Headed in the right direction

Any time that I embark on a new adventure, I really like to be as prepared as I can. This is no different. I've continued to read through websites, blogs and forums. What a vast network! Any questions that I've had up to this point (which have been few) are quickly answered with just a few clicks of the mouse.

I am now a member of 2 yahoo groups that support hcg users. The first one I signed up for is the one that Tim(delmem) started through his website. Not a lot of activity on that one so I started looking at what else is out there. I found HcgDieters. What a wealth of information. Just in the 24 hours that I've been a member I've received some valuable info. I woke up this morning to find 9 messages from this group in my inbox. Is that a good thing? Kinda. I am expecting it to get somewhat irritating after a while because I am pretty darn anal when it comes to a bunch of "stuff" in my inbox. But for now, its good because I'm absorbing as much as I can. If you sign up for it, just make sure that you select the option for DIGEST, otherwise you would get probably 100 emails for every post. In addition to the numerous posts by other hcg adventurists, I've found all sorts of tools that are going to help on my journey.

I found a food list that has all the items that you are allowed to consume on the protocol. Along side each item is the calories per ounce and a spot to record what I consume. It makes it easy to keep track of all that I eat and ensure that I stay right at 500 calories. <-------I'm still not used to saying those numbers without cringing.

I also found a neat spreadsheet program that I can log my weight each day on. It automatically calculates your total weight lost, pct lost, daily weight lost and a cool graph that grows with your entries. I did a little demo of my own on it and it was cool to watch the chart grow. It looks just like a stock chart of a company that is steadily sinking into the toilet. Hmmmm, kinda like our economy. :-)

I have my annual physical today. I have never looked forward to being told that I'm fat, so I'm again not looking forward to it. Lets just get it over with.

On a postive ending note.....I've always been a soda drinker. I know it isn't the best for you but at least its always been diet soda. My steady practice has been 2/day for as long as I can remember. I'd have one with lunch and one with dinner. About 2 weeks ago I just decided that I was tired of drinking soda. I don't know why. It was kinda weird and a bit of a relief really because deep down I always felt it just wasn't that good for me even though they are zero calorie and low sodium. It kinda makes sense I guess. Even though I've always thought soda was a "low sodium" drink, apparently it has still kept me retaining water. The reason I say that is because I have been doing a lot more urinating. Where I used to only go about 2-3 times per day, I've been going 5+ times lately. Now I haven't banned myself from soda. I've just drastically reduced my consumption and not because I've had to but because I've wanted to. Thats just cool!!!