Clean aka Low Carb Loading for the HCG Diet- Round 5 hCGChica

September 23, 2012

I considered loading for 3 days since I’m a “smaller” person now, but after 2 days I felt I loaded extremely well- I consumed 4000 calories and 300 grams of fat EACH loading day. I think that’s sufficient. My stomach and intestines seemed to let me know that anyway, so I called it good.

My net loading gain for Round 5 of HCG Injections was a 1.6lb gain. I gained 2.2 lbs after the first loading day, and lost .6lbs the following day. Here are my stats for the 2 days (compiled into 1 list) of what I ate and their nutritional values. The total breakdown for both days combined was 7938 calories over the course of the two days, 600 grams of fat, 452 grams protein, 168 grams carbs.

HCG DOSAGE FOR THIS ROUND

I am injecting 125iu’s this round and this dose seems to work best for me in general these days. I feel very not hungry on 125ius.

NO EXERCISE (FOR ME) WHILE ON THE HCG DIET AND WHY

I have seen a lot of people manage to exercise while on the weight loss protocol with no problems or side-effects. If you are an average healthy person, just overweight (ie. You don’t have any obvious autoimmune, thyroid or other chronic illness problems) when you embark on the protocol, and you have already been pursuing an exercise protocol prior to starting the protocol, you very likely may be able to continue that exercise while on this Diet plan.

I don’t fit into that “average healthy person” category- even though I’m actually very healthy- I’m not average. I have a couple of autoimmune conditions- hashimoto’s for one (where your Body attacks your thyroid) and while I have gotten the point where most of my conditions are non-existent in that they don’t give me symptoms, I still seem to find that I simply cannot tolerate exercise while on the diet- it just appears to be too much for my delicate system- to lose so much fat AND exercise at the same time appears to be too much “stress” for my body to handle.

When I personally try to exercise while on the diet plan, I find myself having enormous uncontrollable cravings to eat, the diet feels mentally and emotionally very difficult, and I’m extremely exhausted. All things I simply can’t handle on the protocol if I want to be successful on it! So I forego exercise while on Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, even though I’m an avid Crossfitter (check out this video to see what Crossfit is all about- it’s THE best training program I’ve ever seen and my own results prove it!) in normal day to day life. Taking a simple 3 or 6 week break is worth it to me to lose several pounds of fat (Round 5 I lost 10 lbs of fat!) that I can’t otherwise lose in regular life.

My pre-hcg diet:- 7-10 days before starting the hCG Diet protocol

I’ve done this before and it’s worked well for me to break sugar cravings and to get into Ketosis right away. I take about 7-10 days before loading for the diet, and I eat very low carb, high fat diet. No fruit, no grain, no starchy veggies, no sugars at all. I keep the fats very high- this creates a feeling of satiety and makes the switch over from a diet higher in sugars and carbs much easier, for me at least.

I am very sensitive to sugar and before Round 5, I found myself feeling a little out of control with my eating habits for about a week while we were moving and things in life were a bit stressful. Doing the pre-hcg “diet” cuts the sugar/carb cravings almost immediately and really gets my body and my mind in the right place for starting the weight loss protocol in the best possible way.

R5P2D1 Results -2.0 lbs

September 24, 2012

2 lb loss for my first vlcd day. That puts me at 132.2 this day. Body fat monitor showed a drop in 1 lb of fat. There is always some water weight loss at the beginning of any diet- you can’t expect all fat loss right from the beginning, so I’m ecstatic for the 1 lb fat loss.

I think I fat loaded well enough because I haven’t experienced almost any hunger on the first vlcd day of the diet which is great because even though on the majority of the weight loss protocol one should experience almost no hunger if they are on the right dose of the hormone, the first few days of being on the very low calorie portion of the diet DOES often include feeling some hunger that is a little hard to deal with as your body adjusts to the new diet and the hormone circulating in your system.

While I wasn’t hungry this first day, once I again I did experience a small bout of low blood sugar in the later part of the afternoon- for me that’s anything under 80 on a blood glucose meter, and I was at 75 when I tested it about 5:30pm. This often occurs for me during the first few vlcd’s because I don’t eat the fruits on p2 and I never include the grissini/melba, which makes the diet extremely low carb- thus getting low blood sugar is more likely at the beginning. The low blood sugar always does go away on it’s own however after the first few days, despite the fact that I continue to not eat the fruits and grissini/melba.  If you decide to try this please do be careful- if you are prone to low blood sugar I would full research trying this first as I’m not sure just anyone could do this and feel well.

To fix my low blood sugar I ate a chopped cucumber salad and yogurt with salt and that brought my blood sugar up to a normal level for me which is about 90 on a blood glucose meter.  Nice that I didn’t have to eat a spoonful of sugar huh!

As usual, I was ketosis right away after the first vlcd day- I am always able to achieve this when I eat low carb for about 7-10 days prior to starting Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, then load clean aka low carb. I like the idea of getting the most accomplished as possible when I’m on HCG Injections round and I feel by clearing excess carbs out of my system in advance, my body is able to get into fat burning mode more quickly since there are very few carbs to burn first.

A Little About HCGChica- HCG Tag on youtube

September 26, 2012

XNJKHGQWBQHU – A little more about HCGChica- HCG TAG on YouTube

1. My real name?

   My name is Rayzel Lam here on YouTube and the web

2. RX or Homeopathic HCG?

   I have always done prescription hCG and in fact, I’ve used a total of I think 6 different brands of RX hCG now as well- I feel in general like they all worked equally well. The only difference I noticed was that depending on the brand, I might need a slightly higher or lower dose of the hormone to get that “no hunger” effect.

