Before I Begin

A couple of weeks ago, my Aunt called me on the phone and mentioned this crazy sounding diet to me. She gave me a basic run thorough and I immediately had flashbacks to all of the other diets she'd told me about. The one, in particular that stuck in my mind, was the 700 calorie a day diet where I literally felt like I was starving myself. I vowed never to go back there again. I love her dearly, but as long as I've known her, she's been after the latest weight loss gimmick. I gave up on those several years ago after many failed attempts to lose the weight. I think she immediately sensed my hesitation, so she suggested that I go to the website and "do some research." Okay, sure. I went to the site, got an overview and thought "SHE'S CRAZY."

I'd talked with a couple of people, even an Osteopathic Doctor and my Chiropractor, both of which said "don't do it." So, I had decided I wasn't going to. I had decided that any diet that wants you to inject a hormone into your body and try to live off of 500 calories, was sure to never provide permanent results. Not to mention, I was convinced I'd just starve to death on that plan, so forget it.

I had resigned to the fact that this was going to have to happen the old fashioned way. Somehow, the 80 pounds I had gained since my husband and I were married, would have to be lost through gallons of sweat and a diet like weight watchers, biggest loser, or something Sparkpeople suggested.

Let me back up a little......I was married at the age of 19, weighing 145 pounds. I slowly started to gain, first when spending time in Okinawa Japan with very little to do when my husband (a Marine) was working....therefore frequent trips to the vending machine became my only highlight for a day. That and one television station. Trips to the vending machine turned into buying bulk candy bars at the store to save money. We lived on ramen noodles, hamburger helper, and cereal for those 3 months. Love was all that mattered, but fat was something that soon popped into the picture. I left Okinawa weighing 155 lbs, 3 months later. Those eating habits didn't stop just because I came home to await the return of my prince. I continued to gain and when we found ourselves at our next duty station, that scale kept climbing. In 2 years, I had gained 35 pounds. I weighed 180 pounds when we left North Carolina after my husband had served his 4 years in the Corps. When we arrived home, the eating habits didn't change much and my activity just became less and less. Throughout these years, I tried slim fast, diet fuel, chitosan, Adkins, Herbalife, and probably a few other pill popping solutions.

I had balooned to 205 pounds by 2002 and sought out the advice of an endocrinologist, after my family practioner suggested I may have PCOS (poly cystic ovarian syndrome.) I had my appointment with the endocrinologist who bluntly put it "you are just fat, there is no fair term to put on your condition. You just need to lose weight. " EXCUSE ME?? Yikes. So, she put me on the South Beach Diet. I successfully lost 20 pounds and then plateaued.....and then went on to do Body for Life and lost another 10 pounds. I decided at that point, since I had been working out 6 days a week on BFL, that I would seek out a personal trainer. I was excited, I was down to 175 for the first time in years. I had my appointment, did my measurements and heard the dreaded words from my male personal trainer "when you reach your goal, you will be attractive." That sent me into " I don't care anymore" mode where I gave up. I was done trying, a personal trainer basically just told me I was nasty. At least, that's what I heard.

In the fall of 2005, I became pregnant with my first child. I weighed 191 pounds when I conceived. During that pregnancy, I ate it all. Arby's, ice cream, junk food, etc. I gained 51 pounds and delivered at 242 pounds. I started Weight Watchers when my daughter was 3 months old, and in a matter of 3 months I was down 20 pounds. I felt wonderful. I was down to 203 pounds from the whopping 242. Then.....the Holiday's had come, I had started to "cheat." I tried and tried to get back on the wagon but never got below 200 pounds. I even climbed back up to 211 and decided to start Jenny Craig. I lost 8 pounds in 2 weeks and.......then, I discovered I was pregnant again. I was at 203 when I started the second pregnancy. This pregnancy was not void of junk food, but was better than the first round, though I still managed to get up to 250 pounds when I delivered. It's 13 months later now, and I'm still at 225. Up and down 5 pounds or so constantly. I lose my hope and faith in weight loss plans because I don't see results and I give up. That's where the HCG Diet comes into play.

