Starting Interrupt

Today, I'm testing a new strategy while Mom continues the Steps Program uninterrupted.  Essentially, I should be able to continue the Steps HHCG, one step down from where I left off at VLCD, and still continue to lose while in interrupt.  I expect that my losses will slow down, but it will be comparable to the losses I'd experience with the X Potency of HCG this late into my round, so I figure I'm still ahead of the game.

So, what on earth (or any other planet) am I doing??  I'm testing the congruency of cycles of human body, The Fibbonacci Sequence, and HHCG Steps.

Breve HeArt
from http://www.flickr.com/photos/amanky/2326288744/

I *should be* able to continue weight release during interrupt, following the basic structure of Nature. All my research says that's the way of it.  Wish me luck!

Watch over on the Facebook page for weights, as that's where I'll post that information.

What's for breakfast this morning?

Oh, my beautiful Breve.
How I have missed thee.
Let me count the days.
1-2-20-21-Twenty Three!

Steps VLCD21: Yahoo!

I think I may still be on protocol during my birthday, Feb 27th.

Just to review:
I'm testing out a new thing I've developed and it's going very well.  I'm making my own homeopathic HCG with a different potency level (LM), intended to work on a different "level" of body.  I've taken to calling the process the "Steps Program."  In fact, I moved to Step 4 yesterday and saw a 3.2# drop today and it's day 21 of VLCD!  In fact, up until I got a cold/flu thing, I was averaging 1.3# per day, and Mom was averaging .9# per day.  Those are significant when you compare them to our pre-StepsTesting averages of .9#/day (me) and .4#/day (Mom).

With those kinds of numbers, I think I may just extend this round until I can't stand it any more.  I suspect that will be a while, if I can keep the numbers up like this.  lol.  That's a real motivator to remain on Protocol.

With a 3.2# drop, I wonder if I need to "Step up" more frequently?  That number proves that it's entirely possible to lose at the same BIG rate of the first week.  That's what I want.  Not a little loss after a period of time - just big losses maintained for a short amount of time, then go through P3 and P4 and stay there for a while.  :)

Steps Update

I've been using Tiger Balm lately to help fix a charlie horse type muscle spasm in my neck and shoulder, which is causing my weight releases to slow way down to partial pounds per day.  Even though I'm sabotaging HCG with the Tiger Balm (oils), I'm going to go ahead and move to Step3.

I don't really anticipate it helping while I'm using Tiger Balm, but it does stay within my "rules" designed when I first started this round.

Mom & I decided that the Steps concept does give a better weight loss, but that it's pretty jumpy.  It's not a steady decrease, like the X potency gives.  It's big losses, followed by a little loss or a 0, then big losses again.  For myself, that's a good thing:  it keeps me interested.  Hahaha!

Steps: Mom did well!

Mom is doing very well on Step2 of my test.  She dropped 1.2# today.  This far into VLCD, that is just absolutely unheard of for her.  About now, day 9 of VLCD, she historically slowed down to a .4# or .5# loss.  So, we're very happy with this result.

Myself, I'm also on Step2.  I was hoping to counteract the effects of being female.  I'm still in weird-o female cycle land, so we can't really go by my results.  All I can say is, I feel great and at least I'm dropping this cycle!  Historically, I'd start my cycle and just stick like a magnet to whatever weight I was at when I started the thing (or gain a little) during my cycle.  So, my little 2# drop over the past few days has been a happy experience, too.

Over all, I'm very happy with the Steps concept.  We still have Step3 (LM 0/3) in reserve as well as a few other Steps, if necessary to maintain a higher weight loss and avoid the slow down time.

LM Potency: Further Discussion

I wrote an article about the LM Potency, but the article was edited after I submitted it.  I wanted to be sure to share what was edited out, because it's important.  It's from the site referenced in the article.

"Then Hahnemann says, "On the other hand" some patients experience only a "slow, continuous improvement based on one dose of a aptly selected homeopathic medicine (taking 40, 50, 60 100 days to complete the cure, depending on the nature of the medicine) but this is very seldom the case." It is much more common for the slow remedy action to cease and the patient to relapse. Then the Founder goes on to state how important it is to "foreshorten this period" to 1/2, 1/4 or less so that a more rapid cure is attained. This reflects what Hahnemann said in aphorism 246 of the 5th Organon on repeating the remedy to speed the cure.

