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I’ve been experimenting with four-ingredient soups for the HCG Diet: a protein choice, a vegetable choice, a can of broth, and a seasoning. The idea is to keep meal preparation as simple as possible so that it is not overwhelming. So far, it has been going well.

Broth should match the protein, if possible. If you are having chicken, then use a can of chicken broth. If you are having beef, then use beef broth. If a matching broth is not available, then use vegetable broth. When I choose tomato, I have been using a tablespoon of tomato paste as well. As for seasoning, I have been trying out seasoning blends so that I can get a more complex flavor without a lot of work.

Here are some combinations that have worked well.

Chicken, celery, curry powder
Chicken, cabbage, curry powder
Shrimp, celery, Singapore Seasoning from Penzeys Spices
Beef, tomato, thyme
Beef, tomato, Italian seasoning
Chicken, kale, Italian seasoning
Cod, celery, Fox Point Seasoning from Penzeys Spices
Cod, tomato, Creole Seasoning

Next time I go to the store, I plan to get some other vegetables to try.

I just started another round on June 4. This time, I am using Rx hCG made into sublingual drops. So far, I am doing much better on it than I did with my homeopathic rounds. I am having no issues with physical hunger whatsoever so far on this round. Both of my homeopathic rounds were aborted due to hunger issues.

Here I am again! I’ve decided to give this another try. I kind of have to. If I gain any more weight, I’ll have to buy new clothes.

I’m going to mix my proteins. I determined that my body was not properly nourished on a vegan diet. Even so, I did have some benefits from my bout with a vegan diet. For instance, my blood pressure has normalized. I figure that if I consume a reduced intake of animal products, I might perhaps retain some benefit while getting the nutrients I need. I plan to have one meat meal and one meatless meal each day of the HCG Diet.

This time, I am using an appetite suppressant in addition to homeopathic hCG. The product is NSI UltraSlim FX from vitacost.com. It has Glucomannan, Cocoa Extract, Green Tea Extract, Hoodia Gordonii Extract, D-Glucosamine HCI, and Citrus Naringin. Glucomannan is a type of fiber. It is used to make shirataki noodles. Cocoa extract is reputed to raise serotonin levels in the body. This would lift one’s mood. Green tea extract raises metabolism. Hoodia suppresses appetite. D-Glucosamine is reputed to be a fat binder. Its weight loss benefit is in dispute. Citrus naringin is derived from grapefruit. It may help curb the appetite, control cravings and increase satiety. This element can inhibit the breakdown of certain drugs; therefore, you should consult a physician if using this supplement.

I’ve taken a closer look at my data. At this point, I would have to agree with the FDA in at least one respect. In my case, at least, it does not appear the hCG has given me any benefit beyond the standard calories in/calories out formula for dieting. For this reason, I may not be as exacting in what I eat on the protocol. Also, I have gained weight following my rounds. This is at least in part because I added starches too soon. I have noticed, though, that I have been better able to control my weight when I watch what I eat than I was able to do for the several months prior to my first round.

After a couple of false starts, I am starting Round 3 of the HCG Diet again. This start is a little different from the previous two because I am tweaking one of the conditions. I ran into a little trouble with veganism. I had some low moods with low vitality that may have been related to a B-12 deficiency. B-12 is the one nutrient that vegans do not get in sufficient quantity in their food. Animal products provide B-12, but it isn’t the actual animal products in which it is found. It’s found in the bacteria that grows in those animal products.

I was taking a multi that included B-12, but it was an inferior form that is less effective. Apparently, there is more than one form of B-12 used in supplements. The form used in the supplement that I was taking was cyanocobalamin. This is an artificial form that does not occur in nature. Also, the cyano- prefix stands for cyanide. They make the stuff with cyanide! Imagine that. Cyanocobalamin is the form most commonly used in supplements. Methylcobalamin is the specific form of B-12 needed for nervous system health. It is better absorbed and retained in higher amounts within the tissues. In simple terms, the body uses it much more effectively.

