HCG Week 3

I am at the half-way point with three weeks down and three weeks to go.  This week has been a long slow struggle and I only lost 1 pound from Sunday to Thursday.  I was getting really discouraged but I have lost another three pounds in the last two days so I am going to stick with it.  I have officially lost 20.4 pounds, 4 inches off my waist and 5 inches off my hips.  Hopefully my rate of weight loss picks back up and I can make it to my goal of losing another 20 pounds in the next 3 weeks.

A Great Compliment

While out hiking yesterday I ran into a woman that I used to see almost every day during the summer, but I probably haven't  seen her for 6 months.  As we approached her she called out, "Holy Cow!  I recognized your dog coming down the trail but I didn't recognize you.  You've lost a ton of weight!"  That made me feel so good.

HCG Diet Week 2

I have survived another week of starvation and have lost another six pounds.  I was hoping for more, but 16 pounds in 13 days is still pretty good.  I just spent an hour going through my closet trying to find clothes that will fit.  I have one pair of dress slacks and 2 pair of capris that fit right now.  I only have a couple of shirts that fit and everything else makes me look like a scarecrow.  Since I still want to lose at least 20 more pounds I'm not ready to buy new clothes yet, so I may spend the next few weeks looking silly in over-sized clothes.

Actually I really don't feel like I'm starving most of the time anymore.  The only time I'm really hungry is before lunch because I'm not eating breakfast.  My little lunch and dinner are carrying me through the rest of the day with only occasional mild hunger.

HCG Diet Week 1

A couple of weeks ago Denise mentioned that she was starting the HCG diet.  I had thought about doing it before, so I asked her for some information about it.  With a little encouragement from Denise and my assistant Jamie (who has done the diet before) I decided to give it a try.  All the excercise in the world and a gluten-free diet weren't helping me, so I needed to do something else to try to get in shape.

The HCG diet protocol includes taking the hormone HCG either by drops put under the tongue or by injection, and following a very low calorie, very low carb diet for three to six weeks.  The claim is that you can lose about a pound per day.  After no more than six weeks you then boost your calorie intake to 1500 per day while still sticking to low carb foods for another three weeks.  You then slowly reintroduce carbs into your diet.  Jamie did the injections for three weeks, and I think she said she lost 26 pounds.  I chose to go with the drops because they were cheaper and because I'm really sick of being poked with needles every couple of weeks for my allergies.

Today is day six of my diet and I have lost 10.2 pounds and 2 inches from my waist and hips.  The first few days were really hard.  I struggled with being hungry all the time and with low energy.  Day four was absolute hell.  I had no energy at all and I was beginning to wonder if it was worth it.  It probably didn't help that I was coming down with a cold.  Luckily I turned a corner yesterday and I am feeling good again.  You aren't supposed to eat more than an apple for breakfast, and I'm still struggling with feeling so hungry that I'm sick in the mornings.  I have reintroduced diet soda in the mornings and that has helped.  I'm hoping to be able to keep this up for the next 4 or 5 weeks, and I would love to lose at least 40 pounds.

I Guess I Need A Fanny Pack

So yesterday around 4:30 I decided that I'd better take my hound for a hike before the sun went down.  I usually go to the Fernwood Trail in Layton, but I knew that I would be pushing 6:00 to go to our regular turn around spot and get back to my car, so I decided to go to the trail head by the animal shelter here in Kaysville.  I let the hound out and we went on our way.  It took us about 20 minutes to reach the stream and then we turned back.  It was about 5:30 when we returned to the car and the sun was just setting.  I reached into my pocket for my keys and came up empty.  I searched all of my pockets and could not find the keys.  I had not locked my car, so I got in and searched all around for my missing keys but I had no luck.  I did however, have my phone, so I called JoLyn for help.  She agreed to drive over to my house, pick up my other set of keys, and meet me at the trail head.  Since I knew it would take her about a half hour to get to me I decided to retrace my steps.  I didn't have time to go all the way to the stream but I figured searching would be better than just standing in the parking lot waiting for Jo.  I walked for about 15 minutes searching the trail with no success before I turned back.  As I approached the parking lot for the second time it was almost completely dark.  Just as the trail was about to end at the parking lot I spied my keys.  They were frozen to a pile of dog crap, but I really didn't care.  I was just happy to have found them.  Since I have now lost my phone and my keys in less than two weeks, I am thinking that I may need to start wearing a fanny pack.  They are not the greatest fashion accessory, but apparently my pockets just aren't good enough.

