50lbs and feeling good!  This first week of the diet has been a little rough but I feel like I've gotten in the groove now and the next 5 weeks will be long, no doubt but I have lots to do so I'm just going to focus on the "stuff" I have to do and remember that food just doesn't matter that much!  I also hit a major milestone in my diet this week as I dropped below the 200lb mark.  It was a big day full of joy!  Thanks again to all of you that support and encourage me constantly!  much love!

Bring it ON!  Tomorrow I start session two and I couldn't be more excited.  Maintenance has been good and I feel good that I have maintained my weight loss but at the same time I'm ready to get back on the scale each morning and see lbs gone.  45 days seemed like such a long time the first round but it flew by and coming in October I should be within in a few lbs of my weight in high school!  HIGH SCHOOL!!!  The three days have been interesting too as they are what the diet calls gorge days and your supposed to eat fattening food and lots of it.  I feel gross and I do not want to eat bad food ever again.  Thanks to all my sweet friends for your continued encouragement, I love you all so so much!

40lbs & Maintenance....So I never posted about hitting my 40lbs mark the day before the end of the first session!  It was a major success for me and a great ending to the first part of a long journey.  I've been in maintenance for about 4 weeks now and it's been interesting.  I have continued to lose a little weight even on my trip to Cali with totally shocked me!  I am however so ready to go back on the diet.  I think knowing I still want to lose another 60-80lbs makes me crazy and I just want to get back to it.  I do understand the value of maintenance time as it is an opportunity to learn how to eat and maintain my weight which I've done thus far but honestly I don't know if I'm looking forward to making those decisions long term.  I'm sure it will come and I know that I do have an overwhelming passion to make sure that once this weight is gone it will never come back.  Check out the picture tab as I finally posted that 40lbs picture and I'm in a dress....shocking considering I haven't worn one in nearly 12 years!

30lbs a little bit late...I hit 30 lbs about a week ago now!  I'm getting super excited about the end of this first session.  Three things I really miss....Eggs, Milk & Cheese.  So on the 21st of June I am going to have an egg white omelet with bacon, spinach & CHEESE! I'm about half way to 40lbs and am determined to get there before the end of this session.  11 days and 6 lbs!  Wish me luck!

emotional roller coaster.  The last week has been a weird series of ups and downs that have really made me want something to eat!  However it makes me happy that what I'd love is just a good salad!  I feel encouraged that my heart has changed towards food and that while I still love it, I don't need the crap stuff nor do I want it.  Not to say the occasional Sprinkles cupcake won't make it's way towards my mouth but I'll just have half and save the other half for later.  It's weird for years I was obsessed with food network but when kids and work and home all tumbled together I lost my love for cooking healthy meals and sadly found myself turning to whatever is easy.  Frozen pizza, frozen boxed meals and yes even Hamburger Helper....could we have possibly ingested more processed food?  I think not!  I have found my love for cooking again and am collecting recipes and ideas like crazy.  I find myself looking at something wonderful and saying how can I alter it to make it a bit more healthy without losing it's bliss?  I'm excited about trying this out on some upcoming events.  A girls weekend in CA, Erin & Suz are going to eat like queens, I take care of my prego friends....A girls night in late July and Tabitha's 21st b-day in August just before I start the second session of the diet!

I'm hoping to weigh in tomorrow and have hit the 30lb mark but we'll see, it may not be until Saturday, I'm only 1 lb away but sometimes that can take a couple of days.

20 DOWN!

Today I hit to me the first major success in this diet....20lbs gone!  The diet hasn't really gotten any easier but I have found that I'm just not even hungry for food.  It's a struggle most days to eat my 500 calories.

I'm anxious to take a picture and see what a 20 lb lose looks like.  I feel lighter all over and feel a difference in the way things fit and lay on me but I just don't know if I see much in the mirror, but I think I have this image of what I look like in my mind and that's all I see.

I'm about 21 day in  (about half way) and the next few weeks will prove to be some of the most challenging as we host and attend parties including Dealey's 3rd birthday part with a theme of blue M&Ms!  Lots of sorting to do but no snacking!  Amazingly though I don't miss sugar at all, I miss milk and cheese most, not sure why but I do....

I feel amazing though and am so happy to see a weight I haven't seen in a number of years!  On to the next 20!

Finding the excitement in simple food....I've tried many simple recipes over the last two weeks and have found many that hit the spot.  Homemade beef or chicken chili, fresh spaghetti sauce (yes it was weird to eat it like soup and not on noodles, but awesome!) taco salad (3oz of beef, a little taco seasoning, chopped up leaf lettuce and some cilantro and a squirt of lime!) So it's not been too bad really.  The hunger pains have begun to subside and I find that I just don't think about food that often which is nice.  Tonight though I tried a recipe I found online and it's amazing!!!  By no means is it a meal but it hits the spot and covers my fruit portion.  Strawberry Slush!  It's simple, just 5 small strawberries, lime juice, water, crushed ice and half a packet of pure stevia just to sweeten it slightly.  Blend and enjoy honestly it taste like a daiquiri without rum! 

I'm up to 13.8 lbs lost and feeling good about it, although I don't see a ton of physical change yet I just feel lighter!  33 days left until maintenance begins (which starts on the 20th, my birthday!)  What a great b-day present to look in the mirror and be somewhere around 35-45lbs lighter.  This is truly the best gift I've ever given myself!