To cheat or not to cheat... that is the question

Start Weight: 168 lbs
Goal Weight: 138 lbs
Weight after two loading days:  171.7 lbs (3.7 lbs total gain)
R2P2D7:  163.6  (-8.1 lbs gross, -4.4 lbs net)

Two more pounds released -- woohoo!  I know this high weight-loss rate will not continue like this past the first week or so of the VLCD, but it sure is fun when it happens!


Today's tip:  I want to extend a word of caution to my newbie HCG pals...  Chances are that you might still lose weight on this amazing first HCG week even if you cheat a little here and there, especially if you have a lot of weight to lose.  But, you are doing yourself a serious disservice if you cheat.  First, let's say that you cheat a little and then find that you still lose a half a pound the next day.  You shouldn't say to yourself, "Hey, I can cheat and still lose weight!"  You should say, "Man, I probably could have lost four times that much if I hadn't cheated!  I'm going to jump back on the wagon right now!"  Some folks can get away with cheats during this first week, but you will pay for it later.  Please don't start eating two melba toasts at a meal instead of one, or let your protein portion creep up higher than 3.5 oz.  It is a slippery slope.  Even worse:  do NOT let yourself have a significant cheat such as having fat or sugar.  That cookie will NEVER taste as good as skinny feels!  At best, your weight loss will stall for a few days.  At worst, you will have a significant gain and it might take you a week to get back where you started.  In Pounds and Inches, Dr. Simeons says "if [the patient] starts eating normally as long as there is even a trace of HCG in their body they put on weight alarmingly." I've seen reports from folks whose weight has stalled out from washing greasy dishes without wearing rubber gloves or preparing non-protocol foods for their family and getting oil/fat on their hands.  Even Dr. Simeons mentioned some cases of patients getting oil on their skin and not losing weight, even while following the protocol exactly.  If your weight-loss is that sensitive to fats on your skin, imagine how much worse it will be if you ingest the fat!


You are paying a good amount of money to participate in this weight loss program.  You only have 40 injections to lose as much weight as you can.  Don't waste the precious HCG -- it is like liquid gold! MAXIMIZE your losses during P2 (the VLCD portion).  You can only have 40 injections in a round, so make the very most of these injections!


Okay... I'll climb down off my soapbox now. ;-)  I'm not trying to beat you up -- I just care about you and I want you to have success!


Here's the menu for today...
9a:  ACV concoction
9a-12p: Slowly sipping my coffee and Hazelnut stevia
12p:  ACV concoction
3:30p:  1 slice toasted Ezekiel bread* topped with
             Tomato and Baby Spring Mix Lettuce*
             and spicy brown mustard
6:30p:  1 large apple
9p:       1/2 Cucumber with salt, pepper and ACV
9:30p:   Nonfat Plain Greek Yogurt* mixed with
              diced strawberries and Vanilla Liquid Stevia


* OFF PROTOCOL WARNING!

• Mixing veggies.  You'll note that I do this a lot, even though Dr. Simeons specifies that you should not mix vegetables.  It has never seemed to affect me, but the argument could be made that I would have lost even more weight my first round had I not mixed veggies.  I do take care to reduce each veggie to a partial portion so that I'm not getting too many calories.  I don't know if that was the issue, or if there is some problem with having more than one type of veggie at a time.
• Ezekiel Bread and Nonfat Greek Yogurt is not on the list of allowable foods.

I didn't eat late today on purpose.  I was just really busy and running crazy from 12 noon through 9p and it was hard to fit in eating. Hopefully this won't affect the number on the scale too badly tomorrow.  If it does, then I'll deal with it.  'Til tomorrow, later losers!  :D

Apple Cider Vinegar: Miracle weight-loss elixir or hoax?

Start Weight: 168 lbs
Goal Weight: 138 lbs
Weight after two loading days:  171.7 lbs (3.7 lbs total gain)
R2P2D6:  165.6  (-6.1 lbs gross, -2.4 lbs net)


Two pounds down this morning -- woohoo!


My tip for the day:  I have read numerous reports suggesting that adding Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) to your weight loss regimen can be of service.  Since I really like the taste of vinegars on my salads, I thought, 'What the heck?  I'll give it a try.'  I saw a recipe on one of the HCG forums that I follow that suggested adding a couple of teaspoons of ACV to water to drink.  So, here's my little ACV recipe if you want to try it:

• 16oz of water
• 40 drops of SweetLeaf Lemon Drop Liquid Stevia
• 1 tbsp of Bragg's Organic Raw Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar
• Juice of lemon wedge (after I squeeze it in, I toss it in my glass)
• Ice

Shake or mix all ingredients together and enjoy!


