Day 2 VLCD After the Fair:)

Hi!
The fair is over. I re-loaded somewhat, started on the hCG and am on day 2 of VLCD for this cycle. I was able to keep 3 pounds off during the fair, which to me is remarkable.
I have lost a total of 5.1 pounds since I started the hCG on Saturday evening and a total total of 7.8 pounds. I am in the 180's finally! WOOHOOO!!!! I feel like I will lose at least 10 pounds the first week in addition to the 3 remaining pounds lost for a total of about 13 pounds!!! Won't be long until I am having the 20 pounds lost party in my Blog!!!

It was amazing to me that i was able to keep off even 3 pounds at the fair. It was hot, 90-100 degrees every day plus I didn't eat on Phase 3 or even try. I ate tons of chocolate covered caramel apples, chocolate covered bananas, fried pies....so much junk!!! But I was moving around a lot so that may have helped some.

I was so excited to get back on protocol, I could hardly wait. On Saturday evening (the night before the last day) I took a dose of hCG. So before my VLCD day 1, I had 5 doses in me instead of 4. I really believe that has helped me with hunger issues so far. Last time the first week was almost unbearable regarding the hunger. I have had some hunger but it is manageable with teas and the cabbage soup:)

I have lowered my initial goal weight from 132 (what i weighed when my DH arrived) to 120 which I think will be a better weight for my frame. Then I will quit smoking and have some extra weight to play with during that first 2 months of quitting.

See? I have it all planned out:) I really am looking forward to being fit and thin and healthy, for once in my life. God has been so good to me and I feel I have disappointed Him in the way I care for myself. He gave me this body and look what I have done with it. I have shown it nothing but disrepect and abuse. Now that I am 48, I feel this is my last chance to turn this around and be able to live a healthy happy life:)

Very happy to be back in the saddle again, enjoying the slide!!! Will post again soon!
Hugs!

Last day of VLCD until after the Fair

Well, I gained a titch from being in oils yesterday but as of tomorrow, the hCG will be out of my system and I will go to phase 3 or basically Atkins induction with the fruit. I only lost a few pounds but lost 3.5" in my waist in this short time!

I definately don't want to gain it back during this soap-making break.

I won't be around much during the fair so won't be blogging. (just in cast my subscribers wonder) hhehehehhehehe

Making Soap and VLCD don't go together

I started gaining weight, although just a little bit, every day I was gaining. I couldn't figure out why I was so hungry, weak, and tired.

I am getting ready for the fair coming up and was making soap. Sticking my hands in palm oils, scooping out coconut oils, getting it all over me. Did think a thing.

A lightbulb went off, finally, and I remembered reading in Dr. Simeon's Manuscript that a woman stalled just by touching her oily make-up with her fingers for a fairly extended time. So I decided to go off Protocol until after the fair. I will be touching fats and oils throughout the fair demonstrating soap-making.

Well.... yesterday I did not make soap or touch oils. Even though I have stopped the hCG, I have to wait 3 days until it is out of my system before i can eat normally so continue on the VLCD. I lost an entire pound!!! No hunger yesterday, no weakness, nothin!!!!

So I conclude that the soap oils were being used as fuel after my 500c were used but before the stored fat was used, therefore making me extremely hungry.

I will be going on Atkins Induction with the addition of 2 fruits, during the next 2 weeks. Then after the fair, I will start on Protocol again.

Lesson: Dr. Simeon's was a smart man. He knew that our skin absorbed the fat even those fats we touch. Do not handle oils continuously while on protocol, you will feel ravenous and not lose weight and will be wasting the hCG.

Off to work on some soap stuff today:)

Day 6 of VLCD

Just wanted to post an update.

I have gained the last 2 days, very little but still gains. The total lost for the 6 days is 3.5 pounds net, which means from the initial weight, not including the gains on loading days. Including loading days, I have lost 4.6 pounds. I have not been regular for days so I believe this is also a reason I have not had a loss.

Yesterday I was starving! I had been working over in my studio sweating profusely. I became fairly weak, shaky and a little dizzy from the hunger. I do constantly drink so I do know I was getting enough fluids. I tried to eat several times in small amounts yesterday but never was able to shake the hunger.

I have decided to increase my dose to .3 twice a day to see if that will curb the hunger. I hope by the weekend, I have those feelings of euphoria again. LOL

I am not giving up. I will continue this protocol. I have seen others loss much more than I have to lose without having any negative repercussions. I will just do it.

I hope tomorrow I will have a loss. I must:) It's time. LOL

Recipe for Taco Salad

7 ounces lean ground beef
Quart of tomatoes- I used organic tomatoes, we grew and froze last summer
1/2 cup water (because the tomatoes were frozen)- omit if using canned tomatoes
2 Tablespoons of dehydrated onion- rehydrated in water
1-2 Teaspoon of minced garlic depending on your tastes
3 Tablespoons or to taste Sugar-Free Taco Seasoning mix - Check Label
1 Teaspoon of Italian Seasoning

Sautee ground beef in minced garlic until done and then drain
Add tomatoes, rehydrated Onions, and Water
Simmer- reduce to half liquid
Add Italian Seasonings and Taco Seasoning and further reduce on simmer until only a bit of liquid is left.

