Round 2 Day 6 Phase 2

I had a bad day yesterday. I wasn't able to stay away from temptations and slowly I ate foods that are not included in the protocol. I gained half a pound this morning and I am very disappointed in myself. But, I am going to do it right today. I know I'll end up cheating again in this round but I won't hate myself for it. Disappointed, yes! But that's part of it. I am human. As long as I don't eat have like a full meal of cheat food and just a few tastes here and there, I know I can get back on track. But, I will do my best not to cheat. I told my husband too about my desire to lose 20 pounds and stick to this protocol for 30 days. We both decided that I don't need to do that so I might just stick to 21 days instead.I hope to lose at least 10 pounds before the end and I'll lose the remaining pounds on my own. This decision came to me when I checked my chart from last round. After 21 days, I only lost like 2 pounds and I don't think it's worth it anymore.

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I just want to share about my lunch today. As I said in some early blog posts I don't like the taste of cabbage. In fact, I hate it. But I came up with an idea on how I can easily eat the cabbage. I chopped it really fine and mixed it to my 100g of super lean ground beef and added 1 egg white. I added seasoning of salt and pepper and about a teaspoon of oyster sauce. I've been adding oyster sauce while on this diet and doesn't cause me any problem at all as long as I don't put more than a teaspoon on it. I then made it into a round shape and cooked it. It tastes soooo good! I didn't taste the cabbag in it at all. Just like one big giant burger patty! woohoo!

Round 2 Day 5 of Phase 2

Woke up today to a 1 pound weight loss. Not bad. Hope tomorrow I'd shed another pound. I measured my waist and I'm back to 32 inches once again so that's a 1 inch loss overnight. Yipee! ;)

The last days I've been eating practically the same foods all the time. For my meat it's super lean beef for lunch and chicken for dinner. For my vegetables, it's water spinach for lunch and the awful cabbage for dinner. I wanted to eat lettuce but gosh its price is so expensive right now most probably because of the typhoons that struck the country recently. I guess I'll add fish in my menu today for afternoon meal and probably will try to make a burger patty mixed with finely chopped cabbage for my dinner. I'm really trying to chop my cabbage as finely as possible so I can eat it. If it's too big it makes me want to puke. I really hate cabbage!

R2D4P2

Finally! I'm back to my last day weigh in from Round 1. So excited 'coz tomorrow will be the start of my actual weight loss. So far I lost 5 pounds since the end of Phase 1. I gained 3 pounds in phase 1 and maintained 2 pounds from last weigh in so that's a total of 5 pounds and it took 4 VLCD days to get rid of that! I am somehow a bit disappointed about it but hey, that's great results. What more should I ask for, right? I just hope I can still lose 20 pounds though. I'd still push for it. If not on phase 2, I'll finish it up on phase 3. I'm excited to check my weight tomorrow morning! :)

Phase 3 day 14

So I've been able to happily stabilize myself on my weight. I guess the first week was difficult because my body is not yet ready or because on the last days of my HCG I wasn't losing weight. But, I managed to stabilize though I have to admit I had another big cheat 2 days ago. It is almost my TOM and I can feel all the cravings already. I ended up eating 5 pieces of bread the other day but I ended up throwing them up in the toilet. But, I gained weight the next day. I didn't reach the 2 pounds limit though but I was about 1.9 pounds up my last weight on HCG so I decided to do the egg day. It wasn't difficult at all and I lost 1 pound this morning. Not bad...

I also notice my bowel movement is not looking really healthy. Sorry for being graphic but bowels should float to signify it's healthy and mine lately aren't. So I guess I don't have enough fiber on my diet. That's what I missed because I was so focused on getting enough protein that I skipped the fruits and veggies. Now I will change that. Will add papaya to my daily diet and some veggies too. Gosh, I LOOOOVE papayas. I don't know why I forgot to eat that on phase 3. LOL

Phase 3 day 8

I had a very sinful day yesterday. Like I said I ate some bread in the morning but didn't tell you how many. I ate 4 pieces of bread with different flavors because hubby bought some as I told him I wanted to try eating some bread. I ate one piece each. I used to want to cry every time I eat bread because it's just the best thing in the world but yesterday I was like, okay so that's the bread I was crying to eat the past month but I wasn't going crazy about it.

