I will continue to post the blog from a current patient with her consent on her path to losing weight with our HCG program. I hope this is informative for those currently going through the program or those that are thinking about starting the HCG diet. For more info contact Dr. Reineck at 513-831-4433 or visit www.livingwithmotion.com
So, The real reason I am writing this blog is because I wanted to record my new journey on the HCG diet. The HCG diet is a diet that uses the pregnancy hormone, HCG, to mobilize the fat stores in your body and use them as food.
Let me start by saying that I am NOT looking for the easy way out. I have an underactive thyroid and am being treated with levothyroxin. I have also been going to the gym 2-5 times a week. During the time I was going 5 times a week regularly, I only lost 4 pounds. It took me almost a year to lose 10lbs. My own mommy can attest, I was doing everything right.
I even ate healthy, I cut down portion sizes and chose healthy snacks. Our shopping habits had changed; we now went to Country Fresh Produce and loaded up on fresh veggies every week. I gave up soda and drank more water. Yes, I would indulge of course, but I always watched my calories. Nothing was working- even the hard, healthy way.
I did find a love for zumba, and a tolerance for some other cardio machines, so I will say that I have developed healthy habits. I don’t want to pretend I didn’t at least feel better while making healthy choices. I did. I just lost momentum because I was not seeing any progress. It was alot easier to say yes to a swiss cake roll or a big bowl of cereal, because, well, why the hell not? I mean, staying away from those things wasn’t helping those size 8 jeans fit comfortably. I realized I had to do something when I started drinking soda again. I was on a downward spiral that would lead to a big, fat, unhappy, and most importantly, unhealthy me.
When I first started going to the gym regularly and watching my diet, I weight 171lbs. I was a size 12. I know it’s not horrible, heck, not even above average in America. But you know how some girls look ok, and even pretty with a little fat on their face? I do not. I got down to 161 lbs while going to the gym and eating almost nothing. I then plateaud and even gained a little while still keeping up with the same diet. I did give myself Saturday and Sunday off, but during the week I ate very healthy. When I lost momentum I slowly crept back up to 166.
Back when I was pregnant I had a lot of back problems so I started seeing this chiropractor, Dr. Luke Reineck at Living With Motion. He was a nice guy, really easy to talk to. He also wanted his patients to know the cause of their discomfort and how it would progress with time. He didn’t just crack your back and send you on your way, he also gave you exercises to help build the strength of your spine so you won’t have to keep coming back for life. There’s a point to this. My baby is now 2 years old and I hadn’t seen Dr. Reineck since I had her, because when she left my uterus she took the back pain with her. I read a post he had put on Facebook about his weight loss plan, and since I had some time I went ahead a researched it.
It was the HCG plan. The science behind it is that some doctor guy noticed malnourished pregnant women were producing perfectly healthy babies. He attributed this to the HCG hormone, which activated the emergency fat stores in our body (hips, thighs, belly, back of the arms, ring a bell?) and used those fat stores to feed the baby. Well, this same concept would work with non-pregnant people, like myself, in activating my booty and turning it into food.
This doesn’t come free or easy though, it only works in a severely low calorie diet. 500 calories low. I kept coming across the same negative comments over and over again. “Anyone would lose weight without these drops on such a low amount of food.” I disagree, because I have tried low calorie diets. I had my trainer tell me I was eating too many calories and my doctor tell me I may not be eating enough for my weight. It’s so complicated that I never knew if I was doing it right or not. It was very frustrating. Like, I’m gonna go to McDonald’s and eat a 3 peice chicken selects meal WITH fries WITH ranch dressing AND a coke AND a cherry pie because nothing is working anyway and I might as well be FAAAAATTTT. (break down into sobs)
The HCG drops help in two ways with the low calories- First, if I were to go on a low calorie diet without HCG, my body would go into starvation mode and hold on to every little thing I ate, making it easier to gain weight in the long run. I am no scientist but I feel like this would also be detrimental to my already underactive thyroid. With HCG, your fat is actually food. I think what this means is that your body is tricked. It doesn’t know it’s not being fed so it doesn’t stop processing and flushing out what you are eating. According to the pamphlet I got from Dr. Reineck, the drops push from 2500-4000 extra fat calories into activity every day. Even I know that 3500 calories equals a pound. This makes sense when they say people lose from .5 to 1 lb a day on this plan. Second, because the HCG drops turn your fat into food, you shouldn’t feel like you are starving yourself. You don’t feel hungry because, well, you are “eating” plenty of calories.
So, Let me tell you how my first week went on the plan.
I started on Monday by meeting with Dr. Reineck for a consultation. I already knew I was going on this diet so I came prepared to pay. My goal is to lose 35 lbs. The ideal wieght for my height is 129, and I am aiming for 130. Dr. Reineck told me I could meet that goal in 43 days. He gave me the pamphlet that goes with the program, though I already knew most of the information because, well, I am not paying a ton of money for something I know nothing about. I did my research. We went through the packet together, and he told me to start with two days of fat loading. He actually told me to eat everything I wanted for the next two days and enjoy. He actually told me that it would be harmful to the program if I did not load enough fat. I lit up right away because I was thinking “McDonald’s.”
I spent the next two days eating everything I wanted. I made certain to eat my favorites that I knew I couldn’t have for the next 43 days. It was like preparing the last meal before going to the chair. In my mind, this strict diet woiuld be like death because I love food. I had my chicken selects. I had a lot of coke, even after coke didn’t sound good anymore. I made macaroni and cheese and ate most of it by myself. I had a raw hot dog, because, well, I could. I was already using the drops and honestly by dinner time of that second night I wasn’t hungry, I didn’t want to eat anymore.
