My HCG Journey
Here I am again. About to start a really challenging diet. But I am excited. Ready. Happy to be back to the place where I know I will be losing.
I have only really done one diet in the past and I was super strict while I was on the diet (atkins if you were wondering), but after 2 months and 25lbs I felt I deserved a little break, and then the little break turned into a big break, and it didn't take long for those -25lbs to turn into a +40. It is amazing what sugar will do to your body. Anyway, after several years of depression and denial I finally reached an amazing (dare I say) 245lbs. Between 2005 and 2009 I had made it down to 217 and back up to 230, this was even after training for 3 months and doing a sprint triathlon the summer of 2009, (a big deal because I am not athletic, never have been). My weight sort of settled around 230 give or take a few lbs up until my mother-in-law told me about HCG in July (2010). She said she had lost nearly 40lbs in a few short months with the supervision and recommendation of her doctor. So I looked into it.
Without going in to the ins and outs of the diet (because you should look in to it yourself, and there are a lot of mixed reviews), I will say that it has worked for me. In a matter of 29 days on my first round I lost 20lbs. My second round, which I know I could have been better about my restrictions on, I lost 10lbs. I finally got down to 204lbs. My lowest in 6 years. During phase 3 of my second round (R2P3), I even managed to get down to 202. Putting me at an overall loss of 32 lbs in 3 months. After each round you are supposed to wait until your next round so your body doesn't become immune to the hormone and each time you do a round you are supposed to wait an additional 4 weeks between rounds.
That brings us to now. I now am starting round 3. I am finishing up my 2nd loading day and I am so miserable. Bloated, stuffed, pregnant with a giant food baby, and ready sooooo ready to start eating healthy again and seeing the scale go down. Ready to get below the 2 mark. I know it will happen in the next few days even though as of this morning I am up to 209 because of loading, but I am confident I will be below 200 by the end of the week.
My goal is to get to 140lbs, which is the highest reasonable weight for my height. Of course getting below that would be great, but I am not unrealistic and don't want to feel disappointed if I don't get any further than that because even at 140 I will be at my starting college weight, and that will be 100lbs from my top weight. Before loading days for this round I was nearly 1/3 the way through my goal. I am really hoping to lose 30lbs this round, which will put me at around 170, and I will have to maintain that weight until June, at which time I will be able to start a 4th round to lose the last 30lbs needed to reach my goal. This will put me at exactly 1 year from the time I started this way of dieting and way of living.
I am not usually the person that likes to divulge my weight so freely for others to know. But I want other people to know that it is possible to lose weight, lose it fast with results you can see immediately, but not without sacrifice and hard work. I know this is not ideal for everyone. I know there are a lot of skeptics out there. I know that a healthy diet and exercise is important to weight, but I also know that I spent over a year at the gym working out, and even doing a triathlon isn't enough for me to lose weight. I am now taking action to lose the weight so going to the gym will be easier. And of course all the other things that go along with being at an ideal weight.
So here I go. One last donut before I am off to dream land and wake up to the feeling of empty.
I will post my stats for P2 Day1 tomorrow.
1/10/11 - P2D1R3 - (that is Phase 2 - very low calorie diet) Day 1 Round 3.
Woke up this morning and weighed in 210.4. To be expected after load up weekend. I walked Aubrey to school, took my hcg and went back to bed for an hour. Got up to shower, weighed in again (not recommended to continually weigh yourself), but saw that in an hour I had gone back down to 209.6. Woohoo! 8 oz loss in less than 2 hours. Today I continually reminded myself that this is a short period of time I have to restrict myself, and after abusing my body with food and sugar for years, I need to get control and this is not very long.
1/11/11 - P2D2R3 - 207.6 - down 2lbs. Yay! So nice to feel empty, not bloated, skin is loosening up.
1/12/11 - P2D3R3 - 204.4 - down 3.2lbs. Yesss!!! I am back to the weight I was the last day I took hcg drops. A very good place to be after over 16 weeks of maintenance. I also am finding that I lose more when I eat white fish for dinner.
11/13/11 - P3D4R3 - 204.2 - only down 2oz. Bummed, but okay. I know I lost a lot in the first 2 days. I also don't think I ate enough yesterday, which can slow things down.