I've seen multiple reports that drinking an Apple Cider Vinegar concoction (like the one above) before meals can reduce your appetite, help you feel full faster, slow absorption of foods to prevent spikes in glucose levels, increase your metabolism, decrease water retention, relieve constipation and just generally help you feel good. I've also seen reports that there is not one whit of medical evidence to support these claims.  So, is it a placebo or a weight-loss miracle?  I don't know for sure.  I do know that after I started drinking it during Phase 4 of my first round, I fell below my last injection weight (LIW) and I wasn't trying to lose weight but simply maintain.  I actually LIKE the flavor of ACV and find the drink above to be refreshing, but I see that some people liken it to drinking lighter fluid.  My advice:  if you like the taste, why not add it in?  If you can't stomach it, then don't bother.  As for me, I plan to drink the above concoction at least once a day, and use ACV to dress my salads.


Okay, on to today's menu:
Coffee with Hazelnut Liquid Stevia and 1 tbsp organic skim milk
11:30a:  ACV concoction
12p:       Scrambled eggs (1 whole + 3 whites) mixed with
               sauteed spinach and onions* - 1/2 portion
1p:         ACV concoction
2p:         Other half of scrambled egg/spinach
4:45p:    Large Apple
6p:          Honey Vanilla Chamomile tea with vanilla stevia
7:30p:    1 toasted slice of Ezekiel bread* topped with
               Baby Spring Mix lettuce + 3 slices of tomato*
               and spicy brown mustard
7:30p:    ACV concoction (I hope I'm not overdoing it! ;-)
9p:         Sipping some Trader Joe's Bedtime Tea with stevia

*OFF PROTOCOL WARNINGS!

• Mixing veggies.  Also of note: this isn't off-protocol, but you may be wondering why I split the scrambled eggs up into two portions.  Well, once I had the eggs mixed up with all the spinach (it was more spinach than eggs) it looked like a pretty large portion so I figured that I would stretch it out.
• Ezekial bread is not on the protocol, but it was listed on a website as a good HCG protein option for vegetarians/vegans. I personally worry that there are too many carbs, so I plan to limit it to only once or twice a week.

I might eat a 1/2 grapefruit later, but right now (9p) I'm not hungry so I might leave off my second fruit for the day.  Here's an interesting thing to think about: some folks point out that a tomato is actually a fruit (even though Dr. Simeons lists the tomato in his vegetable list) so if they have a salad with lettuce and tomato they will count that as one veggie and one fruit.  So far, I have kept the tomato solidly in the vegetable category even though I know that it is a fruit.  But, you may feel differently...  Anyway, it is something to consider.

Yesterday, I did notice the "hungries" creeping up on me a little, and also developed a little bit of a headache.  I wasn't hungry enough to make me feel like I was ready to gnaw my arm off (which is a sure signal that your HCG dose is either too high or too low if you feel that way past the first week of injections *OR* that you have no more abnormal fat to lose) but enough to keep my mind on food a lot during the day.  The headache was not bad and easily remedied with some Advil and Tylenol.  Today I have had neither the headache nor the hunger.  Perhaps it took until today for the HCG levels in my body to reach optimal?  Also, I'm thinking that the ACV does do something to suppress appetite, and probably evenly dispersing the ACV concoction and the herbal teas throughout the afternoon helped.  I can honestly say that I am not the least bit hungry now, which is AWESOME for me at this time of night.

Guess I'll close for now, and see all you losers later! :D

It's not much, but I'll take it!

Start Weight: 168 lbs
Weight after two loading days:  171.7 lbs (3.7 lbs total gain)
R2P2D5:  167.6  (-4.1 lbs gross, -.4 lbs net)


Oh well, only .2 lbs down today, but hey -- a loss is a loss, right?


