Beginning in early September of 2007 there was a two month period of time that I really put my nose to the grindstone in regards to this protocol.  I was reading everything and anything I could get my hands on and applied it directly to what I was doing.

In that time, there were lots of discussions I had with various people over at the HCG2 Yahoo Group, and when I look back on it today, I cannot believe how incredibly ON I was on about certain things.  That is not bragging.  That is just fact.

Over the next few days, I will be rewriting some of these observations and sharing them with you.

My Lowest Common Denominator Theory

Back in early September of 2007 JPS and I were having a discussion about how new the protocol was and that we were still figuring out all the nuances about it.  Since we didn’t have Dr. Simeons to ask, we had to come up with theories on our own.  I had mentioned to her that the Yahoo Group we belonged to at the time was basically a research study in what works and what doesn’t.  I had told her that with the wide diversity of people that there is on the board we are creating our own research study results.

But with like every research study results, in order for something to work for the masses, you have to bring things down to the lowest common denominator. So with the testing grounds that Dr. Simeons had in his time, he had to figure out what was going to work for every single person across the board. He had to bring his diet into a field where if anyone one did it, they were going to have similar results. He couldn’t possibly come up with a diet that would change from female to male, from age 45 to 25, from really obese to only needing to lose 15 pounds.

So my thoughts are this, and they always have been this:

You WILL have success on this protocol if you follow Dr. Simeons by the book. But you COULD also have success if you deviate for what is good for YOUR body. What is good for MY body is not what will work for YOUR body. I do believe in something NHW once told my sister in that “you will lose weight on this with whatever you eat as long as it totals 500 calories or less – you may not lose as fast as you would if you followed the menu, but you will lose faster than with any other diet” – and for some, quite frankly, this is all it is, a “diet”. To me though, it’s something FAR different. But you know what? NHW has been around for 18+ years and it has worked all that time with them.

Because all of these ‘case’ studies we did with ourselves was in the infancy stages, we really didn’t know what the final results will be.  But now that I have almost two years of my own research under my belt, I know what works and what doesn’t.  I know if done right and done correctly, that a good clean Phase 3 will yield good clean results, in other words, I can reset my hypothalamus to maintain my weight.

What will tomorrow bring?  More on the theory of “Lowest Common Denominator”.

Update

7.8 total for the round so far in 3 completed days (just for fun, I took my measurements – 5.75″ lost so far!)

I ate:

2 hard boiled eggs for lunch
2 hard boiled eggs, small can of tuna, lettuce, tomatoes and onions with a bit of sf relish and mustard, sprinkled with a bit of vinegar for dinner

Did I mention I was in the ZONE???

In the Zone

As a group of people that have dieted for what seems like eons of time the term “In the Zone” comes up often.  What does it mean exactly?

It’s that magical place where the mind and body sync, they are in tune with each other and things just happen to fall into place.  In respect to the Protocol, it’s that feeling of euphoria you get from doing the plan correctly and then seeing the results either as numbers on a scale or inches on a tape measure.  But even more than that, it’s that special something you feel and know that with each day that passes, you are accomplishing what used to be out of reach.

Those that are successful with weight loss know that perfection in following any plan is not possible.  Those people that realize that there will be setbacks, but plan to get past them whenever they might happen, are the ones that succeed long term for first of all losing the weight but then keeping it off.

When one does experience a set back, the first thing you must do is figure out what went wrong.  Was it a stressful situation or were you unprepared?  Whatever the ‘why’ it doesn’t matter; figure it out, and then make peace with it and move on.  If you cannot make peace with what has happened, you can never move forward.

I bring this up because there are a slew of people that have been gone from the forums for quite a while, and they just showed back up for the New Year.  In some of their comments on coming back, I saw more than once, “I felt bad” or “I didn’t know how people would react” or “I hate that this happened” – it seems that they have not made peace with the situation.  Or they have not come to terms with “it is what it is”.

But see, in my mind, just the mere fact that they came back shows me that these people have the UMPH to get back in the game.  They knew that “enough was enough” and instead of dwelling on the negative, they decided to take action and move forward.

So to those of you out there that came back, my hats off to you!  So no more of this dwelling on what happened, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back to losing.

That is what being in the zone means.  Knowing there will be setbacks to anything in life, and when they happen, figure out why, make peace with it and move on.

Update

1.6 lost overnight
6.4 total for the round so far in two completed days

I ate:

Catfish Creole on Green Beans for lunch
Chili with Cabbage for dinner

What can I say?  The HCG Protocol will NEVER fail you, honest to goodness.  You follow it, you believe it, you embrace it, and it will reward you every single time.

Dr. Simeons said you would lose your load gain weight within 48 hours, and by George he was right once again.  This is actually my 8th time starting a P2 portion and each and every time I have lost my LOAD GAIN during the first 24 – 48 hours.  Not ONE time has that failed.  Ever.  He absolutely KNEW what he was talking about, plain and simple.

Gain during Load:  3.2
Loss Overnight:  4.8

Amazing what happens to me during protocol.  My mind really becomes clear.  I think better.  I sleep better.  I am much more organized, I actually get things done.  JPS and I were joking around last night that we might as well inject for the rest of our lives because we both feel so incredible while we are on Protocol.  It’s a thought.

So today I was 162 – which incidentally was the exact weight I was when I closed my 4th round out back in February of this year.  So, my wanting to pretend that the whole 5th round was a maintenance round sounds good right about now, eh?

I am focused, what a feeling.

Yesterday, I ate 6 eggs.  I did that to clean my system out, and it worked like a charm.  Today is pure protocol.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings.