~~ Rogue/Alternative HCG/hHCG plans for week of 8.26.12~~

[minimonkey]

Rock on ladies!!!!!!!!!

I am back on target as of today -- all things being equal, I'll weigh on Sunday. I don't think I am rocking the house with losses, but I do feel a bit thinner overall, and I'll take whatever I can get at this point.

Came in today right around 800 cals I believe -- ready to move on to tomorrow, hopefully after a good sleep tonight.

[pendragginp]

Thanks for the encouraging everybody.

I'm the same weight today again, so I figure it is the usual week 2 hoo-doo.
And yes, I haven't had enough sleep the last few days. It'll all sort.

suzi, I'm with you in the heading for twenty! Cheryl, I went to bed and read last night too. Terri, good whoosh! And mini, I know what you mean about feeling thinner. That's me too; the clothes are looser even though the scale is the same. As people say, it's Pounds and Inches - last week I had the pounds and this week I've had some inches.

[TerriMM]

Originally Posted by pendragginp

As people say, it's Pounds and Inches - last week I had the pounds and this week I've had some inches.

Now that's a keeper!

Down .7 today for a total of 2.5 in three. So beating my average by a touch.

Good morning all

[Gracie514]

Good morning and happy Friday Scale went up one lb. this morning but I was well aware it was going to. I didn't feel great last night - kind of shaky feeling. I'm not sure if it was low potassium or blood sugar? Either way, I ended up eating some sugary/carb stuff and then felt much better. Also, since I weighed this morning (TMI) Bernice has visited 3X already. So hopefully the weight will come right back off. Today I'm doing a modified steak day - coffee for breakfast and a 7-8 ounce steak and tomato for dinner. Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday.

[Gracie514]

Originally Posted by TerriMM

Now that's a keeper!

Down .7 today for a total of 2.5 in three. So beating my average by a touch.

Good morning all

Great job!!!! KUTGW

[Gracie514]

Originally Posted by minimonkey

Rock on ladies!!!!!!!!!

I am back on target as of today -- all things being equal, I'll weigh on Sunday. I don't think I am rocking the house with losses, but I do feel a bit thinner overall, and I'll take whatever I can get at this point.

Came in today right around 800 cals I believe -- ready to move on to tomorrow, hopefully after a good sleep tonight.

I'm glad you are back in the game! I also feel thinner while on hcg - must be the inches right? 800 calories is perfect!

[TerriMM]

Originally Posted by Gracie514

Good morning and happy Friday Scale went up one lb. this morning but I was well aware it was going to. I didn't feel great last night - kind of shaky feeling. I'm not sure if it was low potassium or blood sugar? Either way, I ended up eating some sugary/carb stuff and then felt much better. Also, since I weighed this morning (TMI) Bernice has visited 3X already. So hopefully the weight will come right back off. Today I'm doing a modified steak day - coffee for breakfast and a 7-8 ounce steak and tomato for dinner. Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday.

Not only is that 1# history, I'll bet you're even down Steak days are always my friend. for a nice little whooshie tomorrow.

[CherylB]

Will go and read the new posts now, but wanted to copy/paste this from my journal:

I had a whoosh today which I'm very excited about but I woke around 0630 today and had to pee. As soon as I stood up, my head started to fell hot and "full", like something was seriously wrong. As I walked to the bathroom it continued to feel that way. I plunked down on the toilet and felt a little better, then when I stood up again, it came back on me very intensely. I was walking back to the bedroom but didn't get far. I collapsed on a chair and then rolled down onto the floor to just lay there on my back for a few minutes. I thought it could be my blood pressure so I swung my body around and put my legs up over the coffee table and laid like that for a few minutes, then walked back to bed and fell back to sleep. I woke around 1pm and feel normal again.

There are two possible causes for what happened:

1. I am not eating enough calories to be working out as hard as I am.
2. I took way too much Melatonin and Benadryl last night.

I'm thinking it's #2. I ran out of Melatonin and I don't think it's really helping me much so I'm going to try and go cold-turkey as of today.

OMG. I was pretty weirded-out this morning over how I felt. I wish I could just sleep like a normal person!!!

