Tag Archives | weekend

Week in Review + Weigh In

By on September 20, 2010 in hcg, R2P2, running, Vibrams, weekend, weight

Happy Monday, friends.  Despite my extremely sore calves (hello running in VFFs & not stretching after!), I am as happy as a girl can be while saying goodbye to the weekend.  I am well-rested and for me, that is like being caffeinated for most people!

I am in a “boring” spell again, where all is well and each day/week is much like the last.  Workouts are good (but my trainer is going on vacay, boo for me, yay for her), eating is spot on, and the relationships in my life are on an even keel.  How often can you say that?!?

My weekend was wonderful!  For the first time in a while, I didn’t have much planned.  Saturday was a lazy day other than my short (2.2 miles) run in my Vibram FiveFingers.  I hadn’t run in them for about two weeks and I didn’t stretch afterward as well as I should have, so all day yesterday and into today, my calves are VERY sore.  I have heard that some people on HCG experience problems with muscle soreness and cramping and it seems to me that I do get more sore while on the Protocol than off, so I am going to talk to my ND today about some supplements (hello electrolytes!) to help with that.

Saturday night my hubs and I went out to a comedy show with my brother and his girlfriend – Arabs Gone Wild.  It was HIL.AR.I.OUS!!!  My family is of Lebanese descent and the show is joke after joke after story after story about Middle Eastern people and families that are funny to anyone, but especially funny to those who grew up in or with Middle Eastern families!  Seriously, go check out some You Tube clips from this show, it will make you chuckle.  My cheeks and abs are still sore from laughing so hard!  Here’s a photo of us at the show (I’m the second from the right):

Sunday hubs and I went for a nice walk in our neighborhood and otherwise vegged out at home together, which we don’t do nearly often enough.  I also, through the course of the weekend, cleaned the kitchen, did 3 loads of laundry, and cooked several healthy meals for us to nosh on throughout the week.

Weigh-In/HCG Update

So my general HCG update is that things are going well.  I only loaded/feasted for two days this time, and I’m not sure if that’s what caused me to feel more hungry than last time or not.  In any case, whatever the reason, my body has adjusted and settled into the “routine” of my daily injections and low calorie diet.  I stopped feeling hungry about two days ago and am experimenting with eating slightly more protein than the Protocol calls for (compensating for it calorie-wise by cutting out the bread sticks/Melba toast I’m allowed to have) and making sure to get as much fiber as I can on 500 calories/day.  My favorite foods this week have been homemade kafta, asparagus, and strawberries.

Here are some stats for you:

Round One Lowest Injection Weight: 217
Round Two Starting Weight: 220.4
Round Two Post-Loading Weight: 223.6
R2P2D5 (today) Weight: 211.4

I’m 11.4 pounds away from Onederland, people.  I am still trying to wrap my brain around that!

So there you have it – other than that last part, nothing too exciting or notable in my life.  Things are good, and calm.  And I’m happy.  How are you?

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Weekend Recap

By on June 21, 2010 in family, hcg, R1P2, weekend

Happy Monday, y’all!  How was your weekend?  I had a good one and hope you did, too.  For you fathers, happy belated Father’s Day!

I had a busy weekend, starting at 8am (slept in – love it!) Saturday morning!  I got up and felt some serious house-i-vation (that’s house-related motivation for those of you who don’t speak Valerie) kicking in!  I threw on my workout clothes and tackled some serious cleaning, sorting, throwing-away, giving-away, and other organizingness at home.  Hubby was at work for the day, and though I might whine give him emotionally mature feedback about doing this kind of stuff on my own, the truth is (don’t tell him) I really like it.  When I’m in the mood.  And Saturday I was, so by the time hubs came home, I was collapsed on the couch, having accomplished:

  • 6 loads of laundry
  • Clean entire house top to bottom, including balcony and front “stoop” & stairs
  • Puttering (very quick puttering…shut up, it can be done!) in my balcony garden
  • Costco shopping ($350…shoot me now!)
  • 5 loads of recycling to the bin 1/2 block down the street
  • 5 large boxes of giveaway stuff carried down to the curb for pickup
  • 3 large bags of garbage
  • Cooked two meals to have on hand for the week
  • Made an ENORMOUS fruit salad for our family father’s day celebration…it weighed over 10 pounds!

