Long time no post

Not quite sure what VLCD day it is now.  I've lost track but something like 33. I've done really well on the hcg drops.  I don't follow the 500 calories but I do follow the food protocol.  I would say I average between 800-1000 calories a day.  Anyways here are my current statistics.

Today's weight: 161.0

Day 16

Current weight: 173.4

Haven't posted in the last 5 days but I have except for one stall day lost weight everyday.  I'm very pleased with the results but I'm stopping the hcg drops today.  I noticed about 3 or 4 days ago when I was sleeping that both sides of my lower back would hurt when laying on my side.  I didn't think much of it until yesterday when I realized that they ached all the time now and was tender to the touch.  From the location of the pain it seems that I'm having some kidney issues.  I've never had a stone or anything like that before and I don't have blood in my urine.  Just really tender kidneys.  I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the hcg drops or not.  I know that I've taken more drops than what is recommended (basically every 3 hours during the day) but I thought since it was homeopathic it wouldn't be harmful.  But now I kind of freaked myself out about possibly causing health problems.

My current plan is to stop taking the hcg drops starting today but continue to eat the same way as I have.  I think this will be a true test of whether it is the drops that are helping with the weight loss or the diet itself since I've consistently lost .5-.8 pounds every day.  If I suddenly stop losing weight then maybe there is something about the drops that do promote fat loss.  However if my weight loss continues on its normal course then I'll know that it was the diet itself that had contributed to my weight loss.

Day 11

Current weight 176.8

I cannot believe I lost weight yesterday.  Unbelievable.  I think a big factor in keeping the weight coming off is protein and no to little carbs.

Day 10

Current 177.6

Was pleasantly surprised to see the scale go down even if just a couple ounces.  Yesterday I tried Miracle Noodle with marinara sauce.  Super delicious but I found I was ravenously hungry later in the afternoon.  I made the connection that I didn't have any protein. Good thing to remember.

Today was a friends daughter's birthday party.  I tried my best to eat good but I'm sure I had closer to 1000 calories today.  Although I did make sure to only eat protocol food (protein, fruit, vegetables).  I resisted the carbs and birthday cake so I'm proud of myself for that.  

I'm not expecting to lose anything today.  I'm just hoping to not go up too much.

Day 9

Starting 189
Current 178.2
Goal 145

A little late in updating.  January 13 was a friends birthday and we ended up going to Sky High jump which is a giant trampoline gym.  I did a lot of bouncing and felt the burn in my legs.  After the jumping we went back to their house and a feast awaited.  The temptation was unbelievable.  I cheated a bit with caesar salad, 1 turkey meatball with marinara sauce and some green beans with butter.  I only had one serving and no dessert so I'm proud about that.  My weight yesterday was 179 which was up .2 from Day 7.  Luckily this morning though I'm back down to 178.2.

Day 7

Starting weight: 189
Current weight: 178.8
Goal weight: 145

Woo-hoo! Down another 1.2 pounds today.  I increased my drops yesterday to try and combat hunger.  I spread out the drops to six times a day.  You are supposed to only do 6 drops if you do 6 x a day but I probably ended up with 10 drops each time.  I've been reading at hcgdietinfo.com in their forums about homeopathic hcg drops.  From what I've been able to read (I haven't even come close to exhausting all the posts) is that with homeopathic drops you can play around with the dosage to find what amount keeps hunger at bay.  I also read that day 3 of the VLCD most people are hungry.  So Tuesday and yesterday were the 3rd and 4th day of my VLCD.  So I'm hoping that starting today I won't be hungry.

Yesterday in the mail I received my latest edition of Marie Claire magazine and there is an article about the hcg diet.  The author said it is the big LA diet that no one talks about.  It was really interesting to read her positive article about her experience.  Of course they also balanced it out with quotes from nutritionists and doctors about how they disapproved of the diet.

Day 6

Starting weight: 189
Current weight: 180.0
Goal weight: 145

I didn't update yesterday.  I had my first disappointment when I weighed and the scale still said 182.2.  I couldn't believe I didn't lose anything.  Although disappointed I didn't let it side track me from the diet. I'm so happy today to see the scale moved down.

I talked to a friend yesterday and she is also doing the hcg diet.  It will be encouraging to have someone else along for the ride.  I have to admit that I did have real moments of hunger yesterday.  I didn't cave in but it makes me wonder sometimes if the homeopathic drops really work or if it is just a placebo effect.  I read about increasing the drops from 10 drops 3x a day to 6 drops 6x a day to help curb hunger.  So I might try that if I feel myself getting hungry.

I don't have any particular cravings for regular foods except for a good cup of coffee or latte.  I've always like my coffee with coffee creamer.  The sweeter and creamier the coffee the better.  So not being able to have either a latte or creamer has been hard.

Day 4 VLCD

I actually had butterflies in my stomach this morning when I woke up in anticipation of seeing if I lost any weight.  It's kind of like a kid and a tooth fairy.  I was exciting thinking about the fat fairy taking my weight off while I slept.  So very tentatively I stepped on the scale and it said 182.2. I stepped on it again and it still said 182.2! This means I lost 3.6 pounds from my weight of 185.8 yesterday morning.

