This one thing alone seems to be the most important factor about the hCG Protocol. Kevin Trudeau lulled us into believing that 1 pound a day losses were not only possible, but they were typical across the board. Nothing could be further from the truth. Dr. Simeons himself never EVER said that 1 pound a day losses were possible. His averages are lower; in fact, he estimates them to be 300 – 400 grams per day. This translates to approximately 10 – 14 ounces of loss per day, man or woman, over the course of treatment. To quote Dr. Simeons:

The degree of overweight is then calculated, and from this, the duration of treatment can be roughly assessed on the basis of an average loss of weight of a little less than a pound, say 300-400 grams-per injection, per day.

This brilliant man also gave the formula on how to count the daily losses:

We distinguish between the first three injections, which we call “non-effective” as far as the loss of weight is concerned, and the subsequent injections given while the patient is dieting, which we call “effective”. The average loss of weight is calculated on the number of effective injections and from the weight reached on the day of the third injection, which may be well above what it was two days earlier when the first injection was given.

Now I am the first one to admit that I have fiddled with the Protocol on more than one occasion, but this one thing I am a stickler for. Why is that? Well for one, even at 10 – 14 ounces a day, that is one heck of a lot of weight to lose each and every day. That promise alone makes surviving on 500 calories a day pretty bearable. If you start using some other figure to figure out your losses, then your not giving credit where credit is due. I know for some this is really a hard pill to swallow, especially those that might have gained a bunch on their “load” – but again people, Dr. Simeons gave you this miracle, count it for what it is. I know when I was losing regularly, I would calculate my “average” each round exactly the way he told me, but I also reported what my total losses were since the very first day I started. When I go around to the different blogs or journals and I see a number like 9.2 over the course of 20something days, I am like, huh? Something is wrong, they should be losing more than that, and I look back and try to figure out what happened when it dawns on me that they are counting some weird way – like that is how much they lost from the LIW from the previous round. WOW peeps, that isn’t fair to Dr. Simeons is it? That makes it sound like his Protocol is just like every other diet plan out there. Let’s not count our GAIN cause well, that just doesn’t count. HA! Can you see it rubs me the wrong way? But who am I? I have my thoughts, my ideas, my purist attitude about some things and some other things I just let go. This though is something I don’t. Ok, nuff said. My stats can be found on this page: Current Stats

Doing protocol 100% is agreeing with me, I must say. Over the last two days my losses haven’t been all that great, but that is because TOM is in the house. Yesterday and today I have definitely NOTICED that he is here, it’s a good thing I didn’t have any errands to run today! HA! I have been playing with the scale today and I do believe I might show a nice loss tomorrow. Of the many things I ate today, this is one of them. It’s a Strawberry Mango Salad – and I gotta tell you, it was DELISH! It’s actually a recipe from Peru – I would have never thought about adding those flavors together, but it works! My menu yesterday was: • Banana with almond milk • Veggie Nut Raw Vegan Burger and Tortilla Chips and Kombucha • Avocado/tomato/red onion/lemon/cilantro • Pineapple Have absolutely no idea how many calories that was, but whatever it was, I lost .4 because of it. Today I experimented with some raw mayo – it’s not where I want it, but it’s a start. Monica – HA! I don’t think Tequila qualifies as “RAW” – but good try tho! See, I told you this would be easy! HK – We have a very large population of Asians in Charleston so it’s always easy to find Sashimi grade fish. Gina – Did you find out about NAET? Girl, it’s totally amazing! Thanks for the explanation of the allergy thing. Amie – The raw food culture is HUGE – I think I might spend tomorrow sharing all my links with you folks, yeah, that’s the ticket. M – Oh yeah, even part time would be so healthy for you!!! Come on M, join the dark side! LOL

Margaret Thatcher once said “”You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”

This weight loss thing is a battle. One I am currently fighting with every essense of my being. I really thought that by now, almost 20 months after I had first heard about HCG that I would have been to goal, and been enjoying life as a “thin” person.

But the battle was only beginning – I have had some ups and downs with the protocol, but something I have finally come to realize is that I have not won it yet, and what is even more real than that is that I may have to fight many MORE battles before I can declare a win.

It seems over the last year I have spun in circles, not really understanding WHY but just chalking it up to unwise choices. It took this last failed attempt at a round on HCG to finally put a finger on what was happening and for me to get very proactive in finding a solution.

I am currently in Baton Rouge, Louisiana waiting to see a ND so that we can work on what I hope will be a solution to the ring around the rosey game I have been playing for 12 months.

As much as I hate to admit this, I am in Menopause, this much is real. Sure TOM decides to show up while I am making a ROAD TRIP, but he hadn’t reared his ugly head since December 5th of 2008, so that should have been my first clue that something was amis.

Because of some very special people out there, I have come to understand some things about this “change of life” I am going through. For some, the change comes and goes like a quiet whisper. For others, they go thru some physical challenges (night sweats, hot flashes). For still others, and it seems I fall into this particular category, the change creates chaos of unfathomable proportions which include emotional outbursts, sleep deprivation, mood swings, irrational thinking, difficulty in concentrating, memory lapses, and there are others as I am just naming the ones that I am experiencing.

