Tomorrow begins my final week of maintenance. Doing this session with Jill has been such a blessing. We have accomplished the journey together, and it has been a joy. I recommend always doing this with a buddy.

We were in Duchesne yesterday and went to town for lunch. Lane chose a Chinese restaurant and I panicked inside. How could you eat chinese and stay 'legal'? Jill said "No Worries, this will be easy!" We chose a shrimp stir fry with veggies, skipped the rice and soup, and it WAS fine. Jill ate the won-tons, but I just couldn't do it. My weight today was actually down from yesterday. Yay.

The greatest discovery of this maintenace phase is when Jill discovered CHIA SEEDS. WE LOVE THEM! they are now a daily part of our menus. Just adding the fiber would have been worth it, but they also supply energy from protein, calcium, and so many other nutrients. I add them to my morning shake, make chia 'pudding' every day and eat some with both lunch and dinner.

CHIA CHOCOLATE PUDDING
2 C ALMOND MILK
2 TLB COCOA POWDER [Regular or Special Dark]
1 Tsp VANILLA
1 Tsp ALMOND EXTRACT
5 packets SPLENDA [or Stevia]
6 TLB CHIA SEEDS

Put cocoa powder in bowl, add almond milk and whip until incorporated.
Add vanilla and almond ext.
Add chia seeds and stir.
Stir about every 10 minutes for 30 minutes or so, until thick.
I like to pour it into three 1-cup containers so it is already portioned out.
I also like to add blueberries or fresh strawberries. That will increase the portions to 4 1-cup containers. Refrigerate and ENJOY!

Well, I have finished the 6 weeks of Phase 2 and it was VERY successful. My lowest weight was 18 pounds down. I am sitting most days at 16 - 16 1/2 pounds down. The biggest difference this time was that because of taking phentermine with the diet, I had plenty of energy, didn't feel hungry all the time, was able to do mild exercise, and the weight came off easier. It has to be the 37.5 mg. dose. Have you heard of the MD Diet? That's what they do. HCG with Phentermine. Well - I think it's magic! Jill lost close to 20 pounds this time and just surpassed 100 lb lost since her journey began 3 years ago! I am so proud of her, and she looks amazing! I am back to the weight I was when my profile pic was taken. I'm happy and now doing Phase 3. AND - Jill discovered CHIA and we are loving it!! I will post some recipes soon.

I'm B-a-a-a-k

First day of doing this again.  It's been a year and a half and I'm so ready to lose these unwelcome, returning pounds.     Stay tuned!

UP AND DOWN,
UP AND DOWN


I haven’t written anything on this blog for a long time. I did the cleanse phase of FIT shortly before going on the cruise. I gained a couple of pounds on the cruise, but not bad. I think I did well because I took my fiber and took it every night before going to bed.


I had decided to do another round of HCG when I got home from the cruise but I haven’t started it yet. Lane wanted to wait until the first of March, but he didn’t pick up the stuff last week, so I did another round of the cleanse. I am traveling for business next week and that concerns me with the HCG. I would have to leave the meds at home and just skip a day. That might not be a bad thing though.


I am having trouble staying under 150. I have put on 7 pounds since my last injection of HCG a few months ago and I don’t like it! My lowest weight was 143 and that was fabuloso! I knew that I might not stay that low, but I never wanted to see the 150’s again. That is the biggest reason I want to do another round of HCG. I want to get back solidly into the 140’s [or lower].


I started the cleanse phase again today because I have a weigh-in on Thursday. I need to show at least a 5 pound loss and a body % loss from the last time I weighed in. If I had to weigh in today, I’d be in trouble.


AND - - I want to just S-C-H-M-A-A-K Lane these days. He has re-gained all the weight he lost on the last round of HCG. He seems to have just thrown everything he learned out the window and given up! He worked so hard to achieve his success, and now he is not trying at all. Frustrating!

TNI FIT - ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS



Jill, Carl and I are finished with the cleanse. I lost a total of 4 pounds. I haven’t checked in with Jill and Carl yet. That is the ‘ENDINGS’ reference in the title. The ‘BEGINNINGS’ refers to the fact that Lane starts his cleanse today.


I emailed him some support materials to get him started. He has a full week of sample menus, and a daily guide to know what to eat when. I expect some whining this week, but true to form, he will decide on his own that he is ‘just going to do it’.