11/14/11 - P3D5R3 - 204.4 - back up 2oz. Frustrated, but I know ways I can do better. I need to drink more water. I need to take my hcg before I eat my meals. I could eat more fish. I need to watch out for beef (I had a hamburger patty for lunch yesterday). I need to watch my protein portions and cut back on the melba toast (I have been eating 3-4 of the round circle ones, and should cut back to 2).
11/15/11 - P3D6R3 - 203.4 - Down 1lb. Happy that the stall didn't last longer than 2 days. I was hoping to be close to 200 by this point, but I can't argue with losing 7lbs in 5 days.
11/16/11 - P3D7R3 - 202.2 - Down another 1lb 2oz. Man I hope I can keep this flow going. I have been making sure to take my vitamins and drink more water.
1/17/11 - P3D8R3 - 202 - 2 oz down. :(
1/18/11 - P3D9R3 - 202.2 - up 2 oz. Trying to figure out why I am on a stall. I am thinking that I shouldn't be drinking any milk at all, which means no coffee. Don't know. Tomorrow will be better I know it.
1/19/11 - P3D10R3 - 201.2- down 1lb! Yay! Sooo close!
1/20/11 - P2D11R3 - 200.4
1/21/11 - P2D12R3 - 199.8 - Finally! I get to burn the 2!!!!
1/22/11 - P2D13R3 - 200.0 - I had a feeling I wasn't quite done with 200, but at least it isn't anything over 200, and was only 2oz gain. Until tomorrow.
1/23/11 - P2D14R3 - 198.8 - Wow! Another 1.2 loss! Now I am over a pound away from 200, which means that I should be able to stay away from it now-forever!
1/24/11 - P2D15R3 - 198.2 - Down 6oz - I'll take it. At this point I have lost 12.2lbs in 2 weeks. I have another 3 weeks and 2 days on P2. If I keep going at this rate I am hoping to be down between 25-30lbs altogether for this round. As for my goals, I had it in my mind that when I started Round 2 last time, I was hoping to lose more than 10lbs. but I didn't. And I was originally going to do my necessary 10 weeks of P4, then start Round 3 right after Thanksgiving, but I didn't. I started Round 3 the 1st week of January, delaying the whole process by 7 weeks. This is okay though because it was good for me to not have all those temptations during the holidays and it was really good for me to see that I could maintain my weightloss during the holidays despite several indulgences. I was hoping to be at my ideal weight by the beginning of summer, but now that I know you have to do an additional 4 weeks on maintenance each time you do a round, it makes me realize it will take a lot longer. So If I do a 40 day round, and start P3 on Feb 17th, then I will have 3 weeks on P3, starting P4 on March 10th. P4 then for 10 weeks making it possible for me to start P2 on HCG again on May 19th. If I do a round then, I will be on P2 until June 28th, P3 until July 19th, then on P4. Of course, this plan all depends on how much I lose this round and how I am feeling by summer. Whether or not to power through and try to lose everything this year, which I think would be possible, or if I decide to take a break and just maintain for a while. At this point I am thinking I want to finish up this round, and then start training for a triathlon in the summer. That way I am giving my body the chance to build up muscle, which burns more fat and possibly lose during training.
*(sorry to those who just read all that, really just putting down in black and white what is in my head, and I know it could change at any moment). :)
2/11/2011- It has been a while, and it is not because I have been flaking on the diet. Well, I did sort of while I was in Alaska visiting Jake's family (for sad reasons). So while I was up there I made the mistake of mentally allowing myself to have time off the diet, and therefore made it hard to be good. I did okay for the first few days, but then the last few days I started to crave bad food because I had mentally prepared myself for a cheat. Anyway, I ended up gaining 5lbs back that I had lost. I was at 194.4 when I got up there and back up to 199.4 when I came home. A set back, but of course a set back I had prepared myself for. So it has been 6 days since I got back from AK, and in that 6 days I have lost 7lbs, putting me at 192.4. Not bad getting myself back on track, quite amazing actually, but also disappointed in myself knowing that I could have been several pounds lower and in the 180s by now if I had not cheated. Moving on.
