Monday, July 6, 2009
7/6/09
Sunday, July 5, 2009
The second round begins! 7/5/09
I struggled on my time off. Most days I was great, some days I was horrible. Food is an addiction, and it was very difficult to stay on track. I began my second round of HCG on July 3rd two pounds over my last weigh in weight, so at 164. I resolved to do much better this time around. I REALLY loaded up on my load days, it helped that it was over a holiday! I ate so much it made me sick to my stomach. But I did not load properly the first time around, and I think this hindered my progress. This time I was stuffing my face pretty much all day each day. And I sure put on the pounds -- I weighed 168.5 today. Yuck. I feel just awful, it's terrible to be so heavy on my small frame.
Today is my first VLC day. I had an apple for breakfast, organic baby greens and 3.5 ounces chicken with a tiny amount of FF dressing. I found this really great
'salad shaker' at the grocery store - you just put in a very small amount of dressing and then push the top down and SHAKE. Every leaf gets flavor on it, so you end up using a tiny bit of dressing. For dinner - more of the same!! I found that it helps me, at least, if I am pretty unimaginative with my meals. I need to keep it simple.
I planned to start now, as it was the earliest I could go back on it. But I have a week long vacation planned for up north, we leave on the 11th and return on the 18th. What helps is that we have resolved to watch our pennies as best we can, and buy groceries instead of all the trips out to eat (which gets expensive with two of us and three kids!!) So I am going to be a REALLY cheap date on this vacation!! I always lose some weight in the summer anyway, something about the heat and the thought of my thighs jiggling in those shorts keeps my appetite in check. Oh no - the worst??? Muffin top. I hate it. Glad it's going to be disappearing soon.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Tuesday, April 28
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Saturday, April 25
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tuesday, April 22
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Saturday, April 18
Friday, April 17, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Tuesday, April 14
Monday, April 13, 2009
Monday, April 13
I have my first follow up appointment tomorrow - I'm anxious to see how I am doing! Yesterday I ended up not eating my second apple because I had some coffee, which killed my craving for it. So I figured, why waste the calories if I don't really want it? Now there's a new concept for me!!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
I have some big bruises on my right thigh from my first few shots. I think I hit a vein or something. Now, I can give myself a shot in either thigh and it doesn’t even leave a mark. Getting easier and easier. Yesterday I cooked chicken in the crock pot, and have about three or four meals with that. I tried the apple dip and it was ok, nothing I’ll make again. I am going to Whole Foods today to get all the things Meijer didn’t have, plus some more apples. One whole apple seems to me to be far more filling than 5 or 6 strawberries. So far, I’ve gone with green beans, bell pepper, broccoli and cauliflower for my veggies. This morning we went to breakfast with mom and dad, and I just brought one grissini. I had that and some tea. Everyone thought that was pretty hysterical. My husband had ordered me some diet pop, which you are not supposed to drink on this diet, and I drank about half of it anyway. I hope it doesn’t have an adverse effect. I had no problems watching them all scarf down pancakes and bacon and biscuits with gravy – shocker!! I love going to bed on this diet – it’s so exciting to think about how much less I’ll weigh the next day. Before I would go to bed vowing that I would actually eat well the next day – and it seems like I would think this EVERY night. I would eat well for breakfast, lunch, snacks – and then at dinner I would totally go off the wagon. So far on this diet, I have followed the protocol exactly without much of an issue – well, except for that diet pop today! I do find that I need to really space out the food so I am eating every few hours. While I don’t feel hunger pangs, I do get my hypoglycemic symptoms if I go too long without eating – shaking, grumpy, that sort of thing.
What I need at the store: liquid stevia, Herbamare, spinach, apples, more chicken, more steamable veggie bags, Yerba Mate Tea.
How am I going to do this at work tomorrow? Being at home seems easy – I have total control of when I eat, my kitchen is right here, etc. Let’s see....
Apple right after I get to work
Grissini around 9:30
Chicken and veggies for lunch
Grissini at 2:30
My son has play practice until 6:00, so I think I will need to bring my dinner. Eat more chicken and veggies at 5:00.
Apple at 7:30.
Ok, so there’s my plan. I will buy some yummy organic apples today, and will make my cooler tonight.
Later -- back from Whole Foods. I found everything on my list. I bought four different kinds of organic apples for some variety. I am now enjoying a wonderful drink - I steeped one bag of Yerba Mate tea in ice water, then added 12 drops of English Toffee flavored liquid Stevia. Really yummy!! I had a grissini for breakfast today, chicken and broccoli and cauliflower for lunch, and an apple later for a snack. Tonight I am going to make Lemony Spinach and Chicken Soup. If it turns out well, I'll make another pot for lunch for tomorrow.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Today is day three. Yesterday was my second gorging day, and I didn’t do so well – we ended up having to go to my brother-in-law’s graduation, which was awesome – but I was without food until about 5:00 pm! I ate as much as I could until bedtime.
Today is the first day of the 500 calorie diet. I am so anxious! Afraid I will fail, afraid I’ll be so hungry, afraid it just isn’t going to work for me. I had no problems injecting myself this morning. My right leg is bruised from the previous injections, buy my left leg seems to take it just fine.
Food-wise, it’s been ok. I had an apple and a grissini at about 9:30. Lunch was a hamburger and steamed green beans and orange bell pepper. I had that at 1:30, and I feel nicely full. Prior to that, I wasn’t super hungry, but I sure was grumpy! I have to make sure that I eat every few hours or my blood sugar goes down and I get MEAN. I made more hamburgers and veggies for later.
