R3P2D6 of 25 - This time, analyzing actually is encouraging!

April 14, 2012

Round 3, Phase 2 (Very Low Calorie) Day 6 of 25

Okay, first, let me start off with what you all want to hear.  I feel a bit less freaked out about my job today.  I'm prepared (therefore, I won't be derailed) when that fear/panic comes back, but I believe that God is answering your prayers on my behalf by giving me strength and confidence in Him to see me through with your love and support.  Thank you.  Keep up the good work.  :-)

I prayed yesterday morning from the Selah song, "When I think I'm going under, part the waters, Lord."  I believe He answered that in spades yesterday.  It was all Him, for those of you who doubt.  Left to my own devices, I know I would have quit.  When I searched on FEAR in the Bible, there are SO many verses on not having to give into it and turning to God.  This verse really jumped out at me (and yes, I know it's taken out of context):

• "And now, my daughter, fear not; I will to do for you all that you ask, for you are a virtuous woman." Ruth 3:11

So, yah.  The 2nd part of the verse isn't me (but I'm trying!).  But, I love the first part.  VERY specific.  I'm not used to seeing verses on fear specifically addressed to a daughter.  Pretty cool that that verse jumped out of the page.  I know that wasn't a coincidence!

Second, the other thing you tune in for.  I lost 1.4 pounds overnight, bringing my total to 63.4 pounds.  No, that's not a typo.  I keep thinking it is!  I'm starting to get into the jaw dropping (for me) totals.  Every time I think of the amount I've lost, I actually laugh.  Can that be possible?  I've lost a, what ... 9 year old?  No wonder why I feel better physically. 

Perhaps you would like me to explain my rationale behind the rather random title up there?  This morning, after weighing myself (which I read wrong at first and thought my total off was 62.5 pounds off instead of 63.4!), I decided I'm compare my weight loss between the three Rounds.  You know ... where was I at the end of week 1 in Round 1 and Round 2?  Well, here are the stats:

• Round 1, Loading (2 Days) Gain:  3.2 pounds gained (my whole life was "loading")
• Round 2, Loading (3 Days) Gain:  3.5 pounds gained
• Round 3, Loading (3 Days) Gain:  2.1 pounds gained

• Round 1, Day 6 Weigh-in: 11.2 pounds lost
• Round 2, Day 6 Weigh-in: 10.0 pounds lost
• Round 3, Day 6 Weigh-in: 12.4 pounds lost

I'm simply amazed that I'm having my best Round (to date), and it's the 3rd Round!  I'm going to chalk that up to 1) God, 2) switching drops from the healingpowerwithin drops to Miracle Skinny Drops and, 3) my determination thanks to God giving it to me.  The ingredients in the drops are about the same, except the MSD has a slightly higher dose of hHCG.

Many hHCG experts say that Round 2 or 3 is the most difficult.  I'm going to say that Round 2 was for me.  I hope Round 3 keeps rocking, because I am in weight territory that I haven't seen since 2001.  It's a very big stretch goal for this, my shortest Round (of, at best, 25 Days), but I'd really like to "beat" my low that I hit in 2001 (it's amazing to me that it's only 13.2 pounds away!).  After that, I'll be like Lewis and Clark (maybe I should say Lewis OR Clark, since I'm losing an entire person here) discovering new weight-loss territory.

So, here are my goals for this Round:

• Get to 65 pounds off by 4/16/2012
• Get to 70 pounds off by 4/23/2012
• Get to 75 pounds off by 4/30/2012
• Beat my 2001 WW lowest weight (77 pounds off) by 5/4/2012 (end of R3P2)

As of Tuesday, I will have been at this for 6 months.   So, on average, that's about 10-12 pounds off a month.  I know I'm losing it fast in a short period of time, but I feel very confident (after watching person after person using this method and doing it myself 3 times) that I can keep my weight off.  The maintenance periods of P3 and P4 work.  Simply amazing.  I'm also STUNNED that it's about $60 a Round (about 3 months, since you only take drops between 21 - 40 days in P2 each time).  I don't know what other weight-loss "programs" cost, but I know Weight Watchers is between $13 a week.  A WEEK.  For, at best, 2 pounds a week?  Here is how that would break down (I think I'm doing this right:

• 24 weeks on hHCG cost/benefit: $180 / 65 pounds lost = $2.75 per pound lost
• 24 weeks on WW cost/benefit: $312 / 48 pounds lost = $6.50 per pound lost
• 65 weeks on hHCG (total needed): $420 / 140.5 pounds lost = $3.00 per pound lost
• 70 weeks on WW (total needed): $910 / 140.5 pounds lost = $6.47 per pound lost

So, WW would cost me over 2x as much, I wouldn't be eating real foods like I am now (lots of processed stuff), I know from my past and I wouldn't have stuck with it happily for this long.  Also, the analyzing I did up there actually is using the 2 pounds a week loss on WW.  I know, it really is more like 1 pound a week average.  So, that would really look like this:

• 65 weeks on hHCG (total needed): $420 / 140.5 pounds lost = $3.00 per pound lost
• 140 weeks on WW (total needed): $1,820 / 140.5 pounds lost = $13.00 per pound lost

Uh, hello?  That was a no brainer for me!  See, this analyzing (for me) has been very encouraging!  I'm looking forward to going to my 6 month doc appointment at the end of April.  I'll get blood work done again, to see what has changed in me.  Things improved between October when I started and December when I was solidly in R1P4.  So, let's see what'll happen when I'm just ending R3P2!

Okay.  So, I'm going to futurize a bit, so stap in.  This is a way away, but, with having to wait longer in P4 (eating what I want in moderation) each time between Rounds, by the time I hit my year anniversary of doing the hHCG diet, (October 17, 2012), I will be in P4 of Round 4, and have lost 100+ pounds.  I really believe that can be done.  My superstar hHCG friend Abbie is nearing her 1-year and 100 pounds off mark.  It CAN be done!  It seems surreal that I'm even seeing these numbers, and my body shrinking, but here it is.  It's true.  It's happening.  

I'm praying that, by the end of R4P2 (August 25), I will be able to comfortably bicycle and horseback ride again.  I haven't tried either in probably 15 years.  I also would LOVE to try running.  I know that'll be a big change, and I'd have to learn, but I really want to.  I'll be out there pretending I'm Eric Liddell (the Scottish Olympic runner and missionary to China depicted in Chariots of Fire).  From the first time I saw his story (when I was in 3rd grade), I wanted to run like that and marry a man just like him.  Okay, the second desire didn't happen, but I'm praying that God will let me at least run once in my life.  For those of you who have known me all my life, can you BELIEVE I'm seriously talking about (and planning) on RUNNING this year?  And, you can bet the song I'll have blasting through my iPod is ... wait for it ... Vangelis' Chariots of Fire theme song.  Uh huh.  I'll be pretending I'm running to Oxford, on the beach with all of those guys from 1919 as they train.

I think I'm going to stop talking now.  Is your head spinning yet?  Just for the record -- no, I haven't been smoking crack or taking happy pills.

Isaiah 41:13 - "Fear not, for I will help you."