Feeling like myself again…

So that was an amazing month!  It definitely tested my willpower, but it was not the deprived, miserable month that you probably imagine!  Like I said before, I have never been one to diet.  None of them have made sense to me.  I believe in healthy eating and regular exercise.  But we all know that alone doesn’t always work (unless you have the time to work out for hours every day!).  Plus I love food.  But I have a new respect for it now, and realize (more than ever!) how important it is to use fresh, organic, healthy ingredients!

It was hard getting used to eating my dinner at 6pm and realizing that was the last bit of food I could have for the rest of the night.  I also had a couple days where I felt a little “low blood sugar” but that was quickly remedied by eating my fruit between meals.  (Just to recap – you eat lunch and dinner, which consists of 3 oz. of protein, a handful of fruit and a handful of vegetables.  Plus as much water, tea and coffee as you want.  You can sweeten it with Stevia – NO ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS! EVER! Ever.

Anyway, sometimes it sucked to be on the diet.  Like when my husband brought home 2 giant homemade burritos (one for me!) and then realized that I couldn’t eat it.  So he ate both of them.  Not in one night, of course, but they smelled amazing.  So that sucked.  But I got over it and made it to my goal!  And I actually made some really delicious, amazing meals, and learned a lot about cooking!

I also have a new wardrobe of clothing that I couldn’t wear for years!!  I didn’t change clothing size, but let’s just say my size 6 jeans fit like they’re supposed to now!

So what do I do now?  I follow the diet without hcg drops today and tomorrow, and then Saturday I start the 21 day maintenance phase to reset my metabolism to a higher burning rate, and my hypothalamus so my brain will regulate my body at my new weight.  I can eat however much I want, whenever I want, but my restrictions are: no sugar and no starches.  I have any kind of meat back (nitrite-free, though! Check your lunch meat and hot dog ingredients.), eggs, milk, cheese, all fruits (I’m going to stick with lower sugar ones, though) and all vegetables (avoiding starchy ones, though).  Then after that I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want!  Obviously if I go to eating fast food every day I’ll mess it all up, but I don’t want to ever have to do this again!

Do I recommend this method? Of course!!  How can I not?  I lost 24 pounds in 35 days!!  It is a temporary situation, so you just have to remind yourself that you can do this for a little while, and it will be worth it!  But READ THE BOOK!  So feel free to ask some questions and I’ll do my best to answer them!

After texting my sister-in-law my final results yesterday, she asked “how do you feel?”  And my response was, “I feel like me again!”  And I do, and it feels great!

Now.  Back to my (ir)regularly scheduled design blogging!  Be on the lookout for pictures from Harper’s birthday party!!!!