It's been a while ... again...

just thought I would drop in and tell you that I am now on a 'maintenance' phase of the HCG protocol... I have lost over 40lbs, and it is great! Can't wait to lose more...

HCG in the first few weeks can be ridiculously hard, but eventually it gets better, and gets to a point that you are used to eating almost nothing... although when I went to Phase 3 (the phase I am now on) it was REALLY nice to eat some eggs!

The Idea of Phase 3 is that you take 3 weeks for your body to stabilize and 'right' itself.  So you can eat whatever you choose, till you are satisfied, as long as it has no added sugar, and is not a starch... so it's been really good to eat some cheese, along with eggs, and whatever fruit I want!

I think the best part is that along with resetting my body, it has reset my pallet as I needed everything super sweet... and now even a good blueberry is sweet enough!

anyways, hope all is well wherever you are, keep going if you are attempting something that seems impossible, every time you persevere in your short-term goals you make the seemingly impossible long-term goal possible!  And if you aren't attempting anything challenging, perhaps you should start cuz your life must boring!

Blake

it's been one week since you looked at me....

"it's been one week...." to quote the Barenaked Ladies' single back at the beginning of the millenium, and to quote another "and I feel fine" ... to quote another canadian band's single (that being "It's the end of the world as we know it" by Great Big Sea)

HCG is not for the faint of heart, I almost quit several times within the first 3 days, but Amy persevered with promises of rewards for my greater self-good, and even a couple of non-verbal threats (Just kidding, but seriously if you think I am able to do this on my own you are crazier than I am)... 

I have to 'own' this because when it comes to 'dieting' or positive change in this area of my life, I am the king of the 'no-finish'.  I think it has something to do with the fact that if something seems out of reach, I can be terribly committed to letting it stay that way.  Especially if it that change involves pain or discomfort for me.  

It's not that during those first few days I couldn't do it, or even that I was ravenously hungry, I mean 500 calories is really not alot to live on,  but rather the complications came with the realization that I am once again completely concerned with food.  I plan my day around it in fact.  Who am I meeting with? Where can we meet? Who serves the best coffee, with the best pastry which is next to the best lunch spot that is close to my dinner reservation.  THIS is how life at times seems, because I am in the 'business of people' I meet with people all day long, and when I am not meeting with people, I am planning to have another meeting with people.  Don't get me wrong I love it, and I think I am good at all the things I do to make money, but it means that I am surrounded by food and beverages all which seem to go straight to my ass.  

So getting by on some tea and 500 calories a day has been a challenge, but once you get past the first three days, things get better.  You get used to a routine, you learn a new normal, and for me that's obviously what this is about, a new normal.  My normal seemed to be pretty self-destructive, a life of living in a cycle of emotional stress and eating my way out of it... some like beer, or whiskey, I am more primal, a good piece of meat, and some ice cream will have me feeling better in no time.  

Anyways, I am pretty excited about the progress though, and I know some of you will be pretty shocked and maybe skeptical, and that's alright, as there's nothing wrong with a healthy dose of skepticism and cynicism :)... but according to my brand new scale, I have lost over 20lbs... IN ONE WEEK... what's crazy is that I actually feel good, I am still able to be active, I am not tired, I am not hungry or craving anything... 

let's see how much farther we can take this :) 

talk to you soon 

And it begins... again

It has been awhile...

While I would chalk it up to busyness... let's be honest, I just quit.  I got tired of being on alert 24-7 for foods that were going to destroy all my hard work, and so I gave up.  I had lost somewhere in the realm of 50-55lbs... and got discouraged.

I have spent the past 6 months evaluating, thinking, and deciding on what I did well, what I hated, and why I stopped and I think I'll write about some of that later, but I really wanted to sign on here today to tell you of my new adventure.

A friend of mine (Jason) has lost almost 110lbs on a protocol called 'Simeon's Protocol'.  It has been made more popular by Kevin Trudeau in his book 'The Weight Loss Cure "THEY" Don't Want You to Know About'.  While I actually think Trudeau is a bit of a whack-job (in the clinical definition) the results that some friends are experiencing have really pushed me to try this.
In it's basic formula you have 4 phases of the diet.

Phase 1:
- a bunch of really nasty cleanses which I am not doing because I am inherently lazy and drinking a weeks worth of organic cranberry juice, with cayenne pepper with honey, doesn't seem like a smart thing to do.
- this is also Trudeau's addition to the protocol, and I think Trudeau is a paranoid, nut-job, who thinks that our tap water is full of chemicals so the gov't can keep us fat... I personally think it was the copious amounts of Coke and Mc'ds that did it too me, but I did drink lot's of water...

Phase 2:
- 15 drops of HCG 2x daily
- Drink copious amounts of water and teas (Green, Chamomile, and Yerba Mate)
- 2 meals (lunch and dinner) consisting of 100 grams of lean protein (chicken breast, white fish, steak)
- handful of salad (greens, asparagus, celery, tomato, cucumber, some other veggies that I really don't like)
- 2 apples, or 1 cup of strawberries, or 2 grapefruit/orange
- no dressings, starch, sugar, fats of ANY KIND
- for 21 days with drops, 3 more days w/o drops
- the first two days you gorge on as much food as possible the fattier the better... I will talk about this later)

Phase 3:
- No drops
- Drink copious amounts of tea and water
- have as much lean protein and veggies and fruit as you like (till you are full)
- for 3 weeks

Phase 4:
- Gradually ease back starches and sugars (in moderation)

or you can do phase 3 for 3 more weeks and then go back to Phase 2 to lose more weight...

My friend Simon has lost somewhere just south of 50 lbs... the thing is that this diet really seems to suck away what they call 'abnormal fat' and the fat that is the hardest to lose that being your belly, your thighs, and your... 'ahem' shall we keep it 'pg' ...buttocks.

During my evaluating of my success and now epic failure as I have put back on all the weight I have lost, I decided that while being goal oriented was a good thing, I think that success needs to be more than just quantified, it has to be qualified as well.  In North America we think that if I can just get to that weight, or if I can have that amount for a salary, or if I could just have a house this big then that's success... but success also needs to include the answers to such questions such as
1).  How do I feel?
2).  Am I more happy now that I am losing weight? or making more money? or owning a bigger house?
     2a).  And if I am or am not why?
3).  Do I have more energy?
4).  Am I a better version of myself?

Those questions need to be answered as well, and for me the past 6 months have been about answering some of those questions so that when I can get to my goal whatever that may be... I will arrive being not just healthier in body, but in mind and spirit as well....

Welcome to the Journey-continued!

Blake