August 2012 Loaders

**LynneR** · August 19th, 2012, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by Jamesesesess

Hunger on this diet is EVIL! I'm on my skip day today and I feel pretty weak and tired. I was also starving all morning. I think I definitely need to up my dose instead of lower it. I was completely rethinking if I want to continue the diet, because I'm really scared that I'll gain it all back afterward. I like my pizza! And the weekly McDonalds run! Desserts and pasta are my two things that I don't think I could live without. I just don't want to go through 40 days + 3 weeks of P3 limiting my appetite like this just to gain it all back, when I could just eat a little healthier and exercise. Does it get easier?

I did my first round of P2 and P3, and am now in P4. I am still very heavy, but have lost 33 lbs. My weight is up and down (read: goes up a lb or two, then I get it down a lb or two), not running away from me. After working it through P3 without any sugars or starches, and now being mostly low carb (still no sugars or starches), the big improvement I see is that I do not have the cravings I used to have. I'm sure it is due to resetting my hypothalamus, because I have never had the self control that I have now. I do not have the hunger I used to have, and I do not think about food all the time. This is the benefit I see from hcg. If you are hungry, your dose is flat out wrong. Grammy will help you get it right. Same thing for the weakness. I think what Grammy says is to skip your dose for a day, then if your hunger improves it means your dose was too high. If your hunger gets worse later in the day, your dose was too low (but don'tquote me on that). Then she helps you adjust your dose (going up or down 25 us, I think), depending on what your current dose is. I'm not saying this to give you instruction, just to let you know there are adjustments to be made that will get rid of your hunger and weakness, and you will end up as energetic and hunger free as the rest of us. HTH

**RebeccaC** · August 19th, 2012, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by Jamesesesess

Hunger on this diet is EVIL! I'm on my skip day today and I feel pretty weak and tired. I was also starving all morning. I think I definitely need to up my dose instead of lower it. I was completely rethinking if I want to continue the diet, because I'm really scared that I'll gain it all back afterward. I like my pizza! And the weekly McDonalds run! Desserts and pasta are my two things that I don't think I could live without. I just don't want to go through 40 days + 3 weeks of P3 limiting my appetite like this just to gain it all back, when I could just eat a little healthier and exercise. Does it get easier? Would beginning an exercise routine after P3 help keep off any extra weight I gain from carbs? I know that I'm going to gain water weight, which is why I'm thinking of just going as thin as I can so if I gain a little back, I'll still be thin. Gah, I never expected it to be this hard and I'm really not sure if I want to continue or not

I'll need to try digging out my body measuring tape, although I'll need to figure out where to actually measure lol, never done that before.

James, it does get easier!! I've struggled with hunger the whole time until today. I would have never believed it if it hasn't happened to me. Today is the first day I haven't been hungry. I was a "normal hungry" when I got up and finally had an orange for breakfast (10 a.m.), and the rest of the day I haven't been hungry at all. I don't even really have that empty stomach feeling. All I did was slightly increase my dosage these last three days. Try it before giving up!!

Originally Posted by LynneR

I have been reading up on the paleo diet, and am also familiar with Weston A Price and his research into healthy diets (westonaprice.org). Both go into details about the benefits of eating an animal based diet. Both talk about the healthfulness of an eskimo diet, based soley in meat and not veggies or fruits. Paleo goes so far as to say that mans brain development occurred after man figured out how to break the skulls and bones of recently eaten animals, which gave him the brains and bone marrow. The DHA from the brains is *brain food*, like what we now get from taking fish oil. Weston A price says all healthy peoples he researched ate the whole animal and raw dairy, and that the sickly populations he came across may not have had access to animal products. Just as when doing hcg we are getting alot of stored nutrition from our fat people eating a meat based diet, without access to veggies and fruits, get the vitamins and minerals from the animal fat. AFM: A vegitarian diet is high carb, and if I were to eat a high carb diet my weight would spiral upwards out of control. HTH

Thanks for the input. I like that we all can discuss our own personal thoughts on nutrition without judgment here.

I've been researching all diets, and the whole foods, plant-based seems to fit me the best. I realize there are populations who don't have access to fresh fruits and veggies all year, and definitely need to eat animals for protein, but me personally, having been blessed to live in the US, I don't HAVE to eat animal protein. I originally looked at it from a health perspective, but in my research I've come across environmental and ethical reasons that feel are just as important now. And don't get me started on processed foods!!! lol Just for the heck of it, I think everyone needs to watch "Forks Over Knives", "Vegucated", and "Food Inc". (I have a whole list of others I've watched this summer--sort of became a documentary addict with my husband deployed...lol) There's a lot of info, not just about the actual nutrition of the food, but the food industry and governmental agencies and their involvment and practices.

I seriously am so happy that I didn't feel that nagging hunger today like I mentioned above!!! I still don't feel like I have as much energy as usual, but it's a little better. I've been a little disappointed at my losses slowing down, but I also realized I'm at a previous plateau weight range. I finally (after almost two weeks) feel like this is doable! lol

**RebeccaC** · August 19th, 2012, 06:43 PM

Wow!! I just had a hard time finishing my little dinner. That's soooo weird!!! lol

**Jamesesesess** · August 19th, 2012, 07:50 PM

Originally Posted by volatileghost

Jamesesesess think of it this way: If you continue with the diet and push through it, use that as motivation to eat healthier and exercise after you go into P4. Always be thinking back, I can skip Mcdonalds run every 3 weeks and indulge on the 4th. Personally, I plan on following a lot of the healthier recipes I've found on this site and giving myself one day a week for 1 meal where I'll get to eat whatever I want, and then incorporating mild exercise into that to maintain my weight. I don't think you should let the FEAR of gaining the weight back stop you from following through! Overcoming the fear of committing to the diet was one of the hardest things for me! Just because you do this diet instead of eating healthier and exercising doesn't mean you can't do both, and it doesn't mean you can never have McDonald's again! It's all about learning control and portion sizing and learning how and when to allow yourself to indulge and on what. Somebody's signature on here says it's hard to diet and it's hard to be fat! Pick your hard! Either way, you're going to struggle! Struggle for the more rewarding thing -- the losses and the new you that we all know is in there! You might feel crappy now, but it's worth feeling crappy and hungry now vs. feeling crappy and unhealthy the rest of your life! This diet is a lifestyle change jumpstarter, not a quick fix! I know you can do this

It's worked for so many people, it will work for you too! We're all behind you

Also, think of this: If you will miss your desserts, mcdonalds, etc (which TRUST ME, I am a HUGE fast food junkie! And I miss it dearly already 3 days in!) you have the rest of your life to MODERATE that, you can still have it! Just don't over-indulge and you'll maintain your weight as long as you stay healthy! Think of how many YEARS you have left! If you have fast food one time a week for only one meal and eat healthy all the other times, you will still get to eat fast food 52x a year! Isn't that more than enough? (trust me, I'm trying so hard to eat my words here and believe all the crap I'm spewing at you, but it's SO true!)

I'm going to have to try really hard to do this moderation thing, LOL. I hope my young body will somehow make it easier to burn any junk that I eat after HCG. But I mean wouldn't exercising balance everything out anyway?

Originally Posted by LynneR

I did my first round of P2 and P3, and am now in P4. I am still very heavy, but have lost 33 lbs. My weight is up and down (read: goes up a lb or two, then I get it down a lb or two), not running away from me. After working it through P3 without any sugars or starches, and now being mostly low carb (still no sugars or starches), the big improvement I see is that I do not have the cravings I used to have. I'm sure it is due to resetting my hypothalamus, because I have never had the self control that I have now. I do not have the hunger I used to have, and I do not think about food all the time. This is the benefit I see from hcg. If you are hungry, your dose is flat out wrong. Grammy will help you get it right. Same thing for the weakness. I think what Grammy says is to skip your dose for a day, then if your hunger improves it means your dose was too high. If your hunger gets worse later in the day, your dose was too low (but don'tquote me on that). Then she helps you adjust your dose (going up or down 25 us, I think), depending on what your current dose is. I'm not saying this to give you instruction, just to let you know there are adjustments to be made that will get rid of your hunger and weakness, and you will end up as energetic and hunger free as the rest of us. HTH

I'm excited to see what this hypothalamus reset does, I suppose it wouldn't be a bad thing not wanting to eat unhealthy foods.

The reason that I'm feeling like crap is because this IS my skip day, and I think it's pretty clear that I do indeed need a healthier dose. I felt like a crackhead today when I was starving and craving my HCG! LMAO. Tomorrow will be much better and I'll definitely up my dose to 175 and try that out for a few days.

I was actually so worried that I was going to cheat that I just took a nap. No hunger, no pain haha. By the time I woke up it was dinner time anyway so I survived... I hope once I correct my dose, all skip days aren't like this! (Btw, I'm doing them because I plan on having a 40 day round, no clue how I'll survive it tho lol).

Originally Posted by RebeccaC

James, it does get easier!! I've struggled with hunger the whole time until today. I would have never believed it if it hasn't happened to me. Today is the first day I haven't been hungry. I was a "normal hungry" when I got up and finally had an orange for breakfast (10 a.m.), and the rest of the day I haven't been hungry at all. I don't even really have that empty stomach feeling. All I did was slightly increase my dosage these last three days. Try it before giving up!!

