R2 VLCD Day #4: -1.8lbs (AKA: Nom nom nom nom nom... Yummy Food Today!)

Another 1.8lbs down this morning! Very impressive loss, is it not? If I keep going at this rate I'll lose 10lbs in one week which would be totally amazing! 

Another amazing thing is the food I had for dinner tonight. My friend (let's call her Rambo) sent me this salad dressing from Toronto a couple of weeks ago. It's balsamic vinegar and it touts  "Calorie Free Salad Dressings. No calories, fat, carbs, gluten or sugars of any kind!" ...you must be thinking what I was thinking: Ew. Right? After she sent it I had a little taste and it was okay but nothing special, the special part are the ingredients! See the nutritional info below:




Now, if you've been keeping up to date, these are all things I can actually eat on this diet! Basically any spices, white vinegar, balsamic vinegar, mustard and up to half of the juice of a lemon per day. I am all over this shit! I would prefer to remove the things I cannot pronounce but for what the flavour is doing to my dry ass chicken and juicy tomatoes is incredible! I dumped this dressing all over my dinner tonight and I was in heaven! I can definitely eat this for the next 36 days, no problemo. Sooo yummy. Hey Rambo, wanna hook me up with another bottle? This one will be gone in no time.


Other than that, it was a pretty regular day. I am drinking loads of water and one Venti Americano every day (with Splenda, woohoo) and am really enjoying my time so far. No temptations as of yet, still too high on my loss every morning and after doing my first round, 36 more days just doesn't seem that long. It is just so worth it.


I am having more and more trouble with my clothing though, I can barely fit into anything, or at least it can't fit me...? How do I say that everything is too damn big? Whatever, anyway, the things I can fit in to that don't look ridiculous just clearly don't fit right. I want to go shopping so bad but just can't waste the money yet. I am so looking forward to shopping when this is all over though! Nothing better to keep me motivated then a new pair of jeans and not shopping in the petite plus size sections anymore. Does anyone know how to measure your dress size? I usually just went for the largest size and worked my way down until it fit right. I have clothes ranging from a size 12 to an 18 and they all fit the damn same. 


Ah well, that's for future me to worry about. Also, future me is incredibly happy and past me is super jealous... in fact, current me is super jealous. Boo-urns future me.. also, you go girl. That made sense, right?

R2 VLCD Day #3: -2.1lbs (AKA: 5.7lbs Lost in Two Days... AGAIN!)

Yahoo! Down 2.1lbs this morning! That makes it 5.7lbs lost in only my first two VLCD days! Same as last round except it was only 5.1bs, ooooh I am already off to an amazing start over half a pound over last round!!! Let's hope this keeps up!!  Clearly my facial and the Splenda had no adverse effects. Lucky meeeee! I like Splenda much more than I like Stevia. It just doesn't blend as well with coffee although the flavoured drops are pretty good... but I still prefer Splenda.

Today, unfortunately, I had a wicked tummy ache all day while working. I had chicken and an apple for lunch so that helped calm my tummy but I should have grabbed a cucumber or lettuce to go with them because my cherry tomatoes did not help. Maybe they're too acidic? I think it's because I haven't been taking my fiber this round so as soon as I got home I had a big glass of water with some 100% acacia fiber and I felt considerably better! Gotta remember to have that in the mornings so I don't suffer anymore. I didn't feel hungry today just a grumbly unhappy tummy for a couple of hours. I am feeling sooo much better now that I'm home and have had my dinner as well.

I had steak for dinner although it was cooked yesterday and just reheated tonight, that is not very good. I think I'll stick to my burgers when I am having beef for a meal. I am also considering trying prawns, my friend said she eats prawns every once and a while and it has still worked, she even said she has had two hard boiled eggs (only one yolk) for breakfast and it also went over well! Lucky me! I love hard boiled eggs and my dogs love the yolk so that's nice for all of us.

Can't wait for tomorrow. I like weighing myself before bed too and when I wake up in the middle of the night so I can watch the scale go down but I am still shocked at how much of a difference an hour makes! I always weigh myself at the same time each morning and man do I love 7:30am. Oooooooh I am just so fucking happy right now. I was totally scared that it wouldn't work this time, for some reason. You have to leave at least 6 weeks in between your first and second round and even longer between your second and third and I was just so scared that the 6 weeks wasn't long enough or that last time was just a fluke. I keep thinking... man, this is too good to be true! But no, I lost 30lbs and it stayed off for 6 whole weeks and now, I'm losing even more and it will stay the fuck off! Maybe by the time next summer comes I will be able to wear a bikini for the first time in my life? Who knows but a girl can dream and man... these dreams are good.

