This round is coming to an end...

Tomorrow will be my last SL dosage day followed by 72 hours VLCDs. Today, I weighed in at 151.8, down 1 pound from yesterday. I lost my data on a spreadsheet- weird computer glitch, but I think my starting weight after loading was around 164. something... so, I lost about the same as last time. I really like these shorter rounds as I lose quite a bit, but I also get a break from the low calorie. My body wants some saturated fat, cod liver oil, and nut butters!

Without counting loading weights, I am loosing over 10 pounds of fat each short round. So, I should be between 140 and 145 at the end of my next round which was my old "Weight Watchers" goal because I could reach that in several months. However, this time, the size I will be at 145ish will not compare to my size at 145 after a few months on WW.

For the rest of my vial of HCG mixed, I prefilled syringes with dosage in them and froze those last week to have May 4th or so when I resume HCG. I am considering using those SL, and then finishing out the rest of the next short round IM because I will be taking a long summer break before my final round in August. Mid- May to early June, I should not have an immunity problem even with my short breaks.

My IM supplies came in from hcgsupplies, and I am just itching to give those a try next time. Someone reported losing better with IM, but that wa son e report. I'd like to see for myself.

All for now! Have a great weekend!

40 days since last photos!

As promised, here are some of my progress photos. If you'd like, go back to my first post in March to see before.

OK, I lied....

When I said "one more thing about body fat percentage...", I did not know about my friend, CC, who would do some real calculating for me so I MUST post one more thing-LOL.

This is what she wrote to the hcgdieters yahoogroup to me:
175 x .43 = 75.25 fat
175 - 75.25 = 99.75
lean155 x .33 = 51.15
fat155 - 51.15 = 103.85 lean
Out of the obvious 20 pounds of weight that you have lost so far (175 -155), that looks like you have lost 24.1 pounds of fat and gained 4.1 pounds of lean body mass to me.Happy dance! CCGuide to Implementing the Weight Loss Cure
As a reader of Joy's blog, you can get my over 100-page eBook for $19.95 by sending it to me at this email address (apracticalidealist@yahoo.com) through PayPal "Send Money" tab on www.paypal.com. Then I email you the eBook.

Remember, impedance scales for determining body fat are not the most accurate method so there is some +/- to these numbers. Considering 2 days ago, I thought I had only lost 15 pounds or less of fat, these numbers look VERY good to me and actually reflect the changes in my body shape more accurately.

Kudos to hcgsupplies.com

HCGSupplies is one of the HCG Challenge sponsors, along with drugdelivery.ca, and CC, author of The Guide to Implementing an HCG diet.

HCGSupplies has the all inclusive packages for injections- everything except the HCG. I was so nervous at first about this diet, that I think I could not have put a proper package together withthe right size needles and syringes for mixing, the bacteriostatic water, the mxing bottles which are vacuum sealed, alcohol prep pads, and daily injection stuffs. Getting my package from hcgsupplies put my mind at ease when the HCg arrived and it was time for mixing- I purchased my subcutaneous kit through www.hcgsupplies.com before being chosen for the challenge. It just made sense to me- one stop shopping.

I might add also, GREAT customer service as there was a miscommunication between dd.ca and hcgsupplies last week as to what kit I wanted for the rest of my rounds; there is no wonder there was a mix up- with all my experimenting with different methods-LOL. After receiving the wrong syringes, and emailing, I promptly received an apologetic and reassuring email that the right syringes would be going out tomorrow.

Isn't it nice to be able to "complain" about a problem with an order and know that the answer will not be defensive but an answer of service and making things right, right away?

Many thanks again to all the HCG Challenge sponsors for being super supportive with such refreshing customer service.

one more post about body fat percentage...

Ok, so I did a little figurin', and it looks like I have lost between 17 and 18 pounds of fat with 2-3 pounds of "other than fat" lost.

Body Fat Percentages...a victory with the scales.

Ok, so I was thinking my body fat percentages were not going down sufficiently, and was discouraged to be seeing some "other than fat" loss on my scale.

However, I got a wild hare and decided to weigh right before bedtime when I discovered a hydrated, fed body has a much lower body fat percentage than a fasted and dehydrated one in the AM. This made me recall that the scale said to get a more accurate body fat percentage, to weight when hydrated and fed- midday, I think.

So, instead of my body fat percentage only being down 5%, it is really down 10%!!!!

Yay!

Cheating!

Well, I met my match yesterday. All along, I have been baking healthy desserts for the family and not really having much of a problem, but yesterday, I did succumb to tasting about a grain of rice sized piece of cake batter from my youngest boy's birthday cake, after which I did the same with my homemade frosting ( made with honey and palm shortening-healthy!).

I truly expected a gain, but only showed a no loss this AM. It was also my day 2 of TOM- ugh.

April 20, 2000 was the day when my youngest, Truman, was born with a 50/50 chance of survival. 3 months in the NICU and several surgeries, and we had him home, thank God.

He had a tough day yesterday, and I think Truman has a deep memory of being taken from the safety of the womb to a mass of tubes and wires, and stitches, drugs, and....poor fella. At 8 years old, he expressed that his life was "bad", we talked about it, and all he could pinpoint was that his oldest brother was mean to him. He was able to name many more things for which he was grateful, and definitely perked up when I put the frosting on his cake and scooped homemade ice cream into his miniature bundt cake.

I think sometimes, we cycle into sad memories on anniversaries, and it is important to recognize as well as we can, but also to look at now, live in the moment ( as my friend Kimberlie says), and give thanks for what we can both past and present.

We should not deny or minimize the past but know it is part of our journey and not who we are. Truman is not just a kid who had many surgeries- that is an understatement!

Compliments from strangers and friends...

I went to a local event that is touted for its food portion. I prepared and brought celery sticks and 100 grams of cooked shrimp in the case I was tempted to go off protocol.

Well, as I was leaving, a booth was set up, and these girls were eating Sonic food which I thought was weird with all the food inside. I showed them my secret weapon: celery. We all laughed, and I told them I was dieting. One girl asked what my goal weight was; I told her it is 125 to which she replied, "well, you're getting close, aren't you? Look at you all trim." Either she was full of compliments, or I look thinner than I ever have at 155 pounds. I tend to lean towards the latter, that HCG weight loss is so FAT specific that the inches lost are amazing.

Another friend dropped by today with some goodies she picked up for me at Whole Foods, and she had not seen me in a couple of weeks, and I was telling her about my compliment form a stranger to which she said, "I can see how you've lost...you look like a shadow of your former self..."

Keep the compliments coming, folks. Maybe in the next week, I'll post some progess photos!

Dem Bones...Dem Bones

A young mom brought her baby over yesterday to one of my scrapbooking classes. Mr. Jakob has been coming to class for 5 or 6 months, and he just got his first tooth. "It just peeked through a couple of days ago", his Mommy remarked.

I had an Aunt Bobbie who was really a 2nd cousin, but her age made her more of an Aunt. Aunt Bobbie was always a very large woman as well as a fat child. As my Mamaw used to say, she had "gobby fat" which translates into obesity.

Aunt Bobbie fell ill once in her thirties and was hospitalized for an extended period of time. During this stay, she lost 40 pounds or more. My Mamaw used to love to tell the story of when Aunt Bobbie knew she was going to die in that hospital. She was in her hospital bed when she discovered some protrusions jutting from her abdomen. Knowing it it must be cancer or something equally deadly, she started screaming for the nurse. (Aunt Bobbie was never a quiet and on the loud side anyway.) The nurse came in; Aunt Bobbie threw off the bed sheet, pointed to her abdomen and said, "I must be dieing, look at this!" The nurse did all she could to not laugh, but she was happy to tell Aunt Bobbie that those were her hip bones.

So back to Jakob's teeth just popping out one day, I am anticipating waking up soon to my hip bones just popping out one morning. Right now, I can feel them just waiting to peek through. However, I will actually know what these are!

Getting out of same foods rut...

