hCG and Exercise

After our weekly Wednesday meeting, our Diet Professional, Kelly had alerted me that because I have been exercising more, my protein intake may not be enough to protect my lean muscle as much as I want to.  Immediately after discovering this risk, I purchased a Whey Protein Supplement from Quantum Nutrition to add to my MediPro Slim shake.  This was a great relief, as I have always loved supplementing with whey protein and feel that it is a very healthy supplement for anyone.  I had a good friend of mine in town over the weekend, so I did not make any time for any type of exercise, and additionally came off the diet for a couple days.  I plan on continuing a light exercise routine and have returned to the diet today.  I have had such a great response to this diet and certainly plan to continue this lifestyle change to maintain my progress.      

My body fat was reduced to below 10% after being in phase 2 for 3 weeks.  We discussed that the next step is the maintenance mode; however I do not think I am quite ready to make this adjustment.  I have decided that I would like to continue to lose body fat for a little while longer before I make the actual transition to maintenance mode.  I believe a 7-8% body fat goal is exactly what I would like to achieve from this diet experiment.  I dropped to below 10% very quickly and believe I can achieve my goal of <8% by the end of August if I continue the diet properly.

Back to exercise for a moment; last week was the first time that I tried jogging while on the diet.  Knowing that I have had such limited calorie intake, I only jogged about 2 miles, which is about 1/3 of what I usually jog.  The whole time I was jogging I felt as if my heart was a little bit out of shape from the lack of cardio.  What I began to think about was the fact that my heart is also a muscle, a very important one! 

I hope I can portray this next part as well as I want to:

Thinking about heart health during this time made me want to tell all of my followers that if you are attempting the hCG diet, taking your heart health seriously is very important, especially because you are restricting calories from your diet.  Unsaturated fats are great for heart health, and these fats are allowed on the MediPro diet plan in the form seafood.  I believe that continuing a small amount of cardio exercise is also extremely important to ensuring heart health.  I would not push any cardio activities as hard as you normally would while on calorie restriction, but I have the feeling that many people take advantage of the hCG diet because they do not want to exercise.  Staying completely stagnant and cutting out an extreme amount of calories can’t be good for your circulatory health, nor your respiratory health for that matter.  I’m not saying that everyone has to go on 2 mile jogs, but getting out and walking around, maybe playing some tennis or even golf would go a long way in getting your blood flow going and some fresh air in your lungs.  I have thoroughly enjoyed the yoga classes I have been regularly attending and would suggest this activity to anyone.

Elisa and I will have another weigh-in this week, so it will be interesting to see how coming off the diet for a weekend affected me, as well as to continue to see Elisa’s progress.  Thanks for reading, and keep checking into the Julian Bakery and MediPro Direct hCG Diet Experiment!     

Let the Diet Begin!

We both survived the first weekend of phase 2!  I have been amazed at how well these hCG Alternative drops from MediPro Direct work to relieve my feelings of hunger.  I am usually the type of person that is ALWAYS hungry!  Now, because of these oral drops, I have had to force myself to eat, even during meal times because I am simply not feeling hungry.  I have only had one instance of nausea so far which didn’t last over 5 minutes.  I was even able to play tennis yesterday without much fatigue.

After making it through the weekend without issues, I was very curious to weigh myself today.  Both Elisa and I lost 2 pounds, as well as saw a decrease in our body fat percentages.  This is the first time I have weighed below 190 lbs since my freshman year of college!  Additionally, to see that I didn’t lose any muscle weight was extremely motivating.  Reflecting on the fact that I lost 2 pounds of fat weight over a weekend with only about an hour worth of tennis for exercise blows my mind! 

For this phase of the study I was instructed to stay away from intense exercise, and that I should focus on stretch workouts.  Therefore, I plan on utilizing yoga classes for the next few weeks.  I also plan on continuing to workout my abdominal muscles, as these muscles play a major role in creating testosterone, building muscle, and keeping away unwanted estrogen and fat.  I have also read in some hCG Dieting forums that light exercise really helps prevent muscle loss, promotes fat burning, and keeps your muscles toned throughout the diet.  As a fitness freak, I certainly plan on continuing some type of light workout plan to ensure I do not lose any muscle.

The toughest part for me so far has been that my sense of smell seems to have increased by 500%.  Every time I am out, I seem to be much more sensitive to food smells!  I have been to almost 10 San Diego Padres games so far this season, and not until this weekend have I ever really noticed all of the great smells of garlic cheese fries, pizza, and popcorn around the stadium.  It was absolutely torture knowing I couldn’t even think about ordering those great smelling garlic cheese fries!    

I have found it very interesting to see what I have come up with for my meals.  So far I have not gotten too creative with the allowed ingredient list, but am finding that I like sticking to the seafood for my protein.  I have stuck mostly to making salads with either romaine lettuce or baby spinach mixed with grape tomatoes and then some strawberries, an apple or an orange on the side.  So far I have only done the supplied chocolate slim shakes for breakfast, which taste great!  However, I am excited to eat an egg with a slice of Julian Bakery bread within the next couple days.  For snacks I have been enjoying greek yogurt or a chocolate slim shake, and of course I have been drinking my usual hot teas throughout the day.

As always, thanks for reading, and keep checking back for more hCG Alternative diet updates!