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These are in-depth conversations one-on-one with hCG ladies where you get to hear their whole weight loss story and the tips that helped them succeed.

Read short written hCG testimonials
These are short testimonials of ladies who’ve written in their hCG diet results to me for quick motivation.

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Linita and I had such a great chat- I think you will truly enjoy and resonate with her story. She has had her share of struggles and really opened her heart up today to lay it all out there for us for the benefits we can glean from it.

Linita’s Weight Loss Journey

• Age: 52 years old
• Height: 5’3″
• Starting weight: 212
• Ending Weight: 138

Her facebook group page:  Becoming New Again

The Reality of Sometimes Having to Re-Lose Weight

Linita has maintained the majority of her weight loss for almost a year. There have been a few times however that she has had to “catch” weight gain before it got too out of hand and do correction rounds. Usually she would find herself about 10 lbs higher after the holiday months and do a correction round in the early part of each year.

We are all works in progress aren’t we?

What I appreciate about Linita’s journey is that she makes corrections instead of giving up and letting her weight balloon back up to her starting point in the 200’s.

Her weight has pretty much been between 142-152 most of the past year, until she ended up having a surgery- a tummy tuck. As many women know, excess skin can be an issue after weight loss.

One point of note is that she found the hCG to improve her fibromyalgia symptoms.

Hear the rest of her story on the video or podcast, or read it in the transcript below!

Transcript:

Download Episode 19 Transcript – PDF

Or read it here:

Rayzel: Hey guys! hcgchica, welcome back! We’re on Episode 19 now of the HCG Diet Interviews with Everyday People making a success of this protocol. I have {} with me today. She’s actually lost in the neighborhood of 80 pounds with the hCG protocol and she has an interesting story to share with you guys today. She’s actually been maintaining the bulk of her weight loss for quite some time now but we’re also gonna talk about some of the challenges to maintaining and how she’s trying to meet those and things like that. Welcome Linita!

Linita: Hi there!

Rayzel: How are you today?

Linita: I’m wonderful. Thank you.

Rayzel: Good good. Why don’t we start out by telling us your age and your height?

Linita: I am 52 and I am 5’3”. So I’m a short person.

Rayzel: Okay. You got a couple of inches on me, just a little bit, you’re still short. Why don’t you tell me what you’re starting weight was when you first started hCG and then where were you kind of hovering around most of the time after that.

Linita: My first round I started in the beginning of 2011 and I was- well, at the end of 2010 I was 212 and then I started at 206.

Rayzel: Okay gotcha. So 206. And then where did you eventually get down to?

Linita: In 2013 I got down to 142.

Rayzel: Cool. Cool. So I think that was around at 80 pounds, right, I can’t remember.

Linita: Well, there was 80 included gaining and losing and gaining and losing and gaining and losing

Rayzel: Gotcha. Well anyway it’s a good amount. Now, we’ve talked about on our first call the fact that you’ve done some correction rounds since you got to your initial lower weight. For me, what I try to do on my blog is present real information and like the reality is that sometimes we do regain some weight and have to re-lose it. I had to do that a number of times, thankfully, it was small enough that I didn’t need hCG for it. Anyway, you needed to do that and what I find great about this story particular is that you’ve maintained the majority of your weight loss. It’s like there have been times where you may have gained 10 or 20 pounds but you always catch it before you find yourself back up at 200 pounds right?

Linita: Yeah.

Rayzel: Why don’t you kind of just share a little bit about that process for you, what you struggled with, when you would step in and correct it. Stuff like that.

Linita: Well a lot of it too is that I haven’t actually gotten to my ultimate goal weight and so each year I would do a couple of rounds and then by the halfway mark of the year I would take the rest of the year off and do maintenance. Sure enough come October-November-December, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years I would found myself at the beginning of next year 10 pounds up. So I pretty much up until this last year had already planned that I will start the New Year doing new rounds. And so I would do another round, have to lose the 10 and then lose additional after that. This year, 2014 is the first year I didn’t do a round first thing in the year because I actually had maintained in the 140s. I went down to 142, I actually lost a little bit more and then came back up and just went around in the 140s through the remainder of the year last year.

Rayzel: Cool. Cool. So you found that for the large portion of the year when you weren’t on the hCG you could maintain and stabilize pretty well, it was just during those holiday months that things would out of control.

Linita: Yeah. And I could just look back cause I keep all my things on my Fitnesspal. And I looked back and I actually even maintained in the 140s through the holidays this last year cause I kept real active, working out running and so forth. And so I actually kept in that 10 pounds and I was actually gonna be comfortable with the 10 pound and live with it because some were muscle gained from working out and I was in a size 8. I was happy with being in the 140s.

Rayzel: So you would kind of isolate between 140 and 150.

Linita: Yeah. It was actually 142 to 152. Although when I was looking towards November December I was more up to 148 to 152 rate. But like I said, I started this year happy there and thought I’m gonna take a year off. I don’t think I’ll need to do hCG again, I’m maintaining.

Rayzel: Yeah. That’s awesome. How long would you say you’ve been kind of staying in the 140 to 150ish range now?

Linita: I actually stayed for about 9 months and then I had a surgery. All bets are off there, unfortunately.

Rayzel: Yeah. Totally. Do you want to tell us a little bit about that while were on that subject.

Linita: Absolutely yeah. Actually I ended up having a tummy tuck and breast lift to be able to—in your 50s your skin doesn’t bounce back the way it does when you’re in 30s. So I was able to have a tummy tuck to get rid of the lot of the excess that was left over from the weight loss and I didn’t even think, I mean, I knew I’d be inactive for 6 weeks but I didn’t realize the fatigue and stuff that would last after the 6 weeks and how hard it would be to get back into a routine and then I found myself comfort eating. So you know that 10 pound left 20 pounds. I ended up up in the higher 150s, 156, 158 after my surgery.