Needless to say, I was wiped and looking forward to a relaxing evening with my husband Saturday.  He obliged by taking me out to a movie (Robin Hood, which I thought was entertaining and fun, instead of horrible and disappointing, according to the critics.  Have I mentioned before how annoying I find movie critics?) and I was in bed by 11pm.  I think I’m getting old. It felt great!

Sunday was spent with family, celebrating Father’s Day and my nephew’s 15th birthday (speaking of things that make me feel old).  We had a great time.

“Woman Talk”

Heads-up for the delicate readers, menstruation-related convo to follow.  You are forewarned!

I have always been blessed to have a regular, low-impact cycle.  For most of my life, my period has come every 28 days.  I don’t get cramps (once every year or two?), I don’t get super emotional during my PMS time, and my period last for 2-3 days.  (Yes, I’m a bitch, I know how lucky I am but you can say it anyways.)  I used to get headaches, but haven’t for a long time now.  Being on HCG, I was curious as to the effect it would have on my period.  I’ve read that being on HCG can intensify (not in a good way) PMS and menstrual symptoms for some people.

I am relieved beyond belief to report that wasn’t the case for me.  I did notice one major difference – I wasn’t a raving lunatic hungry for every sweet, salty thing in sight for the week before my period!  I can’t believe it – not a single hormone-related craving.  That’s huge for me.  I did have a minor amount of cramping for a couple hours on Saturday (the first day), but it was something I just noticed as I was going from one task to the next in a busy day – not enough to make me stop or pop a Midol or anything else.

I will say that, due to my doctor’s advice to not inject while menstruating (for most people, menstruating seems to “interfere” with the HCG’s affect on hunger), I had two days in a row with no injection, and by Sunday afternoon I was noticing my growling stomach a lot more!  But I’m back to normal today (no more period = back to injecting), and resisting the urge to eat yesterday was not as hard as it could have been.

To sum it up, for me, HCG doesn’t seem to affect my period much at all.  Happy me.

Finally, my numbers:

HCG Start Date: 6/1/10
Starting Weight: 252.5
VLCD  Starting Weight: 255
R1P2 VLCD Day 18: 233.2
Total Weight Lost: 19.3 pounds

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What to do When Not Obsessing about Food

By on June 8, 2010 in family, food, hcg, R1P2

This weekend, I had just about the most successful weekend ever in regards to my food intake.  I had a plan going in to the weekend and I decided that it was iron-clad and non-negotiable.  I had my food with me, and I knew we would be avoiding restaurants to save money, so it wasn’t going to be that hard.  Right?

Right.

Truly, it was not hard physically – I wasn’t hungry, I wasn’t un-satisifed, and I wasn’t craving anything in particular.  But this weekend was weird and difficult and hard for different reasons.

First, I knew that I was obsessed with food, but I don’t think I realized the extent of that obsession until I removed food decisions from the equation.  Am I the only person who thinks about food this much?  How much, you ask?  Think about how often a teenage boy thinks about sex, and that’s how often I thought about food this weekend!  I made it a point to check in with myself every time I realized I was thinking about food or wanting food, and guess what?  Never once was it about being hungry!  It was all about wanting to (a) experience pleasure through food and (b) be a part of what everyone was doing.

The next reason this weekend was hard?  In my family, everything revolves around food.  People, I am Lebanese-American.  This food-centric-ness thing is no revelation for me.  But again, the degree of how food-centric my family life is?  Mind-blowing and shocking.  At least for someone who’s trying to take the focus off food for a while.

The thing is, we’re not any different than most families.  Our gatherings – weddings, holiday weekends, etc. revolve around the meals we share.  And the cooking of said meals.  And the baking of sweet things with small children who adore said baking.  And I love all of that stuff.  But, dang!  If I had a friend who’s life revolved that much around something else (say, video games or chatting online?)?  I’d be telling her to get a life!

So, yeah.  The learning curve this weekend was interesting.  I had to constantly remind myself that this weekend?  It wasn’t about the food (which was actually pretty crappy, everyone agreed after-the-fact – instead of informing me during!).  It was about love, and family, and fun, and the wedding, and being together.  I just need to build the habit of enjoying those things more than the food when I’m with my family.  Because I can’t change my family, nor do I want to.  Trying to change them would be an exercise in frustration and futility.  And, after all, this blog journey isn’t about changing other people.  It’s about changing me.

