Submitted by Corey Smith on Thursday, June 18, 2009 Posted in -
Well, it has been 10 weeks since I started the HCG diet. I have been off the reintroduction period for a couple of weeks and eating healthy every day. I found a really cool app called LoseIt! for my iPhone that really makes tracking calories very easy.
Now, I exercise four days per week and ride my bike about 30 miles each week to and from work a few days a week. For the first time in my life, I feel like my goals are in site.
You can see the before and after pictures and see how I did. I haven’t lost any weight in the last 3 weeks so I lost about 48 pounds and 7.5 inches in my gut is only about 8 weeks.
I thought that I would include a few things that I found on this diet that really helped me out.
For Starters
We have a nice digital scale that we bought a number of years ago that also measures our body fat percentage. It was very helpful to see the change in the body fat at the same time… a little more motivating.
Through the diet, I had a simple $4 scale from Wal-Mart to weigh my food. Since then, I purchased a digital food scale. It has made measuring food so much easier. When you get calorie light foods (like lettuce, spinach or celery) on the diet, a small scale is really a pain. After the diet is over and you can mix veggies, a good digital scale is easy because you can reset zero and as you build a salad, for example. Now, I still weigh everything and can do it very quickly and easily.
So, if you are going to do this, I recommend getting a good digital scale for your weight and a good digital scale for your food. I also recommend getting an iPhone or an iPod Touch and get the LoseIt! app… it will be worth it when it is easy to track your food. continue reading...
Submitted by Corey Smith on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 Posted in -
Well, I have been off the injections for a little over a week and I am still losing weight.
At the left is a picture of Jenna and Ian. They are my two youngest. Ten days ago, I mentioned that I lost the equivalent weight of my 4 year old.
As of now, I have lost the equivalent of my 3 year old plus my 4 month old.
So, now, I have lost two kids :)
I have been slow in increasing my calories. Yesterday I only had about 630 calories. Today, I’ll end up with only about 660 calories.
I am increasing a little more slowly than recommended. I figure that I should take advantage of my body not being that hungry to lose as much weight as possible.
It seems that I’ll be done with this diet beyond my goal. I only have 12 pounds left to go. My goal for the 12 weeks (6 weeks on the HCG and 6 weeks of reintroduction) was to lose a total of 51 pounds.
I may actually hit that weight a little early. continue reading...
Submitted by Corey Smith on Thursday, May 14, 2009 Posted in -
So, it’s been a couple of days since posting. Yesterday, I started mixing my veggies and increase calories. I only increased by about 20 calories… I want to sneak up on it.
Today, I increased another 30 calories.
Dinner on the left was great. The lettuce was a little older, but it was nice to have more variety in one meal. It was very filling. Even that meal on the left was only 190 calories. I didn’t eat any more calories for dinner… I just mixed it up a bit.
So, today is my second day since the increase in calories and I am really loving the loss of weight. This morning, I was down another full pound (2 full pounds since Monday).
They say that during the reintroduction period you won’t lose weight… in fact, some say to plan on gaining a pound or two. Well, I haven’t come this far to just stop losing weight until the reintroduction us over. My goal is to keep losing during this period. I only have 16 pounds left to hit my goal of 210 pounds.
For my meal reporting below, I am not going to include all the ounces on mixed foods. I am just going to include the total calories for my mixed foods.
Also, I am going to only post on this diet now every couple of days so that I can move on to other subjects. continue reading...
Submitted by Corey Smith on Monday, May 11, 2009 Posted in -
While I am working toward increasing my calories, I thought that I’d put into perspective how much weight I have lost so far.
Take a look at the picture to the left. What is visible is 30 pounds of butter. Each of the boxes on the left is 1 pound of butter (you see there are a couple of half boxes). I have lost four more pounds than shown in the picture.
It think it is a pretty strong visual to think that all of that was in my body and now is no longer there after only 40 days.
When you are carrying the weight, you don’t really comprehend how much you are carrying because it is spread out throughout your body.
When you lose this much weight this fast, you notice it’s absence and really enjoy it.
I did go a little crazy on my dinner tonight… mixed vegetables… I had tomatoes, lettuce and green onions. I even had some salsa (heaven forbid). It was really good.
I rode my bike to work… 4.5 miles each way. It was a really nice ride. I think I’ll do that more often. It burns calories so hopefully I’ll offset the “mixed” veggies. continue reading...
Submitted by Corey Smith on Sunday, May 10, 2009 Posted in -
Today was my last injection. I ended up with only 36 of them, but I am not complaining. It is liberating to know that I won’t be sticking myself any longer.
It is especially liberating to know that in three days I will be starting to increase my calories again.
To the left is a picture of my son, Hyrum. I decided to include this picture of him to give a little perspective on how much weight I have lost so far on this diet. My goal is to lose another 10 pounds by the end of June, but, to date, I have lost the equivalent weight of Hyrum.
Today I decided to shake up my diet a little… I had the same amount of vegetables… onions and tomatoes but I had half of each at lunch and dinner. It was a nice flavor change.
