Thread: Not as new of a guy. But a new journey altogether

thanks Leez. Yeah, it certainly seems that is the culprit. Last round was just a bit too short. Schedule and events played into that and thought I would be okay. Still wasn't that bad, just not as stable as I liked.

Yeah, well I am on day 1 of VLCD. So far, no complaints on Intermountain HHCG. I could certainly tell it was in my system yesterday on day 2 of loading. I had a hard time loading because I just felt full all day yesterday. Felt the same way eating a piece of baked cod today. could barely finish it. Don't get me wrong. In couple of days, the diet will catch up and I will feel a bit empty.

Todays meals (2.0). I am allowed 830 calories from protien

93% lean ground beef, 2oz patty for breakfast
3 grilled shrimp (25-30ct) mid morning snack
7oz cod, baked, steamed chopped spinach (cooked yesterday, ate cold today. not doing that again tomorrow)
3-grilled shrimp - mid afternoon snack
7oz tilapia, grilled - dinner with bok choy soup.

2.4lbs of weight loss this morning. Last round of 2.0 after first day of VLCD? 2.4lbs lost. Interesting.

Checking in. Losses of 3.8lbs yesterday and 1.6lbs this morning. Just short of 8lbs for the first 3 days. Most of that is water. It is still fun to see the weight come off no matter the reasons. The author of 2.0 states that you shouldn't weigh every day, but I do it anyway. I like to track things. Speaking of tracking by the third day on my last round (also 2.0) I had lost 10 pounds. Meaningless but interesting nonetheless. What is really going to be interesting is the inches more than the pounds. I will check measurements again on Monday.

I fully expect weight loss to slow down to a crawl next week. Compared to loss rates from previous rounds, I expect to see a final weight at LDD to be around 213lbs. Let's see where it finishes. Either way, that doesn't matter. Wherever I end up will be a weight I haven't seen since my 20's so all will be good. Losing weight with this protocol is the easy part. Keeping it off, as with ANY diet is the hard part.

How am I feeling? Fine. Not hungry. Not missing any foods to be honest. But considering that I did 2 rounds in 2019, I have already broken my carb addiction. My loading was more fatty keto foods like steaks, chicken wings, dairy, avocados etc. And of course, red wine. Elimination diets are a good thing if for no other reason, it breaks some bad habits. That might be the key to maintaining in phase 4. As the weight begins to creep, go on some sort of elimination diet for at least 3 weeks. Just something to break things up. More on that later however.

This weekend I am playing in a tennis tournament. That means 2 matches on Saturday with another match on Sunday. We will see how that goes. My next check in will probably be on Monday.

Update. Slight gain yesterday. Exact thing as my first round last year. I am glad I keep a spreadsheet tracking every day from every round. It is helpful to go back. Basically I lose water weight the first 4 days of VLCD. Once the fifth morning hits the weight loss stops for one day because the water weight is gone and the body shifts over to fat loss. So if you are reading this don’t be disappointed when your weight stays the same for a day or couple or even if it goes up a bit. That just means that your body is burning off some fat. Going back stalls always were followed by a good drop followed by moderate to small drops then another plateau. So basically once you shed the water weight your loss will no longer be linear. It will be a series of plateaus with drops down to the next plateau. You will get very short plateaus but you will also get longer ones.

Which pulls me back to my last round. As I mentioned previously I had a bit of trouble stabilizing at my LDW of 225. No matter what my weight wanted to be around 228-229. The main reason for this is that I cut my round too short. Only 20 days of VLCD. I had a work function that week and I wanted to be on phase 3 for it so I pulled the plug on day 20. Besides I was very happy with where I was in my round. My mistake was just being happy with 225 but not taking the long view that 228-230 was the most recent dominant trend.

