DANGERS of HCG Diet

The first round of my hcg diet went well, I lost a lot of weight... as with any diet.. they all work if you stick to them. So I did begin to gain a lb or two back when I forgot how to eat.

My second round started off the same way... it was working and I was elated... however other things started to go bad.

My hair started falling out, my moods were low, I believe that my vitamin D deficiency may also be in part the use of this diet.

I am in the process of finding out why my hair is falling out, my moods are low and so on.

I think that I may being going into peri menopause, do I blame the HCG diet.. I do.
I think it pushed me into peri menopause, I may have been headed that way anyway... however I think that when messing with hormones... you will pay the price.

If you are healthy and young you may not have to worry about doing the HCG diet. Just be aware of all the facts.

I am healthy... but I also had a hysterectomy because of a tumor at the age of 35 and only have one overy, I am 42 years old and my likely hood of early menopause is higher than others.

I stopped and no longer recommend the HCG diet if you have the same concerns as me. As far as someone in a different situation then the HCG diet may be for you. It just wasn't for me.

ROUND II

Here I am, ready for round two! I was pretty successful at keeping my weight off, I did gain back 6 lbs but I didn't stay eating the way that I probably should have.
This is my first loading day and this is the list of what I have had so far.
3 McDonalds Hashbrowns with mayo and ketsup
2 egg and cheese mc muffins with mayo
1 large carmel frappe'
2 pieces of KFC original
2 helpings of mashed potatoes and gravy and two biscuits
2.5 krispy cream donuts ( donut appreciation day today!)
It is only 2:33 pm.

I am excited to get to the weight lost part of this diet. Eating like this isn't as enjoyable as it should be. Not only has my eating habits changed but so has my desire and my taste buds. The KFC was aweful, it isn't whole food by any means, it is processed and it tastes processed, the chicken had a faint flavor of re heated oil full of carcinogens I am sure! The potatoes probably had NO potato in it at all. Same with McD's food .. I DID enjoy my donuts though!

After this round of my diet I may post the before and after photos. Why we took them in my underwear... I have no idea. I think that was how it was suggested that we did it. I don't know, but I wish I hadn't done that ha!

lost a total of 27 lbs.

End of diet.
think I will have another go at it. I lost a ton of weight but knew that I would have to do the diet at least twice to lose as much as I needed. I was at 232lb's previously and am at 205lb's now. Planned on NOT sharing my weight at all on this blog but what the hay?
Total loss of baggage = 27 lbs to date. woo hoo!

day 38 dinner

Total Calories for Dinner is 151. YES, I said 151 calories for dinner... and I am full!

And it was delicious!

I do not use mayonaise with my tuna fish because it is "white death" as my eldest brother says. It is unhealthy and fattening! Instead I use balsamic vinegar and fresh garlic, and sometimes a little olive oil.

INGREDIENTS & DIRECTIONS

15 oz of strained tuna-468 calories

4TBS Balsamic Vinegar-20 calories

2 Celery Stalks chopped-25 calories

1 Large Clove garlic chopped very small-calories unknown

1/4 Small Onion-15 calories

1/2 Small apple chopped small-40 calories

1 TBS Extra virgin olive oil-35 calories

15 calories added for seasoning

I took all these ingredients and mixed well adding salt,pepper and seasoning to taste.

After mixed well I decided to add a small handful of parsley from the garden and didn't count those calories but I am sure it was minimal, it helps with the garlic and onion breath  ;).

I then cut 4 big beautifully colored red bell peppers and cleaned them out and stuffed them with the mixture.

that is it.

ONE full bell pepper with tuna stuffing came to 151 calories. The whole amount, 4 stuffed peppers comes to 607 calories.

I was totally satisfied due to the fact that I had a snack of 1 inch square of bri and 1 oz of almonds and two hot wings skin removed.

But just think, it is almost 9 pm and I am supposed to eat 1500 calories a day and I am only at 1156, and that is because I had two TBS of all natural peanut butter after dinner just to bring my calories up closer to 1500.

It is really really easy to be satisfied with 1500 calories a day, as long as you don't eat processed foods full of carbs.

Day 38 Lunch...

Diet going well, I have maintained my weight and it isn't hard at all. I haven't been hungry  because I have enough food to eat but have had some cravings... I also accidentally had something that i wasn't supposed to which kept me frightened until my weigh in the next morning. I am allowed to have diet soda and while in a class for my HypnoBirthing (R) which was held at a hotel in Scottsdale I reached for an ice cold can of sprite, drank it down and then realized what I had done! I had diet soda all weekend and by the 3rd day of all day class I decided that I wanted something different, sprite sounded so refreshing and down it went in about 2 minutes.. the can was 140 calories and I just added that to my calorie intake for the day.

Today I had white fish and salsa on a bed of lettuce from my garden, mixed with cabbage, bell pepper, parsley, fresh garlic, balsamic vinegar and juice of a lemon. It wasn't the best meal that I have created but it was okay and good enough to eat the whole thing. I had been wanting a taco salad but had to settle for this. I used the cabbage for the crunch that I would miss from going without tortilla chips.

