Prickly Pear Fruit

 UPDATE. Day 19 of VDCD (Very low calorie diet).

I am down over eleven pounds and will be stopping the HCG in about a week (have a trip coming up and want to be on maintenance by then). I have found the protocol fairly easy to do and I am surprised how not hungry I have been. In fact, I opened the refrigerator today and there was nothing I wanted to eat. Yesterday I had leftover fish and an apple for lunch, a snack of cucumber in the afternoon, and then there was nothing I wanted for dinner so I had 3 stalks of celery! Today I have only wanted tea and lemon water with prickly pear juice (not on protocol).

Prickly pear cacti grow all over the desert, which is literally my backyard. Front yard too. During the past week I have spent time each morning picking the ripe prickly pear fruits (with tongs!).

Thoughts and Feelings at the Halfway Point

Several years ago when my naturopathic doctor suggested I go on the HCG protocol, I told him I did it as a teen and it doesn’t work for me. I am so glad I decided to take the plunge and do it again. Truthfully, the first two days of gorging have probably been the most difficult days for me. I had looked forward to eating all the things I normally don’t allow myself, but instead of enjoyment, I felt sick to my stomach. I use the homeopathic HCG (HHCG) and it is easy, inexpensive and very user friendly. I thought I’d be hungry and dreaded eating only 500 calories a day, but I have not experienced any hunger. Mouth hunger, yes, when I wanted to chew something…so on those days I made sure to choose raw fennel, celery or cabbage as my vegetable so I could experience lots of chewing.