HCG progress and updates - for people on it or thinking abou

Sassy, you might be able to get by with sugar free nondairy creamer. I know it's not exactly clean eating, but if it does not stop your weight loss, it should be okay.
Or, if you got fat-free Lactaid you could use some and subtract that from your protein servings. In P&I it says exactly how much milk you are allowed per day. I cannot remember, as I don't use milk. I've been drinking my coffee black since college.

Weaklink is 100% correct. You will need to commit to a whole new way of eating for a minimum of 9 weeks. The vlcd wwill not work if there is too much fat involved or complex carbs. I know. I have lost 6 days due to two lapses in eating. I am now on track and will not be having any more cheat meals until I am finished.

The best thing about this protocol is that it forces you to be inventive with good food. You have to be creative, or you wil get bored very quickly.

I am a cocktail/wine person. I have done very well on this protocol without my wine. I am now enjoying a spicy Bragg martini - crushed ice, water, Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar and a dash of very hot sauce in a martini glass. So good! On protocol!

Sent Message
Reply Delete Block User «Previous Next» Back to Inbox To: vhuber
Sent: Wed 08/11/10 03:23 PM
Subject: HCG and Trudeau
vhuber - You look great!! But who am I to say you don't need to diet!!!

I think Trudeau is way excessive. After reading his book I decided NOT to do HCG. Then my sister said his plan isn't the only way to do it and I should (and did) read the original manuscript "Pounds and Inches" by Simeons. Also, I am not being supervised by a doctor.
I think Amanda is right - you are so close to your goal - maybe just some adjustment in eating and exercise would do it!

Gorgeous - 0.2 loss is not a stall day. Try to accept it as small progress!

Spicy - you sound like me - I stalled for 5 months before finding HCG. I also LOVE (I mean LOVE) my morning coffee with sugar free coffemate french vanilla. For the first two weeks I put nothing in my coffee except STEVIA, then started having only one cup with creamer each day to see what would happen to my weight loss. It went okay. I lost 25 lbs in 40 days and now am less than 5lbs away from my original goal and having no trouble maintaining. Weaklinks idea of doctoring your coffee may help too - I found I desired my creamer less if I used flavored coffee and stevia . . .

reyes - sending you a message!

UPDATE:
I ate 2300 calories yesterday - over my '2000' goal (I haven't chosen a number to 'lock in' at yet) so I was looking over my diary to see what I could have cut out. My options were 2 oz of cheese curds (220cals, 20g fat but 14g protein) and the one impulse item I ate - a 2x2 slice of cheese pizza (145cals) . I decided that I wanted the protein from the cheese and dairy fats aren't all evil, and the impuse items (yesterday it was pizza, tomorrow it will be something else) are going to happen. So I just decided to wait and see what happened.

I was down 0.6lbs to 159.6 - I am REALLY buying into the fact that reducing processed foods and sticking with healthy carbs, fats, proteins means we can eat more calories.

This is how I want to live!

Yes, you are soooo right. Eating less processed foods allows us to eat flavorful fat, carbs in the form of fruits and veggies, protein................I like living like that to. To me, that is unrestrictive!!!

what's HCG?

It is the HCG. I'm itching too. No visible bumps or anything, but I feel tingly/itchy - primarily on my hands. The administer of the hcg yahoo group said to try this product. Good luck. It's annoying.

"lactobacillus sporogenes in a couple of oz of water. take
some and hold it in my mouth; under the tongue. and some of the infused water i
rub on those itchy spots. immediate relief."

Hi, all! I'm new to HCG and I've lost 6.4 since starting on Monday, which I'm not sure about. What concerns me is that my body fat has increased .1 and my hydration level decreased .1. I am hopeful that the claims that HCG burns body fat are true. Does anyone else have a body fat scale that is showing a decrease in body fat and an increase in hydration as you proceed in the program?

unfortunately home body fat % scales are basically worthless. They have a huge margin of error. You can only trust them for seeing trends over time - as in months. Just focus on the weight measurement alone, they at least do a decent job doing that. Real body fat % tests can be performed with calipers, a DEXA test, or a hydrostatic test.

Hi HCG family!! I have lots to update on today.

I am on day 10 of VLCD and I have lost 9 pounds!! I am using injections, and am doctor supervised in this journey!

I had a small plateau that freaked me out a few days back but as you all might recall, I did an apple day and that was just the boost I needed.

