HCG Diet - Weekly Progress at Week 0 - Atlanta, GA

Hi, I browse RealSelf often and thought i would post my weekly check-ins here. First the background: I'm a 37 year old woman, am 5'9 and 147 lbs at weigh-in. My best weight ever was a very lean, muscular 134 and I would like to get back into that shape in the next 3-6 months. My plan has two phases: 1) get as skinny as possible 2) add muscle back slowly. I'm trying the hCG diet as part of phase 1. Below I’ve explained my reasons for embarking on this new diet, but in case you aren’t interested I’ll post my initial thoughts up top. Here goes: I went to a medical spa to receive my hCG supply. Before beginning the diet they had me do 3 blood panels that check things like cholesterol, liver function, kidneys, etc. This made me feel more comfortable because they were doing a baseline and also screening for any health issues that would make me a poor candidate for such a diet + hormones. One week later with my results in and health looking good, I did a weigh in and received a full brief on the nutritional plan. Then it was injection time! The nurse showed me how to inject myself in my abdomen by injecting herself with saline first, then asked me to inject myself there so she could see that I did it correctly. Since needles put people off I want to state upfront that it is a very tiny needle and it does not hurt. One cool/odd thing is how hard it is to puncture your skin. You have to push, there’s not slowly slipping it in there. But it didn’t hurt and this morning it was fine too so one side effect of this experience is losing any aversion I had to needles (at least small needles) The first two days of the diet consist of “gorging” and personally I’m skeptical of this, but I want to follow the protocol precisely so I have eaten every avocado I have (8) plus two boxes of Girl Scout cookies. Normally I would have an avocado every day and manufactured foods are banned from my house, but I’m trying to shave weigh from hard-to-lose places so I’ll do as advised. The goal of the first two days is to tell your fat cells you’re good and don’t need to worry about starving – the thing is, I think they knew that already but I could be wrong. I’m highly skeptical of this phase but going along with the program. Tomorrow I begin the 500 calorie diet, which should suit me fine after these two days of gross over eating. The only other issue I have is that the list of acceptable fruits is limiting. Normally I’d want blackberries, blueberries or raspberries but they’re off my list, so I have stocked up on plums, peaches and strawberries for the first week and plan to ask about my preferred fruits next week when I check in at the spa. The rest of the food looks like my normal diet, just in smaller quantities. As a final note, the reason I selected hCG may seem counterintuitive: I've selected it because of all of the negative buzz. Articles like the one here http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hcg-diet/AN02091 give me pause; many of these same people rejected Atkins, a diet that has worked for me for over 13 years as a regular part of my life. (I have begun traveling often and fallen off the wagon a bit so my weight gain is not because of Atkins but because I've been carbing it up). When I read the story, I can see a lot of nay saying and handwringing, but not a lot of fact. In fact, there's fiction right in the first paragraph. The Mayo Clinic - an establishment I normally trust - says"the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has advised consumers to steer clear of over-the-counter weight-loss products that contain HCG." That's not exactly true - what the FDA said was that the "homeopathic" and oral forms of hCG are not known to work, that the hormone is not legally available in that form and that random internet purveyors of such drugs are not trustworthy. Well, ok, THAT makes sense, as does the FDA stating that it has never approved hCG for weight loss (it’s a fact, no one has attempted FDA trials to prove hCG for weight loss). But just because something hasn't gone through an FDA trial doesn't mean it doesn't work (I used to work in pharmaceutical development so I say this with 1st hand knowledge of that process). The author then goes on to bash low-calorie diets to argue about gallstones and electrolyte imbalances - both possible on any diet and of course possible here. So… misstatement of facts + known risks to dieting =boogey man to me. And THAT’s why I am going on the hCG diet – to find out for myself what no one else will verify. And I promise to post the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth here for you to decide for yourself.