My confession

No, I am not confessing some great sin.  I just came to the decision that I needed to document the journey Lance and I are on at the moment.  We are trying to make some healthy lifestyle changes so that we can be around to see our grandkids some day.  That means both of us loosing a significant amount of weight.  To aid us in that we are using the HCG diet with Scott and Missy Zeller as our mentors.  We are at day 12 on this quest for better health and weight.  We have both already lost more than 10 lbs.  Some days we loose more and some less.  It is NOT an easy fix.  There have been MANY moments when I wanted to quit but knowing that Lance is doing this with me and not wanting to let him down has helped me over come those moments without cheating on the diet.

The basis of the HCG diet is that you take the HCG in drops or pill form twice a day to help your body correctly use the stored fat in your body rather than go in to starvation mode and store more fat as you eat a very restricted diet - more on that later.  You do this for between 21 and 40 days and then go into the maintenance mode for 21 days.  After that you have retrained your body to subsist on a regular healthy diet without feeling the need to over eat and your body's metabolism is reset to process your diet in a more efficient way.  This diet experience has led to a lot of discussion around the dinner table  - with the kids wanting to know why we aren't eating the same thing they are.  It has been good for teaching them a little more about how to make healthy eating choices themselves.  Asher is all about eating healthy - he asks me now before he eats anything if it is healthy and reminds me that he wants to eat healthy things.  He has always been our healthiest eater aside from disliking milk.  He would rather have a fruit or veggie to eat than almost anything else.  Hannah used to be our pickiest eater but being consistent in not catering to this quirk has paid off  and she now is a pretty good eater of a variety of things.  She still has her likes and dislikes - which is totally normal - and she still eats a LOT less than the boys but that really fits her petite body type.  JJ has been the most difficult to help make good eating decisions.  At his last check up, a year ago, his pediatrician told him that he would like to see that he had maintained the weight he was at for the entire year so that his height could catch up with his weight.  He had taken a large leap in weight over the year previous.  We have tried all year to help him be aware of the amounts he is eating and the food choices that he is making so that he can learn to make better ones.  It has been a struggle and frustrating at times because it is a fine line to walk between helping him be healthy and damaging his self esteem.  I don't think what we have said has made much difference until he saw us walking the walk with this diet.  I am somewhat ashamed to say that we spent WAY too much money on eating out multiple times a week.  Eating out is something that I really LOVE.  I hate doing dishes and I am not a good cook.  I really like food in all it's variety and I like to try new things.  I knew we were spending too much money on dining out but I really didn't think too much about it affecting our health but I know now that it has especially for the kids.  I believe that will be the hardest habit to not slip back into after we are out of the maintenance phase.  I have never attempted to go on a diet before. I believed that I didn't have the will power to do it - maybe I wouldn't have without Lance.  Growing up I always was taught that I shouldn't deny myself any food that I liked.  My mom still believes that ice cream is good for you.  I guess the milk in it is good but is that really balanced out by all the sugar and fat?  I think it is fine for a small treat on occasion but not something you should indulge in on a daily basis.

This experience has helped me notice some of my triggers for overeating.  I really like to eat a snack before I go to bed at night when the kids are already asleep and I am enjoying some "me" time.  Cold cereal has been my go to snack at night.  Not the worst thing I could eat but considering my weight it certainly didn't help to eat something that late at night.  The other times I have struggled with wanting to cheat on the diet have been on special occasions or outings with the kids.  Those times almost always included dinner out to "celebrate" whatever it was.  I miss that! 

It might be helpful to someone reading this and contemplating doing this diet to know that organization and planning really is the key.  Since we have to a very specific diet we have to have on hand the food we need to prepare our lunch and dinner meals.  This is doubly important for Lance as he has to take his lunch with him to work.  We also have to try and eat on a schedule - not whenever we feel hungry.  We have found a few short cuts that have helped and the Zeller's have helped immensely- sharing what they have learned through their journey. 

One of the other difficult issue for both of us has been the limited variety that we can choose from day in and day out - add to that our own personal likes and dislikes.  The recipes that Missy gave us have really helped and they are very flavorful but after a couple of days you have to start repeating menus.  Next time I will talk about some of the recipes that we have tried and liked or disliked.  For me, so far, the simpler the better because we have to do a separate meal for the kids too.  Lance has taken over doing a lot of the shopping and preparation of the dinners and some times lunches for he and I while I tend to plan and prepare the stuff for the kids.  Neither of us have spent so much time in the kitchen! I am sure grateful that he is on this journey with me. I am fairly sure I couldn't do it without him!