VLCD #9: -.4

Another .4 lbs gone, and I'll certainly take it! However, it's a little disappointing, after last weeks huge losses to be down fractions of a lb per day. I need to keep reminding myself that (1) it would have taken me two weeks to lose this much on WW, and (2) I'm right around a past "set point" that I maintained for several years. It may just take a little while to power through that. The scale is moving in the right direction, and ultimately that's what counts.

So my current stats are: -11.4 for this round, and -34.4 since I originally started HCG on December 30. Not bad!

VLCD #8: -.8 and some thoughts on "cheating"

I'm down to a new all-time low today at 224.8. This makes a net total of 11 lbs gone since my first VLCD! And that's 34 lbs gone counting my first round of HCG. Woohoo!

Today should be a fairly normal day, except I have a singing lesson right after work at 6:00, and it's going to throw my dinnertime about an hour and a half later than usual. Therefore, I'm going to have to plan how I'm going to handle that meal. I'm thinking that I'll have my fruit, an apple, right before I leave the office - that will get the "heaviest" food consumed and out of the way early. I'll have a "portable" vegetable that doesn't require cooking, like celery, for the drive back home (it's about a 45 minute drive), and then a piece of halibut when I get home. Past history has shown that if I have to eat later, it's best to do it with fish rather than veal or chicken. It's certainly not the ideal situation for a meal, but I'm trying to not have to eat anything after 8:00.

I'm reading a lot on the two HCG Yahoo boards about people "cheating" while on this protocol, and I thought I'd address my personal thoughts on cheating, which are pretty harsh: First of all, the only person being hurt by cheating is the cheater. Most of us who are doing this HCG protocol have tried every diet in the world and have failed. This is the only diet that I have ever tried where we are guaranteed to lose weight in a really short period of time if we can just follow the directions and have a little self-control for 3 to 6 weeks for the injections and then for 3 weeks for Phase 3.

Where's the discipline, folks? The program is pretty clear cut - it's easy to follow, and it's really not open to interpretation if we follow it exactly the way it is written. If we cheat, we're going to gain weight. And you know what? All of the people out there who have seen us fail before are going to say, "I knew (s)he couldn't stick with it!" There are a lot of people out there who think that fat people are weak, lazy, stupid, and have no self control. Why on earth would we give them ammunition to support that thinking? I'm all for showing those "fattists" that they're wrong. And I'm telling you - when you've lost 30 lbs, and people suddenly see the fat melting off and you have to start buying new clothes, there's just nothing like it!

Some of you are thinking, "Who does she think she is? Miss Perfect?" Well, I'm here to tell you that I'm certainly NOT perfect, and have my share of temptations, but have made too much progress to turn back now - after the taste of success that I've had, I have every intention of taking this all the way to my goal, which means I'm going to be at this through the summer. Period.

Here's the inner dialogue that goes on in my head:

• "Wow! I've lost over 30 lbs! Now, instead of having 100 lbs to lose, I only have 70!"
• "I can do anything for 23 days...I can do anything for 23 days..."
• "I've invested too much money in cleanses, doctors appointments, organic foods, etc. to throw it all away"
• "No more cholesterol and GERD medicines - it feels good to be healthy! Plus, now I can spend that money formerly spend on meds on a pedicure or a new top!"
• "I'm going to show XXXX (name your worst critic) that they're wrong"
• "If I have that piece of cake, the scale IS going to go UP. Is it really worth it for that 2 minutes that it took to eat it? Because it's going to take 2 or 3 days to take the weight back off."
• "I have to publicly blog my results. There are a lot of people reading this. I have a responsibility to my sponsors and to the readers to show that this program works!"

Anyway, you get where I'm coming from. Zero tolerance for cheating, and zero sympathy for those who do - when we fall down, we need to quit whining and get back on the program. We owe it to our sponsors who have generously set us up for success, we owe it to the people who are relying on our experiences to guide them through the process, but most of all - we owe it to ourselves to succeed and be healthy and happy!

Time for me to step off of my soapbox and get to work! I hope you all have a wonderful, successful day!

VLCD #7: -.4

Looks like the scale is on its way back down again, thank goodness! Today's itty bitty loss of .4 takes me to a total of -10.2 lbs for the seven days that I've been on the Very Low Calorie Diet. I would like to have lost more today, but will take anything that I can get! In the past when I was on Weight Watchers, it might take me TWO WEEKS to lose .4 lbs, so I really need to just hush up and be grateful! :)

I'm increasingly struck by how many times my supposed "hunger" is really boredom or thirst. I've been keeping water or iced tea at hand at all times, and have taken in a lot of liquid! At work today, I was particularly busy and never got a chance to even think about food.

All in all, I'm really pleased with the way things are going, and am looking forward to having some good losses by the end of the week.

No surprises on the menu today, but here it is anyway!
Lunch:
Halibut
Cabbage
Apple

Dinner:
Halibut
Cabbage
Apple

VLCD #6: +.8 Yikes!

Well - I had a rude awakening this morning with a .8 lb gain! Current weight is 226.0, with a 9.8 lb. loss since beginning injections last Monday. Total loss while doing HCG is 32.8 lbs.

Immediately emailed my doctor to get her thoughts (she and her husband are experts on the program - both have been through multiple rounds), and she thinks that there are a couple of things that might be culprits:

(1) It probably wasn't a good idea to have a colonic during this phase because of the lubricant, and also because it would give a false large loss the next morning, leading to a gain and my system gets back to normal. Makes sense, and I've learned a lesson!

