RUN FATBOY RUN

I am on day 8 of the HCG diet. Here is my progress so far:

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So a couple of weeks ago I posted that I was going to lose 10lbs in 10 days… I lost 5. I started off seeing some loss and then saw a gain of a few pounds. I had been lifting pretty heavy and the muscles were pretty sore so according to my doctor friend it is normal for the body to retain water when lifting. Around the same time the same doctor friend introduced a new weight loss clinic to his practice. One of the protocols for the clinic is the HCG Diet. These are not the drops by rather the HCG injections. He asked if I would be willing to be his guinea pig since he knew I was trying to lose weight. I agreed. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I started the HCG diet. Keep in mind that prior to me starting I was a huge HCG skeptic and thought the only weight loss came from the 500/day calorie diet. I know people that have done the diet and I believed that the drops were nothing more than a placebo. Even with these beliefs I still volunteered to try it out and volunteered to try the 40 day protocol… I know, what was I thinking with the holidays approaching!

I received my first injection on November 9th and spent that day and the next binging. After the second binge day I was so sick of food and was ready to go on a permanent fast. Friday, November 11th was my first day officially on the 500 calorie diet and I can honestly say it was hard! Being a larger individual 500 calories is not a lot! I will be posting my progress and thoughts in more posts as to not make you read a novel this time.

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I ran into my friend John tonight at Fresh and Easy (a local market). He is a contestant on the current season of The Biggest Loser. I haven’t seen him since he’s arrived back from the ranch (filming is done for now so they are all back home). Let’s just say that he does not look like this picture anymore. If you are following the show they just finished week five on the show and he was down 91lbs.  He was there buying fresh fruit for his son’s football team. Just to see his new zest for life was really motivational. He looks great and you can tell his life has really changed. I’ve known him for about 5 years and it is great to see how vibrant he is now. He checked his little calorie burn watch thingy and he said he had burned 7000 calories today, including a 6 mile run… not bad for a day of working out. First thing I did when I got home was put back on my shoes and went for a 3 mile run (going to get back to 6 miles soon enough)!

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I posted in September that I was back in weight loss mode. Well.. I had two good weeks and two not good weeks resulting in a loss of 10 lbs and a gain of 10lbs. So here it is in October and I am back at 258 lbs… I think my body just wants to be that weight and won’t let me escape it. In a previous post I mentioned that I recently underwent some testosterone replacement therapy and I am hoping that it will help speed up the weight loss and provide me more energy. So I am back to try again and this time have some reinforcements. I am starting my 10lbs in 10 days to begin. It’s no longer an option to fail. High blood pressure and the threat of other health conditions are really weighing on my, both physically and mentally. When my new son is born in February I don’t want to shy away from photos with him.

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As I posted before after some blood work it was noticed that my testosterone levels were pretty low and definitely below the average for my age. On October 12th I visited Camelback Health and had testosterone pellets insert into my right hip. The procedure itself was not that bad and the injection feels like a bee sting, or so I have been told since I have not been stung by a bee. The insertion only took about 15 minutes and was relatively painless. Due to my low testosterone levels I had nine pellets inserted in hopes of increasing my testosterone to normal levels.

After the first couple of days I noticed a little more energy but the biggest side effect was insomnia. I had troubles sleeping and averaged about 4 hours per night. I had asked my physician about this and was told that I need to be active and working out… burn off some of the new found energy. I took that advice and went for a run and was surprise to find that I actually knock 40 seconds off my mile (having not run for about a month it was good). That night I slept well. I have started running again but have not yet been to the gym… life has been pretty busy but I will be making time going forward.

Here are are few things that I have noticed after a week:

• Increased focus - able to focus on tasks at work
• Increased energy - wanting to get up off the couch and do things
• Increased libido - well… an increase in thoughts but having a wife that is 6 months pregnant that will have to be suppressed for a time 

I am told that the testosterone should peak in about a month and should last for about 4-6 months. I will taking my blood levels in a month to see what kind of testosterone increase I have.

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This time around I am also tracking my body measurements which I should have done the first time around. I had my friend Joe at Performance One Advanced Sports Training take my measurements. I will be taking them again at the end of September and posting changes.

• Body Fat - 27.9%
• Waist Size - 45”
• Arm Size (bicep) - 16.25”
• Chest Size - 45.75”
• Thigh Size - 25”

I am pretty happy that my waist is not larger than my chest but it is getting close so I need to tackle that and make sure there is no more expansion.

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