Jill and I found a couple of good ‘free’ calorie counting sites. We were both using myfooddiary.com but they charge $9 per month, and we both decided to see if we could find a free site that offered the same things. I found www.caloriecount.about.com and Jill found http://www.everydayhealth.com/



They both offer daily calorie counts, activity reports, charting, blogs, etc. Both sites allow you to enter your own items, such as TNI Fiber, RESET, REDUCE, etc. so you can really customize your day. They are both good resources for tracking daily stats.

One of the biggest issues for all of us is that we know what to expect from HCG, but we are just learning about TNI FIT. It is definitely a learning process as we try this new program. However, focusing more on 'fitness' via exercise will be so good for all of us. Jill put it really well when she said, "I lost weight with HCG, but I was not fit. I weighed less, but I was still 'flabby'" Well said. I agree that the 'fitness' piece was missing from HCG. TNI FIT is a complete program that focuses on nutrition and exercise together.

TNI FIT - DAY 4




Down another ½ pound today. I think it might have been more if I had been better about drinking my water yesterday. I usually try to get three 24 oz bottles during the day, but yesterday I didn’t do it. I had only one 24 oz bottle of water, and two 16 oz bottles w/ fiber.


They took pictures at work today for the FIT Challenge. I was actually glad they didn’t have to capture my photo from last May. I was Fat , fat, fat; not Fit fit fit. They asked us to be in our exercise clothes, so I brought them to work and changed for the picture. I couldn’t even get that shirt on 8 months ago.


I signed up for a free website that keeps track of your weight, calories, activity, etc. The site includes access to their blog, and they had a good article today. We all KNOW we should be eating right, but sometimes we don’t know WHAT to eat. Here is a list of foods put together by leading nutritionists listing the 30 healthiest foods to include in our diets. It’s a good list. Now, some things might be good for me, but I wouldn’t touch a sardine under threat of death!


The 30 Healthiest Foods
Mushrooms
Barley
Quinoa
Walnuts
Whole grain pasta
Peanut and Almond Butters
Oatmeal [old fashioned or steel cut]
Skim Milk
Almonds
Lentils
Blueberries
Bulgur
Eggs
Sardines
Spinach
Kiwi
Wild Salmon
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Chicken Breasts
Kale
Avocados
Kidney Beans
Chard
Sweet Potatoes
Edamame
Pumpkin
Oranges
Greek Yogurt
Broccoli
Black Beans


I have been hungry the past two nights, but in looking at the final calorie count of my days, I may not have been getting enough. I have been around 1,200 before the exercise, so with the exercise, I think I have needed more food. Last night I grabbed a handful of almonds to help ‘kill the hunger’. HOWEVER - - Jill just reminded me that we are supposed to be 300 calories under during the cleanse.


Well – stay tuned. Jill is discouraged today because she was up ½ pound. She is contemplating going back on HCG. I asked her to stick it out a while longer. She likes the old fiber better than the new one, not for the taste, but for its effectiveness. I don’t have the new fiber yet, so I’m still using the old one. Carl is still struggling with the 'side effects' of taking fiber.

TNI FIT – DAY 2


I stepped on the scales this morning and was really HAPPY! After one day on the program I am DOWN 3 pounds. I was starting to inch up on my weight and had put several pounds back on [I’m embarrassed to say how many]. SO - - - today was a happy day.


My product did not come in yesterday, so this morning I told Lane that he was SHARING! I can get by with my regular fiber and soy protein shake, but he has to share the RESTORE probiotic and the RESET cleanse formula with me until I get mine. He didn’t want to start the program until Monday anyway, so I said we’d get more before then.


Here is my ‘DAY 1’ menu:

BREAKFAST: Protein shake w/ 1 C frozen berries and 1 C 1% milk
10:00 a.m.: Fiber with 16 oz water
SNACK: 8 Almonds
LUNCH: 3 oz. lean meat / baby carrots / 2 stalks celery
SNACK: RESET cleanse formula
DINNER: Steak / Cauliflower / Green Beans
SNACK: Fiber with 16 oz water


Jill and Carl were impressed that with all the products working together, they felt full all day and not ‘snacky’ at all. Carl is having problems with ‘gas’. He did not include ANY fiber in his diet before, even an apple, so this is interesting for him. He liked all the products except for the noni bioactive. He has never been willing to drink it before, so this was a major step for him. Jill said that he is committed to doing this! JILL IS DOWN 3 POUNDS TODAY, TOO. She made TACO SOUP for dinner and said it was a huge hit. I’ll post a couple of good recipes tomorrow.