About Me

Hi everyone!
As the first post on this blog, I thought I would explain who I am and why I'm blogging! I have decided to try the HCG diet, and I want to document my progress and (fingers crossed) success! I will post as often as I can about what I am experiencing and how much weight I am losing. I hope to get some pictures on here, because you know what they say... "A picture is worth 1000 words!" I will also post links to information that has been helpful to me in researching and implementing the diet.
And now, a bit of history about me and my weight!
I am 37 years old, mother of five children. I have struggled with my weight since I was a child. I have tried MANY diets and have even been successful at getting to a healthy weight a few times in my life! I have tried almost everything...
Atkins, Ephedra, excessive exercise (I ran a marathon about 10 years ago and still didn't get thin!), Overeaters Anonymous, low calorie, low fat, low carb, Weight Watchers, Alli, SlimFast, Body for Life... just to name a few!
The last time I was at a healthy weight was almost 4 years ago. I did Weight Watchers and lost 47 lbs in 6 months. It felt great. About 2 weeks after I reached this weight (seriously!), I got pregnant with my youngest daughter. So I never learned to maintain that weight because, well, I was pregnant! After giving birth, I had about 35 lbs I needed to lose. I went back to Weight Watchers, a few times since then, but have not had the same success I did before. I don't know why for sure... I have stuck to the program for months at a time and have experienced very little weight loss. Maybe I crossed a threshold with my age and metabolism? Maybe I cheated too much? Maybe I didn't hang in there long enough? I would give up after a few months because it didn't seem worth the effort.
This past fall (2008) I started graduate school. Even though I am not a freshman, I certainly did gain the "Freshman 15" (or 20). Right now I am at an all time high, 9 months pregnancy weights included! YIKES! Ideally, I would like to lose 60 lbs.
I heard about HCG first from my sister in law... her parents did it and had great success! Then I heard of a friend of a friend, and then starting hearing more about it at work. When I first heard about the diet, I said "of course you lose weight if you are only eating 500 calories a day! Anyone would lose weight that way!" It seemed very unhealthy to me. I have always been very afraid of making my metabolism even worse by starving myself. My body is already so efficient at storing fat, I'm sure I would outlive MANY people in a famine. Also, I am someone who plans life around food, so the thought of 500 calories a day sounded way out there to me. Totally impossible.
As I continued to struggle with my weight, and continued to see the HCG people having success, I wondered more about it. I decided to do some research. Long story short- there is a lot of controversey surrounding this weight loss method, but to me, the theory behind it makes sense. I am planning to follow the original protocol written by Dr. Simeon (1950's) in his manuscript "Pounds and Inches" (type it into Google and you will find lots of places you can read the entire thing for free). He is the utmost authority on the topic, and is very good at explaining the mechanism he believes to be at work with this method. I also sifted through the research and came to a satisfactory conclusion that it is worth trying. If you are interested in knowing what I read that made me a believer, let me know and I will post some links to studies, etc.
So here I am. I am going to do this HCG thing. And I really believe it's going to work for me. I have been in this fat suit long enough. I am ready for the real Brooke to come out and play! :)