Phase 3 – Day 1

Weight: 173.5

Considering that I have not been truly following the three day very low calorie diet (VLCD) restrictions, I think having gained only .5 pound is pretty good, and still within the 2 pound range that I'm allowed before having to take any drastic measures.

Phase 3 is a term coined by Kevin Trudeau to explain the phase of the hCG diet where you eat a high-protein diet but no starches and sugars for three weeks to lock in your metabolism.  I refer to it as the Atkins style phase of the program, although that is a fairly loose description because I have been told I can eat whatever fruit I want as long as it's not a high sugar fruit, such as a banana.  That is confusing for me because fruit has starches and sugars.  I plan to stick to grapefruit, blueberries, strawberries, and cantaloupe, to name a few.  I'm especially looking forward to having my high-protein shakes for breakfast that includes fruit, tofu, and my whey-free protein powder.

Interestingly, I have not been so hungry for breakfast and I may need to re-evaluate when I eat breakfast, or any meal for that matter.  Timing is one of the issues that I have not come to grips with; what happens when you're not hungry at the time the food is available but you know that you will be hungry when the food is not available?  I guess that will have to be on my learning curve.

We are having company this weekend and I'm really looking forward to having greater latitude in my food choices, as well as getting to spend time with them.

Day 48 – no hCG, still VLCD

Weight: 173

Considering I have been eating ice cream and nuts for the past couple of days, a .5 pound increase isn’t too worrisome!  I also didn’t drink enough water yesterday, so will try to make sure I do today.

Aside from not having any ice cream at home, I’m wearing my new jeans today and I think that will also help to keep me motivated to eat well.  One thing I love about these jeans is they will “move” with me as I get rid of that last little bit of weight, too.  I am already starting to get excited about round two!

Day 47 – no hCG, still VLCD

Weight:  172.5

This phase of 3 days of staying on the very low calorie diet while letting the hCG move out of my system has been a bit challenging.  Not because I’m starving, but because I’m mentally ready to move on and eat what I want.  Which I have been a bit; yesterday was much more than today, so when I saw that the scale hadn’t changed, I was relieved.  However, I may have missed an opportunity to lose another .5 pounds, so that is the consequence.

I am still puzzled by my seemingly sudden desire to stuff myself.  I was talking with a friend today who said that when she gets to a certain point in her weight loss journey she always sabotages herself.  If that is what’s going on with me, and taking into account my behavior only, that would be the logical conclusion.  I need to fix this, and fast!

I truly want to accomplish this task once and for all.  So, tonight, I went and bought an outfit that fits.  And, for the first time that I can remember since 7th grade, I bought a size 14 pair of pants!  Mind you, they are stretch jeans, but they fit!  Well!  No baggy butt, no baggy legs and I don’t have a muffin top!  I even bought a nice top to go with them.  My idea is that if I am wearing clothing that fits and  looks nice, I may be more aware and more conscious of my actions and my feelings.

My co-worker today mentioned that my pants are about to fall off of me.  I plan to replace my work pants last, since I do still have 15 pounds I want to lose from around my middle, but she’s right, I will have to replace them soon.  I bought the nice jeans tonight, rather than work pants, because I am taking a long weekend where I can take advantage of my new outfit, rather than thinking about work attire!  Next week I also get to telecommute, so I get to wear what I want.

I am still amazed at being able to wear much smaller clothing!

Day 46 – no hCG, still VLCD

Weight: 172.5

I figured I’d be back to this weight, the lowest I’ve gotten to on this diet before our company came this weekend, and I am quite pleased about that because boy, did I cheat yesterday!  I guess I am ready to be done, and heading into the Atkins style phase!

What I’m finding is that when I put away the leftovers after dinner, I have a hard time staying out of them!  Especially since my husband eats some things different than I have been eating, such as frying his shrimp with a soy flour coating, rather than eating them grilled, like mine.

I think, though, part of that is my craving for more fat, as I did not do this early on in the program.  Lately, I’ve also been feeling very constrained by the list of foods; I want to eat what everyone else does!

While I would have liked to have gotten rid of more than I did, I am glad I got rid of 22 total pounds on this system, and I am planning on the next round in mid-September.  I want to finish THIS project!

