I was browsing around the internet this morning and came across a new diet tried – the HCG Diet. HCG? Does that sound familiar? It should. It’s the hormone women produce when they are pregnant.

Eesh.

Apparently, “Taking HCG while going on a very low calorie diet can help you lose weight.”

Well no duh! Anyone who goes on an VLCD (very low calorie diet) is going to lose weight. It’s as simple as that. You can exercise, not exercise, call your mother, cut your hair or sing show tunes for all you want, you will lose weight.

You also might lose your gallbladder, like I did when I went on a VLCD.

So barring the VLCD side, barring the fact that they don’t know how it works just that it works, barring wondering what the heck this will do to screw up birth control pills, barring the whole thing that a lot of people just eat too much…

HCG is a hormone. Argh! Let’s just go ahead and let your body think your pregnant so you can lose some weight. (WHAT?) Let’s just give men a hormone that is produced when a female is pregnant. Let’s just see how their testicles like that.

Ugh.

I’m not innocent. I watched the video. I thought about it. I wanted it to be true. But then logic came knocking and I invited it in with open arms.

Yes, it’s easy for me to say because the scale is finally headed back in the right direction and I’m nourishing my body rather than trying to beat it into submission… but really. HCG? Seriously?

When I told The Bloke that I’d hit the “I refuse to let myself gain anymore weight back” point, he told me that I needed to sit down for some reflection. I needed to figure out what worked in the past and what didn’t. He wasn’t just talking about diets, either; he meant which bits and pieces worked for me.

After much thought, I know these things work for me:

*Cutting out 99% of bread, potatoes and rice (I am a former carbaholic)
*Going raw (calms down my mind)
*Meal replacements (helps me create a sense of control that helps me to not binge)

With those things in mind, I have created a balance that, I think, will work well for the rest of my life. The meal replacements won’t be a part of my life forever, but they’ll help me maintain control while I take the steps in creating the framework for a healthy life. Right now I use meal replacements for breakfast (to get me used to eating then in the first place) and to help me have a sensible lunch. When I’ve been at this for a while, I’ll be switching to lunch salads and healthy breakfasts (smoothies! oatmeal!). Otherwise, I’ll be going mostly raw with my eating.

But, after all that thought, I also realize that the big ol’ elephant in the room has a “Hi, my name is EXERCISE” on his chest and is looking at me with little patience in his expression.

I work from home. I’m a bit shy, so I don’t get out socially a lot. The gym is too expensive. I have Wii Fit, which has been working, but I have a hard time sticking to an exercise program. I have yet to figure out what works for me for exercise.

I’m open to ideas.

What works for you for exercise – especially when you just start? Is walking your thing? How about rewards? Are you a morning exerciser or night? Spread it out in doable chunks through the day? Do you do anything creative to get yourself to do it or do you not need to?

After my experience of violently reacting to metformin (a very rare reaction, I’m told), saying that I’m ‘cautious’ about weight loss products is a huge understatement.

Today I found a flier in my mailbox that said “30 PEOPLE WANTED: LOSE 5-15 KILOS IN 90 DAYS”. It listed a few other things and a website, so I figured I would check it out. Losing five to fifteen kilos in about three months is actually a reasonable number compared to the gimmicks out there. Plus, with the “30 PEOPLE WANTED”, I assumed it was some sort of medical trial. Times are tight and I’m definitely not against being paid for a clinical trial.

I went to the website, http://www.healthherbalway.com, and lo and behold: Herbalife.

Herbalife was started and had expanded to Canada before I was even born, but I still remember hearing about it while I was growing up. The company that claimed to help everything from weight problems to skin conditions had quite it’s fair share of legal cases to deal with.

By all appearances, I don’t lose weight just by eating right and exercising. Even with that as part of my life, I can’t help but wonder how a company like Herbalife is still in existence. Have we all seriously become so entirely busy that we can’t bare to part with the snacks and sweets? Do we care so little about ourselves that the quick, dangerous fix is always better than the slower, natural one?

