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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?
The lack of encouragement is due to the fact that you are on a very unhealthy diet. A diet that is supposed to 'trick' your body is a bad diet. You've lost too fast and lots of that is fluid and muscle.
Whoa, the lack of encouragement is very disheartening.
Its probably due to a lot of people who commented on your post take health/fitness very seriously and have said over and over and time after time that this is an extremely unhealthy diet.
Do you feel that you have improved your fitness/health? Was your energy levels up while on this program? Im sure the answer is no to both of these questions. Had you tried going about things they way of eating HEALTHY and exercising, you would have received tons of encouragement.
Its probably due to a lot of people who commented on your post take health/fitness very seriously and have said over and over and time after time that this is an extremely unhealthy diet.
Do you feel that you have improved your fitness/health? Was your energy levels up while on this program? Im sure the answer is no to both of these questions. Had you tried going about things they way of eating HEALTHY and exercising, you would have received tons of encouragement.
Actually, YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY WRONG about your judgement. And I don't care what you naysayers think; I don't need your encouragement. I just think some people don't have any manners. You judge before you even try to understand someone's situation. You put someone down who's trying to share her experience. I've given an account of what the diet is like and have DISCOURAGED people from trying it if you even took the time to read the rest of my posts, but the results don't lie and I gave those stats, too. To instill defeat in someone who is struggling is inappropriate so get off your judgmental high horse.
I have been going to the gym throughout the entire diet. I started physical therapy before the diet began and did not want to hinder my progress. I didn't push myself; I never over-exerted. Instead, I found a balance. I maintained going to the gym 5X/week. It was difficult in the beginning but I managed and within a couple of weeks, I'd adjusted.
My energy levels, at the beginning, was also difficult. I am not going to deny that. However, about half way through, when I was finally starting to adjust, my energy level got back to normal. And now that the diet is over, I feel pretty damn good, even more energetic than I was 39 pounds heavier-ago. Because I lost all that weight, my body now feels better, more energetic, and the pains I used to have are almost non-existent.
Yes, I have tried the "healthy" way of losing weight and I did ... and gained it all back, and then some. I ate healthy and exercised religiously. I dieted. And that's why I gained it back: because of that nasty little word - diet.
The point of being on the HCG is very personal to me and I'm not going to divulge it here but I have been mentally preparing myself that the REAL WORK begins after the "diet" ends. It's going to be about a LIFESTYLE change, about accountability and about choices. Being on the HCG diet is NOTHING compared to what I'll be doing for the rest of my life. The HCG diet was a transitional period for me and the past 40+ days I've had to mentally prepare myself for what's to come. I didn't see the last day of the diet as the "end" of a diet; I saw the last day of the diet as the beginning of the lifestyle change for me. Of making good nutrional choices. All the sh*t I was putting in my body, well, they are all out of my system now so what am I going to do? Put it all back in and gain the weight back or start eating healthy and continue to lose weight?
I did not start the HCG diet with the notion that once it was over, I could go back to the way I used to eat. I started the diet with the notion that once it was over, I can't make the same choices as I used to make. I would have to START CHANGING EVERYTHING in my life. It's a fresh start. As an experienced dieter, I know that all diets work b'c the word inherently implies "temporary" and anybody can do anything temporarily, but if you don't make the changes required AFTER the diet, then you will gain the weight back (and in many, many case, gain even more than you started with). It's the choices you make after the diet that are the most crucial. I never learned that but I have no choice but to learn it now. I can't go back to the way my life was.
The purpose of why I started this thread is officially over. I've already given my account on experiencing the HCG diet. Naysayers are more than welcome to bash all you want but I'm done defending myself.
The results of my diet are a few posts earlier if someone ever comes across this thread but I'll give a brief account here:
Yesterday (4/9) was my official last day. In total, I lost 38.8 lbs (31.2 lbs from Day 1 if you consider the two binging days where you actually gain weight). This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. The first half of the diet was incredibly difficult but eventually my body adjusted.
If you are not prepared to make changes in your life, then any diet you are on will fail you. If you keep to the HCG protocol, this diet does work; however, I feel strongly that unless you want to make a permanent committment to change your life, the pain of going through it at the beginning are not worth it. Not everyone experienced the diet as badly as I did, however. I do know of a couple of friends who felt great during the process. I was not one of them, and I am definitely not alone. If you search various blogs online, "feeling good" during the diet is probably the exception, not the rule.
Don't do this diet unless you are prepared to change your attitude and mindset about food. It isn't worth it.
Sometimes losing weight the "healthy" way is downright impossible. I knew a girl in high school who was 5 foot 5 and weighed almost two hundred pounds. She tried everything. She ended up going on crystal meth and believe it or not it worked. She got very thin, like around 110 pounds. She quit the meth once she lost the weight. I never saw her again after high school, but she did not gain any back when I was there. Now, the HCG diet is nowhere near as dangerous and it is legal too. There is no reason for anyone to harp on Foma. I personally think the people doing the harping are downright jealous because they do not have the willpower to do the HCG diet themselves.