The plan: Right now I believe I have enough HCG to put me to the end of the month. My goal is to be at 185 by the end of the month, and if I reach that goal sooner, I will move to P3 when I get to that goal. I feel like this is going to give me the motivation to go beyond the 40 day round, and still keep me in a good place knowing if I reach it I will have lost a total of 25lbs on this round. These last few days I have felt very fatigued and I think my body is ready for some calories. So I am not afraid to reevaluate the plan if I continue to feel this way. I am also ready to start going back to the gym, but I can't go now because I don't even have the energy to vacuum my house. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow, I have a lot to do.
2/18/11 - So since my last post, which was 1 week ago, I have lost 2.4lbs. Not exactly the amount I was hoping to be down by now. I decided on Wednesday to change the plan and to stop taking HCG for the final 3 days of the round (as per protocol), and move on to P3. Yesterday I weighed in at 189.8 (yay!), but then after a day of minimal calories and a lot of physical activity, I am up today to 190.2. Not bad, but I didn't want the weight for me to maintain to be in the 190s. However, I need to listen to my body. I am getting to the point where I am hungry and really having a hard time with cravings. As of today I am on day 42, and they say one should do only a round of 40 days, even though there are many people who choose to do longer rounds. I just know that the longer I am on the low calorie portion, the easier it will be for me to cheat. Losing 20lbs in 40 days is a great accomplishment and I shouldn't beat myself up for making the call to take it slow and maintain for a while.
So The New Plan: I have signed up for Shamrock run, which is a great way to start out P3. I have 3 weeks to get back in the routine of going to the gym and building up for the event, and the day before I will be on P4. I start P3 tomorrow and I can't be more ready.
*Side note - I have heard FDA pulled Homeopathic HCG off the market. My take is that they did it because they are not getting their "cut" on the proceeds, and also they know that if it is this effective, then more people will be losing weight and less people will be relying on diabetes medication, and blood pressure meds, etc. This also means that I will have to find another way to get it when/if I do another round. At this point my idea is to maintain on P3 & P4 for about 6 weeks, then try calorie counting, with my handy dandy iphone app, and do the diet and exercise thing to see what the outcome will be before doing another round.
3/16/2011: Did the Shamrock, which was great because Aubrey, my 8 year old went with me. It was cold and rainy but felt good to be an example to my daughter and get her started in the path of doing things like that for life. I did okay, other than my calves cramping up during the uphill, however my leg and hip started hurting yesterday like non-other. I have been thinking about doing another triathlon this summer, but after doing the shamrock I realized that there is just no way I will ever be able to run, and doing a tri will take too long. So I think I will see if I can get a group together to do relay. I swam 1/2 mile today at the gym and it felt good.
As for my weight, I have been bouncing around between 191.6 and 195. A big difference. I realize that I have not stablized from my last round of HCG, so I am unable to eat any starches or sugars whatsoever without gaining. I will have to live a near atkins p3 life I think until I can stablize or until I can do my next round, which won't be until June or July. I am going to try losing slowly by calorie counting and exercising in the mean time. I was at 194.6 today after 193.6 (from a steak day the day before). A good thing is that I weighed myself at the gym today and the scale was 2lbs less than my scale at home, so that is encouraging.
Doing another steak day today to see if I can get back on track tomorrow, when I will seriously be eating nothing but meat, cheese, eggs, fruits & veggies (no starchy items).
4/25/2011: Between 3/16 and 4/14 I sort of stablized around 193. I decided to do another round before the summer because I was not motivated to go to the gym or start training. I see now that the less I weigh, the easier it is to run and swim, and exercise and I know that sounds ridiculous the idea of not going to the gym because I want to lose weight first, but I have found a way to lose weight without having to go to the gym, and everytime I did work out hard at the gym, I was never able to lose weight, and for me going to the gym right now means trying to lose weight. Call it justification, call it laziness, call it whatever. I know this works for me and I have to do it, otherwise I will spend the rest of my life in obesity miserable and not trying.
So on 4/15 I did day one of load up on my 3rd Round. My plan now is to do a 40 day round and lose as much as I can before the summer, then to do a 4th (and hopefully final) round in September. This will allow my body to adjust to the lower weight, my skin to stay firm, and for me to not go crazy mentally with all the restrictions during the summer bbqs, camping, and get-togethers.
On 4/17/11 R3P2D3: Weight 196.8 (from load up). Here we go! - again!
