HCG Results

I have officially finished my HCG diet and am about a week into the stablization diet. Overall I lost 12 pounds. Not as good as I had hoped for but better than I could do on my own. I for the most part have been able to keep the weight stable. There was a day that I I bounced up by 1.5 pounds but I just cut back and stopped cheating on snacks. I have dramatically reduced my calorie intake but I still feel like I am eating a lot since none of my calories are coming from breads and pastas. Big salads with very little dressing and no strips or crisps of any kind. Soups are another favorite as well as grilled meats with no bun.

I rarely have bread and pasta cravings which is basically amazing (was my pitfall before the diet). I have been workingout between 20 minutes to an hour most 6 days a week. I'll let you know in a month if I have been able to maintain and really change my habits.

Jupiter conjunct Neptune

Void of course moon will happen this evening at 9:06 PM MDT in Cancer

If you are a Pisces or Sagittarius by Sun sign or rising sign, today should be really pleasant. These two planets make good bedfellows and are on the same degree today bringing out each others golden energy. This happens only once a year unless one of these goes indirect close after they first meet which then means they will meet three times as they will this year. This combination of planets usually means expansions in arts, beauty, big movie openings. Also as this meeting is occurring in Aquarius it could also mean there could be some grand and beautiful fundraising events. A good time to raise money for a cause!!!!

As far as any art or design. Take advantage of this as anything you produce during this transit could make you a lot of money. If you are really feeling generous you may opt for donating some of your work to a charity. Some of you may join groups that have something to do with film or fundraising.

HCG Diet - Some of my favorite meals

My staple has been to put my 3.5 ounces of chicken or halibut on foil and bake it for 22 minutes at 350 degrees with different seasoning.

Italian: squeeze fresh lemon on it, salt, pepper, 2 tbs balsamic, garlic salt, my one cup of onions sliced in rounds and spread around. I mix it all around and let sit out at room temp for 25 minutes. When you bake it the onion just adds that extra delicious flavoring

If you substitute tomatoes - I make a sauce by baking grape tomatoes whole with 3 cloves of garlic unpeeled but smashed. add lemon juice to them so the garlic is easier to peel out when baked (since u can't add oil). they should both get nice and soft in the oven at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes so put them in a little before the meat. once done peel garlic from its outer shell put them in a bowl with tomatoes and add salt pepper and and other seasoning desired mix these up to a nice paste and add a little water if too strong. This is so good on top of the meat.

Another great thing with this tomato sauce is to place in an oven safe bowl once prepared, add a little water, add a fresh slice of tomato on top , crunch up your saltines and sprinkle on top, crack and egg on top and cook at 350 degrees for 28 minutes. yummy!!! egg isn't on the list but in the book pounds and inches it does mention it as okay for vegetarians. I'm not sure if you lose less but to be on the safe side I only did this one once when I just had to switch it up a bit.

HCG Diet - my experience

This has been one tough experience. It all started when I bumped into a friend one weekend evening who told me she had just started a diet that was supposed to help you lose around 1/2 to 1 pounds a day for 26 days. It sounded crazy but I was all ears as swimsuit season is approaching. Just for some background for any readers needing a reference point from themselves to me. I am female, 30 years old, 5' 7" and starting weight of 150

I made an appointment 3 days later at the med spa that she was going to for this diet. I did a lot of research before I started this as I wanted to know exactly what was making you lose weight and and health risks. What I found out is this hormone you inject everyday (which you do yourself and doesn't hurt) is taken from pregnant women. Apparently it is a hormone that appears when you are pregnant which allows your abnormal fat cells (this is the fat storage that is super hard to get rid of like your hips tummy.....) to move and be absorbed into your blood stream so the fetus can feed weather or not mommy is eating. The amount you inject, provided you follow a very strict diet which prevents interference, will burn 4,000 calories a day. You are supposed to consume 500 calories of a set menu which means you burn 3,500 calories a day (equaling 1 pound).

Below is a recap of my experience and highlights how easy it is to screw up and what I could have done to get better effects.

Day 1: The first three days you eat tons of fatty foods to get your fat cells opening up and make sure your normal fat cells are full. I was a little nervous to gain the couple pounds they want you to gain but indulged as instructed. I found myself feeling full much faster than normal.

Day 4: First day of 500 calorie diet. I was terrified that 500 calories wouln't be enough food and I would feel hungry. I found it to be plenty of food but struggled with the fact that I couldn't use any oils on my body or food or eat my favorite foods, bread and cheese. the shopping and food prep were easy though as It is basically spelled out to you in a short list of what you can eat, when to eat and how much at each point.

Day 5: It was encouraging to do my daily weigh in in the morning and find that I was in fact down 1.3 pounds from my starting weight.

Day 6-10: Here is where my first mistake came in. I had evened out to average .7 pounds/day and had been so good with my diet (I thought). I love to exercise and had read that moderate exercise was okay. I took up to altrenating days doing either 15 minutes on the treadmill at a moderate speed or my pilates reformer class. I started to plateau ( which for girls is not uncommon as we have so many hormones that can interfere. If it lasts more than 2 day something is wrong. I called into the nurse and she went through the list of questions. So far was doing everything right. She finally got to the bottom of it and came out that I was doing moderate exercise that was more that walking. I guess my definition of moderate exercise is different than what was meant. Apparently if you sweat you are losing important nutrients or fluids or whatever that helps the HCG do what it is supposed to do. I also discovered that it is not okay to mix 2 vegetables at one meal. I stopped exercising and mixing veggies and lost 1.5 pounds the next day...... whew. I probably could have lost up to an extra 3 pounds during that time.

Day 11 - 16: All is good about .7 pounds/day.

Day 17: I kind of lost it and decided to allow myself a cheat meal that evening with 2 slices of pizza. I was aware that I would prevent the HCG from doing it's job and had been told that I would probably gain a pound, which I did. It took 3 days after that to get 1 pound below the weight I was before the pizza. I didn't realize it would create that kind of delay. so once again during that time I could have lost an extra 2 or 3 pounds. If I hadn't had the other delay from exercise I would have thought it was worth it. I used the trick of eat only a steak and an apple the day after my pizza binge. It is supposed to help you kick start back to where you were and it did.

Day 23: I am now down 12 pounds from my starting point and had thought I would be at least 15 pounds by now. The weekend was a huge struggle as it was memorial weekend and I ended up at 4 different bbq's during the vacation. Considering all the alcohol and amazing food around me I did really well. I had two minor slip ups by having a bite of salad w/dressing once and literally two baked beans at another bbq. I may have gone over my portion sizes just a tad as well. It was tough. I still lost but more in the .5 pounds/day area.

I have 3 days left of injections and 3 days post injections to stay on the 500 calorie diet (to make sure it is out of my system before eating more calories) and am feeling determined to get down at least 16 pounds from my original weight. That means 4 pounds in 6 days. 3 of those days without the hormone injected so not sure what kind of loss to expect during those. I will let you all know my result in a week.

Conclusion so far: It has been fairly tough (mostly on weekends). If I were to chose all over though, yes, I would do it again. I don't know how else I could have lost even my 12 pounds in this amount of time without being more extreme and less safe. I almost feel purified too. I have tons of energy and have been needing less sleep than normal. I really think the stabelization diet after for 3 weeks will be another test and the real key in keeping the weight off. No starches or sugars for 3 weeks. The first week will be easy as there will be so many new foods to eat. Eventually I'm sure my bread craving will pop up.

I have heard of people who have kept it off and people who haven't. The common factor for the ones that have is being strict on the 3 week after diet and keeping portion sizes under control in one sitting after that point. Also around 15 minutes of exercise a day.

One funny thing I found out - I was telling my mom's friend about the diet and she did the exact same thing in the 70's. She said it was a huge fad back then. She never saw any negative side effects so that is reassuring. She did say she gained it all back really fast but they didn't have the 3 week stabelization diet. She thought that would have made all the difference.

