VLCD Day 11

Down 1.3 lbs for a total of 13.1 lost since my highest loading weight.
Current Weight: 175.9

Still have my cold, and a little hunger, though I'm sure that because I forgot my tea in the kitchen, again! (distracted by work). That always fills me right up.

Anyway, in the last few days, I've been thinking a lot about why I went on this type of diet instead of doing it all natural, the way I've been trained to do it (at school) and the way I know works if you work it, albeit much slower.

The real answer, outside of the ones I give everyone, like I want to use this with my clients but needed to make sure it was safe and works (yes, that is a little bit of it), is that I wanted a quick fix. I wanted something down and dirty that was a little hard, but something that got me results FAST. Something that would jump start my motivation, make me feel and look great, and get my back on my path. And this is definitely doing it. I was also was drawn to the fact that I can't exercise on it, since Ive been plagued by injuries over the last Tri Season, and I didn't want to get depressed about that if it happened again, and most likely, stress eat about it. And most of all, I needed a plan that was very basic, didn't have room for cheating (ie I needed to get all the sugar out), cost me some money and makes me work for it (in the sense that I give myself injections when I hate shots!). Strange, but true. And my losses have been consistent. And I have learned so much about myself as an eater. And all those lessons I've been taught and read about, and NEVER TOOK TO HEART, are coming into play naturally. I really love that.

I researched this diet for 3 months before doing anything, and I felt it was safe enough, and tempting enough to try it. I have found alternatives (since starting the injection) to the injections (SL), and alternatives to even getting the HCG from abroad (homeopathic), and that is cool. That will help when I do my next round, and if any of my clients decide to try it.

And I'll have a rocking hot bod in addition. Where's the harm in that?

VLCD Day 10

Scale showed 177.2 this morning, for another .9 loss. Can't wait to see 160! The Wii Fit congratulated me on going from a BMI that was obese to just one that is overweight. Wow, that's good, as well as depressing.

Yesterday was ok...Kieran and Connor were both feeling better, and Kieran took a 2.5hr nap (which was awesome), though Connor only let me nap through 45 minutes of it. But I took a nice shower, and read a little so that was good. I tried to get Connor involved in giving me a shot earlier in the day, so he might be a little less skittish the next time he has to get one, but he didn't want to look or help. Definitely understand that.

Trying to figure out if I want to switch to SL mid this round. I'm going to have to mix my next HCG batch in about 12 days, and that would be the time to switch. Benefits are no injections, and I can continue longer on protocol before P3 (thus making it possible I might not have to do another round, which is really tempting, since I really don't want to have to do P3 twice). The down side is I might lose weight less quickly (which is a maybe), or I might stop losing at all-who knows? If I mix the formulation for SL, however, there is no going back to SC for this round, since then I would have to use more HCG (and I only have enough for two rounds). What should I do?

Hands are really dry and my skin is cracking from the cold. Have to try to find an oil free body moisturizer now. The Avalon Organics one I have is for face and neck only-I tried it on my body and it made my cracking worse. There are definitely worse things.

In the office today since Mark and the boys are off. Figured I'd give them some male bonding time and escape the binds of my house, which I rarely left all weekend. Not sure if the office is so quiet because of the early hour or because of the holiday, but either way its nice.

Hope you have a wonderful MLK day, and if you can spare any money, consider a donation to the Red Cross for those devasted by the earthquake in Haiti.

VLCD Day 9

.9 off yesterday so 10.9 lbs down. Congested and achy and up very early with the kids. Last day Mark is away so tommorow Ill have some help :).

Have a good Sunday!

In the 170s again

179 to be exact. Lost 1.3 from yesterday. 10 lb loss in 7 days.

But im struggling with all my food and water today since I feel like such crap. Forcing down an apple and drink 24oz of water right now (though I still have another 24oz to go after that), and I missed one of my fruits, but thats going to be it for me today.

Connor only puked once today after his 3 time performance last night, and gratefully, Marks parents came to babysit this afternoon so I could get a nap after Connor kept me up all night with his teeth grinding. It is the first time I let him sleep in my bed in a long time, but since Mark was out, and he felt so bad, I made an exception that cost me lots of sleep and left me feeling pretty down and out this morning (no sleep+my lovely cold+two sick kids=tons of fun).