Okay, maybe Herbalife has worked fantastically for some people. That’s great. But unless you start introducing the habits that will help you lose weight naturally anyway, you’ll be on the stuff for the rest of your life, feeding money into a multi-billion dollar company. Do you really want to do that?

Jenera has done me the favour of writing a guest post for me. Please welcome her to Naturally Curvy. Enjoy!

Counting calories sucks. There is no doubt about that no matter how you work at losing weight or what type of success you’ve had. When making a lifestyle change in regards to eating, counting calories is a good first step.

In my many attempts at losing weight, I have always used calorie counting at one point. And I have had success with it. You would think that if I was successful I would keep at it. Nope, I’m not built that way. I like to walk away, thinking I can do this all by myself.

Here are some pros for calorie counting:
-You will know exactly the number of calories consumed in a day. No duh, I know, but it is essential when trying to lose weight.
-You will learn proper serving sizes.
-You will begin to read and understand labels.
-You will become more conscious of your eating habits.

On the flip side, there are some cons to calorie counting:
-There is the possibility that you’ll become obsessed with food.
-You will be discouraged after the first few days of knowing how many calories you really consume.

Don’t get me wrong, calorie counting is a great tool for weight loss, especially for beginners. In my experience, it works. In fact, I’m currently counting calories as a way to curb my overeating.

I have a few tips that will help with counting calories:
-ALWAYS read the labels. Even if you are going to eat cookies and pork out, read the label. Know what is in your food.
-Measure everything. Sometimes ‘eyeballing’ a measurement doesn’t work and you end up eating more than you think.
-Write everything down. Keeping a journal, using a phone application, or online tool is essential to counting calories and keeping track efficiently. Keeping a running total in your head can lead to over consumption.
-While the goal is to stay within a calorie range, there will be times when you go over. Do not obsess!
-If you DO go over your limit, simply add in some extra activity the next day. Calories burned and consumed are cumulative over a time period.

Losing weight isn’t always easy and neither is healing our relationships with food. Counting calories should be an easy tool and not something to add to our stress. Using these tips will help curb those freak-outs while dieting.

Lately I have been thinking about my body, where I’ve come from on my journey to health and where I am going.

In all my thinking, I have come to hypothesize that there are two kinds of fats:

1. Idle fats
2. Work fats

Idle fats are the fats you lose by eating less. No, I’m not talking about fasting or anything like that. I’m talking if you count calories and stay in a healthier range or if you go on meal replacement like I did. These are the fats that leave you when you have less calorie consumption and little to no additional exercise or movement.

Sure, when I was on meal replacements, I did exercise. But, it wasn’t all that strenuous, nor was anything I did kept up for very long. But I still lost idle fat.

Now I have come to a new place in my journey to health. I’ve done meal replacements, lost weight and now that has stalled. Why? Well, there could be many reasons. My thought? I have now hit the work fat.

Work fat is like its name; you have to work it off. You can’t lead your usual life with the usual motions and expect for this stuff to drop off. This is the stuff that requires exercise and hard work. This is the true fat, not sugar fat, that is the essence of burning fat to be able to work and survive.

I have lost 46 pounds so far, and I’m not ashamed to admit, that was pretty much all idle fat. I just plain didn’t do a lot of exercise.

Appropriately, I’m now halfway to my goal weight, and idle fat loss isn’t enough. Now it’s time to buck up the exercise and get to it.

This is going to be a heck of an interesting 45 pounds to lose.

After being woken up early this morning by a gallbladder attack – and I hadn’t eaten anything that would set me off – I said enough is enough.

It’s apple fast time.

While I’m not keen on the amount of sugar I’ll be getting during the fast, it’s a specific acid in apples that will reduce the ‘spurs’ on my stones that I’m after. I’ll eat apples and drink apple juice (and water) for three days. On the evening of the third day, I’ll drink a grapefruit juice and olive oil combo that will cause my gallbladder to contract and squeeze the stones out.

This particular treatment for stones has a 100% success rate and comes from a naturopath I trust.

