So, for me today was a zero day, which is perfect. Another busy day with oodles of intentional and incidental movement, so we'll see what tomorrow brings.
However, I'm sort of miffed right now. Simeons' Hcg protocol saved my life. I'm not being hyperbolic. At 212 lb. on a 5'1" frame, I was no longer participating in my life and was ready to check out. I hurt all the time, I couldn't do anything I wanted to do, I was an embarrassment to myself and my family. No matter how hard I tried to reframe that, for years, it was just the truth. I tried EVERYTHING conventional wisdom says MUST ALWAYS work. It did not. I fell for every nonsensical BS weight loss gimmick when everything else failed. That's why there is $58 BILLION dollar weight loss industry, you know...because what 'they say' works, doesn't. If it did, we'd all do it. We go for the stupid 'easy pill' because we've tried working our ass off and starving ourselves and that didn't work, so why not? We are willing to try anything. We are stilling ducks. So, willing to try anything, I tried Hcg. AND IT WORKED! At the time, I couldn't afford the $3,000-$6,000 that doctors were charging to do this. I ordered prescription strength online and did it myself. Once I knew that not only did it work, but I was still healthy (actually much healthier) and it was easy to keep off, I approached a doctor to see if he would offer it for a more reasonable price than what others were charging. Some people NEED medical monitoring and some people NEED support. But some people don't. And some people may be able to scrape up the $200-$300 it costs to do it alone, but not 5 times that amount or more. Thus, it is important that Hcg remain available to those that need it. However, it is now getting very hard to find, and in trying to find it for some friends of mine, I am reading that it is because the FDA is 'cracking down' on it. Now, I know they are doing so on 'homeopathic' Hcg, as they should. Homeopathic organizations do not regulate and have not approved Hcg as a homeopathic preparation. There is no evidence that homeopathic preparations work the same way that Hcg in prescription strength does. The 'study' that the FDA uses to 'prove' that Hcg is worthless for weight loss, done in 1964 (known as the ‘Frank Study’) was conducted by Capt. Barry W. Frank. (Frank, 1964-Find this and other studies at ‘hcg Protocol LINKS’ in resources) It was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and is often cited to ‘prove’ that the protocol doesn’t work. Every parameter of the protocol was altered for this ‘study’: the Hcg was was not administered daily, nor was the dosage correct; the number of calories was doubled; finally the fat/carbohydrate/protein ratio was completely off. The Simeons protocol called for a daily intake of 200 g. protein, less than 50 g. carbohydrate and less than 50 g fat. The Frank study allowed only 85 g protein, 31 g of fat and whopping 133 g of carbohydrate! Naturally the results were different than those adhering to the Simeons protocol! The FDA insists that the very low calorie diet (VLCD) is dangerous, and that no one should go below 1200-1500 per day, based on the assumption that EVERYONE remains stable at a 2000 per day. Bullshit! I GAIN on that and I'm active! Now, if a person is on a 500 calorie diet without the Hcg, they will feel awful. I know. I've tried it. I've also unintentionally done it. I used drops from a new compounding pharmacy through our clinic once. They had told me the dosage was one dropper-full twice per day. After a week I was weak, starving, grumpy and actually in pain. Having done this before in complete comfort, I knew this wasn't right. I called the pharmacy to complain, at which point their advice was to take the dosage up to FOUR TIMES the amount I was taking. I quit at that point. Our program monitors body composition, including fat percentage, on a special scale. If muscle were being lost (which is one of the things that all of those uncomfortable symptoms are from), fat percentage would consistently go UP. In hundreds of people, that has not been the case. Since there are literally THOUSANDS of people who have been helped by this substance, including doctors themselves, WHY would the FDA 'crack down' on it? Well, as I've explained, they had reason with the 'homeopathic' stuff. And they actually have no control how doctors use full prescription strength, so there is no 'crack down' on clinics. Doctors may prescribe substances 'off label' and do all the time. In fact, despite the FDA warning (based on very real dangers and very real dead mothers and babies) NOT to use Cytotec (an ulcer drug) to induce labor...or for any other use in pregnant women...is ignored by doctors every single day. Doctors use this 'off label' in obstetrics with impunity, despite the fact that it is costing women and babies their lives. So, doctors can use Hcg for pretty much anything. And Hcg is nothing like Cytotec. Think about it. When a woman is pregnant and her own body is making this stuff, she is making TENS OF THOUSANDS of times the amount used in Simeons' protocol. Every single day, she is making it is these insane amounts. For months. How often have you heard a woman being told she better not have kids because the Hcg will kill her? If it's not a dangerous substance, and it's not addictive, and it produces no altered state of consciousness, and doctors can use it...why would the FDA make it difficult to obtain via online pharmacies? Hmmm. Perhaps it has something to do with the aforementioned $58 billion dollar weigh loss industry...that has led to an epidemic of obesity? I spent the morning trying to locate a source for Hcg for my friend, and while it is harder to find, it is out there. One source is called 'Cheap Hcg Supplies'. Another seems to be 'Reliable Rx Pharmacy' I have not used either online source. I do hope that they remain viable, because the ignorance surrounding this in the medical industry is astounding. It is very hard to find a doctor who has actually researched it (or don't it him/herself). When they are available, they have no problem prescribing it. And it's cheap. (Comparatively.) I'd guess that's the real issue here. Somebody fears losing their market share, and the FDA is b
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I love this, but I'm not sure I trust it.
