Day 21 - hCG Diet

Weight - 205.6

Today was a bit rough.  I had a headache a good part of the day which was really annoying.  I'm pretty sure it had something to do with being off schedule on eating as it was really bad before i ate and would get lighter afterwards.  I had to rush lunch after the kids gymnastics class around 1pm and had a burger with some greens and an apple.  For dinner I had a shrimp salad with tomatoes and salsa on spinach with an orange. 

I am guilty.  I have been drinking a lot more diet mountain dew lately.  I have been drinking very little water (i hate it).  So i started back today drinking more water.  My weight loss has slowed down which I kind of expected at this point but I want to go back to doing the things I was doing before when it was faster.

4 days left!

Day 20 - hCG Diet

Weight - 206.8

Weight was up a little bit but I weighed last night and I was 206.6 before drinking two humongous glasses of my diet lemonade right before i went to bed.  I'm assuming some water retention was going on there.

I had an easy day today.  Ate hamburger and greens for lunch and went to the park with the kids and brought a chicken breast with kale with an orange for dinner.  Took my drops and felt good all day with very little hunger.  I did eat my two melba toast after lunch which kept me through till dinner

Rob

Mystery Solved!

The BC

I have my Boone County peoples on my mind today. I hope Grandma is
feeling better this morning.

My little bro

I visited my little brothers gravesite while I was at Hals funeral.
Rest in peace little guy. I can't wait to meet you in heaven.

Day 19 - hCG Diet

It was a rough two days.  I was unable to weigh myself this morning so I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings.  We went to Hal's funeral today and I wasn't able to eat lunch until 1pm which is hard.  I had to eat at the luncheon following the service and I had 2 pieces of turkey lunch meat and some assorted vegetables.  I ate an apple in the car on the way to Columbia from St. Louis.

We stopped in Columbia to visit Jessi's grandmother who has fallen ill suddenly while I was in St Louis (she seems better) and ended up eating in the cafeteria there for dinner.  They really had nothing I could eat besides a little salad (no meat).  When I got home after 9pm I wolfed down a hamburger patty with some salsa on it.  It may have been the best burger I've ever eaten!

Well back to some normalcy I hope tomorrow.  I only have 6 more days to go and then I get to start the next cycle of the diet booyah!

Day 18 - hCG Diet

Well it's been a tough day. I've prepared all of my food for the trip
and ate before I left but we were at a visitation till 9pm so I had to
eat there. I had a small portion of lunchmeat and some veggies with 1
wheat thin cracker. It was pretty filling and I had an orange later
for dessert. I'm proud of myself because there has been some tasty
desserts offered to me!

Day 18 -hCG Diet

Weitght - 206.4

Just wanted to check in, I am getting prepared to leave town and wanted to post my weight in case I'm not able to blog tonight.  If I keep this pace it does look like I will be seeing the 190's before all is said and done yay!

Day 17 - hCG Diet

Weight - 207.0

I have to admit that I cheated a bit last night after blogging.  I had 2 diet drinks with bourbon and I ate around 10 celery sticks with lots of salsa.  The wife and I had a movie marathon and we needed to cut loose a little bit.  I was craving chips and salsa something fierce but the celery sticks did well enough.

Weight is down again, that is great.  I'm feeling a lot thinner and realizing my toes are actually at the ends of my legs.  I had a sneaking suspicion before but I was never able to actually see all the way down there to make sure.

Lunch was actually a tricky situation today.  We went to IHOP with the kids and I knew I needed to eat.  I improvised and got a 320 calorie light veggie omelet with a side of fruit.  I ate a little more than half of the omelet and fruit and was satisfied and really enjoyed the treat.

We had a block party in our cul-de-sac (i love that word, it is french for "bottom of the bag") and I wasn't even tempted to eat any of the numerous cookies and cakes provided.  I called my friends at station 6 and they brought the ladder truck over and they made the party a success.   I did drink one beer at the party and a diet coke and crown royal afterwards over at my neighbors house.

Dinner was a very quick simple meal of a turkey burger and cooked spinach with an apple later while watching The Office for dessert.

