My HCG Journal. Looks like I need to start one!

[CherylB]

I am on R1P2VLCD3 and I have already lost enough weight to put me into Onderland! I am counting the 2.2 lbs I put on during the 2 day load (lbs are lbs, and if I had them on me before the load I'd be counting them, so I don't see why I shouldn't include them,) so I have lost 7.2 lbs in the first 2 days of the VLC diet!

This is insane! I'm not hungry or feeling ill in any way. I have no side effects from the hhcg (using pellets.) In fact I have to make myself go and eat something because I know that I need at least the 500 calories the diet indicates, and I need the protein, nutrition, etc.

The first day was the hardest for me, getting used to not using any fats at all. Having done Atkins for ages, this was hard to accept. But once the results starting becoming apparent, I forgot all about the sacrifices. They're worth it! And it's not forever.

I am so happy that I gave this a shot. I thought it was just another quackery of a diet plan, but I'm rapidly becoming a believer. This is no fluke! If you do your part, it does its part for you.

[jabbok]

good for you on the weightloss.

[CherylB]

Thanks, Cindy! I hope I can hold onto this feeling of joy and accomplishment when things slow down later on in the journey.

[jabbok]

Originally Posted by CherylB

Thanks, Cindy! I hope I can hold onto this feeling of joy and accomplishment when things slow down later on in the journey.

Just come in here we will set you straight

[fitandhappy]

Cheryl, I am so happy for you and I can just "hear" the joy and excitement in you post!! You are going to do so well with this! I will be sure to follow you.. its my entertainment, LOL (R1P2VLCD3) I have NO idea what all those letters and numbers mean, but I'm sure its somthing important Knock 'em dead sistah!!

[CherylB]

I love you, girlfriend! I may not be writing that right, but here is what it all stands for:

R1 is Round 1 (means I never did hcg before.)
P2 is Phase 2 (the very low calorie phase, begins after the 2 days of gluttony or "Load." These 2 days are the first days taking the hcg, too.)
VLCD is very low calorie diet (or day) and so the number following that will indicate what day I'm in. Most P2's last between 23 and 40 days, but that isn't set in stone.

After that comes P3 for about 3 weeks, and then P4 for about 3 more weeks. Then R2 begins, if you still have weight to lose.

During the P3 and P4's is when the "resetting of your hypothalamus" happens. In P3 you eat around 2000-2500 cals per day (like Atkins; no sugar, no starch.) I am reading that people actually GAIN weight during this phase if they don't eat enough cals! P4 is when you gradually start to add in starches and sugars, watching your weight very closely and doing a "correction day" if your weight goes above 2 lbs from your last day in P2. (There's an abbreviation for that number too, but I don't recall what it is! LDW?) Correction day is also necessary during P3 if you go above your 2 lb "window".

Complicated, huh! Someday I hope it will all seem like second nature to me.

Glad you found my journal thread, Jami! You're definitely a keeper.

[fitandhappy]

WOW, That is complicated! But such a great plan! Its crazy how that HCG works with you system. Yes, you will get it down.. just like when I started Atkins. I read the book everyday and was so engulfed in it until I learned everything that there was to know. You'll be an expert in no time!! Bummer on the no loss this morning, but you know how weight loss goes..

YOUR A KEEPER TOO!! Your so sweet!!

[CherylB]

No excitement today, but since this is my journal, I should at least show up! I woke up very early today and had to take my weekly Fosamax with a big glass of water. So I weighed-in at 0545. I never have good results on the scale at that time of morning, so I wasn't surprised to see that there was no change. Even when I did Atkins that would happen. Sometimes I'd go back to bed and sleep a few hours more, then when I'd reweigh around noon, I'd be down a lb or more. Go figure.

Anyway, I'm doing great on the plan so far. Starting to feel a few hunger pangs over the past 24 hours or so. I don't think I've been eating enough protein, so I'll be making sure that my protein portions measure up where they need to be.

Thanks again, Jami. It's the support from friends that makes LCF so wonderful! Misery loves company. (Just kidding, but that popped into my head and I thought it was funny.)

[CherylB]

Things are moving right along. I am beginning to see an every-other day stabilization, which is fine with me. So, no loss on Sunday, then Monday I dropped down 2.2 lbs. I'm keeping my calories between 500 and 600 per day without any trouble or problems with hunger. I never thought I could do this, but it's surprisingly easy with hhcg.

I had a Dr appointment yesterday (just a follow-up) and shared with him that I'm doing hhcg. I even brought the bottle of pellets to let him look at the label. I figured if a meteor should fall on my house and I am knocked unconscious and taken to the hospital, I want him to know what I've been doing. Ya know? So far, he's the only one I've told, aside from LCF folks. I'm going to keep it that way for a good, long time.

