The Return Of Hoodia

Hoodia was the dietary craze of the past decade. It came and went quickly. I liked it. It eased hunger without any noticeable side effects. As we all know diets and supplements can be very trendy. Even good diets and good supplements can fade away without much fanfare.


A few weeks ago I walked into a GNC in search of hoodia. Neither salesperson had eve heard of it. I ended up ordering Hoodia from Beyond A Century.


I took 250 mg. hoodia twice today and it has made all the difference in the world. No food fixation today. Relief at last!


Onward!

Fat Chick Falling Off Of a Trampoline

Initial Experiments With Garcinia Cambogia

Who got to name that vegetable? Anyway, I bought some gc at GNC for roughly sixty cents per unit. The flavor is good, reminiscent of Starbursts. I was told one/day would suppress hunger and help me metabolize fat. I figured I would do that as I dc'd the X diet.

Whatever gc was supposed to do, it did not do all that well. Granted, I was in holiday feeding frenzy mode but 18 lb. in 11days? Maybe I should go back and read the label.

Food Journal Week 1 (Part II)

January 2, 2014

Apple


 8 oz. Bumble Bee Spicy Thai tuna, spinach, pea sprouts, tomato
(8 oz. is over the limit but I am easing back into the diet.)

Orange


 4 oz. Bumble Bee Spicy Thai tuna

Small--extremely small serving--of strawberry shortcake and sweetened whipped cream. It was so good I then had a regular-sized serving.

Apple

Salad--baby spinach, onion, tomato, celery sans dressing, approximately 1.5 cups of plain low fat yogurt (they were out of no-fat yogurt when I went shopping) with approximately 3 oz. blueberries. Again, this is not exactly keeping with the diet but I am easing back into it.

January 3, 2014

Orange

5.2 oz. lemon pepper tuna (Two Starkist pouches) celery

Approximately 3.5 oz. whole sunflower seeds (Off diet but I ate them anyway)

Apple

Approximately 5 oz. shrimp, 1 lb. radishes.

Salad--baby spinach, onion, tomato, celery sans dressing, approximately 1.5 cups of plain low fat yogurt (they were out of no-fat yogurt when I went shopping) with approximately 3 oz. blueberries. Again, this is not exactly keeping with the diet but I am easing back into it. (Same as last night.)

January 4, 2014

Orange

Approximately 5 oz. chicken breast marinated in lime juice, Mrs. Dash. Salad--baby spinach, onion, tomato, celery sans dressing.

Apple

Orange

Teaspoon of Nutella (never had it before) 5 oz. shrimp, celery. I tried this calorie free peanut spread. Walden Farms Whipped Peanut Spread (More about that later)

Apple

Approximately 1.5 cup plain no fat yogurt with 6 oz. blackberries.

5 oz. shrimp shortly before bedtime.

Note: I exceeded diet guidelines by about 400 calories. Still, I was focused on food all day. When I am hungry I talk about food incessantly and visit recipe sites (Let's skip over the Freudian parallels for now.) I craved fat, salty foods all day. I even with food shopping even though our cupboard was not even close to bare. Given my recent success (9 lb. in 5 days) I might try to increase my caloric intake by about 50%. I will also try to increase my intake of H2O, something I did diligently when I started this diet on November 29. Excess water will reduce some hunger pangs.

January 5, 2014

Orange

Approximately 5 oz. chicken breast marinated in lime juice, Mrs. Dash. Celery. Almost a whole lb. radishes, a few roasted Brussels sprouts.

Apple

1 quart of Stonyfield Farm Rich and Creamy yogurt and 12 oz. blackberries. So much for will power. But as of this writing (about an hour after eating) I am NOT hungry...Actually I consumed the yogurt and berries in two installments about an hour apart.

Banana

Orange

Approximately 5 oz. chicken breast marinated in lime juice, Mrs. Dash.  The remaining few radishes left over from earlier, one tomato.

January 6, 2014

Orange


Approximately 8 oz. chicken breast marinated in lime juice, Mrs. Dash. Approximately 8 oz. spiced potatoes I found in refrigerator. Comment: Something had to give. I was not going to be hungry and constantly food-obsessed for another day. I would take a cheat day. The potatoes were good! I would later ease my hunger with hoodia.


HOODIA!
Apple


Approximately 5 oz. shrimp, roughly 1/2 lb. radishes.


HOODIA
Apple
Approximately 3 oz.  chicken breast marinated in lime juice, Mrs. Dash. Tomato. Approximately 1.5 cup plain, low fat yogurt with 6 oz. blackberries.


January 7, 2014

Apple


Approximately 8 oz. chicken breast marinated in lime juice, Mrs. Dash. Tomato
HOODIA
Banana


1 lb. radishes


Apple
HOODIA
Approximately 5 oz. chicken breast marinated in lime juice, Mrs. Dash.

Cup of whole milk (I don't like to waste food, ever. We had some milk in the back of fridge. 180 calories)
Banana
Approximately 5 oz. shrimp.

January 8, 2014

Cup of whole milk, banana.

Orange.

Approximately 5 oz. shrimp. 1 cup of whole milk. Approximately 1 cup of plain nonfat yogurt. (See note about milk and not wasting food. I had to go to the auto mechanic early and by lunchtime I was hungry. Not exactly a splurge but still more calories than recommended for diet.)

HOODIA immediately after lunch.


More HOODIA
2 servings of flounder stuffed with crab, spinach with feta cheese, rice. (Vile temptress! I could have stayed on diet but stuffed flounder...and it was GREAT!)

