Thank the Lord, this week has gone so much easier than the beginning days of the diet.  As promised, the hunger pangs ceased and I find I actually have to force myself to eat each meal.  I still have cravings but no actual hunger.  Food has pretty much lost its appeal to me and although that makes me sad since I’ve always enjoyed food, it is nice not to be constantly wanting nachos and potato chips.  My weakness only lasted that single day last week and since then, I’ve had normal energy and no weakness.  Another thing is that I need less sleep, which the diet also promised.  I have no trouble falling asleep, but I find myself waking up early without even an alarm clock.  Which means I can get more done so I’m cool with that!

So here’s the big announcement: I lost 5.6 pounds this week!  Not too shabby.  And that also means I just flew by my 15-pound loss milestone and am closing in on 20–I’m at a total of 18 pounds lost right now (since the beginning of this blog, not the HCG drops).  I wished I was one of the people who lost a pound a day with the HCG drops but I’m not going to complain about 5.6 pounds.  I’m in the 150’s again for the first time in over a year!!! I’m so happy! 

Before I get to the pictures, I want to address something that a couple of people have pointed out to me, saying that anyone would lose a lot of weight eating 500 calories a day.  I think that’s true but only to a point.  In 2005, I became sort of anorexic.  I kept my calories between 200-500 a day.  I lost several pounds the first two weeks and continued eating this way for three months but only lost one more pound that whole time.  I was miserable.  I felt weak and was constantly starving.  It was hard to fall asleep with a growling stomach and when I did, I dreamed every night that I was pigging out on cake and chips and would wake up in a cold sweat. 

When you eat so few calories, your body assumes that there is a lack of food supply and it goes into starvation mode, using each calorie so efficiently that weight loss slows or even ceases.  I know from personal experience that if the HCG drops weren’t doing their job and allowing me to use up my fat stores, I would be seriously hating life right now.  Which I’m not.  I’m loving that my jeans are getting so loose it’s almost time to break out a pair in a smaller size! 

I also want to mention how much HCG and the diet have changed the amount of insulin I need.  I used to take a total of about 50 units per day (that’s the long-lasting and quick-acting combined) and as of today, I’m down to a total of TEN units!!  Sheesh, pretty soon I won’t even need insulin at all.  The other cool thing is I haven’t had a single low blood sugar during the day, whereas I used to have at least five a week.  Wow!  However, I have only had a few days where I haven’t woken up with pretty low blood sugar but luckily I haven’t been sleeping through them and it wakes me up so I can eat some fruit to treat it.  I keep lowering my Lantus (the long-lasting insulin) so this won’t keep happening and it looks like I’m going to have to lower it another unit, to 8, because this morning I woke up at 75, which is still a little low but getting to the right level.

So hows about some pictures?  Although the before pictures were taken at a lower weight than the last pictures I posted when I’d made it to my first ten pounds, I took them after the first day of loading, so I’m fluffier than I was in the 10-lb loss pics.  Also, on most of the after pics the camera is more zoomed in so I appear larger and it kind of distorts how much smaller I am (which isn’t a huge amount, but noticeable) so keep that in mind when comparing.  OK, let’s get started.

From the front–look I’m starting to get neck definition and a collar bone!

From the left:

From the right (I promise that’s not a huge roll on my back–my shirt is bagging there):

I always think of the back pictures as the moment of truth–you can’t suck in your love handles and back rolls!  I think this shows the most change–my jeans are getting baggy in the butt and thighs!

I can’t believe it’s only been a week and a few days since I started the HCG drops.  I’ve had more success this week than I usually have in a month!!  Looking forward to seeing more poundage fall off before the big 3-0.

In news about me, for those who care, I entered my baked goods at the fair on Wednesday.  I was a complete wreck trying to get everything done!  I filled my trunk with cookies, my backseat with breads, my floor with cakes, the dash by the back with more cookies and breads and some cinnamon rolls, and my sister, who was a dear and took off work in order to help me, rode in the front with a bread basket on her lap and a huge cookie jar between her feet.  All told, I entered 27 contests and I have three more on Saturday, so I dropped about 15 of the contests from those I originally signed up for.  (I actually had two more entries that I left behind at home–grrrr!)  It was still a lot of work and after seeing the amazing stuff in the domestic arts building, I’m almost positive I’ll be lucky to get even a single third place ribbon.  But hey, I love baking and I enjoyed (almost) every minute of it.  I’m thinking next year I’ll focus on just a few so I won’t lose sight of things more important.  Like life! LOL!

I’ll leave you with a pic of my beautiful sissy, Danielle.  We stopped at Bogey’s, a burger joint that has 101 shakes and makes their own ice cream with all natural ingredients.  We stop there every time we’re in Hutchinson (about an hour’s drive from Wichita) because we like that they use local meat and the food is so good!  Anyway, here she is eating loaded baked potato fries (she loved them!):