HCG and Me, My Weight Loss Story

This is a very humbling post for me because in it, I will show some very revealing pictures of myself. Not revealing in that I'm not clothed, lol because I am - revealing in that I was FAT, and even if I'm not fat anymore, it's still embarrassing because the pictures were me!

I had a baby 8 months ago and gained a huge amount of weight. It's my predisposition. I just gain a crapload of weight. I'm short and the weight just goes everywhere. With my first baby, I got down to about 20 lbs. above my pre-prego weight. With my 2nd child, my weight settled 20 lbs. above that! So there I was - 40 lbs. above my pre-baby (any baby) weight and miserable. I had no clothes to wear except a few that made me feel like perhaps I wasn't as fat as I really was. But the truth was, I was still fat!

I wouldn't involve myself in certain social situations, I avoided going out as much as possible and every single interaction I had was colored with my weight. I'd never been like this before and I didn't know what to do! I started running again which was very hard because I was so much heavier. It helped but not much. I was watching what I ate (wasn't I always???), and then I started exploring what else I could do.

And then I met hCG. I researched it a lot. I knew many people who had been on it and had done very well losing weight. I read a lot on the internet about it. Then my sister tried it and lost nearly 15 lbs. in 23 days. I was impressed but still a little skeptical. And, I was still nursing my baby. I'd have to be done with that before I tried any new diet.

Eventually I was done nursing. One weekend I had an exceptionally bad experience trying to find some clothes to wear to church and I knew I just couldn't stand another day being the weight I was. I decided that it was time to try hCG. I got my hands on a bottle of it and started it that week. It was the homeopathic version that I did which I found out gave equally positive results as the injections (thank goodness!).

By the end of my first round, I was down 20 lbs. and thought, "okay, I'm back to my pre-prego weight. Now I can get serious and see if I can lose more!" I took two weeks off of the regimen and then weight back on for another round and lost another 20 lbs! I am now down to what I was when I got pregnant with my first baby! And I feel AWESOME!

Now, if I don't have anything to wear, it's because they're all too big for me and not the other way around. I went from a size 14 to a size 2! And that is a wonderful feeling! I have more confidence, I feel so much healthier. When I run, I feel lighter and can go faster. And now that I am only maintaining and not trying to lose weight, when I eat, I eat what I want and when I want and don't feel guilty that it's going directly to my hips! Don't get me wrong though. I'm smart about what I eat. I make healthier food choices mainly because I don't want to eat crappy.

Okay..... drum roll. Here are my before and after pictures: ***cringe***Haha, the before pictures are made all the worse by that terrible expression on my face indicative of my overall mood around that time! It's hard being overweight! I've been a little overweight for much of my adult life but never like that!

Children are hard on us ladies! But we can get our bodies back! It's possible - I've known a ton of people who have done this and it worked (real people)! And though it's difficult (nothing worthwhile is easy!) it's NO HARDER than busting your hump at the gym for 2 years to lose .5 a week! I promise you that! This is a quicker, more intense regimen that gives you results immediately!

No pressure here but if you would like to finally shed your extra inches, then by all means WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Go to this website (there's also a button on my sidebar). I have all the information you will need and can get you set up to start as soon as you're ready! If you've never heard of hCG, or even if you have and would now like to read about it, go here. I have 2 oz bottles for $45. If you decide to buy it online, just make sure you know how big the bottle is because most places only offer 1 oz. Just an option.

Why am I doing this? Because as a woman and mother, I know so many of my friends that struggle with their weight. They say "if I can just lose 20 lbs. it would all be different" or "my life would be so much happier if I could just lose this extra weight". And you know what - they're right. Every single experience I have is so much improved simply because my extra weight is not nagging on my mind, pulling me down, making me feel less worthwhile. You deserve this. Do it for yourself!

Update

I've been running again now for almost 2 weeks! Hooray! Can't even begin to express how good it feels to be out there hitting the pavement again. Utterly delightful! And, I have a fun new running partner, and when I say "new" I mean NEW. She's a green runner but a lot of fun - it's Kelly!

I lost 5 lbs. this past month and I'm feeling awesome about that. Can't really tell much in how my clothing fits but I'm supposed to be taking measurements right about now so I guess I need to get on that in the morning.