One other challenge with going thru the change is the inevitable “weight gain” – interesting what Dr Simeons says in this short little paragraph:

Pregnancy or the menopause may annul the effect of a previous treatment.

Funny, this seems to be the category I am falling in. Since I started protocol, I have never had as tough a time as I am having now trying to maintain weight. No matter WHAT I do, I continue to gain. And do you know where I am gaining? Abdomanil area, which is directly related to hormone changes. So. There it is.

Just the tip of the iceberg that I call my life at the moment.

I am here in Baton Rouge to take the first step to feeling better. Because I can’t go on feeling this way. No one should have to go thru this.

Stay tuned, more is yet to come.

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R5P2C4 Starting Weight 150.6
Yesterday – 146.6
Today – 145.6
1.0 lb LOSS Overnight
2.6 lb UNDER LIW of Round Five Cycle 3 (148.2)
5.0 lb Lost Since Start of R5C4 (VLCD) 09/02/08
105.2 Total Lost Since Start of Protocol (VLCD) 06/26/07

Another good day.  I was looking over my numbers, like I usually do in the morning, and I started to get just a tad down on the percentage, as you know that is something that I look at all the time.  But this is the first break I have taken that I didn’t gain massive amounts of weight to lose quickly so my numbers are not meeting up to the past.  Once I figured that out, I felt better.  Yup!  I am 5 lbs down so far on day 5 – not too shabby, that is 1.25 lost per day – and I am no longer playing catchup, this is all virgin territory!  GOTTA LOVE IT!

My menu for yesterday is here:

• Coffee with 2% Milk
• Cottage Cheese and Blueberries
• Tuna with 1 T Light Mayo, Mustard, SF Relish and Lettuce – Chopped hard boiled egg
• One of the 48 Calorie Shakes – recipe to follow sometime next week!

UPDATE ON HANNA:  It was pretty nerve racking last night, the winds were howling and the rain was pelting – but we made it through unscathed.  Thank you everyone for your concern – things have indeed worked out for the best.

Support

Whenever we deal with anything in our lives, it really helps if we surround ourselves with people that share the same values, goals, passions, ambitions and beliefs.  This is even more important when a very focused part of our lives, changing the way we eat to lose weight, comes into play.  Just like anything else in life, we can do this by ourselves, but when we do it with a group of people that share our ideals and direction, well then, it makes the journey much more enjoyable.

I knew early on with the HCG Journey to Weight Loss that I was about to embark on that I was going to need a strong support group to help me with my journey.  In the beginning, I chose the HCG DIeters group over at Yahoo Groups, because back then, they seemed to have the most knowledge and were very true to the protocol – which as you all well know, was the purist attitude I maintained during most of my journey.

One thing lead to another, and I found myself becoming part of a support team that to me is unbreakable.  I went from the original group, to another YahooGroup (HCG2) to an online support forum (that was actually more my cup of tea format wise) to what you see now available at My HCG Journey Community Forums – and all along the way, I have surrounded myself with little pieces of the puzzle that pretty much created the team of members that I call my ROCK with this protocol.

Creating a Core Support Group

To create a support group, two things have to take place.  First, the important aspects of you, what makes you tick, what your passions are and what your needs are, they need to be rock solid in your own mind – in other words, you need to know what you want in order to know how to ask for it.  Then you have to give them reasons to want to support you – most importantly realizing that this is a two way street.  You must also GIVE support in order to GET support.

Your should surround yourself with a team that handles things you do not excel at, so that they too can fit into the puzzle – one person should never be greater than the next, it should all work like a well oiled machine so that as one, the goals of the GROUP can be realized.  Then you have something you can work with that can accomplish ALL your goals.

The team I have surrounded myself with, they fulfill different needs in my journey, which I am hoping that I do the same in return for them (they tell me I do anyhoo) and in so doing, I have seen 3 of the core group of 6 that I surround myself with already reaching goal, and maintaining nicely I might add.  Their reaching goal while on this HCG Journey while I am a part of their lives has given me more motivation than you can ever imagine.

Extending That Group

In My HCG Journey, I have come across literally THOUSANDS of like minded individuals that have shared the same goals, desires, ambitions, beliefs and so on (in regards to the HCG Protocol).  Some are around for just a moment, others hang for the time frame that it takes them to lose their weight, and still others flutter in and out of my life, but each time I have a moment in life with one of these individuals, I deem it a privilege to have shared in this journey with them.  I cannot tell you how exciting it is to see an email from someone that I have been in contact with along the way that I haven’t heard from in a while drop me a line to tell me how they are doing.

All This to Say…

Thank you for being a part of my support group.  I truly believe that I couldn’t have done it without each piece of the puzzle you all have provided being here to help along the way.  I am here, here for the duration, here to help in any way I can to share this miracle with anyone who will listen.