Research On HCG

Okay, I’m not one for fads here nor am I one to do something because everyone is doing it. But this stuff seems to be amazing...too amazing when you think about it. How can anything promise that you might lose a pound a day?

The more I read about this, the more I don’t understand. It is a homeopathic drug. I know and respect homeopathic anything as they should be treated like any other drug a doctor might give you. This has a history attached to it and most fad diets don’t. In 1957, a British endocrinologist, Dr. A.D.W. Simeons started to give his patients human chorionic gonadotrophin. This is the female hormone which the body tosses out in the beginning of pregnancy in the urine. During the pregancy, it is use in various ways.

So, what does it have to do with weight loss? Apparently, this Dr. Simeons used it on some male patients for another disorder entirely and noted they lost weight. Huge amounts of weight. Eventually, the normal medical establishment made him stop defending his claims and using the drug in an unauthorized manner. He was using pure HCG at the time through injections.

Today’s HCG is completely homeopathic and everyone is unsure how it works or why in the weight loss arena. But it does according to a lot of people I’ve talked to and this means I’ve got to do even more research before I just jump in with both feet.

Still, I’m eating right and maintaining my weight even though I’m up there in numbers I don’t care for at this time. I have to do something and I’m not sure what since nothing seems to work.

More on this later....

Lynn

Another Birthday

Today I turn 52 and when one gets to be my age, you tend to reflect a little more than you might have a few years ago.

This year, while it’s been wonderful overall, there have been a few pitfalls. This year, I became a grandmother to two wonderful little boys. They are cut and special and were born premature at about eight months. They arrived in March then stayed in the hospital for almost three weeks after that. It was a special day when they came home and their parents have been spoiling them ever since.

It’s also been a year of some career ups and down but it will come around eventually. Basically, I had lost my spark for writing but it’s been found again and I’m pounding the keys once more.

The final thing would have to be my weight. As all of you know, this has been the year where I said I would commit to losing all this crappy weight which is hanging on my body. But nothing seemed to work and still really hasn’t. I’ve lost one or two or five then gained one or two or five back. That’s not a healthy thing to do but a yo-yo.

But today, I happened to see an old friend of mine in the grocery store. She had been on this same journey as well and even shared it to me. As we stood talking I told her just how good she looked and asked her what she was doing. She told me about this plan which used the homeopathic drops called HCG and then she went on to tell me a little about what it did for her. She lost thirty pounds in about forty-five days and that you could lose a pound a day.

A pound a day?!? Are you kidding? I decided right then and there I would be going home and researching this product.

The best part? She hasn’t been hungry but she hasn’t gone on maintenance yet and plans to soon.

I’ll keep you all posted.

Lynn

The Numbers Game

Yeah, I know...it’s been two weeks...and I’m sure you’re wondering if I’ve lost my motivation.


Well, I almost did. See, two weeks ago I woke up and knew, just knew deep in my heart that I hadn’t lost one iota. Nada, zilch, nothing. At least, that’s what my body told me and as I have a good habit of listening to my body, I was really down in the dumps.

So I got up and put off eating as long as I could. I always get on the scales the first thing out of bed and compensate for the clothes I wear before getting on that scale. Now, some people are fanatics and weigh every day. I would be a basket case if I did something like that so I just weigh in weekly on Mondays when I get up.

It’s worked well over the years as it can bring a much needed boost to a weight loss program. Or it can be the start of a downward spiral. I always figured it better to start at the beginning of the week until waiting till the weekend to screw it up. I mean, who wants to go into a weekend knowing they can’t eat one darn thing.

So last week, I hopped on the scale and surprise of all surprises, I lost 1.1 pounds. Obviously, I didn’t feel different and I only lost a quarter of an inch off my belly, so I had to think really hard just where it might have gone. All I could think of is that I am finally replacing some of my fat with muscle because out of all the things I didn’t do that week, the one thing I did do every day was walk.

Yeah, I haven’t been very good in keeping the food diary which is par for the course this time of year as is a slide back. But this time, I was determined to move forward even though the season says we shouldn’t. The one thing I have done is to totally listen to my body signals about hunger, exercise and if I hurt anywhere or not. In the past, I’ve let real and imagined transgressions get in my way. But not this time.

