It's been a crazy couple of weeks!

I'm bad at this.  At blogging, I mean.  Something will happen to me during the day and I'll think to myself, "Oh man, I should totally put this on my blog!"

But then I get distracted by funny pictures of cats.  C'est la vie.

Anyway, I'm on the second phase of my diet (still), and my weight is holding pretty steady!  It'll fluctuate from day to day by about a pound, but I'm still hanging out around the 20 pound mark!  *happy dance*

So now, I'm going to start posting about some more every day stuff, like my crafting and cooking exploits.  I'm not claiming to be Betty Crocker or anything, but I *am* making my own chicken stock today.  Go me.

A while back, Matt had a craving for rotisserie chicken, so we bought one.  (Note: by a while back, I mean a few days ago, not a few weeks.  Don't worry, I didn't just pull a mystery chicken out of the black hole that is my fridge and go "That looks okay, right?  Yep!  Into the pot."

Anyway, this is one of my favorite types of cooking - the throw-as-much-stuff-as-you-want-in-a-pot-and-see-what-happens method, aka "just add some garlic, it'll be fine".  Sort of like how my grandma makes her fantabulous gravy, except minus all the knowledge and experience :)

Take what's left of a rotisserie chicken and throw it in a stock pot.  Well, don't throw it, place it.  You don't want chicken goo all over, even if it is cooked.  Then add water to cover the chicken.  Chop up some vegetables and dump them in - celery, onion, and (of course) garlic went into mine, and if I'd been thinking I'd have picked up some fresh herbs at the grocery store to add.  I also added some sea salt for good measure.

The "Icky chicken stuff"

Bring it to a boil then drop it down to medium or so heat and let it simmer for a couple hours.  Then strain it into a bowl to remove all the "icky chicken stuff" - that's the technical term for it - and return it to the stock pot.  Ta-da!  You now have your very own chicken stock!  Bonus: my apartment now smells fantastic.  I wonder if anyone has made a chicken stock candle or air freshener?  I don't know about normal people, but Realtors could totally use it to make homes seem homey-er.

I'm going to reduce it a bit because there's a lot of liquid and I don't have a convenient method of storing it, but now I need to come up with a way to use it!  Any suggestions?  I know it won't last long.

How to create a non-skeevy bachelorette party gift

Ok, so this is a little off topic, but I couldn't resist.  I've been trying to figure out what to get Desiree for her Bachelorette party that toed the line between naughty and nasty.  I was wandering around Target today and thinking of all the wedding-night related things I could, when I got the idea for a subtly sexy little gift basket.  I started with a cute little storage tote, and picked up travel-sized objects, including his and hers deodorants, air freshener, those little mini waterless toothbrushes, some lip balm, candles, etc.  I also grabbed hot pink tissue paper and curling ribbon.

I printed out some little tags with hot pink lips and wrote cheeky little sayings on them like "Working up a sweat?" and "Minty fresh!" but my personal favorite was "I smell sex and candy..." on the air freshener :)

Then I wrapped each one up in the tissue paper and tied a little ribbon around it and stuck everything in the basket!  It's a gift that will hopefully be helpful to a newlywed lady, but I won't feel awkward about giving (and hopefully she won't feel awkward about getting).  Ta-Da!

Day... I'm not really sure anymore

To get started, I'm sorry for being a horrible person and not posting for a long long time.  Slap me on the wrist.

So, to get you caught up:

Last week was my 24th birthday, so I cheated on my diet.  I had run out of drops and was waiting for the new ones to come in the mail, and I had decided I was going to eat a little bit of popcorn at the movie... but everyone brought food to my house before, and then the next night we went out to Mill (and I'm not supposed to have alcohol on the diet)... let's just say things got a little out of hand.  I gained about four pounds, but I had a blast!  

As of today, I'm back to where I was a week ago (before the birthday cheat-fest), and I feel fan-tabulous.  I'm getting ready to go to a friend's bachelorette party and wedding this weekend, so I'm going to spend some time tonight putting together a gift for the bachelorette party.  I've got to work tomorrow, but it shouldn't be for too long so I can spend a nice, relaxing day doing some yoga and getting ready to party hard!  I'm going to be much better this weekend in terms of what I eat, because as much fun as it was to cheat on my birthday, it was most definitely not fun having to re-lose all that weight.  Even if it means hardly eating at the wedding, that's what I'll have to do.  

