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

[CherylB]

I'm so fed UP with how large I let myself get again, and after attempting to take the lbs off in a rational way (The No S Diet), I just got fuming mad that it's taking so long. I am up to HERE with patiently waiting for losses. I'm moving on down the scale, starting tomorrow.

I'm loading today for just one day. I might load two days. I always had better results when I loaded for two days and I have no real holidays or events that are going to impede my plans, so one more loading day won't matter.

I'm absolutely freaking broke so I'll be eating what I have on-hand. I have ground beef and some cans of Rotel tomatoes so I'm sure I'll go back to making my own version of the P2 Chili. Fruit will have to wait until I get paid at the end of this week.

Anyone still doing a rogue P2? Wanna join me? Hope some of the old crew show up, if just to watch and cheer the rest of us on. It's been a long while since I did a P2 and I suspect that is part of my problem.

I'm going to a gym now and I will have to keep going because I don't want to lose my momentum. I might just tone it down some in intensity during P2. I don't want to stop going for fear of slower losses. I have to keep going! I know myself and if I stop going to the gym, I might never get back in there. Momentum and consistency is everything in my world. So, however it affects my results, I'll be doing the gym.

Here we go!

[suzi7]

Me too, Cheryl. I gave up on my last round, jumped to No-S (for the sanity), and stuck it out thru my TOM (no sense weighing, I knew I had a lot of water-weight). Weighed yesterday and went Not happy. I actually gained weight! Some of it may be water-weight still but I don't think so. Just FAT.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE No-S. it makes perfect sense and I truly believe that it will work long-term. It will make a joyous WOE for life once I get the bulk of this weight off. But for right now it is too slow (and in fact the scales are going the wrong way!! not happy there!)

So my order for Hcg pellets is on its way. (not messing with drops any more, after last round.) and I will be loading until they arrive. going to do a "strict" rogue round, just suck it up and do it. cuz I know it works.

Like you, Cheryl, I did the math and figure this is a good time for at least one more round (maybe two, if they end up be the shorter ones). Like I said on the last rogue list, great minds think alike. lol

But I CANNOT stand being this heavy. I USED to be 130 a couple years ago and I just want to be back there again. That will be my Christmas present for me. 130 (or maybe a little less ) and stable.

So yes, Cheryl, I'm here with you. Let's do this TOGETHER.

[CherylB]

Suzi!!! So glad to have you for company on this journey! Great minds do think alike! I have tried rounds of hhcg in the past and I just couldn't get any air under my wings, but this time I can feel the determination inside and I remember this feeling from the times I did hhcg in the past and it worked. I'm so ready.

I have over 30 lbs to lose before I even get to new territory! I can't let that get to me. It is what it is. I did it, now I am un-doing it. But I absolutely refuse to keep packing these lbs around with me. I will not be taking them with me into 2013!

I don't know how much I'll lose during these next two short rounds but I will give it my all. And I will be doing my gym routine this time and that may help or hinder my results. I don't care. Working out is a part of the big picture and I'm not going to stop doing something that I've only just begun to do. It's all good.

I was thinking I'd load again tomorrow but I don't think I will. I want to get this game on! Tomorrow will be my post-load weight and I'll make a new ticker in my siggy. Then we're off to the races. I hope you get your pellets soon! How long do you think it will take to arrive? Will you be using what's left of your drops to start off with?

So happy you're here with me, Suzi! Let's rock this round together!

[MagieDen]

You gals can do it! You are in the right frame of mind right now so go for it! Cheryl don't look at the past just go forward with your future goal. I exercised during P2 and continue to do it and won't give that up for a number on the scale. Keep moving!!!!

[CherylB]

Thanks, Maggie!!! I appreciate that so much.

[plarsen]

I am in for very clean for 21 days, no sugar, no starch no sh**!

OK? I have some pounds to loose, and want some company too, so lets do it!

My stats end with 127 that is my goal, but I am still 134... cannot loose that last 7lbs so that is why I am in with you all

[CherylB]

!!! So glad to see more "takers" for this round. It makes me very happy to know we have each other to lean on. We can do amazing things together!

