Day 26

Day 26, July 11, 208.6

Loss of 2 pounds

Today is my brother's birthday dinner! I of course, will be bringing a lunch box with me! I'm having cottage cheese and strawberries with broccoli for lunch. For dinner, I'm marinating beef top sirloin in a garlic mustard soy marinade. I'll have broccoli and an apple to go along with it.

Clothing Check

Okay, I just got home from the hospital, cooked, ate, and decided to do laundry. If I stop now, I just won't get going again! In the process of doing laundry, I saw some items in the back of my closet that it might be time to start trying for again. I haven't always been as heavy as I am now, my average size was a 14, but I could swing between a 12 and 16 depending on the brand sizing. As I gained weight, I would buy new things little by little. My older clothes got shuffled to the back of the closet with hopes of them seeing daylight again.

The first pair of pants that I broke out are within a few pounds of fitting me. I'll rotate them to the front and try them on every few days so that I can get them back into my limited work wardrobe. The second pair of pants I'm interested in are a beautiful black and white pattern that is so tight and tiny that the pants look charcoal gray. They have the most adorable button detail at the back waistband and when they fit, made my behind look phenomenal. They pull up, zip up, and the pockets poke out like no one's business. Once the first pair fits, then the second will be my second goal.

I also have some US navy dungaree denim pants that I'm dying to fit into. I think that they have about 10 more pounds to go, but we'll see!

Day 24

Day 25, July 10, 210.6

Loss of 0 lbs.

I packed strawberries and cottage cheese for lunch with chilled asparagus. Dinner will be garlic beef with spinach and strawberries.

Things are a bit crazy with my grandfather in the hospital. We are taking shifts to ensure that he isn't left alone. Since I live an hour away, it is like tacking two hours to my shift. Because of this, my exercise commitments have gone out the window. I am trying to make up for this by standing whenever possible, walking when the opportunity hits, and taking advantage of every chance to be active!


***While I packed and was so well prepared, it WAS 4:00am. I forgot my lunch box! I only just got home, so there is only time for one meal today. I did 150g of the beef, onion sweated in the beef marinade, and strawberries. I am right at 300 calories so if I want a little something later, I'll dig out the asparagus.

Days 22 & 23

Day 22, July 8, 211.0

0 pounds lost

At least the water weight didn't hit as hard as I thought it would! I'll be drinking lots more water today so hopefully by tomorrow, we'll see some change.

Today, I had crockpot bbq chicken with no sugar or salt added, broccoli, an apple, same chicken for dinner, and broccoli again. I need to go shopping, but spending whatever time I'm not working at the hospital with my grandfather is not conducive to that!

Day 23, July 9, 210.6

.4 pounds lost

Still drinking lots of water today! My packed lunch includes cottage cheese, strawberries, and a tomato. I've got shrimp planned for dinner with broccoli and an apple. This may change as my day goes on.

Day 21

Day 21, July 7, 211

Loss of 1.4 lbs!

I'll be eating lean roast beef, tomatoes, and an apple for lunch. Dinner will be either shrimp or chicken in garlic soy sauce again. I'll have a salad with ginger dressing and strawberries for dessert!

Happy HCGing!

REALLY frustrated right now. I just went into the fridge to get my strawberries, and realized that the soy that I cooked my shrimp in and then poured over my broccoli was not low sodium! I realize that one is red and one is green, I just grabbed the wrong one out of the fridge and wasn't paying attention. This is going to put me WAY over my sodium for the day. I planned my sodium all day in order to be able to have this, but I guess one day won't hurt. I am drinking lots of water and will probably be a little disappointed when I hit the scale tomorrow, but as long as it is only water weight, I'll survive!

Days 19 & 20

Day 19, July 5, 213.4

Loss of .4 lbs

Spent lots of time cleaning, doing laundry, and visiting my grandparents in the nursing home and in the hospital. Missed out on doing my post, so here is a 2 day digest!

I ate low sodium sliced chicken breast, tomatoes, an apple, cottage cheese, strawberries, and 2 sugar free Jello gelatin cups. Some leftover psychological hunger issues from yesterday, but I pulled through and after dinner, I wasn't hungry enough to eat my broccoli. I did have a sweet craving, which is where the Jello comes in!

Day 20, July 6, 212.4

Loss of 1 lb

See, this is why I don't worry on days where I show 0 loss. It all averages out! I've packed my lunch for the day, low sodium chicken breast, asparagus, and an apple. Dinner will be garlic soy shrimp and asparagus with strawberries for dessert!