I hope upping my dose to 175 IU starting tomorrow will fix my hunger and cravings, I can't believe I'm only on day 5! It's going to take some serious willpower to make it through this without cheating. I'm going to see how I'm doing on the 23 day mark, maybe I'll cut it short, although I'm sure I have more to lose than 23 days would take me. I've been trying to control my mind and not let it control me, so I think I'll be able to get my cravings under control.

**AshleyRose** · August 19th, 2012, 08:16 PM

Originally Posted by RebeccaC

I don't want to stop my progress, but I'm thinking about cutting it short at the 23 day mark, maybe the 30 day mark. I'm going to go scan the vegetarian thread to see what they have to say about doing the protocol without animal protein, or at least just eggs. Maybe I can stretch it to 40 if I can find a suitable compromise, even if it means losing at a slower rate.

Earlier today I searched the forum for info on egg whites and stumbled across a thread where someone was having a really hard time stabilizing after only doing a short (twenty-something) day round. She said that she was having gains of around a half a pound a day for over 2 weeks, and wanted to know when the gains would stop. Grammy replied saying that people who do rounds shorter than 30 days tend to have a hard time stabilizing. Of course, this is only my first round so I can't speak from experience, but it definitely made me think twice about cutting my round short. I'd stick it out for at least 30 days!

It's VLCD7 for me and I was down another pound today. Although I kinda wish I would have had better losses for my first week, I'll take what I can get. I decided to try eggs today for lunch. Instead of having 1 whole egg plus 3 whites, as suggested in P&I, I left out the yolk and just had 4 egg whites. It was a nice change, but I know that eggs tend to be an allergen for many people, so I'm hoping I still have a decent loss tomorrow!

Welcome to the newbies! Us August Losers are all in this together. And congrats to everyone on their awesome losses!

**RebeccaC** · August 19th, 2012, 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by AshleyRose

Earlier today I searched the forum for info on egg whites and stumbled across a thread where someone was having a really hard time stabilizing after only doing a short (twenty-something) day round. She said that she was having gains of around a half a pound a day for over 2 weeks, and wanted to know when the gains would stop. Grammy replied saying that people who do rounds shorter than 30 days tend to have a hard time stabilizing. Of course, this is only my first round so I can't speak from experience, but it definitely made me think twice about cutting my round short. I'd stick it out for at least 30 days!

It's VLCD7 for me and I was down another pound today. Although I kinda wish I would have had better losses for my first week, I'll take what I can get. I decided to try eggs today for lunch. Instead of having 1 whole egg plus 3 whites, as suggested in P&I, I left out the yolk and just had 4 egg whites. It was a nice change, but I know that eggs tend to be an allergen for many people, so I'm hoping I still have a decent loss tomorrow!

Welcome to the newbies! Us August Losers are all in this together. And congrats to everyone on their awesome losses!

I read the 30-day thing on Granny's personal site when first researching this, too. After not being hungry today, 40 days seems much more doable, even if I do some of the vegetarian options. I have a bunch of eggs, beef, and chicken that I need to eat up anyway, so I'll continue like I am until they are gone. Maybe.

And don't forget, you've lost almost 8 pounds so far!! What other diet would have had those results! A loss is a loss!!

**rach81381** · August 19th, 2012, 08:41 PM

Today was a stall day for me. We had our twins nicu reunion today and I fell off the wagon a little, had a handful of popcorn and 1 little mini cookie, plus I did not drink enough. Oh well can't undo today but ican move forward. My two and a half year old miracle babies were born at 26 weeks gestation and weighed in at 2 lbs 9oz and 1lb 11oz, itis weird to think that I have released more weight in one day than they did when they were born. Went grocery shopping today and picked up enough ground beef, mushrooms, zucchini, and 0% fage for the week. Yes I know most of those things are not on protocol but I have eaten them just about every day this round and most of last round and they worked for me. On my last round I never had to do a correction day and stabilized beautifully, I am hoping for the same thing this round.

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**Nonni** · August 20th, 2012, 05:18 AM

Vlcd 1 went amazingly well no hunger at all until late in the afternoon, even then it wasn't I want to chew my own arm off hunger just a very mild reminder. Drinking water was the only difficult part, I miss my diet pepsi !!! Hopped on the scale this morning to a shocking 4.2 lb loss, wooohoooo!!!!!

Keep up the good work everyone!!!!! We CAN do this!!!!!

**Gr8Grma** · August 20th, 2012, 06:11 AM

Originally Posted by Nonni

Vlcd 1 went amazingly well no hunger at all until late in the afternoon, even then it wasn't I want to chew my own arm off hunger just a very mild reminder. Drinking water was the only difficult part, I miss my diet pepsi !!! Hopped on the scale this morning to a shocking 4.2 lb loss, wooohoooo!!!!!

Keep up the good work everyone!!!!! We CAN do this!!!!!

Thats a great loss! my weakness is diet coke and diet root beer.