Rayzel: You had a good 9 months maintaining. We’ll talk a little bit about how you were doing like what types of stuff you’re eating in a second but then of course with the surgery, what would you do differently now if you could redo after the surgery? Is there anything you think you could have done that might have made it easier to maintain?

Linita: I probably would have scheduled another round of hCG after the surgery. Only because, I mean yes, I probably knowing what I know now, I probably would have really watched carbs but the inactivity was really difficulty and then I have fibromyalgia so I didn’t—I have been symptom-free for the 4 years that I have done hCG rounds. Not even a – didn’t even think that it was associated then realizing after the surgery that I had a horrible flare of you know, and it all came back, and we realized and—so I really believed the surgery not only messed with my fibromyalgia but also with my metabolism, the work that I had done to stabilize my metabolism on hCG. I think the surgery went in and wrecked it. Like so many things can, like medications and so.

Rayzel: Gotcha. So that kind of just threw a monkey wrench in there.

Linita: It did. Because yeah, I mean I was maintaining and then after it just, the weight just really started coming back on like it did before I ever found hCG.

Rayzel: Gotcha. So it’s interesting for other people to compare because some people do consider doing corrective surgery and it can be great too. Cause like you said after you lose a lot of weight it can be nice to tighten it up a little bit with stuff you can’t change except surgically but there is of course other possible side effects that you might have to correct. But you’re doing that now right? You’re doing another round at this time?

Linita: Yes. Actually once I realized, my doctor and I, I go to a naturopath and so he and I talked about it and realized that the hCG actually seem to put the fibromyalgia symptoms in remission. And so that was my key but then and also realized I’m get this weight back off too would be nice.

Rayzel: So yeah couple of things at once that can help. When do you feel that you weight issues began in life? Like what factors caused that to happen.

Linita: Well, interestingly, and just being completely transparent, drugs. I used drugs as a teenager and then I stopped doing drugs but actually was still hanging out with some wrong people and it’s interesting because I was talking to my husband last night. I ended up getting slipped some drugs by some people and it’s interesting because it’s almost seems like the very day after that happened I ballooned up. So I don’t know if it affected, the chemicals or whatever, affected my metabolism because I was very thin. I was probably 125. Actually when I think of pictures I was really small and after that day, it was 4 hits of ecstasy, and so it’s a lot of bad chemicals. I went up to 165 within a couple of months.

Rayzel: Wow, did you feel after that happened, like do you feel like it was mostly a trigger, like chemically like that. Or do you feel like it also triggered you to eat more too or just that your body was actually changing the way it utilized the calories you ate or both?

Linita: I think it affected my metabolism but then I also, because I was changing my life and trying to get away from that lifestyle. I think I did go towards food. I remember binging and not being able to control what I was eating and so I ended up eating way too much. And then I was able to take it back off after the birth of my son but unfortunately that was I ended up getting involved in drugs again and I was actually meth addict for 2 years.

Rayzel: How did you get yourself out of that place initially?

Linita: I just got to a point where there have been so many bad things that happened during that time. Where I’ve gone basically woke up one day and just like this is not the life I want to live and so made the changes.

Rayzel: Overnight, in a way, like “That’s it I’m done with this.”

Linita: Actually yeah, I had a lot of really, a series of really bad things happen and it kind of just open my eyes and realized it was a product of my lifestyle. And so if I didn’t change it things were gonna continue that way. So I just did. I made the decision one day I wasn’t gonna do it anymore and worked towards that goal.

Rayzel: Wow. That’s so amazing. Thanks for sharing that. That’s like a really personal story so thank you for sharing it. So you’ve really made a big change in your life then. To go from that and the struggles you dealt with there to now. It’s funny how you don’t always realize when you embark on some lifestyle how many different things it’ll affect in your life.

Linita: Absolutely. That’s very true. We’re talking for me being in my 50s, it’s been a 25 year process. It’s interesting because I have a website, you know. It’s kind of on Facebook. Actually I haven’t been doing anything with it but this has kind of made me start to think about taking it up again and sharing, and it’s called Becoming New Again. It’s kind of a process of continuously becoming new again.

Rayzel: Good. If you like we could share a like to in the blogpost. Would you like that, or?

Linita: Yeah. I can send you the Facebook link cause I really think I’m gonna start blogging in it and just kind of do my hCG process, the fibromyalgia process, menopause, aging, the whole thing.

Rayzel: I feel like we need more positive input. The more positive input people can access. For everyone’s listening, we’ll put a link to her Facebook page or group.

Linita: Facebook Page.

Rayzel: In the show notes. Okay, no, continue.

Linita: Basically I lost the weight again and then got away and then once again being off the drugs and changing. I think for me it was like the major changes I might end up, where my patterns might be, to go towards food. I know. Actually when I met my husband I was 2 years clean and we got married, got pregnant, I was in my late 20s and so my pregnancy wasn’t great and then my thyroid actually died during my pregnancy and so after I had my daughter plus I have a theory about having female children, I think they ruin your [heart on?].

Rayzel: Ah, more so than boys, interesting. I actually think I’ve heard that, I’ve heard that before.

Linita: Yeah. It’s interesting cause I think there’s worrying female hormones when you’re pregnant with females so I ended up gaining a lot of weight after I got my daughter and adjusted then it went up over the years then hysterectomy, health problems, medications, I really, once again, going back to drugs, I think my body’s just really sensitive to chemicals and I think drugs had done a lot, pharmaceutical and recreation, to mess up my metabolism.

