What is ideal?

After VLCD 32
overnight: -0.4
total: -18
weight: 137

This post will be long. I need to work through some thoughts. I took my measurements this morning. I lost more inches this week than last week, so I'm happy about that. I'll post my measurements after I'm done with HCG. Along with before and after pictures.

On HCG Dieters, I see posts once in a while that say something like, "My goal was 125, but I weigh 140 right now. I've lost so much fat that if I lost any more, I'd look emaciated. So I'm stopping."

It's the opposite with me. I'm starting to think my ideal weight is 125 or a little less because of the amount of fat I have left. I found a website that claims to calculate the most accurate ideal weight. I have a small frame and it says 121.5 is ideal. The medium frame is 135. So I consider that a range. Between 122 and 134 is where I'd fit.

Yesterday I contrasted the difference between ages 17 and 34. I have no idea what my measurements were then, but I did save one pair of jeans from my high school days--they don't fit yet.

However, I do have measurements from my weight loss in 2001. There's even a significant difference between 28 and 34 (almost 35). Everything but my hips measures more now than it did then at the same weight. (Stupid over-30 metabolism!)

Now, I'm not finished, and good fat loss can still happen in the 12 days I have left. But I have to ask myself if my HCG is working the way it's meant to. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with what I've achieved. It just isn't quite meeting my expectations.

I keep thinking about the actresses mentioned in Pounds and Inches who initially wanted to get below their healthy weight limits. But they were so thrilled with the fat loss that they were happy at a healthy weight. Now these were movie actresses, and even in the 50s and 60s, Hollywood ideals were high when it came to thin.

So for once I thought I wouldn't have to settle for, "Well, I guess this is all the weight I can lose. I still have a poochy belly and something akin to a fat roll in back below my bra, but I guess it'll have to be good enough." I don't want good enough. I want my ideal body fat.

According to my Accumeasure fat calipers, I started out at 32.1% and I'm currently at about 28.2%. Not a bad loss in such a short time. But to be healthy, I should be at 22% or below. I'd like to get to 19%.

Maybe my expectations for a single round were too high. The HCG could be working exactly as it's meant to, but I have more fat than I can lose in one 45-day round. I'd hate to have to do another round. Of course my next round could be quite a bit shorter.

And there's also the reshaping that continues in phase 3. I guess I'll decide then if I want to do another round. If I have the opportunity to lose all my abnormal fat, why would I pass that up? If need be, I'd wait until after the new year for Round 2.