Do you know..

how many foods in our life contain starch? It's insane! Really.

I know this, because for the next 3 weeks I am starch and sugar-free. Although that doesn't take away from my natural sweetness! ( ba dum!)

On Wednesday, I have to fly to San Jose for work, and felt that I should probably draw my diet to an early end. I stopped my shots on Saturday. The last week of the shot portion of the diet, was a struggle. My body seemed to be fighting me the whole way. That's another reason why I decided it was probably time to stop and move on to the next phase.

I ended with a total weight loss of 30 pounds (including the cleanse loss & diet). I am happy with it. Every little bit helps. Right now I just need to focus, make sure I follow the rules and keep the weight off.

I don't have a picture right now, but I'll get one up later.

Diet Week 4

Wow, it's been four weeks. I only have a little over a week to go until I am done with the shot. Sadly, I don't think I am going to meet my goal though. My goal was lofty, but I am very happy with what I have done so far.

Here are my updated tallies:

• Lost a total of 22.6 pounds (increase of 8 pounds since last week)
• Grand total lost of 27.4 pounds
  

Updated picture:

Fabulous Family

I have some super creative and savvy relatives and I thought I would give a shot out to them and what they are doing. Also, their blogs should be checked out.

First my cousin Jeri. Jeri lives in Arizona, but has a blog Budget Menus for the week. On her blog she goes through the ads for the local stores, tells you what is one sale, and gives you a menu of these sale items for the whole week. This past week her menu totaled $70.85. Amazing! Although she is in another state, some of the items might be comparable here.

Next is my cousin Kim. Kim has begun selling adorable petticoats, pettislips and tutus. Barefoot Creations is her blog for ordering and viewing these fantastic items.

Another cousin Lisa, make adorable necklaces and bracelets. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a blog where she highlights and sells these, but she should. ;) Her jewelry is beautiful and handmade.

Something to Read

I can't seem to get into reading Jane Eyre (one of my favorite books). Maybe it's because I have read it before... who knows. I might just have some form of ADD that's undiagnosed. Either way, I am seeking everyone's thoughts on some really good books to read. Hopefully with a new book I can kick this ailment and enjoy reading a book again.

If I had more free time I would love to join a book club. How often to book clubs meet anyway? Anyone in a book club and like it?

Can you see that I am a mess? Help me, please.

writing on the walls
Originally uploaded by nardell

Red Velvet love

While I have been on my diet Jon has been left to fend for himself. I haven't completely neglected him I do buy him food at the store, I am just not preparing dinner for the both of right now. Before I go to the store I always ask him what he wants. He usually doesn't have any specific requests, so I buy what I think looks good if I could eat it.

I was baking zucchini bread the other day, because we received a huge haul of large zucchinis. While doing so Jon asked where his treats were. I asked him if he wanted some cookies, and he said no, that he wanted a cake. Mind you baking is so much harder when you can't get the taste the batter or finished product. Jon was my zucchini bread taster since I was using a recipe I hadn't used before. He said it turned out great! More on this zucchini adventure in the future.

We have had a busy week and Jon seemed a little stressed so while he was at dinner with his family I set out to make him a cake. Granted I could have gone to the store to buy a cake mix. Instead I decided to make my favorite cake recipe - Red Velvet with Vanilla Creme frosting. I usually use this recipe for cupcakes, not cake as it's originally intended. But it was cake he wanted and it was cake I made.

A three layer Red Velvet cake.

ps. I love the Vanilla Creme frosting more than anything in the world! It's light, creamy and what I think is the perfect pairing to go with this cake.

Both the cake and frosting recipes are from a Magnolia Bakery cookbook. You can also find the recipes here:

Cake
Frosting

Diet week 3

I totally missed getting my Monday update up and even didn't get an updated picture. Ooops!

Well it's later but better than ever. As of Monday I had lost about 16.6 pounds. Then adding in my pre diet loss, it's a total of 21.6 pounds. Woo hoo!

October 2nd is the last day of taking shots, and then I have a 3 week adjustment period. By
October 2nd I am hoping to have lost a total amount of 41 pounds.

For those of you who have been following my diet and aren't aware of what I am doing, here's a little insight. I began by doing a liver/gallbladder cleanse. After that I went on the HCG diet, which is what I am currently on. Originally, I decided to do this diet because if done correctly it will reset your metabolism. Since I have hypothyroidism, my metabolism was messed up. I am currently on synthroid to correct the issue, but it doesn't set your metabolism back to normal. Once I did the cleanse and lost a little weight, I really got sucked into it and wanted to lose more in the hopes that I would feel more like myself. So far it seems to be helping.

On the HCG diet you are on a 500 calorie a day meal plan, while getting shots of HCG everyday. The HCG pulls from your fat storages and engorges your blood with between 1500 and 2000 calories a day. I know what you are thinking.. aren't you starving? Actually no. Since I have so many calories in my blood I am not starving. I do get hungry but I just eat one of the allowed meals and I am good. On this diet you can lose around a pound a day. You just have to make sure that you are drinking at least 2 quarts of fluid. Normally this isn't an issue for me, but lately I have started to feel water logged with all of the fluid, but I keep pushing on.

This diet may not be for everyone, but so far it seems to be working with me and I am happy with the results. It's also nice to find that I need new clothes because my old clothes aren't fitting anymore.

Diet week 2

I just finished the 2nd week of my diet. I am not finding it too hard, but there are moments when I long for the social aspect of dining out. Unfortunately, since the requirements are so strict dining out really isn't an option, unless you eat a plate of lettuce and have ice water to drink. True story.

I can't really feel too sorry for myself though, because I am loving the results that I am getting. I am finally feeling like my former self. After a couple of years struggling with weight gain caused by unknown causes it's nice to be on the other other end. Weight loss. Yay!

Here are my tallies so far:

• Dropped one pant size
• Lost a total of 14.6 pounds (increase of 5 pounds since last week)
• Grand total lost of 19.4 pounds
  

Updated picture:

Giveaway on the Spell It Out Blog

I am having a giveaway on the Spell It Out blog. You can check out the details and enter by going here:

Spell It Out Designs - Giveaway