I guess I'm gonna have to do something different here.

Welp, I went to the doc to get the results of the blood work I had taken last week. It turns out that my sugar is high. High enough to be deemed “pre-diabetic.” Pre-diabetic. That means that my weight has finally caught up with me. Caught up to me and has almost overtaken me. If I let it go any further, it could have disastrous, potentially DEADLY effects on my health.

Not only are they saying that I’m pre-diabetic, they are telling me that my cholesterol is high. My healthy levels are low, and my bad levels are high. Beautiful. Just freaking beautiful.

Can I be real with you? Thanks. There is no other way for me. It would be great to sit here and “claim” the promises of God for myself. To grab ahold of all kinds of healing scriptures, and start “commanding” my body, and all of that good “faith movement” stuff that I wholly believe in.

But guess what. If I do all that, and then continue stuffing candy bars and sodas and cakes down my throat, I’m not too sure I will find my prayers going up as “sweet smelling incense” to our God. This is entirely my fault. Ok, not all entirely. Some of the cholesterol may be hereditary. However, I did not come into a 40 BMI by birth! As a matter of fact, when I was a young girl, my family used to call me “tiny hiney!” Ha!

This is a wakeup call, that’s for sure. I could thank God for that. That it was discovered earlier, rather than later. I could thank God that both of those bad levels are just over the line into the bad-land….that I’m closer to “within normal “range than I am in the “OH MY GOSH YOU NEED TO LOSE 40 POUNDS RIGHT NOW OR YOU’RE GONNA HAVE A HEART ATTACK TOMORROW” range. I could. I could thank God that I don’t need insulin and that if I would lose even just 10 pounds, my sugar could drop very close back to normal.

But two things are depressing me right now.

The first is that although my doc said, “You’re pre-diabetic,” what I basically heard was, “Medical science has now confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that, just as you suspected…You ARE a big fat cow!”   No, really. That’s what I heard.

My self-esteem has been suffering for quite some time. When I look in the mirror I never think it’s as bad as when I see a photo of what I actually look like. I think God has had grace on my mirror because He knows that if I knew what the extra fifty-five pounds really looked like on my 5’2” frame…I’d probably never leave the house!

And my cute little size 2 friend loves to remind me that I’m “created in God’s image,” and that “God looks on the inward appearance,” and I am “the apple of God’s eye,” and all of that other precious stuff that people say, who have never gotten the air sucked out of them when they bend over to tie their shoes, because their fat roll got pushed up under their lungs! Yeah. Seriously. It’s that bad.

So needless to say, although I was trying to be in denial, and no amount of clothing size increase was enough to motivate me to change, I knew. And now it’s staring me in the face, in black and white and blood sugar.

Depressing reason #2, to be continued……

HCG has left the building.

It works.
It's hard.
But if you do it, it works.
Me. I'm a slacker.
So, I lost 10 pounds and I'm glad that I did it.
Would I do it again or recommend others to?
Yes.
But the love affair is over for me.
NEXT!

R2P2D3 Round2 Phase2 Day3 (1st day on VLCD)

Ok, people. So we're going to try this again, but this time, we are NOT going to start right when I'm about to have my TOM. Too many real and added hormones! So...we gorged on Saturday and Sunday, and today was our first VLCD day. We definitely gorged better last time, but we still ate alot of fats this weekend, so we should be ok.

We have news. We are doing injections this time. Yes, poking ourselves with needles! Crazy kids! It's actually pretty cool, because we don't have to worry about holding it under our tongue, wondering if we swallowed it, absorbed it, etc.... And the insulin syringes you use are so small you literally don't even feel the stick!

So here we are, and I was down 1.3 pounds this morning after consuming about 5,000 calories yesterday! So don't tell me the HCG is a placebo effect!

We'll keep you posted.

Day 2VLCD, Day 4 altogether

r1p2d4

DOWN 4.9LBS SINCE YESTERDAY!!!!

THE HUBS IS DOWN 3.1!

The man just reported to me that he is down one hole on his belt, too! So awesome!

Well, yesterday was our first day on the VLCD, and I have to say, I wasn't that hungry at all. So the loading days (the Gorge) definitely work! Now we won't talk about the fact that I slept until 1:30 in the afternoon. That knocked out half the day's hunger right there :)

We had chicken and salad for lunch, and steak and asparagus for dinner. I did have a few cravings in the evening, but I just told myself, "Hey, it's just a craving. I'm not giving in, so it might as well just go away!" It worked :)

I will say that the 5 and 3 pounds we lost is also how much we gained on the Gorge, but hey, we lost 5 and 3 pounds in ONE DAY, PEOPLE!!! So there! It works! That's all I'm sayin'.

So excited to get on the scale after one day and at least find out that it works, ya' know?

Yay!

Happy Day w/ motivation to go another day!

J

Loading Days, aka, THE GORGE! (lol, El Gordo!)

So this is what we call r1p2d2 (round1 phase2 day2). You will see this abbreviation whenever I post.

Timothy and I spent our two gorge days feasting on chocolatey, sweet, gooey, fattening STUFF! We ARE stuffed, too! Here is a glimpse into our menu of the last 48 hours:

Let the Load begin!

coffee w/ heavy whipping cream

4 eggs scrambled w/ whipping cream, chorizo (17fg/serving) and butter

chocolate peanut clusters and mini hersheys milk chocolate bars throughout the day

hamburger with cheese and olive oil

4 deviled eggs

chips with guacamole

16oz chocolate milk with whipped cream

teriyaki/lemongrass beef kabobs

walnuts (18fg/serving)

Sunday:

Denny's Moons Over my Hammy Omelet (89fg) with hashbrowns w/cheese

coffee with extra cream

3 mini hersheys bars

handful roasted walnuts

3x 12oz chocolate milk w/whipped cream

6 fried mozzarella cheese stix

4 bacon/chicken/cheese pizza bite triangle thingies

2 slices of cheesecake (30fg each)

1 hot dog w/ bun

Chocolate and coconut ice cream

I know. You're thinking that's a ton of food! Well, I've seen worse. I imagined worse, actually. I had dreams of Chinese food, pizza, and Golden Corral, but alas, $60 worth of organic veggies later and the Gorge budget was shot! Yeah, eating healthy can be expensive, but once you get to the point where that's all you're buying, it's not that bad.

Just so ya' know, on this blog, I hope to settle into a routine of what I did (protocol-wise) and how I felt each day or each couple of days. But for now, since I have so much info and so many questions floating around in my brain, it's kinda willy-nilly on here! Well, those that know me, know that's pretty much the norm in this noggin! :P

We had some ups and downs on mixing our HcG. We got bubbles in it, which is not supposed to happen.... :(

Then the hubs has been having saliva issues! Yeah, seems that he is trying to just chill with the HcG getting dissolved under the tongue, but he is publishing massive amounts of spit. The concern would be that he is swallowing the HcG if it is getting mixed with the spit. That's bad, b/c it doesn't work that way. The med can't hold up to that stomach acid. So...we shall see. I say it will get easier for him, or else we'll notice that nothing's happening. In which case I wouldn't be totally bummed, b/c he's only got about 20 pounds to lose. I'm going for 3x that amount! "SHE'S GOING THE DIS-TANCE! SHE'S GOING FOR-SPEED!" Sing with me now!

Ok, well, it's 1:30 in the a.m. and after I eat a couple more bacon cheesy chicken triangle thingies, I'm going to bed! Tomorrow starts our 500 Cal. VLCD, and I think I should not be food deprived AND sleep deprived. For those of you who are wondering if a 500 calorie VLCD is healthy, check out these before and after pics of my amazingly awesome, cute, hot, older but shorter sister, and tell me which pic looks healthy to you!

FYI, the "after" pic, happens to be a mere two weeks "after" my adorable niece, Indi was born!
Took it off and has kept it off!!!!

That's what I'm talkin' bout!!!

See ya!

J

Ready....Set........

Ok, more details about the HcG diet protocol. Discovered in the 1950's by Dr. Simeon, the effects of Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (a hormone) on the hypothalumus, when combined with a very low calorie diet (VLCD) allow for extraordinary levels of rapid weight loss. The reason this has proven not be dangerous, is b/c of the way the HcG helps the hypothalumus to metabolize your body's stored excess fat. You really have to read the info about it, as I'm too lazy to go into it all, and others have already done such a great job!

Anywho....you're not fatigued/weak b/c of the fat stores that are being metabolized out of your body at a rapid pace. You're also getting fruits and veggies into your diet that you probably haven't been in the past. You're drinking a gallon of water a day. And for me, I'm going the route of including sublingual B12 with my dose. So that will help with energy, too! Apparently, the HcG is just what the body needs to "reset" the hypothalumus back into "normal" conditions. Ever notice how malnourished women in 3rd world countries can carry pregnancies to term and deliver healthy babies? It's b/c we were created to have the "perfect environment" during pregnancy, and that's one of the jobs of the HcG hormone. Other people have done VLCD (500-800 calories dailyl) without the success you get when combined with HcG. There are sooooooo many reports from people who have had success losing 30 pounds in 30 days, and more, and are keeping it off! I say 30 pounds in 30 days, b/c you only do 23-43 days at a time, then take a 6 week break so you don't b/c immune to the hormone. But I am on message boards like Spark People with buddies that have lost 50-150 pounds!!!  http://www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/groups_individual.asp?gid=11939

One of the really fun things about the diet, is that Dr. Simeons found that if you gorge yourself on high fat foods for the first two days you're taking the HcG, you have fewer to no cravings in the first week of the VLCD. Another benefit of the "loading phase" is that people who do it have an easier time stabilizing their weight loss in later phases and keeping it off.

So here's the plan for the next few days:

Saturday and Sunday-
1st day of dosing
Loading days...Consume as much high fat food as is humanly possible (Oh! The sacrifice!)

Sunday-
2nd day of dosing
Spend the day preparing at least two weeks worth of meats (weighing, cutting, cooking) so that it's super easy to follow through (especially during the busy week!)
Purchase fresh fruits and veg for the week

Monday-
3rd day of dosing
1st day of VLCD

Oh! By the way, we are doing 2x daily sublingual dosing, versus the injections many people do. And yes, the injections are safe. If you spend $500 at Metabolic Research Center to do this program, they still send you home with everything you need to do your own injections!

Shopping List for Phase 2 (P2)

The 500 calorie diet (VLCD) is very easy to follow.
You can have as much coffee or tea as you desire.
Must drink around a gallon of water per day.

Lunch and dinner (each):
100g of meat
1 fruit
Vegetable
1 bread stick or Melba toast

That's it! You can split up your foods, space them out, eat your apple for breakfast, but you just can't combine foods. It's also been suggested that you eat a different fruit instead of the same fruit for both meals.