Hello again.  Still trucking along on this road to health and becoming “svelt” as my mother would say.  This week was rather challenging.  I hit a plateau, and did not budge for 3 days.  I did an apple day yesterday (6 apples and nothing else for 24 hours) and finally broke through and dropped one more pound.  It seems to become more difficult to keep the weight loss going as I become closer to my ideal weight.

This weekend will be a true challenge.  I have a visitor coming to town, and going out to eat and socialize is to be on the agenda.  Although this is NOT recommended, I may stray a little for this weekend, knowing that this is NOT part of the program.  However, I see this person only once or twice a year, so I will need to be a little flexible.  I will order grilled chicken or fish with steamed veggies if we go out.  This will be a true challenge for me.

Overall, I am seeing great improvements in my physique.  I have started back at the gym, doing light cardio workouts and some light weight training.  I think this is helping me with the weight loss.  I fear that it will become increasingly more difficult to lose weight for the last 5 pounds.  Yes, I am 5 pounds from ideal!

Will post again on Monday!

Ahhh the weekend.  Always a challenge for any program.  Perfect day to eat out at a cafe, meet friends for a beverage, and mostly, not worry about a silly diet.  But, willpower proves stronger than the temporary craving, and I survived the weekend without straying from the plan.

Overall I am doing well.  I did not lose any weight when I weighed myself on Saturday, but dropped 1/2 a pound both Sunday and today, Monday.  I have had some constipation, so I started taking some magnesium citrate to help along that front.  I went to the gym on Friday and Saturday to do some light cardio and stretching, though I think on Saturday I was too tired, and the workout wiped me out.

Last night I spent about 2 hours preparing meals for the week.  I went to the farmer’s market and picked up a bunch of cucumbers, asparagus, celery, apples and oranges.  Then I went to Henry’s to pick up son organic free range chicken breast, buffalo, and shrimp. When home, I methodically prepare individual sized portions in separate glass food containers (plastics leech phthalates, worst when heated or microwaved, so try to avoid and use the glass ones).  I measured out my 3.5 ounces of various meats, fish, etc.  I like to dice my chicken, shrimp and meat, because it seems to last longer and it looks like more on the plate.  Then I wash/cut all the veggies.  Now, I was ready for the cooking madness to begin.  I also bough about 10 lemons, which I squeeze all at once an place in a glass container, to be used for cooking/preparing as well as my mineral water (add lemon juice to sparkling water plus lemon flavored stevia…lemonaide!)

What’s on the menu?  Simplicity is key for me.  Here are my main dishes:

1. shrimp Ceviche: dice up shrimp.  1-2 diced cucumbers (depending on size). Lemon juice enough to cover the bottom of dish.  Chopped parsely or cilantro.  Sea salt and fresh pepper.

2. Steak and asparagus: marinate buffalo steak (defatted) in tamari sauce with water, a hint of apple cider vinegar, lots of seasoning.  Cook in covered pan VERY LOW heat, so that it slowly cooks, the slow cooking provides for less dryness.  Add in aspargus after 1-2 minutes, stir occasionally

3. Chicken: Marinate with Citrus Ginger Marinade, taken from the ebook by Tammy Skye The HcG Dieter Cookbook.  I HIGHLY recommend purchasing this book!

Citrus Ginger Dressing/Marinade

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon Bragg’s liquid aminos

Ginger fresh or ground to taste

Salt and fresh black pepper to taste

Stevia to taste

Directions

Combine spices with liquid ingredients.  Enjoy over salad or double the

recipe for use as a marinade.  Warm slightly to enhance the flavors.

Makes 1-2 serving (1 fruit) Serve with additional orange slices to complete a

fruit serving

I marinate the chicken in this marinade, and will either cook with spinach, asparagus, Kale.  Or I will just use the chicken to cook (diced) and add over spinach and have the extra marinade as salad dressing for a chicken salad!

3. Fish and Asparagus: I purchased some wild caught whitefish, individually weighted, and slow cooked with ginger, apple cider vinegar, a little tamari, and water , with a LOT of seasoning over low low heat. I then cooked a few heads of asparagus in a similar broth.

So, now in my refrigerator, I have about 10 individually cooked and ready meals for the week.  This is KEY to staying on the diet for me.  If I have to go home and cook meals at night, chances are I will be more inclined to cheat because I am hungry and it is easier to just grab something.

