Experiment Update

Update: I've lost 5 pounds since Day One...

With all the traveling we've been doing its been hard to stay on any kind of a routine. But being back home and starting this experiment I've been able to drop the 6 pound weight gain and am back to where I was at this darn plateau! This morning I weighted and I was down a half of a pound and officially on the downside of the scale. If I can keep this up... that means the plateau is shattered and I'll be losing pounds and inches one again. Of course the lesson here is consistency! You don't have that when you are traveling, especially when you are traveling by air. You really are at the mercy of the airlines, airport, times zones and flight times. At a later time I'll figure out how to stay consistent while traveling, but right now I'm focused on this little experiment while I'll be home for 21 days straight.

I'm very encouraged. I'm not hungry (and when I am I eat) and I am feeling great. A couple things I have noticed...

1. I know we've all heard this time and time again... DRINK MORE WATER! I've started chugging slightly chilled water, 6 oz (Juice glass size) every hour. Its actually been easy... I start around 9:00 and continue all through the day. Brining a water bottle everywhere I go. If I am home I just fill up my juice glass right from the fridge with filtered water. So far so easy.
2. When on the HCG its recommended that you don't do any strenuous exercise. But walking is good. So I walk... but I found its been better to walk in the evening rather than in the morning when I've not taken in a lot of calories during the night and the morning, with only coffee for breakfast with 2 tab. cream. So an afternoon walk it is! Feeling awesome!
3. Craving fruit or peanut butter. Not together but sometimes yes. Apple with 1 small tablespoon of peanut butter has been afternoon snack of choice. Sometime I do switch it up and have celery and peanut butter tho. I need to top eating the peanut butter every day tho.

Other than that its been pretty easy dropping those 5 pounds. Now lets see if I can keep those last 5, I call em "travel pounds" off for good and stay on the downhill of my weight loss.

One thing that I am doing differently... Because its hot here is blending my fruit in my NutrabulletRX. (No, Im not affiliated with NutrabulletRX, I just wanted to show you this amazing machine) So I peel an orange cut it up... pop it into a blender with 1 cup of water, about 6 ice cubes a couple of fresh or frozen strawberries and let the Nutrabullet do it things... YUM! A cold refreshing juice, totally healthy because I am using the whole fruit and filling because I'm getting the fiber, plus all those frothy bubbles that fill me up. I count that as one of my daily fruits. I have it before or after my walk. (Its too hot here in Arizona to walk outside now so I've been on the boring treadmill) Its really good too. (Sometimes I do put in some Truvia if the orange is particularly sour or I'm making this with a ruby red grapefruit.) Here's a photo of my orange strawberry drink I call the "naked pink lady". If you are not on the HCG diet you can add some protein powder or yogurt for a more nutritious drink, but then its a smoothie. 

 Here's a photo of yesterdays "Naked Pink Lady"
Smooth, frothy, filling and refreshing.

Here's the NutrabulletRX its pretty amazing! 

Ok I'll update soon...

Today is Day One...

Of our experiment.

Hubby and I have both been on Belveq for about 7 months and in that time (5 months) I have lost 21 pounds. But lately my weight loss has slowed to almost nothing. I'm still eating 1000 calories and walking a mile a day. Still nothing... I've taken a few vacations and have gained 5 to 8 pounds, quickly lost it once I got home tho. But both hubby and I have appeared to have hit a brick wall with this plateau.

Hubby and I have both used HCG in the past so we decided to try a combination of Belviq and HCG. Since we are only eating 800 to 1000 calories a day anyway, hopefully the combination will at least boost us off of this plateau. Belviq helps us NOT eat so much and be hungry. HCG uses the fat cells for energy. I need that. HCG shrinks the fat cells, the reason people gain the weight back after a round is because they go back to poor eating habits large proportions and sugar. Belviq is teaching us that we don't need those large proportions and so many carbs.

Here's the plan.

We'll do a 21 day round.

We've already "loaded" as best we can.

We'll continue to take the belviq 2 times a day.

We will take the natural HCG spray 2 times a day.

We'll continue our walking, at least one mile a day on the treadmill. More if we want. (We're working up to 10,000 steps a day, challenged by our lovely daughter-in-love using our FitBit Charge HR)

I'll post our progress and the food we eat here every evening.

Wish us luck its day one.

Easy Healthy breakfast...

To start your busy day.

(Click photo to enlarge)

I don't very often buy processed/packaged foods but sometimes you just need a little help in the kitchen on busy days. So look for the most healthy helpers and go for it once in a while! 

I had a coupon to try this "Seeds of Change Seven Whole Grains rice" and hubby and I both loved it!

I grilled a Tri-Tip Steak, sliced a ripe red tomato and put this packet of Seven Whole Grains rice in a little cast iron skillet to warm it up. Its fully cooked! (You can warm it up in the microwave too, but I don't cook in the microwave)  It looked a little lonely so I quickly shredded a carrot into the skillet with the rice, then thought it needed some green so I julienned a handful of fresh spinach and tossed that in too. Heated it up adding 1/2 tablespoon of fresh butter to finish it off.
What a wonderful meal! I served hubby one cup and myself 1/2 cup and I had 1/2 cup left over.

So this morning, I popped it back into the skillet with 1/2 pat of butter and scrambled an egg. Quick, delicious and I'm ready for the day! 

Enjoy! 