This is kind of the half way point for me. I'm on the 40 day protocol, so today is my halfway point for drops. I still have the 3 days of the 500 cal diet without drops and 3 weeks of low carb dieting, but I think that this is kind of a milestone. I'm happy with what I've lost so far, 14.2 lbs. When you think about that, it is really based on 17 days, which means that I'm losing about .83 lbs per day! I really don't want to rest on my laurels, so I'll be kicking but this week and trying for a little more exercise in my life!

Day 18

Day 18, July 4, 213.8

No loss.

Happy 4th of July!!! My grandfather is doing better, so there is a little less stress on my shoulders right now. I'm not really concerned that there was a zero loss for the day, I think the record has shown that things will average out.

I had the biggest challenges last night and today! A friend had a 4th of July cookout today and I made brownies. Not only did I make brownies, I made chocolate chunk brownies with candy centers...1/3 Snickers, 1/3 Milky Way, and 1/3 Reese's Peanut Butter Cup! Everyone raved about them and I'm glad that they were enjoyed, but brownies are my absolute favorite dessert, so it was very hard not to have just one. The other challenge was Greek pasta salad. A friend made bow-tie pasta with feta, kalamata olives, tomato, cucumber, and italian seasoning. Pasta salads are another weakness of mine, I make them frequently and they are a staple at all of our family gatherings.

Getting through today was just a little proof that I am capable of controlling what I put into my body. Speaking of which, cottage cheese, strawberries, tomatoes, chicken breast with Mojo seasoning, and broccoli. If I'm hungry later, I'll have an apple.

I hope that everyone's 4th has been as enjoyable as mine!

Day 17

Day 17, July 3, 213.8

Loss of 1.2 pounds!

Okay folks, I've been dealing with a pretty stressful situation, and in the past, that has led me to turn to food. My grandfather is in the hospital dealing with a concussion, fractures, and a stent procedure for clots. Normally, I'd be accepting every little bag of food that some kind family member brought to the hospital. Today and yesterday, I packed my little mini cooler. Today's selection was roast beef, broccoli, and an apple. For dinner, chicken, asparagus, and strawberries.

I am at a point in my life where I can not let my concern for others override my need and desire to care for myself properly.

Day 16

Day 16, July 2, 215.0

1 lb loss

I don't recommend cutting your calories intentionally to lose more weight, but in the protocol, Dr. S states that if you are uncomfortable eating the amounts he has listed, to feel free to omit something. I may not feel like that every day, but I certainly did yesterday. Regularity issues also seem to have cleared up. With a combination of lower caloric intake, regularity, and eating a little less sodium yesterday, I was able to see a 1 lb loss.

Today, I've packed sliced low fat deli chicken for lunch. I've also packed an apple and a tomato.

Day 15

Day 15, July 1, 216.0

Loss of .6 lbs

Okay folks, I'll update this a little later for the zero people following me so far. But hey, a girl's gotta dream! What I realized this morning is that in the last 5 days, I've only lost 2.8 lbs. This may be TMI, but I also haven't been regular for a few days. Maybe when that gets resolved I will see some results on the scale. I added a little bit of inulin fiber to my water today and will see how that works for me. I've done inulin before with good results, but you have to start VERY slowly.

For the last 5 days, I've been doing some form of exercise for at least 15 minutes a day. This doesn't seem like a lot, but I wasn't super active before, maybe 30 minutes a day on the stationary bike or treadmill. The reason I slowed down the exercise is because some sites say that burning too many calories can put you into starvation mode despite being on HCG. If by the end of the week I am not showing better results, I will increase back to 30 minutes per day.

Okay, I had chicken, tomatoes, and an apple for lunch today. I'm so full I feel almost sick. I didn't even finish my 100g of chicken, I ate maybe 2/3 of it. I'm going to have cottage cheese with strawberries for dinner tonight and a salad if I'm hungry. Maybe tomorrow I'll be hungrier.

Catching Up

Okay, since my two compilation posts have gotten me up to date, I'd like to break down the things I'm doing on this diet and why.

I'm taking homeopathic HCG, the same brand a friend used. She saw really consistent weight loss and has kept it off in the weeks that she's been off. I've seen the ads for Metabolic Research Center and for Transformations Medical Weight Loss, but since she had such good results with the hHCG, I decided to give it a shot. I am not a spokesperson for the company, I just use the product. If anyone wants to know the brand, they can request the info but I won't post it for all to see.