I’m feeling so cranky, nauseated and down right now. I’m tired, and I absolutely hate not knowing what’s going on in my body. I can handle anything so long as I know what it is.

But, come Friday morning, the stones should be well and truly gone, and I’ll be able to focus on what’s left.

Please forgive me for being cranky. I’ll be in a lot better mood on Friday.

We’ve made it to day three of raw eating!

With plenty of fruit, vegetables, raw nuts, seeds and a visit for sashimi (raw fish), we have made it to day three.

My husband has had a harder time with me, dealing with hunger, his body adjusting to no meat except a bit of salmon sashimi and the other fun detox things like headaches. At my insistence (to help him stay motivate), I’ve reminded him to get on the scale every morning. As of this morning, he already lost four pounds. I am incredibly happy for him, as his weight tends to bother him (even though he’s six inches taller but (was) only about ten pounds heavier than me).

My journey into 100% raw hasn’t been that much of a shock. Giving up the cooking has been easier than I thought it would be and giving up the meat when I was only eating it occasionally has been even easier.

I’m a bit disappointed at things at the moment, though. Where the husband has lost four pounds, I have gained four. It’s been a long time since Time of Month has made my weight change, so I can’t blame it on that. I don’t feel bloated or big or anything. I just happen to be four pounds heavier. Sigh.

Actual TOM hasn’t even started yet, though it should in a day or two. Always nice to have when you’re already in a bad mood.

I know I shouldn’t put so much riding on the scale, but I have a goal of getting to 200 pounds (if not further down) before the husband and I start trying to conceive. A lot of other things have to fall in place as well before we start, but I would at least like to have my body ready to go so we can start whenever we feel like it.

Don’t worry; I’m not getting into self-pity. I’ll be bright and cheery tomorrow. I just feel like I haven’t been getting as much out of my sleep lately, so I’ve been a bit more tired than usual lately.

The vacation can’t come soon enough…

Veggies!

I’ve mentioned my move towards more raw eating a couple times now, but I haven’t had the time or the will power (or the grocery money) to go 100% raw. I talked to the husband a few times about have a raw food ‘fast/feast’ for a week to bring mental control and peace of mind as well as the many health benefits of getting adequate serves of fruits and veggies even for just one week.

Let’s just say he was less than enthusiastic about joining me in my endeavor.

My husband is a generally healthy eater, but he loves his meat. I love my meat, too, but I’m slowly moving away from it (and have been for a long time without realizing it).

A few nights ago, we watched a documentary about the damaging, dangerous effects of sugar. Namely, high fructose corn syrup which is in nearly every processed food you can think of regardless of whether the product actually tastes sweet.

The documentary/university lecture went through the actual body processes, comparing the utlization of fructose, ethanol (alcohol) and glucose (pasta). As it turns out, pasta and other (unadulterated) grains aren’t actually that bad for you. That prepackaged breakfast cereal? All that fruit juice (without the benefits of the pulp that gives you fiber)? Most brands of bread? That is the stuff that is making you fat and keeping you fat even though you think you are eating ‘low fat’.

It’s a scary, scary thing when you learn the actual mechanics of what your body – especially your liver – has to deal with.

Anyway, we watched that and the next morning, a small section of hell froze over.

My husband proposed that we go on a raw week together, keeping track of our weight and how we feel to measure the benefits.

[Insert my stunned but incredibly pleased face.]

One of the people in the documentary claimed that if everyone ate completely raw for one week, we could cure Type II Diabetes.

While I have doubts about this claim (from a professor), it just goes to show how strongly just one of many feels about healthier eating lifestyles.

Starting tomorrow (we’re going shopping tonight), my husband and I will start our raw food diet. Now, don’t think it’s all fruit and veggies only for us. Seaweed is prepared raw, and we both love it. So is sashimi. So we’ll have those, but we’ll still be having heaps of fruit and vege.

I’m a little nervous, but I am so much more excited for the both of us. We’re both going to be looking and feeling that much better for our holiday!

Of course, I’ll be checking in here…

*Picture found at ehow.com