By 4/19/11 R3P2D5: Weight was 191.4 - woohoo!
Now Today 4/25/11: Weight 186 (over 10lbs in 8 days). I knew this diet was going to be tough to get into the routine of again, but man, the results are incredible. I am hoping to be down to 169 by May 23rd, the end of this round. That will take me off the "obese" status according to the BMI chart (which I think is bogus), and into the "overweight" class. Then by the next round in September, I will only have to lose 24lbs to be in the "normal" weight range for my age and height. Baby steps - sort of. The most important part is maintaining my weight during the in between times.
4/26/11: R3P2D12 Weight 185.2. Melting. So awesome. If I keep this pace up I can definitely make my goal of being 169 by the end of this round. I can't believe it is day 12 already. It feels good to be in the pace of things. Today my friend Breanna (who is also doing amazingly well on HCG - soooo incredible) and I made this amazing asparagus and crab soup, had strawberries and melba toast on the side. Filling and delicious and just the perfect change from the chicken and lettuce routine. Can't do it all the time because crab is spendy, but we are already talking about substituting chicken or non-fat cottage cheese for the protein. 24 days to go.
Well, the crab asparagus soup was bad according to the scale. I had it Tuesday and Thursday and was up significantly after both days. So that is out, which is okay because of the price of crab. It sucks trying to work on something so hard and having that affect you so much when you are trying to be good. My spirits are down, but I know that is temporary.
5/16/2011 - I can't believe it has been that long since I have posted. Well day 32 and I am about to start P3 on Wednesday. I didn't do a 40 day round, but it is time for me to move on. We have a lot going on the next few weeks and summer will be here soon, beach trip this weekend, camping next weekend, and in-laws will be in town, I just need to get into the groove of stabilizing before it gets even crazier.
Weight today - 176.6, this will be my stabilization weight. That means I have lost 20lbs in 32 days (not bad). It isn't where I wanted to be at the end of this round, but I am happy at where I am at. I realized from the beginning that 169 was a high goal, and only being 7lbs from that is okay. I am happy to be in the 170s, and at this point I only have 31.6lbs to my finish goal.
Inches lost:
In my hips I am down 7 1/2"
In my waist I am down 9 1/2"
I have gone from a size 22/24 to a size 14!!!
I know the inches will keep coming in as I stabilize.
Thanks everyone for their strong support and wonderful compliments during this process. I can't wait to be at my goal but I am thankful for this process as I am learning so much about myself.
9/17/2011 HCG Round 4 Phase 2 Day 5 - Yup, here we go again. I was getting to the point where I knew it was time. I wasn't watching what I was eating, nor correcting when I would eat terribly = gain of 7lbs after ldw - not bad, but makes a huge difference in how I feel. I feel gross, bloated, huge, tight (in the bad kind of way). So on Sept 11th I started load up (in actuality I started loading weeks before, just without the hcg). By Tuesday, first day of P2, weigh in was at 190!!! I felt disgusting and ready to start eating small and healthy again. This round it has been easier to get back into the routine of things. The first 2 days of P2 I had to get through a massive all day headache and some fatigue and lethargy (typical, and not surprising after the way I was eating for the last few weeks & days). But by days 4-5 I was feeling good. Today in fact, I have felt amazing and awake. The only struggle at this point is the hunger, which happens right before lunch time pretty wicked. The thing is to drink some hot tea/decaf coffee (for me the caffine makes me jittery and makes me want to eat to make it go away), and remember to take my drops early enough so it isn't 1pm before I can eat.
Soooo:
9/13/11: R4P2D1 Weight 190 :(
9/14/11: Weight 187.4
9/15/11: Weight 183.6
9/16/11: Weight 181.8
9/17/11: R4P2D5 Weight 180.8 This is nearly 10lbs in 5 days. Crazy!!!
I will only be doing a short 21-22 day round, because we have some events coming up (like my birthday and Las Vegas) that I will be wanting to not be in P2 or P3 for. I also feel like I need to stabilize and stay strong in P4 for a while before the holidays hit. Since this is my 4th round, that means that I will be at this weight for the next 6 months as it is advised to wait that long before your next round. So come April, I will be able to do hopefully my final round before summertime and bathing suit weather hits once again. Goal for this round: Get down into the 160s, so I will then be classified as "overweight" and no longer "obese." Here we go!