3. hCG Injection or sublingual HCG?

   I have always done injections- the reason is 2 fold- one, I’m cheap and injections are cheaper because you only need the half amount of the hormone as for sublingual, and two, and most importantly, hCG injections ensure 100% delivery of the right amount of hormone to the right place (your fat, not your stomach and gastric juices!) I generally don’t like to take chances with my body when there’s a way to be sure I get the best result.

   The first two rounds of HCG Injections I injected the hormone into my stomach, but about the time of Round 3 I found it actually causing me some paint to try to inject in my stomach which causes me to think I either didn’t have enough fat there anymore or possibly I had built up some scar tissue or had some excess skin- whatever the case, starting with Round 3 of the diet I began injecting in other places- outer and inner thigh, buttocks, arm- pretty much wherever I could find a nice meaty patch of fat!

4. What do I do for a living?

   For the most part, I’m a mom. I have a 3 year old son, and a husband I’ve been married to for 12 years and I take my role of caring for my family pretty seriously. I treasure that I can raise my son the majority of the time. That said, I also work part-time on this website and diet “things”- responding to emails and writing quality helpful content on my website and recording YouTube videos to help you guys get the best out of your weight loss journey. It’s changed my life enough that I find a lot of joy in helping you guys get similar results.

5. What was your most interesting job?

   I used to teach singing and rhythm classes to children at park and recreation centers in my area. The age ranged from 18 months to 7 years old. I really enjoyed seeing especially the little ones learn basic singing and rhythm- I find little kids in general to be pretty darn cute. The other kind of interesting job I used to have was a painting business that involved faux finishing- things like painting clouds on ceilings and distressed/aged plaster finishes on walls. The part that makes me feel all “cool” and proud of myself is that a couple times I used some 3 tier scaffolding that put me up about 20 feet in the air to reach the top of some taller homes. Scaffolding is not rigid- it has movement to it which feels very scary and unsettling at first, but after a little bit you get used to the movement of it and pretty soon I was swinging up and down and around that thing like a little monkey! I think my painting business was one of the things that contributed to my developing my chronic illness though as I was young and stupid and never took the proper precautions when handling all the different chemicals and fumes involved with painting.

6. Are you the only one in your family who has struggled with weight?

   No- I wish. My mom and her entire side of her paternal family have all dealt with weight struggles. Almost all of them were pretty big people and most of them died from complications of diabetes. I think there’s a genetic component involved as I naturally have a very big appetite for such a little person. I can out eat my 6′ husband any day no problem, and I know my grandfather was quite the eater as well. Thankfully since I’m not aware of how sensitive I am to sugar and avoid it like the plague and have lost so much fat with the diet, I can say with 100% confidence I’m nowhere near being even pre-diabetic anymore. It seems likely to me that many of my ancestors were also very sensitive to sugar which pre-disposed them to all getting diabetes later in life, but of course at that time it was an unknown. I’m very thankful for all the knowledge and research that can now be done with the advent of the internet to discover what to do best for my personal body.

7. Have you tried any other weightloss program and what were the results?

   I have tried WeightWatchers about 3 times. I never experienced much success with this program at all, although I know many have. I don’t think I ever lost more than 5-7 lb with it. It’s sad that I was so misinformed at the time- the 2^nd time I tried weight watchers, I wasn’t really “overweight”. I had a few excess pounds I could shed, but was in good shape otherwise. I remember we went backpacking into the wilderness for 9 days. During that time I hiked many many miles up and down steep grades with about 40 lbs or so on my back and of course we didn’t eat a whole lot- just the notorious freeze dried backpacking meals “just add hot water” stuff. When we got back I went into my weight watchers meeting and was dismayed to see I had gained 2 lbs. I got so discouraged I quit after that. If I’d known then what I know now, that wouldn’t have happened. NOW I know that anyone who spends 9 days doing exteme physical activities is going to have some water retention going on, as well as some muscle building. That 2 lb gain was nothing to be ashamed of! At the time I couldn’t figure out how I could possibly do all I did for 9 days and then “gain weight”- what I thought was fat. Thankfully I’ve educated myself enough now to know that when I know I’m doing the right thing for my body- eating clean and working out- I don’t have to worry about a scale change like that- it’s my body doing something good. It’s sad that I wasted so much of my younger years getting discouraged by instances like this that would then cause to give up in some way and start doing real damage to my body like stopping the workouts or eating sugar because “I was fat anyway” or because “I already gained weight and failed, might as well finish it off.” That’s one of the reasons that I touch on the topic of body composition and muscle vs. fat more than lightly on this website. I’m trying to bring an awareness to us women that my mother’s mother didn’t have and thus wasn’t able to pass on to my mother or to me. I still wouldn’t choose to weight watchers again even with my current knowledge, as my personality just doesn’t work well with a daily “counting” of anything like calories or other numbers- it just feels too limiting to have to do that on a daily basis for extensive lengths of time. However, I do feel the meetings that weight watcher groups have and I like to think that the hCG community on YouTube is able to achieve the essence of these “group meetings” to support and help each other stay motivated.

