LVdieter... OMG, you totally hit the nail on the head here: "It is so hard to eat perfectly and weigh everything and gain while friends "play" with WW and keep losing." SO TRUE! There I was, journaling and running and weight-lifting and I'd lose .2 or .4 in two weeks, and my girlfriends would do WW half-assed and walk twice a week and lose 1.5 lbs. How fair is that, O Metabolism Gods???

It sucks that you've had a similar experience but, I have to admit, it's a relief to know that I'm not the only one whose body freaked out on hormones. And I'm with you: No more hormones for me, either... my body's NOT a fan of them at all.

I'm still trying to talk hubby into "taking care" of things for us, too, but so far he resists. I think he thinks having the snip means he's less of a man... but maybe having blue balls for a year will do the trick, eh? (Just kidding... mostly... sorry to be crass, I couldn't resist. :) Maybe your hubby should call mine and help convince him!

Best of luck to you, too! This protocol is NOT easy, so we should all be rewarded with smaller numbers on the scale every day... my fingers are crossed for ALL of us! :)

P.S. Do you live in Vegas? Just wondering, I grew up in Henderson/Green Valley... :)

Just wanted to update my progress. I am on p2d16 have lost 14 lbs. I started at 209 and goal is 145. I love measuring and seeing the inches drop. I am on the hhcg drops. This is so amazing, I never could have imagined loosing weight so quickly. I loaded heavy so I was not hungry the first week, no headaches. I noticed that I stalled a couple of days during my cycle but i'm hoping to get back to loosing 1lb a day again. If I get hungry, it seems to go away when I take my drops. I just have been getting bored with the food but have been reading the recipes on here and that has helped. The chili has been a lifesaver. My plan is to go at least 35 days on p2 this round. Thanks for everyone posting on here, It is very motivating.

Thank you for this wonderful lounge forum in which to learn about this amazing protocol.

I am on day 6 of VLCD--my first time, and I was freaking out a little bit over the fact that I seemed to have plateaued over the last couple of days, only losing .2 (from 155.4 to 155.2 to 155.0 to 154.8, but now I realize that I am still well over the average of .5 a day overall, so I feel assured.

One question however: I heard that using ketone strips is an effective way to see that your body is burning through fat stores, so I bought some. All the pee tests I have done so far show that I have a very small amount (when people on YouTube have said that their readings were off the chart dark, meaning very large amounts of ketones). Does this mean that my body is slow to release the fat or could my supply of Mediral drops be less than potent? I am worried that I may have damaged their effectiveness by leaving them out of the fridge for a couple of days.

I guess I have two questions after all: Does the hcg in my Mediral "Weight Loss" formula go bad if not kept cold?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

turtleteri. Don't worry about the ketone strips not showing dark. We're not on a carb-free Atkins diet here, we're on a very low calorie diet - and a balanced amount of carbs are included in the protocol. Your Mediral drops will not lose their potency and will keep well out of the refrigerator. Just keep them in cool place wherever possible.

turtleteri..I used the mediral drops... i occasionally used the ketone strips, my levels were also off the chart or dark red with the strips. The homeopathic works just fine, your body just may react different than some as far as the ketone strips are concerned. I never used the strips as a guide, just more curiousity than anything. And like everyone says, the drops don't need refrigerated, just should be used up after opened within 6 months. If sealed last indefinitely, i guess, if kept in cooll, dark place. good luck