But looking back at my spreadsheet, my weight had been plateaued around 228-229 between days 14-17 of VLCD. Days 12-13 was around 230-231 so my body was very comfortable there. On my 18 th day I finally broke through with a 2lb loss followed by a 1lb loss on day 19. Day 20 was the same as day 19 and I pulled the plug. To me this is the key. The previous plateau was so strong that my body wanted to use that as the set point. I needed to stick with this diet for at least another days to allow the new plateau to settle in as a set point

The lesson here? Be mindful of when you stop. If your weight is in a new transition off of a long plateau give it a few extra days before you quit. Allow your body to get more accostomed to the new weight. Otherwise you will swing back to your previous dominant plateau. At least that is my opinion and it is backed by 4 rounds of experience plus the first week of a fifth and data to back it. Also I have read a lot of other threads here and it seems that weight loss seems to be smaller and flatter in days 23-40 for those on longer rounds. Weight is stabilizing and the bigger losses have already taken place in the earlier days. That is why people have had better experiences stabilizing on longer rounds. In my experience, I have stabilized just fine in 23 day VLCD rounds. 20 days? Not so much. Timing is just as important about following a certain diet. That is why the key points from Simeon were pounds, inches as well as resetting the hypothalamus. Setting a weight in your brain is a huge key for phase 3 success.

Also if you are reading this and are wondering how to approach this diet, I urge you to read the original manuscript, Pounds and Inches. Once you have a firm grasp on that, read Dr Zach LaBoub’sbook on the 2.0diet. It is a very good companion to the original manuscript. I am not advocating you choose one diet over the other. You must choose. All I can say is 2.0 works for me.

Just mind the timing of your exit from phase 2 to make sure your weight is plateaud before pulling the plug and transitioning to phase 3

Monday update. As I mentioned in my last post, I was up slightly on Friday, exactly as I was on the same day in my first round last year (both days up .2lbs). That was followed by losses of 1.6 on Saturday, 1.2 on Sunday and .8 this morning. I also measure hips, thighs and waist every Monday. I am down 1 inch in hips and thighs today and 2 inches in my waist. Pounds and inches wise I am right where I was at the end of my last round, so everything I lose from now on is relatively new territory. From an inches point of view, I have not been this thin in a little over 20 years. From a pounds point of view, I was actually lighter in 2009 when I finished my second round. I ended up just under 219lbs.

Weekends were always very difficult for me. Was always very hungry and it was a struggle on the original protocol. Last year on OP with HHCG was better than I remember my old rounds but was still a struggle with slight hunger and emptiness. Weekends in my last round were not that bad to be honest but there were some mental cravings at times. Perhaps out of boredom. This weekend was a breeze. I was never hungry. In fact, I totally forgot to eat yesterday morning. Which was a very bad idea. I realized this when I was driving to my 8am tennis match (part of the weekend tourney I was in). I had some tuna in my cooler and chomped down a few bites. I had a very difficult singles match against a very tough opponent. Every point was very long, every game went the distance. We went to a tiebreak in the first set. Went to a tiebreak in the second set with more of the same in games and points. I lost both sets. I am glad I did. Had I won, I would have to turn around and play another match. I was totally out of fuel at that point.

Okay, lets talk a little food and condiments. For me, food boredom is a real thing. I just get tired of things so fast. I am always looking for a way to spice things up. I picked up a bottle of Sriracha sauce last week. I first looked at the nutrition label which said 0 sugar and carbs (it used to say 1g in the past btw). But I double checked later and sugar was the number two item listed on the ingredients chart. I don't get that one. That means there is some sugar in it. Better safe than sorry here so I am going to stay away. Instead, I bought a bottle of Huy Fong Chili Garlic Sauce. Made by the same people. Same flavor, just slightly less sweet. But it is not smooth and has pepper seeds in it. I have no issues with it.

On to week 2.

