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 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