Day 30 of hCG diet

An apple a day (or 5 in my case) keeps the weight gain away.  Today's scale amount indicated a loss of 2.4 lbs!!  I'll take that, thank-you!!  I guess I didn't reach a plateau but rather my body recovering from my 2 'write-off' days last wknd.  I'd say "shame on me" but what's the point of that....I overcame the hurdle and am back to my biggest number of weightloss so far...25.7 lbs.  I only have 9.7 lbs to go to hit a huge milestone in the weight-loss saga of my life....199.9 lbs!  Below 200 lbs....I can't pinpoint when I was that weight last as I didn't weigh myself years ago but I'm willing to guess around 2005-2006 was the time.  Yes, I just revealed my weight and really it's just a number but what's great about me saying my number, it's a sign of not being embarrassed anymore because I can and will get below those numbers and hopefully never see them again.  I'd love to be 100% sure about that last statement but I'm being a realist.  I don't get any satisfaction in pretending or denying.

Anyhoo, I had my coffee this am with stevia and an apple.  I ate an apple while babysitting at around 12:30pm.  After doing some errands, I came home and ate another one.  For dinner I ate another and around 6:30pm ate my last one while watching "Dinner For Schmucks" (which I might add is a stupid/annoying movie).  

One thing I have realized is when I'm mad/angry, frustrated, or bored I like to snack.  Now this isn't a revelation but rather a want to put those feelings to better use, rather than eating.  I watched the movie tonite wanting popcorn with butter but of course that's a big no-no so I just ate my apple.  Watching movies/tv is associated with eating a snack which is fine to a point....I'd like to channel that habit to somewhere else. Make sense?  I'd rather not spend lots of money either but need to find an outlet of some sort that will deter me from eating.  That's kind of a big thing for me to admit.

Here's to another 2 lb loss tomorrow.

Days 28 & 29 of hCG diet

Not much to report except the small loss of 0.2 lbs this morning.  I may have or am starting to plateau with weight-loss so tomorrow is "apple day".  That's where I eat only apples all day when I'm hungry (except I'll have coffee in the morning as usual).  A girl at work who just started at the pharmacy said she's done the diet 4x and has lost 60 lbs and been able to maintain.  She's gonna take the summer off and resume in the fall, same as me.  She said the "apple day" does work and can stimulate a 2 lb loss.  I'm game for that!

Yesterday wasn't a loss either, I gained 0.6lbs I think but who knows about the scale.....it's digital and I have to step on it 5-6 times to get the same number to shows up 3 times.  Somewhat unreliable but I get an idea of what's happening.  

Menu:  Also not very exciting.

June 28

Breakfast:  coffee & stevia

Snack: apple

Lunch:  chicken & cucumber

Dinner: cod & melba & tomato basil salad (without the basil)

June 29 

Breakfast:  coffee & stevia & strawberries

Snack:  apple

Lunch: meatballs with melba

Snack:  orange

Dinner:  cod & melba

I got new "clearlycontacts" glasses in the mail today (FedEx).  I like them.  Their brown with aqua, brown & white arms.  Another "free" deal from the website.  I ended up paying $38 though because I included UV protectant, scratch-free coating, shipping, taxes and one other thing I can't think of right now.  In the box it came in was a gift card that said "free glasses on us"....seriously!  I won't be needing another pair as I have 2 new pairs and one old pair.  I may give it to my youngest sister and it doesn't matter if you're a new client or repeat.

Day 27 of hCG diet

My weight gain today was 0.8lbs because of my 'bad' eating yesterday.  Tomorrow will be down again and the rest of the 23 day plan I'll keep going down, darn it!  No more of this cheating because it's getting me nowhere but up.  Funny thing bout that....usually it's 'nowhere but down'. haha!

Today went much better, diet wise....I'm back to the ol' strict ways.  I didn't have much of a dinner though (long story) as I made mom a hamburger using my meat I had pre-thawed in the fridge.  I ate an apple instead.

Menu: coffee & stevia

Lunch:  chicken & tomato

Dinner: apple

I may not have just broke 200 calories today but I feel fine.  I had missed both my breaks at work so didn't get my apple and orange I had brought for my snacks. 

