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Tomorrow is my last injection. Yipee!! If you count from day 1, I've lost 28.6 pounds. If you count from the peak (you binge the first few days so you gain weight) I've lost 36.2 pounds. I'm pretty happy with the results because I've lost fat in places that even when I was going to the gym 6X a week I didn't even lose.
I will say though, despite the satisfied results, I don't really recommend the diet. It's probably the hardest thing I've had to stick to and the REAL work begins when I'm no longer on the injections and have to make wise food choices on my own. For the next three weeks though, part of the protocol is still no additional sugar or starch allowed. More greens have been added and I can finally start cooking with oil again. I'll be on a 1200 calorie diet and compared to only 500 calories while on the injections, 1200 will be a FEAST! After the three weeks, I can slowly bring starches and sugars back. That's when the challenge begins. Considering what I went through in Jan/Feb, I hope that is enough of a motivation to do well.
People will react differently to the diet. Although my friends said they felt great and never hungry, I was hungry about 75% of the time. I almost quit half way through the injections because I was so hungry. Then the hunger pains eased drastically by the 23rd or so injection. I'm glad I finished the entire 40 injections but I don't think I can do it again. It's not really the calories (or lack thereof!) but rather I just got so dang sick of the food. I'm not very inventive so cooking dinner every night got me only so far.
What I will say though is I've learned what a portion is. I've learned that I don't need a big-o plate of food to be satisfied. I've learned to enjoy fruits as desserts (though I'm dying for some ice cream right now!) and to add it and more veggies to my diet. I've learned that I wasn't eating too badly before, but just ate TOO MUCH of it. I've learned that we eat out WAY TOO MUCH and how much money we've saved since starting the diet.
I still have a long ways to go but I accomplished what I wanted out of this diet. Even though I tell my MIL and co-workers (who hadn't seen me for 6 weeks) that I don't recommend the diet, they are very intrigued by it and are doing their own research. Results don't lie but I did strongly recommend them to at least do it under a doctor's care. These past 40 days have not been fun and I'm happy it's finally winding down. The HCG protocol does work but for me, it was about the hardest thing I've had to endure. I hope I have the discipline to keep up eating healthy - I've worked too hard (both with the diet and going to the gym!) to fail!
I, too, wish you good luck ........ the discipline will be INCREDIBLY important now.
The 50 year old article by the originator has a lot of hogwash in it about having "abnormal" fat and indicates a lifetime of dependence on the drug if you start to creep up again.
This diet works because of the insane calorie restriction and probably a lot of placebo effect.
Now the gameplan is to take personal accountability for diet and excercise and I would be calorie counting and charting my weight and excercise to make sure you retain a state of control. Learn your normal daily bounces so if/when weight starts to add on you are not oblivious to it.
The thing about counting calories and nutrients is it gives you a much better intuitive feeling for what is right. I can cut a 0.5 oz block of cheese very accurately now [even though I weight it every time - oh - .5oz of cheese is a "special" treat - to much sat fat to eat daily]-- same thing for other food measures.
Whoa, the lack of encouragement is very disheartening. What's the saying? If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all? I guess some people never learned that lesson from their parents. I've lost weight the "slow" way as well and gained it back so I am acutely aware of the possibilities if I don't maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle. I've always been able to lose weight, no matter what path I chose. Determination I have; it's the discipline that I lack, but I don't have to answer to anye one but myself so enough about that ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by grannynancy
Now the gameplan is to take personal accountability for diet and excercise and I would be calorie counting and charting my weight and excercise to make sure you retain a state of control. Learn your normal daily bounces so if/when weight starts to add on you are not oblivious to it.
The thing about counting calories and nutrients is it gives you a much better intuitive feeling for what is right. I can cut a 0.5 oz block of cheese very accurately now [even though I weight it every time - oh - .5oz of cheese is a "special" treat - to much sat fat to eat daily]-- same thing for other food measures.
Thanks for the encouragement Grannynancy. You are ABSOLUTELY right about discipline and accountability. Getting on the right track to a healthy lifestyle is a life or death situation for me. Okay, maybe not THAT drastic but I was definitely at a fork in the road when I decided to do this diet.
Interestingly, I had to weigh all my food, too, but I'm still not good at ballparking it!! Starting tomorrow, I'll be doing 1200 calories, still avoiding carbs and sugars, and after that, my gameplan is to continue calorie counting, but probably @ 1500 calories/day. Eventually, I hope to be used to how much food intake that I can just "ballpark" it but I'm sure that won't be for a while.
This time around, the other thing that's different (which helps with the accountability part) is that I "came out" with my diet. My coworkers knew I was on it as do the employees at the gym I go to. They've all seen a huge difference in me and it really makes me feel great about myself. In addition to staying healthy for myself, I've got all these people who have encouraged me along the way! I can't let them down!
Interesting study and I totally agree with it. We all want a miracle and when we get it, we think we can just let our guard down. I know I've been guilty of that a few times myself. I can't afford to let my guard down this time!
A sincere congratulations for losing so much weight
Maintaining is the hardest part! Deprivation diets NEVER work for me and probably 95% of devoted dieters. Be one of that 5% and prove us wrong
I am WELL AWARE of the statistics and have been part of the 95% many-a-times!!
You know what the funny thing is? The foods that I cooked at home were actually pretty healthy. I'm not a very good cook so I had a few veggie staples that I could cook well and they were actually foods I could eat on the diet, too! And the way I cooked them wasn't much different than how I had to cook them during the diet! Where I screw up is eating SWEETS and going out. I need to learn to make wise decisions about that to be in the 5%. *FINGERS CROSSED*!!
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