[JoSchmooze]

I have not posted on this thread as of yet....but here I go!

Last month I had a trip from Spokane to Berlin, Germany then home again for three days before I was off to my annual company meeting, which is actually a three-day cruise to the Bahamas.

The trip to Berlin, Germany was for work and included getting into a van with 5 men crammed into a van and me. Surprisingly, I was the smallest of the group. Just from the 9 1/2 hour flight over and the terrible weather both my legs were aching and my knees were just unbearably stiff and sore. It took me the whole 3 days that I was at home before I went on my cruise to be able to get the swelling in my ankles down. But since I had to take another flight from Phoenix, Arizona through Charlotte to Miami there was another 7 hours straight basically sitting still in coach. The whole time I was on the cruise I was uncomfortable with my legs hurting and the swelling in my ankles. Some of you will remember that I had that issue during the reunion.

As soon as I got back to Arizona I looked up the Tucson Medical Weight loss clinic and I went ahead
and made an appointment
to see what this hCG diet was all about.
I am now taking daily hCG tablets and I am down to approximately 500 cal per day. Since February 3, I have lost a total of 23 pounds. I have my 1st follow-up checkup at the end of this week and I am hoping to have lost a couple more pounds by then. Already I am no longer taking Vicodin on a daily basis and my blood pressure has been normal every day since the start of this. I am told that I should hit my goal weight sometime in June of this year if I am vigilant and stay on the diet. My breathing is not so labored, I am actually already doing 45 min. a day on on a recombinant stationary bicycle and every other day I'm doing 30 min. light weights training.

I hope to be posting here periodically to let you know how everything is going. Also I'm trying to give up smoking, but I think I'll lose all the weight first and then give that a go. I am down to 6 to 7 cigarettes a day where I used to smoke at least a pack to a pack and a half a day.

Well done to those of you who are on the road to healthy weight loss! I hope to be counted amongst all of us who have lost weight when we see each other again at the reunion.