In the afternoon I saw some "yema" in the fridge. Yema is condensed milk cooked and turned into candy like caramel and it tasted so good. I was fond of that when I was a kid. I had one piece and I felt like I was hearing angels singing! LOL I certainly enjoyed it. Guess I'm still fond of sweets but I will not eat sweets again for the next 2 weeks. I was feeling guilty the whole time after I ate that.

For dinner, it was the first meal I had for a while that I really really enjoyed. I talked to my husband about my lack of interest on food and he sure helped me out a lot. He cooked sizzling chicken with gravy for dinner and a piece of egg. It tasted soooo good and I can eat that any day on phase 3 because it is okay on phase 3. He said he'll cook that more often for me since I enjoyed it a lot.

So, I woke up today and I gained half a pound. Not bad. I will maintain this weight as much as I can. But, I also decided to just let it be. I will eat until I am well satisfied with what I put in my mouth but I won't try to worry about what the scale tells me. After phase 3 I will have to slow down on carbs and sugar forever! It really can make us gain weight overnight.

Phase 3 day 7

I dropped 1 1/2 pounds since yesterday. That's just crazy! I ate a lot yesterday and I'm sure I went over the 1,000 calorie mark for the first time and I plan on maintaining it that way. I don't know why I'm still losing weight. If this continues then I won't do another round of HCG since I'm near my weight goal. I think I can do it on my own already afterwards. I don't have the same interest on food now. I guess it's the Metformin that's causing me to lose weight. I need my metformin but I cut my dosage to half and just take 1 tablet a day instead of 2 before I was on HCG. I can't skip my medication, I don't want my PCOS to go crazy on me again. I just need to be more cautious about my weight this time and make sure that I am eating right and not starving myself. Goodness, I've been pushing food in my mouth the past few days already and I am already happy with what I am eating. I just have to make sure I don't go crazy on carbs again. Maybe just a piece of bread every now and then would be fine. In fact, I'll do a bit of cheat today. I'll eat one piece of bread to see if I will gain weight tomorrow or not. I know, it's wrong. I just want to try.

--- So I ate some bread this morning. Much to my surprise, I don't like eating bread anymore too. I will not eat anything against the protocol ever again. I know it was wrong that I tried to compensate my weight loss on phase 3 by eating something that is forbidden but I guess what really made me eat the bread is because I just want to eat something that would make me happy for a change. But, my appetite for bread is just not there anymore. I just don't like eating anything! =( That's not a very good side effect of the HCG diet for me and I know it won't be the same case to everyone else. My sisters who were on the HCG diet are quite happy eating foods on phase 3 and after, so I wonder why the heck I lost my appetite completely! I just wish phase 3 will be over. I was much happier on phase 2 which is really weird.

day 24 a little frustrated but I shouldn't be

So it's my day 24. I have a few days left and I am stalling. I think it's because of way too much stress I am feeling the past few days that's causing it and I think I am not eating enough. I don't feel like eating my vegetables and I guess that causes the stall. Anyway, today I'd be doing the apple day again. My last apple day for this round of my HCG diet. I just want to see a little weight drop by tomorrow if possible.

I will try to unwind tomorrow and see if that can help lower my stress level. I'm too stressed out that I want to cry. This is my life now, way too stressful and I'm sick of getting too stressed. Read that stress affects the hypothalamus and I believe that's what caused me to stop losing weight for days. Will try to change things before day 30.

I actually feel bloated the past few days. I get thirsty in the morning but I have that bloated feeling which I really don't like. I guess my body's not releasing the water from my system and it's annoying. I am not losing inches too. It's just steady. I am actually happy with my weight loss so far so I don't want to be too frustrated about this. Will just exert one last effort to try and lose some weight through this apple day thing. Hope to see great results in the morning.

I've been having cabbage almost everyday on this diet and I really didn't like cabbage before. Seriously, if someone lets me eat cabbage again after this diet I will really walk-out! hahaha

day 23

I think I stalled again but I'm not quite sure since I had no time to weigh myself early without getting hydrated. I'm a bit stressed too because of work. I don't want to worry much about my weight loss because I know I am still on track and I don't want to be a slave of the scale. I feel great about my body now and that's all that matters. My sis also told me that it's possible to stall especially when you're almost at your target weight. I check my tummy and it's not as big anymore. Actually, it looked a bit sagging because of the dramatic weight loss I had at such a short time that I think what I have left is excess skin and not too much fat underneath it. My clothes fit great now and that's all that I really wanted. I don't care whether I'd lose 5 more pounds or not. For now, I believe I had a great weight loss with my first round of the HCG diet and I'm already happy with this. If I'd lose some more weight before day 30 then great but if not, I won't sulk over it.