Last night, I had 1 egg plus 3 whites last night with some fresh garlic because my chicken had not thawed. Dr. Simeon said this could be done "on occasion" if the patient was sick of meat. This would never be the case with me- just nothing thawed!

I had a nice loss today so I plan on doing an egg thing maybe every 10 days or twice/short round just to change things up. Which brings me to a thought- changing up the routine-could it help weight loss?

My friend who is doing SL, bought some oranges maybe 1o days into her P2, the day after her first orange ( not on original protocol but part of Kevin Trudeau's system), she had her best loss (excepting the first few days VLCD.) This caused me to consider that maybe the change had helped her.

My first short P2, I tended to kind of do the same over and over- not duplicating meals the SAME day, but same stuff day after day at the same times. Shrimp and cucumbers, grapefruit and apples, cabbage or spinach and chicken breast plus celery here and there...over and over. I did have some fish as well as buffalo steak, but my fruits and veggies were very much the same.

While I liked not thinking of what to eat or how many calories "new" food would be, I think I'll prefer greater loss by changing the routine more. I seem to recall something from my old Weight Watchers days about changing calorie amounts to jiggle the metabolism to not just get set with one calorie amount. Maybe that applies to food choices as well?

Tonight, I made chili and wrapped it in some lettuce leaves.
Chili:
100grams buffalo
1/2 T chili powder
less than 1 t cumin
dash of garlic powder
1/3 cup organic Italian strained tomatoes

Ok, I must admit, I didn't exactly measure the spices, but I did measure the strained tomatoes.

Sublingual Method

I am 6 days into my Phase 2 Round 2, P2R2D6, and down almost 4 pounds after 4 VLCDs.

I am not noticing any big dfference with hunger, cravings, and such from last rund with the exception that grapefruit made me hungrier the first day and a touch of hunger after eating a half of a grapefruit yesterday.

Once again, it took me a little over 3 days of VLCD to regain full energy, and I suspect that is due to the body having to switch over to ketosis and utilize the fat burning as fuel of choice.

One thing I discovered was the controversial short HCg rounds are being used only by sublingual subjects so I may have goofed a bit by going subcutaneous first short round in terms of immunity.

With that said though, 21 days of injections followed by 72 hours of VLCD and 7 days off injections, followed by 21 days sublingual will probably not buy me much immunity in the long run since classic protocol ran for 6 weeks anyway.

Today, I put on a pair of jeans which were uncomfortably tight about a year ago and which I could not properly button and zip in more than 6 months. They just glided on with a bit of sag. I love how they look on me and how good I feel in those jeans!

Pioneer vs the Authority

I am also of that experimental/pioneer, gotta know WHY brand of person. With that said, I appreciate Dr. Simeon's decades of research and dedication to understanding HCG and its effect on obesity patients.

Because of my "why/why not" tendencies, I guess Simeon is becoming one of those people on my list of "if you could travel back in time and spend a day with someone who has passed away, who would that be..." While Larry King was interviewing Mary, Mother of Jesus of Nazareth, asking her about the virgin birth, I might be spending the day with Dr. Simeon- inquiring about why not bell peppers or why tomatoes count as a vegetable-LOL.

I am trying the controversial short round to get through my first 2 rounds, but I plan to finish my last Phase2-4 CLASSIC Simeon's because he was "da man" with the techniques and answers. While I will enjoy playing researcher with the shorter rounds, different dosages, doing one round subcutaneous, going sublingual for one, I know that ultimately my success long term depends on following the classic protocol P2 125 iu IM with a strict P3 P4 transition.

While the HCG protocol food list looked terribly restrictive to me before I experienced my first round of HCG, I grew to love the boundries- almost to the point of making the list smaller for me to make it easier. My mind on HCG was so far from food that even having to choose from the short list was difficult. This is just something a newbie will have to experience to believe it.

So many things I researched and read from the "original" as well as from members of this group, and while I believed everything because of sheer volume of testimonies, I had to EXPERIENCE it to really believe that eating 2 fruits, 200 grams of protein, and a short list of vegetables each day would keep me satisfied.

Gorgefest and memories of the Vitamin D diet....