Day 45 – last day of hCG

Weight: 173

I’m glad to see that I went down.  I’ll be back to 172 by tomorrow, which is the weight I need to maintain until the second round.

I was full pretty much all day yesterday, and I did really well on food until after dinner.  I wasn’t hungry, I just wasn’t satisfied, I wanted more fat or protein or something.  Once again, I headed to the nuts.  It’s much easier to cheat once you’ve already cheated, I think.  So, this is a good lesson for next time.

This tendency also tells me that I am ready to be done with this round.  I don’t like the restriction of food that I can’t have that isn’t even bad for me, plus I’ve become really focused on food, and I don’t like that at all.  I plan to change that!

While I only need to wait six weeks between rounds, my next round won’t be until mid-September because we are going out of town over Labor Day weekend and I have another trip after that planned for two weeks later.  I will, however, be able to enjoy a nice Thanksgiving dinner when I’m done!

Day 44

Weight: 174

Given the way my stomach feels this morning, very full and a little bloated, I am almost surprised I don’t weigh more!  The scale fluctuated between 173.5 and 174, but as I’ve said before I take the high number.

This is also a good practice run, I think, for seeing how I handle certain foods and certain situations.  I am fairly sure I can keep away from chips in the future; they were unsatisfying in many ways, and I rarely eat them anyway.  I kept to a small piece of pie, and I really wanted more, although, as I’ve been talking and thinking about, pie is not about being hungry.

With these last two days of hCG, lots of water, and following the diet well, I think I will be able to at least get my weight back to 172.5.  Feeling stuffed like I do, that shouldn’t be too hard.

Day 43 – evening update

Well, the visit with friends was really good, but even before they got here I was hungry early in the afternoon.  I was also tired and even laid down for about an hour and took a nap!

So, I ate a lot before they got here, and felt like I was rapidly running out of food for the day.  I ate nuts to begin with, but then, trying to stay away from them, I ate my second fruit.  Then I had a WASA cracker with some peanut butter and I was set to wait for dinner.

Dinner itself was fine, I ate my grilled chicken breast and cauliflower, but I did have a piece of my husband’s specialty, home made sweet potato pie with whipped cream and it was great!  I haven’t had a piece of pie for at least 3 months!  I also ate a bunch of sour cream and onion flavored potato chips.  More than anything, it was the attitude “well, I already blew it, so have some!”  as well as “you don’t eat these very often in the first place”.  So, I will probably pay big time for it in the morning.  I’m already feeling bloated and full.

Pie – worth it.

Chips – not worth it.

Day 43

Weight: 172.5

I am so close to my goal weight that I wish I could just keep going!  Well, sort of.

I’m getting to a point where I am tired of having limits on what foods I can have.  I don’t necessarily want so much more food, I just want to eat what my husband eats.  Like his big juicy hamburger and mock potato salad!  And we are having company this afternoon, and he’s making barbequed pork ribs!  Now that is not on the list!

I have 2 more days of hCG left, then 3 more days of staying on the VLCD (very low calorie diet) before switching to the Atkins style diet, and I can tell you, I’m getting ready!

I have been going through the low carb cookbooks after dinner and announcing to my husband the recipes that I can’t wait to have.  He said “you know you’re on a diet when you study the cookbook like it’s Steinway”.  Funny guy, huh?

I suspect I’ll eventually need to reset my final weight loss goal, to 160, or possibly even 155 (that figure just seems outer-worldly to me!), but it’s so hard to say at this point.  If I am going to have to do another round of hCG anyway, then I want to take full advantage of the opportunity and get it taken care of all at once.  How much I want to lose will make a difference in how much hCG I buy and the timing of it, too.  See, I’m already planning the next round!

One problem with doing that is that your goal becomes a moving target and you never can achieve it.  I’m sure there is some psychological name for that in all of the weight loss issues out there.  Once I get to 165, I’ll make an assessment and go from there.

We went to Wal-Mart yesterday and got our pictures taken to document our weight loss.  They turned out really good, too!  I can’t wait to share them with our family.  We even took a full body photo, but I didn’t pick that one to be printed.  I still have 7.5 pounds to make my goal, and that could make all the difference in the world to a full body photo.  Besides, I want to dress up fancy for that one!