8. Funniest or Worst Weightloss Program You’ve Ever Tried

   This is a weight loss “program” of my own making. One time in order to lose weight for a fast approaching recital that I was dancing in, I walked 8 miles a day, every day, for like a week. I would walk 4 miles in the morning, then come back and walk 4 miles in the evening. It’s possible that I combined that with the master cleanse where you drink just water and lemon with a little maple syrup. Needless to say I got some pretty major shin-splits doing that much of just one activity. I did lose about 6 lbs or so and felt “thin” for the show, but of course it came right back on afterwards. The things that we’ll do to look good in front of people right?

9. Do you have any chronic health issues, do you believe they are a result of abnormal fat?

   I do have chronic health issues- thankfully I can now say that despite still having the autoimmune “condition” known as hashimoto’s thyroiditis, I am now symptom free so I don’t really consider myself chronically ill anymore. However, since about the age of 21 for about 6 or 7 years, I did deal with varying degrees of chronic symptoms without knowing the cause. Some of my symptoms were extreme fatigue, inability to exercise without getting extremely depressed afterwards, not being able to handle even the excitement of family and friends around because it would make my fatigue too profound and debilitating. Originally my illness was not caused by abnormal fat as I wasn’t overweight to start with. I think I have a predisposition to autoimmune disorders and there are few things like the chemicals and fumes I was exposed to without protection in my painting business that may have been a trigger for them. However, as I got sicker, I did start putting on weight and toxins are stored in fat- its very plausible to me that my body getting fatter and storing toxins that I was exposed to like mercury (I had a blood testing showing dangerously high levels of mercury in my body which I had to detox from) increased and made my symptoms worse. Losing all that fat that no doubt had a lot of toxins bound up in it I have no doubt has contributed to better health for me.

10. Do I have my Vitamin D levels tested/checked?

    I have had it checked a few times and it’s always been abnormally low- my last test I think was around 20 or 25. I have supplemented with high dose vitamin D drops in the past. However, the nature of my body is that it’s just very….autoimmune. I have discovered that my body is so sensitive that I cannot take supplements in general without having bad health symptoms. I have to be careful about being in the sun as well- the sun makes my symptoms surface and get worse. So even though I have low Vitamin D levels, I feel much better not supplementing as of now. Perhaps that will change in the future.

11. What does hCG mean to you, how did you learn about?

    This diet plan has changed my life. Originally I learned about it quite by accident while researching the topic of Candida on a health and wellness site. While on the site I happened to notice a forum that with a thread titled something like, “does the Hcg Diet really work?” or something to that effect. I was curious because I had never heard of that diet before, and of course I was overweight, so naturally I was curious. I started reading and the whole idea was so foreign- I had never heard anything remotely like it which really piqued my curiosity. It sounded too good to be true, but I came across the youtube vlogs of real people doing the diet, showing their actual results that I knew wasn’t some fake, manufactured advertisement. The clincher for me was that I could really tell when looking at the before and after photos of hCG dieters that these individuals were really losing fat because their bodies just looked so well balanced and well formed when they were done. There was none of that skinny on top fat on bottom look. They looked toned and smooth. So I made the jump and the rest is history- size 16/18 to size 2 now. HCG helped me to get in control of other areas of my life as well. While Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) is the not the sole reason that I’ve recovered my health, it’s an important component. For instance, removing gluten from my diet forever was something that has made a difference in my health as well, but I never had the willpower to full remove gluten until I did the hCG diet. Since I didn’t eat the melba/grissini while on p2, I inadvertently ended up being off of gluten for close to the 3 month mark between phase 2 and phase 3, which is the amount of time doctors say you need to remove gluten for in order for your gut lining to heal before reintroducing it to see if you are really allergic to it or not. Losing a lot of weight quickly was motivating enough that as a side benefit I was off gluten long enough to see that I really was allergic to it.

Round 5 – 5.6 lbs lost in 5 days so far- P2VLCD2-5

September 28, 2012

After 5 days on the hCG Diet, I’m down 5.6 lbs for Round 5 of HCG Injections. Pretty snazzy! Keep in mind I did have my loading weight to lose, so my net loss so far is about 4 lbs- which is still super snazzy!

HUNGER SCALE AND HCG DOSE

I’ve really been trying to use the hunger scale from Robin Woodall’s Weightloss Apocalypse and I’ve been finding myself not even eating the entire 500 calories most days so far. Which, by the way, is okay, as long as you’re not hungry and you eat your 2 proteins for the day. Dr. Simeons did state in his original protocol for the diet that you may omit anything you wish from the diet on a given day, except for the 2 protein portions which you must always have. I’ve pretty much only been eating 350-400 calories the first portion of this round when I eat based on hunger. Which brings me to being very glad I started my dose at 125iu this time because I really have not been hungry at all pretty much from day of this round of hCG.

FINDING THE RIGHT PLACE FOR AN HCG INJECTION

I’ve been observing that it’s best to find a place to inject that is nice and fatty, wherever this may be, because my belly area has lost a lot of fat so I’ve been searching for other places to inject. My arms actually have quite a bit of “padding” so I injected the hCG in my arm and I found myself having some of the least hunger I’ve had when I did that. Throughout the rest of round 5 I also injected in my inner and outer thigh and my bottom- as long as the place had plenty of fat, my hunger was nil.