Off to bed right now, or at least after chugging my water. Hopefully everyone will make it through the night and tomorrow will be a better day. Something to look forward to: my neighbor Kristin invited Connor to a playdate tomorrow and she doesnt care if Connor pukes tonight, he can still come over (as long as nothing comes out tomorrow, that is). Here's to that! Good night!

And Happy Birthday, Mel, sorry I am missing the party!

Todays Update

Nasal sputum everywere, and weight loss holds steady at minus .9 today. Current weight after 7 days of this diet is 180.3 lbs.

Can hardly breathe and really dreading having to be "ON" all the time for the kids this weekend since Mark is away. But no hunger, just fears about what will happen to me in P3, thanks to all of the horror stories on the yahoo group postings talking about gaining it all back on P3 (called not stabilizing).

That is NOT going to happen to me if I have anything to say about it. If I make it down to 160, my calories per day for P3 will need to be 1846 (no starches or sugars, remember), so I need to come up with a plan for eating like I have now. I will keep the meats, the melba toasts, add a little cheese, toss in my olive and coconut oils for cooking, start back on fish oil to lube up those joints and get my brain functioning again. But I think I have to automate the foods I eat then as well. Same thing every day (or close to it) for all mealtimes.

Somehow it will work itself out. But I will definitely document my plan here when I come up with one. Have to get back to work...listings, my favorite. On a brighter note, just got my distance learning IPOD (back to IIN this year for a refresher and get all the latest and greatest). Lots of things to look forward to this year.

VLCD Day 6

Day 6 already...days are going so slow and so fast. Had a good day yesterday. No cravings and no hunger. And that was with going to Whole Foods (my favorite whole paycheck store) and Target (with their new grocery and frozen section), serving my son my favorite granola (bear naked Chocolate-YUM!), and going to book club last night where the host served Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip, Cream Cheese Pizza with Veggies, Scallops with Bacon, and Brownies...in addition to all the wine. Not one bite or one desire to have anything. That by itself is SO amazing. Who would have thunk it?

So today is measurement day. And from this mornings measurements, either fat redistributes elsewhere in this diet, or I just plain suck at measuring myself. Next time I should get Mark to help...

Weight: 181.2 (YAHOOO!). Down 1.3 lbs from yesterday. I tried this new face cream and thought that might wreck the scale, and Im starting to get a bad cold, and thought that might cause bloating, but no, I'm good to go! Lets keep this kind of loss up!
Current Loss (inch)
LF Arm 14.25 .75
Rt Arm 14 1
Lt Thigh 26.2 .3
Rt Thigh 25.75 .25
Waist 34 1.5
Hips 43.75 1.25 (this is where i must have messed up, since I
marked a
ribbon with the measurements and they measured the ribbon
(since my tape only goes to 39), and somehow the
difference on the ribbon is 1.25 but on the measuring
tape its .75. Im going for the bigger number :)
Stomach 36.75 .75
Neck 14 .25
Chest 37.75 .75
Ankle 9 -
Calf 16 Gained 1 (measured myself sitting this time, standing
last time. Did that make the difference, or did I
gain 1 inch)?

Total inches lost: 5.8

Pretty good for one week, especially when two of those days were loading. 5 days of actual VLCD for a total of 7.8 lbs from Highest Loading, 4.3 lbs from before diet, and 5.8 inches. I'm OK with that :).

And the icing on the weight loss cake:
Connor watched me weigh myself on the Wii Fit and saw the result. He came over to me and said Mom, for that you deserve this, and he gave me a high five. He also then hugged and kissed me, said you're doing great, and you're so pretty. That was the BEST! Now how do I get him to act like that all the time?

Have a great day! I'm going to!

Skip Day

So I'm down another .9 lb for a total of 182.5 lbs. This rocks!

I'm feeling good this morning. Yesterday, I was so hungry! It started around 10:30am and it didn't subside til almost 5:30pm. I drank more water, but it didn't help. I think it was due to stress, as Kieran was home due to illness and he was fussy, and then I had to pick up Connor and his friend Kameron from school and Connor was not on his best behavior.

It is recommended to take potassium 99mg three times a day to avoid hunger per the protocol, but the potassium I ordered over a week ago from vitanetonline.com hasn't arrived despite their promise to ship within 48 hours and send priority mail. I should have had my shipment two days ago, so I will not be ordering from them again (sorry for the rant, but hey, its my blog, right?).