I normally don't eat breakfasts so this morning wasn't hard until I started to make the coffee as usual and then realized that I won't be adding any creamer to it.  I bought some sweet n low to use to add to the coffee but somehow without the cream it just isn't the same.  However I've always admired people who can drink their coffee strait and so hopefully over this diet I'll be able to become one of those types of people.

I had a couple hunger twinges throughout the day but no worse than how I feel when I would try cutting calories down to 1200.  If I keep drinking tea, water or coffee I seem to be able to work through the hunger fairly easy.

One thing I did notice though is that I'm not tired or weak at all.  I'm not super energized either but I'm definitely not feeling like how you think a person who's only had 500 calories to eat would feel.  Part of this I think helps that I'm cutting out the sugar and starches.  Those were killers for me.  I would completely describe myself as a carbohydrate addict and even though eating refined sugars and flour would put me into carb coma's I still couldn't pull myself away.  So getting rid of those foods on this diet alone will help me feel less lethargic.

Although I'm happy for the 3.5 pound weight loss I'm still not completely sold on the hcg diet.  I will need to see consistent weight loss for the next couple days.  Deep down I'm afraid that the 3 pounds were nothing but water weight so if I can get down 10-12 pounds I'll finally start believing that it's not all water weight.

Day 3 First VLCD

Starting: 189

Current: 185.8

Goal: 145

I stayed up until midnight gorging on fatty foods because we had some friends over for the weekend.  Because of the late night I slept in until noon.  I weighed myself once I got up even though I won't be able to use noon as my normal weigh in time.  The last time I officially weighed was three days ago at the doctors office which put me at 189.  I stupidly didn't double check with my scale at home to see if it was the same.  So although my weight this morning was 3 pounds lighter I don't think it is from the hcg drops but just my scale.  Since I can't go back to the doctors scale every morning I may just change my starting weight to what it says today.  I'm not sure yet.  

I'm still deep down doubtful about these drops but I want to make it through today following the protocol strictly so I can see if the scale changes tomorrow.  If my weight only drops 1 pound or just a couple ounces I'll be very disappointed and will need to give myself a big pep talk to continue this "experiment".  

I woke up with a splitting headache which can't be from lack of calories since I was still loading just 12 hours ago.  I wonder if anyone else got headaches form the hcg drops themselves.  The info I got with the drops said not to take any over the counter medications except for aspirin.  I hardly ever take aspirin for headaches.  Usually tylenol or advil.  So this will be interesting to see how well aspirin alone helps my headache.

Looking forward to weighing in tomorrow.  

Day 2 Loading

Welcome to the Doubting Thomasina blog.  A person is often called a Doubting Thomas if they refuse to believe something without direct, physical, personal evidence.  

I've heard so many stories about the HCG diet but can't forget the saying that if it sounds too good to be true it must not be true.  So even though I've known about the diet for over a year now I've refused up until now to entertain the thought of actually trying it.  

Well it's a new year and I don't want to go another year saying the diet doesn't work if I can't say I've actually tried it.  Last week I ordered homeopathic hcg drops.  I'm enough of a doubter that I'm not ready to inject myself with shots from some unknown foreign pharmacy.  Instead I decided to do the hcg drops.  I've read that some people says the hcg drops won't work because they don't really contain enough hcg to work.  But I'm going to give it a try anyway. (BTW, I'm too chicken to ask my doctor about this diet because I'm afraid she'll tell me it's dangerous.  I know it's stupid but I'd rather be blissfully ignorant of any dangers because I feel so desperate about getting the weight off.)

The reason my blog is starting out on Day 2 is that I couldn't decide on a blog name yesterday.  Lame excuse but I figure if I'm going to daily blog the hcg diet for 40 days I don't want a stupid name.

I went to the doctor's office two days ago for a checkup and for the first time in several years I actually kept my eyes open when the nurse weighed me.  Normally I either close my eyes or turn my head so I won't be confronted about how much weight I've gained.  I've always thought that I was good at guestimating my weight and that I knew within a couple pounds how much I weigh.  Well let me tell you I was off. Way off.  Where I thought I only needed to lose 30 pounds, I actually need to lose 45!  

So here are my stats for the the hcg diet:

Height: 5'5"

Weight: 189

Goal: 145

I tried loading up yesterday but found that it was harder than I thought to gorge myself.  I did however decide to try some Ezell's famous friend chicken. I've heard for years and years about their chicken and had read once that Oprah stopped at Ezell's to have some of their chicken when she was in Seattle.  So what better way to load up on fat than to eat some yummy fried chicken.  I only made it though 1 1/2 pieces though.  For dinner I had 3 pieces of pizza and a giant bowl of ice cream.  So all in all a successful loading day I think.  

I normally don't eat breakfast but this morning I told my husband I wanted hash brown and eggs.  I then had several helpings of home made gnocchi with butter and fried onions.  

I'm looking forward to starting the real "diet" part tomorrow and see if I'm hungry or not.  My one fear is that all this loading will have stretched out my stomach so that I'll be even more hungry than I am normally.