Weight Loss For The Impatient

I'm sure some of my paleo followers will be horrified, but I'm doing the HCG thing again.

While my weight is in the normal range, it's high normal, and I've still not been able to shift any more fat off. I use a body fat scale, so I have data on that, and while I know the percentage is probably not accurate (BIA scales are inexact at best), the trend for *me* should be. I see changes and additional muscle, and I am definitely stronger, but I still have just as much fat as I have since early February. I am concerned that I have some kind of cortisol problem, but it could also be some food that's causing inflammation. It's a pretty short food list, so it will simplify my diet without adding any jive plastic foods, and it will still be paleo.

HCG is weight loss for the impatient, and it offers immediate rewards. Half of it for me, at this point, is the diet simplification.

HCG Rules, per meal:

Protein: 100 grams of veal, beef, chicken breast, fresh white fish, lobster, crab, or shrimp. All visible fat must be carefully removed before cooking, and the meat must be weighed raw. It must be boiled or grilled without additional fat. Salmon, eel, tuna, herring, dried or pickled fish are not allowed.

Vegetables: One type of vegetable only to be chosen from the following: spinach, chard, chicory, beet-greens, green salad, tomatoes, celery, fennel, onions, red radishes, cucumbers, asparagus, cabbage.

Fruit: An apple, orange or a handful of strawberries or one-half grapefruit.

(Also allowed is a single grissini breadstick per meal, but I'm not eating those. Artificial sweeteners - saccharin is specifically mentioned - are allowed, presumably so is stevia. I'm not eating either of those either.)

Seasonings: The juice of one lemon daily is allowed for all purposes. Salt, pepper, vinegar, mustard powder, garlic, sweet basil, parsley, thyme, marjoram, etc., may be used for seasoning, but no oil, butter or dressing.

Beverages: Tea, coffee, plain water, or mineral water are the only drinks allowed, but they may be taken in any quantity and at all times.

I am not doing this 100%-Pounds-And-Inches [warning! PDF!], so you will see things like protein powder or the occasional extra protein in the form of an egg. I may also "mix vegetables." I generally stick to salads for that (adding cucumber and onion to the lettuce), but today (the numbers below are actually for 5/24) I'm adding a little spinach to my menu. This is technically a third veggie. I also use green onions the same way I use garlic. I think that is kind of a gray area, but in any case, I count their calories, but I do not count garlic as it is specifically mentioned in P&I as a spice or herb.

In order to figure out how many nutrients and how much water is actually in my diet, I'm putting in beverages that are "drink as much as you like", and I'm attempting add the spices into my Fitday food journal. I will not consider these calories as black coffee, black tea, regular, non-balsamic vinegars, herbs and spices are not counted according to the plan. This means that my totals will look more like 525-550 calories because of the coffee, tea, garlic, vinegar, cinnamon, curry powder, etc. I'm pretty shocked that coffee, tea and spices can add that many calories, but it does. On 5/24, 66 calories came from this stuff, but at least they come with nutrients and anti-oxidants!

I also ate kelp noodles because I already had a package open, and they are Not Cheap. Here's the bit of P&I that I think allows it:

In many countries specially prepared unsweetened and low Calorie foods are freely available, and some of these can be tentatively used. When local conditions or the feeding habits of the population make changes necessary it must be borne in mind that the total daily intake must not exceed 500 Calories if the best possible results are to be obtained, that the daily ration should contain 200 grams of fat-free protein and a very small amount of starch.

Six calories and three ingredients, one of which is water? I'm not sweating that. I probably won't include them again for a few days anyway. People do this diet successfully as *vegans*, and there's no provision for that at all.

Dairy products and eggs are allowed in some cases. Here's the skinny on that:

Occasionally we allow egg - boiled, poached or raw - to patients who develop an aversion to meat, but in this case they must add the white of three eggs to the one they eat whole. In countries where cottage cheese made from skimmed milk is available 100 grams may occasionally be used instead of the meat, but no other cheeses are allowed.

Strict vegetarians such as orthodox Hindus present a special problem, because milk and curds are the only animal protein they will eat. To supply them with sufficient protein of animal origin they must drink 500 cc. of skimmed milk per day, though part of this ration can be taken as curds.

Am I going to eat any of that? Probably. I have never tried milk, curds (paneer, I assume) or cottage cheese as a protein source before, but I'm not ruling it out. I will definitely include eggs now and then.

So, here's the plan: Do the HCG Diet for the minimum period (three weeks). Switch to a low-carb paleo diet (I'm thinking 50g carbs at the moment, about 10-15% macronutrient-wise) for three weeks. After that, I think I'll do the classic Atkins ladder adding 5g carbs to my daily intake on a weekly basis (staying paleo except for raw dairy and high-quality cheeses) until I either hit 100g or my weight stops being stable. The low-carb paleo plan mostly involves doubling my protein portions and adding lots of healthy fats. Nuts will be added back early (all high saturated or monounsaturated, of course), and I will probably add tropical fruits and sweet potatoes back last. Those push out too many other foods if carbs are 50 or below, so I figure I'll need to get to 75g before that's even worth doing.

At the end of this week (and hopefully all the others), I will publish the shopping list based on the foods I ate.