Update on the Hunger Games…

So I promised I would update on the HCG Experiment.
Here’s the thang. HCG promises that you will not experience anymore more than perhaps mild discomfort for the first couple of days until your body adjusts.
And people, I swear it is true. FOR SOME!
As I explained before, this was not how it went for me, HOWEVER it was how it went for my husband. In just over 2 weeks, he lost 20lbs. Yup. Twenty. In the same amount of time, I lost about 12lbs, and those results sure ‘aint bad.  It was unfortunate though, that the 2-3 weeks, felt more like 2-3 months. I’m not kidding…nay not one bit.
Here’s the thing. Prior to starting HCG you are to top up your fat reserves by basically gorging on high fat yummies for 2 straight days. Because you start the taking the HCG drops or shots during this time,  it isn’t as much fun as you’d think.  Thanks to the HCG releasing a lot of fat into your blood stream, you aren’t hungry, and if you like me, having been dieting fairly diligently prior to this time, it feels all kinds of wrong and sinful and gross.  By the end of the 2nd day you are SO ready to start eating clean.
The theory is that you will dip into those gross fat stores sitting in your tummy for the few days that it takes your body to adjust and it seemed to work just that way for my husband.He had no trouble at all the first few days.  However, I had the misfortune***stop reading here if you are squeamish about the normal functioning of the female body*** of starting my period just after I started the HCG and with my period comes a general…(how do I put this delicately)..cleansing of my system. So my immediately accessible“fat stores” were pretty much lost on day 1.  I also did not realize that you aren’t supposed to take the HCG drops during your period and that doing so will increase the misery of your period.  I can attest to this.  For the first week I felt exactly like I do when I am first pregnant. Very nauseated, extremely exhausted and weak and altogether horrendous. I pretty much lay around, I felt like I had to ration every movement and pretty much just being alive was a chore.
The next week was better, I did not feel weak and generally useless to mankind but I was hungry most of the time and fairly consistently grumpy about it (as outlined here).
On week three,  I suddenly found that I was feeling the way you are supposed to feel. I was actually forgetting (??!!) to eat, and I had crazy amounts of energy. In fact I had a lot of insomnia but I did not feel the fact that I was barely eating or sleeping at all. There was no midday slump. It was rather nice. It was highly unfortunate therefore, that the 4th of July cropped up in the middle of this nirvana and with it the emotional distress and major dismay of  Having To Diet On A Holiday.  After much hemming and hawwing and contemplating the misery of holidaying sans festive food, Aaron and I decided to move out of phase 2 into phase 3 (eat as many calories as you like just no starch and no sugar) a couple of days early. (Which was unfortunate because had holiday not fallen when it did, we could have lost a few more lbs with relative ease before we transitioned. Ah well).
Unfortunately, our relative freedom came at the same time of a TON of very tempting food and a party atmosphere. Both of which are death, death, death to the social eater (ie: MOI). I speedily realised that I was not going to be successful at another bout of dieting if whole food groups were off limits. And I have since decided to move back to calorie counting and exercise.
And oh my friends! The joy! The happiness! The liberation of 1200 calories. That is SO MANY CALORIES. The options are limitless!! I am never hungry! If only for this new appreciation of food and the fact that 1200 calories seems so decadent, HCG was worth it.
Would I do it again? Now that I know what went wrong? Perhaps. If I was desperate to get rid of 10lbs in a hurry and it was not a social season and I could time it at a better spot in my cycle? Sure…maybe. Yes. Ok fine. 12lbs in 2 weeks? C’mon now. Of course I would. But happily I can’t for a while (you have to take a break), and so I am enjoying my lovely 1200 calories until that time, whereupon I will reassess.
DID I regain the weight? Well I have not weighed myself since Monday and as of that time, I was about a lb up which was not bad considering I did not diet at all over the weekend (read: I was a pig, not a total pig but certainly a piglet-this is a big, big, BIG no-no since when the HCG is still in your system you gain weight very easily if you dare to eat more than 500 very boring calories). But! I happily would eat it all again for  just one lb. Easy go, easy come.  I don’t think I have gained anything since then though, clothes are fitting better every day, so that is encouraging.
DID Aaron regain the weight? Nope, in fact he lost 2 more lbs over the cheating weekend. So bleh…men…mutter.
So basically take it for what it is worth-can’t be a great fountain of knowledge since we are HCG Protocol dropouts. Ironically we conquered the hardest part, and my heavens, we did it to.the.letter.  Neither of us cheated, even a tiny bit. But that was enough for us, we ditched the part that is supposed to make it “stick”. Maybe next time.
I am now between 15-20lbs into my weight loss journey and I must admit that exercising is noticeably easier on my joints. Amazing how that is.
One more small triumph? On July 4th I wore the skirt I had worn on July 4th two years prior (before I knew I was pregnant with Ella). Admittedly, it was probably looser 2 years prior (and I remember wondering why I was so bloated and fat) but still!!!  It felt great to be able to squeeze myself into vestiges of my former life (more on that issue in a post to come).  Aaron had to adjust his belt notch a couple of times which made us both happy. Aaaaand: Check it: Aaron’s double chin?? Where is it?  It’s gone! Along with a goodly portion of his tummy.That’s where it is!!! I am so proud of him.

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