Rayzel: Yes. You just had so many things going against you. Actually while we’re on that topic with the thyroid things we could probably talk about that a little more while we’re here. Because thyroid– a lot of people who deal with hypothyroidism. In fact, I think there’s actually a lot of people who have it but don’t realize it at this time so have you been treating it? Do you notice the difference with how you feel when you’re medicated for it or not? Tell me about that.

Linita: I was medicated on just basic regular Synthroid, Levothroid, which is you know, what the regular doctors give you for years and still staying really heavy and still had the fatigue and all of that.

Rayzel: Were your lab tests normal though?

Linita: Oh absolutely, my lab tests are normal.

Rayzel: So then you must be feeling better. But I don’t.

Linita: Exactly. Yeah. A family member actually really did some research and share it with me, about T3, T4, uptake, whatever, the TSH and all that. The different lab tests and so that’s when I was actually going through this process of getting healthy which started when I was 48 and we’ll probably get to that when I was in my Ahah moment at 48 but started going through the process of getting healthy. That was one of the things that I got off all of my pharmaceutical medications. Which actually, I was taking 9 different pharmaceutical medications.

Rayzel: Wow and one was to manage your fibromyalgia, right?

Linita: Several were for the fibromyalgia and they gave, for fibromyalgia they’ll give you antidepressants or pain management or plus probably depression cause you’re in pain so there was sleeping and muscle relaxers, different things, and then medications to combat the side effects of the other medications. And so I didn’t feel healthy until I went got off the Levothroid, Synthroid and got on to Armour, a natural.

Rayzel: Desiccated thyroid, right?

Linita: Yeah. I don’t know how natural it is, but.

Rayzel: Ground up real thyroid basically, right? From some other animal.

Linita: I still think about whose thyroid in that.

Rayzel: Yeah and I’m glad you mentioned that because for anyone else out there who’s not too familiar, who thinks they’re dealing with thyroid issues and they’re not familiar with it. I can recommend a really good website that basically talks all about why Synthroid and other T4 medication does not work for most people. Why they take it and their lab tests are normal supposedly but they don’t feel any better and that switching to a natural desiccated thyroid, which Armour is one brand, but there’s actually other brands now from other countries too. Why that’s made such a big difference for people where they actually felt better and part of that is because natural desiccated thyroid has small amounts of T3 in it, which is, that’s actually active hormone and the reason I know a lot about this too is because I had a hypothyroid condition and thankfully, I had a naturopathic doctor who, he was actually kind of on the up and up so when he originally found out my condition and prescribed me a medication it was actually straight T3 and I didn’t even know anything until I went home and research and I was like “Oh, he gave me the right stuff.”

Linita: I’m wondering, is that better than Armour? That’s something I’m wondering.

Rayzel: I think it probably varies. From what I’ve researched I’ve only tried the straight T3 and actually at this time I’m off of all of it. But for about 2 years, it gave me my life back and I can’t compare because I haven’t done the desiccated natural thyroid. What I’ve read is that people who have Hashimoto’s, you know about that? I have that. So it’s an autoimmune disease. Fromw hat I’ve read, people who are just straight hypothyroid without that element they do very well with the natural desiccated thyroid but they were saying that for people with Hashi’s sometimes that can actually provoke an autoimmune attack because of like the iodine and stuff on the natural dessicated thyroid, I think, it’s been a little while. So anyway,, that’s just what I’ve read. I don’t know if it’s completely true. I just know the T3, it woke me up. I can’t believe.

Linita: Yeah. You don’t feel like you’re living in mud. Cause that’s what—you feel like every day you wake up and you just have to live your life in mud.

Rayzel: Yeah and like half of your brain is missing.

Linita: Half your brain and all your energy and yeah.

Rayzel: I couldn’t believe how much better I felt on—yeah, you know. And so even the natural desiccated thyroid does have some T3 in it, smaller amounts, but—for anyone else, I highly recommend it because I don’t really think the hCG will fix that necessarily.

Linita: I agree. Well that and also, I had a hysterectomy so I had hormone replacement, and that’s another one I mean, I gained 30 pounds in 3 months after being on Premarin. What they give you after hysterectomy, they give you Premarin.

Rayzel: What is that again? It’s like a pharmaceutical.

Linita: It’s actually pregnant mare’s urine. It’s horse pee.

Rayzel: Okay.

Linita: First off when I found out that I’m like Okay that’s just nasty, I don’t want that in my body. But then when I gain 30 pounds in 3 months and I felt horrible.

Rayzel: Was that because like—I don’t know much about this particular thing so is there a lot of hormones in that medication then or like a high dose.

Linita: You know what? I don’t know. It’s just what they give you and I was really ignorant when I had my hysterectomy. If I knew then what I know now, because it’s 14 years ago, I would have done things completely different. First of all, I would have started treating myself naturally and maybe prevented the hysterectomy cause they did a total, so they took all of my ovaries and everything. I’m not sure why they give you Premarin and when that didn’t work for me they put me on an Estradiol patch. It’s a transdermal patch and I was on that for years. Same thing though, kept the weight on and everything. At the same time I got off of regular thyroid, I also got off pharmaceutical hormone replacement and went on to natural hormone replacement.

Rayzel: Can you share a little about that? What is the natural hormone replacement that you’ve turned to?

Linita: The one that I was on, sadly, has been discontinued. Actually and I recommend this for anybody in menopause is actually have a naturopath do some test, blood test, whatever, to find out what your hormones are happening. Mine, I actually had made too much estrogen and that was the patch was, was Estradiol, an estrogen, and the fact that I was obese and I have a lot of belly fat, my body was also manufacturing and storing estrogen so I had estrogen overload. The doctor I went to he described it, Estrogen is like an angry hormone, it’s what causes the insomnia, the rage, the anger, the horrible things at menopause and I have no progesterone. So he completely took me off of all estrogen and just gave me progesterone sublingual drops and they balanced me. I was balanced out on this for about 7 years.