I was happy to discover that methylcobalamin is the form used in vitacost.com’s NSI brand of supplements. That they would choose to use methylcobalamin instead of cyanocobalamin is an indication of their concern for quality supplementation in general. Their NSI Synergy Basic Multi-Vitamin Version 3 costs more than what I have been taking, but it also includes CoQ10, which I’ve been taking as a separate supplement. The net total cost of supplementation will actually be lower.

So what does all of this have to do with the HCG Diet? When I was using pharmaceutical HCG as sublingual drops, the formula included a liquid B-12 supplement. B-12 has benefits that aid weight loss including increased metabolism and increased energy. B-12 also helps fight stress and depression. Since B-12 was part of the formula used in Rounds 1 and 2, it could well be a major factor in the efficacy of those rounds. My previous attempts at Round 3 without it were not successful. Since the homeopathic HCG does not include B-12, I plan to take it as a separate supplement to see if it is easier to do this homeopathic HCG round with it. Besides, as a near-vegan, I really need to be taking a quality B-12 supplement anyway. Hopefully, I’ll have a much better time of it.

By the way, for those making pharmaceutical HCG sublingual drops, vitacost.com sells
NSI Vitamin B-12 Methylcobalamin Raspberry Flavor, which should work well in the sublingual formula.

After a few days of an attempt at Round 3, I decided that a preexisting mood issue needed my attention. In other words, it was an issue before I made my start at Round 3. Research told me that vegans are more at risk for depression than omnivores. The key factor was the fat intake. I needed some saturated fat, it seems. I decided to halt the hCG diet temporarily and consume a relatively low-carb omnivore diet for a few days to see what would happen. My mood was better the next day.

Since Thanksgiving was coming up, I decided to restart after the holiday weekend, which is today. If the mood issues resurface, I plan to use coconut oil to see if that provides the necessary fat to lift my mood back up. That should provide the necessary saturated fat to keep my neurotransmitter level up. Others have successfully used coconut oil while on the hCG diet without affecting their weight loss, so it’s worth at try.

I’ve reset my stats for Round 3 since I really hadn’t gotten far enough with my last attempt at it to really count for anything.

A note for those concerned: HCG generally brings about a great sense of well-being, which I experienced myself during my previous rounds. My psychiatrist witnessed my uplifted mood during my last visit and made note of it. That I did not experience it in my first attempt at Round 3 could be due to one of two things. First, I had not been on the round very long and thus may not have been on the round long enough to achieve the sense of well-being. Second, I am using homeopathic HCG this time. Time will tell on this issue. I’ll keep you posted.

I’ve been reading Sierra Goodman’s site about weight loss and the Law of Attraction. She recommends Japanese green tea known as matcha. This is the tea used in traditional Japanese tea ceremonies. This tea is different from the regular green tea that you would buy at a grocery store. Matcha is finely ground.

A study featured in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition claims that matcha green tea produces a significant increase in energy expenditure (a measure of metabolism) in individuals, combined with a significant effect on fat oxidation. While some of the effects were originally attributed to the caffeine content of green tea, the researchers discovered that matcha green tea effect on energy and weight loss go beyond those that would be caused by the caffeine.

In fact, they found that consuming matcha green tea can increase thermogenesis (the body’s own rate of burning calories) from a normal 8%-10% of daily energy expenditure, to between 35% and 43% of daily energy expenditure.

Of critical importance is the fact that none of the research subjects reported any side effects, and no significant differences in heart rates were noticed.

I have decided to use matcha green tea in my plan. The HCG Diet allows unlimited use of coffee and tea, so it should fit right in.

To prepare matcha:

Place a small sieve over the matcha bowl. Measure about ½ a teaspoon of matcha powder. This is about 2 scoops if you are using a traditional chashaku spoon. Shake it through the sieve into the bowl. Add 50 ml of hot water (not boiling), which is about 1½ ounces. Use a bamboo tea whisk (chasen) to whip the tea until there is a layer of jade colored foam on the top. Serve immediately.