I weighed at that moment (0630) and I was the same as yesterday. After sleeping longer and weighing at 1300, I got my whoosh. I think this might be the first time in my personal history with hhcg where I've lost more than the number of days I'm on. (day 12, down 13 lbs.) I'm sure things will go back to a few ounces here and there, and then a whoosh. But whooshes after week one are hard to come by.

I'm thankful that I can go to the gym and still lose! I know for sure that I'm not losing muscle this round because of working out. I've been eating 7 oz of meat each day. Do you guys think I should increase that? I don't want to injure myself.

[CherylB]

WTG, Terri! I'm glad you weighed at least once during week 1!!! Hard to be disappointed during week one.

Mini, slow and steady wins the race. And your body is bouncing back from being totally and completely out of whack! Give it time to heal.

Plum, just keep inching along!

Terri, look at you go!!

Gracie, so sorry you aren't feeling well. Your body wants to get rid of those starchy carbs NOW. I hope you feel on top of the world again soon. I've never done a steak day but if it has to be lean, dry, overcooked steak, I'd rather do an apple day.

I had an interesting morning, which I wrote of above. I'd love to hear your views on what could have caused it. By "too much melatonin and benadryl", I'm talking a total of 20mg of melatonin (4 tablets) and 100mg of benadryl (also 4 capsules.) I'm not even clear why I woke to pee at 6:30 cause I almost never get up to use the bathroom when I'm sleeping.

[pendragginp]

Yikes Cheryl, that's not good! (Tell you something you don't know, huh?)

Yes, I'd say the melatonin/benadryl combo was too much.

[CherylB]

I hope that's all it is because I really don't want to eat more than I already am. I have this down-pat, as they say. I wonder how much I'll lose in the 60 days I plan to do? I'm going to do two "refeeds" for special events (actually, make that 3). I was going to try not to, but I know myself and I hate to feel set apart or different at family functions. There is a pizza party this sunday and I'll just go off for that one meal and eat sparingly, then there is a big family picnic on the 26th of this month. Again, I won't go insane. Then my Mom's 81st birthday is October 14. Three refeeds in 60 days isn't so bad.

My plan is to do P2 until the end of October, then enter P3. I'll then be in P4 for all the major holidays and will do my utmost to stay in my 2-lb window. But I don't know how many pellets I actually have left and if I can't afford to buy more when they are close to running out, I may have to end P2 earlier than that. I hope I can complete the 60 days as planned.

[TerriMM]

Glad you're feeling better Cheryl. I'd guess agree with Pen that the medications would be my first thought. Also make sure you're drinking plenty of water.

[CherylB]

I drink more water than anyone else I know. I usually drink two mugs of iced tea and then the rest of what I drink is water. I filter it in a Brita filter and keep it in the refrigerator in its own special container that has a spout on it. I use 1 liter bottles and just keep refilling them throughout the day. Sometimes I wonder if I drink too MUCH water. I wouldn't say I'm thirsty but I just feel like I need that much.

When I'm at the farm, if it's hot and humid, I sweat so much that it feels like it's hard to take in water fast enough to keep up with the demand! I'm only there for between 2.5 and 3.5 hours and I drink a full 2 liters of cold water during that time.

I refilled my pill dispenser today for my pm meds. I took out the calcium +D and the magnesium tabs, just in case they are preventing me from feeling drowsy. I know that vitamins in general make me feel energized. I then put 3 benadryls in each day's compartment instead of the usual 2. And I'll not buy more melatonin for a while and see how this goes for me. I know some people say the magnesium helps them sleep and keeps their bowels regular but I'm just going to take my one dose of all my vitos in the afternoon with my first meal and see how that goes for a while.

When I collapsed onto that chair and then rolled onto the floor, it occurred to me that I might need to call 911. I'm so glad I didn't. I will take extra good care of myself. I added a little more meat to my lunch today so instead of 3.5 oz, it was more like 4.25 oz. I'll do the same for dinner.

I hope everyone is having a nice day!!!

[TerriMM]

Do you really think you should up the benadryl so soon after last night? Just thinkin' maybe you body needs a break.