People are actually starting to notice the loss, I went to visit my mom and stepdad last week and they both said it made a huge difference. My mom says my butt is smaller and Howard says my face actually has a shape (other than round). The before and after pictures totally speak for themselves but man it's nice for OTHER people to see the difference too. Even the girls I work with were saying I looked good. I am so thrilled... why the hell didn't I do this sooner? Oh thank you HCG. Thank you thank you thank you! Til tomorrow friends, and please... if this is a dream... don't ever wake me up.

R2 VLCD Day #2: -3.6lbs (AKA: Owwie owwie owwie! Damn You Needles!)

Firstly: Yahoo!! My first day of weight loss and I lost 3.6lbs! The exact same amount I lost on my first day of my first round. I'm very happy with that loss and look forward to hopefully losing another 30lbs in the next 40 days. Today was a little easier than yesterday, I cooked my burger up before work and packed all of my lunch. I felt no need to touch it before noon which was nice, the HCG seems to be working although I am still haunted slightly by hunger. The hunger should only last for a couple more days and then it will be gone, just like last round.

Secondly: I'm an idiot. For my injections it seems that I bought different needles then the ones I was using last round. The ones I had used before were made for "comfort" (riiiight...) but apparently that means that they have added a lotion or something to the tips so they slide in easier and you can barely feel them. These ones I have are not like that so they seem to pinch a bit more, nothing extreme just not as subtle. Once they are in they are painless but it takes slightly more effort to suck it up every day and stab myself.

Yesterday I thought I would get smart and do it like the professionals, a nice smooth jab! Quick and painless, right? Yea... that didn't work. I felt like I'd stabbed myself in the gut!! I was hopping around pinching my skin for a good 30 seconds cursing at myself for thinking I was a pro. Slow and easy wins the race, y'all. I have a small bruise on my tummy from my idiocy so that remind my not to do that again. Hmmm... I wonder how many people I've just completely grossed out with today's entry? Not so interested in the diet now, are ya? No worries, just so everyone knows, there is a sublingual version of the diet called the HCG drops. I'm not sure where to get these that are not homeopathic but if you do find them they involve no injections, just a couple drops under your tongue three times a day. A little easier but psychologically not as impactful. But, to each their own as long as it works!

Aside from hurting myself, I am curious about my weight loss tomorrow because while, yes, I followed all of the rules for eating; I did have some Splenda in my coffee this morning instead of Stevia, which is recommended, and I also had a facial. While on the diet you are supposed to avoid all moisturizers and lucky or unlucky for me, my facialist uses food based products such as an apricot scrub and a coconut mask etc. Interestingly enough though, my facialist is also on the HCG diet (thanks to me, woop woop) and she does these masks every day but she has still lost 17lbs so far! I think she'll lose about 20lbs total for the diet which is very impressive!! You go girl! To counter my facial I'm going to abstain from my Melba toasts today. No biggie!

Other than that, no cheats. I bought a battery for my new scale and it works perfectly. I made my chicken and beef for the next few days which will make it considerably more easy to stick to the diet. I am curious what the future of this diet holds for me as I will be on it for my birthday, Halloween and my fiancee's birthday! No fun will be had by moi. So worth it though.

R2 VLCD Day #1 (AKA: How Do I Do This Again?)

So woke up this morning expecting the worst from my scale and lo and behold, I was down almost a  full pound from yesterday! WTF body? Yesterday was another loading day although I took it much easier than I did on Saturday. Who the hell knows but either way I am feeling much better not to be up so high when I start my VLCD.

Speaking of, today was day 1! I am not nearly as prepared as I was last time as I have not cooked any of my meat before starting, most of that has to do with the fact that my damn food scale is not working. I bought another one today but forgot to buy batteries. Fortunately I had some frozen burger patties that were left over from my previous round. Lucky me! Except I didn't have any protein for lunch. Boo-urns.

