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.