[CherylB]

No. I take 50 mg of Benadryl every single night. Without Benadryl, I don't stay asleep. It's going to be hard enough to fall asleep without the melatonin. Don't worry about me! I'm going to be fine. That was a very fluky thing that happened. It really could have had something to do with my gym workout and the low calorie intake over these past 11 days (well, now 12.) I've been working out all this time. Maybe it just caught up with me.

I marinated some of that dreaded chicken breast that I had defrosted. I used Picante sauce, a teaspoon of crushed garlic, dried Cilantro flakes, and salt/pepper. I put them (two breasts) in a ziplock and mixed everything up nicely, then left them on the counter for 45 minutes. I then fired up the grill and while it was heating up, I took out one breast and rinsed all the marinade stuff off of it and dried it on paper towels. Then I put it on the scale and saw that it was 8 oz, so I just cut it half after cooking it.

I put the dry breast on a plate and sprayed each side with Olive Oil flavored Pam, then salted and peppered it again. It came out so good! When I took it off the grill, I left it on the plate and covered it so the meat could rest. Ten minutes later, I cut it in half and it was amazing! Juicy and tender (and very flavorful). Naturally I had to salt it again once I sliced it. It would NOT have been hard to eat the entire thing. I showed great restraint.

So maybe I can mix things up and have chicken from time to time. Just have to remember how I made that marinade.

It's awfully quiet around here tonight. It's just you and me, kid! Where did everyone go? I know it's Friday but I feel "stood-up"!

[verbqueen]

Howdy, friends. I am just back from a miserably long trip to LAX to pick up my hubby. There was accident on the freeway near my home, and there was just no way I could get going in a westward direction without running into completely stopped traffic. ARRRGHHHH!

I'm doing well, but still not weighing. Mini, like you, I'm shooting for 800 calories and finding it pretty satisfying.

And regarding that hcg "thin feeling," to me, it's about having an unusually flat belly. When you eat as little and as cleanly as we do, there's just no bloat! I love that feeling!

Congrats to all you losers, and I wish you (and me!) luck as we navigate the weekend. that's always my most challenging time of the week.

I may be kinda sparse this weekend. With Dave home, I don't spend us much time hovering endlessly over the computer. (Darn it, haha!) But I'll be back on Monday, if not before!

[TerriMM]

Tonight is a small steak with mushrooms and onions and a side salad dressed with lemon and salt.

I made the zucchini last night in the oven while I was baking my chicken at 400 degrees. It was very tasty but a little mushy. Next time I'll do it at a higher heat. Do yours get crispy at all?

Boy I hate those commute Jess! Thank goodness you made it home safely!

Carrie is on her way home from the cruise so I’m sure we’ll hear from her this weekend.

[suzi7]

hi everyone! home (finally). well I buzzed thru after work to change and then run out to do grocery and necessary shopping. The two young men (my sons) living with me are hard on food lol and the larder was bare. (Out of my whey protein powder and eggs and greek yogurt. what's a girl to eat???)

Weight was actually up .4 this morning. and I figured out why. (actually I felt it all day yesterday... the bloat. the cramping. the *itchies. the brain-dead feeling. Yes, Bernice has visited with a vengeance ... and a whole week early, bless her. (Mini, I am feeling your suffering! lol) and frankly the hunger!! the first 24 hours or so I am always RAVENOUS. I even upped my doses today, thinking I would do a sneak attack on the hunger but no dice. So I am going to just up my calories to probably 1000 or so for a couple days (still taking the hHcg) and not fight it. (I mean I will still try and follow the plan, but with a lot more food. lol Maybe even add a little fat.) I will be back "on plan" in 48 hours or so. I think this is wiser than fighting it and being totally miserable. Its only a couple days. Gonna get this over with and go get greedy for that next 10.

for you, Cheryl. Hope you find a solution to your sleep problem soon. I take melatonin when I need it (20 mg is the dose my dr told me to) but nothing else. Its natural (most "younger" souls make enough to sleep without taking supplement) so I doubt that is the problem.

My guess for your spell would be blood pressure. Do you have a way to test your blood pressure every morning? I had light headed and "weird-headed" spells on my first round. When I started testing my bp each day, I found out my bp had tanked. (I mean like 88/something) I have had high blood pressure for years and took meds for it. My doc cut my meds in half. Blood pressure with hHcg was still around 100/something (ok so I forget the small number..lol). so we stopped the meds all together. and it remains in the "normal" range. I guess Hcg affects some people like that. (check it out online). idk..... its a possibility.

