Lessons Learned - I want to remember this

It's already been almost one week but wanted to get this down while I can still recall it.
So last weekend we went to Austin, just to get away and planned on "celebrating" or rewarding ourselves for our weightloss progress.
Now how that equals allowing ourselves to eat whatever we want......I'm not sure.
So we really had a great time, got their early on Saturday and hit the pool at the hotel and stomped around at the farmer's market.
It was really nice, right on Town Lake and blocks from 6th St.
Immediatley all we could talk about was where we were going to eat for lunch.
This does go back to how all of my life celebrating or doing something special mean eating somewhere nice.  The better the restaurant made it even more exciting.
One thing is that we knew we wanted quality food not just as much as we could get, Quality vs Quantity.
One of the valets suggested Hula Hut's.  It's right on the water, kind of a Tex-Mex with a Polynesian twist.
I had a ...wait for it....Fried Stuffed Avacado with rice and beans and Kyle had the Hawaiin Burger with fries.  Of course, being in Texas and it being a Tex-Mex restaurant, the meal started with a basket of tortilla chips and salsa, oh and we shared a Mojito.
As you probably guessed we managed to eat all of the chips and salsa before our meals came out.  My food was awesome.  The avacado was stuffed with chicken and cheese, breaded with Panko, and fried just enough to toast the bread crumbs.  I ate all of it, minus most of the rice and beans.
We went the State Capital and somehow managed to find an Ice Cream Festival - so had a small cup of ice cream..ugh.  Kyle did better I think, he had a small Italian Ice.
All hot and sweaty from walking around and tummy's full, we went back to the hotel and back to the pool.
We both had a Rasberry Mojito.
For dinner we found another local restuarant - the Cedar Door.  Neat place.
We both had the Cilantro Lime Chicken soft tacos ...with rice and beans.  Oh and a Blue Moon beer - Kyle, again doing better than I, got the Michelob Ultra, but I didn't eat the tortillas!
Then we managed our way to a couple of bars and clubs, I think my beer total = about 9 beers.  How many calories is that alone?!?!
Ok so about midnight or later we were done bar hopping and the after drinking hunger kicked in. 
Let me go back a little.
Since we started this diet - and never really before - but I have been CRAVING a hot dog.  Not just a pop in the microwave and put some mustard on it dog, but a Food Network - Best Hot Dogs, hot dog.  Boiled and grilled split open with mustard and sauerkraut, with tomatoes and relish with some celery salt - kinda dog.
Well there just happens to be Frank's.  It's a restuarant - not a food truck or fast food deli kinda place.  Sit down with booth's, menus and beer Hot Dog restuarant.
<>
We walk in and are sat at our table and I'm so excited!!!  lol
I of course order the Chicago Dog and a micro brew beer and we both share a large order of waffle fries.  It was wonderful!!
Took a Pedi-Cab back to the hotel - life was good!
The next day we got up and had the breakfast buffet at the hotel.
Small omelette, slice of french toast with syrup, fruit and bacon.
Then hit the road for the trip home.
I was so worn out from all of the walking and drinking that I took about a 5hr nap when we got home.  Then went back to sleep trying to get ready to go back to work the next day.
Ok this is the part that I want to remember almost as much as how much fun we had....
We both got up Monday morning and felt sick to our stomachs.  Oh my goodness, the only thing I could think was it felt like we had a junk food hangover!
UGH we felt absolutley awful all day long.
It was horrible.
I think that all the crap we ate that day is everything we stopped eating almost 2 months ago and we shocked our systems.  Or there was so much sugar that we crashed all day Monday.
NEVER want to feel that way again.
We barely got through Monday - we both ended up coming home a little early from work.
By Tuesday morning we felt so much better.
On a side note we both gained about 8lbs over that weekend.
Took us 1 week to lose it.
How's that for unfair.

OH one more thing….

So Ok today is the start of the new me.

Again it took about a month of “retraining” my brain.  Really paying attention to what I was eating and NOT eating.

It was nothing for me to drink 3 cups of coffee for breakfast, 3 diet cokes, no lunch, and scarfing down whatever I could get my hands on when I got home.  Which usually included something fried, potatoes and ice cream for dessert.

I would just like to say that my last soda, Dr Pepper to be exact, was June 27th; last piece of bread, June 26th; fried anything same weekend.  I can’t even remember the last time I had ice cream.

That in itself is saying something.

Breakfast is usually 1 cup of coffee with silk creamer, 1/4 of egg beaters and sometimes a slice of turkey bacon.

When I order out for lunch it’s usually a hamburger with extra veggies and mustard and I throw the bun away or chicken fajita taco salad no sour cream or cheese.

Dinner is either shrimp, chicken, lean beef or turkey and 2 servings of green veggies.

The hardest part is finding different foods so we won’t get bored!

I still have a lot of weight to lose but with this jumpstart, I can see that it can happen.  I’m the lowest I’ve been in over 5 years and only 10lbs away from my lowest in over 10years…if not longer.

For the first time in a long time I feel like I can get there.  No more shortcuts, no more easy fixes, I want to work hard for it and do it right and feel proud of the new me!

Is it August already?!?!?

I can’t believe how fast this year is going!

So to catch up real quick…

Did the marathon relay in May.

Did the 5k (all by myself!) in June.

There was another 5k in July that I was thinking about doing and didn’t.  Then there was another 5k last week that I decided not to do.  BUT I do have an excuse.

I went back and forth whether or not I was going to share this next part.  I really wasn’t sure how I felt about it.  Just mixed feelings.

So.  The last week of June my husband and I decided to do the HCG diet.  I know, I know… I did a lot of research before hand.  It probably wasn’t the healthiest thing to do – not enough research on long term effects to your organs etc.  But we were only going to do one cycle of it.  The drops not the shots.  Plus we were doing it together so we could watch each other.   AND at this point I still had almost 100lbs that I wanted to lose and I needed a jump start.

It’s been just over a month, we are done with the drops and I’m down 21lbs.  (of course he’s down like twice that – so unfair).  It really wasn’t that hard to do.  We stuck “closely” to the diet but we probably over did it on the calories – your restricted to 500 calories, certain proteins, vegetables and fruits. 

I guess I wasn’t sure if I wanted everyone to know, because it felt like we were cheating, for a lack of a better word.  I want to be proud of our accomplishments and hard work and not be “ashamed” of how we got here.

I will say that other than the quick drop of weight, we have totally retrained our brains and what we think hungry is.

We’ve been off the drops for over a week and slowly adding more calories to our diet.  Still, except a couple of occasions, no bread or flour, no sodas, no added sugars, etc.

Not only that but from day one of starting the “diet” we’ve been 10x more active than we were before.  His job keeps him active but we’re walking or playing tennis 4x a week, plus a punching bag in the garage and I go to the gym a couple mornings before work.

The transformation really is amazing and I’m very proud of both of us. 

We are both motivated and I can’t wait to see what else is in store.

I’ll post some before and after pictures soon!