At the start of my day today, I had declared today to be “Tofu Tuesday’s” totally prepared to do the day Vegan Style. It was a lot harder than it seems. Getting in protein while on protocol without the added carbs is very VERY hard. Tofu is about the only thing that you can work with VEGAN that will give you some protein but not too much carbs or calories. As it stands, for the entire day I only had 24 grams of protein – when a normal day on P2 is usually around 35 – 50, so if any of you have some ideas on how to up the protein and not go over on cals, bring it on. And don’t tell me protein powder, ugh, can’t do that stuff. Nope, not gonna work for this woman.

Dawn mentioned Nori, and I thought, yeah, that is cool, but when I went to EarthFare today to get some groceries, and saw that a package was like $20 and my budget was $30, I was like, um, no way, that can wait. I ended up getting more than a few things from EarthFare that I have been wanting to get for awhile. Some vegetarian broth, some vegetarian Worcestershire sauce, the Coconut Milk (OMG, I finally bought the RIGHT STUFF) and I got some Silk Creamer, and that actually surprised me, that was pretty darn good.

The tofu has to be eaten within 2 – 3 days after opening the box, so I am gonna go ahead and use it tomorrow. I had picked out two recipes to try today that involved tofu, and only made one, so I will do the other tomorrow. Trying to think what I am gonna make Wednesdays for my blogging experience? Wacky Wednesdays? Wildcard Wednesdays? Probably Wild Card Wednesdays so that whatever I might have leftover from my back to back veggie type days I can use up if need be on Wednesday.

So this was my meal for dinner. MMMM, it was delish. It’s called “Ginger-Sesame Tofu with Wilted Watercress” and I redid it to be P2 legal – I have to hand it to the Vegans out there, they really depend on presentation, texture and spice to liven up there meals, this was utterly fantastic. Honest to goodness. I highly recommend this to everyone.

So my meals today were:

• Coffee with Coconut Cream
• Coffee with Silk Creamer
• Green Smoothie made with Tofu, Spinach, Papaya and Blueberries
• Ginger-Sesame Tofu with Wilted Watercress
• Dried plums (this was unavoidable, I got stuck out longer than anticipated, but it was Vegan and delish!)
• Cucumbers with lemon and cilantro

Totals were 497 calories, 17 grams fat, 71 grams carbs (13 fiber), 24 grams protein

I eliminated 3.4 pounds overnight! I am at 6 lbs total eliminated – I am not interested in a daily average, so I am counting my losses from my first day of loading. That goes in direct contrast to the way Dr S does things, but like I said, I don’t care about average daily losses, I am looking for a 20 pound drop for this “cycle” and then I will take a break, so I am almost a third of the way there! WOO HOO FOR ME!

M – WOO HOO – let’s do this thing and let’s do it right my friend! GO US!!!

There is lots to be said about clear thinking.  This is something that has been missing from my life for quite a while.

If you look back to my first four rounds of hCG, you will see that I was very focused, and then something happened where I kinda went bonkers. Hmmmm, what is the relation?

Whatever it is, it doesn’t merit spending too much time on.  Whatever it is, it’s been fixed, and for the first time, in what seems like YEARS (yeah, like since before my daughter was born in 10/99) I am thinking with a clear head.

So much so that I am actually “THIS CLOSE” to releasing an “eBook” that has to do with something that I hold near and dear to my heart:  Maintaining the losses that have been accomplished through the use of the hCG Protocol.  To me, maintaining the losses are the most perplexing part of the Protocol.   Over the 1.5 years PLUS that I have been on the hCG Protocol, I have, with the help of others devised quick fixes to catch any ‘gains’ that might happen and focus in on keeping them at bay so that we don’t have the YO YO Diet Effect that some of us have become accustomed to over the years.

I am longing to be back on Protocol.  But I value my health so much more, and if my ND says no, then really, I have to trust her and move on.

Today, I gained 1.2 – but I am pretty sure it was due to the fact that I was up late finishing up a goal I was working on and decided that a little snack of leftover steak wouldn’t bother me.  Yeah, I know better.  Too much protein produces a GAIN, but I did it anyway.  All in all tho, I have lost 9.2 lbs since the day I left to go to Baton Rouge to visit my ND.  So this is a good thing.

Keep watching, it’s getting exciting!

R5P2C4 Starting Weight 150.6
Yesterday – 144.6
Today – 143.6
1.0 lb LOSS Overnight
4.6 lb UNDER LIW of Round Five Cycle 3 (148.2)
7.0 lb Lost Since Start of R5C4 (VLCD) 09/02/08
107.2 Total Lost Since Start of Protocol (VLCD) 06/26/07

Another one pound loss.  Nothing really different for my menu:

• Coffee with 2% Milk – Hershey’s Unsweetened Cocoa
• Hamburger Grilled, with lettuce and tomato – just ate dinner – had a bigger portion of meat

I have something to talk about.

Cycles

I have been getting lots of questions on cycling lately. It’s not something that I can give a short answer to (is anything ever in my world?) so I decided to write an article about it. There are several things that come into play that made me decide to do what I assumed would be my “final” round in cycles.

There are more than a few things that come into play – and these are things that I have personally come up with having months on months of PURIST PROTOCOL under my belt, along with rounds that totaled 8 weeks (1st Round), 6 weeks (2nd Round), 3 weeks (3rd Round) and 4 weeks (4th Round) before I even considered doing things this way.

