221.8 - Down 1.6 Pounds

Man, I really like those 4-5 pound loss days! Of course, that really only seems to occur if I cheated the day before or if I had a lot of sodium, so this is definitely great. 1.6 Pounds in a day - I'm hoping that tomorrow or the next day I can be below 220 - that will make me just 'overweight' and no longer 'obese' according to the BMI charts! So, I'll be just fat instead of 'holy shit, he's fat!' HA!

223.4 - Down 4.6 Pounds

Back on track -- I hope!

228 - Up 5 Pounds

Well, I didn't eat as much as I normally would on Thanksgiving, but I did overdo it on the wine a bit I think! Oh well, I had a good time. I was up 5 Pounds on Friday, and am still the same today since I didn't go back to the VLCD yesterday and had chinese food (lots of sodium, and thus lots of water gain, you know - I'm sensitive to it just like a girl! :)

If history is any indicator though, I will probably lose this all today and be back at 223 by tomorrow and then it's onward and downward again...

223 - Up 0.4 Pounds

Hmmmm.. Odd. I don't know why I would be up 0.4 pounds today. Could be water I suppose (hope?). Today is Thanksgiving, and the 2nd day without hcg - I won't be sticking to the VLCD, obviously. But I definitely won't eat like I used to. I look forward to the good food, but really not as much as I would have last year, which is interesting to me. Hopefully tomorrow morning won't bring a huge gain.

222.6 - Down 0.4 Pounds

Any loss is good a loss, right? :)

One thing I've noticed from posts at the other forums, is that people using hcg sublingually have typically not experienced immunity no matter how long they have gone on P2 taking hcg that way. I have switched back and forth between injections and sublingual and have never experienced any signs of immunity. Of course, disclaimer, this is just me and every person's body may react differently.

I'm wondering if maybe the sublingual leaves your system more quickly than injections, and this could be the reason. I guess I'll find out based on how much I gain on Thanksgiving. I should have stopped hcg yesterday, but just couldn't! I stopped today, so it will only be 2 full days without it instead of 3. I'll let you all know what happens!

I also noticed that Dr. S. doesn't mention any danger of going longer - he only mentions that the chance of developing immunity greatly increases. He was so precise in his writings, that I feel sure he would have mentioned if there was any known adverse health effect of going longer.

My take on him is that he wrote the plan so that it would work for everyone, and was very precise and cautious about the diet and injections for that reason. For example, some people can change up the diet a bit, mix veggies, use lotions, etc. and not have an adverse effect - but the SUREST way for EVERYONE to succeed is definitely to follow his plan to the letter.

223 - Down 0.4 Pounds

It's funny how on this diet you get used to big drops of over a pound a day, and then when you have a day where you lose less than that it is disappointing. Still, at 223 that's 37 pounds gone! I'm obviously not going to meet that T-Day goal of 215. Oh well. Maybe I can at least make 220 - we'll see...

223.4 - Down 5 Pounds

Guess it was water from all that sodium! Feels good not to be so bloated, although my face still is a little bit - so I think I'm still holding on to some water.

All in all, I've now lost 36.6 pounds since I started this. I know that if I had stuck to it I would already be at my goal of 185, so there's a lesson for all of you! For me, I'm not too concerned about it though. I've 'cheated,' and as a result not lost as quickly as I could have - but I'm still thrilled with what I have been able to lose even doing that. Without this hcg diet I'm sure I'd still be back close to my starting weight and feeling miserable.

I'll really try to watch the sodium again today and see how much I lose by tomorrow...

228.4 - Up 4 Pounds

Man, I blew it yesterday. Went 'off-plan' a bit, but I think mostly I had A LOT of sodium, so this is probably mostly water weight and I'm not worried about too much of a stall as a result. Water is not the same as fat, so it's not a big deal if it shows on the scale to me. According to Simeons, just 1 teaspoon of salt more than your body is used to will cause you to retain about 2 pounds of water so your blood can accomodate it.

But, after entering all my foods, spices, etc. into FitDay.com, I found that I had 11,939 mg of sodium. 11,939! Holy crap. That can't be healthy. I really need to watch that.

