HCG Dieter

Back at it!  Let’s not rehash mistakes.   Today’s meals:

Breakfast: venti starbucks, black (learned how to drink black coffee, no more need for creamer/sweetener!)

Lunch: apple. 4 shrimp, lettuce, fat free dressing

Snack: 4 strawberries

Dinner: 1 chicken breast, lettuce, fat free dressing.

Not sure if the dressing is “on protocol.”  It doesn’t have fat, doesn’t have added sugar, I figure it’s as good as vinegar, which I know IS on protocol, but I didn’t bring my apple cider vinegar with me to work.  I will tomorrow, then I can get rid of those question marks.

I found a better delivery dinner place for when I’m at work - you can just get chicken breast with sides (including a side salad). I picked off the cukes and tomatoes, tommorrow I’ll ask for them without.  The chicken breast I didn’t realize was marinated in balsamic - I’ll ask for it dry tomorrow.  Live and learn, it’s a heck of a lot better than my “cheat” weekend.  The cheat weekend actually didn’t go that badly, weight-wise.  Up a pound.  I feel confident that I can get back to Friday’s weight within a day or two.  Yay for HCG!

I’m exhausted, but I think that’s because I had a pretty hectic day.  Still at work hoping to finish up some things that NEED getting done.  I need more hours in the day!

Well, today didn’t go that well.  I left my drops at the office last night and, after working for 48 hours straight (with a 2 hour nap on the floor of my office), I really didn’t want to go back.  I’ll go back tomorrow morning, but after sleeping all day long, I ordered delivery from this Mexican place.  I got nachos and chicken wings.  APPARENTLY, that’s not on the program.  But, in my (very limited) defense, while a month ago I would have eaten it all, I ate maybe a third of the nachos and half of the chicken wings and threw everything else out.  So, there’s that.

Tomorrow I have a good-bye brunch for a good friend who’s moving to DC for a new job.  I plan on trying to sip one drink and get a non-carb-based breakfast.  It’s an asian fusion type place, so it might be tough, but if I can get something egg-based and eat half of it, I’ll be okay.  And then back on protocol starting Monday.  I feel like it probably could have been a lot worse, but it’ll be better if it doesn’t happen again.  I have a friend’s wedding next weekend, so if I can have a “by the book” week, I feel like it’ll be nice to feel confident and slim at a big party.  And not cringe when I see pictures later.  

I’ve been at work for 26 hours, and I have to work through at least 8pm tonight.  So, needless to say, I haven’t weighed in yet.  Haven’t really cheated, except for mixing vegetables, but at this point, I need my energy to get through a crazy week and if that means I pig out and eat cucumbers and onions at the same time like a slot (sarcasm), I guess that’s what I’m going to do. 

Compared to the way I usually react when I am working crazy hours (read: order the most ridiculous delivery order for dinner imaginable.  Big bagel with cream cheese and tomato for breakfast.  Panini with chips for lunch.  Lots of diet coke.  Lots of cigarettes), I know that I’m doing quite well.  I know that this is only a temporary stage in the process, but my clients and my bosses don’t care about temporary stages - they just want the work done well.  Which means that I can’t waste all my time trying to pick out all the peppers out of my salad (although I did do that three nights ago).

I think I figured out the perfect delivery dinner - chicken caesar salad with no cheese, no croutons, dressing on the side (to be thrown out).  Perfect!

A good friend who I haven’t seen in 6 months stopped by my office to say how good I looked.  I lost a touch of weight in July + the recent slimming from the HCG is giving me so much motivation to keep up with this! Yay! Yay! No more mixing cucumbers and salad! I can do it!

Day 7 is upon us (Day 5 of the 500-calorie days, I think I’m going to start numbering the days starting with the low-calorie days from now on).  I am down another pound to 194, for a total of 6 pounds lost.  I can certainly be happy with that.

I noticed that my weight really doesn’t fluctuate that much during the day.  I weigh myself in the morning and the evening and then after dinner, and I am always at almost the exact same weight.  This is so different from how I was before the 500 calorie days - my weight was up and down and left and right.  I think this is because I’m not retaining much water, I don’t have insulin spikes, etc.  It’s really nice and comforting (and also makes me feel like weight loss is “real” and not just a matter of being lucky to weigh myself during an abnormally low point.

My clothes are fitting so much better already.  I notice the most in my waist - I wore a pair of pants yesterday that, I kid you not, a week ago would UPZIP when I would sit down.  Yesterday, I wore them all day without nary a wardrobe malfunction.

Someone mentioned that I looked “really tall” yesterday.  I don’t expect people to notice the weight loss yet (I can’t tell in the mirror, just by the way my clothes feel).  But I’ll take tall!  It can only imply good things to come.