I am AMAZED right now.

I struggled in the first week with feelings of hunger as my stomach adjusted to less "input". There were times at first when I thought I would not succeed, when I wondered what I was doing this to myself for. BUT---- I am SO GLAD I stuck it out through those first 6-7 days. I mentioned yesterday that I was feeling the amazing promised power of HCG. I have been staying within protocol limits- and ya know what? I feel NO HUNGER AT ALL!!! FINALLY yayayayayayyyyyyyyy! :flowerforyou: Green Tea has been my "magic" fluid- it had plenty of caffeine that it gives me a boost but not as much as cofee which is good- because in the beginning I was drinking so much coffee that I would get all jittery and hungry and gurgly:sick: . Now its one or two cups of coffee in the morning than water and iced green tea all day and hot tea to soothe me at the end of the day. I feel vibrant and alive like never before! I am slimming down quickly- and my general sense of well being is bordering euphoria . I sound like an advertisement but I can assure you all - I have no invested interest in the weight loss industry. I am just another girl who spent MONTHS working out and eating 1100 calories a day, only to have dissappointingly slow results. This diet is for me, nothing less than miraculous!

I had the best dinner tonight... you guys should try it! I rubbed a piece of tilapia (flaky white fish with mild and delicious flavor) with pepper, brushed it with lemon than layed it on top of a generous spread of fresh minced garlic. I wrapped it in foil and tossed it on the barbeque until it was golden. It WAS DEVINE! Thats the way to cook it - it really came out tender and juicy and just freakin delicious! I sliced up an organic fuji apple added one grissino bread stick and steamed spinach with garlic on the side. It was good, clean and really I feel the effects of eliminating all the poisons from my life.

~~

Another positive bonus is i am not spending near as much money now because the menu is very affordalble! I dont stop at 7-11 for red bull or snacks anymore which saves me a small bundle each week!

Cheers (with my tea)

Keep up the good work everyone! This journey is life changing!

Lori :flowerforyou:

Good morning fellow HCGers!

I'm still at the same weight. Ok, well it was .2 down BUT today was the first day I was able to poop in a while so even though it SAYS I'm down .2......I'm not really considering that a loss of FAT, if you get my drift. :laugh:

So I'm taking an apple day today. And truth be told, I'm VERY happy about it since, at this point, I've become tired of feeling forced to eat lunch and dinner and drink a ton of water. I'm not hungry at all and frankly, my great pleasure every day has been eating my fruit - apples.

So now I get to do it all day until tomorrow at lunch! YAY! :drinker:

I did go back and review some of Pounds and INches this morning and was blessedly reminded of these words by Dr. S:
______________________________

There may be no drop at all for two or three days and then a sudden loss which reestab1ishes the normal average. These
fluctuations are entirely due to variations in the retention and elimination of water, which are more marked in women than in men. The weight registered by the scale is determined by two processes not necessarily synchronized. Under the influence of HCG fat is being extracted from the cells, in which it is stored in the fatty tissue. When these cells are empty and therefore serve no purpose the body breaks down the cellular structure and absorbs it, but breaking up of useless cells, connective tissue, blood vessels, etc., may lag behind the process of fat-extraction. When this happens the body appears to replace some of the
extracted fat with water which is retained for this purpose. As water is heavier than fat the scales may show no loss of weight, although sucient fat has actually been consumed to make up for the deficit in the 500-Calorie diet. When then such tissue is finally broken down, the water is liberated and there is a sudden flood of urine and a marked loss of weight. This simple interpretation of what is really an extremely complex mechanism is the one we give those patients who want to know why it is that on certain days they do not lose, though they have committed no dietary error. .......The apple-day produces a gratifying loss of weight on the following day, chiefly due to the elimination of water. This water is not regained when the patients resume their normal 500- Calorie diet at lunch, and on the following days they continue to lose weight satisfactorily.
_______________________

THAT'S ME! And it would explain why I (and Skinnytime) feel like the Michelin Man. So today I'll take an apple day and hopefully tomorrow (or even later today) I'll start to get that "liberated water" thing going on.