274 Calories

This was 5oz of white fish
Two tablespoons of salsa
340 grams of a mix of greens and cabbage
1/4 bell pepper
hand full of parsley
juice of 1/4 of lemon
2 tbs of Balsamic Vinegar
and season to taste
You can add a TB or two of plain yogurt for sour cream, I just forgot.
You can add Avocado, I didn't because we were out.
If you add the 1/2 of an avocado and 2 TBS of Yogurt the total is 430 Calories. This is a lot of food once you mix it all together you may not think that you can finish it. The protein from the fish and the avocado will help sustain your appetite for several hours, we try and eat every 2 to 3 hours, this will keep us full that we won't even be hungry for our next snack. We usually have 1 oz of almonds and an apple or banana for a snack.

If you have never substituted plain yogurt for sour cream, I suggest you try. The calories are a lot less and when mixed in a taco salad or on a taco or baked potato... you can't even tell the difference. I have put some out on the table in a decorative glass container and served it to guests.. they assumed it was sour cream and kept going back for more... some of these guests were my own teens and their friends. It isn't easy passing one over on a teen!

Day 35

So today we were running around so much and couldn't be at the house for dinner time. It was 7:00pm and we usually eat between 5:30 and 7:00 depending on our work schedule. We still had a few stops to make and decided that we would have to eat out. We have been craving sushi so headed towards the Blue Wasabi restaurant. We had some Miso soup and  Sashimi It was beautiful!

We went shopping, we needed some new clothes due to our weight loss, mind you we haven't bought anything since our 25 lb loss. Mike was very excited to have lost a whole pant size, I had bought some jewelry.... before they never fit on my sausage fingers, and a sexy little number for around the house.

We started talking, this subject has come up before. It is the subject of "what happens after the diet", honestly it is a scary place. I still know that I eat like a "fat girl", I may not eat the quantity or the types of food as I did a couple of months ago but I do feel as though I am not prepared to be off the diet. This is where counseling would be handy, or some really good long hard looks into who I am and why I do what I do to myself when it comes to foods.

At dinner, I was totally satisfied (physically) with the 6 pieces of sashimi and miso soup and glass of water. My belly was full.. the real kind of full... not the uncomfortable... lethargic... stuffed feeling that I normally feel like after a visit to the sushi house. I felt physically satisfied but I know that if I was not on my diet that I would have ate twice if not three times as much... this scares me!

Mike and I discussed what we are going to do to keep on track, to not gain weight, to not fall back into our old habits and this is where things get a little hard. We both think differently about it, he isn't so black and white and I am very black and white. I want rules, I want a script to follow, I want to be held accountable. He doesn't want to be micro managed and if he feels like a thick deep crust XL pizza with fifteen beers than he is going to eat it. I say... UH...NOOO! then I will eat it Toooo!!!

That is MY issue, I want him to be strong so that I don't have to be so strong... I think that we shouldn't eat that way ever... we can have a small pizza and 1 large beer and call that a splurge. NOW just because we think differently doesn't mean that either one of us are wrong. We work in different ways, but with this conversation.. I learned that I push and pressure others to do what I want or think that I should do and that's just not right.

This diet has made me look inside myself, deep inside myself and it is going to be hard to keep looking at the ugly truth... that I am weaker than I thought, that I have issues that need to be addressed, that I need to stop trying to micro manage everyone around me and keep looking inside and asking the hard questions. That is scary and this diet has kind of opened my eyes to me and shed a different light on who I am in my eyes.

Not just the diet, it is a combination of plenty of things but the diet along with a great boyfriend and my hypnotherapy schooling ... it all has brought a lot of things to the surface.

This relationship with food that I have is unhealthy... the relationship with food has been an umbrella from the truth of who I am and what I am afraid of and I love that I am seeing things in a new perspective.

This journey is not going to be a long journey, it is going to be a life time journey. I am at a point now that I realize that life is hard... it is supposed to be, doing the right thing is hard and is supposed to be, looking inside is even harder and it won't be easier tomorrow than it was today.. it is a life long job.

My relationship with my boyfriend has grown too.. we are treating our diet like we are treating our relationship.. we need to work on it every day.. that is how we get success... we haven't conquered everything, and we won't... it is a daily job to work at what we want and allow the other to be themselves.

I would love to hear comments about how you feel about my journey!

Day 34

so, I had some issues. I was pissed that I couldn't lose anymore weight but still had to portion food.. and for how long? Did I say 8 weeks.. 6 wks, 8 wks... didn't matter!

I am still bothered, it is harder than 500 calories because when I was doing the first phase at 500 calories a day, I had the reward of weight loss.

BUT, it has gotten easier, I am less pissed and have tried to look at it another way... not easy but I am turning around. During this phase I have not only begun setting my metabolism but have learned how to combine meals or create low calorie meals... I am still not hungry and I really enjoy the foods that I am eating. For instance listed below are the calories and contents of the salad pictured above:

This salad consists of 2.5 ozGreens, 2.5 ozwild trout, 1/2 a red bell pepper, 1\2 an avocado, 1 hard boiled egg, a little bit of seasoning, a little bit of fresh garlic and a little bit of fresh rosemary from the garden and 2 tbls. of Balsamic vinegar and a lovely glass of wine..... this meal was less than 500. Without the wine the meal was 320 calories. DEEEEE LISH!

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