My wieght did not go up these two days, but Dr. Reineck assured me that if it did it would be gone in three days. I was 165 on Tuesday night.
Wednesday morning brought fear. The program suggests that you skip breakfast, which I do anyway. It allows for all the coffee, tea, water, unsweetened and un-fake-sweetened drinks you could ask for. This includes freshly squeezed lemonade. The program pamphlet also gives some tasty drink recipes. I just loaded up on coffee that morning. Stevia and Xylitol are a natural calorie free sweeteners and are allowed on this program in moderation. I don’t know how moderate I have been really, because Stevia has been my savior this week. For dinner and lunch, I was to choose from a very short list one vegetable, one fruit, and one protein. The protein must be 3.5 oz pre-cooked. Which is kind of small. For lunch I had an apple, baked tilapia, and three celery stalks. I was not hungry when I was done, that small amount of food had satisfied me. I did have the munchies though. I am used to grabbing a little piece of chocolate or a handful of almonds as an afternoon snack. This is strictly forbidden. If I eat too many calories or the wrong food, the hcg would not work. I had to remind myself that I was not hungry and I did not deserve to be fat. It was easier to remind myself when I thought of the overall cost of the program. I’ll get to that part later though.
For dinner that night, I had half a grapefruit sweetened with truvia, three egg whites, and peppers. The pepper I had wasn’t really included on the plan, but I had to choose a different veggie than I had for lunch, and my choices were limited. That is another aspect of the diet, you should not eat the same fruit, veggie, and protein twice in the same day. This means that lunch and dinner should be totally different. I really wanted to eat a bowl of cereal when I got home that night. Wednesday is my long day at work and I am used to eating when I got home at 10. I tuned into my stomach, which told me it was not hungry. I had a cup of tea instead.
The next morning I weighed myself again. 164.2. I had lost a little over a pound in one day. I have never had results like this before. That was the motivation I needed to stick with the diet one more day to see what would happen. I should mention that I was skeptical. I wondered if the diet would really work without the hormones, or work at all. I was shocked when that number went down so fast, but I held that after two days of fat loading and one day of eating less than 500 calories, of course I would lose weight.
Tuesday and Thursday went much the same. I was ecstatic when I realized I could eat a whole cucumber, or a cup and a half of spinach. That meant I could chew longer, which made me feel more full. I also was really happy with the “dessert” which was my fruit. I had a grapefruit warmed with cinnamon and stevia, a bowl of strawberries- with stevia. I find myself looking forward to these healthy foods. Othe items allowed on this diet are mustard, seasonings, like garlic, one lemon a day- I use mine for lemonade, fat free chicken broth (2 cups a day), and hot peppers.
On Thursday night I made a chicken breast on the stove with chicken broth. I had one whole tomato diced with some hot peppers to make a salsa. I cut my chicken into really small pieces and had that with my salsa. It was the most delicious meal ever, if a little small. In short, if these meals are prepared correctly they really are delicious. Presentation is key here.
I had gone to the gym to work with my personal trainer on Thursday morning, too. This is probably why when I weighed myself on Friday morning I found a 3 lb loss. I was at 161.6. I won’t withhold here though. I didn’t feel hungry and i had no cravings, and I didn’t feel tired. I didn’t even feel tired when it was bedtime. I felt something else… I don’t know how to describe it, but I’ll try. It was a little weak, but not constantly. If I stand up too fast I get ligthheaded. This doesn’t happen all day, mostly at night when I am tired anyway. I think this may be a withdraw symptom of sorts. It is nothing too noticable, but it is there nonetheless.
It is now Saturday morning. I weigh 159.4 This is the lowest I have weighed since before I got pregnant with my third daughter. That is a 2lb loss from yesterday. I have lost 6 lbs in 3 days. I can’t deny that something is working. I am waiting to see if this HCG regulates the hypothalmus as it s supposed to do. Dr. Reineck even told me that it might regulate my thyroid, meaning I won’t have to be on levothyroxin once a day for the rest of my life once this diet is done. I am sitting here with my second cup of coffee, in my size 8 jeans. Yes, size 8. And they fit comfortably.
I still don’t know if I am crazy, or even if I will pass out from hunger on Monday when I have another long day at work. I am particularly concerned with brain function. I am a teacher, so I need to be firing on all four cylinders in order to best serve my students. Hopefully, in writing this blog, I have proven that my brain is working just fine as of now, but I am paying close attention to my focus and clarity.
I promised I would talk about cost, here goes. The 35 lb program (43 days) costs $300. I know this sounds steep, but let me put it this way. I have been paying a personal trainer since November. I have met with her once a week, sometimes twice a week since the second week in November. She costs $25 a session. I love my trainer, she is fun, she has taught me a lot, and I have seen muscles building under my fat layers. You do the math though. She has cost far more than this diet has, and this diet has already yielded the same results in one week that had taken months to produce before. I also am paying a $50 a month gym membership for my family, childcare included. If this one time, $300 plan can get me to my healthy weight in 43 days or less, I feel like I have made a smart choice. I will still be meeting with my trainer during this time because I also want to build new muscle, and on this plan I will actually be able to see those muscles without that layer of fat covering them.
This week has been incredible in so many ways. I am losing so much of that unwanted fat. I feel great (for the most part). I am developing healthier eating habits. And, I think this may be part of the plan, because supposedly this plan keeps you at a healthy weight for life, I am actually craving my healthy fish, spinach and strawberries for lunch. I have never in my life craved healthy food, always carbs and sugars. I will keep you updated.
Shell Bella
Related Video - HCG from Proven Company!
No comments:
Post a Comment