Too cowardly to try HCG purchased online, and too desperate to not try it, last June I took the plunge. My doctor actually recommended a "Medical Weight Loss" facility near her office. Having a heart condition, and hitting 40, she was very concerned that I get the extra pounds off my body. To be honest, I think she thought a nutritionist would put me on a diet, and the problem would be solved.
They did have a nutritionist. They did put me on a diet. The HCG diet. This worked for me for a little while, but anything works when you are literally convinced that you will die if you don't follow along. The first 2 days were grand, eat anything you want, more fat is better. The next 28 days kind of got boring, largely chicken and brocolli, with an apple or two a day. The pounds did come off though. Twenty pounds in 30 days. Having read about it online, I asked my nutritionist if I needed to take a break after 30 days, she said no. Two more weeks and no loss. One more week and no loss. She finally agreed, I needed to take a break.
Without taking the HCG, it's almost impossible to stick to chicken and broccoli!! The doctor said they usually prescribe appetite suppressants for this phase, but with my heart condition, I could not have them. For me, it was more than I could do. One bite of rice led to a bowl of noodles which led to ice cream, which opened the door to potato chips. Literally, within 3 weeks I had gained back 10 pounds. This program was crazy expensive and I couldn't justify the cost to go back, but I wasn't ready to give up. I ordered HCG pellets from Overstock.com. Starting over proved to be much harder though. The first 2 days would turn into 3 and four days of fat binging. I must have had at least 2-dozen "last" suppers. Sadly I gained back the other 10 pounds trying to re-start the HCG. The pellets worked, every time I got started, the scale would move downward 3 pounds after the first day of chicken and broccoli. Then 2 pounds on day two and a pound a day after that. Each subsequent start it was harder to stick to chicken and broccoli though.
The no exercise rules didn't help, which might be why gaining weight after stopping the HCG seems to be incredibly easy. Overall, it seems to be just too restrictive and it goes on for too long. The stabilization phase tends to be overlooked. I was insulted to learn that even after you hit your target weight, you need to continue the diet for a period of time to stabilize. In all, with several attempts to restart and stop and stabilize and fail and wait long enough to re-start again, I've wasted ten months bouncing between 155 and 170. Perhaps I will try again someday, but for now, I'm taking a break from HCG. I've ordered some Sensa (I hear it helps with cravings) and I'm starting that with a sensible exercise plan. If this lifestyle change of diet and exercise really proves to the be key to long term weight loss, I'm going to be both relieved and embarrassed...
Monday, April 23, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Sensa with Dukan Diet - The Crazy Sensible Option
Down 6.5 pounds in 13 days, I'm impressed and encouraged! Combining Sensa with the Dukan Diet, seems to work well.
Like just about every American female, I've been passively obsessed with my weight for as long as I can remember. It's true that from the age of 35ish till now (40), the pounds have been quite stealthily piling on. The normal activities that used to remedy the problem fairly quickly just quit working somewhere around age 35.5. So here we are, four years later, and shameless desperation is driving this bus. At first, I tried to accept it, telling myself, this is fun, shopping in stores completely new to me, like Lane Bryant and Avenue. Did you know that even Forever 21 has a plus sized section now? Which, by the way, is a huge joke. It seems they take the cute fabrics and styles that work on their target market of size 0-3 and just inflate them to hot air balloon proportions - which is about as flattering as wearing an actual hot air balloon. Ohhh if I were just 6'3" tall, this 171 pounds would not be a problem. But at just 5'2", it's becoming critical.
It's not my fault, really. Between working 9 hours a day and shopping, cooking, cleaning for a family of 5 (which used to be enough to keep the muffin top in check) I really did find time to hike, or bicycle for an hour or two every week. Still, my muffin top mushroomed into a muffin bottom, at this point I would need to be taller just to be round.
About 3 weeks before I ordered Sensa, a co-worker had recommended the Dukan Diet, so I started that. The first phase is all protein, which was great but I had full on schizophrenia if I didn't give in to my unnerving craving for noodles at midnight every 2-3 days. Needless to stay, the pounds continued to pile on. Every day, I would log into my email and on the side, that damn animated Sensa ad would taunt me. The dress shrinking and blowing up again, seemingly in time with my every breath. I resisted for a few months, almost a year.