Yesterday, I didn’t get a salad for dinner but rather some ground beef and a mixed greens salad with lemon.  There was cottage cheese (I worked late so I had to order delivery) almost on top of the bunless burger.  I won’t lie and say that I didn’t have the cottage cheese too.  18 hour days of loads of stress make me hungry, what can I say.  Still losing weight, and I will try ordering dinner from another place that won’t throw in surprise cottage cheese.  If it’s not there, I won’t eat it.

I came home from work after 1am last night and cleaned for 45 minutes.  This reminds me of when I was doing Atkins hard-core in college (I lost about 40 pounds, 20 of those pounds were permanent up until about six months ago when I ballooned).  When I was losing a lot of weight in college I went from having something of a disaster of a dorm room to one that was immaculate.  Something about keeping and feeling that my body is “clean” makes me want to surround myself with clean things.  Hopefully that will continue, because I can’t tell you how great it is to come home to a nice clean apartment.  Before when I would come home from work, after eating a ridiculous dinner of a big sandwich and fries or greasy Thai food, I would be so exhausted I could barely turn off the lights.  It’s crazy to think that, only eating 500 calories a day, I have so much energy, but I really do.  I get up at 6 every morning (only a few snoozes!) and am go go go until 2 or 3am.  This is great news for my billables.

I’m going to try to take some progress pictures.  I’ll look for some good “before” pictures - unfortunately I’m quick to delete unflattering photographs so it might be tough.  Otherwise, my progress will have to begin at week 2 (hopefully there will be plenty of progress to evidence a true transformation!).

Meals for today:

Breakfast: drank a bunch of water.  Had an early morning conference call so I couldn’t get my usual venti Starbucks

Lunch: Venti Starbucks, a green salad with red wine vinegar, grilled chicken and chopped apples.  I picked out the cucumbers - I’m trying to be aware of not mixing my veggies (even though, for the life of me, I can’t logically understand how it matters, and that really bothers me.  I just want an explanation!).

Dinner: I’m planning on trying to get a quarter chicken from this Greek place near the office, I’ll remove the skin.  I don’t know how I can ensure that I only get breast meat, though.  I might get a half chicken and just throw out the thigh.  I’ll add a green salad with lemon juice.

I’ve continued not to eat the grissini/melba toast.  I’ll wait until I have a hankering for something new/crunchy/bready, but for now, I don’t feel like I need the extra carbs.  If anyone has any info that the bread is NECESSARY for weight loss, let me know and I’ll force it down :).

Argh.  Okay, okay, my whole thought process that “I can eat off-list low-carb vegetables” and “I can eat an extra 100g of protein” is a LIE.  I’m at a stall, way too early to be a real stall, so, as promised, I am going to go back on 100% protocol.  

Breakfast: Venti Starbucks coffee with 1 tbsp skim milk

Lunch plan: Salad with grilled chicken, cucumbers, apples and vinegar.

Dinner plan: Same salad.

Will have to track down breadsticks/Melba toast (or is that more of a handout to people who can’t function without a little bit of carbs? Because I don’t necessarily need it to function/be happy and would like to omit simple carbohydrates if possible.

Starting weight: 200

Current weight: 195

Day 5 of taking the drops - Day 3 of the 500-calorie diet.

I am down another pound to 195 for a total of 5 pounds lost.  I’m quite happy with that.

I’m realizing that all of my vegetable choices aren’t on the official HCG protocol. I’ve had broccoli and peppers.  But I haven’t been having my fruit or my breadstick, and I am still losing weight, so I will keep using the frozen veggies that I have in my freezer because, well, they’ve been there for the last four months and they need eating!  A few days before finding out that I would be going to Asia for a work trip for 3 months, I went to Trader Joe’s in an attempt to jump start a low-carb eating plan.  That went out the window a few days later, but I still have a well-stocked fridge (well, freezer.  I have a sad fridge that used to be full of tasty healthy food that had to be thrown out when I had to leave).  But, again, I’m back, and I need to not make that entire shopping trip go to waste.  So, until I stall, I’m going to have broccoli and peppers.  If the good Doctor Simeon gave a reason for choosing certain vegetables and excluding other vegetables, I could get behind it 100%.  But I just can’t understand a logical reason to exclude broccoli when asparagus and apples are included.

Again, the second I stall, which I’m sure will happen regardless of the number of broccoli florets I consume, I’ll cut back to only “approved” vegetables.  But I’m losing at a good clip now, so I’ll carry on. 

I’m about to start the first week of low-calorie diet at the office - it’l be interesting to see how it goes.  I’m going to bring my food with me rather than trying to force restaurant foods into the protocol, which means I’m going to prep tonight because I KNOW how I am in the morning (hint: in no mood to prepare food).  It’ll be a challenge, but I’m motivated by my success so far!