HAVE A GREAT DAY ALL!! :flowerforyou:

Good morning! It is so wonderful to have this supportive community. There are many people who think we must be crazy living on 500 calories a day. Those are the people who have metabolisms which respond to conventional weight loss. I know that mine does not.
Way to go Lori! Traci, keep us inspired please. You'll be leading the pack into maintenance. Maintenance scares me.
This protocol has forced us all to change our way of cooking and thinking about food. My husband had a late meeting last night. Usually he would just bring us dinner from out. Last night at 9:00 I was grilling our sirloin. At dinner he said, "What other diet allows you to eat such good food and still lose weight?"
My cooking has definitely been altered for good by this protocol. I don't think I'll ever again put an untrimmed steak on the grill. I won't use the copious amounts of olive oil I was using when a spray works just as well and is no calories no fat. I can now work wonders with a non-stick pan and some vidalia onions.
And Lori is so right when she says this has been less expensive. You can buy better quality items because you use less of them.
Gorgeous, thanks for posting the excerpt from Dr. S' manuscript. That's exactly what's happening with us!

Sadly, the 120's are still elusive for me. I was exactly 130 this morning a .2 loss. My body is really trying to hold onto this weight - but it won't win! I will.

Looks as though it will be a rainy day where am. No swimming today.

Keep up the good work!

I read "pounds and inches" last night and it made perfect sense to me. What confirmed it for me to give this a go, was the part where it mentioned Obese women losing weight while pregnant. This might sound a little cruel but here goes. I have a coworker that is obese (5'3, 300+ lbs.) she became pregnant last year and everytime she returned from a prenatal checkup she reported that she "lost weight again". We just used to look at each other :huh: and :laugh: when she wasn't around because we could not believe that she was losing weight.. she didn't look any thinner and her belly was getting bigger. After reading the manuscript, it all made came together. She is still Obese and now I feel like sending her a copy of the PDF. but I don't want offend her.

DITTO! I lost 20 pounds while was pregnant because I was eating properly - a modified version of ww with high protein. They kept sending me for sonograms because I wasn't gaining. I said, I don't need to be gaining as long as the baby is. I just wish I'd had the discipline to keep it off.

Another question. I don't see much exercise going on. I really enjoy exercise and want to continue my weekly Step class, rollerblading, walking, elliptical. However, I know that just one hour of any of those exercises will burn at least 500 calories. Do I get to eat more like the MFP program allows us to?
[/quote]

Yes, I think you can continue to do what you were doing as long as you feel able. If your body is used to burning so many calories and you suddenly stop, you could throw off your weight loss. Some programs say that the exercise may stall or over-tax your body. However, if you have been doing it and suddenly stop, then you are not really creating a calorie deficit for you. You kind of end up with a wash. Continue and see how you feel.

I am exercising three mornings a week. Circuit training with light weights. I had not been exercising, so I'm taking it light. I have not felt weak or unable to exercise.

Do not add the 'exercise calories" - I've always thought they were a lot of hooey anyway

I am GOING to do this program but I am wondering what you all are using, an already PREmixed formula or the one where you have to mix it yourself? Also who does the drops and who does the injections, which work best? I really did not want to order mine through my Dr cuz like everything else it cost more moolah!! As for the exercise while doing this program I too am confused. I work out HARD 6 x per week and on the 7th (my rest day) I walk 3 miles so since my body is use to this shall I keep doing it or will it throw the hcg balance off? Also where did you all order yours from, the cost and how long did it take to get here? Thank you ALL for the info and the support here!

I'm on my 4th day of Phase 3. This phase has made me very nervous, more so than the Phase 2's 500 calorie restrictions! I don't feel like Simeon actually covered much about this one. My biggest issue is that I'm just not sure what I CAN eat. I've been a label-nazi for the last few days & it seems that EVERYTHING has added sugar or high fructose corn syrup in it. Any advice on how many grams of carbs are ok...or are any? Should I be watching for Total Carbs or just Sugar grams?

Also, anyone else that's on Phase 3...what is your caloric intake? I can't find anything solid that reflects a number. First, on Phase 2, I NEVER got to 500 calories. The closest was about 468. Now I'm reading that you can actually gain weight on Phase 3 due to protein deficiency after such a drastic diet (Phase 2). So I've been snarfing down 2 eggs for breakfast & insuring that I have a serving of protein for lunch & dinner as well.

I feel like I must be doing something right though, which has me more encouraged. I'm following my instincts on my hunger and not eating garbage (seems that most garbage is carb-related anyhow. Oh how I Carbs!) Anyhow, my LIW was 136.0 & went up to 138.0 yesterday. I did a Steak-Day-Prevenative Day yesterday (I'll post the link below) and it brought me back down to 137 today.

