Jen’s Hcg Diet Journey Before and After Pics and Progress Report

I thought I’d share my current Hcg Diet before and after pics, a recap of this year’s Hcg Diet journey, and my current progress report on losing the baby weight with my 2nd Hcg Diet journey. The “after pic” below was this week. I still have 1 more round to go, before the baby weight is long gone!  I am down about 40 pounds now, and over 5 inches in my waist.  My clothes fit again, and I’m feeling really good!

My Hcg Diet Journey Recap

A little catch up for those who are new to my blog: Back in 2002, I lost nearly 90 lbs on the Hcg Diet after my lovely size 2 friend told me about this “rare diet” that had helped her go from a size 15/16 to a size 2 (which she is still at today, 20+ years later.)  There was absolutely nothing about this diet online yet so it took some serious research and a lot of calls to find what I needed.  A few rounds later, I had gone from a size 20 to a size 8 and my life was changed forever.  While my weight fluctuated a little here and there, (size 6/8 with minimal increases during stressful times or significant travel) I really adapted to a healthy lifestyle.  To this day, my favorite at-home salad is still the one I started eating back during my 1st Hcg Diet journey.

In December 2014, I had a baby- the joy of my life…. and the consequences of all those watermelon and orange juice cravings sent me up to a size 16.  I would have gone on the Hcg Diet plan immediately but I wanted to wait until after I was finished breastfeeding.  I was also hopeful that the weight would fall off but unfortunately, that was not the case.  I exercised like crazy and dropped a size but it took a year and I was really struggling.  I ended up calling and talking to a nutritionist at Diet Doc and I knew, the minute I was finished breastfeeding, that I would be starting my 2nd Hcg Diet journey with them, 15 years later.

My Hcg Diet Progress Report

What I’m doing:

• Original Protocol at 500-800 calories per day.
• High Quality Prescription Hcg Injections from Diet Doc
• Lipo Injections & occasional appetite suppressants
• Zero to low sugar, no processed foods, organic as often as possible.
• A whole lot of walking and yoga. (#FitBit ftw!)

That brings us to earlier this year.  I found myself in a size 14 and very strong and pretty fit from hot yoga, pilates and various other exercises I was doing 5 days a week.  Yet the weight just wasn’t dropping.  My diet was not as great as it had been prior to my pregnancy but it was still pretty darn healthy which boggles the mind-  you know what I’m talking about…. working out, living on salad and paleo soup yet the weight is coming off 1 pound per month.  Ugh, frustrating.

Well, after losing my sister and niece earlier this year, to extremely traumatic circumstances, I found myself feeling “out of control” when it came to food, emotions, and just overwhelming grief.  I have experienced loss and grief before, but this was unlike anything I could comprehend, and the impact on my health was something I didn’t quite realize until well after the fact.  You see, I lost my sister and niece to domestic violence- circumstances and causes that I had thought only existed in dark movies.  Much love and support from friends and family, I am doing my best to find peace with everything and focusing on love and forgiveness (and the occasional fits of crying into my pillow case.)

I really try to focus on the gifts that come from tragic circumstances and in this case, one is the higher appreciation I have for health and purpose. Allow me to expand; I realized just how precious life really is, and just how much stress and emotions -as just as they are- can effect our health and our psychology.  The keyword being, “psychology.”  I have learned, now more than ever, that focus really is everything.  All other life aspects pushed aside, it has been incredibly powerful to look back on the last 6 months and recognize the changes in my health, my eating, and my habits in general.  For the first time since before I was on the Hcg Diet back in 2002, I felt completely out of control with food and cravings- something that was now foreign to me.  I also had a growing sense of hopelessness when it came to my figure and a serious lack of motivation, let alone, inspiration.

When I recognized this spiral starting, I initially became reclusive, and withdrawn.  I ate late at night and alone most of the time and any little craving seemed HUGE and could not be denied.  My clothes were no longer fitting and I started to feel doubt in my ability to turn things around. I recognized this rather quickly, and asked myself… what would I tell one of my readers that was going through this?

Reach out for support first.  – That is what I tell my readers that are dealing with emotional and psychological weight challenges.  For me, this started with a solid conversation with my husband.  I explained to him, in open vulnerability, what I was feeling, and that I had been eating alone at night.  This changed everything.  I then reached out to a few friends for support and took steps to change my focus.