Hahnemann makes it very clear that there are two major types of remedy actions that must be treated differently.

A. The first condition is a visibly progressing and strikingly increasing amelioration. In this instance Hahnemann says to leave the single dose to act without repetition as long as this state lasts. This statement also applies to any time during treatment that there is a dramatically increasing amelioration on a series of doses. I would like to report that my colleagues and I have witnessed several cures of chronic diseases with single and infrequent doses of the LM potency.

B. The second remedy action is a slow continuous improvement that could take up to 100 or more days to cure. Some cases show little or no response to a single dose although the remedy is correct. This is because the sensitivity of the patient and the nature of disease state require more medicinal stimulation. In this case one should repeat the dose at suitable intervals to speed the cure. This is quite common in protracted chronic disease and complex miasms. One may repeat the dose to speed the cure only if they follow all five conditions noted at the end of the paragraph.

1. The remedy is perfectly homoeopathic (Not a wrong remedy or a partial simillimum.)

2. The remedy is potentized and dissolved in water. (Not the dry dose.)

3. The remedy is given in a small dose (1 pill in a 7-8 tablespoon medicinal solution, given in a split-dose, etc.) 

4. The remedy should be given at suitable intervals based on what experience has shown to be the correct timing. (Individualization.)

5. The degree of dynamization must be changed on each dose (The medicinal solution must be succussed prior to ingestion to slightly raise the potency.)

There is a great difference between a visibly progressing and strikingly increasing amelioration and a slow continuous improvement that may take up to 100 days to show any significant improvement. In most cases of slow improvement the patient tends to relapse rather than progress to cure. What Hahnemann is offering is a very clear differential analysis of two different types of remedy actions. When the patient is already hastening toward cure on single or infrequent doses the cure does not need to be sped! If the remedy is repeated under these conditions it will either slow down the action of the previous dose, aggravate the patient, or cause a relapse of symptoms. In the footnote to aphorism 246 it says the LM may be given daily "when necessary". It does not say to give the LM potency to everybody no matter what!

All the statements about the daily and alternate day dose that follow in aphorism 248 are about how to speed the cure in slowly improving cases. These are the cases where one needs to foreshorten this period to 1/2, 1/4 or less the time so that a more rapid cure is attained. In aphorism 248 Hahnemann says that the remedy may be repeated daily or on alternate days in "protracted diseases", which means long drawn out and prolonged illnesses. If the patient is experiencing a strikingly increasing amelioration on a single dose or a short series of doses, the repetition of the remedy is counter indicated as long as this state lasts. These aphorisms teach when it is best to wait and watch and when it is best to act and observe. This is the best of both worlds!"

 Reference for the quote: 

http://www.simillimum.com/education/little-library/the-works-of-great-homoeopaths/blp/article.php

Steps VLCD3: LM Potency notes and discussion

The LM Potency of HCG I made is quite interesting to experience.

For example, this potency seems to be very subjective to coffee.  My first VLCD day, I had coffee; a 20oz Americano.  It wasn't as good as a breve, but ::sighs:: it was still good.  I dropped 2.0#.  The second day, I didn't partake of any coffee and experienced a 3.4# drop.

Another example is camphor.  Mom experienced something similar as I but with Tiger Balm (which has camphor in it) rather than coffee.  VLCD day 1, she had restless leg syndrome kicking in big time.  She usually drinks tonic water and rubs Tiger Balm on her legs, then goes to bed.  Generally, this combination works out.  She saw a 1.2# drop the following day.  VLCD day 2, she didn't experience RLS, so didn't use those products.  Today, she saw a 2.0# drop.

Classically trained homeopaths believe there is an antidote for each remedy created and strong smells/tastes are the key to them, but didn't witness it so clearly with the X Potencies as I did with the LM Potency.  Another homeopath, Miranda Castro, experimented on her whole clinic of patients and didn't deny them anything, but found that the remedies continued to work - for the most part.  She didn't mention in her article what her potencies were, but the most common are X and C, which are made in similar ways.  She summed her findings up this way:

My bottom line–for what it is worth–is this. Anything that affects a person strongly can affect any healing response including one that is due to a homeopathic medicine. Any medicine (whether it is coffee or corticosteroids or cannabis) which has a strong effect on the psyche or substance of a person can counteract a healing response, whether this positive response is due to a homeopathic medicine, an acupuncture treatment or falling in love. Patients whose nervous systems are affected by coffee, or whose headaches are brought on by alcohol need to avoid these substances, at any time but especially while they are pursuing any treatment which seeks to enable healing to take place.