I weighed 175 this morning. This makes me ill just to think about it. I even have a double chin. They say the pounds you gained during the gorge will come right off, but man it was hard to see that number. I keep telling myself that 40 days of no ‘fun with food’ is very much worth losing 40 pounds!! I just can’t wait until that scale shows a number under 170. Then I will know that all this is working. Who am I kidding – I need it to show 140 before I will really feel like it’s working!!!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
My name is Lisa, and this is one girl's HCG Diet Diary. I have been overweight ever since the birth of my daughter 4 years ago. Prior to that, I weighed between 115 and 130 - when I got to 130 I quickly lost five pounds or so to get to where I felt comfortable again. Since my daughter's birth, I have struggled to lose my pregnancy weight - and have not been successful. Today, I weigh 173 pounds. Ugh. I tried everything - but honestly, I simply did not have the willpower to stick with anything for very long. I was moaning about this to my doctor, and she told me she was going to be offering the HCG diet. I was intrigued - she sent me on my way to do my own research, and then I decided to sign up.
So, you may want some information on what the HCG Diet actually is. I am doing this diet through a doctor - I did not feel comfortable doing it without medical supervision. There are a lot of sites out there that give information about the diet, but my doctor only recommends these sites: www.hcgdietinfo.com , which has Dr. Simeons "Pounds and Inches" manuscript available online. Also, www.hcgrecipes.com has an e book called "The HCG Dieter Gourmet Cookbook" by Tammy Skye - this is what I use, it's amazing what you can do with so little food.
The basics of the diet are as follows: You begin the diet with two days of gorging, or eating everything fattening you can get your hands on. After that, you are on a very low calorie diet - only 500 calories per day. The entire process takes 43 days, and people lose up to 40 pounds in this time period. You give yourself an injection of HCG every morning. The HCG makes you feel full, so you can be successful on a very low calorie diet. You have to eat VERY specific foods - 2 grissini or melba toasts, 2 fruit (apple, orange, 6 strawberries, or 1/2 grapefruit), 3.5 ounces (before cooking) of skinless chicken breast, beef, buffalo, veal, white fish, lobster, crab or shrimp twice a day, and 2 cups of veggies twice a day. Legal veggies include spinach, asparagus, green beans, lettuce, etc. That's the short version - now here's the long version:
My doctor said that when she had a client come back from Europe and tell her about the HCG Diet, she was intrigued, but skeptical. My doctor is always very conservative and researches programs intensely before offering them to patients. She looked at the existing research and said it was CRAP. However, she had worked with HCG quite a bit and knew what it could do, and also knew it had no side effects. She had used HCG in the past to medically treat men and women for many different conditions like infertility and hormone regulation. So she did her own trial, and was thrilled with the results. The amount of HCG you are given is miniscule compared to what a pregnant woman makes - this does not fool your body into thinking it's pregnant. What it does is make your body use fat stores for fuel, and give you a full feeling so you can be on a low calorie diet with ease. It also prevents the bad side effects of a low calorie diet - muscle atrophy, skin and hair problems, etc.
My doctor's version of the diet, the one I am following, is different from the original one. She said there is no issue regarding hand lotions, makeup, things like that. Average weight loss is 1/2 to 1 pound per day. This is for people who want to lose 20 pounds or more. The course of therapy takes 9 weeks. It starts with the first injection (which you give to yourself in your mid-thigh) and a 'forced feeding', consuming as much fattening food as you can for two days to increase the body's fat reserves. This will be lost in the first three days. Patients will be able to continue normal activities and their energy levels remain as if they are eating normally. The injections are given daily for 23 to 40 days, depending on how much weight patients want to lose. The diet must be continues for 3 days past the last injection (there is still HCG in the body at this point). During the injection period, patients are closely monitored with Bio-impedance analysis (BIA), body composition tests, lab tests and weekly visits with a nutritionist. At the end of week 6, patients are instructed on a low-carb diet which they follow for 3 weeks. Patients then begin a maintenance program to help maintain ideal body weight throughout a lifetime. Common side effects are: pain at the site of injection and bruising. Headache, irritability and restlessness are the next most common and shortlived, if they occur at all. Fluid retention, breast tenderness and depression may occur infrequently. Allergic reactions are possible but very rare.
I think this diet is extremely affordable, as the cost is $695 and includes: a 60 minute RN (registered nurse) consultation and instruction on injection technique. Six 30 minute visits with the nutritionist, one vial of HCG and supplies (will last for entire course), physician review of lab tests at week 3 & 6, four BIA's (Bio-impedance analysis), patient information booklet and weight loss log, and various handouts.
I went in on April 7th and had a BIA - this measured many things, including how much fat I had verses muscle. Through my doctor, I have this done every two weeks to make sure that I am not losing muscle. Right now, my body is made up of 111 pounds of bone and muscle, and 62 pounds of fat. I was trained on how to do my own injections, and started the diet the very next day. Today was my first injection of HCG. This was a gorging day. I had no problems with the injection this morning – I guess years of having a diabetic cat helped me become pretty handy with a needle. But I did have problems gorging – total surprise!!! I ate a few cookies, then later forced down a Whopper. I only ate ¼ of my fries. Then I had two cheesesticks, and then got pretzel sticks at the mall. Then I got a Wendy’s frosty shake. I truly had to choke down everything – the longer the day went on, the fuller I felt. Truly amazing.
I weighed a whopping 173 this morning. At 5'4, that is most definitely overweight. Here are my measurements:
Bust: 43
Arm: 11.5
Waist: 37
Hips: 44.5
Upper thigh: 24
Calf: 14