Luckily,water is not fat - so it will flush out in a couple of days and isn't really a hinderance in fat-loss - but it sure can throw you for a loop mentally if you don't know what happened!

I'll have just plain food today, nothing added for seasoning that has ANY sodium.

224.4 - Down 1.6 Pounds

Feels good to see the scale finally make a real move again! I have to admit I was hoping for more than a 2 pound loss though, since the losses the last couple of days have been small.

I don't feel too confident about reaching my Thanksgiving 11/22 goal of 215 - only 5 days away, and I would need to lose 1.88 pounds per day to reach that. Hopefully I'll be close though. It might be tough, since I am stopping hcg on 11/20 (11/19 will be the last day) to let it get out of my system by the 22nd so I can hopefully eat normally on Thanksgiving w/out a huge gain. I know I will probably gain a little bit, but then I've been there before MANY times during this process.

I'll start back up on the 23rd w/ hcg and the VLCD and continue until 12/04 and take another short break (Vegas, baby).

226 - Down 0.2 Pounds

Only lost another 0.2 pounds this morning. How frustrating! I did 'cheat' a little bit last night, I have to admit. But by cheating I mean lots of salad late night, not too bad for a cheat I guess. I did put some Craisins and chopped peanuts in it, so that was a definite no-no. Oh well, tomorrow is another day!

226.2 - Down 0.2 Pounds

Well, how disappointing. I was planning (well, hoping) to be at 224 this morning. Oh well, I'll just keep plugging along...

226.4 - Down 2.4 Pounds

Nice loss for the day! It feels great to see the scale moving again. I'm not too sure I'll be able to meet my goal of 215 by 11/22, since that would be 11.4 pounds in 8 days, or an average of 1.425 pounds per day - but I suppose it's possible.

Funny today looking in the mirror - for probably the first time I noticed that my 'love handles' aren't very noticable anymore. Still definitely fat, but the bulges or 'pooches' that kind of protrude seem to be going away...

228.8 - Down 0.8

Well, it's a start at least! Glad to see the scale changing again...

I'm switching to Sublingual today for awhile.

229.6

Yep, again...

229.6

Missed a day updating. I'm up a bit, obviously. Didn't stick to the letter of the law last couple of days, but I think this is mostly because I have had quite a bit of sodium, based on looking things up on FitDay.com.

I have never really used salt on anything, but the last few days it turns out my seasonings have been pretty high in sodium. I also tried the "Saltwater Flush" I read about on 1 of the yahoo groups, and had no results from it - except maybe a big water gain I think. I kind of feel like my body is fighting me to get back up above 230 to its old 'set point,' but who knows. I used Smooth Move tea too, with no results. So, we'll how long this takes to come back down... I'll just stick to it and wait for the big 'WHOOSH!' I'm not worried about it...

Today is my 'skip day' for hcg, so I'm not expecting much change for tomorrow.

227.8 - Down 0.6 Pounds

Wah!!! I know I should be thrilled to lose half a pound in a day, but I was really expecting/hoping for more - guess I'm spoiled. Oh well, a loss is a loss...

That gives me 13 days to lose 12.8 more pounds if I'm going to meet my 11/22 goal. We'll see...

Good Riddance!

It was TOUGH yesterday - not that I was really hungry or anything, but just getting myself past this mental stuff that for some reason I had over the weight 230. But I did it. No more 230's. Never again. This morning I weighed 228.4 - a loss of 2.2 pounds since yesterday. Amazing how well this stuff works when you stick to the plan, huh?!

My goal is still to be at 215 by Thanksgiving. That gives me 14 days to lose 13.4 more pounds. Should be do-able if things continue as they have been, so far as the rate of loss goes ...

230.6 - Down 1.4 pounds

Okay, let's see if I can finally put this 230 thing to bed once and for all. I think I have both a psychological and physical resistance to going below this number for some reason.

I'm determined today will be my last day in the 230's - EVER...

232 - Up 0.2 pounds

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........

