Help, I'm in Beatty, NV!!!

All,

If any of you have the misfortune of being stuck in Beatty, NV....I'm sorry. In all fairness, the Stagecoach Inn/casino isn't that bad...but the internet access kind of sucks. It sucks to the point where I don't feel like blogging cause I'll probably get kicked off.

More when I return to Vegas tomorrow.

HCG Maintenance Phase day 5/Body for Life day 4

So, I'm still having kind of a hard time hitting even a thousand calories in my diet. I'm definitely over 500 but I'm just not eating enough (first time I've ever said that since my loading days).

Yesterday was legs day at the gym. I did squats (ow), leg extensions (ow), hamstring exercises, and seated calf raises (OW OW OW!). After all of that I decided that I'd like to give running (I.E. Barely jogging) a try. Bare in mind that I haven't jogged in forever, since before HCG. I tried once at about 210lbs and I was winded within about 50ft.

So, since I missed cardio on Tuesday due to tutoring, I decided that I would do the Body for Life cardio plan. It is a 20 minute workout that works like this:

Minutes:
1-2 Exercise level (EL) 5 (1 is sitting on the couch, 10 is nearly impossible)
3 EL 6
4 EL 7
5 EL 8
6 EL 9
7 EL 5
8 EL 6...
so on and so forth until minutes 19-20 where you try to hit a level 10.

10 is elusive in that it's basically stating that you cannot take another step. In lifting weights it's pretty easy to hit 10, it's called, muscle failure or "There's no way in hell I can lift that one more time!"

Anyway, cardio was interesting because my legs already wanted to freeze-up on me.

Then, since Body for Life says that Abs are done on Leg days, I went home to the hardest Ab routine I have available....P90X Ab Ripper

Happy to say that I can do more of the exercises now than before...but I'm a long ways away to being able to keep up with them.

All in good time I supposed.

More later

HCG Maintenance Phase Day 4/ Body 4 Life Day 3

Holy crap I'm sore!

I did the upper-body workout as prescribed in Body for Life. I knew I was going to be a bit weaker having not worked out during Phase II of HCG Protocol so I lowered the weights but I'm still hurting...and that took place on Monday.

Surprisingly enough, I'm eating more calories (though probably not enough) and still losing small amounts of weight. I'm down to 181.4 as of this morning. I'm holding true to the HCG Protocol by avoiding carbs and sugar as much as possible and I'm still staying away from animal fat (butter, salad dressing, etc) but have been adding plant based fats like olives and avocado (can you tell I like olives and avocados?).

I've yet to take my Week One photos for the Body for Life phase of my body restructuring but I assure you they will be done and posted.
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On another note, I want to give an advance "Thank You!" to Tutorjam and especially to my math tutor Roy (who will most likely never read this). I have to tell anyone reading this; if you have any need for tutoring, go to www.TutorJam.com and tell them your needs. I hired them to find a tutor for me to help with math fundamentals in preparation for the GRE. My tutor Roy is outstanding. He's patient and he knows the GRE, it's requirements and common questions, exceptionally well.
I'm still waiting for my transcripts to arrive at UNLV so they can forward my application to the Graduate MIS program for review.

That's all for today.

HCG Day 2 Maintenance/ Day one Body for Life

Yesterday, my dreams of a tuna steak and salad (romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado and Lindsey olives) were realized. It was fantastic! So nice to be able to mix vegetables again. I also had to glasses of wine throughout the day (Barefoot Pinot Grigio). It was just so awesome.
Funny thing, after my somewhat fattening breakfast of two scrambled eggs and two small sausage patties, I was not hungry for lunch, at all. I had my early dinner and I was good to go.
Today, I wasn't hungry in the least. I know I was supposed to have at least doubled my intake but I wasn't hungry enough. I had an apple at 9am, left over tuna (4.5oz) and a salad and was full. At 3pm I ate another apple. For dinner tonight I had the same salad but with shrimp scampi from the "Eating for Life" cookbook, which brings me to today's second topic...Body for Life.
I did my first workout today for Body for life. This includes the entire upper-body (chest, shoulders, back, triceps and biceps). The regime includes a series of 12, 10, 8, 6, 12, 12 (different exercise, same muscle group). The reps get lower, the weight gets higher.
I have to admit I was sad to see a noticeable loss of strength, but that was to be expected. I'm relying on "muscle memory" to speed the strength back to my old lifting weights.
I'm planning on taking Day 1 pics but I guess it'll actually be Day 2 pics.
I'll post on here as well as make another vid for You Tube.
Until then...

Day 1 Maintenance-HCG

So, I finally had some eggs! It's funny, I never realized how much the American lifestyle is so dependant on carbs. I was thinking, hey I can go out to eat now! So we did and everything has toast or "breakfast potatos". I didn't have either. I had two scrambled eggs and two little sausage patties....hey it's been 43 days since I've had any real fat! Any way, it was delicious and surprisingly filling, even without the toast and potatos.

So tomorrow I will start the Body for Life workout plan and diet (minus the carbs for the next 20 days) and I will be posting the results of that as well as pics.

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On a different topic. I got my application in to the UNLV Graduate School so, just waiting to hear back from them. I may have to take a prerequiste or two. If I do, I'll be starting school on Aug 23rd or so.

If anyone that is reading this happens to be in an MIS program (especially UNLV) send me a message, I have some questions for you. (kind like throwing a message in a bottle huh?)

Until tomorrow,

Day 1 without HCG

Okay, for all of those people that said they weren't hungry on the first day with no HCG....hurumph! I was alright until about 11:45am (having already eaten my apply at 9am) then i was freakin' starving. I ate my lunch and felt better but I haven't felt hunger like that since I've started on this.

As you can tell, I opted not to continue with the last four injections. I want to wake up on Sunday morning and have some eggs! For dinner I'm going to have a tuna steak (5oz at least!) and perhaps a green salad with avocado, olives (black and green) and tomato. I can't wait! I'm debating on whether or not I'll have a glass of wine. Might just wait until this whole thing is over before I have alcohol.

I'm glad to see more people have visited. Please leave comments if you can. I know some have had some trouble with the site. I tested it a couple of times and it seems to be working again.

I'm still working on my post HCG video. Plan on Saturday or so.

Brian

Day 39.. Down 30lbs today! One more day to go

Today I am officially down 30lbs since starting the HCG Protocal. Holly cow huh?! I didn't really think it was possible, but, here I am. I technically only have tomorrow, my three days of VLCD without the injections and then on to maintenance phase. However, as previously mentioned (on YouTube or here..can't remember) I still have four injections left. I'm caught between wanting to move on and wanting to squeak out another pound or two. I have a feeling that I will be giving myself the rest of the injections before I move on.

I will be posting a sort of "montage" to HCG and my weight loss on my YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/bcwoods31 . I'm not yet where I want to be, size wise, but I am a lot further along than I was that's for sure.

Quick shout out (so to speak since I'm typing this....and not in caps) to MsSlowmo, theflipmamma, and noltmik. You are all slightly ahead or behind me. I want to know how you're doing on maintenance phase!!!!

Another word of encouragement to overweightcollegegrl, keep going and make sure you're very strict with this! You have tons of success stories to watch but there is certainly room for you and everyone else that starts this program.
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Today is also day two of wearing a tie to work. There were slightly less comments on it today. Most of them were compliments. I have serious doubts as to me becoming a trendsetter here at work. On the plus side, now I do stand-out as being exceptionally professional when new folks come in to the building.

I guess that just makes me the "weird guy that likes to wear ties" to the folks that work here haha.

As always, would love to read some comments on this post.

HCG Day 37 ...Almost Done with VLCD

I drank soooo much water yesterday, and right before bed too. Which probably explains why I actually gained 1lb according to this morning's weigh-in. I'm not concerned in the least because my body fat came in at 29.2% which is the lowest it's been so far I believe. I put on some size 38 slacks this morning and just realized that it's not really feasible to wear them anymore. The belt just bunches up my pants and looks ridiculous. Fortunately, I have smaller slacks to wear.

I bought a couple of the Croft and Barrow (Kohls) shirts with matching ties because I'm too fashion ignorant to be able to pick them out separately. And, can you believe this, I'm wearing a size MEDIUM! I haven't been a medium in anything (let alone a dress shirt) since 8th grade or so.

The funnier part is that I decided to wear a tie today and it immediately spurred a bunch of questions at work.
"Is it picture day?"
"What's going on....why the tie?"
"Whoo hooo, aren't you spiffy today..what's the occasion?"
and lastly from my boss:
"Hey, what's going on with the tie...you have an interview or something; something I need to know?"

How about, I just lost almost 30lbs and I feel like dressing up?!

On another note:
I just hired a company called TutorJam to help me relearn basic algebra and geometry. I'm hoping to take the GRE in Sept/Oct and I'm weak in math. Verbal is strong so, not too worried about that. Sounds like a pretty good deal for eight one-hour sessions for $129.