INVESTIGATE AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS WHEN NEEDED

Now that I’m seeing myself lose fat a bit more quickly this round as opposed to last round, it’s helping me come to some more conclusions. Round 4 of the protocol I lost very little weight and it’s the only round that I have experienced this- 7 lbs in 23 days on this diet plan is considered super slow. Now as I see this round go so much faster, I feel perhaps the cause of my slow losses in Round 4 is due to trying to keep exercise in the picture while on the vlcd. Round 4 is the only round that I continued trying to go to crossfit while on this protocol- the first week on the vlcd I went to crossfit 2 days and kind of “gave it my all” in class. Also that first week, I lost about 2 lbs net in the first couple vlcd days and then my weightloss pretty much grinded to a screeching halt entirely for the next 9 days. This is pretty abnormal on the diet. Typically weightloss on the diet is fastest during the first week, while it gradually gets a little less with each passing week (although of course it’s still a lot more weight than one would lose on any other diet!) What I think now is that trying to exercise so intensely while on the protocol was not something my body could handle. My body either needed to be losing fat or building muscle- I was asking too much of my body to focus on both at the same time. I have noticed that some on this protocol have been able to exercise while being on the diet with no problem, and to you guys- great! But if you are anything like me and have any autoimmune disorders or other chronic health issues (like adrenal fatigue or low/hypothyroid), you may want to think twice before lifting that barbell or jogging 5 miles while on Human Chorionic Gonadotropin.

Listen to Your Body On hCG

Even on the diet, as straightforward and strict as the protocol is, it still shouldn’t be viewed as a one size fits all plan.  It really is important to listen to your body when you’re going through this weight loss journey- if I tried to copy what others were doing over and over even though it kept not working for me, I would never get anywhere. Take all the information you find of people’s experiences on the diet, see what seems most similar to how your body would react, and try it. If it doesn’t seem to work well, investigate and adjust.

Below you can see a comparison of how much weight I lost in the first week of the hCG Diet on each of my 5 rounds:

Round 1 of hCG:  lost 8 pounds the 1st week- starting weight 172 pounds, 34.5% bodyfat Round 2 of hCG:  lost 7.8 pounds the 1st week Round 3 of hCG:  lost 8.2 pounds the 1st week Round 4 of hCG:  lost 4.4 pounds the 1st week (this was a weird round where I hardly lost anything) Round 5 of hCG:  lost 5.6 pounds 1st week (this is with starting weight of 134.8 pounds, 23.2% bodyfat) As you can see Round 4’s 1^st week of weightloss on the diet was rather pitiful.  I can’t be sure it was the exercise, but it could be one factor.

The point is to keep track of events and numbers throughout your hCG journey so that you can get the best results in the long term.

This time I left the exercise out, even though I missed it dearly, and I lost a lot more fat this time. Now I’m right back Crossfit, swinging those barbells and working on the next phase of building a health new me.

Avoiding my food intolerances on the HCG Diet- R5D6-10

October 3, 2012

Update on my 5^th round of HCG Injections. As a reminder, I am taking prescription hCG, as i have with every prior round.  I always test my hCG to make sure it’s potent.  This particular round is my first round using ushcginjections hCG, which hCG comes from a compounding pharmacy right here in the United States.  As of VLCD 11, I am down 7.4 lbs in 10 days. I’ve been eating to hunger and thus finding myself eating even less than 500 calories most days- probably more in the 400 calorie range. 125Iu has been my sweet spot dose for no hunger the past 2 rounds. I have great energy and no cravings. So I’m very happy with the way this round has been going. 127.4 this morning. I started my round at 134.2 after loading. I actually lost .6 after my first loading day.

This round has been pretty easy except for this past weekend, which brings me to talking about the importance of pacing yourself while on this diet. If there’s something that you know really tires you out or drains out, it would behoove you to try to avoid that situation. I let myself get into one of those situations over that weekend and found myself so spent and exhausted that the diet felt almost unbearable for a couple days. It’s much better to spare yourself for the short period of time you are on the diet and save stressful/draining situations for after the protocol. I know this isn’t always possible, but whatever you DO have control over, put those types of things off till later.

If it’s too late and you already find yourself feeling horrible on the diet because of getting too tired or something similar, drinking tea with stevia is kind of my fall back to get through it. Drink tea and more tea. And more tea.

Everyone may not be like me, but when I don’t feel well, I find myself really wanting to eat something. Since I can’t do that on the diet, drinking lots of hot tea sweetened with stevia makes things manageable.

There’s something else I’ve done very differently this round. I recently had a comprehensive food allergy test through a company called ALCAT. They test hundreds of foods, spices, dyes, supplements, herbs, etc. Since I have a couple autoimmune conditions (Hashimoto’s is the main one) I really felt that it was appropriate for me to investigate this aspect of addressing my health. I have already been fairly symptom free for some time now when it comes to my Hashimoto’s due to a variety of other things I’ve done. There are a few posts on this here. I have found the testing results to be pretty accurate- there were a number of foods that I was already suspicious of before taking the test and the test confirmed my intolerance to all of these very foods. Of course, there were also a number of foods on the test that I was unaware that I was unaware of having a sensitivity to.

What’s interesting to note regarding my test results and how that has to do with the diet is that I discovered I apparently have an intolerance to many of the foods listed on Dr. Simeon’s original protocol for the diet. Many of the foods. Like literally, most seafood and at least 3/4’s of the vegetable list that Dr. Simeon’s left for us. And as we all know, the list of foods that’s okay to eat on the diet is already strikingly small- am I right or am I right? You can pretty much count the veggie option on 2 hands and the meat choices on 1 hand.

