HCG Day 1 - Loading

Ever have someone tell you that you MUST, ABSOLUTELY do something that you have been chastized for, berated for, and embarrassed by. That's what load day is like. At first it sounds fun.. eat all the fatty food you can think of.. as much of it as you can stand.

Well.. its not as much fun as it sounds. It's only 10 am and I have already eaten almost 120 grams of fat! But that's the idea! On this diet, for two days, you consume as many fat calories as you can fit in there. Being a bit of a wee thing at 5'0 tall, I am trying to eat things that are extremely dense in fat so I don't have to consume so much volume.

Over the past few days, even though I wasn't pigging out, I just stopped "watching" I already gained 2 lbs. ugh.. so now .. in addition to the load weight, I have to lose that, too. I still am committed to just doing one course of HCG. I think I'll be super close to my goal weight if not at it, and I'll just workout to get off anything remaining.

Change of Plans

Well.. the ultrametabolism diet absolutely makes me feel so much better. So much so, that when I eat something prepared, I feel like crap for a day or two. UGH. I guess that's good news though.. it's a much better motivator than "you just shouldn't". I have a defiant streak in me and when I'm not suppose to do something I get resistant to it. Getting sick from eating, however makes me not WANT to do it. Completely different psychologically.

But... still significant weightloss is elusive. A few months ago my friend mentioned the HCG diet. I had read Kevin Trudeau's book "The Weightloss Cure they don't want you to Know About" - (don't buy that, just read the origianl Dr. Simeons's Pounds and Inches), but it seemed unattainable. So when she mentioned it, it just slipped passed my ears mostly. Until another friend mentioned that a guy she worked with's wife was doing it with success. All of a sudden, it seemd real and do-able. So I found myself a clinic and I'm starting on Sunday!

Results are nothing less than miraculous. And the best part is that it resets your hypothalmus so a lot of the eating habits that you had before which you THOUGHT were behavioral, go away.. because they WEREN'T - it was your brain chemistry driving your behavior.

It's such a relief, beyond words truly, to find out that what I thought were psychological issues, lack of willpower, weakness, obsession, etc, were all (ok mostly) driven out of my brain chemistry. I will be fascinated to see the difference after this protocol is over.. to find out what REALLY is in my mind vs. my brain.

So for the next oh... few months, this blog will be about this whole experience... the two special load days where you eat until you can't eat anymore, followed by 6 weeks of HCG injections and a very low calorie diet. If you're at all worried for me, don't be. It's medically supervised and this plan has been in practice since the 60's. The hcg cause the body to release 2000 calories of fat daily, so the very low calorie diet is in conjunction with that. DON'T evern do a very low calorie diet without HCG... now that's is bad for you.

I'll be posting pictures, too. Although.. i think I'll wait to post the befores until I have a least an inprogress one to put with it! :)

Wish me luck!

So far, so good

Well.. I'm keeping to the plan. It's exciting. I have allowed myself some reality based flexibility. For instance, I intended to workout yesterday, but I came home and did a bazillion chores around the house... and when that was done, I was too pooped. But I'm still committed to getting my 5 days in, so yesterday became the first floating rest day.

I've lost 2 lbs since 6/16 but I can actually see the difference in my body. Maybe its losing all the puffiness/inflammation that comes from eating crap food and things you're allergic to. I have elimated my food allergy items, too, for the most part. It's funny, how when I first learned of those, it felt like I couldn't eat anything anymore, and now I don't even really think much about it. Not eating eggs is tricky, so thats one of the "for the most part" items.

I find myself starting to crave fruits and veggies.. the raw kind... I'm craving the freshness of them. I'm juicing a lot more.. sometimes even when I get home from work.

And I'm losing my taste for coffee. I have mixed feelings about this. I use to like it, and I want to like it, but it's just not tasting good to me anymore. It was fine last week. Very curious. I will adapt. Bye, bye coffee. Maybe we can visit occasionally... like old friends.

Out with the Old, in with the New

Well... I did super well all of last week.. until I had to eat around other people. Then I made many of the same choices I've made before. Ugh. I decided I needed a goal. This time, instead of focusing on a weight goal (which I do have, of course), I am just focusing on a goal of developing new habits. I think I need more than 21 days...

So!! Today begins my 90 day experiment. Here are the detail goals:

1. To exclusively, without exception, eat only whole foods for 90 consecutive days.
2. No alcohol
3. No coffee What? Who said that?
4. To plan for and be mindful of social eating experiences.
5. To exercise in some fashion 5 days per week. Activity and duration is flexible.
6. To drink plenty of water
7. To take daily supplements

I think that should cover it! YAY! Stay tuned.

If food is medicine, I OD'd

Two of my good friends and neighbors are moving back to Austin. So happy for them. So sad to see them go. We went out for dinner and thinking that -"oh, its just one night" and "oh, this is life, some days are special"... so I had some wine, some pizza, and some dessert (THE ORiGiNAL PiZZA COOKiE Now this will knock your socks off! A 1/2 pound of Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut, or Peanut Butter Chocolate cookie dough, slightly baked in a 6-inch pizza pan then topped with 3 scoops of vanilla bean ice cream.)

What I learned is that it is just one night and some days are special, but that doesn't mean you should poison your body in celebration.

My tummy is not very happy with me. My chest is tight. If food is medicine, I OD'd.

Lesson Learned.

Bits of this and that

I'm having appliance fantasies. I want a vitamix 5200. 400 smackers at Costco. Yikes. That will stay a fantasy for awhile unless a little fairy decides to grant me a wish.

I found this great site about local food- http://www.localharvest.org/. Very cool. I didn't even know there was a farm by my house. I'm gonna see if they sell from the farm or if I have to hunt them down at a farmer's market.

I'm conducting an experiment today. Even though I'm not counting calories, I was curious about how many calories I burn in a day. So.. since last night at 10pm, I've been wearing my heart rate monitor that tells you how many calories you've burned. I don't know how accurate it is, but I'm sure it's a reasonable guess. With an hour to go, I'm at 2300... that includes just the normal day activities and 25 minutes of cardio.

All in all, today's been a nice day. I made a cabbage burrito for lunch. Down right tasty! I'll post some of my most favorite recipes as this goes on. Too tired tonight. Goodnight Wednesday.

Fresh Ideas

Today I ate all raw foods. We took my boss out for Sushi - so I even had raw fish! It was easy to make the choices.

I'm finding I'm beginning to dislike the smell of sweet. The idea of eating things that are "heavy" makes me feel lethargic just thinking about it.I ate a nice meal around 3:30 today and then went to the gym at 5:30.

I didn't even really feel like eating dinner. I puttered around the house and the time just passed. When I did get a little hungry, it was already late, so I just popped a couple of blackberries.

Now.. as the night is getting late and I realize how little time I have left in my evenings after getting home from the gym, I must start my days earlier. So.. I'm leaving the bathroom door open tonight... so the sun will shine in in the morning and wake me as it wakes. What a nice way to start the day. Goodnight Tuesday.