In all honesty, the only thing I didn’t do was write this blog but when I finally realized I hadn’t, it was already Friday.

Now, onto this week. This week I had two, count them, two parties. One was my writers’ group Christmas party and the other was my daughter-in-law’s birthday. Now the birthday, I had more control over as we were going to one of my favorite restaurants. Here, I always order exactly what I want and take 75% of it home as the portions are huge. It’s just way too much food but since this is my normal routine, it wasn’t a problem and I didn’t overeat at all.

The Christmas party was another matter. It was potluck and while the dishes are always wonderful, you really have no control over what type of food is brought. While the variety was great, all the dishes were rich and luscious meaning not very good for a diet. Since I wanted to taste everything, I took a spoonful which would allow me to have at least one bite of each dish. I took a little more of the chili since that was my husband’s and my dish and I know exactly what went into it. The other thing, I had no dessert since nothing appealed to me. I didn’t go back for seconds then but did have some more chili when I got home as each of my meals were skimpy during the course of the day.

One thing to remember during this season or any other for that matter, always eat until you’re full. No more, no less. If you can remember this one simple rule, it will serve you well over the course of your weight loss program. Me, I didn’t listen to my own rule and ate about 5-6 smaller meals that day. Normally, I eat my biggest meal in the middle of the day and a lighter one in the evening. This past Saturday, I am sure I consumed much more than I needed to consume but obviously not enough to tip the scale in a negative way.

But again, I walked more days than not and that served me well with the weight loss. I also removed another .75 inches off my waist. And this is the measurement which really has me jazzed because belly size is one of those things health professionals look at when evaluating you from a health perspective. So far, I have lost 10.6 pounds and 5 inches off my waist. Those are incredible numbers for anyone.

I know I don’t talk much about the tools I use to track this part of my journey. I track my food intake not only on line but with a hard copy book from The Calorie King (www.thecalorieking.com) called the Food and Exercise Diary. This little book is very comprehensive with columns for calories, in and out as well as for carbs and fat if you are tracking those as well. Calories out is your exercise and these do come right off the top. At the bottom of the page, you record your fluid intake, the total number of steps for the day as well as any thoughts.

The reason I like this book is because it works on so many levels. No matter what you’re tracking, what diet you’re on, this book can record it. It is also a convenient size to be able to carry any where you go. It has useful tips and hints in the beginning. But the biggest reason I love this book, it goes strictly by the numbers: calories in – calories out = weight loss/gain. And since I’m a numbers kinda gal, it makes perfect sense to me.

Dieting is basically a numbers game, no ifs ands or buts. It takes 3500 more to add a pound, it takes 3500 calories less to remove a pound. What could be more simple than that? You must burn more calories than you take in to lose any weight. To lose a pound a week, you must reduce your calorie intake 500 points OR you must burn off 500 calories that you take in.

It’s not rocket science and most people can do the simple math. When we get rid of all the emotional baggage associated with that weight, the numbers become numbers again. Whether we want to believe it or not, our fat insulates us from things that scare us. Now, I’ve slowly gained the weight over the years but it wasn’t until I wrote the column on body image, that I really looked at the point I started my weight gain.

I had a great body and I wasn’t ugly, so what was the deal? I think part of it was I knew my husband loved me and I knew other men looked at me. I think I equated other men with temptation and decided I’d remove myself from that equation all together. Basically, I didn’t trust me nor didn’t trust my reactions to life at the time.

And to be honest, the only time in my life where I’ve ever had emotional eating was the year my youngest was diagnosed as a Type 1 Diabetic. That year cost me another 40-50 pounds and I watched everyone of them go on and didn’t know how to stop it at all. I just kind retreated in my shell and ate everything he couldn’t any more. It was six months of stress before we found him a good doctor and before I started eating sanely again and food became food once again.

This is my last column before the holiday. May the season bring all the joys and none of the heartbreak to your weight loss journey. Have a great Christmas! Next week, I’ll talk more on the different tools I use as I’ve definitely got my motivation back. See you all then!