231.8 - Down 4.2 pounds

Whew! Lost 4.2 yesterday. I was worried about a long stall. Of course, if it weren't for my night out I would probably be at about 227 right now instead of 231.8, but at least things are back going in the right direction. Hopefully I can be back under 230 when I weigh in tomorrow morning...

Re: How is this even possible???

I just discovered something that I think may be why I have been prone to 'cheat'. I have been mixing 1500IU,with the goal being 200IU per day. I normally would just fill a syringe each day, but last week I decided to pre-fill syringes for the whole week. It turns out that when I went to mix my batch for this next week, there was a HUGE amount left in the vial (I have it wrapped in foil, so didn't notice this when I pre-filled the syringes last week).

I have been injecting 0.5 CC per day, and I think I messed up my mix and should have been injecting 1.0 CC per day this whole time...so I have been only getting about 100IU per day instead of the 200IU I had been planning on. I have apparently been adding twice the amount of bac water that I should have been based on a 0.5 cc per day dosage. Maybe that's why I have still been a bit hungry and tempted throughout. I'll be more careful with the calculator from now on!

How is this even possible???

OK, sorry I didn't post yesterday. I did get below 230, barely (229.7 WOO HOO!) but here's the kicker - Mr. Self-Sabotage rears his ugly head again. I went out last night (something I guess it is best I just avoid altogether until I am done with this - since apparently the will power isn't so great when I am out w/ friends).

I had beer, chicken quesadillas, and various other crap. Well, this morning my weight was 236!!! That's a gain of 6.3 pounds in 1 day. How is that even possible??? My understanding is that it takes 3500 calories to equal 1 pound of fat. There is no way I ate 22,050 calories yesterday. I don't think that's even possible! (although if it were possible, I guess I would be the one who could do it)

So my question is this for any of you out there who might have thought about it:

Do you think that when we gain while taking the HCG that it is really mostly water weight, and then it just takes us awhile to get rid of that excess water - and that is the reason for the "stall"?

I note that there is a section in Pounds & Inches where Dr. Simeons says this when writing about the need to continue for 3 days on VLCD after stopping your injections: "...if they start eating normally as long as there is even a trace of HCG in their body they put on weight alarmingly at the end of the treatment. After three days when all the HCG has been eliminated this does not happen, because the blood is then no longer saturated with food and can thus accommodate an extra influx from the intestines without increasing its volume by retaining water."

This makes me think that when you eat "normally" while HCG is in your system and your weight goes up as a result, you are not actually re-storing more fat, but rather your body is forced to retain an unusually large amount of water until you bring your daily calories back down and it can be flushed back out (usually with a long night of frequent trips to the bathroom).

What do you all think?

Well, it's VLCD today and LOTS AND LOTS OF WATER!

-Jeff-

Down another 2.6 Pounds This Morning

My weight this morning was 230, a loss of another 2.6 pounds in one day this round, a total loss of 10.2 pounds in 5 days. Need to lose 15 more pounds to meet my 10/22 goal, or an average of 0.75 pounds per day...

It's kind of weird, there is this little part of me - the little devil that sits on your shoulder - that is resisting getting below 230. I haven't been below 230 for years. Many people have a fear of failure, but I think I have always had what is known as a fear of success. Not sure why, but it seems I tend to repeatedly sabotage myself in a lot of areas of my life when I get close to reaching my goals or dreams. Maybe it's to avoid the attention of others, or to avoid placing new expectations on myself that I would feel compelled to live up to. I know I have used my weight in particular as an excuse for not doing all sorts of things for a long time now. Doing this protocol kind of makes you face those things, which is hard - but a good thing.

So, I know today is going to be a challenge - because if I stick to it, I will break through this new 230 barrier that I for some reason have been resisting. I wonder what I'll be like when I don't have all this fat to hide behind???

Down 3.4 Pounds This Morning

Lost 3.4 pounds, so down to 232.6 this morning. So glad I didn't stall for more than a day! That's 7.6 pounds lost in 4 days, even with gaining 4 pounds on one of those days - so that's still pretty good! I'll be more careful from now on.

17.6 pounds and 21 days to reach my 10/22 goal - need to lose an average of 0.84 pounds per day...