My newest conquest

I recently started the popular, very talked about HCG Diet.  I read a bunch of articles online before purchasing.  One article said the hcg liquid is actually snake oil.  haha

I decided to try it anyway.  My sister-in-law is a chiropractor with 4 years of medical training.  She did (and is continuing to do) the injections of hcg.  She's lost over 30 lbs.  She's a naturalist, organic food buyer, waited a few months before immunizing her daughter for the first time, type person. She knows what is healthy and what isn't. If SHE'S on this diet, I know it's not all bad.  So, I went online & ordered it. 

A bit of back history on me. 

I've always had to worry about my weight a little bit. I've never been huge, but as I get older and become less active my weight goes up. When I was married in January of 1999 I was a size 8 and about 135 pounds. I hold my weight everywhere with a pretty good even distribution. Some people gain weight just their hips  but I gain it everywhere, and you can definitely see in my face when my weight is up or down. My cheeks and triple chin (haha) show my weight. 

Below is me in 1994.  We had a hat party.  :)  Size 8.

Below in 1999 on my wedding day

In 2001 I had my daughter Paula and in 2003 I had my daughter Shawna.  In 2005 my weight stablized around 150. 

This was me in August 2004.  (the baby I'm holding is not mine but she sure is cute!)  I'm pretty sure those were size 12's I'm wearing. 

In May of 2005 my friend Tina and I decided to start Weight Watchers together.  We were totally committed and supported each other.  In 5 months I lost 22 lbs. My goal weight was 128 and I hovered around that weight (up or down 2 lbs) for a few years.

Below was our December 2005 company holiday party. Tina is on the right, I'm in the middle. The three of us all did WW together so we were celebrating our skinniness with dessert! 

Some friends said I was too skinny at 127 but I loved it.  I could wear a size 4 or petite 6 in pants.  The blue dress above was a petite 8.  I felt SO good in my skin.  I'm only 5'3" so 127-130 is a good weight for my height. 

I'm below on the left at my 20 year high school reunion in August 2006. I was 127 lbs   :) 

Then, in 2008 I got hooked on this speciality salad at work in our cafeteria.  It was a Waldorf salad.  It had chicken, blue cheese, cranberries, apples, candied walnuts and a raspberry dressing.  OMG I ate it everyday.  But, as you can see by the ingredients, it's not a low calorie lunch.  Salad doesn't mean low calorie.  Gradually, without really noticing anything dramatic, in 1 year I'd gained 10 lbs.  In January 2009 I was 141 lbs.  I still looked okay but I wanted to lose the weight and wear my small clothes again.

Me in 2009.   Size 10. 

Then something awful happened. In 2009 I got hives for no known reason.  I was tested by an allergist and found to be allergic to NOTHING.  But the Prednisone (steroid) they put me on to stop the itching made me STARVING. I would feel as if I hadn't eaten for days, even when I'd just eaten a huge meal 2 hours ago.  I could have eaten a couch.  I quickly, and I do mean QUICKLY, gained a fast 8 lbs by the end of that stint.  Sadly, that weight didn't disappear when I stopped the evil (but necessary) Prednisone.  So then I was back to my original weight from early 2005.  During 2010 I managed to maintain that weight, give or take a couple pounds.  I did attempt to go back on WW, but my heart wasn't in it so I wasn't successful.

My daughter Paula and I on a Christmas Train in December 2010.  See my cheeks? Yeah, big time weight gain.  Size 12. 

During the holiday's is when my brother told me about his wife's HCG diet. I saw her on Thanksgiving and WOW, she looked amazing.  I mean amazing.  I decided to do my research.  I considered doing the injections like her.  When I was pregnant with my youngest daughter I had to inject insulin 4 times a day for a month for gestational diabetes so I knew I could handle that part, but in the end I decided on oral. 

Last Saturday the HCG kit arrived from hcgdiet.com via UPS and I had to sign for the package upon delivery.

I immediately opened it.  Of course. Hello! The rest of my new life starts today! 

According to the book, Day 1 and Day 2 your supposed to start the drops (3x a day) and eat a bunch of fatty foods. Then on Day 3 you start the 500 calories. But since eating fatty foods doesn't scream DIET to me, I say the day I started the 500 calories is my day 1.  Got it?  Ok. 

Let me start out by saying I'm not doing this diet exactly by the book. I don't own a food scale, and don't plan to buy one.  Also, my schedule is chaotic with work, kid pickup, volleyball games and cheer competitions.  I eat lunch at noon and dinner at 7 or 8pm.  That's probably not the best for this low calorie meal plan since I'm STARVING by dinner time, so I've had to eat an orange or Melba toast in between meals.  Also, I'm a wino.  Wine makes me feel civilized and if I don't have my wine at the end of the day I feel jipped. So I need to have 1 glass a day.  Again, not on the meal plan.  But, I'm on day 5 and have lost 4lbs so I'm doing something right.  Also, it says don't eat the same meat for lunch and dinner.  I'm going to fail on that some days.  I'm a huge chicken fan.  Also, I'm drinking several glasses of water during the day. Sometimes it's green tea, unsweetened ice tea or just plain water. 

At night I take the B12 drops that came in the kit, with a multi-vitamin and 2 calcium pills.

Day 1 - weighed 151 lbs.
Actually, this was the first time in months I weighed myself at all. The book recommends weighing and measuring before you start the FAT eating diet.  The last time I weighed myself I was 153 or 154 lbs so I'd actually lost weight somewhere over the holidays which shocks the heck out of me but I'm not complaining.  Also, I didn't measure my body parts.  Measuring is recommended but I couldn't find my measuring tape until day 3. 
Menu:
AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia sweetener
Lunch:  Halibut, spinach lettuce, apple, 1 Melba toast
Dinner:  Crab meat (fake crab meat), asparagus, orange, Melba toast

Day 2 -  150.8 lbs
That's barely any loss so I was a bit worried this whole thing is a sham.  Also, I was hungry the day before.  Today was rough because before I went on this diet I'd already made plans to go out to lunch with a friend I hadn't seen in 2 years.  I changed our venue from Vietnamese to Applebees and ordered off the WW menu, but tweaked it. 
Menu:
AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia
Lunch: Shrimp skewers (it had a sweet bbq sauce (didn't know it came with the sauce) but I'd asked for no oil), broccoli (not one of the veggie choices in the HCG book but oh well, I'm still learning this whole thing.
Dinner: Chicken, asparagus, orange, 1 Melba Toast

Day 3 - 149.4 lbs
AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia
Lunch: Trout, spinach lettuce, 2 cuties, 1 Melba toast (2 cuties aren't the same as 1 orange I'm told,  Higher sugar content in a cutie)
Dinner: Chicken, cucumber, apple, 1 Melba toast, red wine

Day 4 - 148.2 lbs
AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia
Lunch: Chicken, green lettuce, cucumber, 2 cuties, 1 Melba toast
Dinner: Shrimp, cucumber, cutie, 1 Melba toast, red wine

Day 5 - 147.2
AM: Coffee with 2 TBS milk, Stevia
Lunch: Chicken, green salad, cucumber, apple, 1 Melba toast
Dinner: No idea.  We're going to see the Harlem Globetrotters tonight. I've asked my husband to bring me some chicken to eat in the car.  I have some fruit (orange/cuties) with me and my Melba toast.
I'll try to not blow it. Wish me Luck!