I had a realization today that actually shocked me to the core. So much time has passed since I did a successful round of hhcg that it's been over a year! I looked at my pellets and they were from 2011. I spent the summer before this one eating low fat, high carb and moderate protein (only because I was eating summer-type foods and protein was tough to get enough of that way.) So my last real round of hhcg was over a year ago.

And look at what has happened to me during that time. I regained 30 lbs. I'm so upset with myself for getting so off-track and for letting life and frustrations take over, but I am back and I'm going all the way this time. I may not go all the way using my pellets but I am not going to be taking these 30 regained lbs with me into the new year. I will be in virgin territory by January 1.

Back when I did hhcg the last time, I really didn't have anything real going on in my life. But now I'm into equine care at a therapeutic riding center and I've been doing that for nine months. I have things that I can almost "taste" as far as knowing where I want my life to go now. Before I really hadn't a clue what was in my future. Now I know what I want.

I also interviewed for a part time job as a Veterinary tech/assistant a couple of weeks ago. They have not come to a decision yet so that is still a possibility for my future. And if I get it, being down some serious weight is only going to make me that much more able to handle the tasks required of the job. A large part of that job will be assisting the Vet in the OR! So I need to be able to be gowned and gloved and masked and not faint! (Anyone who believes in prayer, please remember me and this job when you are praying.)

So I have much to look forward to, and much to motivate me through these next two short rounds. I hope and pray these pellets are still good because I have no money to buy more (hence the job search.) I need to eat as well as I can, to stay strong and stay able to do what I do at the farm two times a week, and still be able to fuel my gym workouts. I won't push myself too hard for a while, until I see how it will affect my progress.

This is going to be a full page long so I'd better pipe-down and try to unwind for sleep. So happy to be starting this journey with you ladies!!!! Sleep tight. Tomorrow is a brand new day.

One last thought. I remembered a line from the Shawshank Redemption this past hour. "Get busy living or get busy dying." That's about it.

[CherylB]

I'm so excited that the scale will once more be my friend!!!! Can I get an AMEN?

[MagieDen]

AMEN! That's right "get busy living or get busy dying!" YOU CAN DO IT Cheryl! Let's eat to live and not live to eat! Whooo Hooooo!!!!

[plarsen]

Here here! weigh finds me up 2 lbs, from 133 to 135.2 first day of clean day, maybe I was loading yesterday

Pat

[keepingcupsfull]

What a motivated group. Good luck. Remember to take Biotin to protect your hair. I didn't take it the last 2 rounds I did and am shedding like crazy now. :
Wishing all of you the best of rounds, treat it like its the first time and you will do great.
The past is over so own this P2


Off to take a walk ....

Bee

[catjrow3]

You girls are strong, you can do it. Rooting you on here too!! Amen!

[pendragginp]

I'm in. I loaded yesterday (sort of, really just a regular food day, but I'm counting it) and today is P2D1. I was waiting to start because I knew I had several family eating days in the last few weeks.

I do think No S or JUDDD are good for maintenance, but verrrry slow for losing. The last few lbs maybe. At least, I do know some people seem to lose well on JUDDD, but for me it was good for P3 and P4.

[CherylB]

Good morning, all you lovely ladies! So nice to see that our group has grown some over-night. That is very cool!

It's funny you said (Pat) to act as though this round was our first because that is exactly what I had already decided to do! I haven't done hhcg in over a year so in fact, it really is my first round.

I loaded for just the one day and this morning's weight is 196 even. I am looking forward to finally seeing the scale move!!! I hope to be out of the 90's in just a couple of days. If not, maybe my pellets are too old. That would be a real tragedy because I have no money to buy new ones. In fact, I haven't even got the money to pick up the prescription I've been trying to get refilled for 4+ days. I finally got confirmation that it would be called in today, hung up the phone and my jaw dropped. "I have no money!" What a dope.

I think P2 is going to help my pocketbook, too. I won't be buying much food so I will not be so dang destitute in September.

