Okay, so after much research I decided to begin the hCG diet. I found a place here in Springfield, MO that worked with Grove pharmacy to provide the hCG and it was available as a nasal spray or injection. I went to their little informational meeting and found the price was $495 for the first month, with a $100 discount for refill months. Hmmm. I figured I would need to do it at least 2 months, maybe 3. ($1300 for 3 months) I guess considering how much money I have spent/wasted on other diets, this wasn’t horrible. Especially since it is supposed to be forever. Cheaper than surgery. I began working on my dearest hubby to get him to agree to pay for it.
Meanwhile, I was talking to a colleague about this. She said she had just heard about it from her hairdresser who had visably lost a LOT of weight very quickly. The hairdresser told her she went to a place in Branson and it had cost her less than $200 for the two months she’d been on it. So I did some google-ing and found the place. What was super great is the doctor providing the prescription was the obstetrician my midwife was in practice with. That little fact made me feel much more comfortable with the whole idea. The cost…get this…was only $110 for the first month, and $60 for refill months. ($230 for 3 months) What a savings- over a thousand dollars!! But they ONLY offer the injections. For a thousand dollars I figured I have to try. At least the injections were pre-filled, so no mixing, measuring and drawing up into the syringe.
…the syringe. That brings me to the one thing that might prevent me from becoming successful on this diet. Daily injections. OMG!!! Anyone that knows me knows what a needle PHOBE I am. I mean, my reason for having a midwife was primarily to avoid needles. I have been known to pass out during a sub-cutaneous tuberculosis test. But the weight loss counselor assured me I could do this, and even let me practice on her arm. The needle is so super tiny, and it is such a tiny amount to inject so I decided “I can do this”! I wasn’t sure exactly how, but I was determined to make it work. I decided to write this diary to help others later on, and to chronicle my weight loss journey to keep me motivated. Before startng this diet I lost over 25 pounds n about a year and a half on Herbalife. I loved it, but the wieght loss was slow. I ate out a lot still so my weight loss was even slower than usual, but the downward trend made me happy!
Let me make this clear- I am NOT a doctor and I don't pretend to be one. This site is not intended to provide you with medical advice. It is simply my personal experience with taking the hCG. Every hCG clinic seems to have different rules about what you can eat, mine is based on the information I was given. For example, the breadstick is not included on my plan. I have read Pounds & Inches and thumbed through Kevin Trudeau's book. A little too much conspiracy theory for me. You need to do what you feel is right for you, and what your doctor/coach/counselor has put in place for you.
hCG stands for Human chorionic gonadotrophin. This is a hormone that our body naturally produces, and is produced in heavy amounts during pregnancy. I feel that it is safe to take because it is used VERY FREQUENTLY as a fertility treatment. Especially women who are going through in-vitro fertilization, they give themselves injections of hCG as part of their preparation to receive the fertilized eggs. On this protocol, I take the daily injection of hCG, which tricks the body into burning stored abnormal fat. It gets around 2,000 calories per day out of the stored fat. Then I eat 500 calories ONLY every day, and certain types of food. I am not supposed to feel hungry because of the hCG. We'll see about that... The 500 calories are to be consumed as two meals (lunch and dinner) consisting of 250 calories each. It is broken down to 100 grams (or 3 1/2 oz) of lean meats, the same (or more) of certain allowed vegetables, and a fruit. The fruit choices are only an apple, an orange, grapefruit or strawberries. The best part??? NO exercise is recommended. With the limited calories it would put too much stress on the body to burn significant calories. I know a lot of cynics say "anyone who eats only 500 calories a day would lose weight, you don't need the shots". You might lose weight, mostly muscle and water as the body tries to hold on to every fat store it can. Also, without the hCG you would be miserable!! Hungry, cravings and weak. Remember, the hCG is getting 2,000 calories directly out of my fat stores for daily functioning.
Day 1: (December 26, 2009): Weight: a little over 219 pounds, according to the wii fit, lol! I don’t have a scale as of yet, it is on my list.
