Hey St. J - Great post. So glad to hear that you are making health progress on all fronts. I have always been a skinny person until I started drinking. My weight gain will be the next issue I address after I get my drinking a bit more under control. I also used to be an exercise freak but with drinking I became a couch potato. Oh well, first things first (another AA saying I like).

Keep posting and so glad to see your progress.

HG

Hi St Jude,

I always read your posts with interest as we started within a few weeks of each other. It is just fantastic to read about you doing so well..you had a long way to travel as your pre TSM numbers were some of the highest on the forum. The success you have had is amazing. Its great when you start to see the positive indirect impact TSM has on your general life e.g. being able to stick to a diet or improved performance at work. I think we all start off just willing those numbers to go down but we all actually end up with so much more than that. Keep up the great work!

St. J, it sounds like all kinds of good things are happening to you. Take evil Uncle AL out of the equation and it's a lot harder for us to screw up isn't it? Always good to read about your progress my soon-to-be-skinny, driving again, not going to back-taxes jail, almost abstinent friend.

Thanks so much all for words of encouragement ( I <3 you St V!). I feel guilty about posting my progress without checking in with others but work has been crazy this month, lots of traveling. I finally am in town this weekend so can get caught up. Week 19 closed out with 0 units.
I've lost 22 pounds of fat so far on my hcg diet and am having no problem sticking with the strict diet regimen and no drinking. My last day of the low calorie diet is March 2nd, at which point there is a 3 week "maintenance" phase where you up your calories to 1,500-2,000 a day and let your hypothalamus reset itself. After that you're on to lifetime maintenance, or you can do another "round" in 3 more more weeks (have to take at least 6 weeks off between the hcg shots because your body develops an immunity to it).

Haven't had any drink cravings but I did have a wild dream last night that I drank with no NAL, then drove my car and got pulled over by a trooper for speeding, & he gave me a breathalyzer. Then the dream got very kinky, so I won't horrify you with the xxx details. Feeling in dream was very scary to be drinking without NAL.
After my maintenance phase I'll be able to drink for the 3 weeks before I start my second round and I fully anticipate I will. I don't crave wine, but I am looking forward to being able to have a glass. The diet is hard for me to follow not because I'm hungry, but because I don't like to cook and I'm used to eating out so much and you really need to pre-plan/package your meals and prepare foods in strict portions with no fats or oils. I do have a challenge coming up this friday because I'm getting together with an old "wine drinking buddy" girlfriend that I haven't seen in a while. Last time I was able to keep it to 4 ozs. wine with no struggle, not sure what will happen this Friday, but I'll let you know

Hey St. J - Week 19 and ZERO UNITS! Are you kidding me! I am so impressed. Thanks so much for your post. I can't wait to be where you are at. Also, congrats on your weight loss. I know that is very important to you, but for me I'm just amazed by your Al reduction.

I feel so far behind on this forum! I'll just have to give a blanket apology to everyone for my singular focus. As much as a full time obsession AL and then TSM was for me, now the obsession is my hcg diet so I spend way too much of my day on those forums daily alternately regaling and subjecting that crowd to my liberal blathering
Zero units this week seems impressive (it was effortless ) and I am happy but I'm also very aware that I'm approaching the end of phase 2 of my diet during which alcohol was forbidden (I did drink a glass of red wine on 2 occasions over the 40 days) and in phase 3 I'll be able to consume AL in moderation if I choose too. This sounds ridiculous but I'm the type of person that not drinking at all is actually easier than drinking a little , so I'm curious to see what will happen once I'm technically able to drink. I still have a lot more weight to lose so I don't think I'll go crazy, but my real test will be once I start getting back into my old clothes that comprise my party girl wardrobe. But that's a ways off so for now I'll live in the moment
I last saw my doctor in January and he wanted to see me again sometime in March, I think he'll be pretty happy
It's great to see so many of you also doing well.

Hey St. Jude, thanks for the update. I certainly miss you here on these forums. So glad to hear that not drinking has been so easy for you and also to hear that your diet is working well. I'm also trying to lose weight and I find too that my obsession with that is starting to replace my thoughts about drinking. It's funny, I kinda think that as alcoholics, we always need something to obsess about so maybe an essential part of getting better is to find something in out lives that we can devote as much time to as we used to devote to alcohol.

Hi St. Jude - So glad you checked in. I've been wondering how you've been doing. Like Tambo I miss your posts on this forum. I am so glad to hear that you are losing weight and that you have reached the point with TSM that your focus is no longer on alcohol but overall general health, such as your weight. Keep on keeping on.

I'm far from proclaiming myself cured, but I will say I sure do have a one track mind. As obsessed as I was with alcohol 6 months ago, I just feel so over it now. My new obsession is this damn (damn in a good way) hcg diet--down 33 pounds so far, 70 more to go although I'll start to feel like my old self again in another 30. That "feeling like my old self again" phenomenon could herald new challenges with drinking since I've basically been a shut in since I gained so much weight 3-4 years ago. The social party girl in me has been dormant for 4 years, but she'll want to come out when the size 8's do Here's hoping to being smart and responsible about it.
I actually took one NAL this week in anticipation of having a glass of wine at lunch with a friend, but she got sick and canceled and I had no urge to drink otherwise, was actually relieved not to.
It's interesting to me because all of a sudden the hcg diet is getting all of this negative press in the media with claims it doesn't work and is dangerous (uh huh, talk to the thousands is has worked for), I remember feeling a similar way about TSM and NAL. I don't care what people say, bottom line is I look at results and boy is this working. I feel and look better than I have in years. I really do think the pharmaceutical industry (and large parts of the medical establishment) wants to keep us sick and fat, we are so much more profitable that way.

126 units a week to zero in 6 months. That's pretty impressive. Glad to see you back on the board St. Jude and glad to see you obsessing about something other than alcohol. We do need to obsess about something don't we? I imagine a svelte St. J at the local watering hole drinking a Pellegrino and smiling at all the drunks as she passes them by. Maybe a wine or two.