Weight update

Its official, I've lost 21 pounds since Nov. 10 2014! And three inches off my hips! And that's even having the FLU all last week. I did eat less, but I wasn't able to work out or go for my walk. Its a slow process. Ive been shooting for a 2 pound a week weight loss. This slow pace insures a better chance of keeping off the weight and lets my skin catch up so i don't have so much loose skin. I also dry brush and use coconut oil on my skin everyday. I've been using Weight Watchers Points Plus too. I really like the program, its so easy to just watch my points rather than counting calories all the time. HOWEVER: I do stay aways for a lot of processed food with WW allows and too much fruit. Fruit and Veggies are 0 points on WW Plus. Basically I stay away from too much sugar and packages/processed foods. I have to with the Insulin Resistance.

Reached a Mini Goal!

I'm so excited to announce that I have reached a mini goal set for myself! I wanted to lose 18 pounds before I started the 60 T-Tapp Challenge for 2015! I DID IT! This morning at weigh in! In the nick of time too, as the Challenge starts Saturday January 10th!

I'm having a hard time articulating how good this really does feel. I've been trying to hard to lose weight. Its so devastating when you work really hard doing the right things and nothing, not a damn thing happens. Doctors blame you, you blame you. Your supporters wonder what you're doing wrong. Its frustrating and depressing.

I had such mixed emotions when I finally went to a specialty weight loss Doctor. When she told me I have PCOS and extreme insulin resistance, where type 2 diabetes is just waiting for you to make one wrong move before it takes over your body. I was an emotional wreck of good and bad feelings!
On one had I was so happy for finally find out why all my hard work wasn't paying off. On the other hand... why hadn't my 2 naturopaths and family doctors never figured this out! I had ALL the classic symptoms!!!! HELLO????

But with the proper mixture of medicine, pharmaceuticals and natural medications I have finally been ale to leave the dock and start my weight loss journey!

Since October 15th 2014 to January 9th I've lost a firm 18 pounds!

Its time to set a new goal.

I start the challenge tomorrow. My new goal is... 20 pounds! I know that sounds like a lot in 2 months, but I am eating a low calorie and more important low glycemic meals. So that kind of weight loss is do-able. I just lost 18 pounds during the last two months and that was with no workouts at all!
However I may convert this goal into inches. Because that's the way T-Tapp works... Inches not so much pounds...
The weight-loss in pounds is the icing on the cake with T-Tapp.

If your still with me on this journey Thanks!

ReallyRainey

15 pounds in 6 weeks!

Another 2 pounds! WHAT?

Moving right along... I've lost another 2 pounds since Nov. 12! 

I had a Doctors appt. yesterday. My weight loss Doc. I've officially lost 14 pounds in a little over a month. And 3 inches off of my waist! The combination of meds I'm on is working. Often times its a delicate balance each week when you are talking about hormones and insulin resistance. Because I'm taking the Belviq and Metformin I have to get a blood test every 6 weeks in the beginning, so I go next week for a blood draw and then another Doc appt.

So my appt. yesterday my blood pressure was pretty high. Doc's not sure why so she's put me on a diuretic to see if that helps. I have another appt. on Dec. 18 and well see if that med change worked. She also put me on a huge potassium pill! Then of course I needed my monthly refill for Belviq. As she handed me ALL those prescriptions I looked at her kind of sadly. She knows I don't like taking pharmaceuticals. She smiled and must have read my mind. Then told me "these aren't forever medications. At the rate of your improvement you'll be off all of these within a year, most likely even your blood pressure meds. Hang in there and trust me." She hasn't steered me wrong yet... And since I'm defiantly feeling better and losing weight the right way, I'm going to go on faith here and trust her.

So here's the plan: 

My goal per month is 10 pounds. Doc feels since I'm eating well (Low carb. Low GI) and working out its a very reasonable goal. I'd like to lose another 70 pounds. (Yes, I'm very overweight) So that's another 7 months on the Belviq. Then once I've reached my goal, to stay on the Belviq another 3 months to maintain and ween off the Belviq until I can maintain my new weight on my own. Along the way we will do blood work and re-adjust the other meds accordingly. 

Breaking it down. I'm going to take this one month at a time. I lost 10 pounds in November and 4 pounds in December! I'm not expecting to lose that much every month. Ten pounds a month is a good goal tho with the low carb meals and working out 7 days a week. So when you see the ticker at the bottom of my blog posts, its in the current month and reflecting my 10 pound goal not my overall goal. My over all goal ticker is at the top of my blog.

So now that we've covered the meds... lets get into to how and why I added a workout. The "how" you ask? Well I've been so out of shape. Plus being so heavy its hard on the body. So working out was painful and with the insulin resistance I would be SO tired after a workout that I would need a couple of days recovery time. So I turned to a workout called T-Tapp. T-Tapp is a mind body workout that works. Its aerobic but not crushing your bones aerobic. Its stretching and moving and everything you do has a purpose. It also helps balance hormones and blood sugar. Here is an example:

I've started doing this workout 3 times a week. I've added it to my bike riding which I do every day.

This workout is really been the boost I've been looking for. I've tried so many aerobic workouts and this is that only one that has worked for me. I'll never be a gym rat. Its just not my style. I feel this workout really fits my needs and you can do it in your living room as you don't need a lot of space for jumping around. In fact my hubby and I can do this work out side by side in the living room with no troubles.

YES, I CAN DO IT!