HCG #3: Back on Board

This is Sandi, who works in my chiropractor's office.  Sandi started the hCG diet back in mid-October, about 2 weeks before I began my first cycle of the diet.  She chose a slightly different route, though.  She has been doing the diet nonstop for 6 months, taking no breaks for maintenance between cycles.

In 6 months, she has lost 102 lbs!  Doesn't she look amazing?  It really is incredible that you can lose that much weight so quickly, yet the hCG prevents you from having sagging flaps of skin left behind.  She'd like to lose just 10 lbs more before she stops.  She's getting very close.

Sandi seems to prove that developing immunity to the hCG hormone is not a huge problem when you're using the homeopathic drops instead of the injections.  Once a month she "reloads" (that sounds more pleasant than "gorging"), regains up to 7 lbs, then loses a ton more weight the following month.  Now that she's close to the end of her weight loss journey, she cheats on Saturday but stays strict the rest of the week and still loses a pound or two per week. 

She inspires me!

Now, to pick up where I left off on my own journey.  I had finished the last cycle of hCG on March 20th, 64.3 lbs lighter at 179.0 lbs.  I felt great!  I had kept that weight for 4 days in a row and I anticipated no huge problems in maintaining it for the next 8 weeks, staying within 2 lbs of that weight either direction.

I'd purchased the brand-new Atkins book and studied it.  I bought all the foods needed to follow it strictly and planned out the first week.  I even made up a binder with journal pages to write down everything I ate and track my carb intake closely.  I was ready!

The first day off the hCG diet, we went to the Renaissance Festival.  I had good intentions and actually made wise food choices throughout the morning, but by afternoon I'd enjoyed a sugary strawberry slushy and by evening I'd devoured a luscious chocolate-dipped wedge of frozen cheesecake.  Oh, it was heavenly!

The next morning I'd gained 3.0 lbs, but I didn't panic.  I did a "steak day," as prescribed by Dr. Simeons, and I lost 1.6 lbs.  So far, so good.  I settled in to live by the Atkins code and maintain my weight loss.

From there is was an uphill battle.  My weight crept up day by day, no matter how good I was.  By April 1st I was back up to 185.6 lbs, a total gain of 6.6 lbs in 12 days.  And I wasn't cheating!  I was so frustrated.  I was afraid to eat anything, so I was certainly not enjoying the foods I was now allowed to eat.

I don't know exactly why this happened, since I was able to maintain after the first cycle.  Maybe I really messed up my metabolism by cheating on the very first day I was off the diet?  I was menstruating that week, so maybe it had something to do with that?  Or maybe my body is trying to finally shift into menopause, so there were crazed hormonal levels at work?

Whatever the reason, this was soooo not acceptable!  I had a whole bottle of hCG left over, so on April 1st--after less than 2 weeks on maintenance--I started taking the drops again.  For the next 2 days I did a small "gorge" and gained another 2.6 lbs, putting me at 188.2.  Then 3 weeks ago, on Saturday, April 3rd, I began my 3rd cycle of the 500-calorie hCG diet.  I decided that, if it worked so well for Sandi, it could work for me, too!

I re-lost almost all the extra weight the first week, getting back down to 179.8 lbs.  That's 8.4 lbs re-gone, never to be found again!  The second week I lost 3.4 more lbs, bringing me to 176.4 lbs.  That's the lowest my weight had been since 2003!  It also brought my total loss from 64.3 to 66.9 lbs. 

Now this week, the third week, I've lost an additional 3.4 lbs.  As of this morning I weighed exactly 173.0 lbs, for a total loss of 70.3 lbs!!!  Woohoo!!  That's a definite personal best!

Here's the funny part.  Remember how anxious I was to lose weight on the second cycle, and how frustrated I was at the slowness of the loss?  This time I've hardly paid attention to the weight loss.  It's as if mentally I'm just using the diet to maintain rather than to lose. 

I'm mostly following the diet to the letter, yet I often find myself in the evening doing something not quite in line with Dr. Simeons's protocol, such as eating a large pork chop fried in salsa instead of my tiny 100-gram, low-fat piece of broiled meat.  I've also started drinking a cup of sugar-free, 25-calorie hot chocolate (with a tablespoon of heavy cream) everyday to get me through the long afternoon, between the afternoon snack and dinner, which is often late at our house.

Despite these cheats, I'm still losing.  Perhaps it helps that I'm not stressing over the weight (although I do still weigh myself every morning).  Or perhaps my body needs a little fat to be convinced it's not starving, thereby becoming more willing to release the body fat!

At any rate, I plan to stay on the diet until mid-June.  I'll quit in time to do a few weeks of maintenance before we go on our Colorado vacation in July.  I've gotten so used to eating this way, it really isn't hard anymore.  It just seems natural.  Go figure!

And look what I found!  Well, actually, Wyndie found it at Safeway.  She called me from the store and I rushed over and bought them out of all 3 packages of grissini they had stocked.

I've been pretty clear about my dislike of the tasteless Melba toast allowed on this diet.  It's like eating crunchy cardboard.  Dr. Simeons recommended using grissini instead because it's tastier and psychologically more filling.  Boy, he was right!  To me, these skinny little breadsticks almost taste like cake compared to the Melba toast!  I hope Safeway gets more grissini in stock by the end of this week, before my supply runs out!