Rayzel: Cool. What were the changes in how you felt when you added that in?

Linita: I was able to sleep at night. I wasn’t angry; I was balanced emotionally, mentally.

Rayzel: Like, hah, little happy.

Linita: Yeah. Pave the way for me also to be able to start losing weight as well. All kind of came out as a progression but [inaudible] what making them because the FDA starting to regulate them and stop labs making them.

Rayzel: I see. But you can still get like the—is that the same as the bioidentical hormones?

Linita: It’s not. That’s another reason I think I put on some weight at the beginning of this year is because since they quit making it I got off of it. I just well I can’t get it anymore so.

Rayzel: Yeah and you weren’t sure what else to do.

Linita: Right, I’ve been on menopause for 14 years so maybe I’m good. So I stopped taking them and I started getting tired. I wasn’t able to work out. I didn’t have the energy to work out and things like that and so I went to a new doctor. So he did prescribed, one of my Armour he doubled it. He did extensive bloodwork and then up to my thyroid and then put me on bioidentical so it has testosterone, 3 different small doses of estrogen and progesterone. It took a little bit to adjust because I’m really sensitive to estrogen so he had actually lowered the estrogen.

Rayzel: So you used to have too much but then overtime your body didn’t have that much anymore?

Linita: No actually because of the tummy tuck, that’s what he said. Because I wasn’t taking any internally, medicine wise and then I had all the belly fat removed. I didn’t have the place that stored and manufactured estrogen and he wondered that’s why I asked him I said, “How did I go from too much to none?” and he says, “you don’t have any belly fat anymore”.

Rayzel: Interesting. So he put you on that and so do you mind if I ask how many grams of Armour you’re in now.

Linita: 60.

Rayzel: 60 milligrams?

Linita: You know I have to go check it.

Rayzel: I think the grams are in 1, 2, and 3 grams but maybe it’s like 16mg or something. I was just curious for other people that are on it to compare because optimizing thyroid hormone levels with this stuff could be really hard and it’s like pulling teeth to get your doctor to increase your dose.

Linita: It really is. He was the one who read my lab results came back and says he’s gonna raise that. And so I was only taking 30, so it must be milligrams I think 30 and he raised to 60.

Rayzel: Do you feel like he noticed a little bit of a difference in how you’re feeling from that?

Linita: It all happened right around the same time as the hormones and now the hCG too. So all three in the past 2 weeks I’ve got my life back again, which I had been really gotten—It was getting hard. I was physically in pain. I was exhausted, tired. Mentally not there. Emotional. Depression and stuff and just feeling crappy.

Rayzel: I think that’s how things really are some times. We all have ups in life where we felt better and it’s easier to keep all those other side things to control like your weight but unfortunately there is times when you feel that bad, you just can’t keep all the pieces of all the little stuff in order. It’s like all you can do is keep surviving some times.

Linita: That’s why I thought I would start my blog up again because I just feel like I’ve been- I’m having to pick pieces all up again. It’s like, I was doing so well and then wow you turned a corner and then all of a sudden bam I’m back down and like Okay, no regroup, and start over. Take the necessary steps, do what you need to do to get back up again so I’m in process.

Rayzel: That’s good. It’s good to hear that too because you realize that when things go downhill you don’t want to just let it be. You want to try to find the source of the problem like why am I having symptoms again. What has worked in the past or researching for new ones because it can be such a difference.

Linita: That’s it. Living with you, Hashimoto’s and having an autoimmune disorder, when all of a sudden it’s under control and you have your life back, you’re healthy and vibrant and thriving and able to be really active and do things, I in the last 4 years with losing the weight and getting healthy, I was able to do things I’d never dreamed I would do. Then all of a sudden to start having symptoms again and I’m like, “Woh-woh-woh, nu-uh, I have my life back. I’m not gonna let this take a hold. I’m gonna fight with everything I have because I like having a now active life.

Rayzel: I know. I mean that’s what we all want and it can be scary because you can remember how things were and so it’s scary when things come back cause I’ve experienced that too cause you, like you said, No I don’t want to go back there, I’m happy here. So that’s really cool you’re figuring that out and finding those things again. And it is such a delicate balance because I actually have an update coming soon about my own personal thing. It’s been a year and 9 months now since I finished hCG but I’ve had some major fluctuations too iin health and yes sometimes it’s like been really good and then other times I’ve got a lot of symptoms in recent months and I’ve had unexplained weight gain a little bit. I’ve actually already corrected but I had to make some major adjustment because it was so weird and it shows the power that hormone, if they’re not right, that they have. Because wait a minute, my life is the same, and I gained 5 pounds like, what happened here?

Linita: Hormones I think, are just huge, I never put the female hormones with the thyroid hormones, with the hypothalamus. I didn’t realize that there’s such a fine balance.
Rayzel: And sometimes it’s like trial and error because you don’t know exactly which ones producing the most or how they get them all balance.
Linita: Complete trial and error. A good naturopath is a big help and even that, I’m fortunate that I have a good one.
Rayzel: And that’s good and thankfully with the internet, even though there can be inaccurate information online, I feel there’s also a lot of accurate information. Honestly, I’ve learned almost everything that I’ve figured out about myself to get myself to this point and to stay here, pretty much online. It’s like you have to sometimes weigh what you read but we’re all smart, we can figure it out.
Linita: Exactly, I agree.
Rayzel: When you are actually maintaining your weight during that period, how are you eating? What was your food lifestyle?
Linita: You know it’s interesting cause I don’t really feel as though I ever got it down yet. You know the last year I was working out like crazy. I was doing anywhere from 30 to 90-minute HIIT, aerobic workout, running sometimes both on the same days, 6 days a week. I actually became a slave to working out.
Rayzel: So a little bit overboard?