X Diet Weight Log II

Day 0: 248 lb. (January 1, 2014)
Day 1: 246 lb. (January 2, 2014)
Day 2: 241 lb. (Eeegads) (January 3, 2014)
Day 3: 239 lb. (January 4, 2014) 7 lb in 3 days!!!
Day 4: 236 lb. (January 5, 2014) 10 lb. in 4 days!!!
Day 5: 234 lb.  (January 6, 2014) 12 lb. in 5 days.
Day 6: 232 lb. (January 7, 2014) 14 lb. in 6 days
Day 7: 232 lb. (January 8, 2014)  Another dreaded plateau?
Went off diet more or less from lack of preparation. Did not have low fat/low calorie options in place and people serve me good food. Besides, I wasn't feeling well. Cold and lacking sleep.
Day 1: 232 lb. (January 9, 2014)
Day 2: 232 lb. (January 10, 2014)
Day 3: 234 lb. (January 11, 2014)
Day 4: 235 lb. (January 12, 2014) Happy Birthday Howard and Rush!
Day 5: 236 lb. (January 13, 2014)
Day 6: 235 lb. (January 14, 2014)
As of this writing, 1/14/2014 I feel good. I cannot stay on this insomnia/cold chill diet for any length of time. Have to explore other options.

Back On Diet...Sort Of

January 2, 2014

I weigh 246 lb. I put on 16 lb. in 12 days. Actually, the scale hit as high as 248. 18 lb. in 11 days.

I enjoyed the holidays but I got to get back on track. Anytime you put on more than a pound a day, you have to take countermeasures. So this AM I restarted the X diet.

To review. On November 29 I weighed 245 lb. On December 23 I weighed 231 lb. On January 2 I weigh 246.

In addition to the obvious joys of food and drink I felt great for the past 12 days. When I was losing weight, I was fatigued, I was frequently hungry, I was mentally dull, I was a bit cranky and I had trouble sleeping. Good health comes at a price.

Oh yes, and I was cold. I handle cold weather better than most people but when I was losing weight I could not get comfortable. Not enough blankets on my bed. I went from sleeping in briefs to sleeping in sweat pants, sweat shirt and winter socks.

I went off diet and this morning I bounded around the 64 degree house in my briefs and I was comfortable. And for a week and a half I would go to bed and fall asleep within minutes and awaken seven or eight hours later in a cozy, comfortable state. That will be coming to an end, I am afraid.

Let the good times roll!

Food Journal Week 3

Sunday December 15

Orange

Turkey drumstick, small serving of stuffing and small serving of cabbage.

Apple

Orange

(BTW, major snow storm last night. I had to shovel and I have felt cold and sluggish all day.  As previously mentioned I am usually energetic and resistant to cold. Fat loss and calorie restriction does have its downside.)

Was not hungry until late at night.

One cup of plain, non-fat yogurt, orange before bed


Monday December 16

Orange

Approximately 8 oz. dark meat of previously mentioned turkey, 1 lb. radishes.

Apple

5 slices of cheese pizza (way off diet. At least one thousand calories. But man, this was good pizza. Dina's of Salem, MA. My sense of taste is off due to caloric restriction and everything tastes GREAT. Someone bought me a pizza even though I am on a diet. I ate a slice. Then another. Then another. then another.)

Approximately 8 oz. of the aforementioned turkey and one more slice of that pizza.....Maybe because it's so darn cold outside!

Tuesday December 17

Orange

Approximately 6 oz. chicken marinated in lime juice, Mrs. Dash, about 1/2 lb. (pre-cooked) spinach,

Apple

Approximately 5 oz. chicken marinated in lime juice, Mrs. Dash, 1/2 lb. radishes

Approximately 1 oz. plain, non-fat yogurt, apple.

Wednesday December 18

Apple

Some kind of Italian soup, ham sandwich (It was free. I had to do CPR training and the employer fed us.)

A serving of pork, potatoes, carrots, onions (since I was already off diet and it was offered...)

Thursday December 19

Apple

Approximately 5 oz. chicken marinated in lime juice, Mrs. Dash, cooked cabbage

Apple

A taste--maybe two ounces--of barbecue beef.

Approximately 5 oz. shrimp

One biscotti

Approximately 5 oz. chicken marinated in lime juice, Mrs. Dash, cooked spinach (about half of what was one pound uncooked) topped with radish and alfalfa sprouts.

Approximately one cup plain, non-fat yogurt, apple right before bed (Man, I was hungry.)

Friday December 20

Apple

Sometime in the AM, I starting feeling like I was getting sick. No appetite at all. I bought a couple of real ginger ales (with real ginger) and a bag of pretzels. I have heard people say to eat crackers when you have an upset stomach. Crackers don't work for me but pretzels do.

Nothing but pretzels and ginger ale all day. Then the fever seemed to break and I was real hungry so I ate three cookies and a couple of pieces of chocolate (Mini Reese's Cup, solid chocolate.) I hope I am over this illness.

Saturday December 21

Whatever seemed to be afflicting me went away after ten hours of sleep. I really needed that. Took X factor in AM and then DC'd X. I am discontinuing X for the holidays. Officially, I am offf-diet for one week.

Orange

Approximately 5 oz. chicken breast marinated in soy sauce, lime juice, Mrs. Dash and cabbage.

Orange

All day long I snacked on pretzels, the most underrated food in the history of the human race. They are high in calories. The half bag I ate had over 800 calories.

Late at night I had two glasses of white zinfadel, approximately 5 oz, shrimp and about 5 oz. of chicken Denise brought home from work (mixed dark and white meat.)

Someday I will shout to the heavens about the goodness of pretzels.