Serve over a large bed of lettuce
Serves 2

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Phase 2

I am using the tomatoes as a fruit
dehydrated onion as a spice
Lettuce as my vegetable
Beef as my protein

What brought me here to hCG....

I wanted to take some time and give a background of me and my weight so anyone reading this will have a better idea of where I am and where I started.

I have always struggled with weight, or at least the perception of weight. As a teen, I developed quicker than anyone else so even though I wasn't really overweight, in my mind, I was.

I yo-yoed for decades! At 48, almost hitting the 200 mark on the scale, I was filled with despair and frustration. I had tried almost every diet known to mankind. I never went for the pre-packaged meal diets but the other ones, I tried.

In the 90's, I did "Quick weight loss" and did very well AND kept it off for several years. Then it crept back on without my being aware.

In the late 90's, I did the Body Ecology Diet and felt wonderful, energetic, and maintained my weight at 132.

Then my DH showed up. I quit food-combining and the weight came back slowly but surely and I hit 171. At that weight, I was diagnosed with a ovarian tumor. So I had a complete hysterectomy. The benign tumor was 9 pounds. After surgery I weighed about 165 but during recooperation, I gained back up to 171. I didn't really worry because I still had a waistline, was happy and just lived.

That was 3 years ago. I didn't go on HRT because of breast cancer in my family so my body began to store fat to produce some estrogen (this is my theory, LOL). I kept adding weight and eventually lost my waist-line. At this time, I also started sculpting polymer clay figurative art and sat on my bum... ALL THE TIME!!! So guess where the weight went? YEP, to my core and my bum!! So there went my waistline and the scales plummeted to 185.

Last year, I decided to quit smoking. I did great! I went 24 days without a cigarette until that one horrible day when I thought I could handle one.... well that's another story!!! But in those 24 days, my weight went up to 198. WOW!! Now even a size 18 was tight! What was I going to do? In my mind, I was at a weight that couldn't be conquered but I wanted to try.

I started on Atkins. Easy diet, healthy and lost about 10 pounds. Then life happened and I went off that diet too. I ended up weighing 195 after gaining the weight back. I was so disappointed that I could not follow the program:(

For months, I just went on, not worrying about my weight.... upset but not doing anything about it!!!

Then someone on a forum, mentioned this 'diet' eating only 500 calories a day and taking something. I thought, there is no way I can only eat 500 calories a day. I will starve to death and it will just continue my yoyoing in my weight. But it did peak my interest so I started my obcessing about the hCG Protocol.

I read Pounds and Inches by Dr. Simeon and watched every YouTube video out there. Then found a lady in a forum I am in who I am actually friends with.... and she is doing the protocol sucessfully. So I ordered it and am doing the protocol, also very sucessfully so far!!!

I will be following all the Phases correctly. I really feel that this is my last time to get to a weight where I comfortable. My goal is 132 but now I am wondering about 128 and have 130 as my alarm weight. When I get to my goal, I will then quit smoking again but not until I am very stable at my weight. One improvement at a time:)

So that's my story. I am grateful for the hCG forum I am involved with because they do not try to improve Simeon's studies. Dr. Simeon worked on this protocol for decades and made decisions based on study, not opinion so it is he that I will follow:)

Day 4 of VLCD-Very Low Calorie Diet

This is crazy! I have lost 4.9 net pounds plus what I gained on loading days for a total of 6 pounds.

I feel fantastic!!! I had read somewhere about the feeling of well-being you get with hCG but I didn't give it too much thought. Then yesterday I felt a sense of energy and actual Joy that I haven't felt in such a long time!!

I am glad that I decided to do the sublingual too. I was suspicious that it wouldn't work this way but it does! No shots!! WOOOHOOOOO!!!

If you decide to do this, just follow Simeon's protocol, know that the hunger will pass and just do it. You can eat practically as much as you can of the vegies allowed so eat them! LOL Also the hot tea does curb the hunger. I am not a big tea drinker, neither hot or cold, but am drinking these hot herbal teas when I am hungry. It really does work! Plus they come in such yummy flavors!!!!

Day One of VLCD

Today is day one of the very low calorie diet. I slept really well last night for the first time in ages and ages, slept until 2PM!!!

I am starving today but have been drinking a lot!! I have some strawberry sweetened water, coffee and have just made some herbal tea. So I have plenty of fluids to try to keep my tummy from being hungry.

I had a salad earlier with chopped up chicken and a home made dressing, which was very good. I will be fixing flank steak for dinner tonight with a huge salad also.

I do wonder if I would be this hungry if I hadn't eaten so much in the past two days. I usually don't eat much until later in the day anyway so it seems like the loading made me 'used' to having food.

I will easily make it though. After taking those before pictures..... it will be pretty easy to continue. I will not expose my starting weight until I have lost a lot of weight! Sorry:)

Loading Day on hCG

Getting ready for the diet protocol part of the hCG protocol.
I have been loading for 2 days now and cannot eat another bite. I hope I am able to eat what I am supposed to eat tomorrow. I did not even want to eat today but forced myself to eat anytime I felt there was room in my stomach.

If anyone stumbles upon my blog and are interested in the hCG Protocol by Dr. Simeon's, I recommend you reading his manuscript thoroughly a couple of times.