Lynn

Positive Small Changes

I am sitting here today wondering why I feel so horrible about what I did last week as far as my journey. I succeed in cutting another 50 calories a day off my totals as well as increase my daily steps. I also cut off another inch from my belly which is a big Yippee! for me.

Yet, the scale didn’t budge. Or at least, I don’t think it did. I just replaced the batteries in my old Weight Watcher one and decided to give it a try. And I hated the numbers. Hated it more than the fact I was allowing myself a handful of smarties a day because if I didn’t, the whole bag would be in my stomach by now. And that would do no one any good.

I need to revel in what I did do right, not wallow in the one thing that didn’t happen.

I did record all my food this week.

I did exercise every day except one.

I lifted weights three times this week.

I did reduce my waist by another inch.

I did reduce my average calorie intake by another 50 calories.

I did write this blog again even though I felt like I didn’t accomplish one thing.

When I list them all out like this, it makes me realize how silly it is for me being worried that the scale didn’t move this week. I’ll have lots of weeks where the scales won’t move and lots of weeks where I’m going to have to remind myself of all the positive things I have done.

It might be hard but I have to do this for myself. Forget about everything else, remember to do it for me.

Until next week.

Lynn

Wiggly-Jiggly

Okay, the first day of writing down what I ate was more horrible than I could imagine for a variety of reasons. First, I had my first hormonal day in about six weeks. Now, I don’t know about you on those type of days but usually I get my butt kicked because I don’t eat like I normally eat. I tend to eat more and foods that aren’t so good for me. Things like candy and Taco Bell get into my diet on these days more than usual. And what started out as a wonderful day with a delightful breakfast of under two hundred and fifty (250) calories, turned out to be a battle from hell.

Second, I normally walk at least twenty minutes and because I was on hyper-speed from the sugar, I only got thirteen crappy minutes because I was practically jogging. Unheard of for me! LOL! But no, that wasn’t what got me this day at all. I can forgive myself one day as things happen our of our control and hormones are in that category. But this…this is almost unforgiveable…sigh.

Many times people asked me what I missed being thin and on this day, I was reminded of this more than any other part of my thin days. For whatever reason my wiggly-jiggly upper arms had my full attention on that first day of me writing down what I ate. Now, don’t ask me how I noticed this first because I can’t even tell you. All I know is I held up my arm and I noticed that the flesh around my elbow didn’t seem as tight as it had in the past. Holding up my arm a little higher, I noticed that I could get it to wiggle to and fro with very little effort. It reminded me of the song, ‘Do your boobs hang low, do they wobble to and fro.” God, the wiggly-jiggly time of my life had arrived.

I wanted to scream, I wanted to jump up and down. I wanted to have surgery to cut the offending flesh away and I wanted twenty years back when my arms were nice and firm and – and – mine. These things I don’t even know where they came from but they shouldn’t be anywhere near my body much less on it. Ugh…this did not make me feel well but only strengthened my reserve to stick with what I planned to do this time.

Add to this the fact I wanted to start everything right this time and this meant I needed to get a waist measurement as well as use my handy-dandy BMI and body fat machine to get an idea of where I stood. Now I won’t tell you those yet but maybe sometime in the future when it is far behind me but let’s suffice it to say that the machine told me my body fat was too high for it to measure. This is soooo not good. Sigh.

So…I had a horrible first day…how about the rest you ask?

Well, for such an auspicious start, surprisingly good. I actually walked everyday, lifted weights for my upper arms and recorded the good, the bad and the ugly in my food and exercise journal. And with all my faux pas, I managed to average just 1675 calories a day, walked at least 4273 steps per day, lost a couple of pounds and 1.25 inches in my waist.

Yeah, I’m on my way and feel great about it! LOL!

So the goals for next week are just an extension of this week and I’m not going to add anything new. What I would like to try and do is to subtract another 100-200 calories off my daily total while I increase my daily steps to at least 5000 steps. This will decrease my daily caloric average as well as increase my daily step average. My father-in-law the surgeon told me once I could lose weight as long as I ate three squares and walked my butt off. And he’s right. It is all a numbers game.

