Himalayan Salt

Weight 158.6

Six pounds lost in 4 days of VLCD - today is day 5! This diet is a mind game. I was in Staples yesterday buying a new mileage book, and realized I was surrounded by candy. It was calling to me! I heard it!
On Lynn's recommendation I'm going to buy some Himalayan salt today. Walt and I have both been having some muscle cramps, so some minerals are in order - just not sure which ones. Cramps usually mean calcium is low, but with this diet, I've read that there can also be a potassium deficiency. Although it does not really come from the Himalaya's (it's supposedly mined in Pakistan, which is near the Himalaya's) it contains between 10 - 84  trace minerals (depending on who you ask) in addition to sodium chloride (commonly called "salt") Perhaps its most endearing quality is that it's pink. It has not been refined, or adulterated with anything else after it comes out of the ground. I can get on board with pink salt if it's also good for me.

Here's a link to Dr. Mercola interviewing an expert on Himalyan salt.

Detox

Weight 160.6

Total 4 pounds lost since Sunday. Yesterday I weighed 160.2, and I don't know if I have a lousy scale, if the veggies I ate last night after dinner pushed me over 500 calories, or if it's something else that made my weight go up .4 pounds. I'll take the 4 pound weight loss, though! I've increased my dose to 150iu yesterday and I am less hungry. My fat is getting wiggly and jiggly, which means it is being mobilized. This is a good thing. Yesterday was a nasty day of detox - and I'm not surprised since I really was pretty self-indulgent over the holidays. I'm sure my body didn't like the key lime cheesecake or the English trifle, and I paid the price over the past few days, with nausea, headaches, chills, body aches and fatigue. The good news is today I am much more alert today, no nausea, and most of the aches and stiffness gone. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the worst of the detox process is over. I got really brave and injected myself in the gluteals, gluteus medius, I beleive. A full length mirror is a must for shooting up in the, um, derriere.

Losing

Weight 162.0
I lost 2.6 pounds since yesterday! Oh, I think I'm going to like this. I ate one of my fruit servings plus a cup of black coffee with stevia before I left the house this morning and I felt much better this morning. I think spacing my food out during the day will work. For lunch I had a grissini, poached tilapia and an entire bag of organic spinach, lightly steamed and seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and bit of dried orange peel. Yummy, and I'm not hungry. Walt bumped his dose up a bit this morning - to 150iu.

Last night I felt very cold, but today I feel much better. Yesterday's fatigue and detox headache are gone. I drank a glass of water with the juice of half a lemon, a detox trick I picked up somewhere along the way, and I think it helped. The only odd thing I am noticing today is some intermittent muscle cramping, mostly in my legs and gluteals. Perusing the diets forums reveals that this is not unusual and probably related to an electrolyte imbalance (maybe low potassium). The folks out there selling the sublingual form of hCG have lots to say about it, trying to convince potential dieters that their drops are better than shots, and won't result in leg cramps. I'm committed to stay the course with the shots and so far the cramps are very tolerable. No unsightly lumps and bumps either, which the drop promoters also warn about. Time will tell, but one thing I really hate is when people bad mouth any product in order to sell their own. We get that in our business frequently and it sucks, plus it makes the person doing it look cheesy. So there.

Diet Day One

Starting weight: 164.7

Today was the first day of the very low calorie diet (VLCD). Yesterday was our second load day of 3500 plus calories. I thought it would be fun, but the hCG must have already been taking effect - or maybe it was purely psychological - but eating a lot of fatty food was actually quite a challenge. Load Day 2 included a breakfast of an egg, fried potatoes, a big fat Italian sausage, and toast with peanut butter and marmalade for breakfast, pasta and sausage in red sauce for lunch and a big fat steak, baked potato and sour cream, salad and a whipped cream and Nutella concoction for dinner. I waddled off to bed, and got up this morning to a breakfast of black coffee and a nice shot of hCG. It was easier to give myself the injection today. I didn't have to wait for Walt to take the lead - I just sucked it up and did it.
Here's what I've noticed so far: I seem to be having a bit of a histamine reaction at my injection sites - just a little redness and itching that goes away in an hour or so. A little research indicates this is pretty common and nothing to worry about. There is a lot of liquid (mostly water) going in - I'm really thirsty - and a lot of liquid coming out. Walt and I were both a little grouchy today and had to make an effort not to be jerks with each other, and I have a mild detox headache. It was a little sad disposing of most of the contents of the fridge today - it looks so bare in there!
Today we discovered Bragg's Aminos, a healthy substitute for soy sauce and one of the mainstays of the hCG diet. We sauteed (well sort of) our 100 gram chicken portions and fresh organic broccoli in a mixture of low sodium organic chicken broth, Bragg's Aminos, minced garlic and fresh ginger for dinner. The broccoli was crisp, the chicken tender, and the whole dish delicious - no deprivation there. I would make this again, even if we were not on this diet.
I waited until lunchtime to eat today, but I think I am going to have to eat one of my servings of fruit in the morning, because I got a little woozy during church, and it felt like low blood sugar to me. In addition to the aforementioned chicken dish, today's festivities also included an apple, two grissini (the teensiest Italian breadsticks I have ever seen - almost not worth eating) eight succulent shrimp, and a raw cabbage salad with a balsamic vinegar dressing. I'm about to eat half a grapefruit and then it's off to bed, to blissful, though frequently interrupted by bathroom breaks, sleep.