Now gonna go see if I can get to sleep. Last night was not so good (thanks to my visitor.... ugh). At least no work tomorrow and no alarm!

Have a wonderful night, everyone. Hoping the Whoosh Fairy visits each and every one of you (and not the visitor I got last night instead. lol)

[CherylB]

No, Terri. They get soft but not crispy. Only the thinnest parts get a little crunchy but I just love the taste and don't care if they are crispy or not. I'm glad Carrie is on her way back home! Can't wait to see her pics.

Suzi, I'm betting you meant TOM, not "Bernice." Sorry he came to visit early. I do have a BP machine and I placed it on the coffee table in the living room so that if it happens to me again, I'll rule that out. If it is my BP, I will stop taking my Lisinopril. Just got that script refilled, so that would probably be the cause.

I'm calling this "round 1" but it's not. I never had problems with my BP last year during P2. But I'm happy that you and others have asked me to check my pressure if it happens again.

You get to sleep-in and I have 3 alarms set! I usually have just 2, to remind me to take my thyroid meds and my morning pellets. But the third alarm is to actually make me get out of bed and head over to the old abode. A lady wants my area rug so I'm giving it to her. Nothing valuable so I couldn't get much for it, but I always found it pretty.

Night, ladies! Hoping we all have excellent weigh-ins tomorrow.

[TerriMM]

2.3 Whooshie today

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

[CherylB]

WOW!!! So glad you decided to weigh this first week! Very nice whooshie!!!

As for me, I had to wake up early so the scale didn't reflect any loss. Tomorrow I may see one. I hate when I have to be somewhere in the morning. It was for a good cause, though. I hope the woman appreciates the rug. She was very odd.

I feel so tired and today is supposed to be weights and cardio at the gym. I just want to sleep!

I've been thinking how best I should eat this round while working out, doing the farm stuff and swimming. I don't think my calories are adequate so I'm thinking of doing three protein meals per day instead of the usual two. I'm eating 7 oz of meat as of right now but I'm thinking 12 would be better. Four ounces spread over three meals would be good. And I'll keep eating the fruit and zukes. That should take me to closer to 1000 cals per day.

I will try it and see how it goes. I don't want to hurt my body in the process of really working hard to make it the best it can be. Speaking of which, I didn't have any episode like the one I had yesterday morning. I did wake up early and go to the bathroom but felt totally fine. Must not have been my BP after all.

We're going to have a stormy, humid day and I plan to ride it out inside. I think I will skip the gym today and go swim tomorrow. I have weights and cardio again on Tuesday. My farm days will be split now. They were Mon and Tues, now they are Mon and Sat. So that also means that my days for weights and cardio can be spread out with two days in between rather than one.

Have a lovely Saturday, ladies. Time for breakfast!

[pendragginp]

Lucky!! Excellent whoosh!
I'm up another 2 ozs, but my gut was very unhappy last night, so I was not surprised. Not related to the eating plan, just because it happens with me sometimes. Sigh.

Everybody have a good Saturday!

[pendragginp]

I'm sorry you're so tired today Cheryl.

Does your Sat farm thing start today, or will you get to stay home and flop? I'm thinking the latter from what you said about the humid day....

And so glad that no episode today.

[CherylB]

Hi, Plum. No; I told the lady that since I already did my two days this week, I'd do my first Saturday on the 15th. So I will be off Tuesdays now. Kind of a bummer cause I used to always do Tuesdays. For the vast majority of the past 9 months! So this chick that volunteers with me on that day is not going to be happy about this. But I must do what I must do.

Thanks for the empathy! It's raining hard already. The storm wasn't supposed to hit us until later in the afternoon and I tried to warn two people who posted they were going to have multi-family tag sales today (locally, of course.) I don't think they listened to me and I doubt they got many people to come. I sure hope they had canopies and tables. If they just waited until tomorrow, we are having perfect Fall weather for the next week.