I am leaving town for St. Louis tomorrow for a funeral of a good friend and family member Hal Olree.  I am going to try to pack and bring food with me but we will see how that works out.  Wish me luck.

Rob

Day 16 - hCG Diet

Weight 208.6

Sitting at Red Lobster watching your family feast on fried shrimp and
crab legs dipped in butter is tough. I came prepared though and had
eaten my lunch 1/2 hour before we left. Surprisingly I wasn't
interested in anything. Even their world famous garlic cheese biscuits
could not sway me.

Lunch was hamburger and cooked spinach (kids loved it). Dinner was a
chipolte chicken breast with salsa and more cooked spinach. That dang
spinach is too good!

I'm a happy man though I'm hoping that 0.6 lbs gain is temporary.

Rob

Look an hCG Diet site and book for my faithful LDS bloggers!!

hCG for Latter-Day-Saints

Obesity

 Here is a snippet from Dr. Simeons manuscript .  His theory after 40 years of study and testing was that obesity was a disorder and that overeating was not the cause but rather a symptom of the disorder.  When I read his paper on obesity I was drawn in by his uncommon approach.  I have often felt like not matter what I eat or how much I exercise I slowly but surely increase in weight over time.  Only by dieting every year or so do I keep from turning into the Stay-Puff Marshmallow man.


Obesity a Disorder

As a basis for our discussion we postulate that obesity in all its many forms is due to an abnormal
functioning of some part of the body’ and that every ounce of abnormally accumulated fat is always
the result of the same disorder of certain regulatory chanisms. Persons suffering from this particular
disorder will get fat regardless of whether they eat excessively, normally or less than normal. A person
who is free of the disorder will never get fat, even if he frequently overeats.
Those in whom the disorder is severe will accumulate fat very rapidly, those in whom it is moderate
will gradually increase in weight and those in whom it is mild may be able to keep their excess-weight
stationary for long periods, in all these cases a loss of weight brought about by dieting, treatments
with thyroid, appetite-reducing drugs, laxatives, violent exercise, massage, baths is only temporary
and will be rapidly regained as soon as the reducing regimen is relaxed. The reason is simply that
none of these measures corrects the basic disorder.

Day 15 - hCG Diet

Weight - 208.0

A nice drop in weight, I'm still excited about this diet and the results have been awesome.

Today I felt so good and had so much energy that I cleaned the entire garage (which still had tons of unpacked boxes from our recent move) and then organized it.  I went to our old house and cleaned the pool so it would look good for our showing tomorrow and then still had energy enough to go to AirZone with the kids from 7pm-9pm and run around on all the moonwalks and giant inflatable obstacle courses with the kids.

I made my favorite salad with ground beef, spinach, celery, and tomato and topped it with salsa which sated the craving I've been having for mexican food.  For dinner I cracked open a can of seasoned cooked spinach greens and gorged on those (way too much salt) with a nice tilapia filet and a big juicy orange.  The wife and kiddos were gone so I sat outside and just watched and enjoyed the day.  We have lots of big oak and poplar trees in the backyard and a creek as well. The breeze through the trees and the sound of squirrels playing was amazing accompaniment for this yummy dinner.

I have been eating my 1 melba toast in the morning around breakfast time and in the afternoon around 4.  I've found that my energy stays up and I am never hungry anymore.

I completed all of my drops for the day and I'm excited, only 10 days left.  I did drink a biiiiig glass of water flavored with truvia and lemon juice tonight before bed.  I'm not excited to see what all that salty spinach will retain of my lemonade hehe.

Night night

Rob

Day 15 - hCG Diet SNEAK PREVIEW

Weight 208.0  Woot!  Pounds are FALLING OFF!  My stomach is noticeably smaller and clothes are really starting to fit and look looser on me.  I can't wait to get back to size large shirts!

Day 14 - hCG Diet

Weight - 209.6

No reduction in weight but I'm sure it has something to do with the 2 big 7 and sprites I had the night before hehe.  Today I had no hunger and I had some serious energy.  I'm starting to wonder if all of this energy has to do with not being overfull all the time or maybe I have some food allergy that I am avoiding by being on this strict diet.

