My last hCG diet update was three weeks ago. At that point, I had lost 18 lbs and 4 inches from my waist. Since then, my weight hasn't dropped dramatically, but I have lost a few more inches. I'm feeling fabulous. In six weeks, I've lost a total of 23lbs and 7 inches from my waist! Here are the photos.

Sorry that last picture is a little off from the other two. Norah took it - she did her best! I also apologize that I don't have Bill's final numbers. I believe he lost 27 lbs total. He loooks great. I'll be sure to post a picture soon! Here are my beginning, middle and final numbers for comparison.

On March 21st, I weighed 247 lbs. with a 46" waist, had 42.3% body fat and a BMI of 38.7. On April 11th, I weighed 229 lbs with a 42" waist, had 40.1% body fat and a BMI of 35.9. On May 2nd, I weighed 224 lbs. with a 39" waist and a BMI of 35.1. For some reason, I don't have the body fat percentage listed for this latest measurement, but I'm absolutely thrilled with the overall results.

I would recommend the hCG diet to anyone, as long as they talk to a qualified medical professional before beginning. I also advise seeking medical supervision throughout the process. Thank you so much to my chiropractor, Dr. Jaison Golojuh, for his guidance and support throughout the program. I still have three more weeks of a maintenance phase in which I can add oils, fats and dairy to my diet and am permitted to consume up to 1500 calories a day. I'll need to keep my weight fairly consistent during this time. but I plan to work toward adding exercise to my everyday routine and continuing to eat sensibly, with the result of losing more weight throughout the summer.

Synopsis of the hCG Diet

The hCG Diet, it is a diet that uses the pregnancy hormone, hCG, to reset the hypothalamus and target the non-essential fat stores other diets just don't reach. The diet has several phases. In the first, the dieter begins to rid himself of the toxic chemicals stored in the fat, due to the toxicity of today's food and environment. Next comes a two-day fat loading phase in which you consume as much fatty and sugary foods as you'd like. You begin taking the hCG supplement on these days. This overload is done so that your body is aware of the kinds of fat to target. After this two-day phase comes the 500 calorie very low calorie diet phase. Finally, there is a 3-week maintenance phase in which calories and a variety of foods are slowly reintroduced into the body.

I've really simplified the overall diet, but I encourage you to read more about it. My husband, Bill, and I are working in conjunction with our chiropractor, Dr. Jaison Golojuh to complete a 43 day protocol of the hCG diet. Check out what Dr. Jaison has to say about the hCG diet on his website for a more thorough description of the program. It is to be expected that dieters will lose between 1/2 and 1 pound per day on the hCG diet. Because the hCG hormone causes the body to take fat from non-essential stores, 500 calories a day are plenty to feel satisfied and to be healthy. If you follow the plan, your body's metabolism will be reset, and the weight will stay off.

Detoxification Phase

Bill and I started this phase on Monday. Dr. Golojuh gave us six-bottle homeopathic detoxification kit from DesBio. Four days a week, we take the Detox I, II and III, as well as Matrix Support. We place 20 drops of each in a 16 - 24 ounce bottle of water and sip it for 3 hours. The other 3 days of the week, we take Cerebromax and Spinalmax. These are adminstered the same way as the others.

Prior to giving us anything, Jaison met with us. We were weighed, our BMI was determined, and we were measured. He also talked to us about the program and answered our questions. I highly recommend seeking the assistance of a doctor in order to be sure you are putting your health first and that you are using the most quality products on the market. Not everyone should take part in the hCG diet. Women who are pregant and diabetics are two groups who should not use hCG.

Our Progress

It's obviously early in the program. Thus far, we haven't had to change our eating habits at all. We've simply been taking the detox products in the morning along with a whole foods multi-vitamin called Catalyn by Standard Process. I will copy the measurements from Jaison and update the post with them later, but here are our current photos. My weight is 243 pounds. I am truly hoping to reach a 40 pound weight loss over the 43-day protocol, but I will be satisfied with 25 pounds, as I am so tired of being fatigued and not fitting into my clothes. I'm told that energy levels skyrocket on the hCG diet, and I've already begun to feel a bit better since beginning the detox and taking the Catalyn.

We go back to see Jaison on Monday and will meet with him once a week throughout the process. I'll keep you updated on each phase, posting pictures and measurements. I plan to update you on what we eat, how we feel and what's involved in each phase. Wish us luck!

It's been a month since I started the New Year, New Me Challenge with CalorieStory, the social calorie counting app for Facebook. I've learned so much about the food I put into my body. I honestly never realized how quickly calories can add up throughout the day, even with seemingly healthy foods. Keeping a calorie intake journal has really allowed me to see just how many calories I'm eating during the day.

Being able to track my calorie intake hasn't necessarily deterred me from overeating, but it has certainly made me aware. For example, I now know for sure that I've overdone it on a certain day of the week, so I know to pay extra attention the rest of the week. And it's not hard. My biggest problem with most "diets" is that I don't have time in my day to monitor, weigh and keep detailed notes on every little thing I eat. With CalorieStory, it truly is easy to look up the calorie count of foods. You don't have to leave the app. If I'm not able to find the exact food or brand, I can usually find a suitable substitute.

This month, I've only lost about 2 pounds, but I've gained new insight on what goes into my mouth. That understanding is going to help me for the long haul to make bigger and longer lasting changes. Again, I have to stress that it was really easy to incorporate CalorieStory into my life. That is the most important part to me. If it doesn't fit into my lifestyle, I'm more than likely not going to use it. What I truly appreciate about this app is that it makes it simpler to incorporate changes into my life, rather than having to change my entire routine to fit around a diet or plan.