The first 2 days are “loading” days. You are supposed to eat as much fattening food as possible. Yeah!! I CAN do this part. I decided to wait until the day after Christmas, so that I could indulge all I wanted over the weekend and start my “diet” on the typical Monday. So there I sat, in the bathroom, holding the syringe and an alcohol wipe. I must admit, it took me a few minutes to even think about attempting it. I finally wiped the alcohol on a large area of my lower belly fat roll and un-capped the syringe. What the h*** was I thinking?! I am sitting here with a needle, about to give myself a shot?!?! H*** NO! I left the bathroom thinking I had just wasted my time and money. About 30 minutes later I was back in the bathroom, swabbing my fat roll and pressing the needle up against my skin. To my surprise, it just kinda slid in without much force, and was already more than half way in. And I was OK…so I finished the job. After I removed the syringe, I felt a little light headed and freaked, but it was time to eat!! I started with 3 pieces of pie- blueberry, apple and chocolate. Yummers! Over the course of the day I finished a jar of chocolate covered macadamia nuts, went to Red Lobster, ate cheesecake, and pretty much anything I could get my hands on. I had a party at my house and ate tons of a cream cheese dip, cheddar biscuits, cookies, etc. I drank an entire quart of eggnog! I even drank a Smirnoff. What a great day!
Day 2:: Another loading day. The injection went much smoother, even though I took my time and kinda freaked the whole time. But I had to do it, and I did it yesterday. So reluctantly I got ‘er done. Then I went to eat, eat and eat! I realized those little chocolate donut gems have 17 grams of fat in just 4! So naturally ate half a package. BTW- I will NEVER eat them again…had no idea just how evil they were. I ate everything in sight, more cheesecake, candy, pop-tarts, cookies, and nuts. I went out to my favorite Mexican restaurant and ate my fill of chips, cheese dip, guacamole, and Tacos de Asada! I was already starting to feel so stuffed I couldn’t breathe. But I managed to eat all the way up till 11:00 PM. I also realized my hair dye had sunflower oil in it, so decided to go ahead and do that before I started the next stage of the diet…the VLCD.
Day 3: Weight loss 0.2 pounds according to the wii fit. After those loading days I’m surprised it is down at all. I hope I ate enough :)
First VLCD. Very Low Calorie Day. I am now restricted to 500 calories per day. The hCG is supposed to make hunger go away, but I am concerned about the emotional hunger, eating when something smells/looks good, and habitual eating habits I have gotten myself in to. I overslept until after 10:00, which was super nice! So my injection was a little later than what will become the usual. I got through it without much difficulty; I figure maybe I’ll be over my phobia by the time I’m through with this diet. Flooding at its best!! I can’t eat anything before noon, so I decided to start this journal to keep my mind busy. I am not hungry, but I WANT to eat something. I’m also sipping on my water, which does help keep my mouth busy. I am planning to eat an orange at noon, and then some chicken and a spinach salad for lunch. I bought a bunch of meat yesterday and am going to cook it up, weigh it out and freeze it. I don’t know what I will do when I don’t have time to prepare something. I’ll have to figure out where I can grab something in a bind. I bought some Walden Farms Zero calorie balsamic vinagrette, alfredo sauce (which IMO isn't good at all) and chocolate syrup.
I spent several hours cooking. I am exhausted! But I cooked up enough meat and veggie portions to last me 10 days!! I need to figure out which ones freeze the best. I wasn’t hungry the whole time I was cooking, which is amazing. Afterwards, I decided to eat the shrimp and chicken combo with leaf spinach. I wrapped the meat up in several leaves and dipped in calorie free balsamic vinegar. It was so good my 6 year old daughter kept eating it. For dinner I am planning to eat steak and zucchini. Still not hungry, but I am very BORED! I have got to find something to occupy my time better- never realized how much time I spent snacking!
Day 4: Weight loss ?? I finally bought a scale today, so tomorrow I will officially weigh-in. I won’t know my overall weight loss until I go back to Branson for a refill.