For lunch I had a delicious hamburger topped with Herdez salsa (yes they sponsor me ha!) and a really tasty veggie.  I decided I didn't want a salad today, I wanted some cooked greens.  Normally when i make greens i use a little vegetable oil and cook them in a pan for a few minutes but since veggie oil was out I decided to try my zero fat low sodium chicken broth instead.  The results were delicious, even better than with oil.

For dinner I had a garlic pepper chicken breast with asparagus and a tasty red delicious apple.  It was good and more than satisfying.

Late night I was craving something other than water (go figure I hate water) and I decided to try to make some diet lemonade.  Armed with a big cup of ice water, bottled lemon juice, and truvia packets (a stevia sweetner) I mixed them together to make something that was light and delicious.  I used up my lemon juice so I WILL be at the store in the morning getting more!

Rob

hCG Diet–Shopping List

I compiled this list from several resources including the original text from Albert T. W. Simeons . I tried to put this in an order that one might actually come upon these items in a grocery store to get you in and out faster and keep you away from the cookie aisle

Tomatoes,Lemons,Salad Mix,Baby Spinach,Asparagus,Onion,Garlic,Minced Garlic,Apples (fuji are my favorite),Oranges,Strawberries

Balsamic and Apple Cider Vinegars, Salsa (Herdez is awesome), Mrs. Dash Seasonings (I use chipotle, lemon pepper, and garlic pepper),fish seasonings,any other sugar free spices,stone ground and yellow mustard.

** Seasonings are SUPER important and really the only way you can keep yourself from going insane eating the same type things over and over.

Melba toast (garlic and sesame are two I like), Grissino breadsticks (skinny little bread sticks that I can’t ever find anywhere)

Lean Beef (basically steak without any marble at all or the leanest hamburger you can get), Turkey and Chicken Breast, lean Turkey burger, Fish(be careful of fatty fish like Salmon, I used Tilapia), Shrimp, Chicken Broth (fat free and low sodium).

Get some small containers to put any dressings you might create in, a digital scale that you can zero out, and lots and lots of sandwich bags.

I hope this helps!!

Day 13 – hCG Diet

Weight 209.6
Woot I am under 210 lbs.  That was a nice surprise this morning and really motivated me throughout the day.   I noticed today that one of my favorite shirts that had gotten a bit tight was feeling loose against my stomach.  Jessi  also commented today that I’m starting to look thinner.  It feels good!
Today I was a little hungry around breakfast time.  I decided to eat 1 melba toast, which really helped.  It was more than enough fuel to get me to lunch.  I am starting to get a little tired of preparing food the same way every time so I decided to chop up a hamburger and some canned asparagus until it was in small pieces, and then I added stone ground mustard and garlic and cooked it up in a hot pan.  The result was not pretty, but actually tasted pretty good.  So good in fact that my 2 year old ate 1/4 of it.  I guess it looked like green playdough or something equally yummy to a 2 year old.
I took a picture of my dinner because it was insanely delicious and my treat for being so good the last 2 weeks.

This is a nice spinach salad with red cabbage, chopped celery and tomatoes, and topped with hot steak and shrimp.  I used some of my favorite Herdez salsa for a salad dressing.  It is a bit high in sodium but other than that it only had ingredients that are allowed on the diet and is only 10 calories.  I needed a break from vinegar type dressings and the salsa was perfect on this.
I ended up being hungry a little before lunch and before dinner but I nibbled on 1 melba toast both times and was great after that.  I think that might become a ritual, it seemed to work really well to bridge the gap.
I timed all 6 of my 6 drop dosings perfectly today which is always nice.  I did drink 1 diet mountain dew in the afternoon and I’m going to drink a couple of sprite zero and 7’s tonight with my wife.  Hopefully that won’t mess anything up!
Rob

Texas Hold em' Michigan Style

Day 12 - hCG Diet

Weight - 210.6

Today has been a bit rough. Not sure why but I've had a slight
headache all morning. I've also had this nagging hunger. It's not the
gnawing hunger that propels you to the nearest source of food but more
of a subconscious feeling that makes you acutely aware of any fast
food restaurant you pass.

