R1P3D20

Weight: 169.8 (-0.0, -3.8 LDW, -28.8)

Sorry I didn't update yesterday. I worked in the morning and then when I got home I had a lot of stuff I had to do before I went out last night for a while. I went to the movies but I had no snacks whatsoever! Good for me :) So I didn't update yesterday, but I weighed the same as I did today. So exciting to be out of the 170's! I'm not only 2.8 pounds from being withing the "normal weight range" for my height and body frame. So that's pretty exciting! I'm still nervous for P4. I really don't want to go up any now that I've lost almost 29 pounds, you know? I figure, the lower I can get, the better. It'll be less I'll have to lose during my second round. I don't think I'm going to put a number on my weight loss goal for my R2P2, I think I'm just going to say my goal is to get as low as I can without going under 145, I think that's reasonable because my "ideal weight range" is like 147-167, so really anywhere in there would be good.

I got up yesterday and today and rode my bike. It's getting HOT outside. But sweating is good, and exercising is better. I'm still dealing with a lot of self esteem issues with my body (namely my flabby stomach that doesn't seem to want to go away) but I figure as I continue to lose weight that the fat will go away and then I'll be able to tone up and look good. These are what I see as the main problem areas on my body:

Stomach: Belly "pooch" and love handles (though they've both gotten drastically smaller)
Thighs: Very large and flabby especially on the inside of my thighs
Arms: Flabby triceps

So my mom and I have pretty much decided that we're both going to do the real HCG this time. We'll be doing injections and we'll do a 43 day round. I'm excited at the potential of losing even more weight. I also believe that doing the injections will be a lot more convenient because you only need to do it once I day and then you don't have to worry about it anymore.

I think that's all for my updates today. I'll be posting tomorrow :)

R1P3D18

Weight: 170.4 (-0.8, - 3.2 LDW, - 28.2)

Hey everybody, sorry I didn't update yesterday, I wasn't around my computer. I weighed in yesterday at 171.2 (same as the day before), and I had a loss today. I didn't exercise today or yesterday because I haven't been able to, but I haven't been getting my 1500 calories in like I should be. I reeeally need to go to the grocery store. I'm going to go tomorrow probably.

So I'm supposed to be going into P4 on Monday...but I'm a little nervous about it! I'm supposed to be adding carbs back in, but I'm afraid to. I don't want to gain any weight back. Maybe I'll just stay on the no carb thing, maybe having a few here and there. I'm not sure yet. I just have anxiety about it.

Okay, well I'm sleepy because I worked all day today. I'm gonna hit the sack so I can get up early so I can ride my bike. I haven't done that in a few days and I miss it.

R1P3D16

Weight: 171.2 (-0.0, -2.4 LDW, -26.6)

So I'm holding steady it would seem. I went on a 30+ minute bike ride this morning, so that was nice. I had my usual breakfast of an omelet, but today I put some grilled chicken inside! Yummy! I also had some strawberries too. For lunch I had my favorite chicken taco salad (-minus the shell of course). I'm getting spoiled on that stuff! It's yummy! I don't know what I'm gonna eat for dinner yet. Maybe salmon and broccoli since that's pretty simple to do. Plus salmon is chock full of good for you stuff :)

I'm off work tonight, so I'm pretty excited about that. I think I'll just take it easy tonight!

R1P3D15 (Quick Update)

Weight: 171.2 (-1.?, -2.4 LDW, -27.4)

Okay, so I can't remember what I weighed yesterday but I want to say it was like 172.8 maybe? Needless to say the "aftermath" of a night of drinking isn't so much in the next day, but the day after that. I forgot that the body is dehydrated and will hold on to everything. I was very discouraged, but I ate right yesterday and today and dropped down a little bit more :) I'm still vlogging away on Youtube. It's a lot of fun! I'm meeting lots of nice people and everyone is so supportive.

I worked all day today so I'm pretty worn out right now. I wore my handy dandy pedometer again today (because I worked a double) although it wasn't as much as last time I wore it, it was still pretty good I'd say! Here are my results:

Steps Taken: 16,808
Miles Walked: 7.958
Calories Burned: 453.8

Woohoo! I also rode my bike today too, so I got myself a good little workout I'd say :) Well that's all for tonight. I'm going to upload a vlog and then probably hit the sack!

R1P3D13 - The Aftermath (Dun Dun Duuuuun....)

Weight: 170.8 (-0.4, -2.8 LDW, -27.8)

What the what?! I don't know man. And I drank a lot last night too! I was drinking my Skyy and waters though, so it wasn't anything too heavy. I dunno. I'm pretty far under my LDW. I'm not sure what to think about that. Should I try to gain the weight back? Hmmm. I know I'm supposed to be stabilizing my weight. I don't know, I'll leave that open to interpretation.

Anywho, last night was SO MUCH FUN!!!! I totally think I needed that. If you watched my vlog from yesterday, you know that I was in a grumpy mood all day. I'm definitely glad I went though, it was so much fun. Did I mention it was fun? Yeah :)

So I'm off today. I've made a couple vlogs, I'm gonna link the first one here because the second one I made was a video about P2. Hope you have a great weekend!

R1P3D12 (TGIF!)

Weight: 171.4!!! (-1.6, -2.2 LDW, -27.2)

So I lost a little bit of weight, lol. I'll admit, I did an apple and cheese day yesterday because I worked for literally 11 1/2 hours. I don't have time to cook things or even heat things up when I work all day and especially when I'm bartending, so I bring things to work that I can just cut up and pop in my mouth when I have time to. If you don't know, an apple and cheese day is (according to some people) the equivalent to a steak day. I didn't think to up the portions a little bit so that I wouldn't lose weight. Whoops. But I'm not really complaining.

I just did another vlog! I really enjoy doing it. They're a lot of fun! I've already gotten so much support from other HCGers on Youtube. It's great! I definitely don't feel alone doing this diet!

Check it out: www.youtube.com/user/mizrachelb

I'm going out tonight with a bunch of people from work. We're going to a karaoke bar and it's going to be so much fun! I can't wait :) I'm gonna drink a little, but I'll probably stick to my Skyy and waters with truvia and lemon. My version of the "Skinny B****" drink, lol. I'll probably be vlogging some more tomorrow, so I'll see you then!

