HCG

Now that I am done with the HCG diet, I thought that I would blog about it. I first heard about the HCG diet from my friend Nate. His parents did the diet it a few times and lost 50 pounds. I thought that was pretty amazing. I have always struggled with my throughout my life. I have never been happy with the way I look. I had visited doctors to try and see why I had such a hard time. There were never any answers. A couple of times I lost 20 pounds when I was not trying... but didn't really know what I did to get there, so I couldn't seem to keep it off. Whenever I would try to lose weight... I would never have any progress no matter how hard I watched what I ate or how much I exercised. It was very frustrating. I always prayed that I would find someone that loved me for who I was... fat and all. But I always blamed my weight for the reason why I was one of the only ones not married out of my friends. Then Brent came along and proved me wrong and told me I was beautiful just the way I was. Maybe he was one of the reasons I was able to do this. I don't know. But I am so thankful for Brent.

Anyway... after hearing about the diet from my friend Nate, I was interested. I was always interested in losing weight. But when he told me that you only ate 500 calories a day, and it was very specific what foods you are able to have, and you couldn't wear make up, or use lotion, or cook in a microwave and so on and so forth... it sounded too hard and I didn't think about it much more. Plus that... after the diet was done wouldn't I just gain all the weight back anyway? That is what everyone says with these diets. I soon started working at Novell with Nate, and he himself did the diet and lost 30 pounds. Now I have known Nate for about 5 years and I know that boy can eat a whole pizza in one sitting. I figured if he could do it, I could do it. And I couldn't believe how much weight he lost in 26 days. So after a lot of support from Nate, he gave me the lady's number and I paid the $100 to get the drops.

This is what I looked like this last December!

I was lucky enough to be doing it at the same time as a co-worker of mine, so I had support and someone to talk about it with. And my roommates and Brent were very supportive of my decision to do this diet even though it sounded crazy. But even with that said... it is hard! Not necessarily because you are hungry, (the drops are a hunger suppressant and just burns your fat to fuel) but it is hard to smell and see foods that you can't eat. As soon as you can't have it, you want it. You realize how much our lives revolve around social eating. Also... the first week of the diet (and this happened to be both times I did it) I was so tired the first week with getting used to only eating 500 calories. It is not an easy 26 days. I had to keep telling myself that if I cheated... what would have been the point of doing the diet? What a waste of money and effort that would be. So I never cheated... I stuck to the rules, and every morning when I got on the scale... I would weigh around a pound less give or take. When you think about that, it is quite amazing. I believe anyone could do it, you just take one day at a time. You realize you wanted that cookie, but you didn't eat it and you got up the next day and survived. Then a week goes by... pretty soon it is over. And in the end, you have lost a lot of weight. The first time I did the diet I lost 20 pounds. This was a dream come true for me.... it was what I always wanted but I knew I had a lot more to lose... so although it was hard and not fun, I knew the time would pass and I decided to do it again. I just finished my second time on the diet and I lost 15 pounds this time.... which makes a total of 35 pounds lost! (because no, I didn't gain any back on my 6 weeks off in between doing the diet again).

This is pretty much what I ate everyday on the diet.
I love hearing the compliments that I look thinner. It makes me proud of my accomplishment. But I hate the comments that I get from people who think I am crazy and as soon as I am off the diet am just going to gain all the weight back. It is true... this CAN happen, if you stop caring and just eat whatever you want as much as you want. There is a 3 maintenance to help you get back to regular eating after such an intense diet... but if you follow all the rules, you should not gain it back. This diet is a cleanse, it helps your body process food better and it boosts your metabolism. So I noticed that even when I was eating normal again... as long as I was exercising.. I could eat whatever I wanted and I would not gain the weight back. Something this diet did for me though is made me more aware of what I am putting in my body. Things that help me keep it off? I try to get exercise in almost everyday. I don't eat when I am not hungry. I try to stay away from too many carbs. Don't eat after 8. And don't overeat when I do eat. Now when I eat things that are super unhealthy... or if I eat too much my stomach hurts. So there you go. Sorry that was so long. It has been what I have been doing with my life since mid March... so I guess I have a lot to say about it. Socializing is harder because so many people want to go out to dinner or whatever... but I have also gotten used to it, so it has become easier. Now I don't plan on doing the diet again as of now, but I would still love to lose more weight... but I am ok with it just coming off slowly now with my new life style. :o) But instead of focusing on where I want to be, my co-worker Paula (she is awesome) tells me that I need to give myself credit for how far I have come and what I have accomplished.... which is why I wrote this post. Thank you to everyone who supported me and told me I could do it!

I love lost 35 pounds and dropped two pants sizes and this is what I look like now!