Would have to constantly wear my girdle now, hopefully that will help with my tummy's condition. It really looks like I had just given birth! LOL

Will definitely do the 2nd round of HCG diet after 6 weeks. I have a few more days left and I'll finish my 30 days with a big smile on my face because I've lost almost 20 pounds in just 1 month. How cool is that?!!

day 22 no weight loss

I stalled again. Probably because I drank a lot of water at night time. My weight is still dropping on the scale so I guess I just had too much water in my body. I wasn't able to drink enough water during the day yesterday so I tried to drink a lot last night plus I kinda cheated a little. Boo! Too much torture already I just had to have a tiny piece of fried fish that was my favorite for all eternity. :( Never thought it could really hurt though... Okay, I had 2 pieces of small fish, as small as my pinky and much thinner too. Oh well, just a small bump on the road and it's fine with me. I know I would still lose weight. Few days to go and I can go on phase 3 already which is what I'm most scared of actually. Hope I could maintain my weight loss and PCOS won't sabotage all my hard work.

---- 8:30 pm---

I just noticed I keep drinking water but I don't get to pee as much as I am drinking. I know this is normal but I wonder where all the water's going. I have over 8 glasses of water now and each glass has 220 grams of water (220 mL) so that's 1.76 kilos or almost 4 pounds of water and I still keep on drinking! I'd be staying up the whole night tonight because of work so I'd be drinking more water and for sure my weigh in tomorrow morning would show that I gained a lot of weight overnight. LOL Oh well, at least I know it'll just be water weight and I need to chill. I'm just scared of stalling again until day 30. Hope not!

Day 20 and I'm happy :)

So it's now day 20. 10 more days to go and I'm starting to be attached to my HCG that it makes me a little sad that I would have to say goodbye to it 10 days from now. You can get pretty attached, I guess. LOL. Anyway, I'm happy today that I am down by 2 pounds. Well, I think I lost some weight yesterday but it just wasn't very clear to me if I did or didn't lose weight. I lost another half inch off my waist with a total of 7 inches off since August 23 (the day I started measuring it). It's really amazing how HCG is changing my body and it feels effortless now. I struggled a lot the first week but I'm feeling like I can live with this type of diet forever... As long as my husband won't eat pizza and our other favorites in front of me then I'm good. hihi

Last night I took the HCG drops. I know, I said I wouldn't since I am having my period but I was so hungry yesterday I hated the feeling. I took the drops and voila! no more hunger. :) My dysmenorrhea wasn't as painful either so I'm not sure if that's because of HCG or not but I always expect to have painful dysmenorrhea all the time. Well, I'm not complaining. I feel good this morning. :)

Oh, one more thing. Today marks a very special moment... at 160 I am now back to normal BMI :) I so hope I'd lose at least 5 more pounds... I'll take 155! :)

So my husband cooks for me the past few days and for lunch today he cooked shrimp and cauliflower in orange juice. Cauliflower is not in the original protocol but it's okay to use on phase 2 but you have to check first if you'd stall with it or not. In my case, I indulge in cauliflower because it doesn't cause me to stall at all. He mixed some spices on the orange juice with water. It was just about a teaspoon of orange juice, actually. It tasted so good. :) He's making my diet feel much easier. I can't cook so every time I try to mix up my own meal, there's 50/50 chance that it'd taste awful! LOL

day 19 and it's my TOM

So, I got my period today and I didn't lose weight. I won't be taking my drops today 'til God knows when. The last monthly period I had lasted the entire month before it skipped for over a month again. But I think this one won't last that long anymore. I just hate my cycle! PCOS sucks this way. :(

As for my waist measurement, I gained half an inch... Oh well, I'll get rid of this crazy measurement and weight once my period's over.

I have 11 days left before I say goodbye to phase 2. I don't think I can lose 17 more pounds! LOL! But, I sure hope I could lose some more. 6 more pounds would be great! That means I'd lose a total of 20 if that's the case. I do hope I'd reach that and I have a feeling I can. :)

day 18

So I did the apple day and I lost just 1 pound. Was ecstatic yesterday, thought i lost 2 pounds already but then again I remember I weighed in with my jeans on. LOL! But, a pound is still a pound and I hope to get back on track starting now. But I have a feeling it's almost my TOM already. Anyway, I don't mind about my weight as much anymore. What's important is that I'm getting smaller and my clothes start to fit.