R1P3D11 (A Quick Update)

Weight: 173.0 (-0.8, -0.6 LDW, -25.6)

Hey everyone, just a quick update. It's already past midnight so I'm gonna make it fast. I worked an extremely long day today and I'm pooped! As you can see, my weight went back down again. I really think it's the water that I retained. This weird TOM is just messing me up. I decided to stop taking my birth control pills and just let it happen (because up until yesterday I was still taking them, but still having bleeding, so I just stopped). I'm in a weird situation health-wise that I have to take the kind of birth control that you only have 4 periods a year. Kind of weird, but also kind of nice. Sometimes it's good not to have to mess with it every month. So I think that's had a lot to do with the up and down-ness of these past couple of days. Just wanted to update on my weight before I went to bed. I only work at lunch tomorrow so I'll have more time to write a better post. I'll probably record a vlog too! If you haven't already, check out my Youtube channel:

www.youtube.com/user/mizrachelb

Good night!

Starting to Vlog

Hello readers! (If there are any of you out there, lol) Just wanted to let you know that I'm going to start making vlogs too. You can find me on Youtube here:

www.youtube.com/user/MizRachelB

Please check it out! Or if you've come here from Youtube, please check out my entries! I update daily (or try to, lol) on my dieting, and I also write the occaisional informational blogs about various HCG related stuff.

Enjoy!

R1P3D10 (A Fluke?)

Weight: 173.8 (+1.8, +0.2 LDW, -24.8)

Okay...so...obviously if you compare the two numbers (weight from today, weight from yesterday), you'll notice that there's a HUGE difference. Now, I find it very hard to believe with my calorie intake yesterday and my calories burned that I managed to gain that much weight. That being said, I think it's more likely that:

(a) my body is holding water, with my weird TOM
(b) the weight from this morning isn't entirely accurate since I didn't have a proper morning bathroom visit today
(c) maybe the weight from yesterday was a fluke

All that aside, I'm not too entirely bummed out about where it is, except that it's up so far from what the scale reported yesterday. I mean, let's look at it logically. It's only 0.2 lbs up from my LDW, which is very good. That means I'm still maintaining well. Another thing that makes me think the scale may be having a wonky day was what I said about weighing myself at night. Last night at a relatively early time (10:15-ish?) I weighed and the scale said 174.4. Normally whatever my weight is at night is usually taken down by at least 2 pounds the next day. That would put me at at least 172.2. So I'm not sure about that either. I forgot, but yesterday I used a but load of Splenda, which I found out contains a lot of sugar alcohols that can actually cause you to retain water. Greeeeat. So I think that's my problem.

Anywho, I'm not sweating it, just wondering what's up. I found a great quote in an e-mail update from an HCG forum that I'm a part of that perfectly describes how I feel today:

"If you think of this as a marathon, with hills and valleys, you'll do much better with the little gains than if you think of this as a sprint"

So true. So I'm not gonna sweat today, we'll see how tomorrow fares.

R1P3D9

Weight: 172.0 (-1.2, -1.6 LDW, -26.6)

So I had a big weight loss today! I woke up this morning because I had to use the restroom reeeeally bad (TMI, so sorry!). I usually take milk of magnesia every other day or so to help me...you know. Anyway, I weighed myself afterwards, as you're supposed to, and I weight 172.0! That's a big loss, but I'm not surprised after yesterday. I took in around 1500 calories, but with my bike ride burning about 250 calories and all that walking I did burning almost 500, my net calories were less than 1000. I know that I'm not supposed to do that, but I can't help it. I like riding my bike in the morning because it gets me going for the day. I may hold off on it tomorrow morning depending on my weigh in. I did bike this morning, not as long, only about 20 minutes. I wore my pedometer to work again today. Here are today's stats:

Steps Taken: 11,326
Miles Walked: 5.362
Calories Burned: 305.8

I didn't work as long today, that's why it's less than yesterday (my 11 1/2 hour day...geeeez.) but I still think it's pretty respectable. Those calories burned plus the about 200 from my bike ride this morning still put me at about 1,000 net calories for the day, so we'll see how the weigh in goes tomorrow morning.

I sometimes weigh myself at night, just out of curiosity. Usually when I weigh, whatever that weight is goes down by about 2 1/2 pounds the next morning. It's gone down as much as 3 before though. When I weighed myself tonight right before I got in the shower (about an hour ago) the scale read 174.4. I imagine, unless I retain some water or something, that my weight will be about the same as it was today. I have to be careful not to lose too much weight though. If I do I may have to start easing up on the bike riding and maybe focusing on some toning exercises, which I should probably be doing anyway. I feel like my stomach is really flabby and that bugs me.

Tomorrow I only work at lunch, so I'm going to write a post about my latest wonderings: homeopathic drops vs. injections. Should be inneresting.

R1P3D8 (Late Night Update)

Weight: 173.2 (-0.2, -0.4 LDW, -25.4)

This is going to be a quick update because I am BEAT! I'm so tired from work. I worked for almost 11 1/2 hours today. I was super happy with my weigh-in today. Yay me! I did my bike ride this morning, but not as long, only about 23 minutes or so. I got this really cool pedometer at the store the other day. It counts steps, miles, and calories! I didn't put it on until right before I left to go to work, and I didn't take it off until I got home...and the results are:

Steps Taken: 18,366
Miles Walked: 8.696
Calories Burned: 495.8

Pretty neat, huh? And better yet, it only cost me $8! Okay...I'm about to fall asleep, so off to bed I go. Sorry this is so short!

R1P3D7 (A Good Day)

Weight: 173.4 (-0.2, -0.2 LDW, -25.2)

So that was a nice little loss today! I'm pretty happy about that. I'm actually pretty happy about my first week of P3. I was a little concerned at first with the weight fluctuating like it was, but I think it was just my body getting used to being off the HCG. I had a good day today. I woke up relatively early (like 8:30) and went on a bike ride. It's still super hot, for the record. When I got back I had to get in the shower to cool down. I made my usual breakfast, an omelet with Morningstar Farms sausage links. I also had some strawberries that I sprinkled with Truvia (yummy!)

