HCG #2: Week Two

Our second week on our second round of the hCG diet has produced mixed results, but some success overall. 

Jacob is the clear winner.  He has lost 19.8 lbs in 15 days!  I put it down to the these contributing factors: this is his first hCG cycle, he is male, he is 18 years old, he has a healthy metabolism, and I'm so jealous!  Oh, sorry, I guess that last one wasn't a contributing factor... 

Sarah had some starts and stops earlier this week, but in 15 days she has lost 14.8 lbs, for a total loss of exactly 40 lbs as of this morning.  So today is a big milestone for Sarah!

It's been frustrating for me.  My goal was to lose at least 6-7 lbs more this week, but I only lost 5.4  for a 15-day total of 14.8 lbs (the same as Sarah).  That makes my total loss 52 lbs, which is nothing to sneeze at, I know, so I'm trying to focus on that success.

Here's how it went down:  At the beginning of the week I was losing much more slowly than usual.  There were a couple of 1-pound losses, but also a tiny 0.6 and 0.2.  On the last cycle, I didn't see such small losses until the final 2 weeks.  At least my weight was moving downward each day, but I didn't feel it was coming off fast enough.

I haven't cheated at all, not so much as licking my fingers!  The only thing that seemed different this time was that I wasn't hungry since I'd raised my three-times-a-day dose of hCG from .35 to .40cc.  Maybe it was releasing too much fat into my system, I reasoned.  Maybe the weight would come off faster if I went back to the .35cc.  Maybe my body wanted to be hungry!  Okay, maybe not, but I would rather be hungry if it would speed up the weight loss.

I reduced my hCG drops on Thursday morning.  By Thursday afternoon my stomach was growling, and it has pretty much remained like that ever since.  However, on Friday morning I'd dropped 1.4 lbs and on Saturday I'd dropped 1.4 more!  Almost 3 lbs in 2 days--now, that's more like it!  I thought I'd discovered my solution.

But then yesterday and today the scale hasn't budged, not so much as one ounce.  Back to frustration, square one.  And so, again, I am reminding myself not to compare this cycle to my first cycle of hCG (by day 15 last time I'd lost 18.2 lbs...Shoot!  There, you see, I did it again!).  And I am trying to focus on the 52 lbs that are gone and never coming back!

I found this picture online of a 5-lb chunk of fat.  Think about it.  I've lost a total of 10 of those!  That's like losing a whole child!  And in just the past 2 weeks I dropped 3 of those blobs, so I will try to be more optimistic and patient.  Okay, Mary, be patient...be patient...be patient...

Now it's Lesson Time for those of you sharing this experience: 

First of all, this week seems to prove that slightly increasing your dose of hCG can take away the hunger, if that proves to be a problem for you as it was for me.  I'm going to raise mine back to .40cc and learn to appreciate the small losses among the larger ones while not being hungry.

Second, my friend A'Lece learned something while she was doing the hCG diet last year.  She went for a whole week without losing any poundage, but her microbiologist friend (who has worked with hCG) told her that it's when the weight loss pauses that more inches tend to come off.  When she measured herself at the end of the week, she had indeed lost a large number of inches.

Finally, Dr. Simeons himself had something to say about plateaus.  Here's an excerpt from his book, Pounds and Inches:

"The third type of interruption in the regular loss of weight may last...ten days to two weeks.  Fortunately, it is rare and only occurs in very advanced cases, and then hardly ever during the first course of treatment.  It is only seen in those patients who during some period of their lives have maintained a certain fixed degree of obesity for ten years or more and have then at some time rapidly increased beyond that weight."

I hope this is just a 2-day thing that will resolve itself this week.  I hope I'm not an "advanced case"!  However, I am definitely in the weight range where I hovered for a couple of years in my mid-twenties.  At that time I lost 47 lbs after I discovered I had hypoglycemia and changed my diet, but by the time I married and delivered Sarah at age 35, my weight had crept back up to that range, and there it stayed until I was expecting Dylan at age 42.  During that pregnancy I had many medical issues and gained weight rapidly.  It wasn't until my doctor introduced me to Dr. Atkins's book more than 2 years later that I was able to lose it all and then some... for the first time, anyway... 

So, yes, I did maintain that "certain fixed degree of obesity" in my current weight range for almost 10 years, followed by rapid weight gain.  Nonetheless, Dr. Simeons assures his readers that this type of plateau never lasts more than 2 weeks.

Repeat after me: patience, patience, patience...

Regarding other plateaus, Dr. Simeons states that a plateau of 4-6 days is perfectly normal, especially in the second half of the cycle, and will always correct itself.  For those who are impatient, he does propose a solution called an "apple day," although he says it is purely a psychological fix since it really only creates water loss and the plateau will end itself without help.  He also says this method is useless unless the plateau has lasted at least 4 days.  Still, here it is:

Only water is allowed until lunch time.  From that point on, you may eat up to 6 large apples any time you like, until just prior to lunch the following day.  Once you begin eating the apples (and nothing else for that 24-hour period), you should only drink enough water to quench your thirst, not enough to feel full.  If you can't eat all 6 apples, that's fine.  And that's it.  The next day at lunch you resume the 500-calories-per-day diet.

I think that middle apple looks like an old boyfriend of mine!

The Short Form:  My friend Wyndie is continuing on her 26-day hCG cycle and doing well.  She lost more weight than she expected during the first week, which made her a little nervous since she does not want to lose more than 15 lbs.  However, the weight loss has slowed to an acceptable level and all is going well.  I'll give a full report when she completes the diet sometime next week.

And so I leave you now with this thought: Remember, patience is a virtue worth waiting for!