Finally, the breathing, panting, desperate looking shrinking/expanding Sensa ad caught me at a bloated, mouth full of microwave popcorn, sitting on my ass at my desk moment, and I ordered it. It was a little less expensive through GNC because they had a buy one get one half off sale, so I convinced my 40-something friend who is VERY sedentary to try it with me. She is going to be my "control" group. The Sensa folk claim that with doing NOTHING in the way of exercise, you can lose 30 pounds in 6 months. There is every possibility that I will slip up and go hiking or biking or something - actually I plan on it. No danger, however, that my girlfriend will do anything remotely aerobic, so this should be very scientific. . . As scientific as two overwhelmed, half crazy, desperate 40 something women can be. :)
We are off to a great start, she has done nothing and after sprinkling religiously on every meal for 13 days, lost no weight. She does feel like she is eating less, no cravings, and she seems to have more energy. The Sensa people say that it's not unusual to see no weight loss in the first month, so she isn't worried. She is eating all the same things she used to eat, like pizza, french fries, fried chicken strips, etc, just less of it.
I have ridden my bike 3 times for 45-50 minutes each time (slow like 10mph), and i have lost 6.5 pounds so far. I forget to shake the Sensa on my meal about 1/2 the time, but even so, I have been able to avoid the midnight noodle trouble, and stick to the all protein portion of this Dukan plan. The next phase of Dukan includes mostly protein with some veggies added in every other day, this seems to be working as well, no cravings, completely satisfied and so far I have only cheated once, with a hand full of dark chocolate covered almonds, sprinkled with Sensa, which was enough for me without going back to finish the bag. If Sensa can continue to curb my cravings, I might win this battle!
Like just about every American female, I've been passively obsessed with my weight for as long as I can remember. It's true that from the age of 35ish till now (40), the pounds have been quite stealthily piling on. The normal activities that used to remedy the problem fairly quickly just quit working somewhere around age 35.5. So here we are, four years later, and shameless desperation is driving this bus. At first, I tried to accept it, telling myself, this is fun, shopping in stores completely new to me, like Lane Bryant and Avenue. Did you know that even Forever 21 has a plus sized section now? Which, by the way, is a huge joke. It seems they take the cute fabrics and styles that work on their target market of size 0-3 and just inflate them to hot air balloon proportions - which is about as flattering as wearing an actual hot air balloon. Ohhh if I were just 6'3" tall, this 171 pounds would not be a problem. But at just 5'2", it's becoming critical.
It's not my fault, really. Between working 9 hours a day and shopping, cooking, cleaning for a family of 5 (which used to be enough to keep the muffin top in check) I really did find time to hike, or bicycle for an hour or two every week. Still, my muffin top mushroomed into a muffin bottom, at this point I would need to be taller just to be round.
About 3 weeks before I ordered Sensa, a co-worker had recommended the Dukan Diet, so I started that. The first phase is all protein, which was great but I had full on schizophrenia if I didn't give in to my unnerving craving for noodles at midnight every 2-3 days. Needless to stay, the pounds continued to pile on. Every day, I would log into my email and on the side, that damn animated Sensa ad would taunt me. The dress shrinking and blowing up again, seemingly in time with my every breath. I resisted for a few months, almost a year.
Finally, the breathing, panting, desperate looking shrinking/expanding Sensa ad caught me at a bloated, mouth full of microwave popcorn, sitting on my ass at my desk moment, and I ordered it. It was a little less expensive through GNC because they had a buy one get one half off sale, so I convinced my 40-something friend who is VERY sedentary to try it with me. She is going to be my "control" group. The Sensa folk claim that with doing NOTHING in the way of exercise, you can lose 30 pounds in 6 months. There is every possibility that I will slip up and go hiking or biking or something - actually I plan on it. No danger, however, that my girlfriend will do anything remotely aerobic, so this should be very scientific. . . As scientific as two overwhelmed, half crazy, desperate 40 something women can be. :)
We are off to a great start, she has done nothing and after sprinkling religiously on every meal for 13 days, lost no weight. She does feel like she is eating less, no cravings, and she seems to have more energy. The Sensa people say that it's not unusual to see no weight loss in the first month, so she isn't worried. She is eating all the same things she used to eat, like pizza, french fries, fried chicken strips, etc, just less of it.
I have ridden my bike 3 times for 45-50 minutes each time (slow like 10mph), and i have lost 6.5 pounds so far. I forget to shake the Sensa on my meal about 1/2 the time, but even so, I have been able to avoid the midnight noodle trouble, and stick to the all protein portion of this Dukan plan. The next phase of Dukan includes mostly protein with some veggies added in every other day, this seems to be working as well, no cravings, completely satisfied and so far I have only cheated once, with a hand full of dark chocolate covered almonds, sprinkled with Sensa, which was enough for me without going back to finish the bag. If Sensa can continue to curb my cravings, I might win this battle!
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