Anyone reading ever taken the GRE? Beyond that, anyone know anyone in the Graduate MIS program at UNLV? That's the program I'm trying to get in to.

Day 35 pt. 2 Taco Seasoning

2 Table Spoons(T) dried onion

2 teaspoons (t) chili powder

1t salt

1.5t garlic powder

(Some call for 1T of cornstarch but I don't use it)

1t cumin

1/4t cayenne pepper (I use more)

1t paprika

I also use about 2T of red pepper flakes in the mix and I usually add way too much when it's cooking. Plus Tobasco (not in the recipe but I love it).

Another thing that I like seasoning chicken or steak with

Look up the Essence of Emeril recipe and make it yourself. This way you know there's no sugar in it. I also cut half of the salt out cause it was really, really salty.

HCG Day 35

Hey folks, day 35 today. I lost another pound over the evening and am down to 186.8lbs. 2.8lbs till I have lost 30lbs!

However, when I got home today, I was friggin' starving! I don't know why, but I felt rundown and just kinda miserable. I want to eat normal food, I want a beer, I want some damn tortilla chips haha!

But...instead of doing that; I went to the gym. Then for dinner I had my 3.5oz of chicken, with 3.5oz of Romain lettuce and I sauteed the chicken in water (can't use oil of course) with homemade taco seasoning (thanks to comments on You Tube!). I added a bunch of Tabasco sauce and more red pepper flakes. So, that was about an hour ago....and my mouth is still on fire. But it was good. So good in fact, that's pretty much what I've eaten for dinner for about two weeks. I have no problem eating the same thing every night. Makes it easy to stick with.

You know, everyone that's not on this diet will tell you..."Oh, that's not enough food","I can't believe that you're able to function","I could never give myself injections", "I don't have the willpower"

You know, they're all right.

They can't, they won't, they don't.

But we do.

They will remain the same until they are uncomfortable enough to change their lives. If you're reading this, you're either thinking about doing the HCG protocol or you've already made up your mind and have started.

Either way:

You can

You will

You do

You are going to have days when you're friends are eating and drinking...you're going to be drinking black coffee. You're going to want to go out but you're going to have to schedule it around your meals. You'll realize that if you want to see two movies in a day...you're probably going to have to go home to eat.

But you know what...tomorrow you'll weigh less, your clothes will start to fit better and you can climb stairs without losing your breath.

Stick with it and the importance of all that other stuff will fade.

Until next time

HCG Day 34

********* I WANT EGGS!!!******

Man, everyday that I'm closer to going to maintenance phase I'm that much closer to sneaking a bite of cheese or a piece of lettuce from my wife's salad (it has ranch dressing on it from Fresh & Easy). But I resist. I'll be there soon enough.

I'm really happy to see some comments from readers on here. If you like...become part of my support group in the side bar.

Today I am at 187.8. I have 10 more injections to go so I guess I'm on the 44 day program haha. I'm hoping to get down at least to 184 so I can say that I lost an even 30 lbs. I still have a ways to go but I'll be starting Body for Life work outs again. I'll probably gain muscle weight but I'm not that concerned about it.

I was at the gym today and was able to do eight pull-ups on the machine that you can kneel on and it gives you a counterweight for balance. I used to have to set it on about 120lbs to help. Today when I did the eight I had it set on 50lbs! I can do about four with no help at all. I can do 10 dips with no counterweight. This whole thing has been so great!
If you're thinking about doing this and you are a healthy person...stop thinking, just do it.

That's it for HCG and exercise talk for today...now for some other stuff.

Some you watching videos have heard that I recently separated from the US Air Force. That was just over a year ago (30 Jun 08). Today I went to visit a buddy on base (still a defense contractor) and got to play with a flight simulator! I was in for just under 10 years and never got to do anything that cool haha! I pretended to fly an F-22 from Nellis AFB, over Las Vegas and in to the dessert. Then I tried to land and quickly "blacked-out" and then crashed. The simulator will tell you when your maneuvers would probably have knocked you out from excessive g-forces or negative G-Forces. Either way, it was pretty cool.

On another topic. I watched "Knowing" yesterday with Nick Cage...wow. Don't bother looking for a plot that makes sense. The first half of the movie has no bearing with the second half of the movie if you ask me.

Thoughts/comments? Post them for all to see.

Until tomorrow,

Brian

Day 32 HCG

So I was at the gym today and I asked to use their little body fat monitor. I like to compare it to my Tanita Body Fat Monitor/Scale cause it usually says it's less. So I mention to a worker that I like to monitor it weekly. She asks "Are you noticing a difference on a weekely basis?" all confused like. I said, "yup" and she handed it to me. My scale said 30.0% this morning (I understand being dehydrated from sleeping will raise it) but theirs said 25% so i was pretty happy about that.
I also lost another pound last night, bringing me to 188.6.
I want to get to 179lbs but I only have about 10 more days on the program and my loss has slowed considerably.

We shall see. Video will be posted on You Tube soon I promise!

Brian

Day 31 HCG

I haven't posted a video on YouTube lately but I did want to give an update. I'm officially down 25 lbs now...did I already mention that? I put on some slacks today that were getting really tight and I was swimming in them! It was awesome aside from having to constantly pull my pants up. I'm at a weird stage, if I use the fourth hole in my belt, it starts to bunch my pants up. If I use the third hole my pants just keep falling below it.

It's an awesome problem to have. I'm down to nine official days. I had more HCG in the vial for about three more days so I'm going to go for 43.

I have to be honest when I say that I'm glad that this is almost over. I know it's been a bit of a burden for my wife and I'm sure that some of the folks at work are tired of hearing about it.

I have pics from the Mt. Charleston hike but I don't have time to post them right now.

I'm having food dreams again, where I'm "cheating" on my diet. Just know that I haven't and I am going strong. I'm hoping for another five pounds before maintenance phase but we'll see.

I'm looking forward to lifting weights again.

My body fat is teetering on 30%, hoping to see 29% (and change) by tomorrow but we'll see. For those that watch the videos you'll remember that I started around 39-40%.

I'm really happy with my progress, but I know that I still have a ways to go. Even if I end at 184 (from 214) I should really lose another 20lbs or so to be at a healthy weight (5'7").

That's all for today. Looking forward to more comments.


Brian

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July all!

Today was probably a great test for everyone today. We all know how Americans love to celebrate holidays by overeating. So I got to watch everyone eating steamed clams, tri-tip steak, corn on the cob, potatoe salad, maccaroni salad. I had a small steak that I cut up in to a salad.

It's amazing watching other people eat regular sized meals and how insanely large it looks. I had to keep reminding myself that normal meals looked like that.

That's all for today, we're going to watch some fireworks in an hour or so.

Have a great weekend all.

Brian

HCG Day 28

Hello all,

Day 28 for me today and I lost another pound yesterday bringing me to 190.2. So, by tomorrow (I hope) I should be in the 180s! If I'm at 189 tomorrow that will make a total loss of 25lbs. So I'm pretty happy about that.

I took my mother to the same clinic that I went to yesterday. We had an hour and a half to talk about the diet and how everything works. It was a good drive and a good conversation.

Today Rachel (my wife) and I are going to Mt. Charleston for a hike. The weather in Las Vegas has been about 105 everyday and Mt. Charleston is approximately 20-30 degrees cooler. I'm pretty excited because we usually only hike in the summer but I think we missed last summer altogether.

I gave Rachel a shot of my B-12 and now she's all rearing to go.

I'm going to take some pics and will post them here.

Have a great day all!

Brian

Today could have been the day.

Some of you may have been directed here by my YouTube videos. If so, thanks for comming by! As you know I've made about 12 videos showing you my daily weigh-ins, talking about recipes or even just how I felt about the day. Many of the folks on YouTube have come before me, some around the same time, and a couple after.

As you also know, I don't post everyday, it takes a lot of time to edit the videos and all. So, I'm hoping that I can at least type up a few lines each day to share things that may or may not end up in videos.
I don't have any plans to stop sharing videos...but maybe you want updates a little more regularly.

If so, I invite you to become a part of my "Support Group". If you are a YouTube subscriber you already know how much I appreciate the encouragement and comments left on the videos.

So join blog as well and get updates just about everyday.

I'm also going to post about things other than HCG. For example, many folks have made comments that once the Very Low Calorie Diet is over, people stop posting. That's odd because most people are interested in how the weight stays off, or what people have done since.

I'm planning on seeing the fatloss with HCG and then using the Body For Life workouts to build muscle. So rest assured, I'm going to keep posting as long as people keep reading.

Once again, thanks for visiting my blog. Please feel free to leave comments as I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

Oh, and about the title...today is day 26 of the VLCD, technically I could have moved on to the next phase; but I'm in it for the long-haul..40 days.

Brian