Linita: I did, I’ve kind of got that kind of a personality.

Rayzel: You know I’m actually a little bit of an addictive personality myself so it sounds like you’re a little bit like that too.

Linita: Yeah. I kind of, a little bit’s good, a lot. You know that whole thing I work out cause I like to eat but you know Imaintained but I was going up little bits by little bits by little bits and I think that’s how it happens and I can actually pinpoint right back to the time and date. It was 4th of July 2013. I had been doing well, I have done one round of hCG last year and then when on maintenance, I was doing great. 4th of July I had some beer and a hotdog with buns and potato chips and nothing really happened my world didn’t explode. So I thought okay I can start allowing this in and it was more of just a weekend thing. During the week I’m pretty regimented but along with the work outs I was doing they also have recommended diets and it seems like they all really included carbs and their whole philosophy is you need carbs if you’re working out. I felt like I was always playing this balancing thing with carbs being in my life. I would still do as low carb as possible than you do the low carb and the low fat, well fat has more carbs, has more chemicals which is a weird thing and that was their diet recommendation was low carb low fat. So I really don’t feel like I ever did what was best for me, it was all still a bunch of trial and error. I have in my mind now what my goal, my plan, my thought is. After this maintenance round I’m gonna be really trying the low carb and not doing low fat kind of like the High Fat Low Carb.

Rayzel: That’s working for a lot of women, you know.

Linita: It is. I have some girlfriends who do hCG with me and that’s what they do. They basically go to P3 and they never graduate P4. They just stay in P3. Though they have carb addiction. I don’t really feel that I’m—cause I can take it or leave it. Right now I crave pastrami.

Rayzel: Salty stuff.

Linita: I don’t crave candy or—

Rayzel: Well that’s good. One thing you have going for you.

Linita: Still I think I’m gonna give myself a cheat day once a week because I really do feel that I think it’s necessary. One I think it switches up what your body is doing, kind of put some chaos in there and I’ll try it.

Rayzel: The thoughts are logical. Lately, it seems like some of the newer research or whatever that’s coming out, for women, low carb is good but if you never have carbs then it can actually affect your hormone levels in the negative way. Not that you would be constantly eating tons of bread but the idea of having it like once a week seems like a really balanced way to keep it in there but it is true, like what you said, a lot of women in menopause, it’s just the reality is maintaining is more difficult and the P3 eating lifestyle in general is kind of the way to go for a woman in that age bracket. That’s a hard thing is it’s like we have what we had to deal with and so it’s kind of like you had to make choices. But thankfully there’s so many good foods in the P3 round.

Linita: Yes. My girlfriends have been sharing on their Pinterest boards and so I’m like, well, I shouldn’t have any problem at all.

Rayzel: For everyone who’s watching. I’ll put a link to 2 Pinterest boards that are, one is P3 recipes and I’ve checked them all to make sure they’re P3 approved and then another one is the sugar-free, grain-free dessert recipe book. It’s just like everything that’s like whether it’s almond flour, flaxseed meal, or just sugar replacements. When you look at them they’re like boy, they look really delicious.

Linita: Absolutely. She started sharing all these things. I’m like, I don’t see I have a problem with being able to live like that but my husband where I have a child, he loves to go out for meals. He loves to go to restaurants. I remember lots of times having a lot of anxiety. God, gotta go to the restaurant. Freaking out in my head, what am I gonna order? How am I gonna stay on track and all of that. That’s where the one day a week I think I’ll just, you know, I’m gonna order whatever I feel like ordering and not have that stress and anxiety of worrying about if I wanna go have chips and salsa and Mexican food and a beer with my husband I’m gonna go do that because I’m not gonna deprive my lifestyle with my husband to be able to stay a size 6 or 8.

Rayzel: Right, and I agree with the whole mentality where you have to balance what you want or what you want to look like with having a reasonable life cause you can take it so far that you are miserable all the time and you have your life and also what’s the point in that? Unless you’re just so vain that that’s all that matter is how you look but that’s not really any kind of life for most people.

Linita: I agree. That’s my goal. We’ll see how it works.

Rayzel: That’s good. Another tool that I use myself like when I want to indulge in something and I don’t know that everyone feels comfortable with this but I’ve done a lot of research on fasting and I have used it now for the last couple of years, maybe even 3 years now, intermittent fasting. It’s just where you fast for 18-24 hours. Just like one day a week or maybe even once a month. So sometimes if I know there’s something coming up I might choose to fast that day and then eat just the dinner. It’s like you can eat more because you’re basically just creating a calorie balance for the day or for the week. People of course can take it too far by doing it every day or something but obviously within reason I have found it to be very effective for me. In that way you’re not getting overly full or eating too many calories but you’re still getting to do something extra now and then.

Linita: And it’s not bad for the body to give it a break for a good 12, 16, 18, 24 hours.

Rayzel: Yeah. Totally. I actually really love it. The thing I love about fasting is, I was very surprised actually by this, but it makes me crave real food because unlike you I’m one of those kind of sugarholic people. I’ve always craved sugar. I don’t eat it anymore. I found that when I would fast if I had been craving junk food and kind of getting into any bad habit, if I would fast for 24 hours, the only thing I would want at the end of that was a steak and some broccoli, a big salad, seriously, I would crave real whole foods. It kind of resets me.

