Week One Report (Round 2, Phase 2, Day 7)

Round Two has been pretty different from Round One in a couple of ways. 1) During Round Two, I haven't been famished all week like I was for the first eight days of Round One, and it sounds like that's because I did a much better load up this time around. 2) I am losing much more slowly this time. Still respectable weight loss rate, but slow.

During Round One, I lost 13.8 pounds in the first week. Even if you don't count the load up weight coming off, I still lost 12 pounds in one week. This round, if you count the load up weight, I've lost 10.4 and if you don't count the load up weight, I've lost 5.4. To lose 5+ pounds in a week is still pretty good, but it's just a lot less than 12. I've said all along that the thing that makes this diet easy despite its intensity is that the weight loss results are also intense. Anyway, I'm trying to keep proper perspective on that. Overall, not counting the load weight from the second round, I've lost just over 35 pounds total. I'd love to lose 25 more on this round and get to 169 and see how that feels.

Day	Date	Weight	Daily Change	Total Loss: Round 2	Total Loss: Cumulative
LD 1	1/26/2011	199.6	-
LD 2	1/27/2011	203	3.4
1	1/28/2011	204.6	1.6
2	1/29/2011	200.2	-4.4
3	1/30/2011	198.8	-1.4	-1.4	30.8
4	1/31/2011	198.2	-0.6	-1.6	31.4
5	2/1/2011	197	-1.2	-2.4	32.6
6	2/2/2011	195.6	-1.4	-4.0	34
7	2/3/2011	194.2	-1.4	-5.4	35.4
Week 1: down 5.4 for the week (not counting load weight), 35.4 total

Anybody else have experience with loss being slower on Round 2? Should I expect it to be more consistent? Can I still lose 30 pounds in a 40 days if I don't lose 13 the first week?

Another thing that's different is that my exercise is more intense this time. Last time I did a little yoga, a little walking, a little Pilates. This time I am training for a 10k. I find that I am really hungry on days when I train, which makes sense since I am probably burning more than 500 calories just on my training run. But if the HCG is truly freeing up all these stored fat calories for burning, then I'd think my energy level or ability to do intense exercise shouldn't be much different than it is when I'm not on HCG. My scientist friend K theorizes that I have plenty of caloric energy, but my blood sugar is lower, which makes it feel like I have less energy.

I have also had a very active week in general, aside from the running. Lots going on, lots of stress and late nights and unexpected surprises.

I'm just not as pumped up and excited this time around. Maybe because I feel less miserable and desperate? I'm also not doing the same self-care things I did last time--early bedtimes, late soaks in epsom salts and hot water, etc. Basically, I just feel worn out and tired and really ready to be done with this stupid diet, already.