R2 VLCD Day 5: -.1

VLCD Day 5: Dinner (Baked Tilapia and Oven Roasted Daikon Radish)

Today’s Weight: 169.7
Today’s change: -.1
Total R2 weight lost: 9.4
Body fat / Daily change: 29.8/ -.1
BMI / Daily change: 25.1/ -0

One thing I forgot to say yesterday – I’m in the 160′s!  I’m happy about this – it’s been a long long while.  I’m on the verge of being able to wear my size 12′s.  I can’t quite get them on just yet, but my 14′s are starting to be loose with no muffin top whatsoever    I’m looking quite lean.  I’ll post some pics soon.

For round 2 I’m determined not to obsess over the day-to-day weigh-ins.  My R2 losses have been great so far but I KNOW they are going to slow.  I also know that regardless of this the weight is going to continue to come off.  I promise to myself to take each day’s weigh-in with a grain of salt – it’s not about how much you lose in one day but your total weight loss over a period time.  Maybe I’ll be able to do this more easily with one round already under my belt.

Emotionally speaking I’m not as impatient or desperate as I was in Round 1.  I was in a really bad spot with my self-image at that point.  Now, I’m waaay better!  The full impact of the choices we make can NEVER be dismissed, whether they are negative (the choices that caused me to gain the weight), or positive (the choices that allowed me to drop it).  For me, taking control over what I KNEW I had to take control over, and taking the steps to change, and having the tenacity to do this has made a tremendous difference in the quality of my life.  It may sound trivial, but really it’s not, The benefits were huge, and I’m still reaping them, and I’m not talking just physical changes.  This is amazing, important stuff, people!

When I started Round 1 I was depressed and severly unhappy.  It literally had been 5 years since I had been in a relationship (which was a good thing, by the way, the failure of my last relationship broke me, and it took a long time for me to heal).  I was closed off emotionally and I never felt ready to date, even up to the time that I started dating TRHM.  I’ve mentioned before – I tried to find all kinds of reasons to not like him.  Obviously it didn’t work because we’re crazy in love with each other now.

What changed in me to allow me to open myself up to TRHM?  My self-worth, that’s what.  I feel beautiful, and loved, and deserving of that love.  EVERYONE deserves this, and if you don’t have that feeling it needs to be at the top of your list to fix, my darlings.

TRHM knows about the protocol, knows how much I’ve lost, etc etc etc – and he keeps telling me that he doesn’t want me to lose weight.  I’ve had to explain to him that this is not about him, it’s about me.  It’s about finishing what I started.  It’s about loving myself enough to finally see this through.  Plus it’s about getting into my hot little asian-themed embroidered jeans again!   But it sure is nice to know that he loves me for me.  And I, in turn, love him for that.

I wanted to write about this today because this has not just been about losing weight.  It has been about transformation.  Words can’t express how my heart soars at the magnitude of this.

My meals:  1 whole apple for mid-morning snack.  For lunch I had the remainder of my slow cooker chicken-less chicken soup, but it wasn’t chicken-less because I threw my chicken in it .  I had another whole apple for my mid-afternoon snack.  For dinner I tried something completely new and different.  *GASP*.  When I was at the grocery today I bought some new-to-me veggies – chard and daikon radish.  Tonight I made the daikon radish.

I peeled it and diced the whole thing even though I thought that it was going to be too much for one meal.  You know I like my leftovers.  I placed in a single layer on a cookie sheet (ungreased) along with around 20 unpeeled whole cloves of garlic, some finely chopped fresh rosemary and some salt and pepper.  This is what it looked like after I prepped it:

Prepped Daikon

I preheated the oven to 450 degrees and baked it for about 40 minutes – until it was starting to look very toasty brown on the edges and the garlic cloves were completely mushy.  After I pulled it out of the oven I separated the daikon from the garlic.  I squeezed the garlic from about 5 of the garlic cloves onto the daikon and kind of mashed it all together (I put the rest of the garlic cloves in the fridge for another time).

I had my oven roasted daikon with baked tilapia.  It was damn good!  I’ve never had daikon before so I had no idea what it would taste like.  It didn’t quite taste like potatoes, or turnips, or squash, but maybe a hybrid of all three.  It smelled lightly radish-y while I was cutting it but it didn’t taste radish-y at all.  It was delish.  The likelihood that I’ll make this again is 100%.  I’m excited to have a new P2 dish to add to my somewhat repetitious and limited P2 repertoire.

Have a wonderful day!