All that said, what am *I* going to do?  I think I'll try my darndest to avoid coffee, but I'm certainly not going to beat myself up over having a shot or two of espresso.  Mom feels similarly; if it helps get rid of RLS but diminishes the weight loss, it's worth it in the end and she's not giving it up, either.

Steps VLCD2: Oops

Forgot to eat today at noon.  Didn't realize it until 4pm!  Yikes!  I ate scallops and cauliflower soup (I do NOT like fishy tasting food, I'll tell you what) as well as an apple.  I hope I didn't mess things up for tomorrow's loss.

:(

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Steps: VLCD1

Yesterday was Day1 of VLCD for Mom & I.  I was hot hungry all day yesterday but found that this morning, I awoke hungry.  However, I'm down 2.0#, so if I can keep that rate throughout, with my Steps plan, it'll completely be worth a little hunger now and again.

:)

Testing: Step1 Notes

First day of loading and I'm not hungry from the get-go.  I took my Step1 dose this morning and am due for my second one right now.  I'm NOT doing very good with the loading thing.  :(  I'll have to start force-feeding myself.  ::blech::

So far today, I'm at only 30oz 1/2 and 1/2 (two breves) and that's it.  Only 90g of fat.  Considering the goal is -at the very least- 300g, I'm way behind schedule.

::sighs::  Time to make myself feel green.

Ready to start my test!

Sunday is loading days for Mom & I.  We'll both be testing my theories!  I have remedies for beginning the round with as well as some step up remedies as weight loss slows down (which SHOULD correct the slow down).

If my theory proves successful, we should see greater weight loss & even faster than what we've seen in the past.  This is due to a more personal approach to each of us.  Mom typically loses weight more slowly than I (we suspect this is because of menopause and so forth).  So, we'll probably be stepping Mom up more swiftly than I will.  But that's a guess on my part at this point.

So, Loading Days forward ho-o!

The testing calendar, if you care to follow us as this test unfolds, is below.  You can subscribe to it by clicking the + Google Calendar in the lower right hand corner of it.

Homeopathic Discussion

I've come up with a theory on HHCG.  It's not new, per se, but the theory does challenge how we're using it today (ie: a combination of 6x, 12x, 30x, and 60x strengths 2-3 times daily).  In fact, it's taking the homeopathic quality of HHCG back to it's roots.

Recently, I completed the Homeopathy Course offered by Breyer State University.  In it, you learn homeopathy's history, the basis of why it works, all about doses, what foods to avoid or add to the diet, and a ton of other things about it.  It took several books, each over 1000 pages to say what I'm theorizing, really.  Regardless, I'm going to go out on a limb here and state that we're not using Homeopathy as it was intended originally.  We've strayed from the pure path and muddied the waters, so to speak.

Interesting Facts about Homeopathy

• Less is more.
• Potency numbers reflect how many times the original substance has been diluted.
• Potency numbers can be labeled as some number followed by an X, M, or C.
• Making a homeopathic remedy is really pretty easy, just time consuming. A video on the process is here:
• To cure an illness with homeopathy, one must be highly skilled in observation.
• Homeopathy was first proposed by German physician Samuel Hahnemann in 1796, based on an "ipse dixit" axiom formulated by Hahnemann, which he called the law of similars, preparations which cause certain symptoms in healthy individuals are given in diluted form to patients who already exhibit similar symptoms.
• Homeopathic remedies are always given as needed.  If one does clears the case - if the patient's overall energy improves and th symptoms of illness fall away - then by all means do not give a second dose.  If the first dose seems to help some, then watch for a return of symptoms and a falling off of the overall energy, then give the second dose.4

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy
2. http://www.altmd.com/Articles/How-Homeopathy-Cures
3. http://www.altmd.com/Videos/Search/homeopathy
4. Practical Homeopathy by Vinton McCabe