I really have to disagree. I still don't think the diet HCG was the right approach but it is a done deal and harping on forma will do nothing to provide encouragement for sustaining the loss. I don't want anyone to relapse who has lost weight.
The reasons I do not support it are [a] what ARE the safety issues? You start messing with hormones and you really don't know. There is something about injecting an extract from the urine of pregnant women that does not seem at all "natural" [b] there are known risks such as blood clots. [c] statistics and major studies bear out that rapid weight loss is harder to sustain than lifestyle changes. [d] The science behind it is out of date and flawed; it appears the whole thing is an expensive sham based on the placebo effect [backed up by studies showing the same which show, - go on 500 calories a day diet and you will loose the same amount of weight as those getting the injections]. [e] Most of these doctors see a huge load of patients - just how closely do you think they are being monitored and at 500 calories you can run into SERIOUS electrolyte imbalances.
It has nothing to do with jealousy.
Losing weight the healthy was is NOT downright impossible. I would fathom to say the gal in high school had serious control issues if she wound up on crystal meth and that she may have "tried" everything but committed to nothing.
I have struggled most of my life with being seriously overweight and had to face the realization that the only way I was going to loose it was to cut loose all of the "excuses" and accept that I cannot change my genetics but I can change my behaviors.
There are a handful of genetic conditions that may make the weight loss darned near impossible but I don't have any of them and I seriously doubt most obese people do.
Last edited by grannynancy; 04-11-2010 at 03:45 AM..
I think both of you make very good points. I'll provide a little insight - my MD pretty much urged me to do surgery. That's how bad things were for me. Although there are PLENTY of options besides the HCG, I chose it because I needed the immediacy of it (and that's another story and I'm very sensitive about that one).
I may have lost 40 but I need to lose about 60 more to be at my lowest (in college) and another 20 to 30 to be "normal". Like I said, The HCG was the beginning for me, not the end. The MD that oversaw my HCG diet recommended I do a second round in 6 weeks and even though I was impressed with the results, I just don't think the initial torture (for me, the hunger and initial lack of energy) is worth it.
When I was sick a few months ago, I had this epiphany about giving "excuses" like you said. This transformation is going to be the hardest thing I'll ever do. I'm wildly frightened that I'll "mess up". We all do but once I mess up, I give up (and give excuses to stop continuing with exercising, eating less, etc) and this time, I have to train myself to just pick up where I left off. NO MORE EXCUSES!
BTW, Gran, I respect your opinions. It's one thing to provide constructive criticism and it's quite another to be just plain negative about someone's progress. You are being constructive and I appreciate that.
Congratulations, foma, and let those who want to throw a wet blanket on your party go their own way. You are right, the real work starts now. In the long run, it boils down to a change of attitude from self-indulgence (in food) to one of discipline (of what we eat and how we burn up the caloric intake). Good luck!!
It is tough when the doctor is pushing the surgey. I have one doctor tell me to gain some weight to qulaify but my primary care then was married to a doctor that did bariatric surgery and she said "no way!" - my current doctor is very supportive of slow steady weight loss.
At least the OP is trying to make a change. We may not all agree with how she made the change, but would you rather have her be a fatty sitting on a couch eating potato chips all day long?
Like I said before, I REALLY don't agree with how you lost the weight, but the fact is you did. Some people need a good boost to start. My boost came in the form of being sick for 3 days. I lost 7 pounds in one week and have kept it off. It may have not been the right way, but it helped me!
I'm still a fatty but I'm a fatty that's NOT sitting on the couch eating potatoe chips all day long as you so eloquently put it MatheBanker.
I've been doing pretty good during this "maintenance period" where you're supposed to only have 1200 calories and still no carbs or added sugars. I've probably lost another 5 lbs in 3 weeks. This weekend will mark the "official end" to the diet where I can start bringing all foods back in so I'm a little nervous about how things will go.
I've never really "dieted" - like watched what I ate except for maybe calorie counting - but this time I've really seen some pretty amazing results. I've lost fat in places that's always been a problem area for me. Hopefully with the results and my sheer fear of being in the same place I was back in January will be enough of a motivation to keep this up.
My goal is to stick to 1500 daily calories and no more than 2000. I'll still be calorie counting but I'd like to get to a point will I can just "ball park it". I'm still using a weight measurer. I'm going to the gym regularly and even though I hate going, it's pretty much part of my daily routine.
Thanks for all the support and even the naysayers. I think all in all, just like other drastic options to weight loss such as surgery, the HCG diet IMO ranks up there ... but at least it's not permanent and you LEARN how to eat healthy. I read labels now and know WHAT you take in is just as important as how MUCH of it you take in, too.
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