I tried my first T-Tapp workout today! I just did the very first video, Instructional #1, to get used to doing the exercises. It says you're supposed to do that video at least 7 times before moving on to the next one so that you can really get to know the moves well. I'm so excited to stick with this because I really want to do a bootcamp to really lose some inches! But if I want to do that I have to learn all of Instructional #1, the Basic Workout Plus (that's just the instructional without the instruction...if that makes sense), and Instructional #2. Theeeeen I have to be able to do everything together without instruction. Then Boot Camp! Patience is a virtue that I really don't possess...it'll probably be at least 3 weeks before I'm ready to do a boot camp. There have been people who've lost lots of inches just from doing the Basic Workout Plus though! So there's always that :) Some inches are better than no inches at all, right?

Another exciting thing I did today, I made a calendar to kind of plan out my HCG dieting. It's super helpful because it's helping me really get a handle on the time frame of all this. If I follow the break time exactly, alotting 6 full weeks, then going back for round 2, I should finish round 2 (hypothetically) the first week of October, with my P3 ending 3 days before Halloween. Sounds pretty perfect to me!

I want to print off all this stuff that I'm making (because I keep track of my weight and thoughts in a Word document, too) and put it in a notebook or something. I know it doesn't really make sense, but I think it would be kind of nice to be able to have a notebook that has everything in it. Plus I could print out research that I find or interesting stuff, plus I could chart my weight loss on Excel and put that in there...the possibilities are endless!

So today was a good day. My only concern was that I ate dinner WAY later than I wanted to. I was aiming for about 6:30, I didn't really get to eat until 8:00 because I got so busy at work. I had my Mexican Chicken dish again. It was SO GOOD. But I didn't get to eat it all...someone threw the last of it away. There wasn't much left, but still...I was quite sad.

Okay, I think I'm about to hit the sack. I think I'm going to get up early tomorrow and ride my bike, but probably not for as long as usually do. Maybe only 20 or 25 minutes. I don't want to get too sweaty before I have to go to work :)

Best Lunch EVURRRR

Oh my gosh so I had to write about this lunch I just made. I dreamed this up yesterday while at work (so many temptations working at a restaurant, lol) Here's what I did: I took 4 Tyson chicken breast tenderloin (approx. 200 cal for all 4, a serving is 2 at 100 cal) and I just grilled them in a pan in some Best Life Buttery Spread. When they had cooked all the way I added some of this cheesy taco seasoning I had found, 15 cal per serving, and 1/4 milk to make it a sauce, brought it to a boil and let it simmer until the sauce thickened.

I then took my "mexican chicken" and put it on a bed of shredded lettuce (probably about a cup or a cup and a half or so, I didn't really measure I just grabbed a handful) to which I added 3 tablespoons of sour cream (about 90 cal) and 2 tablespoons of my favorite brand of guacamole, Wholly Guacamole (all natural, 60 cal, tastes SO GOOD!). I also found some Taco Bell brand restaurant sauce (basically what comes in the packets) at the store today...ZERO calories! Yes! So I poured some of that on top and then I mixed it AAAAALL together and chowed down. It was AMAZING! And I think all in all I came in at about 360 calories for the whole meal, which is about right for my alotted amount. I am so stuffed now!

R1P3D6 (Wonky Scale?)

Weight: 173.6 (-0.4, @LDW, -25.0)

So I didn't get an opportunity to post last night. I knew I wouldn't because I had to stay at work until 11:00, then I didn't end up leaving until about 11:30, so I got home right at about midnight. I was exhausted! But before I went to bed...what did I see?

A PACKAGE!!

And what was in that package, you might ask?

MY NEW WORKOUT DVD'S!

I'm SO excited to share with you guys about this workout! I've heard SO many good things and I'm absolutely ecstatic to try it for myself. It's called T-Tapp. I read about it on a website about HCG. The website said it was a good workout to do while you're on HCG because it helps promote inch loss, and not so much weight loss. I thought, "Well hey, that'd be great for me since I'm just trying to stabilize my weight anyway!

So back about a month or so ago when I first heard about it, I ordered Teresa Tapp's (the founder of T-Tapp) book called "Fit and Fabulous in 15 minutes". The book was fascinating, empowering, and exciting! There were so many amazing success stories! This workout can do SO much more for you than just help you lose inches! It heals your body! Needless to say, I was pretty darn excited. Well, in the back of the book is a coupon that you can mail in for 30% off your next T-Tapp order! So I called the office and ordered the Total Workout DVD set. You get all the basic workouts, plus the next step up workouts, plus a 90 minute DVD of her seminar, plus a radio interview that she did...I can't even think of everything you get without having to look! Lol. It's normally priced at about $70, well with my 30% off, I ended up getting it for around $47. What a deal! And if it does what people say it does (and I believe it will) it will be MORE than worth it. I'm so excited about this!

I already went on a bike ride this morning. I biked for 35 minutes, which I calculated using my calorie count program burned about 350 calories, which is more than my breakfast that I made today.

So now about the post title. I seriously thought my scale was going to kick the bucket. I woke up yesterday to weigh myself, and it said I weighed like 175.6 or something, which was like 1.6 pounds up from what I was! Well I was convinced that it wasn't right so I weighed again. This time it said something like 174.4. Well then I weighed again. A different weight. I did this about...ten times. I ended up getting 174.0 three times in a row the last three times I weighed, so I just went with that, because that seemed the most logical (I was at 174.0 the previous day as well). I went and bought a new battery for it just in case. Another thing that made me think it was off was that usually when I weigh, I'll weigh naked. Sometimes I weigh in my PJs (which is just a big t-shirt and some OU shorts) and I know that when I weigh in those clothes I have to subtract 0.6 lbs for the weight of the clothes. Well when I was weighing yesterday I was weighing in the clothes and out of them and it wasn't registering a change. Today when I tried again, the 0.6 lb difference was there, so I think the battery was just probably old.

I should probably get a better scale. Right now I'm using the cheapest digital scale that Walmart had (I'm so cheap...). I find that as I'm getting more serious about this weight loss stuff, I want a more reliable scale. I need to go to the store today, so I'll probably check out a better scale when I'm there.

Okay, that was a good long post to make up for not doing one yesterday! I'm going to pop in one of my new DVDs and check it out! I'm so excited!