Loading

Today was Day 1 of the hCG diet. My friend Vi showed us how to draw an injection and then there we were with our needles. Walt was braver than I was, and went first which gave me the courage to inject myself for the first time. I felt a little queasy, but I was able to do it. I did an intramuscular injection in my quadriceps, and honestly it did not hurt a bit. The needles we got are so fine and sharp it really was easy once I got over the whole idea of it. Today was also a loading day - which means a 3500 calorie day. So far I've managed to get in an everything bagel with cream cheese, a couple of cups of coffee liberally laced with half-and-half, a generous serving of egg, spinach, sausage and cheese casserole, some gratuitous strawberries, grapes and half a banana, an angus steakburger (on the way home from Michigan), and an open faced peanut butter and cheese sandwich with a side of salt & pepper potato chips. On to the New Year's buffet! I can do this! (at least I can do this part of it!) Happy New Year!

Miracle Noodles

We've decided to postpone the diet by one day and start the "loading" process on Friday, which will also be our first injection day. We'll be in Michigan with some seasoned hCG dieters, and after the over-the-phone mixing debacle, I think I'll feel more confident if Vi shows us how to prepare our first dosages, although I am determined not to be a chicken and shoot myself up. We'll be able to enjoy all of the food at the New Year's Eve party we're planning to attend (with our church community group - pass the sparkly grape juice, please), and have the big juicy steaks that Walt has selected as the last loading blast on New Year's Day. Our first VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet) day will be Sunday. Which will be interesting, since we're invited to a (surprise - hope you're not reading this, because you'll know who you are) birthday party that day and won't be partaking in the food.
Meantime, check out these Miracle Noodles - a staple of the hCG diet. No calorie, gluten free noodles, - can they be any good?  Right now there's a huge bag of them in my fridge, because they come packaged in liquid, a noodle first for me. I haven't tried them yet, but I will let you know what I think. Our friend Karl says that combined with a can of organic stewed tomatoes, they are guilt-free noodle heaven.

Santa Brought Presents

Santa came on Christmas eve - with a delivery to the post office, our box of hCG. It was a little bit exciting, wondering if our box would clear customs in time (if at all) for us to start our program on the 30th like we had planned. I had a short-term freak out when I saw that the hCG was in liquid form, as everything I had read up till now, including all of the mixing instructions, spoke of a powdered form. After I stressed about it for a while I visited one of several on-line forums devoted to this diet, and discovered that it does indeed come in a liquid, a newer formulation. Today I was able to get hold of Vi, who gave me mixing instructions - well, actually she tried to walk me through the mixing process over the phone. It's actually easy once you know what you are doing, but I had a very steep learning curve which included a puncture wound from a large bore needle, some cursing, and a bottle of mixed solution that looks like champagne, it has so many bubbles in it. Air embolism, anyone? I think it's going to be OK, but if I have to I will toss this bottle and get another mixing kit before we run out of supplies. We are one day away from our proposed start on Thursday, and I have been loading up on things like hormone free chicken breasts, stevia, and Tom's of Maine toothpaste. I also bought some goodies for the first two days of the diet - which are "loading" days, in which you must consume a minimum of 3500 calories per day. I bought braunschweiger, swiss cheese, provolone, olive oil mayonnaise, and all natural crunchy peanut butter. Oh, heavenly high-fat joy! I can't even remember when I last ate those things - and all in the same day no less. Maybe when we were on the Atkins diet? I lost six pounds the first month and then never an ounce after that - but interestingly, didn't gain either despite eating lots of meat, eggs, cheese, cream and coconut oil. Well, I digress, but I am so looking forward to two days of unbridled feasting before the diet proper begins.