I'm eating about 1,400 calories, the extra 300 - 400 are for the breastfeeding, otherwise I'd be back down to my 1,000. I actually think this strict food intake is what's responsible for the weight loss - go figure! Hope to continue to see good results this month!

One Week Down

So I'm into this now for more than week. Eating's been going great now that I'm in the swing of eating so much protein. I've found that I don't even really have huge cravings for junk which I thought would be a big problem. Although that I haven't ruled out soda has helped a lot. It's just that little reward that helps me through.

Today was "plyometrics" and last week totally sucked. But today I found it was much easier and I was able to get through the whole workout participating in 90% of it. I was zapped by the end but really did feel awesome.

I'm pushing 5 lbs lost now which is totally motivating me! You know, it's actually fun to step on the scale when you're losing.

Day 4 and All is Well

I might have lost a pound or two already. It's not water because I'm drinking plenty!

Yoga today completely kicked my tail! I didn't finish but I will next time. It was my hips - they got so sore from all the Warrior poses, and there were a ton of those! I've never had sore hips from Warrior poses but my hips got really wacked out in my last trimester of pregnancy and I have to remember that wasn't that long ago.

I bought a bunch of high protein supplements today to offset some of the carbs I'm taking in. Do you realize how hard it is to make protein 50% of what you eat? It's really difficult and not much fun. Most foods with protein have a little fat and some carbs so basically you don't get much extra. I decided that because everything else sucks the big fat one, I'm not giving up soda quite yet. If it's the sole reason I don't lose weight well then I might just eat worms.

Hello P90X!

I started an intense diet/exercise regime on Monday called P90X. You might have heard of it. It hurts.

I had to take some "before" pics and let me just say, that was humbling. Nothing like getting a long, hard look at reality! This person didn't resemble me in the slightest. I just couldn't believe that's really how I look! Motivation!

So the diet part of the program for Phase I entails eating 50% protein, 30% carbs and 20% fats. This is hard task and forces you to eat a lot of food if you're trying to eat a certain number of calories, which is necessary for my continued breastfeeding. I feel like I'm always eating however I never feel guilty for what I'm eating since none of it is junk. It's all over-the-top healthy.

The exercise regime is insane. There's like 12 DVD's that each focus on a different part of your body. You do one a day and they alternate. Yesterday was chest/back. Today was plyometrics. Both were extremely difficult but I could tell they were really going to burn some serious calories and be an excellent solution for my problem.

At the start of this program, I also took body measurements again as well as fat/muscle mass/water percentages. I also weighed myself of course. At the end of Phase I, which is one month, I'll report in the changes and am really anticipating some great results.

I'm still deciding whether or not I want to participate in the Provo 1/2 marathon in August with Renee. I'm not sure I'm up to doing P90X AND training for a marathon at the same time.

It's Been a Long Time

I had to abandon this blog for quite a long time because at the end of May, I found out I was pregnant! I thought I might still do the triathlon but gave up on it because the risk to the baby was too great and I wanted the baby a lot more!

Since then, I've gained 55 lbs. and that's just because I gain a lot with my pregnancies. But the farther I get into the pregnancy, the more committed I am and excited I am to start watching what I eat, counting calories and working out again because I haven't been doing any of these things for the past 9 months. I deliver in 3 weeks.

I plan to cut back to 1500 calories a day and breastfeed. I hope that's not cutting back too many calories. Last time I breastfed and cut calories, my milk dried up and I want to avoid that at all costs but I also want to take advantage of the natural weight loss process that comes with breastfeeding. So I thought starting at 1500 calories might be a good start seeing as my body needs 1000 calories typically to shed a single pound at all (yeah, really - I've done the work to figure that one out, believe me!)

So, the craziness begins in 3 weeks. I'll be posting regularly with my progress!

Accountability

I have chosen the first day of each month as my day of accountability. It's the official day I weigh and measure.

For the second month in a row, my weight has remained the same, and while I am still surprised by this since I've been doing so many thing to see if it would go down, it hasn't. However, I have again for the 2nd month in a row shed 2 1/4" from various places on my body. 1" was just from my stomach region this month.

Not only that but my fat percentage has gone down and my muscle mass has increased, as has water % as well. These are the real numbers I'm going for now. I think the more lean muscle mass you have, the better you'll look and so I've almost stopped looking at the scale for weight anymore. If I can get back into my small sized clothing again (yeah, all those clothes tucked in my basement), then I'll be very happy.