50 Pounds!!!

I hit the 50 pound mark on Wednesday morning ~ halfway to a hundred and I can see the end in sight. I think I've mentioned before, but I really like being back on the HCG protocol. I do not think of food at all since I get so little variety and I've found that this really works for me.
My OCD brain has "planned" out the rest of this journey. . . according to my plan, as of March 7th I will be completely done with my last round and maintenance and will begin to live the rest of my life. Now, we'll just hope that my body cooperates.
In other news ~ because there is a little more to my life than losing weight:

• My Grams had surgery on her back about 2 weeks ago. It went really well and much of her pain is gone, thank goodness. It had gotten really bad for her lately and this was a pretty non-invasive (all things considered) procedure where they put cement in her cracked vertebrae.
• October 1 was the 2nd Anniversary of my Gramps' passing . . . still a little hard, but definitely easier than last year. It's hard to believe that he has already been gone for 2 years ~ I still have such vivid memories of the last few days with him.
• I am down to only 23 students now. When I took time off for my Grams' surgery, 2 girls withdrew on my first day gone. I was tempted to take the whole week off and see if 10 would move away! :-)

I guess that's all for now . . . not really much excitement, but just wait ~ I am sure I will be bursting with big news one of these days! :-)

My Body is a "One - derland" :-)

Go ahead, sing the John Mayer song along with me . . . I hit this amazing milestone this morning. Since I've decided to be honest on my blog (oh, as of , what, Saturday?) I have officially entered the world of the 100's!!! Yes, to many people that is still ginormous, but I have not been here since September 2001 so, to me, it is a great accomplishment. I know I have a LOT more to go but this feels wonderful. Now, if I could just get someone to appreciate my "skin like porcelain" (I really love that song!)
Ready to go knock some more pounds off and get that song out of my head!!

40 Pounds Gone Forever!!!!

I hit the 40 pound mark on Thursday!! Getting even closer to another massage :-)
This weekend I had to "binge" to get my fat cells "primed" for releasing calories ~ at least according the the Pounds and Inches writings. Anyhow, it was hard. I had to think really hard of what I could eat that had lots of fat and calories. Nothing sounded good. So I ended up with sonic chicken and tots (since I had a gift card). The first few bites were good but in the end I was choking it down. Then Sunday I went to BJ's ~ they have the greatest fries ever!!! I ate but it wasn't that enjoyable and I felt like crap when I went to bed Sunday night. I call this P R O G R E S S people!!! I was so happy to wake up on Monday and go back to my strict, no-variety eating plan. And the pounds are coming off, which makes it all worth it.
My closet is getting fewer and fewer options in it. I know what's going to be on my Christmas list.
And, hopefully by Monday morning my body will be in "Onederland". Yep, I just admitted it ~ can't believe I did but the truth is the truth!

Not Much Happening?

I guess there's not a whole lot going on since it's been a loooong time since my last post.

• School is school . . . .still feels like 3 bazillion kiddoes on some days (like today) but I can see so much progress in some of them. However, we aren't making much progress with "inside voices" ~ I don't know that we will since even if they are all "reading" a book to themselves it is quite loud!
• My niece is playing volleyball for Verrado High School, both Frosh and JV teams. The Frosh team is 8-0 today!! She is really good. :-)
• Thinking about the possibility of changing to a charter school. Need to look into it further, but my niece and nephew go to Odyssey and there is a lot of good happening there. It just seems that in the public schools we are getting more and more thrown at us, while getting less support and $$. I'll keep you posted.
• Going back on the HCG protocol this Saturday, which means that I get 2 "binge" days. Sad thing is, I have a much smaller appetite and can't think of what I want to stuff myself with. I guess that's actually a GOOD thing. Who'd have thought that I would prefer cottage cheese and strawberries to a brownie?!?!
• Still wishing/hoping/praying for that special someone. I got my hopes up for a while at the beginning of the summer, but apparently that wasn't meant to develop into anything more. Really, my list of what I'm looking for isn't that great, just a nice, normal guy who likes me and wants to spend time with me . . .

I am tired!!!

But, actually, life is good! It is just taking so long to get into the swing of things this year. I am so fortunate that my kids are actually really good ~ it just takes us f . o . r . e . v . e . r to get anything done. I joke that we are the line that never ends, but there is actually some truth to that.
I am "blessed" with some parents this year! I'll let you read into that what you will but I have already said that I am going to interview the incoming parents next year before we make class lists. :-)
I only have 4 more days of maintenance before I can eat anything, within reason. However, there is not really much I will eat that I'm not already eating. Except for Chipotle!!! I'm really not going to go crazy because I will be going back on to be protocol on September 15 and don't want to have to make huge changes in what I'm eating. I am actually excited to start back up again ~ looking to drop another 33 pounds before Thanksgiving!!!

A Long Week

The first week of school has come and gone. Actually, it was only 3 days of kids but it felt a lot longer than that! I have 25 . . . yes 25 . . .in my class so far. Unreal!!! I started last year with 14 students. No wonder this year feels twice as hard. :-) I don't have any real behaviors, yet, but it is still chaotic. Our line stretches f o r e v e r !!! But, I do have some really cute and sweet kiddoes this year. One of my little girls asked another one, who was crying, if she wanted to be her friend. So sweet!!
Although I felt like drinking on Tuesday afternoon (after meeting the parent from H E Double Hockey Sticks AND seeing how many new kids were registering) I have been doing really well with maintenance. I am enjoying eating a variety of food and still have a much smaller appetite than before. Plus, I now know that I do not enjoy that "too full" feeling anymore.
Not sure if I am really supposed to be losing while on maintenance but I figure I have a LOT of weight to go so I am happy that I am continuing to lose--not as fast as with the HcG, but still losing. As of this morning, I am down 31.8 pounds.

Maintenance

I finished with my HcG on Friday but am still sticking with the very low calories. Beginning tomorrow, I will re-introduce certain foods, just avoiding sugars and starches. I made a crustless spinach quiche tonight that will be my breakfast and/or lunch this week. It looks amazing!!
As excited as I am to eat more variety, I am also a little nervous. It was kind of nice to know exactly what I was going to eat each day. With the HcG I never really wanted anything else. But now that I have the freedom, I am hopeful that I won't get carried away.
As of this morning, I am down 29.8 pounds!!!