Any advice or links (I'm a bit of a research hound) would be appreciated!!!

Progress update:

Last Injection Weight (LIW) : 136
Total Loss as of LIW: 28 lbs
Today's Weight: 137


This link has what looks to be a combination of multiple HCG protocols. Posting because the food to prevent a steak day worked really well for me yesterday:

http://hcgvictoria.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/phase_3_hcg_basics_quick_reference_guide.pdf

Well basically eat anything except sugar or starch............

I would stay far away from all processed foods, potatos, rice, pasta, bananas

Stick to mostly natural stuff.........

Eat as much fruit and veggies as you wish, eat fat and meats, eggs, cheese, yogurt, big salads with salad dressing........

I have become addicted to Bragg! Bragg, ice and seltzer makes a really refreshing drink. It's got just the right tartness!

Damnit skinny, you're going to just MAKE me try that thing aren't you? You make it sound like HEAVEN - so damnit tomorrow I'm doing it.

happy now? :bigsmile: XO

Hi HCG family! :flowerforyou:

Today is VLCD day 11 and I am down 10 pounds and still feeling hunger free and fabulous!

Gorgeous- I hear ya about the processed weight loss products- Slim Fast is my enemy! I am also beginning to smell a well marketed conspiracy in the weight loss industry! It seems as if they set us up for failure by promoting sugary/carby low calorie junk that create more cravings and perpetuate our need for their "diet aids". Its a vicious cycle - and the stock holders get richer by the minute!

Spicy- While I am certainly no Martha Stewart in the kitchen this diet HAS rerouted my thinking in terms of food. I now have to use fresh, clean ingredients and in order to get any enjoyment out of it I am forced to experiment and to my delight, I am becoming a born again chef! HA HA hopefully I will also become a born again size 9. LOL :laugh:

FatCats- Whats on your phase 3 menu for today? I live vicariously through your food!

Ephay- mmm I can't wait unti phase 3 when I can "snarf down" eggs! I have the same questions as you in regards to p3.

Skinnytime & Patty - If your facing a stall an apple day is indeed the remedy! Since my apple day I have been losing steadily and feeling much better than before.

Lioness- I just realized what your username means. Happy late birthday! I am also a Leo & my B-day is tomorrow!


Keep on Shrinkin HCG ladies and gents!

Lori :flowerforyou:

Skinny- The apple day was hard to stomach but something changed in me that day, like my whole being just elevated to a new level of energy. I cant give apples all the credit but that day was a turn for the best for me. Bummer is, I used the red basic apple that day- and I really dont care for them. Since then I have discovered that the most satisfying apple out there are Fuji apples. They rock. Much much tastier than all the others in my opinion. Anyway Dr. SImeons even admits that the apple day works, but its mostly psychological. The break of a plateau will happen with or without an apple day. I just needed the help in reducing water weight because I had consumed too much salt and (sorry for TMI) I was constipated to hell! :sick:

Hi HCG family! :flowerforyou:

Today is VLCD day 11 and I am down 10 pounds and still feeling hunger free and fabulous!

Gorgeous- I hear ya about the processed weight loss products- Slim Fast is my enemy! I am also beginning to smell a well marketed conspiracy in the weight loss industry! It seems as if they set us up for failure by promoting sugary/carby low calorie junk that create more cravings and perpetuate our need for their "diet aids". Its a vicious cycle - and the stock holders get richer by the minute!

Spicy- While I am certainly no Martha Stewart in the kitchen this diet HAS rerouted my thinking in terms of food. I now have to use fresh, clean ingredients and in order to get any enjoyment out of it I am forced to experiment and to my delight, I am becoming a born again chef! HA HA hopefully I will also become a born again size 9. LOL :laugh:

FatCats- Whats on your phase 3 menu for today? I live vicariously through your food!

Ephay- mmm I can't wait unti phase 3 when I can "snarf down" eggs! I have the same questions as you in regards to p3.

Skinnytime & Patty - If your facing a stall an apple day is indeed the remedy! Since my apple day I have been losing steadily and feeling much better than before.

Lioness- I just realized what your username means. Happy late birthday! I am also a Leo & my B-day is tomorrow!


Keep on Shrinkin HCG ladies and gents!

Lori :flowerforyou:

Thanks, better late than never, LOL

and Happy Birthday to you too!!!

The best birthday gift you can probably get is the release of more fat!!!