I have my two farm days today and tomorrow. I volunteer at a therapeutic riding center and do equine care related activity like grooming, feeding, bringing them in from the paddocks where they've been all day, cleaning the stalls and paddocks, etc. I love it so much and it is so wonderful to interact with the horses. There are also a couple of goats that are good for laughs and three bunnies. The two white bunnies have each other and couldn't care less about me but the one black bunny used to be a pet and litter-box-trained and loves to be loved. I get my "fix" twice a week.

I need to make sure that I eat something before I go, so I don't pass out. I will drink plenty of water, as always. It's supposed to rain, which always makes things sucky at the farm. Whether it be rain or sweat, I always seem to be wet! (Rhyme time.)

So, I hope that we all have an amazing round and that we reach our personal goals by the end of P2. I have no idea how much I'll lose in the next 23 days (21 on pellets, two off) but I'm hoping for the best. If I can get into the mid or even the lower 70's, I will be extremely happy! Then I will get the rest of the regain off in R2 and maybe even get into some VFT by the end of R2P2.

[CherylB]

Bee, thanks for the reminder to take Biotin. I actually never had hair loss with hhcg, knock on wood. I think there is Biotin in my multivitamins. I will put those out so I don't forget to take all my vito's.

[Gracie514]

Hi all I'm in!!! I loaded over the weekend and today is my first LCD following the Omaha plan. Good luck to everyone!!!

[CherylB]

Gracie!! The OWL plan is what I did my very first round. If I ever get paid I will probably be doing that plan again. I love the fact you can have those 100 calorie bags of popcorn with the popcorn cheese powder. I used to spritz it with the zero cal butter spray and then do the cheese powder, but sometimes I'd have more than one (I take sleeping meds and they "loosen me up" before they knock me out.) I'm on Restoril now rather than Ambien so that happens much less frequently. Ambien is baaaaaaad stuff.

[Gracie514]

Originally Posted by CherylB

Gracie!! The OWL plan is what I did my very first round. If I ever get paid I will probably be doing that plan again. I love the fact you can have those 100 calorie bags of popcorn with the popcorn cheese powder. I used to spritz it with the zero cal butter spray and then do the cheese powder, but sometimes I'd have more than one (I take sleeping meds and they "loosen me up" before they knock me out.) I'm on Restoril now rather than Ambien so that happens much less frequently. Ambien is baaaaaaad stuff.

Thanks for the welcome! Yeah, I have the popcorn and it's such a nice treat. I seriously have trouble sticking to the protcol 100% and it just stresses me out. I don't know how I did my first couple rounds without cheating. The Omaha plan may have slower losses but at least I won't lose my sanity I'll have to look for the cheese powder - that sounds awesome. Where did you get it?

[CherylB]

They sell it right in the same section as the popcorn. OWL shows a picture of them in their "diet in pictures" page. It's called "kernel seasonings."

[Gracie514]

Originally Posted by CherylB

They sell it right in the same section as the popcorn. OWL shows a picture of them in their "diet in pictures" page. It's called "kernel seasonings."

Okay, cool - I'll check on my next shopping trip

I am also drinking Powerade Zero - it helps with my electrolytes.

[suzi7]

Cheryl, my pellets were waiting for me when I got home from work!

so I'm thinking of taking dose one NOW and dose two before bed... then tomorrow, then Wednesday is official weigh-in (SCARY!! nobody laugh) and starting VLCD (being as how I am loaded right now... seriously, I can't imagine being much more loaded.) One more day to eat all my cheese and natural peanut butter and I should be good. lol

I am so looking forward to this. (after the last (boo hiss) round, I didn't think I would say that, but I am psyched!)

and the biotin! I'm gonna buy some of that. I know that my multis have it but in a very small amount. I have been really disappointed how BLAH my hair looked after each other round (I thought it was lack of fat and "super-moisturizing" hair treatments, which prob played a part too).