R1P3D4 (A quick update)

Weight: 174.0 (+1.0, +0.6 LDW, -24.6)

It's sooo late. I didn't get home from work until about 11:40 and I had to jump in the shower, and now it's after 12:00. I should really get to sleep but I wanted to write a quick update. I had a gain today :( I wasn't too happy about that, but it really makes me think about what I'm eating. I'm convinced that it was what I had for lunch yesterday. At my work, apparently before they grill chicken on the flat top they slather it in butter. Didn't know that. And then last night while I was making cookies for one of my regulars, I did have a little taste of the batter. In my defense, I felt so bad that at 10:30 at night, I went and put on my workout clothes and ran 1/2 a mile! I guess it didn't really make much difference though!

Today I tried out the P3 "Apple & Cheese" day. Like the Apple Day of P2, except that with each two apples that you eat, you also eat 2 ounces of cheese. I kind of modified it and had the 6 ounces of cheese, but only 5 apples and a protein bar. I finished my protein bar early, like 4:00, and that was the last thing I ate today because I was so busy at work tonight. Phew. I'm exhausted right now. Tomorrow will be a long night too. I'm closing again, which won't be until 11:00 tomorrow, so I don't think I'll have time to post, but maybe when I post on Saturday I'll have good news to share :)

To bed!

R1P3D3 (Big Release Today!)

Weight: 173.0!! (-1.8, -0.4 LDW, -25.6)

What a suprise when I woke up this morning! I woke up early to make breakfast before I went to work, was a little sick to my stomach initially, but I weighed myself after I went to the bathroom (like always) and this is what the scale said! I even weighed two more times just to make sure it was actually right, I just couldn't believe it! I think I'd have to attribute this loss to working out yesterday. I biked and then did an ab workout with my sis. I also made sure to eat all day long, just little snacks here and there, and my big meals, so hopefully that was helping to keep my metabolism up and boosted. Also, I ended the night with a pretty protein-heavy meal (I had 200 g of grilled salmon and a side of broccoli). I stayed up a little later than I wanted, but I guess that didn't really make a difference. It's really bizarre that I lost so much weight. I guess my body did just need time to adjust to the amount of calories I was taking in. I think working out helped too.

Whew. I just got back from another bike ride, this one in the HEAT of the day and boy am I hot now. I made myself a blended protein shake when I got back. I'm doing pretty good on calories today. I had lots of healthy snacks. I'm not really feeling too hungry. That protein shake kind of filled me up. I think I'll just wait and see and if I do end up getting hungry I'll have some greek yogurt. Not a whole meal. I couldn't do it today, lol. I'm still worried about tomorrow. I think I want to stick with the planned apple day, but I don't want to lose another 1 or 2 pounds. So I'm not sure what to do! I think maybe I'll throw a few protein bars in there to up my calorie intake a little, that way maybe I won't drop as much. I'll gauge it by my weight tomorrow morning. Sounds like a plan!

Well that's my update for today! I'm off tonight so I may try to write a little informational blog. I'm not sure on what yet. Maybe on body types? I dunno. Maybe on the workout that I'm super excited about starting soon. I'll make up my mind and we'll see later I guess :)

R1P3D2 (P3 Fears)

Weight: 174.8 (+0.6, +1.4 LDW, -23.8)

So I had a gain today. I honestly think it's just my body adjusting from the 500 to the 1500 calories. I'm not too worried about it. I got up super early this morning (7:40) and rode my bike around the neighborhood for 30 minutes. I also did an ab workout with my sister. I'm still finding that it's hard for me to get all the calories I need (or am supposed to be getting). So far today I've only had about 1000. I'm about to go grab some almonds to munch on, and maybe an apple.

As you can see from the updates on my weight, my biggest P3 fear is gaining weight back. At this point, I think it's a little too soon to tell because it's only my second day on the 1500 calories. I also read somewhere that it's completely normal for your weight to fluctuate a lot at first. Like I said, going from 500 to 1500 calories in one day is probably shocking to the body. I'm working on trying to get more protein today. I plan on having some salmon for dinner, so that should help out a lot.

I'm pre-planning an apple day for Thursday for two reasons: (1) I will be at work for probably 10 to 11 hours, and apple days are incredibly easy for me to do when I work at the restaurant, and (2) I'm paranoid just in case my weight keeps going up. I'm almost to the 2 pound mark already and it's only been a couple of days. I do attribute that to the calorie change for now.

I'm working on integrating working out into my day to day life. I did good yesterday and better today. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time tomorrow, as I only work in the morning, but Thursday and Friday will both be tough days because I'll be working all day. I'll have a small break between my shifts, so maybe I'll go walking or something again. All I know is that I need to do something every day, because I know myself and if I slack off even a little bit, it'll be the start of a slippery slope!

Today was kind of a hard day. I guess with the gain, that didn't help and it actually didn't bum me out too much at first, but then I went to the mall to try on clothes. Not fun. Still. Even after losing nearly 25 pounds, I still feel so fat when I try on clothes. It made me kind of depressed, but I'm trying my best to work through those feelings and be positive about everything.

I guess my biggest worry is gaining weight. My body should get used to it, and if not, I do have my corrective tools that I can use to help fix it.

Hopefully I'll feel less gloomy tomorrow.

Quick P3 Update

Weight: 174. 2 (+0.2, +0.8 LDW, -24.4)

Hey guys and dolls. So I didn't get a chance to update yesterday (cue hectic work schedule and me being friggin' exhausted) so I'll give you a brief update. I worked all day yesterday. My weight stayed the same yesterday, but as you can see from above, it went up a little bit today.

Today was my first official day of P3 including P3 eating. It was HARD to eat 1500 calories, and even trying as hard as I did, I only managed to get about 1400 (which was actually about 1250 because I went and walked on my break between shifts today). I find it's always easier to eat during the morning and early afternoon. Tonight I was so busy that it took me almost an hour to eat an 8 oz. piece of salmon and broccoli. But OH MY GOSH was it good! I forgot how much I love salmon! I can for sure see myself eating salmon like, every single day.

I have this great app on my phone from caloriecount.com that I'm using to help me keep track of everything. The awesome thing is that it has this little pie chart that shows you what percentage of your food is fats, carbs, proteins, etc. I made an "A" for my grade today (go me!) and the largest portion of my pie was proteins, but only at 43%. I remember reading somewhere that in P3 your proteins should make up at least 50% of your daily intake, if not higher. This protocol is a learning experience though, so I'll take what I learn every day and build off of it. Tomorrow's goal: increase my protein to 50%!