Thank you so much to CalorieStory and the sponsors of the New Year, New Me Campaign - CarbLovers Diet, EatSmart, YogaPulse, GoodBelly, Our Love Yoga and LARABAR.

*Sponsored Post

When I first began this blog, I wrote out my short-term goals for the summer.  One of which was, of course, to lose some of the weight I gained while pregnant with Brady.  I'm sure I mentioned to you all that I failed in that area miserably.  That's okay, I've done pretty well on most of my other goals.  And I am taking baby steps here, right?

But then I watched a bit of The Biggest Loser last night on TV.  That's the show where people compete to lose the most weight in a given time period, for anyone who's not familiar with it.  I was shocked and scared by what I saw.  Contestants were given their biological age in comparison to their chronological age and actually shown some of the trouble spots of their anatomy compared to that of a healthy person.  They were given visual proof of their clogged arteries, over-burdened hearts, and impaired lungs.  It really hit home for me.

I know I eat terribly and exercise very little.  It's a vicous cycle, I know that as well.  It's a cycle I must admit I haven't worked very hard to break.  I think I've been so focused on and overwhelmed with everything involved in starting a new career that I've neglected my health.  Everyone knows food is used as an emotional crutch, and I'm sure I'm guilty of that, too.

However, just as I've taken baby steps to move closer to my other goals, I will do the same with this one.  First thing is to resist the vicous sweet tooth I possess.  I will not eat the Cocoa Puffs for breakfast or snack mindlessly on the M & M's (though the peanuts ones are the very best!)  The next step will be to purchase groceries that will allow me to avoid wheat and milk, which I'm allergic to.  It is possible; I've done it before.

A reader once asked me to share a dairy-free, wheat-free recipe.  I'll share my favorite banana muffin recipe with you next week to show you that there are foods out there I can eat, and that taste good.  My cooking bible is called The Gluten, Wheat, & Dairy Free Cookbook and contains lots of recipes that actually taste good and contain no wheat or milk.  Leave a comment if you know of any good recipes or advice for people with food allergies or would just like to encourage me and hold me accountable.  I could use all the help I can get!  Thanks.

It's official.  I didn't win either of the contests I entered over at MomDot.  But that's okay, the kids and I did have tons of fun doing them!  I was entered into a random drawing of five finalists for the blog header contest, but my number wasn't picked.  You know what, though?  I actually do like my flowers.  My blog doesn't look like anyone else's, and I think that's cool.  I was pretty bummed that my hideous earrings didn't win me the cute Little Windows jewelry.  But check out the winner - her earrings deserved the ugliest jewelry ever award!

Now onto what I'm NOT losing - weight!  The email tips from Self.com are not at all the motivator I expected.  I thought I would get a daily exercise and diet tip, but what I received was a how-to for a particular exercise move.  Not that I can blame my lack of willpower and willingness to get off my butt on Self - that's all me, baby!  But I HAVE been focusing on my writing and on making contacts in the media world.  I'll update you on that soon!  Maybe once the kids go back to school NEXT WEEK, I can start trying to improve my diet.  It's hard to resist when they're coming to me every hour saying, "Can we have a snack?  We're STARVING!"

Well, I've been working on my goals for about a week now.  And, actually, things have been going quite well.  Okay, moderately well.  My biggest downfall has been that dirty four-letter word, my diet.  Food is my weakness.  Especially sweets.  My husband swears I'm going to become a diabetic.  He's probably right.

But at least I'm aware of my food issues, and I've taken steps to nip them in the bud with my favorite strategy, finding a book about it.  And I've found a fabulous book.  Not the traditional weight loss program we've all tried (Atkins, Weight Watchers, South Beach, yada yada yada . . . ), and you know you've tried 'em, The Writing Diet: Writing Yourself Right-Size   by writing guru Julia Cameron (author of The Artist's Way) actually seems different.  I'll admit that I haven't finished it, but just reading the first few chapters has made a difference already - I can't wait to read the whole thing.  When I do, a complete review/progress report will follow.

This book doesn't make you count calories or points, measure your food, or cut out everything even remotely tasty.  Cameron focuses on using the creative outlet of writing to tackle your food issues.  Lord knows I have issues.  The chapters I've read so far are "The First Tool: Morning Pages", "The Second Tool: The Journal", and "The Third Tool: Walking". 

The three tools alone are just the "baby steps" I needed to get me motivated.  If you'll remember, I'm allergic to wheat and milk, which makes eating right darn near impossible.  But it's not impossible with some creative planning and tactical grocery shopping.  So after filling the cupboards with foods I can eat and looking through my wheat and dairy-free cookbooks, I was ready to tackle the tips given in the book.

The Morning Pages are basically a free-write you do each day.  The premise is that letting the words flow onto the page will lead to insight into your daily struggles and problems.  My writing led me to see that I'm really struggling with a loss of identity since leaving my job as well as feeling a bit lost due to lack of structure.  So I'm focusing on my new job title of aspiring freelance writer and sticking with the routine I set up in my goals.  The Journal is basically a food journal.  But you don't just record what you're eating; Cameron encourages you to write about your feelings or thoughts regarding the food.  This leads to more insight.  Per her suggestion, I've also taken out my journal when a "Snack Attack" hits.  And it's actually helped me to avoid bingeing on the yummy things I shouldn't have.

My favorite part, so far, is Walking.  Just twenty minutes a day, according to Cameron, will not only improve your body, but also promises to lead to a flow of creativity.  I was skeptical about this.  I've always enjoyed walking.  In the past it's helped me to clear my head.  But by focusing on creativity rather than all my worries, I was actually able to come up with the idea for a whole new format for my blog, which I will unveil next week.  I mapped out the whole thing while on a quick, twenty-minute walk.  I totally recommend checking out this book.  It's a whole new way of looking at weight-loss.