Water Works

There's so much to learn on this hCG diet. I thought that the second phase would be pretty much the same this round as the last time, but wow, was I wrong. This time I found I am able to eat much less cheese, need more animal protein, and need to drink a lot more water in order to maintain my ending weight. It seems the body can retain water in a sort of "water starvation" mode if I'm not getting enough, just like it slows down my metabolism and holds on to fat stores when I don't eat enough. Our bodies so are cleverly designed to ensure our survival.
We did make another exciting discovery these past few weeks and that it this - our bathroom scale sucks. I have my eye on a little beauty over at Amazon which I will share with you once I know that it really is as good as they say it is. Meantime, Happy Easter! We have something extra to celebrate and be thankful for, besides the amazing and glorious resurrection of Christ (as if that were not enough!). Today is the first day of full-on maintenance which means we get a piece of 100% rye toast with breakfast - the first carbohydrate in three weeks.

Winding Down

Weight loss 21.2 lbs


Today is the last day of round 2 of the hCG diet, and I am getting hungry as the hormone is leaving my body. Total weight loss is now 21.2 lbs. I did average about 1/2 pound per day again, but had such a food orgy during the loading phase this time that I had to first lose all of the weight I gained doing that. It is amazing how much weight I was able to put on in 48 hours - about six pounds. I've learned a couple of things this round, and not going beyond 3500 calories on a loading day is one of them. The other has to do with developing an immunity to hCG. Dr. Simeons indicated in his manuscript that we do develop immunity to hCG - hence the 23 day cycle, and if we go longer, we have to take one day a week off from injecting or ingesting it to stave off immunity, while still maintaining the 500 calorie a day diet. This time around I had no hunger at all until about the 10th day and then suddenly - there it was. It occurred to me that its likely immunity wouldn't develop all at once but gradually over time. Then when we enter the resetting/resting phase we just as gradually become re-sensitized to the hormone. So it makes sense to start each round at the lowest possible dose at which we don't feel hungry and then gradually increase the dosage each time we experience hunger for a couple of consecutive days, of course staying within the 125-200 mg recommended range. This seem like such a "duh" to me now, but I really didn't get it until a couple of days ago. It baffled me that I started out with no hunger and then became hungry a week and a half in. I plan to test my theory the next round, which, if all goes well will begin on May 2nd. I'll start at 125 mg and increase if/when hunger sets in and stays. Tomorrow begins the 3 week hypothalamus reset - the "fun" phase complete with eggs, cream and all sorts of other goodies - but no sugar or starchy carbohydrates. I'll be getting out the measuring tape, too, to see how many inches I lost. I think I've finally started losing girth in my thighs, which were impervious the last time. I did have to put almost all of my pants in the donation bag and purchase three pairs at resale to get me through till weight loss resumes again. A problem I didn't mind having at all!