I'm not going to dwell on it, but it also doesn't hurt to examine the possible causes for my tiny loss over the last 24 hours.  Here's what I came up with:
- I weighed a little earlier than usual this morning because I had an early appointment.
It's good practice to always weigh at the same time each morning, before you have anything to eat or drink, so that you are always comparing apples to apples (mmm.... apples :-) when weighing yourself each day.  Pick a time that works with your schedule and try your best to stick to it.
- I ate a little later than normal last night.
It's a good idea to not eat anything within three hours of bedtime.  This is hard for me most days.  For most of my adult life, my "hunger" will rear it's ugly head during the evening hours.  So, I tend to save some of my foods for later in the day.  I need to break myself of this habit.
- I ate off-protocol yesterday.
After examining yesterday's menu, I decided to remove one of my off-protocol things to see if that helps.  I've replaced the balsamic vinegar with red wine vinegar.  It's not nearly as tasty to me as the balsamic, but it is zero everything -- 0 calories, 0g fat, 0g sugars/carbs, so it's practically a free food.  A little goes a long way, however.  Actually, that is a good practice on this diet, or afterward during lifetime maintenance.  Choose high-flavor, low-cal spices and condiments (like red wine vinegar, spicy brown mustard with no sugar added, and hot sauce) so you get the most bang for your buck.  Seek out these spices and condiments and USE THEM.  One of the biggest difficulties during the VLCD portion of this protocol is boredom, not hunger, so always try to spice things up a bit.


Here's my menu for today:
Water with Lemon Drop stevia and lemon wedges all day
Coffee w/ Hazelnut Liquid Stevia all morning
3p:  Baby Spring Mix lettuce/Raw Spinach salad*
       with salt, pepper and red wine vinegar
4p:  Nonfat Cottage Cheese mixed with sections of half a grapefruit
7:15p:  Steamed Broccoli*
8:45p*:  Nonfat plain greek yogurt* mixed with Vanilla Creme
               liquid stevia, diced strawberries, and a crumbled up
               Melba toast


*OFF PROTOCOL WARNING!
1. Mixing veggies
2. Broccoli is not on the original protocol.  However, with all the good nutrition that is packed into this little vegetable with its relatively low calorie count, it was a chance that I was willing to take last round and I suffered no ill effects.  Hopefully that will continue during this round. The scale will tell the tale tomorrow!
3. I'm eating TOO LATE again!  Not really off-protocol, but please don't follow my bad example if you can help it.
4. Yogurt not on protocol.  I choose to add it to try to make this protocol work for me as a practicing vegetarian.


Later losers! ;-)

Second VLCD day -- went pretty well!

Start Weight: 168 lbs
Weight after two loading days:  171.7 lbs (3.7 lbs total gain)
R2P2D4:  167.8  (-3.9 lbs gross, -.2 lbs net)


Oh my goodness!  I lost ALL of my loading weight in one day... crazy! This protocol is simply amazing!  I feel that this, plus the fact that I wasn't hungry yesterday or so far today and (crossing fingers) no KILLER headaches, validates the high-fat/lower-carb loading days.  If you are preparing to start this diet -- DO NOT NEGLECT YOUR LOADING DAYS!  Trust me on this one... You will thank me later. ;-)


I probably won't always have time to post my food journal for the day, but I'll try to do it as often as I can.  It's not a bad idea to keep a food journal so that if your weight slows or stalls, you might be able to spot a pattern and determine some foods or food combos to avoid.  I'll readily admit that I DID NOT keep a food journal during my first round, but now I see that it could be very beneficial.  Sometimes a stall is just a stall (you should expect them) but sometimes you can tie it back to something you ate the day before.  I frequently see people's weight loss stall out after eating beef and tomatoes together, so you might have an issue like that you would want to remedy.


Here is today's menu:
Water with SweetLeaf Lemon Drop Liquid Stevia and lemon wedges throughout the day - about 100 oz total
9a:      Coffee with SweetLeaf Hazelnut-flavored Liquid Stevia
           (I sip on it all morning)
12p:     Sauteed (in non-stick pan with no oil) spinach and onions*
           topped with Frank's Red Hot sauce*
3p:      1/2 diced large apple mixed with non-fat cottage cheese*
5:30p:  Other 1/2 of apple
7p:      Large bowl of Baby Spring Mix Lettuce with couple of splashes
           of White Balsamic Vinegar*
8p:      Nonfat Plain Greek Yogurt* mixed with diced strawberries and
           SweetLeaf Vanilla Creme Liquid Stevia
I plan to sip on Celestial Seasonings Honey Vanilla Chamomile Tea with Vanilla Creme Stevia and/or Trader Joe's Bedtime Tea with stevia this evening.  That tends to knock down the "hungries" if they creep up, although I am not having that problem so far, knock wood!