I have 12 days left before I say goodbye to phase 2 and hello to phase 3. I want to push a little more but I have to stick with my schedule so I can eat normally on my daughter's first birthday. I am hoping for the next 12 days I could still lose at least 5 pounds but losing 10 pounds would be awesome. ;) But it's fine if I can't since I've already decided to do another round of 21-day HCG after 6 weeks. :) I can do this, I'm sure. It's just a question of when exactly but most definitely by the end of this year I'd reach my 30+ pound weight loss dream.

day 17 apple day

so now I am already getting frustrated. I've been stalling for so long grr! Will do the apple day today and hopefully I'll lose something by tomorrow. *sigh*

Day 16

I forgot to post here this morning. I lost half an inch more off my waist so I'm happy with that. About my weight, I'm not sure if I'm losing but I guess I am not drinking too much water and I'm a bit too moody so I think I may have my period soon. I am drinking water like crazy today and hope to lose some weight tomorrow. If not, I will do the apple day for tomorrow and see if that will fix it. Also, I've been stressed because my baby caught the chicken pox virus. Good thing she's feeling better now but the blisters are still there. I have 14 days left for my first round of this diet and I want to do my very best now. No more little cheating every now and then and I will make sure I will drink as much water as I can. I hope to lose at least 5 more pounds! Yeah, I'm having low expectations now about my weight hihi

day 15

So I won't be blogging about my weight loss since it started to disappoint me (or my scale is not being very accurate). Will just weigh myself weekly from now on just like in the Biggest Loser! LOL. But I checked my measurements and I lost another inch off my waist. Not bad... :) Guess that's what really matters. I just don't know if other parts of my body are also trimming down. I notice my neck appears longer now and my face is not looking so bloated anymore. I hope the next 15 days would show even better results so I won't feel disappointed at the end of my 30-day VLCD.

Also, my husband prepared my meals today. Lunch was simple but it tasted good. Chicken and cabbage with soy sauce and spices. Guess it's really different once cooked by a real cook. Dinner was even better. It was super lean beef on lettuce taco. I had 4 of those at 100 grams lean beef and 110 grams of lettuce. It was cooked with spices and tasted good. Today he will be preparing me another beef taco but he'll make tomato sauce for it. So 100 grams super lean beef, 110 grams (lettuce and tomato). :) I'm excited! Yesterday felt like a cheat actually.

day 14

weight gain day! disappointed when I checked the scale and I have gained a pound. Annooooooying! And, to top it off I didn't lose even a 1/10th of an inch off my waist. I guess it had something to do with stress. My 10 month old girl is showing signs of chickenpox and she's very uncomfy and we're all uncomfy. I don't want to get my weight and measurements tomorrow. Daily weigh in is just disappointing. I'll just continue with the HCG diet but won't always check my weight anymore because it's very disappointing when you expect to get a good number and you don't get anything!

day 13. another inch gone!

So, I'm very happy that I lost another inch off my waist. That's just amazing. I couldn't believe how fast I lose the inches. As regards to my weight, well I have lost 1 pound. Was expecting at least 2 lbs though since I stalled for 3 days. But, 1 lb? I'll take it. :)

For today I'd have 100 grams chicken and shrimp and some cabbage and cauliflower. I'm getting tired of cooking and coming up with a new recipe to make it less boring. Thankfully tomorrow my husband can help me. He'll make healthy beef taco without the taco. hahaha!