I believe that this product is working, not just having psychological effects, because I have been on very low calorie diets before. I've done Slim Fast and I've done my own calorie counting methods under medical supervision. I was always hungry. I'd lose weight for a few days and then stall out and not lose a pound for a week or so even though I was getting between 5-800 calories per day. I have currently lost ten pounds and am never hungry. It was a challenge to finish my lunch and dinner today. I think that this is working and I'll continue to use it for either the 40 allowable days or until I start to develop a resistance to it.

The foods I eat...may seem boring, bland, repetitive, but that is just the type of person I am. I tend to try and fix everything on one weekend day so that food is grab and go. I like simplicity and I don't mind boring for a month. My food is well seasoned and tastes great. I was raised eating raw veggies as snacks and even though my weight has skyrocketed, it isn't because I stopped eating them! You may notice that I'm eating foods not found on the approved list. The ginger and soy from my dressing aren't there. Neither is the homemade no sugar added cocktail sauce that I use for my shrimp. I simply count these as 5 calories each serving and keep moving on. My fruit portions are small and my veggie portions are large to make up for the calorie deficit. I just chalk that little bit of extra sugar in the condiments up to the sugar I'm missing from having a larger fruit serving. Broccoli is not on the list, but I've read that others have good luck with zucchini, broccoli, and cauliflower. I love steamed broccoli and as long as I don't have any more over salting accidents, I don't think it will be a problem.

I use Calorie Count to get an estimate of the calories in the foods I eat. I only use it for items that don't have nutritional labels. I often find that I need to use a proportion equation to find out the calories though. For instance, a 152 gram Gala Apple has 74 calories. That's great if your apple weighs about 152 grams, but what if it only weighs 105? Here is your solution:


You cross multiply 105 x 74 to get 7770 and then divide 7770 by 152 to get 51.12.
This means that your 105 gram apple has about 51 calories.
Here it is folks, algebra used in real life!!! GASP!!!

I usually weigh the batch of apples, cucumbers, tomatoes, or whatever that I've just purchased. I try to buy ones that are similar in size. I then figure out the average weight of the food and then calculate the calories on the average size. I may get a few calories more in this tomato or a few calories shy in these strawberries, but I believe it all comes out in the wash.

I'm reading blogs from a few others on this journey, but any advice or comments that you have would be greatly appreciated. Good luck to you all!

Days 8-14

Day 8, June 24, 219.8

Loss of .4lbs **Perhaps it should be noted that my scale measures in .2lb increments. It will never show me weighing xxx.5lbs

Today, I tried incorporating cottage cheese into my diet. I love mixing it with strawberries! I will also let you know that I use Splenda*. I had roast beef, tomatoes, cucumber, and an apple as the rest of my daily intake.

*Simeons' original protocol calls for saccharin or other sweetner. I think Trudeau recommends Stevia.

Day 9, June 25, 219.0

Loss of .8 lbs

Today, I had chicken twice, tomatoes, broccoli (complete with over-salting accident), an apple, and strawberries

Day 10, June 26, 219.0

No loss, probably due to water retention from oversalted broccoli on Day 9

Today, I decided to experiment a little. I had chicken and shrimp as my protein, but decided to mix up a little dressing for a salad. Here is my recipe for Ginger Dressing:

Rice Wine Vinegar (I use garlic flavored, otherwise, you need to add garlic)
Fresh Grated Ginger
Soy Sauce (I use low sodium)
Sugar or Splenda

-Pour into a small dish as much rice wine vinegar as you would like to have dressing. (does that make sense?)
-Add enough soy sauce to turn it slightly golden brown
-Add as much fresh ginger as you like.
- A pinch of sugar or splenda to cut acidity

You can adjust the flavors as you go. Start light with the soy and add more if needed. Same with the ginger. Potency of ginger varies from rhizome to rhizome depending on its age

Day 11, June 27, 217.8

1.2 lb loss, water retention issue cleared up I'm sure!

Today, I had cottage cheese, strawberries, salad with ginger dressing, chicken, tomatoes, and an apple. WAY under on calories due to using fat free cottage cheese accidentally and having a smaller tomato. I used regular pretzels in place of a bread stick or melba toast as I didn't have either of these available. I just couldn't do any more veggies right then!

Day 12, June 28, 218.6

.8lb gain! This is probably due to having pretzels. Not only have I stayed away from refined carbs, just having the fruits and veggies, I think the pretzels were pretty salty too. NO MORE!