Day 17 - It's about time!

Current Weight: 216.4

So, I guess I lost a pound a day over the beginning of this week, but I didn't lose it until this morning for whatever reason.  Woot!  That brings my grand total loss to 14.8 pounds, which I'm going to call 15 because hey, I'm rounding up.  It's really hitting home, because I put on a shirt this morning that I would never wear outside the house, and it looks really good on me!  So happy.

Now my mission is going to be toning up certain areas.  My arms are one of those places that I'm probably not losing weight, so I'm going to start focusing more on my arms when I exercise.  I'm losing weight in some pretty strange places, like my back (I mean, yay, but still weird) and I swear my toes are smaller - although that might just be wishful thinking on my part, since I have always thought I have fat little sausage toes :)

I've got a friend's wedding to go to in a couple weeks, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how I look in my dresses!

Day 16 - The amazing vanishing Cassie

When I weighed myself and was still at 219.2 this morning (I've been hovering around that for a few days now), I was really frustrated.  I mean, I've been working so hard and nothing has been changing, it's really discouraging.  So I went back to read the guide again, and it said that if  you hit a plateau you should do one of 4 things:

• Drink more water
• Have an apple day - eat only apples (up to 6 apples) for a day and drink only enough water to quench an uncomfortable thirst
• Take more drops
• Measure and weigh yourself again

Well, I've already been drinking a ton and a half of water (because the A/C has been out at work for two days!), and I'm not so nuts on the idea of an apple day, plus I'm trying to make the drops last as long as they can.  So that left me with option 4, measuring.  

Which I just did.  

I'm really glad I had locked myself in the bathroom to do this, because if anyone had seen me I'd look like a grinning idiot.  I was especially happy about losing a full inch from  my bust - something I've always wanted to be just a tiny bit a lot smaller.  Overall, I've lost at least a half an inch from all over my body.

Let me repeat that: I'm a half inch smaller.  

EVERYWHERE.

To be specific (starting measurements are in black):

Bust: 44 --- 43

Waist: 37 --- 36

Hips:51 --- 49

Upper arm: 15 --- 14.5

Lower arm: 11 --- 10.5

Thigh (upper): 31 --- 29

Thigh (lower): 22 --- 21

Calf: 17 --- 16.5

It's kind of hard to say "yeah, I'm getting smaller" when it's not a quantifiable thing: I've been feeling like my jeans are a lot looser all around, but I wasn't sure if that was just because they had been worn a couple times since they came out of the dryer.  Now I can look at myself and know, for a fact, that I'm about 3% smaller than I was two weeks ago!  I still want my weight loss to pick up a little bit, but I'm a lot happier than I was this morning!

Day 9 - My (diet's) arch nemesis arrives

Current weight: 220.8

Breakfast: Apple
Lunch: Salad w/chicken
Dinner: Burger w/cucumbers
Dessert: Strawberries
I also stole 1 kettle chip from Matt, but just 1.

So everything was going fine today, until Ray decided to buy pizza for the entire warehouse crew that was doing inventory.  So Jinny ordered about 10 pizzas from Domino's.  No problem, I thought, I just won't go in the lunch room and I won't have to see it, or smell it.... and then I heard her utter the magic words: Buffalo.  Chicken.  Pizza.  With garlic herb crust!  Oh man, I was just going to really have to try hard to not go into the lunch room.  What's that, Jinny?  You need help carrying the pizzas back from reception?  Er, well, I'd rather... ok.

So we bring the pizzas back and set them out in the lunch room.  I open the boxes so everyone can see what kinds of pizza we got, and I open the lid of my favorite pizza.  The chicken looks so tender, and I can smell the hot sauce, see the melty-ness of the cheese, I can practically taste the deliciousness of that crust....

But I resisted.  I resisted all day!  I had just broken the 10 pound mark that morning, so I didn't want to mess things up.  I was super proud of myself, but I also know that this won't be the first time something like this happens.  Only 20 more days on this phase of the diet and then I can start eating more normal food, and hopefully I won't be craving things quite so badly.

