Day 4 and 5 (Days 2 and 3 on the diet)

Day 4-I got up, weighed myself (down 1 pound from my "after-loading" weight). I went about my day. Drank plenty of water. Noticed a bit of stomach growls in the morning, but followed up with my Melba Toast and a cup of tea, which definitely helped! For lunch, I had spinach w/leftover chicken from the night before and strawberries. (I love this, and don't see myself getting tired of it, but who knows?!) Melba Toast in the afternoon, tea, iced tea, and plenty of water. Went to bed feeling good. (As a side note, I attempted to make a little beverage mid-day with 1 tablespoon of Apple Cider vinegar, as suggested with water and stevia. It was so awful, I could hardly gag it down! I'd like to be able to do that, but it killed me! Yuck... Hope to try a different format tomorrow).

DAY 5-Well, today was interesting! I woke up HALF AN HOUR before my alarm. (Which goes off at 5:20am, just in case you were wondering). I felt very awake. I kept attempting to go back to sleep UNTIL the alarm went off, but just couldn't. I woke up, and weighed myself before giving myself the injection. I was pleased to be down a total of 4 pounds! The scale today said 177.1. I'm happy with that and it definitely gave me good reason to continue on.. Here is the weird part-I could SWEAR that a switch has been flipped today! I felt like I was in "the zone". Traffic was lighter than normal on my one hour commute, I hit all the green lights on the way to work. I arrived at work ten minutes early and was ready to go for our morning meeting. I just felt good. I was in a good mood, and felt positive. I had my tea and Melba Toast mid morning. Before lunch, I did a straight shot of the Apple cider vinegar and although it still sucked-it was way better doing it that way. I followed with water, which helped make the taste go away. I'd like to do that at least once a day, but preferably two! Two challenges today that I feel I passed with flying colors: First-the doctors I work for bought us lunch. I got a "side spinach salad" with nothing except the chicken breast. When it came, I split it into two servings and ate only half of it. I added 3 sliced strawberries to it and saved the equivalent amount for later. It was great, and I enjoyed it! Melba Toast for afternoon snack. I went out with our group of friends for my first "thirsty thursday" event. I'm not a drinker, so that didn't bother me. We went to Chevy's and I LOVE their food. I drank 2 iced teas, with nothing in them, ordered a chicken caesar salad-no dressing, no tortilla strips, no cheese. Just a bowl of romaine with chicken. I ate only part of it. I also had my apple at home before I left since I knew they wouldn't have any fruit to go along with it:) I felt satisfied and not totally out of the loop:)

Another interesting thing I noticed today, is that my pants do seem to fit a bit looser. I also noticed that my normally OILY skin seems happier. Not quite dry, but almost normal... Strange. I also have a lot happier tummy. I'd previously been doing Medifast, and had lots of stomach upset with that. It's a nice change and I'm happy to be eating real food. Although, I am SLIGHTLY missing those Medifast brownies:)

The Process....day by day

I called Rinnovare clinic in Gresham and talked to Claire over the phone. I expressed my interest in the program and had many questions for her. She patiently answered everything I asked and encouraged me to come in to talk to the Dr. about the program. In my mind, she single handedly led me to the decision to do this program...and I'm very happy about that. I called on a Monday, and was able to get in on Wednesday morning.

I saw Dr. Hansel on Wednesday, May 26th. I received a full months worth of hCG injections, as well as the guidelines for the diet. I was planning a trip out of town for the Memorial Day Weekend, and decided I would start my "fat loading/Binge" day on Sunday, May 30th.

Since we were camping, I didn't exactly eat well throughout the weekend.

Sunday, I kicked it into high gear. I started the morning by giving myself the first injection. I was quite apprehensive, but it was painless. (YAY) I munched on donuts throughout the day, as well as having whatever I wanted for dinner, a handful of potato chips everytime I came in the trailer, etc... We had a big potluck with our friends that night, and I felt able to try most of the items we had available.

Monday-Day 2 of loading. Got up, gave myself the injection. Painless again. (So glad that it wasn't a fluke on day 1!) I had a breakfast burrito in the morning, followed by a large lunch with my family on the way home. French toast, eggs, sausage and a milkshake, and boy-did I feel sick afterwards!!! Came home and munched on some zingers before bed.

Tuesday-Day 3. Got up this morning-my first day back to work after the long weekend. I weighed myself (181.1 on my scale, which is up almost 3 lbs from my weight before the binging!) I did my injection and went about my day. I had an iced passion/green tea with no sweetener on my way into work. (It's yummy. I'll definitely do that, again!) I had a Melba Toast (better than I thought) around 10:30 am. I had lunch around one o' clock. I had plain chicken breast, along with a few sliced strawberries, and a handful of spinach (raw). I was SHOCKED how great it was. I didn't miss the dressing-not one bit! Later in the afternoon, I had my second melba toast, along with a large iced tea I got at our hospital cafeteria. I came home, baked some more chicken with ONLY grll mates chicken seasoning on it. I was surprised again at what great flavor it had! I had some cucumber and an orange with this. I felt totally satisfied and not like I was missing anything. Looking forward to tomorrow to weigh and continue with my day....

My experience with the hCG diet

I am excited to keep track of my progress with this blog. I had heard of this diet through a good friend who has struggled with weight loss for years. Most notably, she has been exercising (walked a marathon last fall) and counting calories meticulously for the past year. I believe she lost a total of 4 pounds during that time... She and I have a history of dieting together. We've done it all: Weight Watchers, Atkins, and more recently-Medifast/Take Shape For Life. I began Medifast in September of 2009. I was able to lose well for about a month and a half, at which point my weight loss stalled... I kept on "mostly" abiding by the rules. But eventually sabotaging myself daily. I was at a standstill.

My friend told me she was going to do the hCG diet and I wanted to learn more about it. I looked up everything I could find about it and decided I couldn't take part because of the inability to wear makeup during the course...

In the first two weeks, my friend lost 11 pounds. She's at the end of 3 weeks and is down 19 pounds total. She is doing great and it got me to think about it some more. About two weeks ago, a coworker came in talking about the hCG diet and that she wanted to do it. (She only has about 10 lbs to go, so I thought it seemed a bit extreme for her....) The VERY DAY that my friend told me she was down 15 lbs, I drove past a sign at a Naturopath clinic/Medical Spa near my work-there was a sign outside that said hCG weight loss program here. I called them on my lunch break and this is what happened since then: