How I Broke my 2-Week Stall on HCG

I've heard of the dreaded stalls. My understanding is that a 5-6 day stall is perfectly normal. One very experienced HCG'er says she has a 10-day stall in every round. It's your body's way of catching up with the fat release.

Dr. Simeons also said that as your body releases fat the fat cells become empty. It takes some time for your body to break down the empty fat cells and your body can sometimes replace them with water. So the scale may appear to not budge, when in reality, your body is actively breaking down empty fat cells and you are still losing inches.

That seems to be what has happened with me. While I had a 2 week stall I still lost inches. Several :-)

I did something OFF protocol to break my stall. It is not recommended, but I was desperate and many people have done it with success.

I did a "fat fast" day. It's adapted from the Atkins diet. You eat nothing but healthy, fatty foods, up to 1200 calories. I did it only for one day. Some people do it for 3-4 days, but because of the HCG you are taking a risk that you might gain fat instead of losing it.

I ate eggs, butter, peanut butter, cream cheese, etc. No veggies, no sugar, no carbs. Just fatty foods.

The idea is to shock your system, but also eliminate all your carbs/sugar so you get into ketosis. When you are in a state of ketosis, it means your body is pulling from your fat stores for energy, instead of the carbs or sugars you ate. That is what we want!

The day following my fat fast, I gained .2 on the scale. Then the next day I lost 1.4 lbs! It seemed to take a day to catch up.

I am back to eating very strict and POP (perfect on protocol). 
I am pumped to start a vigorous weight-training program again as soon as I'm done. I may even start up before I'm done if I become impatient :)

My plan is to do Beachbody's home workout program called "Body Beast"! My husband is starting it, and I think I will join him. The main goal of the program is to gain a ton of muscle and "get big". However, women do not have sufficient testosterone or growth hormone to get big. All that will happen is you will get lean and get that "cut" look, where you can actually see your muscles.

I recently saw a saying that said, "Lift like a man, look like a goddess."
So, that is my plan!

In total, I have lost 12 pounds in 25 days on this round. I lost 10 inches in the first 14 days, but I will measure again in another week.

I will check in again soon!

Stalling on HCG

I have finally hit the "dreaded stall." I lost 10 lbs in 14 days... and now I've been hovering around the same scale number for the last week. I thought maybe it might be hormonal, or water retention, or the crystal light I was adding to my gallon of water. I did eat some sugar-free gummy bears here and there. But I have had those things and still had losses every day before. So it would seem my body has hit a new "set point". I'm at one of those spots where my body is very comfortable and would be happy to stay here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a pic of me today that my son took after church.

I was feeling pretty discouraged. But then I took my measurements. I lost 10 inches all over since I started this round! So that's why Dr. Simeon's book is called Pounds and Inches!

So what's the plan?

Stick to the plan.

I am going to continue the way I am. Cutting out any little "cheats" such as the sugar-free candy and crystal light. Up my water. Maybe do a HIIT workout. A short one. I did 15 mins of that one day and had a 2 lb loss the next day! Gotta shock the system.



Here's an HCG vlogger who has lots of good suggestions for breaking stalls and a list of things to consider as to the cause of the stall.

Coffee Cream Cheat for HCG Diet

For the most part I've been drinking black tea sweetened with Stevia. However I have missed coffee, and creamy drinks. On this protocol (the Dr. Simeons version) you are allowed one tablespoon of milk per day. That's really not a lot. And I found I didn't lose much weight when I took the tablespoon. We only had 2% in our house too, so the fat content might have been too much for me.

I did find an alternative.

5 calories and less than a gram of fat. Gotta watch the sugars, as we all know, but it's much less than the amount of sugar in an apple. Yes, I am justifying it. I had a decent loss yesterday, so I am trying it today and I will see how my body responds.

How to Mix HCG

I found this video very helpful the first time I mixed up my HCG:

New Body Fat Scale

So our scale is pretty much possessed. I bought it at Save On a few years ago. It was cheap and I wanted a digital scale. The bottom line is, it's crappy.

I usually weigh myself three times and take 2 out of 3 as the correct weight. But there are days it jumps all over the place. I need a new one.

So I just bought one.

But not just ANY scale. It's a body fat analyzer and scale!

YES!

Here is HCGchica explaining what it does and why this is pretty good bang for your buck!
Skip ahead to 2:10.

 The reason it's a good idea to have this, is it helps you determine if you're doing something right/wrong on the diet. There may be days where you don't lose any weight at all, but the analyzer says you have lost a pound of fat! That probably means the scale didn't go down because of water retention. For me, that would be an encouragement to know what is going on. It's also quite fun to track all your stats. It kinda becomes a game :)

 If it really is as good as the expensive medical body fat analyzers, then my money is well spent.