I have only really done one diet in the past and I was super strict while I was on the diet (atkins if you were wondering), but after 2 months and 25lbs I felt I deserved a little break, and then the little break turned into a big break, and it didn't take long for those -25lbs to turn into a +40. It is amazing what sugar will do to your body. Anyway, after several years of depression and denial I finally reached an amazing (dare I say) 245lbs. Between 2005 and 2009 I had made it down to 217 and back up to 230, this was even after training for 3 months and doing a sprint triathlon the summer of 2009, (a big deal because I am not athletic, never have been). My weight sort of settled around 230 give or take a few lbs up until my mother-in-law told me about HCG in July (2010). She said she had lost nearly 40lbs in a few short months with the supervision and recommendation of her doctor. So I looked into it.
Without going in to the ins and outs of the diet (because you should look in to it yourself, and there are a lot of mixed reviews), I will say that it has worked for me. In a matter of 29 days on my first round I lost 20lbs. My second round, which I know I could have been better about my restrictions on, I lost 10lbs. I finally got down to 204lbs. My lowest in 6 years. During phase 3 of my second round (R2P3), I even managed to get down to 202. Putting me at an overall loss of 32 lbs in 3 months. After each round you are supposed to wait until your next round so your body doesn't become immune to the hormone and each time you do a round you are supposed to wait an additional 4 weeks between rounds.
That brings us to now. I now am starting round 3. I am finishing up my 2nd loading day and I am so miserable. Bloated, stuffed, pregnant with a giant food baby, and ready sooooo ready to start eating healthy again and seeing the scale go down. Ready to get below the 2 mark. I know it will happen in the next few days even though as of this morning I am up to 209 because of loading, but I am confident I will be below 200 by the end of the week.
My goal is to get to 140lbs, which is the highest reasonable weight for my height. Of course getting below that would be great, but I am not unrealistic and don't want to feel disappointed if I don't get any further than that because even at 140 I will be at my starting college weight, and that will be 100lbs from my top weight. Before loading days for this round I was nearly 1/3 the way through my goal. I am really hoping to lose 30lbs this round, which will put me at around 170, and I will have to maintain that weight until June, at which time I will be able to start a 4th round to lose the last 30lbs needed to reach my goal. This will put me at exactly 1 year from the time I started this way of dieting and way of living.
I am not usually the person that likes to divulge my weight so freely for others to know. But I want other people to know that it is possible to lose weight, lose it fast with results you can see immediately, but not without sacrifice and hard work. I know this is not ideal for everyone. I know there are a lot of skeptics out there. I know that a healthy diet and exercise is important to weight, but I also know that I spent over a year at the gym working out, and even doing a triathlon isn't enough for me to lose weight. I am now taking action to lose the weight so going to the gym will be easier. And of course all the other things that go along with being at an ideal weight.
So here I go. One last donut before I am off to dream land and wake up to the feeling of empty.
I will post my stats for P2 Day1 tomorrow.
1/10/11 - P2D1R3 - (that is Phase 2 - very low calorie diet) Day 1 Round 3.
Woke up this morning and weighed in 210.4. To be expected after load up weekend. I walked Aubrey to school, took my hcg and went back to bed for an hour. Got up to shower, weighed in again (not recommended to continually weigh yourself), but saw that in an hour I had gone back down to 209.6. Woohoo! 8 oz loss in less than 2 hours. Today I continually reminded myself that this is a short period of time I have to restrict myself, and after abusing my body with food and sugar for years, I need to get control and this is not very long.
1/11/11 - P2D2R3 - 207.6 - down 2lbs. Yay! So nice to feel empty, not bloated, skin is loosening up.
1/12/11 - P2D3R3 - 204.4 - down 3.2lbs. Yesss!!! I am back to the weight I was the last day I took hcg drops. A very good place to be after over 16 weeks of maintenance. I also am finding that I lose more when I eat white fish for dinner.
11/13/11 - P3D4R3 - 204.2 - only down 2oz. Bummed, but okay. I know I lost a lot in the first 2 days. I also don't think I ate enough yesterday, which can slow things down.