R2P2 is underway with today being load day 1. My loading has been less than enthusiastic as the memories from last round's load have not faded much; the feeling way too full and miserable is something I'd like to avoid.

This round's load, I am taking more enzymes to better help my poor liver deal with all the fat intake as well as going heavier on protein. give me an "M", give me an "E", give me an "A", give me a "T"...what does that spell???? MEAT!!!!

My special treat is homemade peanut butter/almond flour cookies, sweetened with honey which should be avoided on the short rounds, but I felt like I needed this boost for something sweet. Beats the heck out of a doughnut which brings me to the vitamin D diet.

Have you ever heard of the vitamin D diet? Well, it guarantees gaining 30 pounds in 30 days: Dr. Pepper and Doughnuts!!! wha-ha-ha-ha.....

I almost followed this "diet" several years ago: I'd buy a 20 ounce DP going through the Doughnut Palace (how regal) drivethrough along with 2 dozen doughnut holes- slightly heated- right before I dropped my youngest off at Montessori School. I gobble down the holes on my way home- chugging the DP to avoid major fat build-up in my throat, and by the time I arrived home, I'd about pass out from the sugar and unspeakable hydrogenated goodness I consumed. I think I gained about 30 pounds in 3 or 4 months doing this one action, not to mention the semi-comatose condition I'd be in for the rest of the day, basically utilizing Dr. Pepper as my fuel of choice. I am not 100% sure, but I think I even wound up watching daytime soaps during this period. I was a part of the Young and the Useless in this semi-vegetative state!

Gosh, this walk down memory lane reminds me a bit of Supersize Me! Hubby and I watched our second Netflix rental No Country for Old Men last night with Tommy Lee Jones who I think is hot for a man who obviously consumes way too much booze who obviously had some really bad skin in his teen years. I just love his real West Texas accent. I am a sucker for accents, y'all.

Supersize Me

My family joined Netflix past week, and one of the first movies on my list was Supersize Me. What a wonderful movie to watch when dieting; actually Kevin Trudeau prescribes watching this movie once in awhile to undo some of the brainwashing we receive as Americans. Personally, I prefer to not watch commercials as I do get "food" cravings from the powerful Madison Avenue messages for foods which I KNOW are crap, excuse the "C" word, please.

In Kevin Trudeau's book, The Weight Loss Cure, he recommends NOT watching TV commercials for food for Phase 4. A remedy to not watch commercials is a DVR or TiVo. (I have a TiVo sticker on my car-LOL). Often when in a group, someone will talk about such and such a funny commercial, but I have never seen it thanks to my digital video recorder, so I'll say, "never seen that one". At which point, they look at me and ask, "do you HAVE a TV?" "Yes, I do have a TV, but I never watch commercials, but that one you just described sounds very funny!"

I think I have to pay $5 a month for this service, but a copay to a doctor's visit is $30, and that is only about 6 months of TiVo cost! I firmly believe that what I consume will affect my health as did the father of medicine Hippocrates so I choose not to be brainwashed by the media to eat lifeless "food" like Tyson's chicken nuggets which promises that my children and their friends will stand up and give me praise when I serve them Tyson chicken-LOL.

"Let food be thy medicine, and let thy medicine be food." Hippocrates

Weight seems stable....ready for P2 Sublingual this time..

I'm about .8 pounds over LIW. Thursday will be my next loading day. Honestly, I am not enjoying P3 as much as I'd thought; being worried about gaining even though I secretly hoped for a steak day-LOL. Three grassfed ribeye steaks await consumption between today and Friday! Yummy and good for loading.

I am excited about doing a sublingual round. My first round was via subcutaneous injection. Sublingual will not be injected under the tongue but squirted and absorbed ito the membranes. According to a nurse I talked with last night, sublingual absorbs better than subcutaneous.

I chose sublingual, SL, for my second round as SL supposed to have less chance of immunity to the HCG building up. Therefore, with my short rounds with short P3s, I should not have as much immunity possibility going into my last P2 round for IM for greater than 23 days.

Have a nice day!