Day 6 - I think I'm starting to get used to this

Current weight: 224.8

Breakfast: lots of coffee, apple
Lunch: 4 oz lean black pepper steak, 2 cups cucumber
Dinner: 4 oz garlic rosemary baked chicken, 2 cups lettuce, 1 piece Melba toast
Dessert: Strawberry lemonade made with lemon juice, Stevia, and water

I'm trying to get more creative with the way I'm cooking things this week - I spent a good chunk of my afternoon making several different variations of chicken.  I had 2 pieces that I butterflied open and put chopped garlic and dried rosemary inside, folded them back up, and baked them.  Delish!  I also have lemon pepper chicken, some with paprika and garlic powder, basil lemon chicken, and a lemon garlic chicken.  Considering I don't have a lot of spices on hand and I can't really marinade stuff, it's been a pretty steep learning curve.  But at least I'm having fun with it!

Day 5 - Holy Crap!

Current weight: 226.2

Breakfast: Apple
Lunch: 4 oz lean ground beef, 2 cups celery, 1 piece Melba toast
Dinner: 4 oz lean ground beef, 2 cups lettuce, 1 piece Melba toast
Dessert: Strawberries w/Stevia

Not a particularly exciting menu today, but I had already cooked all of it so I saved on time.  Not only am I not nearly as hungry today as I had been the past few days, but I have officially lost exactly 5 pounds!  Talk about motivation.  5 pounds in 3 days?  Heck yes.  Made it a lot easier to resist the pizza temptation that was laid in front of me tonight :)

Day 4 - Still hungry, but totally worth it.

Weight: 228.2

Breakfast: Apple

Lunch: 4 oz lean ground beef, 2 cups celery, 1 piece Melba toast

Dinner: 3.5 oz halibut, 2 cups cucumbers, 1 piece Melba toast

Dessert: 6 strawberries with Stevia

Woke up this morning feeling kind of hungry, but I weighed myself first thing and it looks like the diet has already started working!  I'm down 3 pounds.  After ONE DAY of officially dieting.  I'm sure some of it has to do with all the water I'm drinking, but whatever it is I'm tickled pink!

Day 3 - I'm hungry. Big surprise.

Starting weight: 231.2 lbs

Breakfast - Fuji Apple
Lunch - 4 oz. lean steak, 2 cups cucumbers, 1 piece Melba toast
Dinner - 4 oz lean ground beef, 1 cup lettuce and 1 cup cucumbers, 1 piece Melba toast
Dessert - 6 strawberries

I've been hungry all day.  I mean, it's a diet, so I knew I'd be feeling a few hunger pangs since I'm only eating 500 calories a day, but I was expecting them to be dulled by the X-30.  Apparently it's still going to take some getting used to.

On this diet, the Very Low Calorie Diet, I can drink as much coffee and tea and water as I want, as long as I don't add sugar (other than Stevia) or flavoring.  In fact, I have to drink 32 oz of water before lunch.  I bought a big ol' water bottle and it's been glued to my hand. It also means I've had to get up and go to the bathroom every 10 minutes.  As someone who doesn't particularly like drinking "just water", I expected this to be more of a challenge.  And in the morning it was kind of rough - I felt like I was having to force myself to drink in the morning, but as the day wore on I found that I had picked up the habit, and what's more - I was getting thirsty!  I'm not sure if it's because of the X-30 or just because it's so dang hot, but by the end of the day I was really thirsty.  As a matter of fact, I'm about halfway through my 4th full bottle of water.

For a girl who loves carbs and cheese and all that good stuff, this is going to be rough.  Here's a list of all the stuff I can't have:

• Oil
• Butter
• Sugar
• Milk (I'm allowed 1 Tablespoon a day)

You'd be surprised how much else I can't have - carrots, for instance (too much sugar, I think).  Bread, pasta, rice, pretty much any type of carb.  No dairy.  The only fruit I can have is apples, grapefruit, and strawberries.    I went grocery shopping so that's really all I have in the house, but it's still hard to see other people at work eating wonderful carby things.  I have a nasty feeling that part of things is only going to get more difficult.  I also have to try and find an oil-free moisturizer, which is harder than you'd think.

Aside from being slightly hungry and still pretty thirsty, I feel pretty good today.  I just took my starting measurements and I'm about to go take my "before" picture in my bra and underwear, something I'm not particularly looking forward to.  I'm not going to post it until I have an "after" shot to put it next to (and make me feel a little bit better)!  We'll see how tomorrow goes!