And this week I seemed to kick ass.

Until next week…


Lynn

Sticking To Just One

Alright, I told you all about my just one campaign, how I needed to change just one thing to get on my road to permanent weight loss? Well, I succeeded this week with my just one item which was walking every night. Notice I didn’t put a time on how much I had to walk, just that I had to do it.

Now, I’m lucky because my puppy forces me to go. So every night between 9 and 9:30, I get the DH and the puppy to walk around the block with me getting at least 15 minutes exercise which makes me feel invigorated. And I already can feel the pants being a little less tighter as well as other small incentives to keep going.

Next week, since this is almost a habit, I’m going to add another block which should add another 5 minutes to the routine. Also, I started to lift weights to help my arms during me sitting and watching TV. What better way to get my flabby arms tones? I get to feel the burn and watch my favorite shows! LOL!

Now, it’s time to choose my next item I want to change. And here I find myself tossing up two ideas at once. Do I want to write down all I eat? Or do I want to change how I look at breakfast? Well, I knew that one of my biggest problems was I had given up breakfast again up until about three weeks ago. Realizing this was one of my biggest errors in the weight lost regime, I had already started to add breakfast back into my life.

If I truly want to lose weight, I know I need to go back to the breakfast shake my naturopath had me on almost a year ago. The first couple of months, I had been on the weight loss kick when we realized that my allergy issue was overwhelming everything. So for about nine months, we concentrated on putting my allergies in a more manageable position. It worked as I haven’t had any real severe attacks for quite a while now.

So, in my eyes, we’re back to the weight loss track and I’m looking back on what seemed to work so well in that beginning. And one of those things was a breakfast shake made of skim milk, protein powder, flax seed and fresh fruit. Later I modified it to make it even better by adding orange juice instead of fresh fruit and ice making it more of a frappe than a shake. But the taste was more palatable and I looked forward to it daily.

The other item I did then was to journal everything I ate, not to point out what I had done wrong but to point out how to improve my weight loss chances. I found that journaling about life and what I ate made me very, very honest because I never knew who would pick up that journal to take a peek. I wrote down every bite and every drink. And no foods were really taboo except those we were trying to eliminate from the allergy mix. It ends up that I am not very allergic to any food but outside things, like cleaning chemicals.

So given these two choices for the one thing I wanted to change, I was in a quandary. Both were equally important to my overall goal but the real question was which one did I think I would stick to better this week. And this gave me pause to think for a few hours. But after much thought and consideration, I’ve decided to start writing down what I eat.

Now this can be very good for me as I see one of my issues is portion control. I eat all the right foods but sometimes I eat too much. And eating too much is what got me here in the first place. LOL!

See you next week when I give you a report on how well I’m doing with this aspect of my journey.

Until then…

Lynn

Thursday, January 15, 2009 - Day 70

Quote of the Day: Actions lie louder than words. – Carolyn Wells

Breakfast – breakfast burrito

I know it isn’t what I should be eating BUT I needed something really fast today. I couldn’t think of anything better. It was egg, cheese and a flour tort.

Lunch – Healthy Choice soup – Chicken Tortilla

I really love soup and should only be eating them and salads. But some days, like today, I just can’t get it together to have a coherent thought let alone try to maintain a diet. Still, I think I’m doing pretty well since previously I would have eaten the kitchen sink. LOL!

Dinner – Salad bar with balsamic dressing, lots of veggies

I went out to play pennies and one moment I’m not at all hungry and the next starving. What’s up with that? Some days I just don’t understand what’s going on with me.

Snacks – goldfish

Steps – 3421

Exercise – Not a lot of steps but not a lot of motivation. Again, I just don’t get it. I haven’t been able to exercise much this week nor lift weights like last week at home. Motivation is at a low right now and it could be a lot of things. Maybe EPIC, maybe writing or maybe just life.

Journal

First, I have to comment on the fact that I just can’t believe I’ve kept with this for 70 days. Other than writing and my family, I haven’t kept to anything for this long. Maybe this is a new leaf.