My Hcg Diet Vision Board

I created a vision board on my wall and in my phone which I set to wallpaper 🙂  The vision board included a pic of me, happily back in a size 6, and happy.  It also included a picture of me hugging strangers- which was a visual I created to remind me that I was doing this for myself as well as to inspire others.  (I use the “Subconscious Vision Board App“)

Break out the Journal

I wrote out what I was feeling in a few letters; the purge was much needed.  I also went to a support group to start my healing journey given all the grief, anger and pain, I was experiencing- there is truly something magnificent in surrounding yourself with friendly, supportive faces.

Focus changes everything

I made a list of what my focus would be:  Health, no matter what size I am at the time.  I will focus on creating a beautiful body with curves and glow- no matter what my weight.  I will focus on the feel-good endorphins I am feeling during my workouts, and how fun it is to socialize with my pilates and yoga friends.  I will focus on all the amazing foods I can eat that make me feel good, inside and out.  The list went on and on.

Hcg Diet Planning is Key

Lastly… I created plans.  If you read my blog and my forum posts, you know I am big on planning.  “Will power is great, but planning is key.” – you will hear this from me a lot.

So, my plans included a general, big picture plan for my overall health:  my goals for working out, and my goals for my nutrition.  For me, this was pretty simple:

• I will wear my fitbit EVERY DAY and aim for 6k steps.  (I moved this up to 8k, 10k, and then 11k as I felt ready.)
• I will go to pilates and/or yoga at least 3 to 4 times a week.
• I will do my best to be at hot yoga early, so I have relax/quiet time to meditate and sweat at least 20 minutes before class.
• I will praise myself thoughout the day on how great it was that I went to workout.  Good job for choosing that healthy lunch. Good job on drinking water instead of diet soda.  I made a promise to myself, that I would be easy on myself and recognize that I can and will have slips, mistakes, or downright rebellious choices now and then, but I will not take it seriously and continue to focus on the positive and move forward.

I also made plans for the “what if’s” because “what ifs” are best not left to will power in my experience, especially with the Hcg Diet.

• What if my friends want to go eat out at Blue Jam Cafe? What will I eat instead of that fried peanut butter french toast they sometimes order?  I literally looked up the menu on yelp and made choices, writing them down in my 5 inch notebook I keep in my purse.  Result: I ended up suggesting we just go for coffee, and I ate beforehand.  I changed cafes to avoid temptation or peer pressure.  We had a fabulous time!
• What if we are invited to a party and everyone is drinking alcohol? I wrote down, “Water and more water first… and remind myself that alcohol actually makes me feel icky and bloated the next day.  If I do decide to have a drink, it will be vodka soda, tall (double the soda water.)  This has 60 calories and is mostly water. Vodka also has a lower glycemic rate than other choices.
  Result: we did go to a party, and everyone was drinking.  I reminded myself of my plan and ended up passing on the alcohol.
• What if I start feeling the temptation to cheat or start to experience cravings?  I will be writing a blog post on this one by itself because it is so complex, however in summary, I made a list of reasons not to pursue the cheat/craving, and then I made very specific plans including reminders to look for substitutions, tell myself I can cheat on Saturday (which by then, I would be over it) and alternatives to the cheat:  drink some water in case the craving was just from dehydration, go for a walk, call a friend, etc.

Where I am in my Hcg Diet journey now…

My first round this year, was a huge success.  I lost 26 pounds that month.  My 2nd round, was also a success but I had to cut it short in light of everything that had happened previously. As of right now, I am around 40 pounds light and have 1 more round to go.  I am deciding if I will do this during Thanksgiving (come on now, loading over thanksgiving feast time? Now that’s a proper loading phase!) or wait a bit longer.  We will see, but I will be sharing more as the holidays approach.

What’s next for this Hcg Diet blogger…

In the meantime, I am really excited for the next serious of blog posts I am writing- the planner in me is coming out with tips for planning holiday feasts with a healthy approach, avoiding the cheat, planned holiday cheats and TONS of health tips for making it through the holidays with positive outcomes.  Are you excited yet?  Me too!