VLCD Day 11: +.2

Today’s Weight: 190
Today’s change: +.2
Total weight lost: -13.8
Body fat: 34.1
BMI: 28.1

Ok, so it’s difficult to tell whether my NO NOODLES! pho caused the slight gain or if it’s just a natural slight gain (my body fat dropped .3 though, that’ s nice).  I can say that I won’t be having pho again on phase 2.  I don’t like worrying about not preparing my own food.  All-in-all I got through the birthday activities great – I baked a cake and did  not have any, I went to lunch and was as close to protocol as I could be, given the circumstance and the restaurant.  I have a family function next Friday that will also present some dietary challenges for me but I will come up with a plan.  Life goes on when you’re doing the protocol, right?  We still have to attend food related functions, we still cook for our families, and meanwhile we need to maintain our focus on what our goals and intentions are.  We have to be intentional in our choices.  I’m totally there, and strong in my conviction, and I love myself enough to stay focused while life goes on.

Before I forget, here’s a great line for you to use in almost any food related circumstance; where someone is pressuring you to “have JUST A BITE!!!!”.  I used the line successfully twice yesterday.  This is how the conversation went:  “Christy, you HAVE to have some cake!!!  How can you bake this and NOT have any??  One bite won’t hurt you!!”.  My response:  “I can’t, I’m allergic to cake.  It makes my ass swell”.  The result is laughter (which is great and what I wanted all along).  It totally removes the pressure to eat from the situation.  Nice technique huh?  You can claim it for your own.

There are lots of topics that I intend to write about on this blog, eventually.  Topics way heavier than just talking about the food or how I feel physically.  Today’s heavy topic is going to be about how we deal with doing this protocol and how we communicate about it to friends and family (or to take it a step further, “IF” we are even able to talk about it).  This is prompted by a conversation where I spoke to my beloved brother yesterday and realized that my Mom told him what I was doing (I talk to my Mom about everything, and have no concerns about doing so – my Mom is truly my best friend.  I love her so!!!).  I could hear the skepticism and concern in his voice.  It’s understandable, the protocol seems radical and potentially dangerous on the surface, eh?  That’s what I thought when I first started researching it; after about  a month of research my point of view changed.  After almost two weeks on the protocol I’m a believer, based on how I feel and the results I’m seeing.    I asked him to read and learn about Dr. Simeons protocol before he made any judgement on it, and to have a little faith in my ability to determine what is working, how I feel, etc. etc. etc.  I’m really trying to be smart (again, intentional) doing this.  I have had similar discussions with friends and was met with equal skepticism.  Oddly enough the most skeptical people are the thinnest; I don’t think this is coincidence. 

I mentioned this blog to my brother; he asked for the link and I gave it to him even though I had reservations about it.  I started this blog because I recognized that I was going to deeply need the ability to talk about my experience and what was going on.  It’s quite obvious based on my posts!  It might look like I spend alot of time on my posts but the words literally pour out of me and most of my daily posts take around 5 minutes.   I need to talk about this stuff.  In the beginning I really didn’t hesitate to do this because it was anonymous.  There really is not enough information on this blog for anyone to be able to connect this with the real Christy.  Some might wonder, if they stumbled across it, but it wouldn’t be obvious.  Now, my blog is no longer quite anonymous.  For a girl that NEVER EVER EVER discusses her weight in any context besides generalities, I am suddenly airing my dirty little secrets, and I’m extremely uncomfortable with it.  The truth be told, I am ashamed of being 50+ pounds overweight.  I am ashamed of being fat, and it is not an easy thing to put this in front of people; even my own family.  I don’t want to hear crap like “oh you’re not fat blah blah blah”.  Whatever.  The scales speak.  The clothes speak.  I know what’s what.  One thing I’m not is a stupid girl.  The first step to recovery, and this is recovery from a food addiction, is facing the truth without denial.  It is what it is.

So, I would ask my family this:  Trust in my intelligence and my ability to decide what is in my own best interests.  Trust that I am capable of determining how I feel while doing this and determining whether I’m feeling well, or ill.  I need your support, and not your criticism.  And for God’s sake please don’t tell anyone how much I fucking weigh!!   I love you.

I am interested in other’s experiences on this and would love to hear how you are handling this; and if you have any advice for me.  Please leave comments!  And whether you leave a note or not; I sincerely hope that you are doing well on your own journey, and maybe even finding motivation and help from reading my blog.  I am gaining alot - metaphorically, of course – from simply writing it.

Happy Friday everyone!