I’ll be posting my daily progress under the title HCG Diet Update so you can blow right past it if you aren’t interested in whether this so-called “weight loss cure” works for me. My goal is to lose 28 pounds in 26 days and reach 132 pounds, what I weighed for years eating normally until I begin taking a migraine preventative medication in October of 2009. My husband and I are doing the diet together.

The twins were home sick since last Tuesday with fever and colds, hence the late post on my progress. They went back to school this morning and somehow we managed to get all of their make-up work and their 100 minute reading logs done. That was fun.

The diet is going swell. Really. We are used to the eating restrictions, know what we are doing, and are losing weight exactly as promised.

I am still researching and trying to read every scrap of info on the Internet about HCG because it is so fascinating to me. Jack couldn’t care less. All he wants to know is what he can eat and how much of it. I’m like, There is science at work here, man, don’t you care? Nope.

I’ve discovered there is a whole sub-culture of HCG dieters. They are very active on message boards, blogs and You Tube. If I have a question about the protocol, I go to the  HCGDietInfo.com forum.

I’m not going to lie, I’m very bored with the food and have started trying different recipes just to put a different spin on things. One of our favorites is 95% lean ground sirloin simmered with tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. It’s delicious.

My mind is still blown by the lack of hunger. Also, after a bad day or so thinking about sugar cookies (not helped by reading the 25 decorated sugar cookie blogs I follow), my cravings are gone. I went to Whole Foods on Saturday and didn’t have the slightest twinge of desire when I walked through the bakery. HCG is some voodoo, y’all.

One of the reasons I went to Whole Foods was to get an oil-free face moisturizer and styling product for my hair. I have become paranoid about the personal products I’m using, particularly after I only went down half a pound the day after I used my usual Moroccan Oil in my hair. The forum gave me a bunch of ideas for approved hair products.I had also been using mineral oil on my body and just a little on my face. It was working okay, but not great.

Let me tell you, the women working in the vitamin and makeup section were APPALLED that I was using mineral oil for any purpose whatsoever. Mineral oil, being a petroleum product, is apparently one of the most loathed of all possible ingredients in the green world. So why do we use mineral oil for baby oil??? I finally settled on a styling creme with only the approved coconut oil and an oil-free Alba green tea face moisturizer.

Speaking of coconut oil, the HCG underground is all abuzz about this dude named Delmem, who came up with something called Chocolate Delight, a candy made with coconut oil, unsweetened cocoa and liquid chocolate-flavored Stevia. Delmem has other advice, too, but I need to investigate this chocolate thing first.

Apparently coconut oil is metabolized differently by the body, and is burned off as energy, not stored as fat. It is supposed to aid in getting your body to ketosis, where more fat is burned. Hmmm. Oil that burns fat? Of COURSE I’m going to try it.

I found everything I needed at Whole Foods and whipped up a batch last night. I have to say, other than the aftertaste of Stevia which might be because I used too much, it was one tablespoon of pure chocolaty joy, and coconut oil smells heavenly! Jack actually paid attention to this, because he couldn’t believe I was about to eat a tablespoon of pure fat and ruin all my hard work.

I also ate one macadamia nut, which is also supposed to help with ketosis, according to the People of the Forum. Well, the proof is in the scale because I was down .8 pounds Sunday morning. I had only lost half a pound the day before. Under strict protocol guidelines, this huge influx of fat from the coconut oil and the nut should have caused me to gain weight!

I’m not going to do anything crazy, like eat a bowl of Chocolate Delight every day, but it is nice to know I can get a chocolate fix that actually could help things.

These are my early morning weights:

Day 5 (Wednesday, 3/2)
152.5

Day 6 (Thursday, 3/3)
151.5

Day 7 (Friday, 3/4)
150.5

Day 8 (Saturday, 3/5)
150.0

Day 9 (Sunday, 3/6)
149.2 (Got a new scale with 2 decimal points!)

Overall mood: Drunk on Chocolate Delight and happy to be under 150 for the first time in a year!