I'll have more time to write a good long post tomorrow. I think I'm going to do one on P3 fears, because I have a lot of them! It's so nice to just have somewhere to talk about how I feel. I hope one day this blog will be viewed by a lot of fellow HCG dieters so that I can help others get through the same things I have :)

Good night!

R1P3 VLCD 2

Weight: 174 (+0.6 LDW, -24.6)

Well I'll be honest with you guys, I expected a gain, but I honestly thought it would be more than this! My diet partner and I went out and celebrated last night and I drank for the first time since I've been on this diet. I was a good girl (I drank Skyy and water with lemon and splenda) and had one beer. I didn't get home until really late, and only ended up getting about 5 hours of not very good sleep. I was very good today to make up for it, lol.

I went shopping today at a health food store called Akins Natural Foods Market. It was so nice! I had to pick up some more coconut oil (for chocolate delight - I'm hooked!) so I decided to poke around the store and see what all they had. I forgot how much I love health food stores! I picked up some really yummy meatless Tuscan breasts (like chicken), broccoli, the coconut oil, S'mores flavored protein powder, Silk soymilk, and I think that might have been it. Lol. It's good that I went there because I saw lots of options for when I finally get on P4 for some lifestyle changes. I really have no problem with meatless options (I used to be a vegetarian for like 6 years, and even now I don't eat red meat at all, just poultry and fish) and organics are always a good choice, right? They had some samples that I'll admit I had some of, but it wasn't much.

I had one of the Tuscan breasts with organic broccoli and some dried apple chips for my lunch. It was SO GOOD! I cooked the Tuscan breast and the broccoli together in the microwave so that I could mix it all up. Yummmm. For dinner I took a protein shake with me to a friend's house. I added some Truvia sweetener to it (just because I know protein shakes are sometimes notoriously yucky tasting) but this one was SO GOOD! And it really tasted like S'mores! All in all, it's been a good day. I'm not bummed by the gain at all. It was worth it!

I still have one more day to be on 500 calories, then Monday I'll be starting my P3 diet. I'm so excited! I'm already planning out what I want to eat, lol. How sad is that?

In Depth: Phase 3

Continuing with my "In Depth" posts, I thought since I just finished P2 that it would be more than appropriate to talk about P3 now! So here we go!

Phase 3
Phase 3 is the phase of the HCG protocol often referred to as the "maintenance phase".

• Phase 3 lasts a minimum of 21 days. You can go for longer than that, but you have to do P3 for at least 21 days.
• Phase 3 begins 72 hours after your last HCG dose. For those 72 hours you must remain on the 500 calorie diet because your still have HCG in your system.
• You must increase your calorie intake to at least 1500 per day.
• You may introduce healthy fats back into your diet, but you cannot have any starches or sugars!
• The goal of Phase 3 is to maintain the weight that you lost, not to lose more weight. It is important not to go 2 pounds above or below your last dose weight (LDW). This is important because your hypothalamus is being reset, as is the body's base weight. Any weight lost during this time period is at the expense of your "normal fat" (See "The Skinny On Different Types of Fat" for more info on normal fat), which can be easily regained.
• It is important to continue to weigh yourself every day since it does usually take about 3 weeks for your weight to become stable.

There are some differing opinions on exactly how long of a break to take between rounds. I've read some places that you can resume Phase 2 right after you finish Phase 3, and other places say you need at least 6 weeks (P3 plus an additional 3 weeks to reintroduce starches and sugars) before your body will be ready (to prevent immunity to the HCG). I'll be studying this a bit more during my P3 to determine exactly when to start back on P2, as I have about 21 more pounds to lose.

Here are some helpful tips for Phase 3 that I've found:

• Continue to keep a food journal. While it is not required, some people also still like to count their calories to make sure that they are getting the required minimum amount.
• Try to eat 6 times a day. 3 meals, and 3 snacks.
• If you are having a hard time with maintaining the weight, here are some common things that might be to blame: (1) Not eating enough food, especially protein. It is recommended that you double your protein portions in P3 and be sure that you are taking in enough calories. Too few calories could actually cause you to gain weight. (2) Eating starches. While this seems like a redundant answer, sometimes everyone slips up.
• If you don't eat enough protein, your body could develop hunger-edema and retain water. To correct this you can do a Steak and Cheese Day where you eat two eggs for breakfast, a huge steak for lunch and dinner, followed by a large helping of cheese.
• To correct a gain of more than 2 pounds over your LDW, you can do a Steak Day where you eat nothing for breakfast or lunch, but get plenty to drink, and for dinner eat a huge steak with only an apple or a raw tomato. This must be done on the SAME DAY that the scale registers the gain.
• Finish your dinner 3 1/2 hours before bedtime

This is all I can think to talk about for P3. I'm excited to start soon and get to experiment with lots of different kinds of foods. And cheese! Yay!

R1P3 (I DID IT!!!)

Weight: 173.4 (-1.6, -25.2)

YAAAY! I made my weight goal of 25 pounds for this round! I am so friggin' ECSTATIC right now! So this is my LDW (last dosing weight) and the weight that I will try to stabilize throughout Phase 3, which I am now technically on since I took my last dose of HCG last night. It will still remain in my system for about 3 days, so I have to stay on the 500 calorie diet until the time is up, but then I can start my P3 diet, which I am so excited about! I can finally have some yummy food soon!

More later tonight, gotta go to work!

R1P2 VLCD 35 (Late Update)

Weight: 175.0 (+1.0, -23.6)

I'm updating kind of late tonight because I didn't get home until 11:30 and then I got into the shower and just got out a little while ago. I'm really tired from working all day long, so I'll probably be going to bed soon. While I'm sad about the gain, I think it might be a fluke again because yesterday, once again, I didn't do anything that was bad for me. I think my body is just ready to take a break. I finished up my drops today, so I guess tomorrow will be my first official day of P3 (while still being on the 500 cal for 3 days while the HCG is still in my system).

I can't be discouraged because look how good I've done so far! And who knows, maybe I can get down to 25 pounds down while I'm on P3 and stabilize there. If not, I always have another round to reach my goal. I'm pretty darn proud of myself for what I've accomplished in 40 days!