Chicken, shrimp, strawberries, apple, broccoli, tomatoes for my meal choices today!

Day 13, June 29, 216.4

2.2lb loss! Again, I think that this may be due to clearing up water retention issues!

Cottage Cheese, strawberries, shrimp, apple, spinach with ginger dressing, and tomato. I also had an extra serving of protein in the form of chicken because again, I was low on calories.

Day 14, June 30, 216.6

.2 lb GAIN! Extra chicken, I'm sure. We'll see what it is tomorrow and I'll deal with the extra veggies.

Lean roast beef, apple, salad with ginger dressing, chicken, tomatoes, strawberries.

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This brings me current on the diet and I will try to post daily. Otherwise, you'll be getting a compiled digest of a few days at a time. Happy HCGing!

Days 1-7

Day 1, June 17

I started taking HCG sublingual drops that morning. The protocol states that during your first three days, you are supposed to stuff yourself and I did so with glee. I enjoyed coffee with real cream, peiroges with sour cream, everything bagels with extra cream cheese, Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch ice cream, and jalapeno poppers for dinner

Day 2, June 18

I ate pretty much the same amount of food that I did on day one. I know that I ate bagels again, but can't really remember what else I was able to stuff down. The thing that surprised me is how HUNGRY I was all day. It may have been a psychological thing, but every fifteen minutes, I was hungry.

Day 3, June 19

I was hungry again, all day long! At one point, just before dinner, I was almost willing to chew my left arm off just to ease the hunger pains. I ended up eating at Carrabba's for dinner that night and ate the last meal of a condemned woman, Spicy Calamari Ricardo, decadent traditional lasagna, a salad with yummy creamy Parmesan, and of course lots of hot fresh bread with olive oil and spices.

Day 4, June 20, 226.6 lbs

Today, I started the 500 calorie protocol. I already had canned lean chicken, which I portioned out into zipper baggies for grab & go eating. I ate tomatoes & cucumbers for my veggies for the day and had 2 apples. I had to portion out my apples throughout the day to keep from feeling like I was starving.

Day 5, June 21, 223.6

Saw a 3.3lb loss this morning. I think the first day or so is always the most dramatic in any diet.

I had chicken, lean roast beef, tomatoes, cucumber, apple slices, and strawberries today. Again, I was very hungry and had to portion out my fruits to control hunger pains.

Day 6, June 22, 221.2

2.4 lb loss this morning.

I had chicken, shrimp, tomatoes, cucumber, apple slices, and strawberries today. Hunger pains weren't as bad, but still there.

Day 7, June 23, 220.2

1 lb lost!

I had roast beef, chicken, tomatoes, cucumber, apple slices and strawberries again today. Didn't experience hunger pains, but still portioned out fruit, just to make sure.

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You'll notice that my food is very repetitive. As I'm just starting out, I'm only doing the basics. My problem is that I don't like some of the veggies available on Dr. Simeons' protocol. Tomatoes and Cucumbers are pretty much it at this point, although I did make some discoveries later on.

Starting Out

In my lifetime, I've gained and lost enough weight to make up several people. Finding myself approaching 30, I realized that I was exactly 100 pounds overweight. That's right, my 5'4 medium sized frame looked and felt great at 130 pounds, but at 230, it bulged, sagged, moaned and groaned with every step I took. I'd been dealing with a lot of stress in my personal life, aging grandparents, family members losing homes, job stress, and the like. Fast food was always the convenient choice when running around trying to help save the day (or at least stick a finger in the leaks for a few hours). Unfortunately, I didn't really make healthy decisions when hitting the drive-thru. It's so much easier to eat a sandwich than to balance a salad in your lap while driving, don't you think?

Putting this all into perspective, I realized that enough was enough. I began prepping meals at home or making certain that my restaurant choices fit in with my meal plans. Despite this and a consistent work out schedule, I only lost around 5 lbs over the course of two months. At the urging of friends, I decided to look into Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, better known as HCG. The link for Dr. Simeons' full protocol can be found here: www.thehcgdiet.com/pdf/pounds-and-inches-by-dr-a-t-w-simeons.pdf but what I am looking to do with this journal is to let you know the steps that I take, the foods that I eat, and the results that I see.

I started this diet on June 17th, but only just decided to share this with others. Hopefully the information found here will help those in the decision making process as well as those currently on this diet.