I have done a couple rounds now, but I’ve had problems maintaining the losses. The first two rounds, I used pharmaceutical hCG. I’m going to be using homeopathic HCG drops from GFC Health Products this time.

My plan will differ somewhat from the standard because I will be following a vegan protocol. I followed the standard omnivore version of the plan the for the first round and a vegan protocol for the second round. If you would like to see what I came up with, I posted the vegan protein options on the plan one-sheet on my website. Look in the left column for the one-sheet. My loss rate was virtually the same between my omnivore round and my vegan round. This time, hopefully, I’ll stick to a good vegan P3 protocol when I’ve got the weight off. Not doing so was likely my downfall before.

I’m considering an extended round this time and going until I get to goal. As of this morning, I’ve got 36# to go. My guess is that it will take me somewhere around 60 days to get down to 125#, given previous records. Others have said that they have done extended rounds successfully.

I’ve been busy lately. Here’s what happened after the binge:

It took four days (until 9/3) to get back to where I was before the binge and another day to start making progress again. The last couple of days, I appear to be dealing with pre-TOM issues.

The take-away message from all of this is that binges are not worth it!

This morning my weight was 146.8#, up 0.2# from yesterday. This was in spite of a mini-binge last night. My reduction for the week was 9.2#. This was the largest weekly reduction I have had since I started keeping track October 10, 2006. That helped make up for the way I felt about the mini-binge I had last night.

It all started with a little job at a retail store. It was nearly 7:00 PM when I arrived, and I hadn’t had dinner yet. To prove I was there, I had to buy something so that I would have a receipt. I had a reimbursement allowance of $1.00, which really wasn’t enough for this store. If they’d had bottled water, I would have chosen that. The only water they had was Vitamin Water, which is really just Kool-Aid with vitamins in it—certainly nothing I would consider buying under any circumstances. The cheapest thing I could find was a bag of Skittles, so I got that.

Instead of throwing them out on the way out the door, I decided to eat them. Have they always tasted that nasty? For some reason, I ate them all anyway. I guess I was that hungry.

When I got home, I looked at the nutrition facts for the Skittles and added them to my log. I decided that perhaps I should eliminate the grissini for dinner and perhaps the fruit as well. I made dinner and ate it.

One of the biggest problems with eating something not on one’s diet is that it sets a precedent for doing it again. After dinner, I had some corn nuts and some of the baklava that I had made during loading. All told, my calorie count for the day was about 2,000.

So far today, I’ve been good about sticking to the plan, but it’s been more difficult. I just have to keep reminding myself about my goals. I really do like being normal weight. Besides, I’ve decided to make this diet journey public, and I don’t like having to say that I went off plan.

This morning, I weighed 146.6#, down 0.4# from yesterday. Since my first day of the very low calorie diet a week ago, I’ve lost 11.0#. The net loss since the beginning of the round is 8.2#. At this point in round 1, my net loss was 5.8#. So far, I’m doing better on the hCG diet as a vegan than I did on the standard protocol!

I included some konjac powder and shirataki noodles in my meals yesterday. I’ll be leaving those out today to see if I lose more weight tomorrow.

I discovered a new vegan protein source suitable for the hCG diet. Some of the Gardein Chick’n products fit the diet nicely. Yesterday, I tried the Gardein Chick’n Strips. A serving is 67 grams and includes 100 calories and 18 grams of protein, which is quite good for a meat substitute. The product looked like real chicken. The texture was similar to overcooked chicken. It did not taste much like chicken, though. That was fine with me because I was really just looking for another protein option and not necessarily trying to find a substitute for meat. The taste was rather bland. I imagine it would pick up flavors of any sauces it was cooked in well. I put it in a salad straight out of the box yesterday. That worked quite well for me.