R1P2 VLCD 38

Weight: 174.0 (-2.0, -24.6)

Holy big release, Batman! This is crazy! I haven't had a release this big since the first couple of weeks of P2! I really do think something about yesterday's weight was a fluke. I guess I'll never know. I had some chocolate delight yesterday (which I think helped with the loss). I was bad, however, and didn't eat any dinner. I just never got hungry. I also felt bad about eating a muffin at work so I came home and rode my bike while my sister ran beside me. This morning at about 6:00 I thought I was dying! I got so sick to my stomach. I was cramping really badly and I was so hot, I thought I was going to throw up, but I never did. It just passed and I went back to sleep. It was weird. Anywho, I'm really glad I had such a big release today. I'm very much within my 25 pound goal for this round! Only time will tell, but I'm very excited :)

I've been doing a lot of Youtube video watching about the HCG diet and I've found some people that I absolutely LOVE! My mom thinks I should post Youtube videos about it too, but I'm just a little too nervous to put myself out there like that, you know? Anyway, here are a list of my favorites to watch (if you are new, check their videos out! They're all super informative and a lot of them have recipes, tips, and lots of other advice!):

• mamaclok - She's the first person I watched to find out about HCG. Her transformation has been amazing! She's got great tips and informative vids about all the phases.
• jennymathis1 - Super cute personality and she's always so positive and upbeat!
• mscottoncandykisses - LOVE this girl! She is super hilarious and has a wonderful personality. She's a joy to watch and her transformation is great as well!
• HCGbaldfatman - This guy is incredible! In 2 rounds of P2 he's lost about 100 pounds! That's insane! He also has a wonderful and hilarious personality and is fun to watch!
• DelMem - He's got great recipes for snacks and treats including the oh-so-famous "Chocolate Delight" recipe!
• Shannonblogs - Another great vlogger to watch for cooking recipes and tips. She's got some really good ones! (cream cheese pancakes, chocolate souffle...YUM!)

There are so many more that I can't think of. Kudos to all of you who are brave enough to put yourself on display for the world! It's not easy and I can't even imagine doing it! You guys are awesome!

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have another loss and (crossing my fingers!) I'll be at my 25 pound goal!

The Skinny On Different Types of Fats!

Hi again! I'm on an informative blog thing today :) Being productive with my night off I guess. So this one is going to be about the different kinds of fats your body has...bet you didn't know there were different kinds! Well there are, according to Dr. Simeon. Here's a little breakdown of the three different kinds for ya:

1. Structural Fat: This is the fat that your body has that acts as a kind of interior cushioning that fills the gaps between all your organs. It also performs important functions like bedding your kidneys in soft elastic tissue, protecting the coronary arteries, keeping your skin smooth, and provides the cushion of hard fat under your feet which enables us to walk.
2. Normal Fat: This is the type of fat that is the normal reserve of fuel on which the body can draw upon when your nutritional income isn't sufficient enough to meet the demands of your body. This kind of fat can be stored all over the body and is the most economic form of fuel for the body to store.
3. Abnormal Fat: This fat is what is accumulated in people who are overweight. While it is also a potential fuel reserve, it is not available to the body in a nutritional emergency. It is locked away in the body in fixed deposits. This excess fat is sometimes referred to as spare tires, bellies, rolls on the back, love handles, and saddle bags.

So how do these different kinds of fats relate to the diet? Simple. HCG reacts with your hypothalamus gland. This little gland does a lot of things. It regulates all the endocrine glands, the autonomous nervous system, and the turnover of fat and sugar. When the hypothalamus is stimulated, the body is able to release abnormal fat. HCG helps to reset the hypothalamus, which in turn regulates appetite control and proper burning of body fat. When the hypothalamus is not operating correctly it can cause the body to have intense food cravings, constant hunger, low metabolism, and a surplus storage of abnormal fat.

So there you have it! A quick little summary about the kinds of fat in your body. You may be thinking, "Well how do I know that this HCG stuff is really using up my abnormal fat?" Well my friends, the proof is in the pudding...as they say. In this case, the pudding is your weight and inch loss. You will also notice that things like your love handles, double chins, and bellies are what are disappearing from your body, all areas of abnormal fat! Personally, I can say that the fat in my face has reduced drastically, and so have my love handles and my belly, two of my problem areas :) It's all there for you guys, you just have to want to try it!

In Depth: Phase 2

I decided to do some in depth posts about each individual phase. I briefly outlined them in my "What The Heck is HCG?" post, but I thought it might be more beneficial to really get down to the nitty gritty. So here we go!

I'm omitting "Phase 1" because it's an optional cleanse before you get to Phase 2. Dr. Simeon did not require this cleanse. The "Phases" were made popular in Kevin Trudeau's book "The Weight Loss Cure They Don't Want You To Know About".

PHASE 2
Phase 2 is the phase in which you begin to dose yourself with the HCG (whether you are injecting, or taking drops sublingually).

• The first two days are referred to as "Load Days". During these days you will begin to take your HCG. It is important on these days to load your body with as much fatty food as you possibly can to build up your fat reserves. It is important to have healthy fats too, but you are pretty much allowed to eat whatever you want to. It's a good time to get in all your favorite foods since you won't be having them for awhile.
• It is not uncommon to gain on these loading days. Some people gain as much as 5 pounds when loading (Personal Experience: My first time loading I only ended up gaining a total of 0.2 pounds. I gained nothing after the first day, and then after the second day I gained the 0.2). This gain is different for everyone and will typically come off within the first few days of the diet.
• On day 3 you begin the "Very Low Calorie Diet", or VLCD, of 500 calories per day. Day 3 would be VLCD 1.
• You must be on Phase 2 for a minimum of 23 days. According to Dr. Simeon, if you have less than 15 pounds to lose this is the minimum number. If you happen to reach your goal before 23 days are up, you must increase your calorie intake and maintain your weight for the rest of the 23 days. After 23 days you must also stay on the VLCD for 3 additional days while your body still has HCG in its system.
• If you have more than 15 pounds to lose, you can stay on Phase 2 for a maximum of 43 days. As above, you must continue the 500 calorie diet for 3 days once you take your last dose while the HCG is still in your system.