Days 1 and 2 - In the beginning

This is meant to be a chronicle of my efforts to lose weight using HCG Plantinum X-30 from GNC.  It's entirely possible that no one will read this blog, but I'm hoping it will serve first and foremost as a way to keep me accountable, so I'm going to be brutally honest.  I'm going to tell you when I cheat on my diet, I'm going to tell you about every single pound I gain or lose.

As a girl who has struggled with her weight (at least emotionally) throughout her adult life, you might think I've tried everything.  Well, I haven't.  I'm a wimp, and sometimes I have very little self control, so I haven't ever been able to do a strictly self-enforced diet and/or exercise program.  There have been times in my life when I have naturally been more active, and I have been slightly lighter during those times, but overall I've always been a bit of a bigger girl.  In high school it was just being curvy - I swear I got boobs before half my class - but lately it's moved over into the "getting fat" area of things.  I have good days and bad days; some days I'm totally confident in how I look and feel and other days... not so much.  But after reaching a point where the bad days far outweighed the good, I had decided something needed to happen.  In a classic case of mother-daughter telepathy, my mom called me a few days ago and asked me if I would be interested in doing the HCG program - she had a friend on it who had success, and (sweet!) she'd be willing to buy my first month's supply!  My boyfriend's mom had done HCG and lost weight, in my opinion more than she strictly had to, and listening to her talk about it right when she started kind of turned me off.  500 calories a day?  Yeah, right.  I'll admit I was kind of intrigued because she seemed to drop the weight really quickly, but not enough to outweigh what I perceived to be the "unhealthiness" of the diet.

So when Mom called me, at first I was really skeptical.  I went to GNC's website and looked at all the customer reviews, and tried to do some additional research about side effects and the like.  The first thing I noticed was that everyone kept talking about how X-30 had no actual HCG hormone.  I'm not really sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but we'll see.  I guess taking hormones in general kind of weirds me out, so I'm fine with it.  Most of the people on GNC's website were raving about how much weight they had lost, and of course there were a few who said it didn't work for them and it was a waste of money (all with atrocious grammar and spelling, of course).  I talked it over with Matt, and it sounded like he was a little nervous about it but he knew I was unhappy and he made me promise that I'd be careful, but he also said he'd help me in whatever way he could.

I decided to go ahead with it, and the X-30 came in the mail when I was at work on Tuesday of this week.  Technically I should have started my two binge days on Wednesday, but I was a little impatient so I decided to start that day.  It meant I only took the drops once that day, and I'm hoping that means everything will still work out.  We ordered Pizza Hut pasta and breadsticks for dinner, and I had Mountain Dew - my last for a long, long time.

Then on Wednesday I continued on the eat whatever you want plan and surprisingly enough I found myself not being very hungry.  For breakfast I swung by Burger King and got a Sausage, Egg & cheese biscuit with hash browns and a vanilla iced coffee (again, things I wouldn't get to have during phase I of my diet), and I took the drops 15 minutes before I ate.  The drops actually taste good, although the first time I took them (you have to hold them under your tongue for 3-5 minutes) I wrote down that they felt like pure grain alcohol (not that I've ever had it, but it was definitely reminiscent of a strong shot).  Well, they are.  20% by volume, in fact.  I suppose that's an easy way to get the active ingredient into your bloodstream faster, but yeesh!  They have a sweet, minty taste so swallowing what's leftover isn't bad at all.  I ate breakfast at about 7:30, and normally I would be getting hungry for lunch at around 10:00, and eating at 10:30 or 11.  10:00 rolled around and I was still really full, so I decided to wait.  11 came and went, then 12, and I was just starting to feel not full, and nowhere near hungry yet.  I went and got a Chipotle bowl for lunch at about 12:30, with tortilla chips and lots of sour cream and cheese and rice (all things I can no longer have) and I kind of had to force myself to eat it all.  I'm a huge Chipotle fan, so it was weird to find their food almost unappealing because of how not hungry I was.  I didn't really eat a proper meal, but I did have some B&J cookie dough ice cream and wine.  It kind of felt like my last meal on death row - picking the things I wanted most no matter if they went together or not.  I measured out my meat and vegetables and packed everything up for Thursday at work, and went to bed a little tipsy and very apprehensive.