Hunger Tips

Tips as I come across them to help with any hunger pangs. 

3 soda crackers and 8 ozs of cold water with lemon! Your hunger will go away till your next meal! First week is the hardest. 

Water Info

It is very important to drink LOTS of water!!  Chances are if you are overweight you are dehydrated.  I already drink water mostly so this isn't a huge challenge for me.  I have my days though that I just can't muster drinking even a sip.  Spring Water is recommended...The last choice is distilled water. Never drink tap water as it is loaded with chlorine, fluoride, and other contaminates.  I use to be one to say that bottled water was nothing more than tap water sold at outrageous prices....BUT I am learning that just isn't so.  I have found since going to bottled water I have no issues getting in at least a gallon.  Since I am over 200 lbs I should be drinking at least 2 gallons, but am happy if I drink one.

Drink approximately one gallon of water per 100lbs to help flush things out, ideally with coral calcium.  I only do this with my first glass of water of the day about a tablespoon.  I start my day before I get going with at least 2 glasses of water.  Calcium supplementation has been shown to have major health benefits and increase weight loss.  Carbonated drinks block calcium absorption and lead to nutritional deficiencies. They adversely affect digestion and the pancreas. They clog the liver and lymphatic system. These should be avoided.

Drink water, tea, freshly made juice, or coffee...no sweeteners especially artificial.  Stevia or Truvia is the only recommended if you must have some sweetness.  It is a calorie-free herbal sweetner.  I have heard of people that just can't drink water for their reasons and add some lemon and stevia to it.  So whatever works.  

Drink Green Tea. Ideally, drink a minimum of one cup per day. Organic green tea stimulates cleansing of the cells, increases metabolism, and helps regulate hunger as well as help keep up your energy.

Limit Ice Cold Drinks. Drinking beverages that are very cold slows metabolism and actually increases hunger. These should be limited or avoided altogether. If you are drinking your one gallon of water per day, and several cups of  recommended teas (green tea, smooth move, yerbe mate) , you should have no need or desire for any other beverage.  

Diets

So I have done them all well feels like it.  I never really had a weight issue until my 3rd child was around 4 months old.  That is when I noticed no matter what I was gaining weight!!  I did Weight Watchers...I lost 5lbs over a whole month which quickly and then some found its way back to me after I got discouraged and quit.  Never did Jenny Craig figured it was another WW.  I excersized daily, took walks with the kids, ate healthy, bike rides, nothing was working.  I tried OTC stuff for weightloss, Slimfast you name it.  Still weight kept slowly coming on.  I was told my thyroid was enlarged after my 2nd pregnancy...tests normal and again after my 3rd pregnancy....again normal.  I was never given what normal was just normal.  I had 2 more blood tests done every couple years as the weight was ever slowly gaining.  My doctors suggestion put the normal amount on my plate and split in half and save it for another meal.  What he wasn't listening to or understanding is there wasn't much to separate.  I didn't go back even though I had loved this doctor for giving birth to my last 2 kids I felt dumbed down at this point.  I already had a serious distrust in doctors due to my first delivery (LONG story that I won't bore you with).  I started looking at natural routes for healing.

By this time we had internet and I was reading what I could trying this MLM company or that one that promised their product worked.  Finally I went to a chiropractor...won one of those free drawings for a free massage and first visit.  Had a body scan that showed my thyroid off the charts in the black!!  They had a natural thyroid for me to try.  I started feeling better.  Not so fatigued (had chalked that up to weight gain), my hair fell out less the list goes on.  However the weightloss journey continues.  I lose a little gain it back + and this continues over and over and over.  I just have never figured out exactly what is helping during the weightloss times.  I know eating no more than 1200 calories helps tremendously, I stay away from foods that make the thyroid sluggish, I don't excersize as much as maybe as I should in fact winters are very difficult to move most days.  My joints hurt so bad.  Normally in the spring I have motivation to get out and go for morning walks...but not this year so far.  I want to, but my body hurts so bad w/in 5 minutes into the walk.

I am getting new shoes.  I am looking at a pair from Avia they are like the Sketchers Shape Ups only half the cost and just as much good reviews from nurses that are on their feet 10-12 hours a day/night.  So in a couple weeks I am getting those to see if they alleviate my pain issues and allow for more comfortable walks.

So what is so different about this journey with HCG from my past trials.

1. trying new shoes
2. journaling or in this case blogging details
3. doing weight and measurements of all areas not just a couple
4. weighing daily...which something I quit due to my struggles with eating disorders
5. only 500 calories of allowed foods
6. using HCG drops
7. eliminating products we put on our bodies daily not realizing how bad they are for us.
8. Not eliminating salt or sugar entirely from my diet

So this journey is set to officially begin Sunday April 4th...why because we are so close to family gatherings where there will be lots of food to help on loading days which is the first 2 days of this plan.  Called P1D1 and P1D2 (phase 1 days 1 and 2).  By the time I get home from these days I will be ready to hit up Phase 2 and let the getting down to business begin.  In the meantime I will be doing posts on various things I have read and discovered that I hope will help me on this journey and in turn if you come across this will help you as well.

Way Back

Ok so I am one of those that when I was little I thought I was fat...I didn't eat in order to lose and not gain.  Got together with my now husband that forced me to eat as I had bruising on my ribcage I was so underweight.  I began throwing up I would eat to please him excuse myself to brush my teeth and throw it all up before it had time to affect those numbers on the scale.  In this mix I got pregnant....Midway thru the pregnancy I finally realized it wasn't just me there was a life outside my own to think about.  I knew what I was doing was bad for my body and when it was only mine I didn't care it was all about being thin.  But now there was this little being and was it fair to endanger her life as well?? NO it wasn't.  At dr.s office visits I had to stand on the scale backwards and told to not give me the numbers as I couldn't handle it.

I gained 72lbs during this pregnancy...I lost all of 20lbs and never another ounce.  My body was so malnourished that it kept most of what I gave it.  I excersized my butt off, but couldn't really bring myself to fully stop eating again.  Something about that 9lb beauty and nearly dying giving birth to her put a new perspective on life even though I still struggled with losing the weight....Everyone said I looked great for having just had a baby...I couldn't see it.

I was NEVER happy with my body...I wish I could have been because NOW I really know what it is like to be overweight and long to look like I did then.  I am not going to go thru all the struggles I had because it isn't the point of this blog.  I just wanted to give a starting point.  I was around 154lbs in these photos.  I was healthy and so that is probably my goal...do I need to be a size 5 again...no.  I am older and wiser so to speak and right now would love to just be under 200lbs and I would probably be content honestly.