 I have included this picture so you guys will know that I'm not starving myself.  A delicious chipotle chicken salad with celery, tomatoes, and mustard balsamic dressing.  This salad was amazingly filling and I took one bite of that apple and had to put it in the fridge for later.

I have had a few people ask me why I don't just work out or do cardio to lose weight.  I usually reply with one of the below answers.

1.  I don't work out because I want to see exactly how well this diet does without any type of exercising.

2.  I typically get much hungrier when i work out and I don't think believe that dieting works well with trying to build muscle as you are depriving your muscles of the fuel they need to grow and repair themselves.

3.  Sometimes I do just exercise to lose weight.  And it works to an extent.  I did 45 days of the P90 and actually didn't lose any weight.  I did manage to add 1/2 inch to my chest and biceps which was nice but at this point I need to lose weight drastically to help my joints to be happy again.

4.  I'm lazy what can I say.  ;)  I do plan on resuming some sort of running/light weight lifting regiment once I am off the diet though just for my normal fitness needs.

 

Day 11 - hCG Diet

Weight - 211.2
It was a good day diet-wise today. I had a nice salad with lunch and
dinner and did a hamburger and a tilapia filet as my two entrees for
the day. I was a little hungry this morning early but that quickly
went away and didn't return.
I worked hard to take my drops when I was supposed to, and ate lunch
and dinner at normal times 12 and 6. I feel like that helps quite a
bit.
I did cheat a bit today and drank a big fountain diet mountain dew in
the morning. Ahhh but it was worth it. I don't think it will set me
back but I was trying to cut the diet pop out.
Well it's 9pm and somehow I'm not hungry even though ive only had 500
calories or less today. Simply amazing!

Day 10 - hCG Diet

Weight 212.6

Nice to come home to a lower weight this morning. It definitely helped
motivate me through the day as it was a tough one. I didn't sleep much
at work last night and I was feeling really bad by 9am. I ended up
eating my lunch apple by breakfast but I regretted it around 4pm when
I was starting to feel hungry and sick from not eating enough at
lunch. I feel like it is extremely important to stay on a good eating
sleeping schedule while I do this. It is a very delicate balance when
you only intake 500 calories a day.

I had a turkeyburger patty on salad with tomato for lunch and a tiny
lean steak with shrimp for dinner. Dinner especially was good and it
was nice to eat steak and shrimp and still be eating light.

Energy was low today but I didn't have nearly enough sleep.

Brains.....

The Zombie Revolution has begun!

Day 9 - hCG Diet

I'm working overtime today so I didnt have a chance to weigh in this
morning. No clue why I decided to take OT on a Saturday. Saturdays at
the fire house are a tough day to be dieting. If you know me you know
that I looove Mexican food and today is Mexican day all over the city.
I ate my hamburger patty and asparagus while my guys feasted on huevos
rancheros. I nibbled an orange while I watched countless guacamole and
queso covered chips being eaten. And then of course came the pineapple
upside down cake.

This was the hardest day of the diet so far. I did drink a diet soda
today. Just one but I felt like I needed something extra if I was
going to make it through the day.

Our bell system is out here at the station so I get the honor of
standing watch tonight until 1 am. Being up late is one of my favorite
snacky times so wish me luck!

Day 8 - hCG Diet

Weight 214.0

I only dropped 0.2 lbs on this mornings weigh-in.  I expected that was going to happen eventually so I'm not too surprised.  I wasn't hungry at all today, making it until lunch was easy.  I managed to forget my drops half of the day and I had to make them up in evening. 

I had and apple and a spinach salad for lunch with warm hamburger, tomatoes, and a broken up melba toast (makeshift croutons) with a mustard balsamic vinegar dressing that I made.  (delicious!)

Balsamic Vinegar, minced garlic, ground pepper, sea salt, yellow mustard and packet of stevia sweetner.

Jessi tasted it the night before and loved it so much she made a salad at 11pm and ate it with some of the dressing.

