Loading Time and Breaking Water!

So, you may be curious about what the title of this entry alludes to. You're in luck. I am going to give you ALL the details. Probably more than you want to know. One of my nicknames used to be "Teri Too Much" or "TMI Teri". I will show you why if you decide to keep coming back for more.

Anyhow, this morning around 8:30 AM was the first day of taking my HCG injections. The best part is I have to eat like a pig. The worst part is - I have to eat like a pig! Ha! Let me first get to what HCG is.

Stephanie, (a dear friend of mine - friends since middle school) has been working on a handout that best describes it. (Stephanie runs Brilliant Bodywork. She introduced me to HCG and helped me shed the first 50. She honestly saved my life. We'll get to that later as I reveal more about myself.) According to the handout:

"HCG is a natural hormone produced in the body. It has many functions and is used medically to treat a variety of conditions. It is the pregnancy hormone. This hormone allows the body to metabolize fat and use it as energy for both mother and fetus. This acts as a "fail-safe" mechanism when energy is needed immediately. For weight loss, we use only a very small amount of HCG to capitalize on this same mechanism."

"HCG releases your fat reserves, your body begins to “consume” the fat, which acts as a source of energy in place of food. In essence, you burn about one pound of fat each day (one pound is 3,500 calories). Therefore, your total consumption each day will be about 4,000 calories – 500 from food and 3,500 from fat. That is why most patients do not experience extreme hunger while using HCG."

On the first two days of injections you are instructed to gorge yourself on food. This may seem counterproductive, but it works. Apparently, doing this primes the body for the 500 calorie diet I will be enjoying for the following 40 some odd days. It gets my fat cells ready for action. I am to eat as many fatty foods as I can. Rocco's pizza from Goodview? Check. Tub of cookie dough? Check. Taco Bell run? Check. The last of some Cadbury Creme Eggs my husband had been stashing for me? Check and check! You get the idea. Somehow I managed to down a bunch of pistachios. Haven't touched the cookie dough yet. Just cannot bring myself to do it now. I am pretty stuffed. Yet it sits in the fridge, calling my name and taunting me. "Teri, c'mon! Let's do this! You can't have me or any other treats for a looooooong time after Friday. Put me in your mouth!" One is warned that it is hard to eat to capacity during this "loading phase" (also known as "Phase One"), but it must be done. I am really thirsty though. Extremely. Thirsty.

The above picture is of the needle I am to administer myself with every morning around the same time. You can see how small the needle is. Somehow I managed to stick myself this morning. I thought I was going to have to have my husband Jon do it but I put on my big girl pants and did it myself. Growing up, my Mother was a nurse. She was like a ninja with a needle. I would get surprise attack flu shots when not looking. "This is no big deal" I thought to myself, but even today there was slight hesitance of shoving a foreign object into my body. Truthfully, you can't really even feel it. You are to rotate around injection sites between the tummy, thighs, the buttocks, and arms.

Some of you may be tripping up on the 500 calories for 43 days part. (Known as Phase Two.) Yeah, I realize it sounds pretty awful. The first week takes some getting used to. This will be partly timed with my first week of college classes. College, which I haven't been in since 2004! I had mentioned in my previous entry that I have used HCG before, via taking drops. Supposedly taking injections guarantees a certain amount of the hormone, most likely more than I was getting with the drops. Therefore less crankiness when starting. Supposedly I won't feel hunger because the hormone will be using my fat for energy - instead of muscle.

So, what does one eat while restricted to 500 calories? Not much! Lean meats, and mostly green veggies, tomatoes. Fruit selections consist of oranges, apples, strawberries, and pink grapefruit. Carbs? Not really. Other than a cracker of melba toast, or a Grissini Breadstick (think the kind you get in a cafeteria shrink wrapped - only longer and no sesame seeds) twice a day. No oils, no dairy, no sugars. The no sugars thing is tricky - especially when it comes to using spices. You have to be religious when checking labels. No soda. Coffee and tea are allowed. I can make myself fake lemonade by using Stevia (a natural sweetener that your body does not process as a sugar) and lemon. It actually tastes pretty good.

So, why the heck would I do this? Because it works and it's not drawn out over a year. I am EXTREMELY impatient. If I do not see results right away, I jump off the wagon. I need an extreme diet to go with my extreme personality.

In other news, the water heater decided to take a crap last-night. I knew there was a problem when Jon brought the garden hose in from outside. His response when asked what was wrong was "Oh nothing. Didn't want the hose to freeze". I asked him again five times. Then he said the basement was wet/flooded. The thing is - Jon is a joker, and sometimes I can't tell if he is joking or not. It's part of his charm. He smiles when he does it to keep you guessing. After a while, he sat on the couch next to me, put his arm around my shoulder and said, "The water heater is dead. It's done dancing. You want to survey the damage?" Whenever Jon uses the term "done dancing" he means it. Then I know he's not joking. There wasn't much water down there, a couple of things were damp, but not ruined. I had to bum a shower from the in-laws before going to work after my morning injection. This afternoon, Jon purchased a new 40 gallon water heater from Fleet Farm, which ended up only costing us about $227 due to a nice amount of gift cards we received as wedding presents. It took Jon and his Dad from 1 PM - 6:40 PM to install it, but it's installed and working well. We have hot water. We could not be happier about that!

Jon and I have had a bit of bad luck lately. Friday before Christmas Jon's car slipped on some ice and skated a curb. Some damage was done to the right from rim, and control arm. The car needed an alignment. We were quoted $500 - $600 in repairs. Since it was a holiday, we wouldn't get the car back until Friday Dec 30th. Jon works in LaCrosse. I work in Winona. The repair shop wanted $30 a day for a rental. We wanted no part of that. So, how did we manage? Well, it was the holidays and I had some time off. Friday through Monday. I managed to get really sick that Monday the 26th, which lasted through early Tuesday the 3rd. Transportation issue solved! It did suck being stranded - but it wasn't like I was going anywhere - other than the doctor multiple times. The kicker? When we went to pick up the car, it was over 1k in repair costs. I was furious no one called us to let us know that struts and other misc parts needed to be ordered. They say bad luck runs in threes. I think our turn is done!

This is getting really long. More tomorrow!