This is what Dr. Simeon presented as the sample menu in his original manuscript. Hardcore HCG dieters follow this to the T:

Breakfast: Coffee or Tea in any quantity without sugar. Only 1 tablespoon of milk allowed in 24 hours. Saccharin or other sweeteners may be used.

Lunch:

1. 100 grams (3.5 oz) of veal, beef, chicken breast, fresh white fish, lobster, crab, or shrimp. All visible fat must be carefully removed before cooking, and the meat must be weighed raw. It must be boiled or grilled without additional fat. Salmon, eel, tuna, herring, dried or pickled fish are not allowed.
2. One type of vegetable only to be chosen from the following: spinach, chard, chicory, beet-greens, green salad, tomatoes, celery, fennel, onions, red radishes, cucumbers, asparagas, cabbage.
3. One breadstick (grissino) or one Melba toast
4. An apple or an orange or a handful of strawberries or one-half grapefruit

Dinner: The same four choices as lunch

Allowed items: 1 Tablespoon Fat Free Milk with coffee. Juice of one lemon, salt, pepper, vinegar, mustard powder, garlic, sweet basil, parsley, thyme, marjoram, etc. may be used for seasoning.

You should not exercise during Phase 2. During Phase 2 it is important to weigh yourself every day. Some people even take their measurements every day. (Personal Experience: I found that because I tend to gain weight all over my body and lose it the same way, I just took my initial measurements and will take my final measurements once P2 is over) I do weigh myself every day. I keep track of ny weight in a journal, and now on here. Also, I have an app on my iPhone called "Calorie Count" that also tracks weight as well as helps me keep track of how many calories I consume daily. It's free, I'd urge you to check it out. According to Dr. Simeon and Dr. Trudeau it is best to weigh yourself first thing in the morning, in the nude, and preferably after you've had a bowel movement.

Some helpful tips I've collected so far:

• Take a multivitamin and possibly other supplements (I take a women's multivitamin, Super B Complex, B12, Potassium, and Magnesium. B vitamins help you convert food to energy faster, potassium will help your body "feel" better, and magnesium will help to keep you regular since constipation is one of the biggest problems associated with this diet)
• No medications are allowed on the low calorie diet except for aspirin (to help with inflammation or pain) and birth control if you are on it.
• Women can expect to gain weight while on their period (Personal Experience: I am on a birth control that restricts my periods to one every 3 months, so I haven't had to see how a period would affect my weight. However, the friend that is doing this with me did get her period while on the diet and she did notice a gain, but then she lost it. I only assume it has to be water weight associated with bloating. Totally normal!)
• To break a stall on Phase 2 you may do an "apple day". You eat 6 large apples throughout the day and nothing else and drink as little water as possible. (From experience, THESE WORK!)
• Vary up your cooking to keep Phase 2 different. A lot of people's fear for Phase 2 is getting bored with such a restricted diet, but honestly if you just change everything up you won't get bored. I know for me, I got into adding a lot of seasonings and spices to my food when I cooked. It helps "spice" up the diet so it doesn't get monotonous (Get it - spice? Huh? Huh? Okay...sorry)
• If you have one type of protein for lunch, have a different kind for dinner. I do this every day. Most often I will have turkey and fish. I don't eat beef at all and sometimes I will have chicken, but no matter what I do I don't have the same kind of meat twice in one day. The same goes for fruits and veggies. I just like to think that it helps keep my body guessing if I switch it up.

Well. That's about all I can think of to tell about Phase 2. I hope this has been helpful to some people. I know for me, my biggest problem starting out was just getting information because I had absolutely no idea what I was doing! Lol. Happy dieting!

R1P2 VLCD 37

Weight: 176.0 (+0.8, -22.6)

Well dang it. I don't really know what the cause of that gain was unless it's just that I went from an apple day to eating what I was supposed to. I didn't eat anything bad, I just had a lot to eat. I had been skipping the Melba toast with my meals, but I had those yesterday, and I also had been skipping the fruit at night, and I had that too. Other than that I really don't know. It's kind of discouraging to gain that much this close to being done with P2 but I'm spending today trying to remedy that. I'm kind of sick to my stomach today too, which is weird. I don't really know what to think of today. Maybe it's just a fluke? Women's bodies are weird that way sometimes! We'll see tomorrow I guess. I think I have 2 more days worth of my drops, so I'll be on P3 really soon!

I'm off tonight so I think I'll do some informational posts.

R1P2 VLCD 36

Weight: 175.2 (-1.2, -23.4)

A good loss :) I did an apple day yesterday to make up for my being bad at work the day before. I guess it worked! I'm currently researching the benefits of "chocolate delight" on the HCG diet. (If you search it on Youtube you'll find tons of HCG people who swear by the stuff). Supposedly helps raise your ketones, which in turn increases your metabolism...sounds like a good idea to me! In addition to my apple day yesterday I did have two chocolate delight and macadamia nut clusters. They didn't seem to affect my loss in any way, so I'll take it as a good thing! For right now, it's pretty late (about 11:30 pm). I just got home from work. I refuse to let myself not fall asleep until 2:30 or 3:00 again. I know it can't be good for my body to work right, so I'm going to try to be in bed by 12:30 tonight. Wish me luck!

R1P2 VLCD 35

Weight Today : 176.4 (+ 0.6, - 22.2)

I had a moment of weakness at work yesterday and ate a beer muffin. I won't be doing that anymore since I looked up the calorie content of a muffin yesterday on my Calorie Count app and found out that 1 muffin has about 160 calories. Youch! I was under the impression for a long time that they were only like 80 calories. Boy was I wrong!

FYI : Those two numbers up there in parentheses are indicitive of my weight gain or loss. The first number is my change in weight from the day before, the second number is my change in weight overall. Just so you know :)

EDIT: I also figured that some of you might not understand all the letters in the title of this post after I went back and looked at it. R1 = Round 1, P2 = Phase 2, VLCD# = Very Low Calorie Day # (whatever day it is). Easy as pie :)

What the heck is HCG?

So we have established one thing thus far: I have a weight problem. I'm pretty sure I was in denial about it for a long time after that dreaded doctor's visit. It would come to me in little moments of realization sometimes. Por ejemplo:

• I would go shopping and want to try something on. BIG mistake. So I would just never buy new clothes for myself.
• At work I would constantly have to turn and squeeze my way through the line. Granted, the line is small, but my butt was large...
• I even went as far as to avoid looking at myself in mirrors, except for if I was checking my makeup. From the neck up, that's how I operated.