Just ate the other half of that chicken breast I grilled last night. Not as good warmed up in the micro but still tasty. Now I'm waiting for the zukes to be cooked. I tried to slice them thinner to see if they get crispier. Either way, I love the way they taste.

I ordered a pair of swimming goggles from Amazon the other day and a bicycle pump. They are supposed to arrive on or about the 12th. That will make my pool days much nicer. I have a fear of doing the crawl, where you have your whole face in the water and turn your mouth to the side to gulp some air, then blow it out continually while your face is in the water again. I want to get over that. I used to not even be able to put my face directly under the shower head! I think it goes all the way back to childhood when a close friend drowned.

I was thinking of practicing in the bathtub! I guess I could practice in something smaller, just involving my face but I'll see what I can come up with. I'm not big on taking baths. More of a shower girl.

I also got a catalog in the mail saying I was pre-approved for up to $250 worth of their merchandise. I never believe those people cause my credit is about as bad as it gets at the moment, but I went through the entire thing and found some stuff I liked. Turns out that the total (including shipping) was $250.74! I mailed the form in and got a confirmation number, so they are actually sending me the stuff! What idiots!!!

The plan is that I will pay $25/month but they determine how high the interest rate is, based on several factors. Well, if they stick me with the high interest rate, I guess I'll just have to include them in the Chapter 7 that is about to be filed. Really don't want to do that to a company that took a huge chance on me so we shall see what they decided to assign me for an interest rate.

I'm just yammering along. Time to eat zukes!

[CherylB]

Yuck! Ruined them. Cut them thinner, cooked them longer, burned the hell out of them. Ate 'em anyway!

[pendragginp]

Awww!

But still lol!

[CherylB]

I knew it the minute I got near to the kitchen. The smell was nasty. I'm surprised it didn't set out the smoke alarm! It wasn't smoking yet, but you know what I mean.

I finally returned a call to my second-cousin in WPB Florida and we were talking for about 3 whole minutes when one of her neighbors walked in her door. I told her to just call me back. We were just getting warmed up! That woman can TALK. She is elderly and was my Father's cousin. I only met her back in the early 1990's when I went to Florida to visit my Dad. We're very different on some things but for some reason, we hit it off. I haven't seen her in nearly 10 years! That's how long it's been since I moved back to CT and decided to stop travel-nursing.

First rumble of thunder coming now! Sissy's on full alert. Soon there will be shaking, panting and drooling. Joy.

[pendragginp]

Put something snuggy around her middle. Do you have a small T-shirt?

[CherylB]

I bought her a "thunder coat" which is something like you are talking about and it didn't help. I have medication to give her for when she's really bad but the thing with that stuff is it sedates her just fine but then she has incontinent episodes for up to 24 hours (urine.) No thank you.

Right now she's fine but there is a great big storm cell heading our way. They are talking about a tornado warning to towns just to the west of me. I called the lady who lives upstairs and told her that if things get worse, she can come down here. She is petrified of storms. That was the first time we talked since we had a falling-out a few weeks ago. Finally, the ice has been broken. God is good!

I wish they'd change that "tornado watch and warning" terminology. It's confusing to me. I always get it backwards. I guess the "warning" is when one is spotted and on the ground. The "watch" is when the conditions are ripe. Well, I just find it hard to remember that. I think they can come up with something clearer than that.

Is there anybody else out there other than Plum and me??? Where is everyone today?

[minimonkey]

Hi everyone --

I wrote a long-ish post, and then I lost it (internet went down)

Cheryl -- scary episode you had! My guess is it is the low calories and the higher activity -- especially since you are so fatigued today. I hope you feel a lot better soon! I think the higher calories are a good idea. I know I just can't sustain the higher activity levels on such low calories for very long.

Nice losses all around, ladies -- I am mighty impressed! Gotta love those big old whooshes!

I'm rolling along -- still off the scale. Decided to do a fat fast today, just to shake things up a bit -- . I'll probably weigh tomorrow. I do think I am losing, albeit rather slowly (for hcg, anyhow) -- but I'm not unduly hungry or fatigued, so I will keep this up for a while.

Lots of school and teaching work to do this weekend -- trying to pace it well so it all gets done without me becoming frantic.

Stay safe in that storm, Cheryl, and keep your sweet doggie feeling secure, too!