Linita: That makes sense. Because you figure if you’re giving your body a break, what do you want to put in after you give it a break is something healthy.

Rayzel: Yeah and that really is what I would crave like that’s what I would want and that’s what you want is like to get to that point where your body wants the things that are healthy for you. Instead of constantly fighting yourself for “I should eat what’s healthy but all I want is what’s bad.” That’s hard.

Linita: Yeah and when you get the habit of it, you know, most of last year I would never buy any processed junk food until after my surgery and then I have myself like 9 M&Ms and I was like, “What’s with that.”

Rayzel: Yeah and we actually talked about that what can happen from a surgery, if it elevates your cortisol levels? When you have elevated cortisol levels it can actually make you crave carbs and crave sugars.

Linita: Yeah that and I figured from the antibiotics I probably ended up with Candida. It made me bloat up and crave carbs and sugar and I was buying things that I would never bring in to my house for the past 4 years and my husband is diabetic also. We just don’t bring garbage into the home but all of a sudden I was.

Rayzel: Like this is not what I would normally do. Yeah. Something’s really off here for me to buy this kind of stuff. It’s kind of funny you mentioned that because I haven’t had to take antibiotics much at all for several years but I did actually have to take a 2-week course several months ago and I was a little nervous because I do deal with sugar cravings although I don’t have them usually anymore and by the end of the 2 weeks I was having similar experiences that I use to have when I was still addicted to sugar like I go to whole foods and I walk around basically I kept wanting to buy gluten-free desserts full of sugar and I was having a really hard time not doing it. And I haven’t felt like that in a long time. Now I go I just get my healthy food. I don’t even think about it. It was very emotionally trying and so I agree it’s like that course of antibiotics possibly could have messed with my flora a little bit and it was causing those cravings again and it was horrible. It took a little while to fix. So when you’re actually on a round of hCG can you share how you go about it, do you stick to the protocol fairly strictly or do you find yourself cheating a lot or how does that go for you?

Linita: No, I’m not a cheater. That’s really interesting because my first several rounds, in fact, all of my rounds up until this one actually did through a clinic, weight management clinic, and I became really good friend with the lady that I would meet with every week and she would ask me if you cheated? And I’m like, “NO!”. I don’t get it, I don’t understand how people would spend that kind of money and that kind of effort and cheat. It just made no sense to my brain. I’m pretty militant actually. I don’t cheat at all. I’m a real rules and boundaries person. hCG is really easy for me to do because you have clear cut rules, clear cut boundaries.

Rayzel: So it’s almost like P2 is easier for you than P3 in a sense.

Linita: Oh my gosh, yeah. I completely freak out and go through horrible anxiety when I come to maintenance because there’s just too many options. It’s interesting because this round now, just in doing research and listening to different things, I actually last week started experimenting mixing my vegetables. I even added in some Chocolate Delight with coconut oil. They were delicious. But then my losses slow down and I was like, “Okay, going back to protocol.” So today, I’m totally back, completely protocol.

Rayzel: In general that’s the way to go and also I do think you need to kind of go along with what you feel in your gut is best for you. Sometimes I think that if you don’t feel comfortable, even if it’s actually {inaudible} it’s actually gonna cause bad resorts cause you don’t feel comfortable with it inside.

Linita: I actually did look at it as experimenting. I’m gonna experiment with mixing my vegetable because in theory it make sense that you should be able to mix your vegetable and I really don’t think the vegetable was the issue. I think the coconut oil for me was the issue.

Rayzel: I do actually have a whole post on coconut oil. I do feel the body’s just sensitive to fat like Dr. Simeon said in hCG. That is one of those things that at this time I wouldn’t use coconut oil myself.

Linita: I’m hoping getting strict protocol again will make up for the lack of loss last week.

Rayzel: We talked a little bit about how you got into fitness because a lot of people when they do the protocol they come from a place where they’re sedentary or they were overweight their whole life so they never got into that and it’s kind of overwhelming. Can you just tell me, were you active before and you just got back into it? How was that for you?
Linita: No, not at all. I tried things while I was overweight. I would try work out videos. I would go to the gym and I went to the gym and I took a Pilates class and I actually like it but it didn’t really help with my weight or anything like that but I liked it but nothing ever lasted really. I live in a really remote area so you know, home videos, I had the original Turbo Jam with Chalene Johnson– I still have it– that I worked out to. I did it for a while but it’s hard when you’re over 200 pounds to work out so with the hCG you’re not supposed to work out while you’re on P2 but I started on baby steps. I’m just a real firm believer in baby steps and I started walking and I started just doing the things that you hear, the silly things. Park further around the parking lot, take the shopping cart back, then I would start going up and down the stairs at work on my lunch hour. I get down once or twice just to get some extra. I had a girlfriend at work who is very very thin and we would go for work on our lunch break and things like that. So I’ve built up stamina that way and then when I decided to get healthy, like I said, it was an Ahah moment when I was 48 I was looking at turning 50 in a couple of years and realizing that I was not gonna be around in this world for very long if I continued my life the way it was and so I made the decision I was gonna get health. I had to set a goal. My sister-in-law, my husband’s sister is very tiny and always has been and she’s very active. I’ll never forget when I was pregnant with my daughter, I had 2 hamburgers and she walked in and she was like, “You’re gonna eat both of those?” I was like, “Yeah.” It was just different mind frame. She’s just always been healthy whole foods, active, she’s a rock climber and bicyclist and all that. So I said I wanted to do something really monumental, she’s the same age. So when we turn 50 I want to do something really monumental and so she’s like “Well, why don’t we do a 3-day [inaudible] where we backpack across the [inaudible} Mountains” and I was like “That’s it.” Well first she was like we can climb Mount McKinley and she says but lot of people do it. I want to do solitude, a way in nature. And so once I started getting my stamina up, taking some of the weight off with the hCG when beyond maintenance and off of protocol I started carrying backpack full of water bottles and then I started at a half a mile and then 1 mile and then 2 and then 4. My longest was 12. I went 1 day. And it’s back behind my house I live at Jason’s 600 acres of cattle grazing land. It’s about a thousand foot elevation incline and decline. So yeah I just started hiking up in the country and so we did the 3-day [transierra? Track].