So I had to really think about how I was going to do this round. I already knew that I didn’t want to eat the foods that I’m allergic or intolerant to while on the protocol this time. Allergies = inflammation = less weight loss. I felt that avoiding these allergen foods could cause me to have a better round on Human Chorionic Gonadotropin because of not causing inflammation in my body.

I chose a number of alternative vegetables to eat instead of the ones I’m allergic to (hint: this is off protocol- proceed with caution- don’t do this unless you have good reason as I did). I was still careful with my choices- I checked the nutritional content of the veggies to make sure their calorie and carb content was still in line with the other vegetables on Dr. Simeon’s original list. The vegetables I ended up including almost daily on my 5^th round of the protocol are mushrooms, broccoli, red bell pepper, zucchini and crooked neck squash.

Since I don’t eat the grissini or fruit on p2, the diet is very low in carbohydrates the way I’m doing it, so I feel that I have a little more leeway with my vegetables without causing harm to my fat losses, and I’m careful to eat reasonable amounts of these protocol vegetables to make sure calories and carbs don’t get out of hand. So far this has been working great for me this round. Regarding meats I have been having the chicken breast, but also have included Trader Joe’s nitrate and nitrite free Ham lunch meat. Again, this is off protocol, but my test said I was allergic to many of the protocol meats, so I had to come up with some other alternatives.

So far so good!

Remember, eating off protocol foods on this diet plan is not something that you would do needlessly.  However, it’s good to be open to alternatives should you find, like myself, that your body doesn’t tolerate certain foods or supplements.

2 lb weightloss in 1 day and Size 2 jeans bodyshot!

October 4, 2012

Drumroll please…..2 lb drop on VLCD 12 of Round 5 of HCG Injections. 125.4 down from 127.4 yesterday. That’s 9.4 lbs in 11 days now. Yup. Pretty happy if I do say so myself.

Also wanted to give you a bodyshot in my size 2 jeans (you’ll have to watch the vlog for that)!

This pair is actually comfortable now- I did manage to squeeze into them before this round started, but they certainly didn’t fit well enough to leave the house in.

I have been quite surprised to be honest to be 125 lbs and to be both losing so quickly still and to have so much non-hunger. Keep in mind I’m just over 5′ tall so I certainly have room to go lower still, but honestly, it’s still surprisingly that the fat is coming off so easily at this point in the game.

This round I have been using a new hCG source- ushcginjections – they dispense hCG that is actually made in the U.S. At a compounding pharmacy right in Florida. I’ve been very impressed at how I feel on this Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, so I can happily recommend them to others.

The other difference about this round is that I’m avoiding foods I’m allergic to. You can see my post on this here.

The last thing thing that is different about this round of the diet is that I’m injecting in a variety of other places than usual- I’ve injected in my upper arm and my inner and outer thigh. I find that when I find a nice fatty place to inject, my hunger is the least.

That’s it for this day’s update on my own personal weight loss journey.  Now I’m going to go find something to help you guys with….

8 pushups for my .8 release. 10.2 lbs in 12 days. R5P2D12.

October 5, 2012

Occasionally I get requests to see some of my Crossfit skills in action. I’m still a total beginner at Crossfit, but I am proud to say that certain things like my pushup capability has increased astronomically since I first started.

Had a .8 weight loss this morning, putting me at 124.6 on VLCD 12, so in honor of that I thought I’d do 8 pushups (watch the video for that!)

I have had excellent energy on this round of HCG Injections, which I’m loving. That has not been the case of every round on the diet- some rounds my energy has been horrible and I’ve been very fatigued, and other rounds, like this one, I feel great.

I could be wrong, but I think part of it could have to do with the fact that toxins are stored in fat and at different points on the HCG Diet journey, one may feel yucky as their body is releasing fat that may have higher amounts of toxins stored in it- thinks like heavy metals (mercury), and other chemicals. I must be to the point of losing fat that didn’t contain anything too nasty since I’ve been feeling so good. Don’t take my word for it on this topic- I’m just ruminating on this thought- I still need to research this idea more myself.

R5VLCD20 General Update

October 12, 2012

I’ve been very happy with what I’ve accomplished with this round of HCG Injections.  At this point I had intended on ending my round, but ended up extending it to a full 6 week round.

I may not always have a factual answer for your hCG questions, but I’ll give you the from-my-experience-and-what-I’ve observed-in-others answer. To be honest, sometimes it’s these types of answers that I find to be the most valuable anyway.

That’s how I learned the most about this weight loss protocol to begin with. Just doing my research on the forums and on youtube and just seeing what people were experiencing in real life.

Sometimes I find that supposed “facts” about the diet– for instance those “studies” that hCG haters like to mention that have been done on th e protocol are pretty useless to me (and to you) because they didn’t do any hydrostatic body fat testing in those studies, so there was no comparison done between how much fat and muscle loss there was in the two groups- the hCG takers vs. the placebo takers. “Weight” is deceiving. That’s why I think seeing what actually happens to people in real life is what is most useful and most reliable when it comes to information.

down 1.4 lbs, increased calories, and update on rogue P2 foods R5P2D21

October 13, 2012

I was down to 123 lbs today! That’s a 1.4 loss on the scale since the previous day. Pretty cool ya?

INCREASE IN CALORIE INTAKE HALFWAY THROUGH HCG ROUND

Earlier in this HCG Injections round I found I didn’t even need the full 500 calories when I ate to hunger and felt good. As this round continues I find myself eating the full 500 and even a little bit more and that is what my body wants right now.