Yeah I know it’s a bad thing BUT I just couldn’t seem to get it together today at all. There are strange things happening to my body as well as the general apathy. One of the things is that again, I’m swelling up like a stuck pig EVEN though I am getting up and walking around at least 5 minutes every hour. I hate whatever is happening to me again because I have so much water in me I know I’m going to weigh at least 15 pounds more when I go to see Dr. G and it’s moments like these where I want to chuck it all in and just give up.

Then there’s the fact that I’m breaking out everywhere. My face, my arms, my back and some of those are places I never did as a teenager. I know menopause can really screw up a person but this is going to drive me crazy. I’ve always fluxed 10-15 pounds when my period would be. Maybe this is the PMS without the actual period. Again, another thing for Dr. G tomorrow.

And I can’t. I MUST get healthy. This isn’t an either or situation any more. This is a MUST. I am not getting younger and I personally, don’t want to die fat. I know thin is relative and I’ve never really said how thin is thin. Well, when I was talking to CR the other day, I came up with the magic range. I’d like to weight somewhere between 135-142 and while it seems an impossible goal right now, if I can just stay the course until this passes, I will be good to go for another few pounds. Sign. I will get through this, I will.

Hope this helps someone! It does me a little as now I can see how weird it all is. LOL!

Have a great day!

Lynn

Thursday, January 1, 2009 - Day 56

Quote of the Day: Nothing’s better than the wind at your back, the sun in front of you and your friends beside you. – Aaron Douglas Trimble

Breakfast – 2 eggs, 2 toast @ 10:45 am

I just had to have something different for breakfast today instead of my shake. I got the new Prevention (Feb 2009) yesterday and I want to start following some of the things in there. It’s exactly the kind of things that Dr. G. is getting me to do anyway so I feel that I can follow it easily.

Lunch – 1 cup of nuts, raisins and dark chocolate M&Ms

I really didn’t feel hungry at all and just got something I knew was good for me. I’m getting ready to go with Kristi to Target to get the DVD player for the guys. It will be really good finally and they won’t have to be using my computer to watch movies.

Dinner – 2 breadsticks, 2 bowls salad w/ Italian dressing, 2 bowls Zuppa Tuscano, 3 cups of coffee and one glass water (Olive Garden with family)

Yes, I was really hungry but I tempered the whole thing. I only ate until I was full and I didn’t over eat. Some people ate again an hour later while I just had a glass of water. I know I should have eaten more at lunch and then I wouldn’t have had so much here but the truth of the matter is I am following what my body was telling me. I’m not going to eat if I’m not hungry. Period. I think it’s wrong and sends an incorrect signal to my body. I need to eat only when I’m hungry and no other time.

Snacks – None…I really didn’t need any. LOL!

Steps – 3171

Exercise – Only walking around shopping. Nothing structured. I can’t wait until I get home and join a gym. I’m going to start checking them out on Wednesday. I’ll be busy on Monday.

Journal

I think that today was a great day to start the New Year. I really do think it went well and I was totally attuned to my body. One bad thing did happen and I was really, really sad. When I went to Fashion Bug to look at clothes since they were having a sale, I really wanted to get some pants. I need them as my big butt doesn’t seem to fit into the ones I have any more. But my SIL told me I really needed to try them on even though they were in my size. I thought she was nuts but it was something I decided to do. And boy…was I in for a shock! The size I normally wore didn’t fit! They came close and were really, really tight but just one wash and they would be out the window. I guess I really didn’t realize just how big my butt had gotten! I AM NOT GOING TO GET A BIGGER SIZE. NOPE WON’T DO IT!

I guess it is time to really, really start focusing on the things I want for my body. And a larger size isn’t one of them. If this wasn’t a wakeup call, I don’t know what is! It made me feel mad and sad all at once. How could I let this happen to me? Well, I can say no more. I am going to get thin if it’s the last thing I do. And I’m going to do it right.

With that in mind, I have decided to make this journal public and take it on a blog like I said when I first started this journey. There are many people who are helping me with this journey and I’m hoping this will help someone else. So, if you’re seeing this on the blog, you know I followed through! LOL!

Hope you have a great day tomorrow!