---big update---

I had this pair of jeans that served as an inspiration for me. It never fit me for like 3 years. Just about a week ago I tried to wear it again and I can't button it even if I try to breathe in really hard. I thought then I needed to lose like 5 inches off my waist before I can ever wear that pair of jeans again. This morning, guess what? I tried it on and it fits perfectly and comfortably! I actually wanted to cry. HCG is really amazing, guys! I've been struggling with my weight for so long. Though I am not obese or anywhere close to that but my image is important to me. I got so sick with people telling me that I eat too much that's why I became really fat. But, I am not an eater nor do I drink alcohol so it hurts because I can't control my weight because of PCOS. People like to make fun of other people's image without being sensitive as to what others feel and I was a victim of that. Been so sick and tired of being tagged as fat when I know deep down inside that I don't belong inside this body. PCOS had ruined my life and I never thought there's a way for me to go back to my old self. I was model material before, not to brag. Then all of a sudden I ballooned. At first I intended to gain a few pounds because of the sexist comments I've been receiving and because of stalkers. I also did it for my then bf and now husband, who became a bit insecure. I just never thought it became the start of my huge weight gain. Regrets? Yeah, I regret that decision but then again I know it was out of my control. I was bound to gain this much weight because of PCOS. But, I am glad that despite my condition I was only able to gain about 40-50 pounds from my previously underweight state. Yeah, I was actually underweight in the past and didn't know I was because I always felt fat. I don't ever want to go back to my old weight again. I'm 5'8" and used to be 120 and I have big boobs! So just imagine how awful I looked like. I checked my photos before of my old self and I think I actually look much better when I gained the pounds. For now, I am just happy to be losing the inches though the weight is not catching up as fast. I can't express in words just how grateful I am with this diet. Everyone with weight problem and want to change their lives should try this. We can all do it! :)

day 12, 0.6 inches off, not a pound shed?!!

As the title of this blog post goes, I have lost 0.6 inches off my waist but I didn't shed a single pound. Actually, I feel bloated but thirsty this morning. I don't know what's causing it and I don't know if it's soon going to be my TOM because I'm irregular because of my PCOS. Thankfully I read this article that helped me relax a bit and still want to continue on with this diet.

Why the scales can lie?

It talks about the stubbornness of fat and how the body retains water when it starts to lose the body fat. You will notice you're dropping clothes sizes but the scale shows you're not losing any weight!

Oh well, I just hope this is very temporary as I would still want to see my weight go down. It's still annoying me. I'm glad I kept measuring my waist though, at least I still have a reason to be excited about this diet. This is hard work, y'know. So many food temptation around that are not allowed on this diet.

---update---

Just feeling much better today. For the past couple of days or so I've been very lazy about my water drinking. I've been drinking mostly coffee and zero-calorie green tea drinks. Now I'm drinking mostly water and I drink a lot of water. I weighed myself now that I feel I'm at my fullest capacity and voila, I'm still 164! Yesterday at around this time I reach 168 and I get sooo frustrated. I really hope the "whoosh" would happen at tomorrow's weigh in.

Day 11 Phase 2 another stall

I didn't cheat the whole day yesterday. In fact, I was really going nuts because I so wanted to eat everything that I see on TV... or anything with sugar, oil or carbs... especially carbs. I so want to eat at least a piece of bread because that had always been my weakness. :(

So, I stalled once again and it's fine. I measured my waist and I have lost 0.4 inches from yesterday so it's okay. For today I'll be eating 100 grams each of shrimp, cauliflower, chicken and lettuce with 2 pcs of apples.

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I'm feeling quite hungry today. Very different from my usual days... I want to eat. huhu! Can't wait to have my lunch already

--- Lunch was quite filling. I had shrimp and cauliflower soup. I used shrimp broth and placed 100 grams of shrimp and 110 grams of cauliflower. It helped me a lot with my hunger.

For dinner, I prepared 110 grams of lettuce and 100 grams of chicken. I grilled the chicken using several spices with very little amount of teriyaki sauce and soy sauce plus stevia. I enjoyed cooking it because of the wonderful aroma and it also tastes really good. Unfortunately I forgot what spices I actually used. I just mixed some pepper, dried chili, salt and also a few drops of Worcestershire sauce. This feels like a cheat! :)

Day 10 Phase 2

Hurray I'm now a third away from the end of my VLCD. It's not that I want it to end soon though because I'm still pretty much enjoying my weight loss. This morning I weighed myself and I lost another pound. Hurray!

I also decided 2 days ago to measure my waist and so I have lost 2 inches! I am just in awe. I can't wait to get back to my old clothes once again but that would probably take another cycle of the HCG diet but it's okay. I'm loving myself more and more each day. I can't wait to lose another 20 lbs! :) If I can't reach 145 at the end of this cycle it's fine. I'm already planning to have my second cycle of the HCG diet 6 weeks after my 30 days. By then I know I'd reach my goal. :)

-------- rant--------

steam... grill... soup... steam... grill...soup... it's starting to take its toll on me. LOL