For protein, I'm mostly eating chicken breast but twice I've had Flounder and once I had ground serloin. I didn't make a burger out of it, thinking that if I cooked it up in crumbled little pieces I could cook more of the fat out of it. Then I place it on papertowels to drain.

I normally love fish, but I guess what I love is butter or oily fish. Fish without any added fat is pretty unappealing. I notice some people doing hhcg are using VCO and say that since it's a medium-chain fatty acid that the body can't store it. I only know that VCO has always had an undesirable affect on my weight loss so I will not be using it at all.

[CherylB]

Third day in a row at 197.2. I knew this would start slowing down, but didn't think it would happen this early. I feel slimmer everyday, though and that ROCKS. Staying faithful and vigilant. No problems with hunger or deprivation.

Snowing right now. Winter's last gasp, I hope.

[CJoy]

Congrats on your losses Cheryl ~ You have much to feel good about! Hang in there, you're in the right place. Your determination will get you through this!

"When the Going Gets Tough the Tough Gets Going"

[C'Marie]

Good job! I like reading about your journey. I wish I would have kept better records of my first round! did you measure? That's my only regret. I didn't really measure very many parts of my body, only my waist, hips, and thighs at my start. I was too embarassed with myself to even write it down and I didn't take any pictures, either. Now I wish I had!

[CherylB]

Thanks, ladies! I didn't take any "fresh" before pics because I took some in the past while on Atkins at roughly the same weight. Also, the measurements are in a notebook and were also taken while doing Atkins. I just couldn't bear to take a single other before pic. I have been avoiding cameras for 13 years but there are still some pics (and videos) taken at family events that show exactly how fat I've become. I need no further evidence.

But I look forward to documenting the journey from this point onward. I will take pics and measure at certain milestone weights. I haven't been below 177 in 13 years, so I'll document then, then in each "decade" until goal.

I should note that I've been making some errors on ******, in tracking my calories. We weigh our meat raw with zero traces of fat visible on it and then cook it in PAM spray. I was looking for the right option on ****** and some sounded like the chicken was cooked with the skin but the skin was not eaten, etc. So I chose one that just said chicken breast. Well, apparently that was the wrong thing to do. I found out that that selection cost me 85 more calories per 100 grams! So my daily calories were consistently well below 500! Turns out I should have been choosing "chicken breast fryers, raw, no skin". Live and learn, right?

I have also read that some people are able to drink diet soda and things like crystal lite. I am not a soda fan but the last two nights I had about 6 oz of diet ginger ale at bedtime. Today is my fourth day at this weight. So, no soda today and no grain portion.

I'm continually amazed everytime my hand touches my face! Bone structure! And I can feel my body changing and becoming leaner all over, so that's amazing and encouraging. Supposedly we can lose 0.5-1.0 lbs per day and that even when there are days where there are no scale losses, you lose inches. Also, the fat that is interspersed in your muscles and internal organs are letting go of their fat. So, I figure that the lbs lost should average out with the days doing the VLCD. If that's true, this is VLCD8 and I've lost 9.4 lbs. Maybe I'm just catching up and equalizing out before more is released.

I'm bummed by the lack of scale movement and if I could have had my way I would have chosen a more consistent, slower drop so that there weren't days of nothing to record. But it is what it is! I'm thrilled to be in Onderland and I know it won't be long before I reach my previous low weight I achieved on Atkins (179.2) Then I will leave that record behind and make new ones!

It's nice to have company here! Thanks for being a part of my journey.

[CherylB]

Down 1 lb today after doing a scale dance. At first it said the same damn weight as the past 5 days, but I started messing with its head and it came down a lb. I don't trust it, but it stayed one lb down each time afterward. So, tomorrow we will see if it was a fluke.

I skipped the popcorn yesterday. In fact, I only ate 188 grams of shrimp with 50 grams of LC ketchup/horseradish. Late at night I ate an apple. I drank coffee with liquid splenda all day, as per usual. Since I didn't eat until late afternoon, I didn't take any of my usual daytime vitamins. And I tried to drink more water than I usually do (when I drink coffee, sometimes I forget to drink water.)

So, that's all the news here.

[fitandhappy]

Hey Cheryl!! Oh my goodness!! Look at you! Good job on you losses! I hate those stinkin stalls! I'm glad that it finally broke. Weightloss is not a linear phenomenon. Drives me crazy!

[CherylB]

Tell me about it! The lb I lost yesterday after the scale dance has stayed off, so all is right with the world. I just ate my first hcg approved soup and it was yummo. I used chicken broth and diced up chicken breast, celery, cabbage, onion, cilantro, tabasco and seasonings and simmered it all until the veggi's were ready. Definitely something I'll do again. I used three Grissini's breadsticks for dipping, so they were my grain portion for the day.

I'm a happy camper!