11/14/11 - P3D5R3 - 204.4 - back up 2oz. Frustrated, but I know ways I can do better. I need to drink more water. I need to take my hcg before I eat my meals. I could eat more fish. I need to watch out for beef (I had a hamburger patty for lunch yesterday). I need to watch my protein portions and cut back on the melba toast (I have been eating 3-4 of the round circle ones, and should cut back to 2).
11/15/11 - P3D6R3 - 203.4 - Down 1lb. Happy that the stall didn't last longer than 2 days. I was hoping to be close to 200 by this point, but I can't argue with losing 7lbs in 5 days.
11/16/11 - P3D7R3 - 202.2 - Down another 1lb 2oz. Man I hope I can keep this flow going. I have been making sure to take my vitamins and drink more water.
1/17/11 - P3D8R3 - 202 - 2 oz down. :(
1/18/11 - P3D9R3 - 202.2 - up 2 oz. Trying to figure out why I am on a stall. I am thinking that I shouldn't be drinking any milk at all, which means no coffee. Don't know. Tomorrow will be better I know it.
1/19/11 - P3D10R3 - 201.2- down 1lb! Yay! Sooo close!
1/20/11 - P2D11R3 - 200.4
1/21/11 - P2D12R3 - 199.8 - Finally! I get to burn the 2!!!!
1/22/11 - P2D13R3 - 200.0 - I had a feeling I wasn't quite done with 200, but at least it isn't anything over 200, and was only 2oz gain. Until tomorrow.
1/23/11 - P2D14R3 - 198.8 - Wow! Another 1.2 loss! Now I am over a pound away from 200, which means that I should be able to stay away from it now-forever!
1/24/11 - P2D15R3 - 198.2 - Down 6oz - I'll take it. At this point I have lost 12.2lbs in 2 weeks. I have another 3 weeks and 2 days on P2. If I keep going at this rate I am hoping to be down between 25-30lbs altogether for this round. As for my goals, I had it in my mind that when I started Round 2 last time, I was hoping to lose more than 10lbs. but I didn't. And I was originally going to do my necessary 10 weeks of P4, then start Round 3 right after Thanksgiving, but I didn't. I started Round 3 the 1st week of January, delaying the whole process by 7 weeks. This is okay though because it was good for me to not have all those temptations during the holidays and it was really good for me to see that I could maintain my weightloss during the holidays despite several indulgences. I was hoping to be at my ideal weight by the beginning of summer, but now that I know you have to do an additional 4 weeks on maintenance each time you do a round, it makes me realize it will take a lot longer. So If I do a 40 day round, and start P3 on Feb 17th, then I will have 3 weeks on P3, starting P4 on March 10th. P4 then for 10 weeks making it possible for me to start P2 on HCG again on May 19th. If I do a round then, I will be on P2 until June 28th, P3 until July 19th, then on P4. Of course, this plan all depends on how much I lose this round and how I am feeling by summer. Whether or not to power through and try to lose everything this year, which I think would be possible, or if I decide to take a break and just maintain for a while. At this point I am thinking I want to finish up this round, and then start training for a triathlon in the summer. That way I am giving my body the chance to build up muscle, which burns more fat and possibly lose during training.
*(sorry to those who just read all that, really just putting down in black and white what is in my head, and I know it could change at any moment). :)
2/11/2011- It has been a while, and it is not because I have been flaking on the diet. Well, I did sort of while I was in Alaska visiting Jake's family (for sad reasons). So while I was up there I made the mistake of mentally allowing myself to have time off the diet, and therefore made it hard to be good. I did okay for the first few days, but then the last few days I started to crave bad food because I had mentally prepared myself for a cheat. Anyway, I ended up gaining 5lbs back that I had lost. I was at 194.4 when I got up there and back up to 199.4 when I came home. A set back, but of course a set back I had prepared myself for. So it has been 6 days since I got back from AK, and in that 6 days I have lost 7lbs, putting me at 192.4. Not bad getting myself back on track, quite amazing actually, but also disappointed in myself knowing that I could have been several pounds lower and in the 180s by now if I had not cheated. Moving on.