Why do I say that? I get questioned sometimes about my pulling away from Dr. Simeon’s book, and what gives me that right? First, I have the right because I did 4 rounds (total of 21 weeks with a loss of 98.8 lbs) following his protocol to a “T” – I have the supporting data to find out what works and what doesn’t for me and I have used that information to make informed decisions on my own “self doctoring” path that I have chosen in My HCG Journey.

In looking over how I arrived at the decision to spend my 5th round in cycles, I considered the following:

Head in the Game
Minimum Course
Unforeseen Interruptions
P3 Breaks
Jump Start Losses

Let’s go over this ONE by ONE.

Head in the Game

I wrote an article way back when and in it was discussed the whole MIND GAME routine we play with ourselves and how it relates to the protocol. I have found that it is EASY PEASY to commit to a “short round” and have the OPTION of making it longer, than trying to do this long butt round and being disappointed in the results. So since I knew what the MINIMUM course was – I figured I could be on HCG for 3 weeks at a time. Ah, so then my next point logically is this:

Minimum Course

In his book Pounds and Inches, Dr. Simeon’s says this under “Duration of Treatment”:

We never give a treatment lasting less than 26 days, even in patients needing to lose only 5 pounds. It seems that even in the mildest cases of obesity the diencephalon requires about three weeks rest from the maximal exertion to which it has been previously subjected in order to regain fully its normal fat-banking capacity. Clinically this expresses itself in the fact that when in these mild cases treatment is stopped as soon as the weight is normal, which may be achieved in a week, it is much more easily regained than after a full course of 23 injections.

So it stands to reason that you can do a SHORT course as per his instructions with NO issues. In doing SHORT cycles like this, you will then ward off any possibility of “Immunity” that Dr. Simeon’s talks about in his book. In any case, I have my thoughts on IMMUNITY as well; in so much as it is NOT the factor that Dr. Simeon’s thought it was in his day. The unfortunate thing is that Dr. Simeon’s passed long before he could complete his research – but really, this is a thought for another day.

So we have established that 3 week cycles are AOK – now what about the breaks? Let’s look at what Dr. Simeon’s says about “Unforeseen Interruptions”:

Unforeseen Interruptions

Unforeseen Interruptions of Treatment

If an interruption of treatment lasting more than four days is necessary, the patient must increase his diet to at least 800 Calories by adding meat, eggs, cheese, and milk to his diet after the third day, as otherwise he will find himself so hungry and weak that he is unable to go about his usual occupation. If the interval lasts less than two weeks the patient can directly resume injections and the 500-Calorie diet, but if the interruption lasts longer he must again eat normally until he has had his third injection.

When a patient knows beforehand that he will have to travel and be absent for more than four days, it is always better to stop injections three days before he is due to leave so that he can have the three days of strict dieting which are necessary after the last injection at home. This saves him from the almost impossible task of having to arrange the 500 Calorie diet while en route, and he can thus enjoy a much greater dietary freedom from the day of his departure. Interruptions occurring before 20 effective injections have been given are most undesirable, because with less than that number of injections some weight is liable to be regained. After the 20th injection an unavoidable interruption is merely a loss of time.

In other words, he says there would be situations that would be needed to be considered where you had to take a break, you would have to have AT LEAST 800 calories and that if the interruption was LESS than 14 days you go straight back into VLCD with your first dose of HCG, but if it were LONGER than 14 days you would eat NORMALLY for two days with HCG and then the THIRD DAY would be a VLCD day with a dose of HCG. And he also tells us that after the 20th injection, you are pretty safe – so are you beginning to see my line of reasoning in my breaks?

I have chosen to keep my breaks while I am CYCLING this round to between 7 – 10 days long each. That is my choice. But you have until the 21st day on a break for it still to be considered a cycle because anything MORE than that would be an ENTIRE PHASE 3 break, and your round would be complete. A round is a COMPLETE Phase 2 and a COMPLETE Phase 3 – and then however many days you decide to do in Phase 4 – anything less than that it becomes a cycle (or it does in my world!).

So then, what happens when I am breaking for 7 – 10 days?

P3 Breaks

You have to follow the same procedure as you do with a regular P3 break; you do it with NO sugars and NO starches. This cycling thing is not for the faint of heart, no ma’am. You must maintain during the short break or your time will be wasted. Believe me, I speak from experience. This last short break I took has been the best so far since I started cycling, as I have lost a total of 7 pounds in 7 days. I started at only 2.4 over my LIW – and within 48 hours I was already below LIW and into “virgin territory”. Let me illustrate:

From LIW which was on August 18 (148.2) till today, September 9 (143.6) I have lost a total of 4.6 lbs in 21 days, of which only 10 of those days were VLCD, the other 11 days were spent maintaining and eating pretty much how I want. 4.6 lbs in 21 days on ANY weight loss program is pretty sweet. When you consider the loss of 4.6 lbs in 10 VLCD days? Well then, that is even MORE sweet. In other words, it WORKS for me.

Last but not least, as with anyone with a bunch of data behind them, they know one thing for sure:

LOSSES ARE BETTER AT THE BEGINNING OF A ROUND

Yup! I didn’t have to tell you this did I? I like those monster losses at the beginning and my head is way more into the game then, so why should I suffer? At first, I was like everyone else, afraid this wouldn’t work after the first time, but here I am over 100 lbs lost later, and it is STILL working. So that being said, that is why I chose to CYCLE.