*OFF PROTOCOL WARNINGS!!!
1.  I mixed my veggies together (spinach and onions).
2.  I used hot sauce made from cayenne peppers which aren't listed as an allowed food.
3.  Dr. Simeons mentions that it is okay to "occasionally" have cottage cheese made from skimmed milk.  However, having cottage cheese as one of my standard proteins is one of the off-protocol changes that I accept to make this vegetarian-friendly.
4.  Even though Dr. Simeons says vinegar is okay, I have seen folks say that they believe balsamic vinegar has too much sugar and that only plain white vinegar is on protocol.  I did check my particular bottle (Alessi White Balsamic Vinegar) and there is no ADDED sugar in the ingredients list, but there are sugars in the vinegar (from the grapes, I guess?)  So, I now use this very sparingly.  I have heard folks extolling the amazing properties of Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV), so I plan to obtain some Braggs Organic Raw Unfiltered ACV as soon as possible and start using it to dress my salads.
5.  As I mentioned before, the nonfat plain greek yogurt is not mentioned by Dr. Simeons in the protocol and is therefore not allowed. It was something that I decided to add because it is high protein, non-fat, and low sugar/carb.


Til next time... later losers! ;-)

First VLCD in the hole!

Start Weight: 168 lbs
R2P2D2:       170.2 lbs (2.2 lb gain after first loading day)
R2P2D3:       171.7 lbs (1.5 lb gain after second loading day)


Hardly any hunger today -- woo hoo!  That is SUCH a huge change from my last round.  It proves to me that loading properly is important.  I also remember having a killer headache last round at the beginning, and I've had nothing today but the slightest dull ache.  It was a piece of cake!  (Mmmmm... cake...   JUST KIDDING! ;-)


I was very busy today with church and the children's program this evening, then sat and chatted with my parents for hours.  I can honestly say that my mind didn't turn to food one single time, which is amazing.  In fact, I did a "no no" and didn't come close to eating my 500 cals for the day.  It wasn't on purpose -- I was just gone for the majority of the day and got home late, so I was afraid to eat too much late at night.


Lunch was a bowlful of raw spinach mixed with the sections/juice of half of a grapefruit, followed by some (WARNING:  OFF PROTOCOL!!!) fat-free plain greek yogurt with some drops of SweetLeaf Liquid Vanilla Stevia mixed in.  Dinner was an apple (eaten late -- 10pm -- not good, but I was afraid to eat nothing at all).


For you vegetarians out there:  I have used the fat-free plain greek yogurt as one of my proteins throughout Round 1 with seemingly no ill effects.  It is not part of Dr. Simmeons original protocol.  I stumbled upon it while trying to locate suitable vegetarian protein options for myself.  The fat-free greek yogurt was appealing because it was fat free, fairly low cal/low carb, and very high in protein.  The brand that I use is Chobani Plain Non-fat Greek yogurt, and I estimate that I use roughly 5 oz for each serving.  That works out to be about 90 cals, 0g fat, 6g sugar, 14g protein.  I thought that those numbers looked pretty good.  Sugar might be a little high, but I liked the big protein number.  Anyway, that was my own addition, and it seemed to work well for me.  Also, it is very creamy and satisfying, especially with some flavored liquid stevia added in -- yum!  I have only used the Vanilla stevia, but I bet Lemon Drop or Chocolate would be good, too.  One of my favorite "desserts" is mixing the Greek yogurt with Vanilla Stevia, then adding in strawberries and topping off with a crushed piece of Melba toast.  It's like a little strawberry parfait.


Well, it is late (for me, anyway) so I'll close for now.  I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing the numbers go DOWN tomorrow on the scale.  Later losers! :D

Ugh... I hate loading...

Start Weight: 168 lbs
R2P2D2:       170.2 lbs (2.2 lb gain after one loading day)


I am at the end of my second loading day, and boy am I glad. I am miserably and uncomfortably full. Here's a sample of what I've eaten over the last few days:
Coffee and Tea with heavy whipping cream
Chick-Fil-A Egg and Cheese biscuit
Avocados
Cheese (lots of Smoked Gouda, which is my favorite)
Morningstar Farms Buffalo Wings (these are soy -- not chicken) with Ranch dressing
Stuffed Shells from Napoli's Italian Restaurant (VERY rich -- swimming in oil and butter)
Lots of raw almonds, cashews, and walnuts -- every chance I got
A Chipwich Ice Cream Sandwich
Cannoli
Lime Frozen Margarita


Okay, so those last three were not only high in fat but high in sugar (oops!). Hopefully that will not come back to bite me. However, it is kind of nice to get those "craving" type foods/drinks out of your system while you have the chance. But, again, I hope that it won't cause me problems. I truly tried to concentrate most heavily on the "good" fats -- the avocados and nuts. I ate as much of those as I could stomach.


I am sipping some tea now with cream because it is the only thing I can stand to ingest. I hope this means that I did my job and will be able to make it through the next few days without starving. Only time will tell -- I'll let you know!


By the way, my abbreviation above of "R2P2D2" is not some new Star Wars character, but my shorthand version of letting you know where I am in this diet. R2 stands for "Round 2," meaning that I have completed one round of injections and the six weeks of maintenance, and I'm starting on my second round of injections. P2 stands for "Phase 2," which is the phase of the diet where you are taking the HCG injections and/or following the VLCD, or very low calorie diet. The concept of calling the different stages of the diet "Phases" is not mentioned in Dr. Simeons original protocol, but was introduced in Kevin Trudeau's book about the HCG protocol. He differed from Dr. Simeons in that he added a "Phase 1" which is a cleansing/detox phase. Since I am following the original Simeons HCG protocol, I did not do Phase 1 but went straight to Phase 2. For future reference, P3 or Phase 3 refers to the three weeks following the VLCD phase where you increase calories and add fats but continue with no added sugars and no starches. P4 or Phase 4 are the next three weeks (or, if you have lost all the weight you want, your lifetime maintenance) where you s-l-o-w-l-y add back in sugars and starches.


Tomorrow will be my first VLCD of my second round, and I am ready to get started! See all you "losers" later! ;-)

Ready... Set... Go! Time to get loaded!

Today begins round 2 of my HCG weight-loss journey. So, that can only mean one thing: the dreaded "loading days" are upon me. This diet is so counterintuitive to everything you think you know about weight loss.

At first you think: 'Loading days will be so much fun... eat, eat, eat to capacity... the higher the fat content, the better! Yee haw! A free pass to eat anything I want!'

Then you think: 'But I want to LOSE weight... not GAIN it!' It is so hard to stuff yourself once you have fully committed to starting a weight-loss program.

Next, the skepticism creeps in: 'What if this diet doesn't work at all? What if this is some kind of sick joke and I end up gaining ten pounds?'

Well, when I started the last round, that skepticism got the better of me. Even though I had been told by medical professionals that the load days were necessary, and were specifically called for by Dr. Simeons in his protocol, my load days were half-hearted. I indulged in a few treats that I wouldn't normally eat (like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard at the end of my second day), but I mostly ate my normal foods. I certainly didn't "eat to capacity" as required by the protocol. That ended up being a BIG mistake. I was absolutely miserable for the first days.

For those who don't know, the "loading days" are the first two days that you take the HCG injections, and you are supposed to STUFF yourself all day long for those two days. When Dr. Simeons says "eat to capacity," he means it. I did not load well (wrong foods and not NEARLY enough) and, consequently, I was starving and miserable for the first VLCDs (very low calorie days). I really didn't eat a whole lot differently than I usually do, and the bad stuff that I added in were carbs and sugar. The proper way to load is to go VERY HEAVY on FATS, FATS, FATS and MORE FATS. Eat fats until you are stuffed, wait a little, then eat some more! I'm not saying that you can't have sugar and/or carbs, but concentrate on the highest fat stuff you can. This is what I have found in my research: if you don't load, you will be miserably hungry the first few days. If you load heavy but load mostly with carbs/sugars, you will exacerbate your sugar withdrawal (which can be bad) and you will gain huge amounts of weight, AND you will still have some hunger! If you load heavy with fats, you will probably gain weight, but it will all come off in the first day or two and you WON'T be hungry.

For this round, I plan to put this to the test and report back. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to go eat my Chick-Fil-A egg-and-cheese biscuit and drink my coffee with hazelnut stevia drops and heavy whipping cream...

The Journey Begins...

So, here we go... my very first blog entry. Ever. I've always envisioned myself writing a blog, but have never really gotten around to it. My goal here is to chronicle my weight-loss experiences while using the pregnancy hormone HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) in the hopes that I can help others embarking on the same journey. While the majority of my experiences could be useful to anyone who is following Dr. Simeons' HCG Protocol to lose weight, I will also be concentrating specifically on modifications that I must make to the protocol to follow it as a practicing ovo-lacto vegetarian.

I have completed one long round (40 injections + 6 weeks maintenance) and have successfully lost and kept off 31 lbs. I am preparing to start my next round in a few days, and plan to publish my results here as I work my way through this next round. As I gain knowledge from my experiences and from research, I'll publish that here so that I can share it with you. My desire is to help your HCG journey be as smooth as possible.

My first recommendation to you is to READ THE PROTOCOL! It will help you immensely to understand the details of how and why this thing works. (And yes... it DOES work... I'm living proof!) You can find a version of Dr. Simeons' original manuscript here.

I look forward to sharing my journey with you!