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AW: I lost 35lbs since January 1 :)
i am so happy!
i posted a few months ago about my cousin doing the hcg diet and how bad i thought it was. well color me the worlds biggest hypocrite. she lost like a zillion pounds and she said she felt great. so i decided to give it a shot. i did a 40 day cycle, started on new years day. i did the shots and the 500 calorie diet.
it was really VERY hard to eat such a limited diet, but not because i was hungry. i wasnt hungry at all, with the exception of the first day or two and maybe when i was pmsing. it was hard because i was bored of the foods and when you have places to go and have to bring your own food and whatnot. its so strict and limited and you really have to make all of your own food and be 100% committed to it.
but anyway- the first phase is over, i get to eat cheese and peanut butter tomorrow (seriously, i must have spent $300 in cheese this weekend in preparation for the next phase of this diet). i am below my pre-pregnancy weight, all of my old clothes fit, and i feel like a million bucks!!
thank you for letting me AW- if anyone is considering doing it and has questions, PM me! i would be happy to answer and give advice 
Re: AW: I lost 35lbs since January 1 :)
i'm interested to hear how you're not hungry on a 500 calorie a day diet, i'll say that.
and what's up with injectables? why not pills?
please fill me in, i don't know anything about this and i REALLY HATE SHOTS!!!!
I went to a doctor (actually, I went to 3 doctors LOL) and had it prescribed to me. I had bloodwork done first to make sure my body was able to take the shots and the diet without any issues. So my HCG was pharmaceutical grade, not something you can buy without a prescription.
Not sure how much of it is hocus pocus or whatever, but something about the HCG in your system releases stored fat for use instead of consuming calories for use. So while I am only eating 500 calories a day, the HCG 'unlocks' stored fat for my body to basically live off of. There is a lot of science behind it, and I am not sure how much of it is actually just mind over matter but whatever, it worked LOL and my endocrinologist said the same thing while I was seeing him during my cycle.
I think I answered the first part above. i honestly didnt know how I would not be hungry either, but i swear it there were times i still have 150+ calories left and the thought of eating was like the last thing i wanted to do. i wouldnt have believed it if i hadnt done it, i thought my cousin was completely brainwashed.
im not sure if you can get it in pill form, i know you can get drops too but the injections were the most potent and had the best rate of weight loss and the least amount of reported side effects. i felt like if i was going to do it, i was going to go balls to the wall and do it full out.
i hate shots too. bad. in fact, i used to pass out every single time i had to get bloodwork. being pregnant fixed that, since i had bloodwork so often and i was afraid that passing out would harm the baby (dumb, i know). the first hcg shot i did i was sweating and made anthony hold me because i thought i was going to pass out with a needle sticking out of my muffin top. but i didnt even feel it, its a tiny little insulin needle. and then i was so used to it, and getting on the scale every morning and being down 1.2, 1.6, .8- it was such a motivator i was super excited to keep going.
what kind of doctor did you go to? was it just your PCP to start with? i can't see my primary being on board with it but he's pretty hippie-dippy.
please elaborate!
see now i can totally see marty rolling his eyes and giving me a hard time about doing a diet like this. that's why i'd rather do the pills, etc, so it wouldn't be in his face all the time.
my other concern would be gaining it back. once you go back to eating ~2000 calories a day, what happens? (i know you don't know this
I don't know- it just seems to be to quick of a fix for me. Nothing against you for doing it- but I just know that I would never be able to sustain it, cause I like to eat real food, and would not have learned anything about how to really eat. I also would never do shots, unless medically necessary, but that is me.
Congrats to you!
The Journey of Me
Vacation, 2011
Congratulations!!! I wish I could do it.
no worries, im not taking it as being snarky. and i was totally snarky to my cousin when she said she was doing it. i didnt like it at all, which is why i said i was the worlds biggest hypocrite.
500 cals a day isnt healthy long term, and it wouldnt have been doable without the hcg (unless, of course, it was mind over matter like i said above). you are advised not to exercise on this diet because you arent taking in enough calories to burn. yes, you go back up to regular calories and regular food within a course of 6 weeks where you add things back gradually.
its not a long term diet- you can do a 26 day cycle or a 40 day cycle.
Congratulations! I'm actually surprised a dr would give it to you with so little to lose. it's usually used for people like me with a million pounds to lose.
its definitely a quick fix, no doubt about it. the last time i lost 30+lbs it was over the course of about 2 years. but i felt desperate and i felt like i needed a jumpstart. all i wanted to do was get back to where i was before i got pregnant so that i could get dressed in the morning without crying and hating what i saw in the mirror. i lost 65lbs over about 4 years before getting pregnant and kept it off for about 2 years once i hit that 65lbs. i know how to lose weight, and i know how to keep it off. unfortunately though for me, getting pregnant and nursing made a mess of my weight and metabolism- triggered prediabetes and whatnot. losing this much weight for me also meant coming off of the diabetes meds prescribed by my endo (which is why i went to him for approval of the diet first before doing it). i couldnt wait 2 years to lose the weight.
good news is- you dont have to sustain this diet. its a short term thing- either 26 days or 40 days. thats it. then you have 6 weeks where you acclimate back into a normal diet with a normal range of calories. tomorrow is my first day off of the 500 calorie diet, and i get 1500 calories. no carbs, no sugars. kind of like south beach phase 1- which always worked wonders for me.
trust me, if there is anything in the world i LOVE to do, its eat. i could never live like this for longer than a month or so. that is the only thing that got me through it- knowing it would be over in a short month, i would be back in all of my old clothes, etc.
i still want to lose 15lbs, but i will do it with weight watchers and exercise, the way i have always done it in the past.
that is great.. congrats!
We have the drops in our office and I just brought them home. I tried it this morning and I have to admit, I didn't have much of an appetite all day. I am interested in learning how the diet part of it works so I may send you a PM tomorrow. Congrats!
Zoey Emma 08.18.10
just because i only lost 35 doesnt mean thats all i had to lose. according to the charts at ww, to be within their suggested weight range, i still need to lose another 34lbs at least (to hit the highest number in the suggested weight range). i havent been that weight since i was probably 10 years old, and i dont plan to kill myself trying to get there either. i would be happy losing another 10-15, ecstatic if i lost another 20. but for now, i am perfectly fine here where all of my old clothes fit.
This is great, congrats!!
To speak to some of the things others said: My ex-coworker was on this diet. It's been over a year and she's maintained her weight loss. She lost a crazy amount of weight and you look at her now and can't believe it. Obviously I don't have direct experience but from what she said it's exactly like bbz said - you take the shots, the hcg (pregnancy hormone) tricks your body into thinking it has a baby to feed and uses the fat stores to make up the 1,000-calorie difference between what you eat and what you need to live. That's how the weight loss works.
As for maintaining the weight loss later, all I can say is my ex-cw has done it. I didn't see her much during the process but she did change some of her eating habits and exercise habits. Even bariatric surgery isn't a permenant fix since if you don't make lifestyle changes you will stretch your stomach back and gain weight. With ANY weight loss you have to change your habits.