Master Builder

It should be a very active day for Sagittarius and Cancer sign people. The Moon (which rules Cancer) is in Sagittarius and making lots of connections to other planets today. Some of them are fortunate connections and some are more difficult in nature. It could go either way for you but expect to be busy. There are a hand full of signs that have had a particularly hard time of it the last month - Virgo, Pisces, Capricorn and Aquarius. The opposition of Saturn and Uranus has been affecting these signs. Some of you are being asked to really evaluate what makes you happy professionally and are being asked to give up some past comforts. Although this is stressful, you will come out of it better suited to your personality. It's never easy to move into new situations or ways of functioning but it seems the stressful situations that are pushing you out of your normal routine are going to be for your good in the end.

Chinese Astrology: Today's animal is the Female Metal Chicken. Chickens are very confident and can often come off as cocky. If you need to impress a potential employer or schedule a meeting with your boss to ask for a raise this a good influence to have. Use the Chicken energy today to impress.

Numerology: If you are signing a contract, launching a business or product or giving birth today, these elements will have a very special mark on them. Today's number is 22, the master builder number and the number associated with the most successful CEO's. 22's know how to structure and build. They also have impeccable social skills.

Open Minded

Today is about staying open to new ways of thinking and believing. We still have a Pisces Sun which is all about spirituality and the least discriminatory sign. Our Moon has just moved into Sagittarius, a sign of optimism, philosophical thinking and adventure. I typically find the mix of these two signs creates eye opening experiences. All you have to do is stay open minded and positive. I may even go as far as to say several of you could have life altering epiphanies in the next day or two. Aquarius would be the sign ruling sudden flashes of insight, and there are several planets still in Aquarius. The combination of signs and planets today is saying to have faith and hope. You just might end up with a new and better attitude by the middle of this week. Try something outside of your normal routine today. What is the first thing that comes to mind? Now go do it.

Chinese Astrology: It is very fitting to have the animal of the day be the monkey. Monkey's are clever, mischievous, they have a devil may care attitude and are party animals that crave fun, activity and stimulation. This is the perfect sign to get out of any ruts and switch up your routine. My only caution would be to use a little consideration in your choices today as monkeys tend to live in the moment and not always think about consequences. It's not that they mean to be foolish or hurt anyone, they just need to try everything.

Numerology: 3 is the number for the day. Another reason to get out and try something new. This is a very creative and social number. It's starting to sound as if there could be a lot of silliness going around. This is very good for those of you needing to spice up your daily routines. If you are in a creative field or need creative solutions this is your day. Get out and stimulate your mind. Like I said earlier go do something out of the norm today. Great ideas are waiting to come to you. Usually all it takes is fresh eyes and different experiences.

Passive or Active

The Moon is still in Libra, a very gentle sign, but will move to Scorpio late this afternoon. Between 2:40 and 4:20 it will be void of course so nothing important should be signed or initiated during those 2 hours. After 4:20 it will move into the sign of Scorpio, a very private yet magnetic and intense sign for the moon. Scorpio moons are natural detectives so I wouldn't be surprised if secrets are uncovered in the next two days. Especially since the Sun and Uranus are only one degree away form each other (sudden surprises). The Moon will form nice angles to Mercury, Mars and Pluto all day. This is especially good and a sign of stable emotions for Cancer, Arie, Scorpio, Virgo and Gemini.

Chinese Astrology: This is a day dominated by the fire element. Both the month and day animal have the female fire element. Between noon and 4pm (in all time zones) the hour animal will also have the fire element. All of the animals are quite feminine in character - Ox, Rabbit and Snake (day animal) - but are attached to an aggressive element - Fire. My guess is the activities will be subtle in nature today but tackled will aggression and innovation. Snake days tend to have a philosophical and social bent.

Numerology: Today's number is 9. This is the number of passing from one phase to another, a graduation. Even if there is nothing that you are letting go of, 9 days just have that feel to them. As if you need to celebrate for something new around the corner or be sad and feel like something is slipping away. You chose how you want to deal. I prefer the celebrations. See you out on the town tonight.