I’ve started incorporating the miracle (shirataki) noodles again this round.   I had decided to wait to use them this round until I really needed them, and that time has come! Incorporating them made me feel more satisfied and even more relaxed and less stressed as a result.  I have used the shirataki noodles now on almost a daily basis for 4 out of my 5 rounds with success.

Update on Off-Protocol (Rogue) hCG Eating of Foods

I’ve done quite a bit of experimentation on myself this round because of my food allergy test that I had done a couple months ago telling me that I was actually allergic (or I should more accurately say had a food intolerance) to many of the foods on Dr. Simeon’s original protocol list of foods.   For more info on that see my post here.

As a result I’ve been eating many off protocol veggies this round as a trial- foods that i’m not intolerant too. So far this seems to be doing well with my body. An example of my off protocol meal yesterday was a soup of mushrooms and chicken breast simmered in water with salt, then add the miracle noodles at the end. It’s super yummy and very satisfying.

If you decide to make any changes to the original weight loss protocol as I have, just do it in an informed way. It’s probably not a good idea to just randomly start eating different stuff, because you can hurt the outcome of your results on the diet, but certainly there are times when changes may be necessary.

People are pretty in tune with their bodies sometimes. For instance, I’ve heard a number of hCGer’s mention on their youtube vlogs “oh I can’t eat cabbage on p2, it makes me gainl”. To an outsider this might sound totally silly. But you know what? Don’t knock it. Very likely what they are saying is true- probably they have a food intolerance to cabbage that causes inflammation when they eat it thus causing problems with weightloss. So it’s worth it to trust your body a bit and to realize that no one size can fit all people. Sometimes adjustments do have to be made.

I have lost more fat this round eating off protocol vegetables than the last round eating the designated p2 foods. Again, the foods I choose was done strategically though- I’m very careful with the carb count of the veggies, etc. and since I don’t eat the fruits or melba on the diet, I feel that enables me to have a little more freedom when it comes to my vegetables.

One other thing I do incorporate while on the diet is 2-3 teaspoons of half and half each day in my black tea.

Getting Back to Family Life Soon

There’s a time and place for everything. I’ve been feeling like I need to get back to my family life now as this round of protocol concludes. I don’t know about you guys, but sometimes on this diet planI tend to be not nearly as useful to my family members. I don’t cook nearly as much and my husband has to kind of fend for himself and I find myself making a lot more sunbutter and jelly sandwiches for my son than usual. Breakfast? How about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Dinner? How about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. My guilt gradually increases until I think to myself it’s time to start cooking real food again before my son’s muscles fill up with jelly.

I know some of you guys can identify with this. But you know what? It’s okay for a period of 3-6 weeks to be focused on you while you get yourself to a healthier place- that will give you many years of good health to then share with your husband and children after your done with Human Chorionic Gonadotropin right? You sometimes have to look at the long range scope of things in order to put yourself first temporarily without guilt. But there comes a time when you feel you’ve achieved enough to accomplish this and you’re ready to get back to being the hero of the family.

R5P2D25 -1.8, 121.2 today!!!

October 17, 2012

I had planned on ending Round 5 of HCG Injections at the 3 week point, but after TOM (time of month) came and went, I felt much better (after feeling really crabby and yucky pre-period), so I decided to continue on Human Chorionic Gonadotropin.

As long as I can feel fairly well while on the protocol I have no problem continuing. It’s when I start feeling to unwell or too grumpy for too many days in a row that I start thinking that it’s time to get off the protocol for the time being.

RESULTS FROM PAST FEW VLCD DAYS:

VLCD 20 results: -1.4 lbs

VLCD 21 results: + 1.4 lbs (TOM- always gain water weight from TOM coming)

VLCD 22 results: – 1.6 lbs to 122.8 lbs

VLCD 23 results: +.2 lbs to 123 lbs

VLCD 24 results: -1.8 lbs to 121.2 lbs

So far I’ve lost 13.6 lbs total in 24 days, which includes the fact that I lost ground for a few days due to the 1 day I cheated on the diet this round (it happens you know?)

In the video I mention the weird observation that it seemed as if the hormone injections was affecting where I lost fat- almost like spot reducing.  In retrospect, I don’t think that was occurring and I think it was just a fluke- so please ignore that part of the video will ya?  Hey, a girl can dream can’t she? :)-

Lastly, my average weight loss for this round has been .5lb/day which is excellent considering that is the normal average weightloss for any woman on the Diet, and to still be losing this average when I’m getting quite tiny is great.  I’ve lost so much in my hip and thigh area this round that previously somewhat large skirts (in the size 8 and 10 range) that I could still wear, just lower on my body, no longer can be worn at all- they just fall off they’re that huge.

Body shot at 120.2lbs- What Shirataki Noodles Look Like- R5P2D31

October 23, 2012

I am 120.2 lbs on Day 35 of the VLCD of Round 5 of the HCG Injections.  My video has a bodyshot of what I currently look like at this weight.  Since I started at 172 pounds and a size 16/18 and in this video you’ll see me wearing a size 2 pair of jeans, I think that speaks volumes for what Human Chorionic Gonadotropin can do if you follow the protocol properly from start to finish.

I didn’t really mean for this to turn into a long round, but since I was feeling better this last week and I won’t be doing another round of the protocol for quite some time, I felt it might be nice to make the most of this current round.