I sure hope that this exhaustion I’ve been feeling is a function of a sleepless last week than the HCG.  I had to take a nap again this afternoon.  Even after sleeping all day yesterday, I had no problem falling asleep and staying asleep last night.  Of course, last week WAS crazy, but still - I need to be awake and sharp for work.  

Have been having a pretty bad headache all day, too.  Trying to up my intake of water for now, I might run out and get some aspirin later if it sticks around.

Now for the good news.  Down 4 pounds!  To be honest, I’m still within my “range” that I’ve fluctuated within the last few months, so I’m not quite convinced I’ve actually lost any real weight.  But better to be on the low end of fluctuations than the high end, no?

changeishealthy asked: Hey, just wanted to say welcome to the HCG community. :) Are you working with a doctor or going at it alone? No right/wrong answer- just curious. I'm working with a doctor and I am doing an unlimited Phase 2- meaning I can take the HCG until I lose all the weight I want and then move on to Phase 3 and 4. My doctor says the reason there are limited (23days/42 day) phases is because your body can become immune to the HCG. My work around (my doctor approved) is I do the HCG 6 days in a row and take one day off. So anyway, if you are looking to lose more weight than what is average for a limited phase, that's an option. :)

Wishing you luck! Glad you are on the right track (and Tumblr) :)

-Meagan (http://myhcgdiet.tumblr.com/)

Hi Meagan!  I am doing it on my own - I did a bit of research and really was impressed.  Including a few women who did the HCG diet and then went on to have children (I get a little nervous knowing that it’s a hormone related to pregnancy, as I really do want to have children in the future).  I might work with a doctor if I feel like an extended cycle is needed, but right now I’m going to focus on doing the 42 day phase and seeing how it goes. Thanks for the supporting words!

Today is the first day of the 500-calorie days and, um, I haven’t eaten yet.  I worked 7am to 3am all week on a deal and just slept all day.  I woke up early, took my drops, fell back asleep, woke up around 2pm, took my drops, read a little bit, considered going to the store to get groceries, decided I was way to exhausted and fell back asleep.  And now I’ve been up for a few hours, again, considering what to buy at the store.  I think I’ll run out and get some chicken, asparagus, lemon, apples and the breadsticks that are recommended.  I’ll have one meal-sized portion of chicken and asparagus late tonight.  I know that we’re not supposed to combine all my meals into one giant meal, so I think I’ll have to just live with eating 250-ish calories today.

I’ve lost 2 pounds already!  But I really think it’s more from just finally getting some sleep.  When I don’t sleep, I’m pretty sure that my body just retains water and I get bloated.  Hopefully after a long weekend of sleep, HCG diet, I’ll feel revived and slimmed down.  But I’ll take the weight loss wherever it comes.  Can’t complain!

I’ve been watching youtube videos from other HCG dieters and it’s so inspiring.  I almost want to fast forward to October to see how far I’ve come.  A few more steps between here and then, though :)

I just got the HCG drops this morning.  Today is my first day, first of two “loading days.”  When I read the description of what to do on loading day (“Eat all the fatty foods, burgers and avocado you want!”), I realized that, um, I think I’ve been “loading” for the past three months.  And who’s surprised they’re now busting out of size 14 pants?  I shouldn’t be.  What did I eat?  A brie and tomato sandwich and salt and vinegar potato chips for lunch.  Much coffee.  Dinner will delivery, to my office, eaten at my desk.  Likely a sandwich of some kind, with fries.  Or, if I’m feeling bold, curry, extra spicy.  

So, here begins the journey.  My stats as of the first day:

Height: 5’8

Weight: 200 (on the nose!)

Dress size: 14

I’ve read that the average weight loss with this diet is 20 pounds in a month.  So, with a 42 day cycle, I’m hoping to lose about 30 pounds.  I haven’t been 170 since college, and looking back at pictures, I feel like I look goooood (and had no idea of it, was convinced that I was tubby back then - if only I knew).  I was working out a lot back then, swimming competitively, so I doubt I would look like that even if I hit 170.  But even to get me back to 180 and a size 10 would please me immensely.  In the past two years, since ballooning up to a size 14, I’ve had the distinct impression that I am conspicuously large.  It’s not much of a change, sheer numbers-wise, but I have decidedly gone from a “solid woman with curves” to a “fat woman with a belly.”  That’s been the motivation, to move from a place where my gut reaction on the subway isn’t “everyone is staring at my gut.”  

I have no excuses about the weight gain.  A combination of working long hours, finally having enough money to eat lavishly, a loving boyfriend who thinks I’m attractive, laziness and, well, a constant feeling of “I love the way this tastes, and I would like to eat more of it,” has resulting in me not looking, or feeling, my best.  So I’ll take these last two days as my last two days of ordering whatever looks the tastiest on the menu, regardless of how healthy it is and drinking copious amounts of wine.  I will, indeed, miss the wine.