The plan: Right now I believe I have enough HCG to put me to the end of the month. My goal is to be at 185 by the end of the month, and if I reach that goal sooner, I will move to P3 when I get to that goal. I feel like this is going to give me the motivation to go beyond the 40 day round, and still keep me in a good place knowing if I reach it I will have lost a total of 25lbs on this round. These last few days I have felt very fatigued and I think my body is ready for some calories. So I am not afraid to reevaluate the plan if I continue to feel this way. I am also ready to start going back to the gym, but I can't go now because I don't even have the energy to vacuum my house. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow, I have a lot to do.
2/18/11 - So since my last post, which was 1 week ago, I have lost 2.4lbs. Not exactly the amount I was hoping to be down by now. I decided on Wednesday to change the plan and to stop taking HCG for the final 3 days of the round (as per protocol), and move on to P3. Yesterday I weighed in at 189.8 (yay!), but then after a day of minimal calories and a lot of physical activity, I am up today to 190.2. Not bad, but I didn't want the weight for me to maintain to be in the 190s. However, I need to listen to my body. I am getting to the point where I am hungry and really having a hard time with cravings. As of today I am on day 42, and they say one should do only a round of 40 days, even though there are many people who choose to do longer rounds. I just know that the longer I am on the low calorie portion, the easier it will be for me to cheat. Losing 20lbs in 40 days is a great accomplishment and I shouldn't beat myself up for making the call to take it slow and maintain for a while.
So The New Plan: I have signed up for Shamrock run, which is a great way to start out P3. I have 3 weeks to get back in the routine of going to the gym and building up for the event, and the day before I will be on P4. I start P3 tomorrow and I can't be more ready.
*Side note - I have heard FDA pulled Homeopathic HCG off the market. My take is that they did it because they are not getting their "cut" on the proceeds, and also they know that if it is this effective, then more people will be losing weight and less people will be relying on diabetes medication, and blood pressure meds, etc. This also means that I will have to find another way to get it when/if I do another round. At this point my idea is to maintain on P3 & P4 for about 6 weeks, then try calorie counting, with my handy dandy iphone app, and do the diet and exercise thing to see what the outcome will be before doing another round.
3/16/2011: Did the Shamrock, which was great because Aubrey, my 8 year old went with me. It was cold and rainy but felt good to be an example to my daughter and get her started in the path of doing things like that for life. I did okay, other than my calves cramping up during the uphill, however my leg and hip started hurting yesterday like non-other. I have been thinking about doing another triathlon this summer, but after doing the shamrock I realized that there is just no way I will ever be able to run, and doing a tri will take too long. So I think I will see if I can get a group together to do relay. I swam 1/2 mile today at the gym and it felt good.
As for my weight, I have been bouncing around between 191.6 and 195. A big difference. I realize that I have not stablized from my last round of HCG, so I am unable to eat any starches or sugars whatsoever without gaining. I will have to live a near atkins p3 life I think until I can stablize or until I can do my next round, which won't be until June or July. I am going to try losing slowly by calorie counting and exercising in the mean time. I was at 194.6 today after 193.6 (from a steak day the day before). A good thing is that I weighed myself at the gym today and the scale was 2lbs less than my scale at home, so that is encouraging.
Doing another steak day today to see if I can get back on track tomorrow, when I will seriously be eating nothing but meat, cheese, eggs, fruits & veggies (no starchy items).
4/25/2011: Between 3/16 and 4/14 I sort of stablized around 193. I decided to do another round before the summer because I was not motivated to go to the gym or start training. I see now that the less I weigh, the easier it is to run and swim, and exercise and I know that sounds ridiculous the idea of not going to the gym because I want to lose weight first, but I have found a way to lose weight without having to go to the gym, and everytime I did work out hard at the gym, I was never able to lose weight, and for me going to the gym right now means trying to lose weight. Call it justification, call it laziness, call it whatever. I know this works for me and I have to do it, otherwise I will spend the rest of my life in obesity miserable and not trying.
So on 4/15 I did day one of load up on my 3rd Round. My plan now is to do a 40 day round and lose as much as I can before the summer, then to do a 4th (and hopefully final) round in September. This will allow my body to adjust to the lower weight, my skin to stay firm, and for me to not go crazy mentally with all the restrictions during the summer bbqs, camping, and get-togethers.
On 4/17/11 R3P2D3: Weight 196.8 (from load up). Here we go! - again!
By 4/19/11 R3P2D5: Weight was 191.4 - woohoo!