One day, a friend of mine at work came up to me and asked me if I wanted to do this diet with her. Intrigued, I asked her about it. She said it was called the "HCG Diet" and that her brother and a friend of hers had both done it and lost 60 and 40 pounds, respectively. I took the bait and was very interested. She couldn't tell me much more about it than you had to take these drops and do a really low calorie diet. So being the techno whore that I am, I rushed home and googled this wonder diet. Boy is it controversial! The thing about it that intrigued me though were the people who had actually done it. They swear by it. I researched it for several weeks before we finally decided to give it a shot. We decided to use homeopathic drops, as her friend had, and see where that took us. We got the drops and started the diet on May 31st.

Before I get into all that, I'll give you a brief background on what the diet is because if you're like me, you probably had never heard about this. HCG stands for Human Chorionic Gonadotropin which is a hormone that is produced by pregnant women. It reacts with your hypothalamus (the control center for telling your body what fat to burn) to burn adipose (fatty) tissue. While taking these drops you are only allowed to eat 500 calories per day. Normally when you are taking part in a semi-starvation diet, your body will burn your muscle tissue for energy, but the HCG reacts with your hypothalamus and instead burns your stored fat. The diet is done in Phases. Phase 1 is an optional cleanse of some type. Phase 2 is when you begin to take the drops (or it can also be taken as injections). You begin with two "Load" days, where you load your body with as much fatty foods as you possibly can to build up your fat storage. Personally, I found this to be a lot harder than I thought it would be because the drops just make you feel not very hungry. After those first 2 days, you begin the 500 calorie diet. It seems scary but it's really not too hard. The protocol is outlined in Dr. Simeon's "Pounds and Inches" manuscript, which can be found for free in several locations on the internet.

As of today, I've been on P2 for 35 days now. I've lost about 23 pounds. I hope to reach 25 pounds before moving on to Phase 3, the maintenance phase. P3 lasts 21 days and you are allowed to reintroduce healthy fats back into your diet, as well as up your calorie intake to around 1200 per day. However, you can't have any starches or sugars. The idea of this maintenance phase is to keep your weight steady for 21 days so that your hypothalamus can "reset" itself and your body's weight set point will also be reset, ideally so you won't gain weight back. I should be getting into P3 sometime this week, my drops are running dangerously low.

After P3 you can take a break, or you can go right back into P2 again if you want to lose more weight. Once you reach your desired weight goal, you then move into Phase 4, which is referred to as lifetime maintenance. Here you are urged to make lifestyle choices that will help you keep the weight off for good (i.e. eating organic foods, eliminating processed foods from your diet, etc).

It all sounds too good to be true, but I've read about people who have done it and kept the weight off. On the flip side, I've also read about people who have done and then gained all their weight back. But these people went back to eating junk. You can't expect to go back to the way you were living and eating before and keep the weight off. That's just ridiculous. That's how you got big in the first place.

So there's a little info on the diet I'm on. As I told you, I'm almost nearing my P3 time, which I'm kind of excited about. The next posts I do will probably be much shorter and will be updates of my weight and things of that nature.

Until next time!

Introduction

Hello world!

My name is Rachel and I'm on a journey. A diet journey. I know, I know...most of us hear the word diet and shudder in fear, heck I know I did! But there comes a time when something just needs to be done. That time for me came all the way back in February. I was about to have surgery (a diagnostic laproscopy) and was due for a checkup to get all my pre-surgery vitals (weight, height, BP...you know the drill). Prior to this checkup the last time I had even been aware of my weight was probably in December, after a bad breakup because I didn't eat for about 10 days and lost a great deal of weight. I think at the time I had dipped into the 170's, the lowest I had been since before I went to college.

Well the time came. "Please step on the scale.", the nurse sang. "No problem," I thought to myself, "this won't be too bad." WRONG. I didn't even look down. "198.", the nurse said. I'll admit...I had a little panic attack. 198? That couldn't possibly be right! I tried to rationalize with myself and say that it was just the doctor's scales...they were notorious for being wrong. It would be okay, I promised myself, because I'd be laid up in bed for a week or more. Easy weight loss! The surgery went well, I felt fine, and I went back for my post-op appointment. That damned scale again...I hopped back on, surely thinking that I'd have lost a little bit of weight. Wrong again. Nothing. And that was the last time I even knew what my weight was.

Let me tell you a little about myself:

1. I'm 23 years old.


2. I'm 5'8" tall.


3. I've always been overweight


4. I work in a restaurant as a server and a bartender


5. I like LOVE to eat...even when I'm not hungry. It's just habit I guess.

It hasn't always been bad. In high school I was pretty normal sized (although I've always felt a little on the flabby side, but looking back at pictures now, I filled out nicely and looked good). When I went to college is when everything changed. You know how the talk about the "Freshman 15"? Well, I think I gained the Freshman 30 or something. You've been there, you know what I'm talking about...you're sitting at your computer right now nodding your head as you read this! Ha! It's just too easy in college. All that freedom. All that horrible cafeteria food that makes you run out and get fast food instead (because let's be honest with ourselves...how many 18 year old college students do you know who are going to go grocery shopping and cook themselves something healthy to eat?). I was on the cheerleading squad, but my eating habits were far from good. I didn't pay attention to food groups, portions, calories...nothing.

As the years went by I got bigger until at my heaviest, the summer before my senior year, I weighed almost 210 pounds. (See photo at left, me at my heaviest with my twin sister.)

Well I decided that senior year would be different. The changes didn't actually happen until the second semester, but my best friend Kasie and I got our act together. We ate all of our meals together in the cafeteria. I did Weight Watchers to keep track of how much I was eating. I started exercising regularly (I became a fan of riding a bike that I found in one of the basement storage rooms of my dorm on the nature trail that ran through town) and before I knew it, I had lost about 25 pounds! That's all well and good but I didn't carry on that mentality after I graduated. I got a job at this restaurant which is NOT good for a bored eater because there's food everywhere. All the time. Cue weight gain again!

So there's a little background on me for you. At least now you kind of have an idea of how I got to the point of wanting to do something about my weight. In my next post, I'll tell you a little bit more about how I got started with the HCG diet.

Until next time!