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...

Gained 4 pounds in a day

Well, this morning was a shock...up 4 pounds to 236. I didn't stay on the diet very well yesterday, and wasn't expecting much loss, but I didn't expect this. Apparently with the injections it really does make a HUGE difference - it also makes a difference on the sublingual, but not quite as much from my experience. This could just be because not as much hcg is in your system w/ the sublingual?

So, I may stall for a day or two, we'll see. Still, I'm on track to meet my goal of 215 by 11/22 - but now I need to have an average of .96 pound loss per day. Will I never learn....

Down another 2.4 Pounds

My weight this morning was 232 - that's a loss of 2.4 more pounds in 1 day. 17 more to go to reach my Nov. 22nd goal of 215, or .74 lb per day...

1st Day Starting Over - 5.8 Pounds Lost

My weight this morning was 234.4 - a loss of 5.8 pounds in a day. Not a bad start! My goal is to get to 215 by Thanksgiving, which would be an average of about 0.8 pounds loss per day - definitely do-able if I stick to it ... of course, we all know my history!

I know I haven't been the best example for you folks out there considering my frequent falling off the wagon - but maybe my experiences so far will help some out there see that you can 'get back on it' and things can still turn around.

Regardless, it is nice to know that I CAN take the weight off quickly with this program if I stick to the plan and am consistent about it.

Sorry so late...

I obviously haven't posted for quite awhile. I've been travelling a lot off and on for work, and really haven't stayed focused on the protocol for some time. I have continued taking hcg orally, but have basically eaten whatever I wanted. My weight has fluctuated up and down, but not drastically.

This morning, I started back on injections, 200iu per day, and will do my damndest to stay true to the program at least until Thanksgiving day. My weight this morning was 240.2. I have been as low as 230.4, but have pretty much fluctuated between 234 and 239 for the last month.

You may be wondering why I am switching back to injections. There are a few reasons. 1)Sublingual is much more expensive since you have to use more hcg. 2) I think with injections I will be less likely to 'cheat' - why would I want to stick myself with a needle for nothing? 3) No hard evidence for this, but I feel like injections may be a bit more effective since you are sure that you are absorbing all of the dosage of hcg.

I may switch back to sublingual at some point, or possibly try using it during breaks from the injections to see if that would allow me to continue with the hcg for a longer period of time while still avoiding developing immunity.

Back on it, I'll let you know what happens tomorrow...