For anyone who doesn't know me on here, I am lil ole vegetarian me. So by necessity I qualify as rogue. lol. eggs and dairy are ok with me, so eggs, nfgy, nf milk, and whey protein powder are my proteins. no meat (although I do take fish oil tabs, don't ask...); I am what I call a practical vegetarian, meaning I do not micro-analyse my food like some do (If it doesn't have obvious meat in it or on it, I do not play 20 ?s with the preparer. If I can read the label, I do, but I do not drill the cook.) However, I have been known to make a "nuisance" of myself asking what kind of oil it was prepared with, etc.

My plan is prob closer to OWL (aiming between 500 and 700 cal/da). I eat a nice salad for lunch each day. plus my two 1/2 cs of veggies from the list. I sometimes skip my fruit and I def avoid the dreaded grissini! (I can live without that!)

I will be taking my supplements and my BHRT. And I will be using my Treseme shampoo and condition (moisture rich). and I do use my organic face creams, etc. Otherwise, I am a dry old prune (not worth the few extra pounds I may have lost without them.)

and I will be exercising... a little. I do around 15 minutes (from the No-S) of weights each day. not much but I have flabbies I need to tone up. and of course the walking. (or stationary cycling if the weather is blah here).

I am not expecting to reach my ultimate goal in one round (although it would be nice ) but I hope to break lose 20 this round (from whereever I start) and then do a p3 and see how I feel about another.

I am expecting these pellets to be "good" (was frustrated with the drops last time. not much confidence in them. For me, they seem too iffy.)

Well, off to happy load land.

I'll be checking in on Wednesday.

[CherylB]

Sounds like a plan, Suzi! Thanks for that recap cause it helped to refresh my memory. I have plenty of natural oils so my hair never suffered during any P2. I guess I should be thankful for that, but at age 50, having to wash your hair every single day unless you are going to hide away from the world gets pretty dang old.

I did my farm stuff today and I didn't feel any different than I do on days when I haven't been on hhcg! I felt a-okay. I gave three horses a total scrub-down and never lost my strength. (Curry comb and hard brush, not a bath.)

I'm not hungry but it's time for dinner. I didn't get the dang sleeping medication refilled yet again today so I'm not expecting a great night's sleep. I will have to chew sugar-free gum to stay on plan. I could STRANGLE someone. It's always the pharmacy saying they contacted the Dr but haven't heard back yet, then the Dr says they sent it in days ago. I get so frustrated! I even called the Dr's office today and spoke to a human being about it. Then they transferred me to the prescription line and I left a detailed message. They say that if you leave out any single piece of information that they require, they won't process the request. I told them everything they wanted to know so they better be calling it in NOW.

I'm all showered and in my PJ's but for that, I'd get dressed and head back to the store.

Off to make dinner. Have a lovely night of loading or of losing! I hope I have a good scale day in the morning. If I don't sleep well, that could be a dangerous thing (stepping on the scale.)

[CherylB]

Oh, wow! I'm 30 posts into the "Way too much time on my hands" title! I kind of liked the "Big Yapper" one. I'll miss it dearly.

[minimonkey]

Ladies, I'm in! I can't stand being this heavy any longer, and I am ready to take this on.

I started the hhcg last night, and just ate normally today, and that is going to suffice as a load. I've been maintenance eating long enough that I don't think I need a full-on load.

So, the plan is to start tomorrow -- and call it VLCD 1. I'm going to aim for 800 or fewer calories, fresh foods, minimum fats -- very similar to the first rogue round I did, which worked beautifully.

I love the idea of pretending this is the first round... I was thinking the same thing, before even reading this thread, so that seems to bode really well!

I'm still dealing with the Lyme flare, but that is likely to be a process that lasts a few months, and I am just not willing to wait any longer to give this another go -- plus, I am taking it easy with the workouts right now anyhow, so it isn't a bad time to do it.

Hopefully with some of the other imbalances cleared up, and after a fair period of maintenance, this will work out well.