I think I am going to keep posting daily for another week and then every few days as I make some strides. I have about a six-week reintroduction diet that I am going to follow. That will put me nearly to the end of June. If all goes as planned, by the end of the six week reintroduction program I’ll be down almost 45 pounds with only 6 or 7 pounds left for my first goal of losing 51 pounds. continue reading...
Submitted by Corey Smith on Saturday, May 9, 2009 Posted in -
I neglected to blog yesterday. I ended up going camping last night (well, it was planned). I went with the Boy Scouts. I was going to blog before I left, but ran out of time.
Because of that, I also didn’t get to weigh myself this morning. I weighed myself after I got back, but that really doesn’t count because it was in the afternoon.
As a result, no blog yesterday and no weighing in today.
Don’t worry, yesterday I stuck to my normal 500 calorie regime. I did cook my beef and onions as a tin foil dinner… what a nice difference. The vital stats below are from yesterday’s measurement.
Today, was a little different story. I cooked my soup for lunch over a camp stove… really good. I got home and decided that I really didn’t want to cook. So, I just had some apples. As a result, my calorie intake today was less than usual.
One problem that I have found is that my hands are getting very dry. About a week ago, my doctor suggested baby lotion. I am using it sparingly but on the campout my hands started to crack a little… so, when I got home, I wasn’t so sparing on the lotion and now they feel better.
Tomorrow is my last injection.
Hurray! continue reading...
Submitted by Corey Smith on Thursday, May 7, 2009 Posted in -
Well, I am really loving the results.
My gut is down 5 inches.
My body is down 31 pounds.
I am loving the energy benefits of losing weight… I have lots of energy.
I have 20 pounds left for my total weight goal. My best guess is that I’ll lose another five pounds on the HCG diet and then the rest will have to be done the old fashion way. continue reading...
Submitted by Corey Smith on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 Posted in -
I crossed a milestone today.
I am officially down more than 30 pounds.
Not bad for 35 days, huh?
Having only 21 pounds left for my goal is a nice feeling. It is nice to know that I am able to fit better in my clothes and feel better about myself.
A lot of people who know me would never have thought I was fat. I have always hidden my weight really well. However, losing 30 pounds makes me feel a lot better. Not only feel better about myself, but simply feel better.
Being so heavy was just uncomfortable. Having that extra weight all over my body makes it harder to do everything. It is harder to walk and run. It is even uncomfortable to sit and lie down.
I have a bit more to go, but it is amazing how fast I can feel better about my body. It has already been worth being very strict about my diet. Although I have been a little lax a few times, for the most part, I ended up being more strict than I thought I could be. continue reading...
Submitted by Corey Smith on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 Posted in -
Food.
I am have only five injections left and I am staring to think about the food I can eat.
Ice cream.
Corn dogs.
Hamburgers.
Quesadillas.
The concern that I have is that I will just want to eat and not stop eating.
I hope that I am building some habits. I think that I am.
I mentioned before that I am formalizing my strategy to keep the weight off for a change. The kids had corn dogs for lunch and I love corn dogs. I realized, that if I am smart about the quantities I eat, I won’t have to cut it down. I realized that I can have two corn dogs and some fruit and be under 500 calories for a meal. If I have three squares a day, then a 2000 calorie day isn’t out of the question and still be able to eat some things that I like.
So, I want food.
It is weird to think about the quantity of food that I will be able to eat when I am doing with everything on this diet. But, I am looking forward to being able to snitch on occasion… as long as I am smart about it. continue reading...
Submitted by Corey Smith on Monday, May 4, 2009 Posted in -
Well, after a “mostly apple” day, my weight didn’t drop as much as I expected. Seems that my weight loss has slowed a bit. I supposed I shouldn’t complain that it did drop nearly a pound. I think it just means that I wasn’t retaining as much water as I thought over the last few days.
I don’t know if I have slowed because of mixing tomatoes and onions or not. One thing I wonder might cause it is my body is starting to get used to the same foods. Because I really don’t like veggies, I have found two (onions and tomatoes) that I like and I just eat those same things over and over again. I haven’t gotten sick of what I am eating so I just keep eating it.
You might be wondering about the lemons image at the left. On Saturday I wanted to try some lemon in my soup. I read that I can have the juice of a lemon with my diet. I have a bottle of lemon juice that is always in the refrigerator. I noticed on the side of the bottle that you can make a lemonade with the juice, water and sugar. I decided to try it with stevia. I put an ounce or so of lemon juice with some stevia in about 12 ounces of water… presto… a great lemonade. So, I had some on Saturday, yesterday and today.
I am sure the lemonade adds some calories. It is possible that it has slowed me down, but I doubt it. Even 3 ounces of lemon juice only adds 23 calories. If it does slow me down for consuming 23 calories too much, then I’ll live with it.
In reality, one of the components of this diet that I just don’t get is exactly 500 calories. Why not 475 or 525? Why not 507? 500 just seems to round of a number to be scientifically the exact number that works where other numbers won’t. With that said, I have been very careful along the entire diet to ensure that I was very good with my calories. Here, towards the end, I am ready to move on… so, I’ll fudge the data a little bit and won’t count my lemonade. continue reading...
