R3P2: Loading Day #2

Injection Day #2. So far so good today, but I'm finding that I get so full so fast! Had a grilled chicken breast this morning, and then went out for a late lunch with friend today to my favorite Mexican restaurant. Had chicken fajita quesadillas, and ended up opening them up and eating the chicken and cheese out of the middle. There's something about bread/tortillas/rolls that I just almost can't tolerate anymore - I have to chew and chew and chew and chew, and then they still give me heartburn and make my stomach hurt. Common sense would say to "don't eat that stuff", wouldn't it?

I think I mentioned before that I haven't suffered from GERD since sometime between my first and second rounds of HCG. That's not to say that I haven't suffered from an occasional episode of heartburn, and it can always be traced back to either a bread or starchy fried product, or a floury baked good like a cookie or piece of cake.

To sum up my loading days, I am not positive that I've eaten enough to adequately load for this round. I still have a few hours left, so will have a piece of fish and then also try to get some coconut oil in as well before going to bed.

The scale is looking pretty scary as of this morning, but I'm confident that the weight I've put on will fall right off, just as it did with the last round. This time, though, I'm not going to self-sabotage myself by being unprepared and by getting too hungry. Also, I am going to start rebounding again during this round. I used my rebounder on Round 1, and had pretty good luck getting some activity in without hurting my losses. Plus - it's just plain fun!

The next time I see you all, it'll be on a VLCD, and the countdown to Onederland will start anew!

Day 2: More Loading

Wow - am I sick of eating! I've done my best to load lots of fatty foods today, since I had sort of a tough time yesterday. Also ate some things that I know I won't be able to have for a while, so now I'm mentally prepared to get with the program!

The injection this morning was fine, so no issues there. All in all, it's been a pretty ordinary day with the exception of the constant eating!

Tomorrow brings the first day of the VLCD for this round - I'm ready to start seeing the numbers on the scale go down!

Day 1: Loading

Today was my first injection day of my second round of HCG, and all went well! I have enough syringes left over from my first round of injections to last through a short round, and hopefully will receive my supplies for the Challenge before the end of the month. The HCG that I'm using is some that I had ordered before signing up for the Challenge and it arrived a couple of weeks ago. My HCG for the Challenge arrived today!

I'm doing my injections intramuscular, because that's what my doctor originally recommended. I think some folks are a little skittish of doing it that way because the needle is so long, but I've honestly not had any problems. Granted, the needle is longer, but it is so very thin that it just slips in with no problem. The key is making sure that the needle isn't dulled from going through the rubber on the vial. If I detect any resistance in the needle going in without my having to push it, I'll change it out.

Believe it or not, LOADING has been a challenge for me today! I'm having to force myself to eat, and am trying my best to choose fatty foods. Also have been drinking whole organic milk in the hopes that it will help with the loading as well. I'm really sort of looking forward to the VLCD days - they are so structured that it's impossible to mess up, as long as you follow the directions.

I'm just hoping that I'm loading well enough to stave off the intense hunger that I felt for the first week the last time. Even if I do get hungry, I sort of meditate to get my mind off of things. By the end of my long injection phase the last time, I got to where I felt comfortable with a certain level of hunger all the time. It was never unbearable, but I was always ready to eat. And I was always satisfied with the small lunch that I did have with the VLCD. I'm interested to see if it works the same way this time.

Time to get to bed so that I can get up early and start all over again. See you next time!

The Night Before First Injection Day

I just got back into town, and it feels like I've been gone forever! I came back to find a package notice from the post office, and the tracking info shows that it's my HCG Challenge shipment! I wonder if the supplies are included in the shipment? You can be sure that I'll be there first thing in the morning!

The last time I posted, I wasn't sure what was going to happen with the monthly cycle, which seems to have taken on a whole new timing. Thankfully, it started on Thursday night and appears to be a short one; therefore, I'll feel comfortable starting my injections in the morning.

I just finished mixing my HCG - I'm using an ampule that I had ordered before finding out about the HCG Challenge. Am also using syringes from my last round, which were very small "tuberculin syringes", only I switch the needle out to a 1" needle for IM use. Last time around, my doctor prescribed a dosage of 200 IU, so I'm inclined to stick with the same dosage, since I had some nice success with that. Once my HCG Challenge supplies come in for the next round, I may need to make adjustments for mixing, based on the instructions in CCs "Guide to Implementing the Weight Loss Cure". It's almost a disadvantage that I HAVE already been through this, because I know just enough to mess things up!

Also, for anyone who is interested, the trip to Houston went great! My chorus won 1st place for "mid-size" choruses in the region, and we won 2nd place for the entire region. I roomed with 3 other women, and we had a fantastic time. I haven't laughed that much in ages, so even though we worked hard, I feel mentally refreshed and ready to embark upon this weight loss journey.

I did great on the eating front while I was gone! We had dinner at Outback Steakhouse on the first night - I reminded myself to "eat consciously", and you know what? By slowing down to actually taste the food in front of me, I came to the realization that it didn't really taste very good at all. As a result, I ate less than half of what was on my plate. And frankly, I wasn't really hungry for anything else. The next day, we went to "La Madeline" for lunch, and once again, I left food on my plate - the serving of pasta was absolutely HUGE, and I know that if I had not paid attention to what I was eating, I would have shovelled it all in without thinking. Today, we stopped at an all you can eat buffet, and I had chicken fried steak. However, this time, I did NOT eat consciously. As a result, I was not chewing my food well, and had some real difficulties when trying to get it to go down. I thought I was going to have to go to the restroom to make myself throw up, since it seemed stuck! Thankfully, getting up and walking around a little helped to "unstick" it, and I made a mental note to be careful of breaded type foods. This isn't the first time it has happened, and it is a valuable lesson to keep in mind going forward.

So there you have it! I'm anxious to re-weigh in the morning to see what's going on with my weight. I've got my omelet ingredients, whole milk and some steaks ready for my load days, as well as coconut oil, salmon, and then some sweets that I won't be able to eat for quite a while. I think the key to not being hungry is getting plenty of fat in on the Load Days. We shall see if that theory is correct in a few days. See you next time!