed by my daily drink of MSM and Powder C. Now I'm sitting down with my morning cup of tea. I drink tea every morning now that I quit drinking coffee. I drink a mock london fog. I drink Earl Grey with Vanilla Stevia and some Almond Milk. Truly I love it with soy as well. But definitely not with milk any longer. It's not a lactose thing, I just don't like the taste of milk anymore. Haven't for years. As far as my MSM and Powder C drink goes, I just mix a scoop of Powder C in a small wine glass with water then add a heaping spoon of MSM and stir until it looks good enough to drink. Sometimes it dissolves easily other times it doesn't. I have to be honest! This is the most bitter drink evah! Glech! But the bitter goes away quite quickly once it's down. 

Ok so here are today's photos. No makeup, no softening of the skin via editing. It's the Real Deal Baby!!!

 

 

Ok, so several comments. Notice my bulgy sides and belly? That was gone before. And look at my thighs. That bulge at the apex? That was gone too. My arms were much slimmer as well. 

Oh! But! Hey!!! My hair is longer!!! :) 

Ok, enough for today. I've got to hit the torch! Those beads don't make themselves!

~ xoxo ~