Today wasn’t too bad. I am really not hungry, but forced myself to eat all my food. I read somewhere that eating a grapefruit really seems to help, so I choked one down. I put Splenda on it, so it was a little sweet. I went shopping and that was really tough. As I passed the things I love, candy, chips, eggnog (especially the eggnog for some reason??), cookies, bread…OMG!! I was not hungry but thought long and hard about doing 2 more load days and just starting over! I realized I would find myself in the same position again after 2 days, so didn’t do it. The injections still freak me out a bit, but I am doing them. I certainly hope by a week I am over that. I took some AWFUL pictures today, in a tankini that is way too small for me. They make me want to throw up. I will be glad I did when I have those “after” pictures. I ate chicken and broccoli for lunch and a hamburger patty (93/7) with cauliflower for dinner. We’ll see what happens by Thursday- when I actually have numbers to set my mood for the day ;)
Day 5: Weight loss according to wii fit was 5.6 pounds!! Right on target!! I got on my scale today and my weight is 211.8. We’ll see what it is tomorrow.
Today was okay. I wasn’t hungry at all. I went to work for a few hours to rake up some overtime. I took my lunch with me, kind of a trial run if you will. I sectioned an orange and put it in a baggie, sliced a cucumber and put it in a baggie with apple cider vinegar and different spices, and grabbed a bag of pre-measured chicken from the fridge. Then for dinner I heated up a baggie of steak and a baggie of steamed broccoli. I stir-fried them in a skillet with a tiny bit of water. Then I put 2 TBS Walden Farms Zero Calorie Balsamic Vinagrette and a little soy sauce on it and viola! Beef and Broccoli! It was yummy! The dressing has a little bit of an Asian taste to it; at least I think it does. This will become a regular for me - I think I’ll try it with chicken also. For dessert I thawed out some frozen strawberries, squeezed a half lemon into juice and a packet of Splenda- Italian Ice! I can do this! Oh, I forgot to mention I have been drinking a cup of green tea every day also. Some people say it helps with cravings. I tried a Chai Green Tea tonight and it was super. The aroma was great!
Day 6: Weight: 209.6. That's down 2.2 pounds since yesterday! For ease of use I am going to add the 5 pounds wiifit said I lost to make my starting weight 217.4. I tink it will make my life easier!
The injection today really hurt. I'm not sure why. Then it stung for nearly half an hour. After reading some info online, I think maybe I didn't let the alcohol dry completely before injecting. Will have to be more careful about that. For lunch I ate shrimp & broccoli and an orange. On my protocol, we eat nothing until noon. So usually I eat my fruit at noon, and then lunch around 1:30-2. Since I am not hungry at all it is easy to forget to eat. Being New Year's Eve I hosted a little get together. I almost ordered pizza for everyone, but decided I would have a really hard time resisting. So no pizza for me, no pizza for ANYONE!! wha-ha-ha(evil laugh). Instead I made chicken fajitas for everyone. I measured out 3 portions for myself and my 2 cousins who are also doing this diet. Then I finished cooking the rest of the meat with oil. Everyone else had tortillas, cheese, beans, sour cream and the BEST Mexican rice on the planet (thanks to my BFF, Michelle). It was a little difficult, but not intolerable. We ate some lettuce and pickled cucumbers, which was actually very tasty together. I was so full I could not even eat my strawberries. It was a great New Year's surrounded by great friends!
Day 7: Happy 2010! I can't hardly believe another year has passed me by. And this year I have already commited to losing weight, so I won't have to make a resolution and break it again! Weight this morning was 209.2. That's nearly a half pound! As long as there is any weight loss every day I will be happy. My total weight loss is 8.2 pounds!! Wowsa!
My cousins spent the night last night so we had a big slumber party. At noon I ate an apple. I cut it into fourths, cut the core out and sprinkled a lot of cinnamon on it and a packet of splenda. I put a little water on my plate and microwaved it for 1 1/2 minutes. It was truely a treat!! I hope I can have one everyday without stalling my weight loss. I prepared some buffalo chicken chunks for lunch. I marinated chicken breast that I had cut into chunks in Frank's Red Hot sauce. Then I cooked it on my George-foreman type grill. We put about a tablespoon of Walden Farms Blue Cheese dressing to dip it in, and ate more of the cucumbers from last night.I have to say this is the yummiest meal I have made. I am eating betteron this diet than I have in years. I have fruit and veggies twice a day, and I rarely ate it before. For dinner I have filet mignon marinating in the fridge, and will eat cauliflower with it. I will eat some strawberries for dessert. A great start to the new year!