Lynn

Saturday, November 8, 2008 - Day 1

Quote of the Day: You make the world a better place by making yourself a better person. – Scott Sorrell

Breakfast –Protein Shake per recipe. Added blackberries.

Dr. G is right as it doesn’t taste bad at all BUT it is very bland and doesn’t have the sweetness from the berries like I expected. I’m wondering if adding honey might help it. The DH suggested that we mix berries since the BBS aren’t that sweet. Will email Dr. G to ask for sure.

Woke up easily – no lingering hot flash. I also woke up early today to get ready for booksigning.

Lunch – 11:30a – ½ herb chicken salad wrap, ½ philly cheese steak, lots of water

A few spearmint lifesavers (7-8) and okay, I was at a book signing and probably not as good as I should have been. BUT book signings are hard and I need to be flexible. It will all work out!

Dinner – 5:30p – 1/3 plate Nachos, 1/3 basket garlic fries, couple of bits of artichoke dip and garlic bread, 2 cups of coffee 6-8 oz of beer, 2 cups of water. 8:00p – 1 cup green beans, 3 cup brussel sprouts with butter, 1 liter water

After the book fair, we decided to go to a brew pub to relax. I had a great time with my author friends. I was really relaxed and glad I had some social interaction. The book signing was a lot different than we expected and next time we’ll have to prepare. Was still hungry when I came home so decided on lots of veggies to fill me up.

Snacks – 1 apple, 1 banana

Steps –2253

Exercise –I didn’t have a lot of a chance for exercise today BUT what I did manage to do was at least 5 minutes per hour of walking around the book fair. It was more like 10 average as some hours the walking period was longer and sometimes shorter. One good thing was that the home situation was really good when I got home. The guys were very calm and happy! Life is good.

Journal

Still new at this, will work out the kinks as I go.

Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow!

Lynn

Friday, November 7, 2008 - Preparation Day

Quote of the Day: Don’t have one as this is the very first day journaling.

Breakfast – Unknown

My first visit to Dr. G. went extremely well and I felt that it was very productive. Dr. G. is a naturopath in the area where I live and I felt it very important to do this the right way. I had heard great things about her and have hope all will go well. Funny thing is that I had found her first, referred other people and they are the ones who have told me just how great she is. For me, she gave me a whole laundry list of things and I did manage to go shopping to load up on a lot of fresh foods: veggies, lean meats and fruits. I had really wanted to cook myself but I had a lunch date with a friend Kim T. Afterwards, I was really tired and took a nap. Kim T. and I talked about our possible new place and I’m still not convinced just yet.

Still, I purchased this journal and decided to start today as far as journaling goes. For the food journal, I think I’ll do it as I go meaning meal-journal, meal-journal. I also wanted to start cook in the evenings more if I can ever get my kitchen back. Sigh. Right now the chef, my DH – Gordon, loves it too much to really give it up. I will get there. I even plan to start a blog regarding the whole journey.

Lunch – This was at the local Golf Course. Salad w/Balsamic & Oil, Linguine w/chicken breast in cream tomato cilantro sauce (last fling), water & coffe.

Food was great and company fine. Told Kim T. about my visit to Dr. G. Talked about a lot of things, some good, some bad.

Dinner – Stir-fry veggies and chicken breast, 1 liter water

Wanted to do the cooking but the DH did it as usual. Will need to have it started before he comes home. The 16yo, Kyle, wants fast food yet again. IMHO pretty horrible for a diabetic yet he did say something about a taco salad.

Read email and enjoyed my favorite sci-fi shows on the Sci-Fi Channel. I love all the tech stuff – it gives me great ideas for my own stories.

Snacks – 2 apples

Steps – don’t know because I didn’t wear the pedometer today

Exercise – 25 minutes (8:50 to 9:15 p)

Journal

Okay – so I haven’t done any consistent walking recently – just hit and miss. Boy! Can I feel this one! It really hit me just how big my butt and stomach are right now. My lower back and hip joints weren’t happy although I personally feel good. I plan to continue to do this because the long term benefits are worth it.

Took supplements before I went to bed.

Hope this helps some of you struggling as well!

Lynn