Yesterday I easily ate 1500 calories, but I also did 2 hours of exercise. I walked 3 miles and I did 1 hour of hard yoga. Maybe it's the 2 hours that is critical. Today and tomorrow are very busy with an assortment of stuff. I hope to be able to get the 2 hours in each day. I'll try to make that a priority. I'll also try sprinting. I went to Marks Daily Apple to see what I might be doing wrong. I see a couple of things: "Low-carb isn’t magic. It reins in wild hunger and tames insulin, but calories do still matter – especially once you approach your ideal weight. In fact, those last few pounds often don’t respond to the same stuff that worked so well to get you to this point. Eating nut butter by the spoonful and hunks of cheese without regard for caloric content may have gotten you this far, but you’ve got to tighten things up if things aren’t working." Yikes. That would be me. And: "Sprinting is often overlooked, but it’s one of the Primal Blueprint Laws for a reason. Nothing shreds you up faster than sprinting. I’d ease into sprints if you’ve never done them or are extremely out of shape or overweight. That is, I recommend you have some measure of fitness aptitude before you jump into a routine. But once you’re ready do 6-8 all out sprints (with short breaks between) once a week to break a weight loss plateau when all other attempts have failed." I see more, but those are the two things that jump out at me intuitively. He mentions the Intermittent Fasting (IF) which I sort of do. I also read up on Cross Fit on his site. So, I'll Go figure.
Some people would see that as a license to be bad. I see it as grace. Today I have the day to work at home, except for one special appointment. I'm going to do a little of that, but also some spring cleaning. I may ride my bike to work to incorporate my exercise productively. It's only 4 or 5 miles. My butt should be ok with that without bicycle shorts. Or maybe I can wear them under my dress clothes? DH and I stopped taking the Dr. Mercola Biothin when we ran out. We pretty much felt the same as these reviewers on Amazon. We didn't see any point. They didn't seem to make any difference in anything. If they were less expensive, we might have given them a longer trial run, but eh, at that price it just wasn't worth it. I did however just ordered PGX. I read an an advertisement (masquerading as an article) on Huffington Post, then a bunch of reviews. The product was inexpensive, and most people seemed to like it. If my husband and I both take it as directed, we don't have quite a months supply, but many people said they saw a difference in just a couple of weeks. If it's just me, I should have plenty of time to determine if As my TomTom used to say (in an Aussie accent), "Turn around! Your going the wrong way!"
I only biked just over 4 miles yesterday and did perhaps 20 minutes of Zumba medium intensity. Not much. Food was typical, but I was so busy all day I didn't log it. Still, not likely more than 1200 calories. I once again got about 4 hours of broken sleep. I went to bed late, got up early, and got up once to use the facilities. I'll try to keep it to 800 calories and 2 hours of exercise per day during the week to see if I can't get it back down. It seems that's what will be required. Can't do a steak day today. Life is in the way. Later- Not even close to 800 calories today. Actually, almost exactly double that. I craved carbs to the point of caving this afternoon. I had two breadsticks left over from Olive Garden and...cookies. Knowing the consequences, I could not resist. Now, the cookies have been in this house for about a month and I didn't even think about them. The breadsticks I resisted at dinner, and all day yesterday. But today it was like I just couldn't stay away. I'm so tired I am just forcing myself to stay awake long enough that if I go to bed I won't be up at 3 am. And I've been the walking dead all day. But I made myself go for a walk (3 miles) and do 10 minutes of some simple asanas after to stretch it out and cool down. While on the walk, I wondered if my lack of sleep contributed at all to my insatiable desire for carbs today. I looked it up when I got back, and guess what? I found Lack of Sleep Causes Excess Carbohydrate Consumption. This does not surprise me. It really was an abnormal WANT. As I said, these foods have been available to me, but essentially invisible...until today. Now they are invisible because they are gone. Well, in all likelihood they'll show up on my butt tomorrow, so I guess not so invisible. I would like to say this is going to be a steak day. It may. But it is such a beautiful day already, that I see much hiking and biking in my future, and that means I may not be able to hold off for a steak until dinner. We'll see.
There's nothing to say about this except it sucks, it's not unexpected, it could be worse, and I wish a had more value added content for anyone traversing this path. But I don't right now This was better than expected. I ate about 1500 calories yesterday, and I only got 2 miles of walking in.