Dinner was the same but I substituted a chicken breast for the hamburger subtracted the apple and added strawberries to the salad which was very good and made the salad feel really big.

I haven't been hungry and I have lots of energy but I do get this feeling during the day like I should be eating more.  It's hard to describe and it doesn't really manifest itself physically but it is in the back of my mind sometimes.  I've noticed that coffee is really starting to have an effect on me as I drink it all morning (like usual) with no breakfast to settle it.  I've been a little bit jittery at times.  I probably need to cut down a bit :)

Day 7 hCG Diet

Weight 214.2

Not a huge drop in weight today but it’s still moving the right direction so I’m happy.

Today was almost like cheating.  Jessi woke up with the kids so I got to sleep in a bit (glorious) and when I finally rolled out of bed lunch was just around the corner.  I had a tasty lean hamburger, celery, and an apple for lunch and once again I noticed how little I had to eat before I was full.  Every meal I’ve had lately is a challenge to finish.  I have started eating smaller bites and chewing them longer.  Not because I have been trying to do so, but I believe it’s more of a subconscious reaction to the much smaller portions of food I am eating.  Dinner was a tilapia filet with lemon pepper seasoning, an orange, and asparagus.  I used a lot less salt today because I don’t want to retain any more water than I have to.  I know it’s cheating but hey I don’t need all that salt anyways.

I drank mostly coffee and water today.  I’m getting used to drinking water though I will never like it EVER!

I have had food dreams the last two nights.  It’s always something about eating a big mounding plate of meaty, cheesy, delicious nacho’s or a big fat juicy sandwich and then all the sudden I realize, “Oh No! I’ve cheated on my diet!” 

Good part is I got to eat nacho’s last night and they didn’t cost me a calorie muahaha

No hunger to report today at all, zero zip.  I feel good, had enough energy to do some serious cleaning around the house and wrestle the boys a LOT!

Woot my first week is complete.  Only 18 more days to go.  I’d really like to get under 200 lbs.  We shall see.

Snakey

I think Pooka is a little nervous now that our snake is getting
bigger. Here are some pictures of Fearless Rose sizing up Pooks.

Snake Lady

Day 6–hCG Diet

Weight 215

Today started out really well.  I came home from work eager to weigh myself and found I had lost another 2 lbs yay.  Jess had taken the day off work and it was the kids school day so I knew Jessi and I were going to have fun hanging out together.  I actually had no problems making it till lunch today.  I really just wasn’t hungry. 

At lunch I decided to treat myself to some of the shrimp I had prepared so I had a really tasty spinach, tomato, and shrimp salad with apple cider vinegar and lemon pepper seasoning.  I was really full and decided to save my apple again until later so it would be easier to make it to dinner.  That is where my plans went awry.

Note to self:  When you only eat 500 calories a day, missing something like an apple it turns out is a pretty big deal. 

So I didn’t make it back to the house till 6:30 after watching a movie with Jessi and then going over to the neighbors with the kids to play for awhile till dinner.  By the time I got home I was starting to feel the hunger pains that had been missing for a day and a half and a little bit of that “I’m empty please feed me” stomach nausea.

I ate a turkey burger and asparagus, melba toast, and my lunch apple for dinner.  I was so hungry, but I literally had to force myself through the apple even though it was a Fuji and freaking delicious.  Dinner was filling but took a long time to shake that sick feeling I had from not eating enough for lunch.  I guess I need to be really careful about that. 

Overall I’d say the diet is working.  I don’t know if the drops actually do anything but I don’t seem to be hungry for the most part and I am losing weight at a nice pace so far.  Of course the first 10 pounds always comes off more quickly than the last 10.

Day 5 - hCG Diet

Weight 217

Well i've managed to lose some weight which is a nice feeling.  Things are starting to get a little easier as well.

I was still very hungry in the morning, it is hard to wait till noon to eat when you get up at 6am and haven't eaten since 6 the night before.