Rayzel: So how many miles total was that?

Linita: I think it was 22 miles total.

Rayzel: How many pounds are you carrying in your backpack?

Linita: 28 pounds. Whole thing you go out in wilderness. The highest peak we went over was 12000 feet.

Rayzel: Awesome! That’ s a lot of elevation [inaudible].

Linita: Our first night we camped at 11000. I lived in 2500-3000 and I felt pretty acclimated too but 11000 feet makes you a little goofy because you know lack of oxygen your head gets kind of goofy. And I haven’t loss all my weight yet. I was probably still in the 170 area when we did that.

Rayzel: But you were a lot stronger obviously from just working on that and you’ve lost some weight.

Linita: Yes and then later that year my sister ended up with breast cancer and I did a 5K Susan Holman 5k walk because I’m not a runner, I never thought I would be a runner. So I was walking and I was looking at this people running and I realize that this time I have actually- I was like in my 150s- and I realized there’s no reason I can’t do what they’re doing and so I made the goal to that the following year I would actually run it. So I run it. I’ve run a 12K twice and last February I ran a half marathon. I’ve never thought I would ever, ever do.

Rayzel: Yeah and you actually enjoyed the running is that right?

Linita: I do love running. I found that it’s therapy for me. I worked on the computer all day long so that after when I get off work I can shut the computer off, shut the phone off and I can just go out and just run and be with my breath and you know I pray, listen to music, and just kind of isolate, unwind from everything.

Rayzel: I think that’s really good to hear too because for a lot of people finishing or getting close to losing their weight I do think finding a way to be active in a way that you enjoy is a big part of being able to maintain and keep things in balance. I think it’s just interesting how just by trying things out you ended up discovering something that you didn’t know that you would like.

Linita: Actually I would have never—The furthest thing from my mind that I would ever—I mean that literally that person that said “If you ever see me running you better run too because something scary chased me” cause I’m not a runner. So it’s the furthest thing that I would have ever—in fact most people that know me they were just as surprised as I was since that running became the thing that I like to do. That’s it, I try different things. I mean I like hiking but the equipment that it takes, it’s just an expensive hobby. I like working out in my living room. I like aerobics. I like Pilates. Right now while I’m on this, I’m doing Tai Chi just for stretching and mobility and to get my balance back after my surgery. But, the running is the one thing I think I enjoy more than anything else.

Rayzel: That is really neat. I talk about CrossFit all the time on my blog and you know I didn’t know anything about it until I found out about it and I never would have seen myself getting into weight lifting because it’s really not—I mean I like to do pushups and stuff when I was a teenager and I was into being in shape but as far as heavy weight lifting which is actually my favorite part of CrossFit, I really love it and it’s so funny I wouldn’t have thought that either. I wouldn’t yeah but I really do.
Linita: Yeah. I’ve heard of it but I don’t know anything about it.
Rayzel: It’s just cool if everyone else maybe just try things out even if you’re not sure what it’s all about or how it would feel and because your body’s changed I think we tend to still think in terms of how difficult something felt when we were overweight and so you kind of think like you said, I can’t run or I can’t. But wait a minute I’ve 50 pounds less hold on here, let me give a try.
Linita: Exactly, “Oh I can’t run I have bad knees”. Well I don’t have bad knees being 50 pounds less.
Rayzel: I guess along with that what are some other positive changes that you’ve had as a result of your overall weight loss?
Linita: I think mentally and emotionally, I mean the confidence, I think when you’re obese you feel invisible, like people they judge you so you isolate, you don’t want to go out, you don’t want to be around people. You hide in pictures, you hide behind the camera. Most of my pictures that I’m in, that I actually would allowed to be taken because I was forced to I would have one of my children standing strategically in half of me so only half of me showed. So I think confidence—my husband he’s so cute because one of the things he like is the fact that I can actually go to a store and I can buy normal people clothes and I can put them on and not sit there and go “Oh” or you know God going to the store and going to the changing room and just coming out horribly depress because everything you thought might look good on you look horrible on you. So that’s a lot of it, it’s just being able to go to places and buy clothes that fit and be able to walk out the door with confidence knowing that people aren’t gonna look at you like “Oh look at that fat, lazy slog” which is sad.
Rayzel: It’s funny that you mentioned that too because I just finished recording another interview with a woman she’s lost actually 122 pounds so far in a year with hCG. She actually mention that that was one of the biggest thing that she’s noticed because she’s lost so much in just one year. She says, she notices a huge difference in how strangers treat her. She says now people talk to her, they make eye contact, she said before she felt like she was a plague or something like people would avoid eye contact, they didn’t want anything to do with her and she said the difference is very obvious which is sad.
Linita: It is. You’re definitely treated completely different.
Rayzel: And it’s one of those things you can’t really hide.
Linita: No. You try to camouflage. Especially like when I see my before pictures and I thought I was doing a great job of camouflaging it. You look at it and go “Okay no, you’re just fat, you’re just fat”. My grandmother was morbidly obese my whole life and I take after her out of everybody in my family I take after her and it’s sad because I know what she had to have gone through her entire life being like that cause I ended up being there too. So yeah the confidence, being able to wear right clothes.
Rayzel: And just feel normal. Right? Like you said it’s just like “Okay, I’m normal, I could just not have to have be a big thing that people [inaudible].
Linita: Right, if you’re eating out in public, not afraid that people are looking at you going Oh yeah [inaudible] eat something else. That and being active just being able to be active again I feel like I’m gonna live a lot longer and my quality of life is just so improve that I get to play with my grandkids and have fun with my husband and kids and do fun activities instead of watching them enjoy the activities.
Rayzel: Yeah and it’s like not only do you get to enjoy that but you also don’t have to spend so much time having negative feelings what you aren’t able to do.
Linita: I remember one time going to an amusement park and at my heaviest and my daughter and I went to [Santa Crispy?] and the ride that we got on had one of those big thing bars that came over the top and I remember the guy pushing on it and pushing on it and almost putting up his foot to get it to lock and thinking, oh my gosh, that’s just so horribly mortifying to be there. So that’s why you stop doing things because you know that you’re too fat to do things.