Today was a little weird, hunger didn't hit me until I got home around 5pm. Then I was ravenous until I shoved some food down my gullet. Can't wait to see the scale tomorrow though. Oooooh that's the best damn part!

Can't wait to let you know what the damage is!

R2 Loading Day #2 (AKA: Gained 5lbs Yesterday. That Seems Reasonable... or NOT)

So I finished off my first loading day yesterday with dinner at Hidden Lounge. That included scallop Mac n Cheese, pulled pork and blue cheese mini pizzas, bacon wrapped sirloin and many other delectable dishes. We then went to the movies, although we missed the movie and instead played video games at the arcade for an hour, but I did get to enjoy a bag of popcorn! I used to be able to put away a medium sized popcorn within two hours at the movies, now, as soon as I have a single handful my craving is over. So weird. It would be the first time ever that I tossed half a bag of popcorn simply because I was done. Go me, I guess!

Anyhow, after eating my weight in junk food I put on an extreme amount apparently. My scale read 5lbs over what it did yesterday! On my previous round during the loading days I only put on 3lbs across both days. This seems weird to me. I wonder if I screwed my metabolism by not having my weight settle properly during the maintenance phase. This round I am going to work extra hard to avoid carbs and sugar during Phase 3.

I am still enjoying my loading day today but I am craving much less. All I've eaten today is a caprese salad, bacon and some nuts, some brie and crackers, teriyaki chicken, two pieces of yam tempura and some gomaee. In reality that is not that much, especially on a loading day! I am still full from yesterday, I think.

I am kind of nervous to start my VLCD tomorrow. I want to lose another 30lbs so badly but again am scared to eat the wrong thing or forget a rule or cheat. I have officially booked my trip to Vegas in December and would love to look hot in the city of sin! I doubt I'll have any issues with hunger though, my stomach has learned not to complain because it must know that I always get what I need!

Anyhow, wish me luck.

R2 Loading Day #1 (AKA: Too Much of a Good Thing? Hell No! ...okay fine maybe I went overboard.)

Hello and welcome back to Folly's disappearing act AKA: my highly successful HCG diet. In my first round you will notice that I lost almost 30lbs in only 43 days! Not too shabby, eh? You can read all about that in my previous blog entries.

I have been off the weight loss portion of the diet (Phase 2) and into the maintenance portion for 6 weeks (Phase 3) and am only up 3lbs which I would say is pretty impressive. I have read some terrifying blogs about girls who have lost 20lbs during the VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet) part and then gained 15lbs back during the maintenance phase because they went to a wedding and ate the entire cake during the ceremony and then stole food off of everyone else's plates when they weren't looking and then she ate every morsel of food in her pantry and her children starved to death... or something like that... I dunno, I probably didn't read the whole thing or may I covered my eyes because it was too scary. Either way, I'm still on track so there crazy cake eating child starving lady. I am WINNING! Oh god... I just used a Charlie Sheen reference... I've eaten way too many cupcakes today.

Last week I did a small cleanse which was nice although I also did two steak days because I was on the island with work and had pasta for the first time in months. Not worth it the steak days of torture. I've found that nothing tastes as good as I remember anymore! I had some Chinese food a couple of weeks ago that I had been craving and was severely disappointed with it. Veggies never let me down though, I had a couple cherry tomatoes last night and damn were they good.

I have been actively avoiding basically any of the foods I was eating during Phase 1 including chicken breast, tomatoes, cucumbers, lean steak, ground beef or chicken and Melba toast. I've done this because a) I was fucking sick of them and b) knew I was doing a second round and didn't want to be fucking sick of them.

I am absolutely ready to start my second round and am currently doing my favorite part of the HCG diet... my loading days. Loading days are the first two days of the diet where you eat as much fat as possible so that your fat cells are nice and plump so that when you start your VLCDs it will help control the hunger. Also known as the best recommended part of a diet EVER.

It is 2:30pm here on Saturday afternoon and let me tell you what I've eaten already today in the order they were eaten:

4 Chocolate chip cookies
Caprese salad with balsamic reduction
Nando's mixed nuts
chocolate milk
French toast
Bacon
Orange juice  (All of the last 7 items were before 9:30am)
Fatburger Poutine
Fatburger BBQ burger w/ bacon
2 medium cokes
3 mini cupcakes
1 rootbeer lollipop from A&W (They're still free! So awesome.)

