The elephant in the room

Let's talk about the proverbial elephant in the room (pun intended).

When someone loses weight, sometimes it is awkward to talk about it. After all, if you tell someone, "You have lost a lot of weight, you look great!" you are kind of implying that you noticed they were fat and didn't look great before.

I haven't talked about this yet, for reasons I'll mention in a moment...but I have been on a diet for the last 6 weeks. I just finished phase 1 of this diet, and it's been very successful (not quite as successful as it advertises, but still, I've never seen results like this on any other program I've done). Now I move into phase 2, which is maintenance for 6 weeks. Then I can repeat the cycle and hopefully lose more and eventually get to my goal weight.

The reason I haven't talked about this diet (besides that no one likes to advertise that they are fat) is because not a lot of people are supportive of it. They think it's too good to be true, scary, dangerous, and so on. In fact, there was recently a program on television about celebrity diets and one of the nutritionists they interviewed called this diet "terrifying". Yikes! This, however, is mostly due to a lack of understanding and knowledge about it. Once I did the research and read studies of this program (which has been around since the 1950's) I felt much more comfortable about doing it. What have I got to lose other than all this extra stuff I've been carrying around for the last 4-5 years (and at a more moderate level for the last 15)?

The diet is HCG. You can read more about it online so I won't go into too many details here. Essentially, it's a hormone that you take (for up to 6 weeks) which releases fat storage from your body. Because of this release of fat, you are able to eat only 500 calories a day during that time and not be hungry or malnourished. You eat 2 meals a day of a lean meat, a veggie, and a fruit (only certain fruits and veggies), drink a lot of water, and perhaps do some yoga and/or walking. Now I move into maintenance, which means no sugar or starches for 3 weeks, and then gradually adding them back in. Other than those limitations I just need to eat well and exercise and I should maintain what I've done so far, if not lose more.

The protocol advertises losing 1-2 pounds a day while on the HCG. I didn't have that kind of success, but I still feel good about it. More than anything, it helps me feel motivated to keep going, understanding that I can do this and improve my health and my self esteem.

So, having said all that, here are my results:

In 6 weeks, I have lost:

-21.2 pounds (.5 pound a day average)

-1-2 sizes (depending on the outfit). Glad I saved all those clothes! While it would be fun to shop, the only thing I need more than to lose weight is A JOB.

-and, most amazingly to me: 28 (yes 28!!) total inches. This is from 10 areas that I measured once a week (neck, midriff, arm, waist, hip, etc.) - so an average of 2.8 inches from each of these areas, ranging from .75 at the neck to 5.25 at the upper chest (just below the armpits). Who knew I was carrying most of my weight in my chest haha? I have to say that this weekly measurement was the best part of the diet to me. Watching those numbers go down was just amazing.

So, that is my success. Before you tell me that you've known others who have done this and failed to maintain it, let me just say that you shouldn't burst my bubble by telling me that! :-) What I have learned about maintenance that it is very much related to the individual and how they choose to take care of themselves after the protocol. If I continue to eat well and exercise, I will maintain (and hopefully continue to lose).

Still a long way to go, but this is a good start. Dee is planning to do it as well, but there is a "rumored" trip to Haiti coming up (has been "rumored" for months now...sigh) and this really wouldn't work in a place where he has no control over what food he has access to. I'm guessing by the time I start my 2nd cycle in 6 weeks he'll be ready to do it as well.

I would post pictures, but as mentioned before I am having major issues with pictures and blogger right now. Not sure what is up with that!