Anyway, I'm hoping that I do not get hungry this morning, especially as this is the first day I skipped my injection in hope to ward off immunity, and I'm in the office today. (For those on the 43 day protocol, a skip day should to occur once a week to make sure the HCG is effective for all 40 injections). Fingers crossed that I don't have any immunity this round.

For my next round, I will probably take the HCG sublingually, which is better for avoiding immunity, and cheaper, since I wont have to buy the injection supplies (or for that matter, give myself any injections, though they do not bother me at all!). But who knows, some of my research also says that you lose less weight that way, so I'll have to look into it further. Definitely don't want to be doing this much restricting if it doesnt work as well!

Thought for the day: What can you do for yourself this second to feel relaxed? Close your eyes and take a deep breath (or 3). Doesn't that feel nice?

VLCD Day 4

Down to 183.4 this morning. Got out the Wii Fit to measure myself since I cannot rely on my other scale, which this morning reported 184 once and then 183 3 times...so it was close, but not close enough.

Little hungry, but that will be solved after I have my first cup of tea. Kieran is home sick today so I am going to be working furiously this morning while Mark is here and then he will be going to work at 12. Fun day! Heres to no stress eating today :(. And here's to hoping that Kieran's nose bleed clears up.

40 days and counting

One day 3 of VLCD, and down 5 lbs from my highest loading weight. Down 2.5 lbs from my starting weight (I know, all this confusing terminology)...In other words, the scale said 184 this morning. Though that's after it said 182.5 twice, which means that I need to get a new scale since 1.5 lbs off is a big deal. But boy was I excited for that 182.5. So that's just what Ill see tomorrow, right?

Trying to decide how strict I am going to be on this protocol. Kevin Trudeau modified the original protocol in his book the Weight Loss Cure, and it allows for a number of things that Simeon's original protocol did not. As a result, the HCG board that I am following has all of these wonderful recipes for dressings, broth, and the like that I do not have access to if I stick with Simeon. But as Simeon is a doc, and his protocol was found successful for thousands (all under the care of a doctor), I think I'm more apt to go with the original protocol and leave all the other stuff for P3.

By the way, just in case you are confused, here's a key to the lingo:

Loading Day: Days 1 and 2 of your injections. Eat as much fat as you can (gorge) and don't worry about the calories. You should GAIN weight during these two days.

VLCD: very low calorie diet (not to exceed 500 calories-dont try this at home unless you are following the protocol). Followed for a minimum of 23 days. Most choose either 23 or 43 day cycles. Simeons indicated that the user was to go for 40 injections max or a max loss of 34 lbs.

P1: Cleansing period (optional) before injections. For 30 days
P2: Loading days and VLCD days
P3: Stabilization. For 3 weeks after VLCD. No sugar or starch allowed.
P4: Maintenance. Eat whatever you like, though if you gain +/- 2 lbs in 24 hrs, you need to make changes as defined in protocol.

No full on hunger yet, though those psychological twinges still plague me. It would help if the house wasn't full of sugar and dairy (thanks to Connor and Mark), and if the kids didnt leave there uneaten food all over the house. But since I will be surrounded with it for the rest of my life, might as well get used to it.

Candida seems to be clearing up (YAY!), and today is the first time that I will be heading to the grocery store on the VLCD (I like saying that, the letters roll off the tongue). Hope its better than my foray into cooking while on VLCD. Boy did I want more than my 100gms of meat during lunch yesterday. I have to make sure I go right after lunch so I won't be tempted, though I am only buying my stuff when I go, which should help.

There was a time in my life (my 20's) where I thought I would kill myself if I ever made it to 150lbs, and here I am just praying that 160 is in my grasp for this first round.

VLCD Day 2

Is it possible that I am already bored of my diet choices? I have been on this diet for only two days and I have already been thinking of coming off since I want to have so many more choices of what to eat. So much for my saying I can do anything for 40 days!

God grant me the determination and fortitude to stick with this.

Back down to 186.5 this morning. For lunch, 100gm chicken, apple, breadstick, and a handful of romaine. For tonight, I get to have 100gm of beef, and I might go to the store to get strawberries. Woo Hoo, its a party!