Now Today 4/25/11: Weight 186 (over 10lbs in 8 days). I knew this diet was going to be tough to get into the routine of again, but man, the results are incredible. I am hoping to be down to 169 by May 23rd, the end of this round. That will take me off the "obese" status according to the BMI chart (which I think is bogus), and into the "overweight" class. Then by the next round in September, I will only have to lose 24lbs to be in the "normal" weight range for my age and height. Baby steps - sort of. The most important part is maintaining my weight during the in between times.
4/26/11: R3P2D12 Weight 185.2. Melting. So awesome. If I keep this pace up I can definitely make my goal of being 169 by the end of this round. I can't believe it is day 12 already. It feels good to be in the pace of things. Today my friend Breanna (who is also doing amazingly well on HCG - soooo incredible) and I made this amazing asparagus and crab soup, had strawberries and melba toast on the side. Filling and delicious and just the perfect change from the chicken and lettuce routine. Can't do it all the time because crab is spendy, but we are already talking about substituting chicken or non-fat cottage cheese for the protein. 24 days to go.
Well, the crab asparagus soup was bad according to the scale. I had it Tuesday and Thursday and was up significantly after both days. So that is out, which is okay because of the price of crab. It sucks trying to work on something so hard and having that affect you so much when you are trying to be good. My spirits are down, but I know that is temporary.
5/16/2011 - I can't believe it has been that long since I have posted. Well day 32 and I am about to start P3 on Wednesday. I didn't do a 40 day round, but it is time for me to move on. We have a lot going on the next few weeks and summer will be here soon, beach trip this weekend, camping next weekend, and in-laws will be in town, I just need to get into the groove of stabilizing before it gets even crazier.
Weight today - 176.6, this will be my stabilization weight. That means I have lost 20lbs in 32 days (not bad). It isn't where I wanted to be at the end of this round, but I am happy at where I am at. I realized from the beginning that 169 was a high goal, and only being 7lbs from that is okay. I am happy to be in the 170s, and at this point I only have 31.6lbs to my finish goal.
Inches lost:
In my hips I am down 7 1/2"
In my waist I am down 9 1/2"
I have gone from a size 22/24 to a size 14!!!
I know the inches will keep coming in as I stabilize.
Thanks everyone for their strong support and wonderful compliments during this process. I can't wait to be at my goal but I am thankful for this process as I am learning so much about myself.
9/17/2011 HCG Round 4 Phase 2 Day 5 - Yup, here we go again. I was getting to the point where I knew it was time. I wasn't watching what I was eating, nor correcting when I would eat terribly = gain of 7lbs after ldw - not bad, but makes a huge difference in how I feel. I feel gross, bloated, huge, tight (in the bad kind of way). So on Sept 11th I started load up (in actuality I started loading weeks before, just without the hcg). By Tuesday, first day of P2, weigh in was at 190!!! I felt disgusting and ready to start eating small and healthy again. This round it has been easier to get back into the routine of things. The first 2 days of P2 I had to get through a massive all day headache and some fatigue and lethargy (typical, and not surprising after the way I was eating for the last few weeks & days). But by days 4-5 I was feeling good. Today in fact, I have felt amazing and awake. The only struggle at this point is the hunger, which happens right before lunch time pretty wicked. The thing is to drink some hot tea/decaf coffee (for me the caffine makes me jittery and makes me want to eat to make it go away), and remember to take my drops early enough so it isn't 1pm before I can eat.
Soooo:
9/13/11: R4P2D1 Weight 190 :(
9/14/11: Weight 187.4
9/15/11: Weight 183.6
9/16/11: Weight 181.8
9/17/11: R4P2D5 Weight 180.8 This is nearly 10lbs in 5 days. Crazy!!!
I will only be doing a short 21-22 day round, because we have some events coming up (like my birthday and Las Vegas) that I will be wanting to not be in P2 or P3 for. I also feel like I need to stabilize and stay strong in P4 for a while before the holidays hit. Since this is my 4th round, that means that I will be at this weight for the next 6 months as it is advised to wait that long before your next round. So come April, I will be able to do hopefully my final round before summertime and bathing suit weather hits once again. Goal for this round: Get down into the 160s, so I will then be classified as "overweight" and no longer "obese." Here we go!