Today is a busy day, likely not much for exercise. We'll likely eat out. I plan to make good choices, but I'll likely have a couple of glasses of wine before the night is over. I'll likely be making up for it all week. Later- Well, the day pretty much did go as planned. We were in the car much of the day. We may have walked a mile or two through stores and such. I did Zumba, one medium intensity song, when we got home. I had a piece of sugar-free, gluten-free pumpkin bread and 2 tbsp. peanut butter before we left. On the road I had two .5 pieces of gouda. At the party I had 1 slice of sugar-free, gluten-free banana bread. I drank water all day. Dinner was harder to calculate on the app, but we ate at Olive Garden and I did NOT have bread or any of the appetizer (that included bread and cheese). I had a salad, and I ate the chicken out of the dish I ordered and gave the pasta to my husband. We did not have desert. I had one glass of wine. It is now 5 hours later and I'm having another glass of wine, but I've had nothing else. I'm still full, in fact. I anticipate being in bed by midnight and hope to sleep in. I'm very tired for some reason. It will be interesting to see what happens on the scale tomorrow. I did really well, but maybe not good enough. Well, that was short-lived.
And I have no clue what the deal is. I ate 1100 calories yesterday, but with my 5 mile walk and Zumba, My calculator says I have a 270 calories deficit. Variables that come to mind:
If anyone ever taps into this record of my journey, it should be really, really clear that losing not a simple matter of 'calories in, calories out'! We've been fed a line of bull for a long time. I believed it for a long time. It made me feel crazy that I gained for no apparent reason. I know it looks like I did here, but there is a reason. I just have to figure it out. Without this introspection and scrutiny, it is easy for me to see how this could have creep up on me daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. I see it now when I see friends post about having ice-cream, cake, fast food. Like me, they will post that they only have ice-cream a couple of times a year; pizza once a month, fast food once or twice a year, cake on birthdays...and it doesn't seem like a lot. It especially doesn't seem like it should be a problem when some people eat that crap EVERY DAY and don't gain. But for some of us, that adds up to something that makes us gain every couple of weeks. And it may only be a pound or two every couple of weeks that we gain, but we never have a chance to recover. I got to 212 by this insidious creep upward of 5-10 lb. per year. Even with an incremental loss of 5 lb. here and there, if it look me a month or two to lose that, I'd give up and be back where I started and then some. I'm still trying to figure out what is going to bring me down the rest of the way and keep me there. I'm still trying to build some muscle that will make me a better burner, even if that means my weight is up, but my size is down. Without daily logging and public accountability (though I doubt anyone reads this) I might be tempted to let things slide. I also know once I figure out what keeps me where I want to be, which is different than it was the year and a half of effortless stabilization before the DVT, that may only work for a period of time. Illness, injury or just age can change it up on me again and I may have to start over and figure out a new normal. I'm tired just thinking about it. I get angry and feel it's unfair that I should have to when so many people don't. But it is what it is. I like how I feel small. I like how I look in my cute clothes. I like that I can DO stuff and it feels good. Finally!
Well, I guess we've now established some parameters. Yesterday, I did one hour of yoga (hard, sweaty yoga too...not namby-pamby stretching only) and one hour of brisk walking. I ate less than 1000 calories (965, actually) and burned 466. No wine. I wasn't hungry. I was in bed by 10 pm and slept in until 7 am. So now I know. At least 2 hours of exercise, and no more than 800-1000 calories per day. I'm on it. Seeing the scale come down makes me feel far better than wine tastes. Having said that, we are having company for the next two weekends, so I'll likely have some, but if I can work within the established parameters during the week that shouldn't be a proble Yeah. I'm not sure where to go with that one.
No sugar, no starch, no wine; walked 3.5 miles in an hour (which is moving for me...my legs are short); and my intake was 841 so I burned almost 300 more than my daily goal of 867 set to reach the goal of 2.5 lb. loss per week. I drank plenty of water. I got a full night of great sleep. I'd understand a .2 or .4 loss. I'd even understand a zero day. I don't understand a .7 GAIN! However, what I do know is that I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing. I can't use it as an excuse to say, "Whatever! If it's not going to work I'm just going to have..." because I know it will work now. Eventually. Even if it hasn't in the past. I just have to keep going. Now that the achy/fever feeling is gone, I'll lift some heavy things again today. And I have put some miles behind me just to keep my blood moving. So, with the other things that are on my list to do, I better get to it. I ate all of about 700 calories total yesterday. I expected a little more. Oh well, at least it wasn't up again.
I didn't exercise at all. I was achey and tired and had a low grade temperature. I went to bed early. Today i woke up with a lurking headache. We'll see how the day goes. |
AuthorI struggled with my weight for over 20 years. I tried everything to lose weight. Yes, I did 'eat less, move more' repeatedly, convinced that doing the same thing over and over would someone yield different results. Desperate, having diligently done all the 'right' things and being told by several doctors that there was nothing wrong with me except that I wasn't trying hard enough, in 2009 I tried what seemed crazy: Dr. Simeons Hcg protocol. I lost 85 lb. Archives
April 2012
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