Self imposed skiatus and the HCG diet

I've been a lazy lover, dear blog, to which I have no excuse other than life. I've been on a hiatus from skating since November after taking a mountain-to-the-knee whilst scaling down Mt Tamborine. I cast derby from my head in a bid to ease the depression of putting freshmeat on hold. Shame, I'd skated 23 in 5 and started crossing over properly.

I learned a few lessons though. Whilst there's no better way to get fit than actually move, and derby did that for me, I couldn't ask something like that of a body I had left in total disrepair. Derby wasn't going to fix it, for me at least. And perhaps I could have done the ol' teaspoon of concrete, but I can't just DO derby, I want to be GOOD - and that requires a body that can handle it. So I focussed on what I could change and after much deliberation decided to try HCG Protocol through some advice of a fitness warrior I respect.

For those who are noobs to HCG, it stands for Human Chrionic Gonadotropin; and it's based on the hormone that is produced to support a woman's ovary in ovulation or in pregnancy. Through taking the homeopathic drops, your body is stimulated into producing said hormone and this inturn causes fat to be released into the system as it would a pregnant woman. Sounds pretty fucking crazy right? It seems to be everywhere you look at the moment. Your nanna is probably on it.

I got a book of recipes that supported the restrictions and looked forward to trialling it all. The book itself was pretty helpful, especially given I'm vegetarian and figured I'd struggle to find proteins that were HCG friendly but I didn't. I read all the evidence to support/damn it online and came to the conclusion (as I often find on the internet) no-one can give me a certain answer and fuck-this-I'll-try-it-and-see-if-it-works.

I knew the following when I started:

• Even if the whole thing was a sham, I would still lose weight by only consuming 500 calories  daily
• It was a good opportunity to kick-start my weightloss and a 'segue' from the debauchery of white flour and insulin-whoring I was up to beforehand
• I am prone to extremist behaviour when needing lasting change and had to have a back-up plan that meant achieved real change
• I wanted to put my body into ketosis, and this would achieve it.
• I needed to have a few quick wins with my weight to recall what it was I lost in the first place

 It was the hardest change I've ever made diet-wise. I loaded on the first two days, which is code for a food fuckfest, as the diet specified, and was secretly glad to see the back of it on Day 1 of phase 2. I was pumped - 40 days, no carbs, no sugar, no fun. I can do this right? Right?

Then the vagueness set in, followed by the headaches; rammed in by the nauseousness and the endless hours of hunger. After the first week, things steadily improved by the day. I was losing over a kilo a day in the first 4 days. My skin started to clear, to an eventual glow. The dark circles around my eyes faded and my energy started to level out. By day 14 I was feeling stellar, my will was good and I'd lost enough weight for my clothes to feel different.

The most problematic part, the reason I'd not done this whilst I was in freshmeat was because there isn't enough calories to train hard. Freshmeat was for me, the most physically demanding thing I'd done since Volleyball and given the fartlek-style fitness drills and my average burn of about 1200 cals a session I didn't think I would make it. In fact, whilst on HCG I was even struggling walking up small inclines. I had nothing in my muscles and was lactic acid central after relatively short sets of stairs. It was dealable though, and I was spurred on by the scales every morning.

Once I hit around 27 days, I was starting to go the other way. My skin was getting ruddy and I was constantly zonked. My pipeworks fucked up and I was a pretty much a total cunt to be around :) What was most concerning was my mental state. As the diet requires you to weigh yourself DAILY, my obsessiveness about even 100g wasn't healthy. The first day I gained, despite having followed all the rules I went to water because of what I perceived I had to do to myself that day, and for what?! So the next day I ate 300 calories. Not good. Whilst I agree with an awareness of the scales, I completely disagree with obsessing over it, and HCG relies on it so heavily. So, at day 30, exactly 10 days short of my 40 day HCG goal, I relented and ate carbohydrates and cheese. Then lentils and naan.


Now, I'm about a week out from going 'rogue' and after my little starch freak-out have gone back to a similar diet as HCG, though having introduced my friend Quinoa and a bigger assortment of vegies on my plate. I am still losing weight. I am now trying to unlearn weighing myself daily.

Even today, having eaten about 1000 calories, I don't know where I could fit any more. I read a friends diet plan this week and looked at her 1400-calorie-a-day-weight-loss-plan as living in the lap of luxury. So, to that end HCG has solved one hurdle. I've kissed bread and pasta goodbye; they were dirty sluts anyway so I'm straight without it. Another benefit was figuring out I'm probably intolerant to them given what happened after carbing it up. I also have the presence of mind to reintroduce food slowly, and figure out what's been messing with me all these years. I've figured out that life ruled by sugar and insulin spiking is shithouse and I much prefer the sweetness of an apple or some blueberries.

Overall, HCG won't kill you (more likely you'll kill others), but it isn't the correct answer for me. I also ran a test using Fitness Pal, by adding up my calories correctly and found my projected weightloss was in line with my diet irrespective of the Homeopathic drops, proving to me at least that they were probably a placebo. I went without them for 2 days and found the only difference to be that I was slightly hungrier. Perhaps a double-blind litmus Hawking test would bear more weight but I'm fresh outta bunsen burners, so this is the extent of my deductive powers.

As for skating, well, I start bikram next week to sort this knee shit out and keep the losses coming. It's also super good for your core and joints, two things pivotal to me getting back on skates yesterday already.

Keep you posted. Hope you learned something, I sure did.

Skate faster bitches!