Like I said, I thought it was totally whacko. I decided, well I'll go ahead and do the research. It can't hurt to research something, right? I dug, and I dug, and I watched YouTube videos and I read articles and I joined the Yahoo HCG Dieters group. Holy cow, could this be real? Could I really lose 1 pound a day and have 30-40 pounds gone in 6 weeks? HUH??? Well, it really appears to be true. I have found no adverse effects, and below I will share with you the details of the plan. This blog is going to be my daily journal, my journey through this program. To share with you how it works, what I struggle with, and what I could/should do differently. It's my raw attempt at making this work for the last time. No more being clinically obese and trying to hide. There is a skinny girl hiding in this fat body, I want to find her.

There are 4 conditions that abnormally fat or obese people suffer from
1. Real, constant physical hunger
2. Low metabolism (you look at food and gain weight)
3. uncontrollable urges to eat when not hungry (cravings, emotional eating, addictive type behavior)
4. The body sotres fat abnormally (hips, thighs, butt) and no matter how hard you try, it never seems to go away from those problem areas completely.


Dr. Simeons, the founder of the HCG Diet, discovered the cause of the above conditions. The Hypothalmus. It functions improperly when we become obese/fat and needs "reset." Dr. Simeons spent some time in India after WW II and discovered that there were famished thin, emaciated women who would give birth to perfectly healthy babies. Normal weight, healthy babies. He was fascinated and wanted to know what in the world was allowing this to be. So, he did some research and discovered that the Hypothalmus, when a woman is pregnant, tells the body to release the fat for the babies nutrition. So, he decided to inject an obese patient with HCG, reduce the caloric intake, and discovered that the presence of HCG in the body triggers the Hypothalmus to release the fat. Doing the HCG Diet opens our fat stores, and releases it to burn for energy. It releases about 2000-3000 worth of calories per day when on HCG and combined with a low calorie diet, results in a loss of about 1 pound per day

There are phases on this plan, 6 weeks you inject and do low calories. Strict diet, certain foods only. VERY low calorie, BUT with HCG because of it's design and its work on the Hypothalmus, doesn't allow you to be hungry. Why? Because you are releasing those 2000-3000 calories to burn along with the low calorie eating plan. After 6 weeks, you go on a low carb plan, kind of like Adkins. You do that for 3 weeks, this begins to reset the Hypothalmus for the new weight. BTW the Hypothalmus is responsible for yo yo ing. It is set at your obese or overweight....weight....so you may lose a little on other plans but gain it back the second you eat one thing different. After 3 weeks on phase 3 which is the Adkins, you go to phase 4 where you begin eating normally again. After 3 weeks on that, if you have more weight to lose, you go back to phase 2 which is the HCG and low cal. Phase 1 is a cleanse if you choose, but not necessary and I'm not going to do that.

When you go back to eating normally after you have lost all of the weight, you don't gain it all back because your Hypothalmus has been reset. 1 year later, 85% of the people on this plan have not gained the weight back.

The reason our Hypothalmus' do this is because our diets are so genetically modified. That is why our obesity is constantly increasing in this country. If you look at, say, someone who moved here from Vietnam, they've eaten the same meals here that they ate there but suddenly gain weight. They can't figure it out. It's the genetically modified foods. So, if we go back to eating MSG and loads of junk constantly, we probably will find ourselves in that state where we first started putting on weight. Slowly gaining again.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is responsible for the malfunction of the Hypothalmus. Artificial sweeteners as well, and Candida Albicans (too much yeast in the body...gas, bloating etc). The HCG diet, cleanses the body of all of these things, giving it a reboot.

My Aunt has lost 30 pounds in 6 weeks. My uncle has lost 25 pounds in 6 weeks. They are getting ready to start round 2 when I go see them and start my first round. This is supposedly the last diet anyone would ever need, I'm up for trying. I'm tired of being fat and taking off and putting on 10 pounds regularly and never getting beyond that.

I officially plan to start this diet on July 5th or 6th. I am overly excited about this, that there is hope to lose this weight and keep it off....most importantly, to be alive and well to watch my children grow and be the best Mom I can. I want to start yesterday but my supplies aren't here....and I have to learn to have patience.

If you'd like to read up on this plan, go to www.hcgdietinfo.com and make sure you read the article called "Pounds and Inches." I will post more info here as I learn. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your support even if this isn't what you would choose for you.

God Bless!