Hard work proof and a roller-coaster ride

Day six of HCG included a trip to the gym for a cardiovascular metabolic test and a mild trip into the realm of insanity.  I strapped a freaky looking mask on my face connected to a computer to measure the amount of air I took in and analyze the gases I exhaled and ran on the treadmill for a few minutes.  Coupled with my heart rate monitor it tested exactly how MY body burns fat as well as my recovery heart rate and lung's oxygen capacity.  I was excited and - let's be honest - a little amazed at the results.  My body burns fat longer than the average person, I have a phenomenal recovery heart rate and an awesome lung capacity.  The tester said "I can tell you're a runner and you've been working hard" which totally vindicated me and made me almost tear up.  There it was, scientific and personal proof that I am in the best shape of my entire life.

So what the fuck am I doing HCG for?

I had already been struggling with the thoughts of putting my gym time on hold for three weeks while I took shots and ate like I was a starving Ethiopian.  And now I find out exactly how to work out more efficiently for MY BODY to burn more fat yet can't do it?  I had a serious melt-down.

You see, based on the few runs I had done with my new handy dandy heart-rate monitor I know exactly what heart-rate range I typically run in.  And it turns out it isn't in the fat burning zone.  Which on the one had was an exciting discovery because it explained why I was averaging 20 miles a week and yet not really losing any weight.  On the other hand, it means I have to change the way I run if I want to see the results in my body that I started running for.  Either way, though, there's that damn HCG which means no running at all for me for weeks.

Hubby came home that night and I came clean with him that I was thinking about stopping the shots early.  This was my third round of HCG and I was only losing about a pound a day in the first week which was less than half what I was used to doing with the other two rounds.  I remembered the frustration of the diet without weight loss from the 40-day round in 2010 and I didn't want to relive that pain.  Hubby talked me off the ledge reminding me how long it would take at the gym to lose even 5 pounds a week and I went to bed feeling like an alcoholic must feel - I'd gotten through the day and I could go on if I just took it one day at a time.

Until the very next night when Hubby came home on the weak side of the roller coaster and instead of me taking the opposing role and telling him "we could do it" and "look at how much it is going to be worth it", I said "you're right let's quit!"  We discussed and schemed and went back and forth trying to figure out the best thing to do and in the end we both caved.  Hubby had already lost the15 pounds he wanted to (yes, I hated him just a little for that number in a week but he's a man so whatever!) and I knew I didn't have it in me to give up running for that long.  We didn't want to waste the money we'd spent on the HCG so we found a new home for what was left - a fellow HCG'er I knew who was in a frame of mind to start the shots right away before they lost their potency - and we handed what was left over to her.  And promptly started dreaming of all the things we could eat three days later when we entered the maintenance phase and got back everything except starch and sugar.  Those were the hardest three days ever but just because we stopped early doesn't mean we aren't going to follow the protocol.

I never thought it would feel so good to be a quitter!

I ran four and a half miles today in my new-found fat-burning zone, not caring that it was like 4-minutes per mile slower than I'm used to running, did yoga yesterday and am never looking back.  Seriously, I am at the gym six days a week between our new gym and the fitness center at work which is a habit I am not anticipating breaking anytime in the near future.  Hubby and I both chalked up our one week trip into insanity as proof that we have certainly changed our lifestyle and are choosing the slow and steady wins the race approach to losing the last little bit of fat we want to rid ourselves of - and boy did we relish those eggs this morning!

So while I still sing the praises of HCG and recommend it to anyone interested in it, I no longer personally need it as a jump start to a healthy lifestyle - it served it's purpose and I'm happy to never look back.  In the course of two and a half years I have completely changed my life and I couldn't have done it without HCG.