I researched it a little and it is at least $20-50 more on Amazon.ca, so I got mine on Amazon.com. And as usual, I ship it to the parcel pick-up place right across the border. If you live in southern BC, or anywhere in the Fraser Valley, the cheapest place is PIC-IT-UP. 

How I Recently Lost 23 Pounds

Maybe one day if I'm brave I will post before and after pics. But I think for now I will just spare everyone. For now I'm happy sharing my story so far and my stats.

Feeling chunky at an Epica concert just after starting hCG in November.

 For a whole year I worked out consistently, ate chicken and salad and protein shakes. At the end of that year, I had not lost any weight or fat! I actually weighed MORE. I did gain some muscle but there was nothing to show for it. All my clothes were tight and I was pretty depressed and embarrassed. For whatever reason my body was not ready to let go of the fat. I did feel healthier in general, but all my hard work amounted to nothing in terms of size and fat loss. I tried counting calories, specialty meal-replacement shakes, eating gluten free, weight watchers, the "primal" type diets, and a range of other things. I did that in addition to working out faithfully 5-6 days every week. I did high intensity interval training (cardio) and weight lifting. I am glad I did all that, but in the end, I still weighed more because I didn't lose the fat. In fact I was at my postpartum weight. As in.... just had a baby and came home from the hospital.

Not cool.

Then my mom started this crazy diet last October. I was skeptical. I did research on it before, and though I was intrigued I did not really believe that it would work or was healthy. And then she lost 10 lbs in 14 days. And magically I was curious again! I did some more research and decided to do it too.

And thus began my journey on the HCG diet!

Picking my outfit for my concert.

I started at the beginning of November. I had a serious goal because I had my debut CD release concert on Dec. 12. That gave me about 6 weeks leeway. I did reach my goal! I lost a good 18+ pounds! And I felt pretty fantastic on stage :)

I maintained my weight over Christmas. I gained about 2 lbs in total. I also did my weight lifting for four weeks after I was off HCG. So some of that weight was probably water and muscle. I think that's pretty good!

I have just started a new round, which began on Saturday the 5th. That gave me a good four week break, which is recommended at the very least. The more rounds you do, the longer break you need in between.

About the hCG diet

 

Many people who hear about the HCG diet are pretty skeptical at first, and I think that's a good thing. It's always a good idea to do your due diligence and research the heck out of any diet.

The first time I try telling someone what I'm doing, they usually have a bunch of questions.

Well, here is a quick summary by one girl I've been following on YouTube. She's very informed and she's a researcher. I have been watching her videos from the beginning since I started my first round because I found her quite inspiring.

Part 1 & 2:

The important thing to remember is that you are NOT living off of the 500 calories that you eat every day. You are living off of the calories in your fat which are being released for fuel.

1 pound of fat = 3500 calories.

If you lost one pound every day, that means the HCG is telling your body to use 3500 calories of abnormal fat storage for energy!

And this is the coolest thing.

Your body doesn't know or care if you ate those calories or if it pulled them from your fat stores. It just wants energy so you can live.

That is the very basic concept of the HCG diet. There is so much more to cover, including the maintenance and long term results. But I am so happy I did this. It was the jolt my body needed to lose the fat.

I have just started my second round. I have lost over 7 pounds in 9 days. Woot! Great start! Clothes are getting loose again :-)

More later...

Back on the Wagon

Oh man. It was a crazy last month. Many things happened and my workouts pretty much went out the window. And then I wasn't sleeping. Which meant I was pretty much dead meat all day long. Well, now it's time to get back on the wagon and not give up.

I pretty much finished ChaLEAN Extreme (CLX), so I'm going to start it all over again. And maybe do a hybrid of that program and TurboFire.

The discouraging part is that despite my working out harder than I ever have in my life, and seriously watching my diet, I didn't lose any weight according to the scale. I am noticeably smaller in some measurements, but not enough that I need to buy new clothes. If I was going to give up, it would be now.

But I know I can't... that would be stupid. It would all be for nothing. I know I must give my body time to adapt. Five years of childbearing and nursing babies... I can't expect to bounce right back.

So, I will keep working hard.

I'm cutting sugar down to 15 grams or less a day. I'm watching my carb intake. High protein diet. Shakes. Supplements. High-quality vitamins. Water. Trying to sleep more... starting tonight.

Oh - and I actually took some before photos today. I refused to do it last time. But I need to face the music. And I really, really need to see progress. And no, I will not post them!!! At least, not until I'm ripped and have something better to show :)

Lord help me!