I’ve lost 14.6 lbs in 30 days and so far 9 lbs is fat. I’m very happy with this ratio

My omron monitor is showing that I’m at 19.8% bodyfat which equals out to 24 lbs of fat on my body out of the 120 lbs that I currently weigh and what’s interesting is that I just had a hydrostatic body fat test done a couple days ago and it actually lined up perfectly with what my Omron handheld body fat monitor said. This was my first time having a hydro body fat test being done while still on phase 2 of the Diet. Usually I wait until I am in Phase 3 to have the test done. I have discovered as I’ve gotten leaner that when I’m NOT on the Diet, the omron body fat monitor is not as accurate as when I am on the diet. I think the extra food, fluids, and glycogen etc, that my body has when I’m in my normal living state change the monitor’s readings a bit, although just as a reference I still find it useful.

What Shirataki Noodles Package Looks Like

Shirataki noodles are also called Miracle Noodles- the miracle noodles can be purchased online and are a bit pricier purchased under that name brand. The Shirataki noodles as you see here in this video can be purchased as most local asian markets or ethnic markets- you will find them in the refrigerated section. It will often say “yam noodle” or “yam flour” in paranthesis on the package. There has been some confusion over people seeing this and then thinking the shirataki noodles contained actual yams as we americans think of them and thus starch but this is not the case. The asian shirataki noodles are actually made purely from soluble fiber (fiber meaning our body does not digest it as any calories to us) from what’s called the Konjac Root in Japan- whoever translated this onto the package from chinese put it as “yam” but it’s really this Konjact root that it’s made from.

MAKING USE OF THE HCG YOUTUBE COMMUNITY

I have found the hCG community on youtube to be a wonderful place to both get and give support on the Diet.  It seems like many useful and successful protocols for things like losing weight, getting fit, or getting away from an addiction involve a group of some sort.  There’s cycling groups, jogging groups, AA for alcoholics and weight watchers meetings to name a few.  People do well with a support system in place- especially people who are in a similar situation to you.  That is why if you are doing the protocol, the youtube community of vloggers and commentors is what I think of as an irreplaceable resource.  I address how to go about getting and giving support on the protocol on my FAQ page here:  Where to Find Support and Help on the hCG Diet

Since the Diet is somewhat controversial (ie phrases sometimes heard: you are INJECTING? or….you are injecting WHAT???  or…..you are eating HOW MANY CALORIES???  Oh my goodness you are going to STARVE YOURSELF!!!) many find they don’t care to tell too many in their immediate network of friends or family they are doing this diet because they don’t feel like dealing with all the questions and/or well-meaning warnings that come across as put-downs since they have not full researched the protocol.  So many us like to wait to let the results speak for themselves, at which point sometimes the minds of those around us become a little more open.  Before this happens though, you need a support network- the protocol is NOT easy as some might say.  It’s FAST but not easy.  I treasure and hope you will too, the Human Chorionic Gonadotropin youtube community.

Is hcgchica able to maintain her weightloss with the hCG Diet?

OCTOBER 23, 2012

Let me put your minds to rest- I am not re-losing weight, but let me explain my unique hCG journey.

I got a question from someone on youtube who was a little confused by my weight loss journey at first (after all I have 175+ videos!) so I wanted to make a video and blog post that gives you a synopsis of just what I’ve personally been doing with the hCG Diet protocol and why it could appear at first that I am re-losing weight (ie losing weight with the protocol, then re-gaining weight, then re-losing that same weight again with the protocol, and so on), when in reality, I’m losing new fat with each subsequent round of the protocol. I’d like to show to you here the unique way I’ve been using this weight loss protocol.

If you were to watch every single one of my 175+ videos it probably would all make sense, but let’s face it, I’m not that egotistical to think that most of you will have time or even want to do that!

So it can appear on the surface as if I can’t keep the weight loss off as I keep re-visiting similar numbers on the scale- ie. 127 lbs, 124 lbs, 122 lbs, etc. So let’s get started.

I Have Maintained Almost 100% Of All My Fat Loss from the hCG Diet…

aside from Round 2. I have done 5 rounds of the diet plan now, and 4 of them I have done well and maintained almost all the fat loss from them, without having to go back on the protocol to “re-lose” weight. So I have not gained back fat after doing the diet. Here’s a chart that shows everything in a nutshell. As you can see, how many lbs of fat I have has continued to drop with each successive round, despite re-visiting similar scale weights.

Comparison Chart of hCGChica Body Composition on each hCG Round:

(Round 2 was a wash so it’s left out)

April ’11/End of Round 1:       144.8lbs   34.5% bodyfat    49 lbs fat       95.8 lbs lean mass

Dec ’11/End of Round 3:      124.8 lbs     27.5% bodyfat     34 lbs fat       90.8 lbs lean mass

May ’12/End of Round 4:      127.5 lbs    23.91%bodyfat   30.5 lbs fat    97 lbs lean mass

No ’12/End of Round 5:      118.8 lbs      17.9% bodyfat     21.3 lbs fat      97.48 lbs lean mass

Dec ’12/Currently off hCG:   124.5 lbs   18.8% bodyfat     23.49 lbs fat   101 lbs lean mass

My 1^st round of the weight loss protocol started in February of 2011 and it’s now December 2012. I take really long breaks between rounds of this protocol as well, and during that time I eat really healthy but I eat a pretty good amount of food quantity-wise, I don’t count calories, and I maintain my fat loss- I don’t gain back fat while on the protocol. I know this because I have period hydrostatic body fat tests done to show how much fat and muscle I have on my body (as shown above).  I’m getting close to my 2 year anniversary since starting the weight loss protocol, and I’m happy to show you how far I’ve come, while spending the majority of the past 2 years NOT on a diet at all, hCG or otherwise.