Week 2 is always the toughest. The easy pounds are gone. A bit of hunger has started to set in (but not that bad this round). And right now, I have hit a plateau. Monday I was at 224.6. Yesterday, 224.4. This morning, 224.0. I have been down this road and am in no way discouraged, but all things equal, I would rather see the scale go down every day. But I know that good things are happening concerning fat loss and such and know that a good drop is coming. Playing tennis tonight so we will see what the scale says tomorrow and Friday. I am sticking to the protocol with no variations so all is good on that front.

I mentioned above that hunger has set in. Not totally accurate. Compared to rounds on OP, way different. I just feel a bit more hungry than I did last week. Night time is tougher because I still have mental cravings for something different. Like a spoon of peanut butter. To avoid that, I have been going to bed early and getting a good long night of sleep. I find that a good way to avoid food cravings at night. Just bypass them altogether.

and on we go.

The plateau continues. Down only .2lbs this morning. Since Monday, I have lost a combined .8lbs. BUT. I took another measurement and in the same time I have lost 1 inch off of my hips and waist. Pretty good. Admittedly, I am probably 15lbs from my target weight. My understanding is that those last pounds go slowly. I have 12 more days so it will be interesting to see the results on the scale and tape. My guess is that I have a large loss coming soon, probably tomorrow. A 2 day, 4lb loss after a long stall is very much possible and has happened before.

Alright, so I got over the hump and I am officially in the second half of phase 2. Counting today, I only have 11 days of VLCD left. Also, I have officially broken through my plateau. I was down 2.6lbs this morning. If past rounds have any bearing, I can probably expect a little over a pound loss tomorrow followed by a smaller loss than another plateau possibly. But who knows?

So, at the halfway point here are the stats:

Beginning weight: 232
Post load weight: 235
Current weight: 221.2
I have lost 2 inches off of my hips and 3 inches off of my waist.

In a very good place right now. I am very happy with Intermountain HHCG. This is one man's opinion but I believe it is a little better than Triumph. The recommended dosage is a little higher than Triumph. Perhaps that is the difference?

I have 11 days left of VLCD. Food wise, I will continue on exactly as I have been for the weekend, but next week I am going to try a little experiment. I am going to work in intermittent fasting. I will be doing the 16/8 plan. Meaning I will cut out the morning snacks and have my first meal at noon followed by a mid afternoon protein snack, then my last meal in the evening 6-7pm. Why am I trying this? Mainly to see how it works. I am curious to see if it boosts weight loss. And I am curious to see what hunger levels will be like in the morning. Also, it will take a lot of pressure off of my meal prepping. Not having to prep for morning protein as well as morning snack will free me up a bit. I already have enough protein snacks (spicy meatloaf balls) in the freezer to carry me through the rest of phase 2 so my only meal prepping would be for lunches and some dinners. I also meal prep for my wife.

As an added bonus, my spicy meatloaf ball recipe is below:

2lbs 93% lean ground beef (grass fed if you can find it). You can also use ground bison, veal or turkey
1 medium yellow onion
1 large red bell pepper
2 stalks of celery
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup egg whites
4 tbs Hung Foy chili garlic paste
4 tbs yellow mustard
1 tbs Braggs Amino Acid
1 tbs your favorite seasoning. I used Kosmos Q Cow Cover rub (buy on Amazon, highly recommended)


1. Place ground beef, egg whites, chili paste, mustard and seasoning in a large bowl
2. Chop onions and garlic in a food processor. Chop down until the onion pieces are about the size of rice grains. then add to the bowl with the beef.
3. Chop red bell pepper and celery in the food processor. About the same size pieces as the onions. Then add.
4. Mix everything together very well
5. Roll into balls. I used my digital scale to insure that every ball was about 2.2oz. This should give you a 100 calorie snack size.
6. Season the outside lightly with the same rub you used already.
7. Put balls in a pan and cover. Refrigerate for a couple hours to overnight.
8. You can cook in the oven at 375 for 20-25 minutes until internal temp is 165
I smoked mine on my kamado pit at 250 using pecan wood for about an hour until internal temp hit 165. These are really good.