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

So what makes me an expert? HA! Do anything enough times and you tend to get a bit good at it. I try to put into words why I feel so different about this round then I have an awfully long time. I can’t really express it, except that it is.

Lately, inspirational quotes have been saying things to me. For instance, today this one struck me as interesting:

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.” – Vince Lombardi

Lack in will.

I think of all the people out there that I have known over the past almost two years with hCG, some have been successful, and others haven’t. What makes one different than the other? It’s certainly not a lack of strength. All of us who have ever dieted have shown a tremendous amount of strength to achieve results. It can’t be the lack of knowledge. We all read the same book, looked up the same research. So it has to dwindle down to lack of will. The will to keep on has got to be the only thing that separates the men from the boys (you kwim) – the will of picking up the pieces when we err – the will to figure things out when something doesn’t work right with our bodies – the will to not give up. Plain and simple.

That is how to have a successful round on hCG – don’t give up. Oh yeah, and learn from your mistakes.

So, I am concentrating on a successful round based on past experience. Tomorrow, I am gonna wake up and take my measurements, take pictures, do all the things that successful people to do document their progress with hCG. Mondays will be my photo and measurement day, just like it was during my first four rounds. Get back into the losing frame of mind.

Depending on what my weight is tomorrow will determine whether I do my first VLCD as a modified egg day. I like doing those only because they tend to have a very ‘cleaning out’ effect on me – which is a nice way to get rid of the load. It feels really good to have done these last two days without sugar. I went through a tough detox headache last night. That is nice that I got it over with before I went on 500 calories. If I get up in the morning with another loss, I will just do a regular P2 day, but if there was a gain (I did eat a bunch of protein at Golden Corral) then it will be the modified egg day.

So how do you have a successful round on hcg? Keep on keeping on. Don’t give up. Learn from your mistakes. Pick up the pieces and move on.

To My Commentors:

Dawn: Aw shucks woman, what would I do without you my YODA??? You rawk yourself. People ask me all the time who “I” go to for help, um, YODA, that is what I tell them. Just a bit of an oxymoron when you think of YODA as a CHIHUAHUA – HA!!!

Ann: What a ride indeed. Seriously. Goodness, we have known each other a while now huh? To think we were brought together by hCG – what is THAT about? We just HAVE to meet one day, no arguing, just a fact. Sometime soon. It will happen!!!

Amie: I am interested too on the whole “Vegan” thing. Believe me, I am not into the RAW VEGAN thing. That is just way too much work for me, but I will give this the old college try – I get so many people asking me about doing protocol vegan. Hmmm, I do know how much better I feel when I do 50% raw. Things that make you go hmmmmm.

Gina: Souped up, I had to LOL – so true, and so telling on how I am feeling about this round. Souped up and ready to go.

NNN: Madam Biz at your service!!!

Question to the masses: Do you want me to record what I eat on P2?

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R5P2C4 Starting Weight 150.6

All I can say is that if you are even reading this, then you have you have the patience of Job! I cannot believe that I went the entire month of August without one update! I have been busy in the online HCG Protocol Community, just not here on my blog. I would like to thank all the people that kept up with me during my absence – but I would also like to apologize for not keeping those of you that read my blog and nothing else informed of my whereabouts. Let me just mention a few things, and then maybe you might feel for what I was going through in the month of August, or 2nd thought maybe you wont, but at least it will make me feel better that I at least tried to explain what was going on.

August, first of all, proved to be about the most stressful month I have ever experienced since starting Protocol. There was a lot of deviating going on, but in so doing it taught me some very valuable lessons. Do the words “let him that think he stands, be careful that he does not fall” mean anything to you? In my entire history of being on Protocol, I have never experienced a Round such as what I experienced during the month of August. The whole month pretty much was a wash as far as weight loss is concerned. I started the 3rd Cycle of Round 5 at 160.4 on July 14th and ended it on August 18th at 148.2 which was my LIW – so a loss of 12.2 – that was 36 injections – so an average of .35 per day. You wanna see how utterly AWFUL those numbers are? Take a close look a the chart. Can you say TOPSY TURVEY?!?!?!

Here are just some of the things I had to deal with for the month of August:

• First year of home school for my two eldest – one senior and one junior
• 3rd Grade start for my daughter
• JPS and Eldest Son both ending their protocol – hate to admit had some issues with that
• Two secret projects working on for My HCG Journey (can’t divulge yet, but you will know soon enough)
• The My HCG Journey Newsletter Release
• Some other “personal” issues

You feel sorry for me yet? Well in any case, it’s a lame attempt at explaining why I haven’t been around. One of the things I did discover is that without the daily accountability that this blog brings me, I tend to not do so well. So since I am starting another round today, I have made the decision to be “one” with my blog once again. So peeps, here we go again!

Have some new pics to share with you, they are the latest before and after of me, and my son. Like I mentioned, son is DONE – he lost close to 60 lbs and looks like a million bucks! So with that, I leave you with these pics (clickable for larger view) and look for me, watch for it, TOMORROW!