So, I’m learning I have quite a bit to learn when it comes to not making every moment about food.  And to be honest, I don’t think my recent approach (counting calories and carbs and sugar and protein and on and on amen) has helped me in this regard – it’s only required me to pay more attention to food, to an obsessive degree.  I’m not sure how the HCG thing will help or hinder this learning process, but I’m interested to find out.

How do you deal with frequent family events that revolve around food?  If you don’t partake, do you feel deprived?  Have you successfully changed your mindset to enjoy the non-food elements of those gatherings?

HCG Stats:

HCG Start Date: 6/1/10
Starting Weight: 252.5
VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet) Starting Weight: 255 (after 2.5 days of “feasting”)
R1P2 VLCD Day 4: 245.2 (R1P2 = Round 1 Phase 2 – Phase 1 is the loading/feasting)

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“Vacation” Report & Finally!

By on June 7, 2010 in family, weekend, weight

Hi all!  Happy Monday!  I hope y’all had a great weekend – I definitely did.  Can you call a weekend away a “vacation”?  I don’t know the answer to that, but it sure felt like one (especially since I got to sleep in today!) so I’m going with it…

We took the Victoria Clipper from Seattle to Victoria, British Columbia on Saturday morning, super early.  Here’s what I did to prep for staying healthy while out of town:

  • Packed my workout clothes and headphones for my iPhone;
  • Packed healthy food to nosh on while out of town;
  • Decided ahead of time how I would indulge (decadent fruit bowl at brunch, sleeping in, staying up late with family) and how I would not (cake, alcoholic bevvies).

I’m happy to say that I stuck to my plan and had an awesome weekend both in terms of fun and in terms of staying healthy.  The best part?  Being the only one not waking up hungover on Sunday morning!  lol

Finally!

I’m also beyond ecstatic to report that the scale is finally responding to the good decisions I’ve been making consistently now for several weeks.  The bump in weight I saw a couple weeks ago just before my period (sorry, guys!) is gone, and a few extra pounds have gone with it.  I can’t tell you how good it feels, but I suspect that if you’re reading this, you already know!  I was committed to continuing to do the right things no matter what the scale said, but it makes a huge difference to see the numbers there responding after so long.  It also provides an extra dose of motivation to continue with the work I’m doing, which doesn’t hurt.

Blogroll

Thanks for all the great comments and suggestions on my blogroll post!  If you have a blog you’d like me to add, or have a recommendation for me to check out, don’t forget to leave me a comment on that post!

How was your weekend?  Do you come up with a specific plan for how to make the best choices in advance of each weekend?

Comments { 12 }

Sharing the Love

By on June 4, 2010 in blogging, plan, weekend

Y’all, it’s a crazy busy Friday right before a crazy busy weekend.  Heads-up – I won’t be posting over the weekend, as I’ll be out of town for a wedding.

Here’s my game plan to stay on track this weekend:

  1. Pack my running shoes & workout clothes; run or hit up the hotel gym both days.
  2. Pack healthy snacks to keep my eats clean;
  3. Choose to forego the cocktails and nummies at the wedding in favor of a light and healthy dinner.

I could choose to indulge this weekend, or even eat a few things in moderation and be just fine.  But you know what?  I’m done dickin’ around (sorry for the language!).  As the lovely Mrs. Fatass pointed out in her post today, I’ve been maintaining my weight for far too long now.  I’m loving the progress I’ve made and I’m excited for how I’ve grown.  Now it’s time for me to get back to shrinking.

So this weekend out of town and celebrating is going to be all about love and family and good times and being together.  It’s not going to be about eating and chocolate and wedding cake and drinking.  And you know what?  I’m totally okay with that!

Sharing the Love

So I realized today how pathetically short and … inadequate my blogroll is!  That’s where you come in.  I’d love to hear from you all about what blogs I need to add to that terribly outdated and puny list.  Want your blog to go on there?  Tell me.  Got a recommendation for a blog I and all 7 of my readers and my wonderful readers should be reading?  Hit me up in the comments, please.  I’m going to share the love by updating my blogroll, and I need you to share the love here so I know who to share the love with!  (I just confused myself with that last sentence but you know what?  It’s Friday.  Sue me.)

Have a wonderful, healthy weekend.  See ya back here Monday, peeps.

Comments { 14 }