(2) I ate dinner later last night, and that's always a risk for a gain the next morning.

So hopefully, if I'm a good girl today and have an early dinner and get to bed early, I'll see some good results in the morning.

VLCD #5: -2.5 and in VFT!

Well, it looks like my good luck is continuing as the scale continues downward. This morning showed an all time low of 225.2, a loss of 2.4 lbs - I'm now officially back in "Virgin Fat Territory", which is fat that hasn't been lost in a loooong while! So overall, for this round, I've lost 10.6 lbs.

Obviously, the colonic didn't hurt my progress and very possibly helped, so I'm really pleased about that. Also, I notice that I can actually suck in my gut now! Certainly, there's a whole lot of fat still there...but not for long! I have another colonic scheduled for next month, so I will have finished this first short round by then, and can get rid of some of the toxins that may have been released by the fat loss. I've begun to believe that the whole thing about our bodies being full of toxins has something to it.

After being on the HCG for almost a week now, I am feeling somewhat more energy. Normally on a weekend, I'd be taking every opportunity to take a nap; however, today I'm feeling really motivated to get some things done!

One other measure that I've taken to try to keep from eating when I'm bored is to keep a list in my Outlook of "Things to Do". It's split into small tasks, so rather than "clean up the kitchen", I might have 5 or 6 things, like "empty the dishwasher", "wipe down the counters", etc. When I'm feeling like I want to get something to eat, and it's more out of boredom than hunger, I refer to this list. Not only has it kept me busy and not thinking about eating, it's helped me get some things done around the house, too!

Lunch:
Chicken
Tomato
Apple

Dinner:
Halibut
Cabbage
Apple

VLCD #4: -2.2

Only .8 more lb, and I'll be back to my Last Injection Weight! This morning, the scale was kind to me, once again, and showed me at 227.6 after a 2.2 lb loss. I'm thankful that the few lbs that I gained during Phase 4 and during this round's loading came off so quickly. By Monday, I should be in "Virgin Fat Territory" again and well on the way to Onederland, which is my goal for these first two "short rounds" that I'll be doing.

Found a place in Fort Worth to get a colonic, and decided to have one today. It was an interesting experience, and I certainly felt good afterwards. I was a little concerned that there would be some oily substance used for the reflexology part when she was massaging my feet during the colonic, but if anything she used a tiny bit of tea tree oil. I guess we'll see in the morning what the scale says about all this!

I have a memorial service to attend tonight for a friend's husband who died suddenly last month. Afterwards, she's having a gathering at her home. I'm telling you - this lady is a "foodie"! She's an awesome cook, and doesn't want anyone in her home to go hungry. So I think I'm going to take some celery to have in my purse, just in case. I'll make an appearance, say "hello" to everyone, and then head on back home.

So many of our social gatherings revolve around food - one has to have a lot of mental fortitude if they're going to stay the course during Phase 2. I just keep reminding myself of the progress that I've made, and the great rewards that are to be gained by just hanging in there through this short round. Then I'm going to make the most of my next 2 Load days! :)

Lunch today:
Chicken
Celery
Apple

Dinner:
Halibut
Celery
I forgot to eat my apple! :(

VLCD #3: -2.0

Another great weigh-in this morning. I lost 2 lbs, for a total of 6 lbs lost on this round. Today, the scale showed me at 229.8 - just 3 lbs above my LIW from last time. I'm hopeful that the weekend will push me into VFT (Virgin Fat Territory), and that next week will bring exciting new changes!

I did shampoo my hair today, so am hoping that taking care with the process will avoid any stalls. The good thing about having dry hair is being able to get by with washing it only twice a week.

On the menu today for Lunch:
Chicken
Celery
Apple

Dinner:
Halibut
Cabbage
Apple

VLCD #2: -4.0

The scale was smiling this morning when I weighed in 4# lighter than yesterday, showing my weight at 231.8 this morning! I'm still 5 lbs above my Last Injection Weight from last time, and I can only think that I did not introduce the starches and sugars gradually enough. A valuable lesson, since now most likely it will take 4 or 5 days to get back there. Since I'm doing a "short round" this time, I haven't done myself any favors.

Now I'm going to quit beating myself up and pat myself on the back for a job well done with the loading and for planning ahead this time. It has been so easy to just grab something out of the freezer for my meals that day. And if I forget, they're easily and quickly thawed in a bowl of hot water since they're individually portioned in Food Saver bags.

Had a sweets craving this afternoon, so put some Apple Cider Vinegar in some water and added a little liquid stevia - it killed the craving, and got me through until dinner time.

Lunch today:
Chicken
Steamed Cabbage
Apple

Dinner:
Halibut
Tomato
Apple

VLCD #1

Injection Day #3, the morning after my 2 Load Days, and the scales showed me at 235.8 this morning. I was pretty aggressive with the eating on Monday and Tuesday, so consequently packed on almost 4 lbs!

However, I think that helped me today with the Very Low Calorie Diet - I haven't been hungry at all, although I did drink a lot of tea and water.

Feelings-wise, I was pretty draggy. It was a little tough to focus at work - maybe it was from being so excited about doing this again. Also, I don't know how many trips to the restroom I made, but judging from the frequency, I had to have lost quite a bit of water weight!

Lunch today:
Chicken Breast
Celery
Apple

Dinner:
Halibut
Cabbage (steamed)
Apple