Phone Drama

It feels like forever since I've blogged, but there hasn't been much going on here.  Christmas break was much needed but over too soon.  In the couple of weeks since we've been back I've settled into my normal rotine of work, hiking the hound, watching some t.v. and sleeping.  Not very exciting, but it works for me.

This morning there was a little bit of snow on the roads and I didn't want to drive up to the trail head, so I took the dog for a walk here through town.  We walked over to the high school and I let her off leash to run around the football field for a while, then we walked back home.  Once at home I decided to shovel the half inch of snow off my driveway and walks, and since it wasn't all that hard I did Jean's driveway as well.  When I was done I came in and reached into my jacket pocket to take my phone out, and it wasn't there.  I always take it with me, but just in case I looked through the house to see if I could find it.  When I couldn't find it, I went over to Jean's house and asked her to call my phone just in case it was somewhere in the house and I wasn't seeing it.  I had no luck with that, so I decided to drive over to Jo's office and borrow her phone then retrace my route while calling from her phone and trying to listen for my ring tone.  At this point the snow was starting to melt, and even if I'd found my phone it probably would have been water damaged beyond repair, but I figured I had to try.  Once again, I had no luck.

Back around Thanksgiving time Jo and Denise were giving me crap about my lack of a texting plan and my lack of texting skills.  They were also giving me crap about being with T-Mobile when nearly everyone else in the family is with Verison.  When I replied that I was too cheap to upgrade to the texting plan Jo offered to add me to her family plan.   We never did it, but when it became clear today that I was going to need a new phone she offered again.  Since it only costs her another $10 plus taxes per month to add another line I was more than happy to agree to pay her $15 each month instead of having to pay $50 each month on my own for a plan without texting.

The bottom line is that I am now the proud owner of a new Samsung Intensity.  It has a qwerty keyboard so I can hone my texting skills, and it has a bright reddish-orange cover so it will be clearly visible if I drop it into a snow bank.  (My old phone was white, which did not help when I was looking for it in the snow.)  The bad part is that since I couldn't find my phone they couldn't transfer my data, so if you want me to have your cell phone numbers you need to e-mail or text them to me.  I was able to keep my old number, so you should all have it.

Sadly, there were a few photos that will be forever lost since I never got around to downloading them onto the computer.  My favorite was one of the coonhound with a frozen squirrelcicle in her mouth.

Christmas 2009

It MUST be Christmas!  There were reindeer hoof prints and boot prints on the sidewalk leading up to my front door.

Christmas morning started with a hike for me and the coonhound.  A little storm had cleared out all of the icky inversion and it was a glorious morning. 

When I returned from my hike I checked my cell phone and found a message from Mom letting me know that her plane was on time and that, because Rick had forgotten to take his employee ID badge to the airport, he and the dogs had been forced to stay behind.  We missed you Rick, and we missed meeting the wiener dogs.

After I picked up Mom from the airport we stopped at the Hugoe/Tilley home. Colton arrived home from spending Christmas morning with his dad not long after we got there, and we were able to watch him open his presents.

After the presents were opened Colton wanted to have a Nerf gun war.  Me, Mom, Denise, Brian and Colton had a great time shooting at each other with foam bullets.  Jo was sick and Sean was out fixingsomeone's furnace, so we didn't see much of them

 

After the war it was time to eat.  Once again, Brian deep fried a turkey for us.  When he originally pulled the turkey out of the fryer after about and hour and a half it was still pink on the inside.  He put it back into the fryer and unfortunately we left it there a little too long.  When he took it out of the fryer the second time around it was burnt to a crisp.  We were able to salvage some meat by cutting deep into the bird.

I found another source of meat that we could use, but Denise was not amused.

After spending the day in Woods Cross we packed up some more presents and went to the

Thompson home in Ogden.  Unfortunately most of my pictures at their house didn't turn out, so I am hoping that someone else took some pictures that they can blog.

The girls each got a My Generation doll either from their parents or Santa, which they insist on calling Liv dolls.  Grandma gave each of them a horse to go along with their dolls and they spent the evening bathing, grooming, and putting make-up (my contribution) on their horses.

On Saturday we spent all afternoon at the Murray house eating yummy food, chatting, and opening gifts.  I forgot to take any pictures at all, so again, I am hoping that someone else thought to take pictures for the blog.  After we left the Murray home we went over to Sean's house for some seafood gumbo and another Nerf war.

Sunday morning we relaxed a little bit, then we went out to lunch with the Thompson's before I had to take Mom back to the airport.  It was a whirl wind weekend, but lots of fun.