I had a turkey burger on spinach with garlic and balsamic vinegar for lunch which was good but I'm getting a little tired of the balsamic vinegar.  I actually was so full after lunch that I saved my apple till 4pm which made it much easier to make it until dinner at 6:30pm.  I had a chipotle chicken breast with stone ground mustard, asparagus, and melba toast for dinner and had my orange at 8pm for dessert.  Again I was really stuffed at dinner and actually had to force down the last bites of chicken (the diet says you need to eat it all).

The guys had Philly Cheesesteaks for lunch and smoked pork butt + homemade fries with rotelle cheese dipping sauce for dinner.  It's almost like they are trying to torture me but I will not cave!

All in all I would say it was a good day, I didn't feel hungry after lunch and I drank a ton of water and tea today and barely missed Diet Mountain Dew at all.  It did have the side effect of making me pee like crazy every 5 minutes.

Tomorrow i think i will either eat a fruit or the melba toast in the morning to help me get through till lunch.  I am very eager to get home and weigh myself tomorrow though i did go a bit heavy on the salt tonight and I hope I don't retain water because of it.

Day 4

Ok I’ve reached the end of day number 2 of actually dieting.  I was able to stay at exactly 500 calories today and I drank a ton of water. 

I felt a little weak today which I have read is normal during the first few days.  I still had enough energy and motivation to get a bunch of stuff done around the house though.

I had coffee for breakfast, a seasoned chicken breast chopped up and mixed with tomatoes, minced garlic and balsamic vinegar on spinach for lunch and some very very lean steak (100 grams) with a little mustard and asparagus.

You get one melba toast and a fruit with each meal and if you eat it slowly with water it actually seems like a lot of food.

Tomorrow is a big day, I am going to try doing this at work which is hard for a variety of different reasons.  The first and foremost being the almost infinite quantities of snack food and ice cream that is always available. 

Wish me luck!

hCG Diet–Day 1-4

Well I’ve decided to blog about the diet I’m currently trying.  Basically it involves putting a bunch of liquid drops under your tongue 6 times a day and eating an extremely limited, extremely low calorie meal twice a day. 

Sounds awful right?  Well at least you get to gorge out your first two days on all of the fatty, sugary, high calorie food you can possibly eat.  Yummy

hCG Diet Info – This is a link to the diet, how and why it works, and information on Dr. Simeons who came up with this diet in the 1940’s.

The things that appealed to me about this diet are

1. I have had several friends try it with great success. 

2. I read the information and I really identified with some of the material about obesity.

3. I like the rigid eating structure.  I can easily prepare food for 2 weeks in advance.

4. My Chiropractor suggested this and he is really cool.

So here is my log of what has gone on so far

Day 1

Weight 219.6

I spent the entire day gorging on cookies, buffet food, desserts, real coke, and had several alcoholic drinks after dinner (no alcohol for 23 days!)

I felt sick I ate so much and this wasn’t nearly as fun as I thought it would be

Day 2

Didn’t weigh myself

I was at work on Mexican day.  Gorged on chips and mexican food.  I ate cake, and desserts all day and drank 3 44 oz huge sugary soda’s during the day

Day 3

Weight 225.6

First day of the real diet

No breakfast on this diet is really hard for me.  I have become quite addicted to my grapenuts every morning it seems

I prepared food for several weeks so I could just nuke something and have an instant meal without having to count on my motivation to cook.

I cooked chicken breasts in either chipotle or garlic/herb seasonings, super lean thin steaks, turkey burgers, tilapia with chipotle or garlic/herb seasonings, and spicy shrimp.

I ate a garlic chicken breast, apple, melba toast and handful of spinach for lunch and a chopped up turkey burger on spinach greens with tomatoes and a minced garlic balsamic vinegar dressing (that I made in 2 seconds).  I had a handful of strawberries later for dessert.

The food was really good and filling but I was quickly hungry afterwards.  I had to pass on birthday cake and icecream which was TOUGH  and I went to bed fairly early because I was hungry.

I am on Day 4 today and I woke up weighing 220.2 so I am at least close to being back to my starting weight.

I will try to keep the blog up to date so you guys can follow my progress as I learn whether or not I have what it takes to starve myself for 3 weeks yay!

New used car!

My new 2008 Mazda cx-9. It is so nice and has a third row seat as well