I am so full but damn am I happy. All of these items were perfectly picked out as the shit I've been craving for the last 3 months but have actively denied myself. I figure if I eat these specific items and plan out my two loading days then I will hit 90% of the cravings I will have and it will be easier to say 'No' to them.

Also this morning, while devouring my cookies, I mixed my first batch of HCG! During the last round the therapist is the one that mixed the HCG for me so I didn't really think much of it but this time it was all me. Somehow I managed to splash myself with the HCG and spill a bunch on my table so there's that. Let's hope that I got enough in the damn water to actually control my hunger for the next 30 days til I mix the second batch. It looks okay but who the hell knows. I'll keep you updated on this fiasco and if worse comes to worse then I'll just mix a second batch. C'est la vie.

Anyways, please get back to devoting 10 minutes of your day to reading my blog and please do not hesitate to contact me with comments or questions at any time. Also, if you're interested in trying this diet, please feel free to contact me, I can hook you up.

Good luck!

Phase 4 - Carbs Are NOT My Friend...

So I've moved on past the 3 weeks of no carb and no sugar and am now adding them slowly back in. So far... complete failure. I am still doing steak days every couple of days because seriously, carbs are evil. If I have a single piece of bread I put on like 2lbs! Fortunately the steak days knock it right off again but still! Sugar is a little easier on me as I've found that chocolate doesn't make me gain like crazy but I still have to be super duper careful. Now, I must admit that I have gained back some weight... about 3lbs. My weight stabilized a little higher than my lowest weight on the VLCD but I'm okay with that. My body is happy and so am I.

I am letting myself have some things like pudding with more sugar, mints, sugary fruits and I even had a vegan chocolate chip cookie but most of the time I am so scared to gain the weight back that I simply avoid everything that feels wrong. I no longer crave burgers, hotdogs, candy, chips or ice cream. None of it seems worth it and if I do have some I just feel guilty. This is literally the longest time I have EVER not eaten chips or popcorn. It's incredible! Even now when I think about hittin up McDonalds for a cheeseburger I instantly feel guilty and think of an apple instead.

This diet has literally changed me in so many ways. I have never gone this long without reverting back to my old ways. I see food so differently now and, as Dr. Simeon suggests, everything I eat is deliberate. I think about every morsel and hesitate before anything touches my lips. I think about the consequences, the experience and whether I feel like doing a steak day the next day before eating it. While away in Whistler with Nick this past weekend I ate some desert, I had some potatoes and I had some bread and butter. I enjoyed those things immensely but for the first time in... well.. ever, I didn't finish everything. I actually left almost half of a slice of ice cream cake on the plate and had them take it away! And I didn't even fantasize about it later that night...

The other day I bought a cherry coke from a store in Poco, do you know how hard it is to find cherry coke in Canada?? I loooove cherry coke but I only drank half of it, then poured the rest down the sink. I enjoyed the flavour, enjoyed the opportunity but did not feel the need to over indulge. I do, on the other hand, over indulge in almonds and pepperoni and sugar free pudding but feel no guilt. I've changed my eating habits and I couldn't be prouder!


Now, the next hurdle will be doing a second round of the VLCD with the HCG again next month. I am going to hate it and it will be harder to avoid the new foods I'm enjoying but I've still got lots of pounds to lose! Also, I'm going for a physical with my doctor next week and he has agreed to watch me throughout my next round to make sure it is not hurting me in any way. I'm looking forward to the next round and dreading it all at the same time. I am truly looking forward to my loading days though because then I can eat what I want for two days without any guilt. Hell, I'm even planning my meals for those two days! So far the list includes ice cream, Indian food, McDonald's and cup cakes... not all together but I'm sure that wouldn't be too bad either. Hmmm....

Oh! And one more thing! I have a friend of mine who decided to try the HCG diet after seeing my success, she has been on it for 17 days and has already lost 13lbs! She even had one little cheat (cottage cheese of all things) which set her back by 2lbs and 2 days but is still on the track to losing mega pounds. I wasn't just a fluke!! Yipee! Also, she uses a lot of moisturizers etc. every day and has found that on days when she doesn't use the moisturizer she does lose more lbs but she will still lose regardless, that gives you dry skin folks hope to succeed on this totally bonkers insane diet too!