[fitandhappy]

Your soup sounds great!! Its cold here today, actually the past few days, so anything warm sounds fantastic!

[CherylB]

Amen! I'd like to soak my cold feet in some soup.

[CherylB]

I keep forgetting to post here, because I tell my story numerous times on various threads. I'm up a lb today when I was certain I'd see a whoosh. So I'm almost through with my Apple Day, in an attempt to break this one-week stall. I weighed the same today as 7 days ago, so that's just not cool.

Some say the Apple Day is just water loss, but in Pounds and Inches (Dr Simeon's book) he says that the weight is not regained after the diet is resumed and the losses continue from there. If that happens for me, I'll be really happy.

Wish me luck! Tomorrow morning will be D-day.

[lowcountrydoll]

Let us know!!

[CherylB]

Apple Day is my hero! Down 2.2 lbs plus the 1 lb I bumped up yesterday! Wooohooo! I don't have to mark down zero for this weeks' tally. What a relief.

[fitandhappy]

Hi Cheryl! Good to hear about your apple day! How many apples do you eat on that day?? 194!! What a wonderful number!!

[CherylB]

Thanks, Jami! You can eat a maximum of 6 apples and they can be large ones. I ate 4 because that was all I really wanted to eat. I also drank my usual amounts of coffee, but technically you are only supposed to have the apples and only as much water as it takes to satisfy your thirst. I had quite a few cups of coffee. And presto! It worked!

Day 2 after the apple day intervention and my weight is stable. That's what Dr Simeon's said it would do, so I'm thrilled. Now I will do the apple day anytime I hit a 4-5 day stall.

Today is exactly 2 weeks on the VLCD. It gets easier over time. I am less concerned about things like eating lean ground beef. For many, it works better for them than eating chicken breast or fish. And a bowl of ground beef with Rotel, sea salt, pepper and Garlic powder is WAY more satisfying than fish or chicken cooked with no fat.

Winter is hanging on up here in CT. April is going to come in with some snow. No idea how much, yet. Oh, well. Bring it on! I'm right here!!

[fitandhappy]

HI Cheryl! WOW, it already been 2 weeks since HCG! That went quick! I agree with you about ground beef, I love it and I eat it everyday! I try not to have the same protein sources more than once a day, so I'll have eggs, chicken and ground beef. That rotel and beef dinner is my favorite, especially with cheese on it. can you have cheese?

[catjrow3]

Hey Cheryl, Just found your journal and had a read... thought I would pop on and say "hi" and thanks for the information on your apple day! I am currently trying it, with my coffee as well! I have had 3 cups already, and its only 1 p.m.... I have to have coffee. I usually drink a ton of water too, but have not had hardly any today. I am going to feel sooo dehydrated!! LOL i hope mine works well too!! You are doing great!! Reading your comments about LC and ATkins was making me want meat in the worst way!! and fats... YUMMMY!! Well, in a few more weeks maybe!!! Keep up the good work!!

[CherylB]

Jami, no cheese at all. It's a drag. But it ain't forever! That's what keeps me going strong. I can't imagine how people live a low-fat diet for life. Gag me with a spoon. Yeah! Two weeks and a day on the VLCD part. Can't count the two days of pig-out. That's hardly difficult to do, and it's not part of the weight loss phase. I'm not sure how long I'll go in this round. I guess it all depends on how my body starts to adjust. If it's going to be tooth and nail all the way down the scale, I will only do a 23 day round (whick is the minimum.)

Cathy, glad you joined me! And thanks for the kudo's. I really hope the apple day works well for you, too. It was really painless. I love the apples I eat, so it was enjoyable. I wouldn't want to do it every week, but it wasn't bad. And who can argue with the results! The steak day sounds better, but I'm not sure if it's an Atkin's style steak or a fatless Simeon's style hunk of cow. I want the fatty version! (Sorry; there I go again, making you drool.)

[catjrow3]

Originally Posted by CherylB

The steak day sounds better, but I'm not sure if it's an Atkin's style steak or a fatless Simeon's style hunk of cow. I want the fatty version! (Sorry; there I go again, making you drool.)

The steak day is the Dr. S. version of a small fatless steak, on P2 anyway, and you dont get to eat all day, and only have the steak with an apple or tomato all day long. I dont do well with starvation!! LOL

[CherylB]

Then I'll be stickin' to apples. I guess the steak correction day on P3 is the great, big, fat and juicy kind. Until then...

[catjrow3]

Originally Posted by CherylB

Then I'll be stickin' to apples. I guess the steak correction day on P3 is the great, big, fat and juicy kind. Until then...

Yes in P3, a big huge fatty one, but.... you still dont eat all day with that. I much prefer in P3 the full fat greek yogurt correction day or the whole chicken correction day, both you eat all day long! LOL

[CherylB]

I haven't heard of either of those days! Where can I read up on them?