My Journey with the hCG Diet Is Unique

My hCG Diet journey is a little bit unique I guess you could say because I have certain goals in mind that don’t necessarily have to do with being a certain scale weight or a certain size in clothing. I have in my nature that I love to do things that require being fit like hiking and doing pushups. I’ve always enjoyed sporty type activities, even as a little girl. I was a daddy’s girl all the way and I spent many a good hour biking, fishing, jet skiing and hiking with my dad. I was definitely the ultimate tomboy down to hating lace and the color pink.  In high school I was 1 of 3 girls in the weight training class, and 1 of only 2 girls actually lifting weights (ie not just sitting around flirting).

So once I realized what this protocol could do now as an overweight adult in her 30’s with a chronic autoimmune illness, I’ve been trying to see how far it will take me.  I’ve basically been trying to cycle my way down to a lower and lower body fat percent, not to a lower weight necessarily. This means I’m trying to achieve a high amount of muscle mass compared to fat mass on my body, which in turn makes doing things that require being strong and fit much easier.

When my husband and I were dating he used to call me a deer because of the way I would bound down the hiking trails on the way back- my quads were nice and firm and strong and my body fat was low enough that I didn’t feel heavy to myself so I could easily almost run along the steep downward trails. As I got overweight and out of shape, I could no longer do this and just walking carefully on a downward slopping trail would often feel scary as if my thighs weren’t strong enough to hold me up and that I might actually collapse under the weight of my own body.

hCGChica’s hCG Rounds Timeline- Sort Of

Round 1 of the hCG Diet

My 1^st round of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin I lost about 27 lbs in about 42 days and I had no problem keeping this weight off for the next 3 months while I was off the protocol. I ate pretty much low carb during that time, went to Zumba a few times a week, and did not count calories.

Round 2 of the hCG Diet

Round 2- that is what I would call a failed round because after losing weight on round 2 I re-gained most of that weight in the following 9 weeks after that because I did not adhere to phase 3 nor did I eat healthy (ie. I was living on sugar again for that entire 9 weeks). So I did have to re-lose this weight. What can I say? I messed up that round, I think most of us mess up at one point or another on our weightloss journey. I think that just means I’m human like the rest of you.

So I re-lost this weight plus more with Round 3 of the diet.

Round 3 of the hCG Diet

December 2011 I finished Round 3 of the diet and lost about 21-ish pounds during this round. At that point I ended up at about 124.8 lbs when I went in to have my bodyfat tested hydrostatically. My results showed I was 27% bodyfat with 34 lbs of fat and 90.8 lbs of lean mass adding up to the 124.8 lbs total that I weighed.

4 Month Break

I took a 4 month break from the protocol after this. During that time, I spent 3 months trying out a new fitness thing called Crossfit, a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and heavy weightlifting type program. Which I love and still do regularly to this day. You can look for a Crossfit gym in you area by googling it. During my 4 month break and going to Crossfit regularly, I gained “weight.” However, almost all of this “weight gain” was muscle, not fat. AHA!!! The light is coming on now right?

When I went in to have my hydrostatic body fat test at the end of March, I weighed 132.5 lbs, a gain of 7.7 lbs in 4 months. Out of that 7.7 lbs, 7 lbs was muscle, so only about a half lb of my weight gain was fat. This put me at 25.91% bodyfat, which if you’ll notice is actually now a smaller bodyfat percent than at the124.8 lbs I was 4 months prior because of the high amount of muscle gain with almost no fat gain. So I actually maintained 99% of my fat loss from the diet plan during that 4 months, despite “gaining” almost 8 lbs, not to mention all the fat I lost from round 1 as well.

So during that whole 4 months, I was not counting calories, I wasn’t even eating low carb anymore- I was eating a healthy amount of fruit and some rice products, going to Crossfit 3-4 times a week for 1 hour each time, and I kept off almost all of the fat loss, no problem.

Round 4 of the hCG Diet

April 2012 I did Round 4 of the protocol. This was my first “short” round of just 3 weeks long on the diet. I only lost a little over 5 lbs this round, down to 127.4, but I actually have LESS fat now at this higher weight, than I did at 124.8 lbs at the end of Round 3. Let me show you the comparison here.

End of Round 3:      124.8 lbs         34 lbs fat

  End of Round 4:      127.4 lbs          30.5 lbs fat

So here I weigh 2.6 lbs more but have 3.5 lbs less fat after doing Round 4. Since muscle is pretty much always a good thing, you can look solely at my pounds of fat to see if I was now in a better place with my body or not, and the answer if you look is decidedly yes! After Round 4 I was now 23.91% bodyfat, a loss of 3.1% bodyfat during that 3 weeks of the diet.

5 Month Break

I took a 5 month break this time from the protocol. During the next 5 months from all May through the end of September I again was going to Crossfit 3-4 days a week, not counting calories, eating healthy but a lot. I don’t eat no 1200 calories okay? I eat very liberally, and I eat a lot of fruit as well (after phase 3 of course). I eat a lot of fat, meat, veggies, fruit, nuts, and dairy. I probably take in at l