P2 Day 10 154.2 (-0.1) (-12.5)

What a small release, but at least it was one. I am retaining water big time, my fingers are swollen and my rings are tight. I am getting rid of the diet soda, any additional salt, and the mustard with my beef in the evening (sigh). We'll see if that does it. If not, in a couple of days I will do an apple day and get it moving.

P2 Day 9 154.3 (-0.0) (-12.4)

Well, I guess today is a rest day... they happen. I'm being as philosophical as I can be over it, knowing it means a good release will follow.

I'm wondering if there's not a bit of muscle inflammation from the bowling too. I feel bloated as well, so some water retention might be in effect. We'll see tomorrow.

P2 Day 8 - 154.3 (-1.6) (-12.4)

And week two of P2 begins!

Another great loss, for a 12.4 total (including loading weight, which you do count) for the first week!

Off to get ready for work, I will be bringing my lunch, coming home for dinner, then going bowling with a friend, which is light exercise and okay in the protocol.

Evening update: Had fun bowling with my girlfriend, am likely going to join a league next week, that would be fun to do again! I need to socialize, I tend to isolate myself too much, especially during protocol. I had a diet pepsi, and although all the snacks smelled wonderful, was not at all tempted. Love HCG for that!

Speaking of temptation, at work I am surrounded by goodies - chocolate covered chocolate biscotti in the lunch room, a bag of m&ms in the desk I'm sitting at, and red velvet cupcakes - that was just the first day on the job! Again, thank goodness that HCG has me so immune to temptation! In some ways I wish I could be on it all the time for that! Maintenance is much more challenging than Phase 2, or even Phase 3. No matter what, I'll find my balance :)

And now, it's off to bed, nite!

P2 Day 7 155.9 (-0.9) (-10.8)

Great day!Started with tummy emptiness and gurgling when I woke up but no actual hunger.

 I kept forgetting to eat, things were distracting me, and lunch ended up being at 1pm.

Just a relaxing day with my zoo (2 dogs and a cat), some grocery shopping and a lot of reading.

In the evening, I went to the movies with my roomie's daughter, we saw Epic (cute!!), and I got a diet pepsi, and was not remotely tempted by candy which is normally my downfall at the movies (I'm not a popcorn girl). The only "oh yum, I wish I could eat that" moment I had was gazing at the meal my roomie cooked for her guest and family. It's all good, this is SO worth it!

Calories came in at 481. I typically drink 10 glasses of water a day (5 bottles), although today I came in at 8 - but I did have that extra soda at the movies, so no biggie. I'm making an effort to have my hot drink with dinner be decaf green tea rather than coffee.

I'm toying with having one free day a week (likely Saturdays) and an all protein day (likely Thursdays) when I hit maintenance, I've been reading the Dukan diet, and their maintenance program really makes sense to me. The whole diet does really, if it comes down to it.

Anyway, off to bed, must get up early for work (new job!)

Nite!

P2 Day 6 - 156.8 (-.04) (-9.9)

Release was a tad lower, which kind of sucks, but I'm realistic about it, they're bound to slow down as time goes by.

Feeling a little lonely today, I turned down dinner out yesterday, and my roomie's family's memorial day barbeque. In a couple of weeks I'll be able to handle social occasions like that, right now it's a bit soon - I at least need a week under my belt.

Food is going well, pretty routine. The boredom with food is not the most fun, but I can do anything for a few weeks. And all those ads on TV - holy food porn, batman!

Calorie count for today 497.

My roommate told me she could see I'm losing weight, that was nice! I could see it in my face, it's not so round and bloated, but once she said that, I could see I looked a tad slimmer. Love the inches part of this Pounds and Inches protocol!

P2 Day 5 - 157.2 (-0.9) (-9.5)

Another great release!

Today\s calorie count was 479. Pretty much the same menu, no surprises :)

I got very restless and went out for a three hour walk in our historic district, and then went grocery shopping.

Now I'm just chilling. And once again, can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. So far I'm very pleased with my results!

P2 Day 4 - 158.1 (-2.3) (-8.6)

Another great release!

Today went well, interviewed at 8am for a part time assignment and got it! Yay me!!

Food wise, I came in at 494 today, a tad high but still under 500 so that's fine.

I'm feeling good, was a bit sleepy today, but it WAS my day off, and it was also a grey and gloomy, rainy day, so hibernating was pretty inevitable lol.

Can't wait to step on the scale tomorrow!

P2 - Day 3 160.4 (-2.7) (-6.3)

What a great result!

Slept amazingly well last night with no melatonin and valerian - one of the benefits of HCG and woke up before my alarm went off.

I'm feeling a bit worn out and tense, so I started taking potassium again, which helps almost immediately.

Lunch and dinner the same as yesterday, I definitely fall into a routine when on this protocol.
I noticed that the potassium definitely made a difference in how I was feeling.

On to another great P2 day!

P2 - Day 2 - 163.1 (-3.6)

Well, day one went very well!

Today I'm back at work, and other than a moment around 10am where I wanted to dig into my lunch, I've been just fine. Had a bunch of coffee with sweetener (coffee is carrot cake flavor, pretty yummy), and lots of water.

Lunch was chicken, cucumber and apple.

I slept exceptionally well, I was woken by my alarm, which is the first in a long time! I may even be able to give up my melatonin/valerian combo soon... we'll see. I usually sleep very well while on HCG. Hoping it'll be the same this time around.