Rayzel: But you’re in a much better place. The one thing I feel we get out of these, because these stories are so many of women there losing with this all have similar stories to share and I feel like in some ways it’s really valuable having been there because you have so much more compassion for people and you appreciate what you have now more too.
Linita: I always said when I actually get heavy for the first time because I pretty much made it through school and my teenager years on my looks and when I get heavy the first time I realized, “Oh, I have to develop a character”. Because I don’t have my looks right now and I feel like I ended up being more balanced because I have to develop a character, become a human person and not rely on your looks. And then also compassion and understanding for other people that have struggles and challenges in life.
Rayzel: Cause sometimes it’s a little frustrating on occasion, you know I do a lot of research online and so sometimes I came across some fitness blog or of someone who’s never been overweight obviously and just the way that they speak about it? Of course we all want to lose weight and be thinner, we all know that, but the way that it’s spoken about; it’s kind of derogatory almost, a little bit. Like what’s wrong with this peoples and it’s hard like, you know, this is a real struggle that some people face and that’s not too helpful.
Linita: Exactly. For some people it’s health, for some people they’re uneducated as far as food goes, some lives a whole bunch of different things that just- so yeah you can’t just have a blanket statement of “Oh why can’t they just get it like I do.”
Rayzel: I know, and like everyone have their struggles too. Maybe food was never a struggle for you but you have personality struggles or something obviously.
Linita: Exactly. So yeah it does definitely make you a lot more graceful in understanding people, full of grace and mercy to understand people’s challenges. There’s a saying and I love it, but I don’t remember it all but it just talks about how just be kind to everybody because you don’t know what struggle they’re going through.
Rayzel: Right, exactly, that you don’t know about. Just last one, what advice would you give to other hCGers starting this journey? What do you think is the most important thing to keep in mind?
Linita: Be patient. Roll with it cause I think some of the hardest things and I noticed on my girlfriends that I’ve done it with is like today I was really depressed because I was really hoping for a nice drop and there was none, 0.2 drop today, after several .1, .2, .0 drops. So you just have to be patient and trust the process make adjustments. My first several rounds I never even told anybody I was doing it. My husband and I were pretty much- my kids were the only ones that knew that I was actually doing it, a few trusted friends. This round I’ve gotten really involved with hCG communities online and have friends who are doing it at the same time so we’re doing it together and sharing the process and encouraging each other and making suggestions, I tried a few things last week so did my girlfriend, we both found that it didn’t work for us. So it’s like okay, let’s adjust back to protocol, do it right. So yeah, I think share your process with somebody trusted who can keep you accountable and be patient and follow protocol. I think it’s just a waste to put your body through it and not stick to it because the end goal is to reset your hypothalamus and your metabolism and if you’re not gonna follow the process and the protocol then you’re just messing your metabolism up further for the future.
Rayzel: I do think you can do that and it’s kind of a difficult, well I know you said you like P2 in a sense but it is a difficult protocol as well. So if you’re gonna put yourself through that you want to try to get the results for your time.
Linita: Yeah and you know what? Any of us can do anything for 40 days. For those who are doing the full 40 day protocol. You can do anything for 40 days. It’s less than 2 months. It’s just a short period of time and for the changes that you end up gaining and not just weight loss, I mean the weight loss is of course the ultimate, but you learn so much about yourself and why you overeat. What foods are your trigger foods? You learn so much of what got you to where you were. Because you’re basically cutting it down to such bare minimums and then you reevaluate a lot of things, I would do so much growth internally through this process, from just stripping everything away and eating very minimally and really experiencing the little bit of food you get.
Rayzel: Yeah and that’s so true and I think that that is really the key to making a success of this is because most people are gonna have to have an internal transformation like you said. I think sometimes when people started out they’re not realizing that at first and then it’s like of a shocking once you’re on it because now you’re without the things that you didn’t realize you’re using to cope with things in life. And a of a sudden “Woah” and then you realize and then you like regroup and like “Okay, I have some major issues to work on.” And the protocol is great for that if you’re ready for it.
Linita: Yes. That would be one of the biggest. That and be prepared. Set yourself up. Make sure that you got everything lined up. Don’t just try to jump into it because it’s really hard to adjust on the fly. It’s definitely something you have to plan for, prepare for, shop for, real preparation ahead of time. The more stuff you do ahead of time the more successful you’ll be.
Rayzel: Well thank you for all of that Linita. Really appreciate it for coming on today.
Linita: Thank you. I appreciate, just the opportunity, I know that it’s been life changing for me and I just feel that I want to share that with others, that there’s hope. I think that’s my big thing is- There is hope. We don’t have to live the way we were living.

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