On the home front, Kieran has a terrible cold (wheezing, snot dripping, fever), and Mark has a stomach bug. It's been a fun day! Here's to the next 41 of them.

I want to EAT!

Psychologically, that is. You don't know how many times today I almost reached over and had:..., whatever it was that was there, that Connor didn't finish, that was on the counter, or in the frig when I got Kieran's lunch out, or the candy cane on the Christmas tree that I was taking down. It was and is SO HARD not to just mindlessly eat. I never realized how much I eat mindlessly until today. Yes, I try to be mindful when I eat, when I consciously decide to have a meal, I should say. But just those little crumbs lying around, or the pretzel stick that Kieran tries to feed me. Well, I definitely haven't been mindful of those times....

So I'm not hungry right now. Even though all I have had today has been 1.5 liters of water, 16 oz tea, 100gm of chicken, 4 grape tomatoes, 1 grissino breadstick, and an apple. No, the real hunger is in my mind. Telling me I want to eat, I have to eat, what about all the things in the frig that were for me that are still there...OMG! I want to eat when Connor is having a tantrum, when Kieran is screaming. If I didn't recognize it before today, I know now that I am a stress eater. So this diet will be a great experiment. Can I outwit my mind to do what my body needs?

This morning: 189. Gained 2.5lbs loading. Heck of a night last night: full of wine, wit and chocolate chile creme brule. Thanks for the belated birthday night out, girls!

Loading Day 2

Up a pound from yesterday, and thats whats suppposed to happen. Funny I tried to stuff myself yesterday, but I really didn't want too. And then we went out with my husbands parents for dinner last night and when I was ordering, I was embarassed to be getting so much fatty food. The really embarassing thing was when I realized that I normally order that much food when we go out without batting an eye. For me, that was a mind blowing realization...so simple, really, but I realized that I tend to hoard food when we go out...as if we wont go out to eat again for a long time and I need to order as much food as I can. Who knows, but I definitely think this diet will teach me a lot about how I think and feel about food.

THIS is what a Triathlete looks like

...At least for this triathlete!
Day 1, HCG Protocol, Before Pics

Injection Day 1/Measurements

So after stressing for the last few weeks, I just gave myself my first injection and it was easy and painless. Had a very mild injection reaction (little rash and burning) 5 minutes or so, but other than that, all is good. Somehow now I have to binge eat for the next two days, when for the last week or so I haven't felt much like eating at all. Also, I need to drink at least 3L of water (96oz) a day.

I took all my measurements this morning, and will share them with you here...all figures are in inches if not indicated.

Weight: 186.5 lbs
Fat % (not sure how accurate, as I haven't tested my scale): 42.5
Clothing Size: Women's 14-16 (most often the latter)
RT 26
LT 26.5
RA 15
LA 15
Chest 38.5
Waist 34
Neck 14.25
Calf 15
Ankle 9
Stomach (at belly button)37.5
Hips 44.5

Heres a link to the protocol I'm doing in case you are interested, and I'm also posting a video by a Naturopathic Dr that performs this protocol with his patients so you can get an idea of what I'm doing (so Mom, its ok! Don't worry!):

HCG Weight Loss Therapy from DocBron on Vimeo.

Here's to seeing the 130s by April, just in time to start training...

VLCD starts this Sat...gorging tomorrow!

Filled with nervous anticipation and anxiety over the start of my diet tomorrow. I have to weigh myself upon waking, take all my measurements, take my first injection (yes, I will share all of the details soon), and then gorge myself for the next two days in order to build up my normal fat stores (which will allow the abnormal ones to be released starting day 3...).

I will be starting the VLCD (very low calorie diet) on Saturday, and continuing it until Feb 17 (43 days total). Then three weeks of Phase 3 (no sugar or starches), 3 weeks of Phase 4 (anything in moderation), and then back to Phase 2 (VLCD with injections) for a second round of treatment. My ultimate goal is to shed 60 lbs (depending on how effective the protocol is for me, this could range from 40 to 60) by April 30th.

Ill post all of my measurements tomorrow. Dont worry, this is safe, over 30,000 people have done it in the last 35 years...Im testing its efficacy on me so that I might be able to share it with you. You know me, the full service health counselor :) tri mom.