HCG Day 14 (600 Calorie Day 12)

600 Calorie Diet, Day 5

HCG Day 6

There's a loud noise at the end of my video from the kids who live above us. Other than that little glitch, enjoy!

A Little Nerdy Reinforcement

Do you see that little box on the left hand side of the screen? Do you see the big, fat, happy red number? It's a "4", right? A 4. A FOUR!!

I'm just sayin' y'all... I've lost four pounds.

There was a time in my life (not so many months ago) when a measly 4 pounds would have disgusted me. It's only 4 pounds. All that work for only 4 pounds.

But since finding my recent inspiration, I'm happy. Because I know that, even if it's only four pounds, I will never ever ever see those four pounds again. They're gone. "Nevermore!"

Also, I have struggled so much with this round of the HCG diet. I just can't seem to stick with 600 calories. 800? ok. But 600 feels impossible around 9:00 at night.

But as I was thinking (and praying) about it yesterday, I realized that I haven't been using my new-found super power. When I started the HCG diet this time, I had an ambiguous goal.

It was: I am going to eat 600 calories a day for as long a I can... 20 days... 40 days... who knows... we'll see how I feel.

Um... I didn't "feel" like doing ONE day, much less 20.

So yesterday morning I set a new goal: I am going to eat 600 calories for 20 days. That's it. Only 20 days. Less than three weeks.

Along with that goal, I set some (rather silly) positive and negative reinforcement in place. You see, I have a large desk calendar at work that has stayed mostly white since I started working here. But I bought some fun, colorful markers which I will now get to use on the calendar every day that I eat only 600 calories. Day one (before I bought the markers) looks like this:



For the negative reinforcement, I went ahead and decorated the "Day 20" mark. That way, if I cheat even ONE day, I have to reset my 20 days and thereby white-out and move the 20 day mark. I don't like white out on my calendar.

Day 20 looks like this (again, before the colorful markers):



I realize (oh boy, do I realize) how much I sound like a total nerd right now. For most people, I suppose this little bit of "reinforcement" might seem trivial and totally not worth only 600 calories. But late last night - the cursed hours after 9pm when I am so. very. hungry - I, for the first time, refrained from going above my 600 calories. I drank water. I drank hot tea. I ate a handful of cherries and diced peaches. The reason? I knew that I wouldn't be able to color my calendar the next morning AND that I would have to MOVE the 20-day mark that is already decorated.

This might be the most boring post ever. But I wanted to let you guys know some of the small things that motivate me to stick to my diet. Maybe there are some fellow nerds out there who, like me, appreciate the sense of accomplishment that comes from marking off a calendar day.

Love you guys! Thanks for stopping by!


P.S. Look back up at that first picture - I'll wait while you look. See my "Day 1" box? Now look right below that. July 27th. Can you read those letters? They say, "Brandon's last day." Last day for what? you might ask. Well, my friends, let me tell you. My sweet, handsome, intellegent, funny husband just landed his lifetime dream job! As of July 28, 2010, Brandon will be a highschool math teacher! Whoop WHOOP for a dream come true!

HCG Day 4

(If you can't view the videos here, you can find them on YouTube by searching "brandythixton HCG".

Thanks for stopping by!

HCG Day 2

HCG stuff...

I didn't sleep well last night. It was awful. It felt like the kind of sleep I had several years ago, before I did my first treatment with Dr.Z, and it kind of freaked me out.

So I started doing some reading...

I may or may not have mentioned that I restarted my HCG diet this week (on Sunday, to be exact).

My understanding was that I am supposed to NET 600 calories a day (as I discussed in a previous post) which means I can still work out, as long as I eat enough calories to make up for the workout.

But, upon reading the paperwork from my doctor and doing more research online, it turns out I was wrong.

Apparently, during Phase 2 of the program (the phase I'm currently in), I am supposed to do little-to-no exercise. 1-2 miles of average-paced walking several times a week is ok, but that's it.

There are a bunch of physiological reasons for this, but the gist is that hard-core exercise on so few calories can send a body into "survival mode" and cause it to INCREASE ITS CORTISOL PRODUCTION in order to SLOW DOWN THE METABOLISM and INCREASE APPETITE.

Dang.

That makes perfect sense, considering my cortisol levels felt like they were soaring at 3:00 this morning, and I have felt hungry all. freakin'. week.

So... I'm not really sure what that means at this point. I am going to have to put a hold on my Couch to 5k program, which makes me REALLY sad.

I'm also going to move back my goal of working out 1 hour a day, 5 days a week (including weights).

BUT... I still plan on hitting the gym every morning. I will simply walk on the treadmill at a steady pace for 1-2 miles. The most important thing for me (at least where exercise is concerned) is that I don't lose ground. I am FINALLY, for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE able to enjoy waking up early and working out consistently.

Ain't no diet in the world gonna make me lose that.

Oh, and at this point, I'm not giving up Yoga. If I continue doing it, and I feel that it's too much on me (or if my cortisol levels don't start dropping), then I'll put that on hold too. This would be the saddest change of all. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

So... I'm a little discouraged tonight that I'm having to postpone so many goals. That's not true. I'm a LOT discouraged.

But, in the long run, I know it's best for me to put losing weight as a priority first, and running a 5k or lifting heavier weights as second.

*le sigh*