Dinner was hamburger, tomato and strawberries. I'm having decaf green tea as my evening drink.

Total calories for the day 484.

Tummy is a bit empty, as opposed to hungry. I was feeling low energy and woozy, so I upped my dose a little bit, which I've done in previous rounds, I guess I just need a little more than most folks. Having had to do that in most of my previous rounds, I recognized the signs, and chose to act sooner rather than later.

Quite happy with how day 2 has gone - can't wait to see the scale tomorrow!!

Phase 2 Day 1

My total gain for two days of heavy loading was 1.7 pounds, not bad. I credit that due to my emphasis on protein and fat, rather than carbs.

Today my intake was 473 calories, breakfast was black coffee, lunch was late, almost at 2pm, I was on the go all day. It consisted of 100g (raw weight) of grilled chicken breast, cucumber and an apple.

Dinner was 100g (again, raw weight) of 96/4 extra lean ground beef, grilled, with a tomato and some strawberries, and a cup of coffee. 

I had 9 8oz glasses of water today. I'll be aiming for 10 throughout the protocol, it seems to be my sweet spot with water.

I was not hungry all day, good energy, mild headache, which was either detox, or leftover cold symptoms, I'm still taking antihistamines and Dayquil for my cold, but am starting to feel much better so hopefully am almost over it.

Had a couple of impulses to grab stuff while out, but I realized that it was just habit from my out of control eating habits from before, not because I actually wanted anything. One of the things I'll be re-learning is to occupy myself during times of boredom or stress with something other than food. I've gotten a bunch of books from the library, and walking my dogs will help also. It will give me mild exercise and fresh air, which will be good for me. On the protocol, strenuous exercise is not recommended, but walking is fine. This is due to inaccurate scale readings due to muscle inflammation, which can be very discouraging during the process, and also due to the low caloric intake.

All told, a great day, a perfect day 1. I cannot wait to see what the scale says tomorrow morning! Stay tuned!!!

P1 Day 2 - Loading

Well my "more later" end to yesterday's post was a tad premature lol.

Yesterday ended with a 0.9 gain today, which for loading is not bad at all. My loading continues...

And what is loading (for those new to the HCG protocol)? Loading is the first phase of the HCG diet, where you eat the most caloric, fat concentrated foods you can. You're encouraged to pretty much gorge yourself past the point of comfort on all of your favorite foods in order to ensure a high fat content in your blood for your body to feed on as it acclimates to the Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD) of phase 2.

I usually focus on things that are very high fat, and higher protein, as opposed to high sugar. Usually. This loading has been a bit of a mixed bag though. I'm consuming a tub of full fat sour cream each day. Yesterday I also had yogurt, and pizza, and cookies, and a jar of nutella. So, more sugar than usual.

Today, again the sour cream, some cookies (might as well finish them off), cheese, pepperoni, I've got carrots and an apple as well as I'm craving them (good sign, I like it when I crave good for you foods).

I'm also continuing with water as well, trying for 8 glasses each day.

I should note too that while loading, you are also taking the HCG (I'm doing sublingual, so that's a twice daily dosage), and you end up NOT hungry, so this loading/gorging thing is not as much fun as it sounds, you are fighting your body to eat the foods. But it's worth it once you get into phase 2. At the end of these two days, I'm more than ready for the next phase!

Phase 1, Day 1 - So good to get started!!

It was with great excitement that I mixed my HCG this morning! I've had my morning dose and am busily loading.

More later!

Preparing... Tomorrow's the Big Day!!

My HCG arrived this afternoon!! I've gone out and gotten all my supplies in preparation, including some loading foods.

Tomorrow is the big day!!! I can hardly wait to start this HCG journey, it'll be such a relief to be on the path again, to be in control again.... I'm looking forward to no hunger and no cravings.\

Tomorrow!!!

:-)

Wow, it's been almost a year since I blogged here. A year. Crazy.

If anyone out there still cares about this blog, I do apologize.

Another apology I owe is one to myself. You see, I'm 7 pounds away from having gained ALL of my weight back. Weight I worked incredibly hard, hand in hand with HCG, to lose.

No excuses. Reasons, yes. Tremendous stress, depression and isolation pending my return to the town I used to live in (so glad to be back home!!!). No HCG (as opposed to HHCG) available where I was without huge cost ($1000 for a 3 week program as opposed to doing it myself), being thrown off by work events where I was too worried about what others thought, and didn't bring my own food. The slippery slope of sugar.

Reasons. But I won't make excuses. I could have joined weight watchers. I could have made sure I had some accountability to someone, somewhere. But I didn't.

Which brings me back to my blog.

I've ordered HCG and supplies. Most of my supplies have arrived. I'm expecting the HCG to arrive next week. I'm devouring blogs and the HCGdieters group on yahoo, preparing my mindset for what will be, MUST be, my final encounter with HCG.

I'll do 5 weeks of HCG, go off it for 5 days as I'm going up to see my father for his birthday, then straight back on it when I get back home. And I'll stay on it all the way to goal.

After that, I am not letting sugar and processed food back in. I just can't and hope to stay slim and healthy. I am so tired of hurting, of not being able to breathe properly. I want to RUN again, I want to lift weights and get strong and toned. I want to feel like ME again. I loved that year and a half of being trim and healthy. Now I want  a lifetime of it.

So, join me on my journey if you like. It's time to give myself the gift of ME!!!