[Gracie514]

Good morning Yesterday went well - I kept my menu pretty simple. I had a gala apple and some sauteed yellow squash for lunch. Then for dinner I ate 7 ounces of crock pot roast and an onion. Later on I had the 100 calorie bag of popcorn. I seem to do better when I save my entire protein portion for my dinner meal. That way I'm not hungry when I go to bed. So far today it's coffee and water I will try to walk about 30 minutes per day or do a Callanetics dvd. Today is LCD #2 - onward and downward, right?

[CherylB]

Hey, Mini! Nice to see you here again. I'm glad you're feeling well enough to try another round. I just got so tired of creeping along on the scale doing other less "diet-like" plans. I have to get at least back into the 150's before I attempt plans like No S. I can't spend anymore time at this end of the 100's any longer!

With that said, I had a very pleasant surprise on the scale today. I dropped to 191.8! So all the water weight from the one load day and 0.2 of the weight that wouldn't budge before starting hhcg again. Here we go, people!

Gracie, I always found it was better to eat the one meal around dinner time, too. And I'd eat a fruit and the popcorn near bedtime. I ate a pear yesterday. It was the last remaining pear from the fruit tree in our yard. It was clinging to that branch, hanging on for dear life. All alone. So sad. So I ate him!

I managed to sleep last night, even though I had no Restoril. I took 3 Benadryl and 3 Melatonin. Normally I take two of each so this was only one more than usual. I'm still feeling hung-over but I slept! I will go make me something with some caffeine in it to try and get rid of that feeling.

Have a beautiful Tuesday, ladies! Isn't it marvelous to be on your way again? I know!!!

[CherylB]

I am having concerns about my original plans to do two 21-day rounds. I look back on last year and I know how easily the first round went for me. I did a mega-round and did "refeed days" for special occasions, then did a fasting day the day after the refeed. I was able to last over 80 days that way. And every round I attempted after that, I failed to stick with it.

I'm thinking of doing one 60-day round and then being in P4 a few days before Thanksgiving. Then I can be in P4 all throughout the holidays and reassess where I'm at in January.

I just know myself and I'm afraid if I stop at 21 days, I'll lose my "golden opportunity" and won't be able to get off the ground again in round 2. I guess I will just have to keep this option open and see how I feel as I get nearer to day 21.

One thing I'm fairly certain of is this will be my last big "push" using hhcg. I know how old it does get with repeated attempts and I think when these pellets have run out, that will be the last of it for me.

If I could count the pellets I have left without contaminating them, I could figure out how many days worth I have. But since that's too risky, I'll just see how it goes.

What do you ladies think? I know Mini knows about mega-rounds. I think my losses after my mega-round with refeeds netted me around 35 lbs. I honestly forget because it's been so long ago.

[minimonkey]

Hey Cheryl!

Yes, I know about the mega rounds! I don't know if they are a very good idea -- a lot of us have regained quite a bit after they are over, and never managed to stabilize. They seem to drag the body out pretty badly after a while. I think the real problem isn't the round itself, but the transition to maintenance -- that seems to be where a lot of us fall off the rails, and the body rebels. My sense is that the longer the round, the harder it is to manage any kind of maintenance.

I surely don't know the answers to any of this stuff -- after all my experimenting, I still have more questions than answers -- and I still have the same 20 lbs to lose all over again

I have no idea if this round will get me anywhere at all -- but I'm feeling the need to give it a try, anyhow -- overall, I am not feeling too bad, but I'm uncomfortable in my skin and I want to be doing something to try to get the weight/inflammation off.

So, I'll give it a try, and see if it gets me anywhere. If it is working, I'll play it by ear as to how long to continue it. I may take a short maintenance break mid-way through to goal, particularly if the losses are coming slowly.

[suzi7]

Yea, Mini! I start my VLCD tomorrow too! honored to share a round with you!

I think we should all just blame summer for the last few months. lol I am feeling good about this round! ... for all of us! Let's rock it!

and I am terrified of weighing in... (can you set the typefont on here to teeny-tiny?)

[shelbyla]

Originally Posted by suzi7

(can you set the typefont on here to teeny-tiny?)

yes