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So, I started this blog late, 5 days after starting.  The hardest part is yet to come.  I often find myself, and others, are much more motivated at the start of the program, and lose that “umf” as time goes by….especially before the weekend.

Since starting, I have lost 6 pounds.  I feel overall energetic, happy, and not very hungry.  My advice/tips to keep your appetite down and cravings to a minimum:

• Flavored sparkling water: I mix 1/2 a bottle of sparkling water/mineral water (I like the Trader Joes Berry Sparkling water ) with 1/2 bottle regular filtered water.  Add about 1 tsp freshly sqeezed lemon juice, and about 1 dropper or less of the Liquid Lemon Flavored Stevia, add in some minced mint, 1/2 to 1 mushed strawberry.  Drink it all day, it is such a great spritzer!
• Get some cool, fragrant, exciting teas.  I just bought a vanilla blueberry from Zhena’s Gyspy Tea company.  DELISH
• Please trust me on this.  If you have tried Stevia and don’t like it…. please try the Sweet Leaf brand LIQUID FLAVORED stevia.  They come in yummy flavors, like chocolate, chocolate raspberry, english toffee, lemon, berry, and others.  Great for teas, water, coffee etc

I’ll continue posting tips as I go, but a rule of thumb is planning is KEY.  Taking a few hours in the start of the week to prepare all meals in individual containers will ensure compliance and success!

Thats all for now, post you later!

After a lifelong struggle with weight, despite healthy lifestyle, relatively high activity level, and fairly healthy diet, I have finally found a program that actually works to achieve my optimal weight.  The program is a medical weight loss program using low dose of a naturally occurring substance called HcG.  As a Naturopathic Doctor, I have had the opportunity to learn countless approaches to health, fitness, weight loss and optimal health.  I have integrated many of these factors to my life, but have still faced a struggle with my weight!  When I first learned about HcG, I was very skeptical, and resisted using this program for myself or my patients.  However, after hearing from numerous colleagues about how effective this program was at helping people lose, AND KEEP OFF weight, I decided to push skepticism aside and give it a shot (no pun intended).  However, before I put any patients on the program, I decided to be the guinea pig, and try it on myself, not only to lose weight, but so that I could experience the program and figure out little tricks to share with my subsequent patients.  My first round started around June 2009.  I had been following a structured healthy diet plan, working out 2 days a week with a trainer, 3 days of cardio alone, and went from 158lb to 145.  However, I was at a plateau, and could not seem to budge!  I thought this would be the perfect time to try the program.

The verdict?  AMAZING!  After the first round, I dropped 10 pounds in 21 days!  Then, I followed the stabilizing phase for 3 weeks, and regular healthy lifestyle after.  I was sold, and started sharing this program with numerous patients also struggling with weight loss.

Which brings me to the present.  After about 6 months, and a hectic winter season, I have put on just a few pounds due to very poor choices.  I was at 138 lb on Jan 2, 2010.  I am ready to make 2010 my year of absolute optimal health, and have decided to start the new year with another round of the HcG program.  I thought it would help people doing the program have some inspiration and insight from a doctor sharing the same struggles and tests of will power.  I also hope this inspires others, who are contemplating doing the program, to take the initiative and start losing their weight in a safe and lasting way.

As a side note, I do not promote people doing this program unless under the supervision of a knowledgeable doctor.  I do not advocate ordering any drug or hormone online.  The quality may be questionable and potentially dangerous.  Even more, if you order online, there is no way to ensure you are actually receiving HcG versus some other substance, nor the exact strength.  Finally, there are many potential complications, and some diseases or conditions that may be contraindicated in this program.  Therefore I strongly suggest finding a provider to supervise you through this program to make sure you lose the weight in the most safe, effective manor.  In my office, we do, in certain instances, provide supervision to patients on the program long distance.  You may be able to find a doctor closer to you, but feel free to give our office a call if you would like me to be your supervising doctor to take you through the HcG journey!

In good health,

Dr. Stacey Dee Kupperman

Portal To Healing Naturopathic Clinic

1770 Orange Ave

Costa Mesa, CA 92627

(949) 722-6797

drkupperman@portaltohealing.com

www.portaltohealing.com