Day 26 of hCG diet

Well today was another write off unfortunately.  I don't know what got into me (besides the bad food!).  I had my usual cup of coffee & stevia, then at lunch I had a left over hamburger patty and tomatoes.  I went out for about 3 hrs and when I came home, I reduced myself to having 2 slices of left over pizza from yesterday and then to top it off, I grabbed a bowl (bigger than a soup bowl), filled it with cheezies from yesterday and proceeded with eating them and they were good.  THEN....mom came outside to where I was chillin on the deck, she saw what I was eating and took the bowl away!  I didn't fight back; was better she did that anyways.

I seriously need to get back on track again.  What I've realized is that since I was bored/lazy, I resorted to quick, non-healthy food....the same ol' habits as before the diet.  It's more obvious to me know when I cheat about why I turn to that sort of food, rather than grab an apple or orange.  Like last week for example, I had a very crappy day at work on Wed and ate that piece of cake at work during my dinner break.  I did that because I was frustrated at my work day.  An Emotional eater is what I am.  How do I break out of that frame of thinking?  Will need to investigate further on that technique in order for me to be successful outside of the diet.

Because of yesterday's bbq, I had gained 2 lbs which was expected so that's ok.  Since I did badly today I hope to not have gained more than 2 lbs....that would really suck!  But I'm sure that would kick my butt back in gear.  I don't wanna lose any time in losing that additional 25 lbs I'm hoping to lose this time around.

This evening I pre-measured my portions of beef and chicken and put them into the freezer.  When buying the meat, I look at the weight of the package and if it's just above 600 g or 700 g, for example, I can get 6 - 7 meals out of.  Well my chicken was 506 g and I got 4 x 100 g + 1 x 65 g portions and my beef was just over 600 g and I got 5 x 100 g + 1 x 70 g portions.  That wasn't cool.  This is the first time I've encountered this and this is the first time I purchased the meat from Superstore.  Hmmmm....something suspicious with their weighing.  Are they including the packaging too?  What gives?  Not cool.  Won't be buying meat there again, especially since I need the portions to be even.

Well here's to a kick-ass week of discipline!

Pictures of Today

 

 

 

 

Day 24 & 25 of hCG diet

Here I go again, writing 2 days worth in one day.  Sheesh. 

I was down 2.6 lbs in the morning and stayed true to the diet throughout the day.  At 9am I went to my weigh-in appointment and I walked.  Yes, I walked.  For all you loyal readers of my blog you'll know how much I dislike exercise.  But what the heck, why not go for a 8-10 min walk?  So off I went, down the hill, across the street and into the medical building.  One of two elevators were out of order and the other one had a large line-up so up 4 flights of stairs I trekked.  My legs hurt but wasn't huffin' and puffin' too much.  Since my last visit there last week, I went down 6 lbs.  

And now it's the 25th and it's my splurge/treat day.  Alicia and Cassidy came over (my step-nieces) and mom, dad, the girls & I went bowling.....well I didn't, I took pictures.  The day was really good....fun and good food.

Menu:

Breakfast:  coffee & stevia

Lunch:  2 pieces of Deliscio pizza

Dinner: cheezies, plain chips, caesar salad, jelly/carrot salad, pasta salad, hamburger patty with mustard and tomato slice, water

Desert:  angel food cake, strawberries and low fat Cool Whip

That pretty much says what the scale will say tomorrow.  Oh well....gotta indulge once in a while and even the mustard tasted really good and that's not my first choice of condiments either.

Day 22 & 23 of hCG diet: Sad News

Well, first with the good news.  Remember that piece of cake I ate on the 20th?  Well the consequences weren't there the next morning.  I had still lost 0.8 lbs.  What a nice treat to see that but I also had to keep in mind that if I have those 'moments' again that I may gain.  Well here's the bad news, I gained 2.2 lbs because of the yummy cake.  Guess 2 days of cake is worse than one day.  Haha.  


I stayed home from work yesterday as I was feeling under the weather with what I thought was a head cold.  I ate my normal food while watching my parents eat chili, with buns for lunch and then bbq'd chicken with bbq sauce and rice for dinner.  Well I had a piece of Melba toast with my dinner and in this diet, for me, that's considered a treat because it's crunchy.


Day 24 of hCG diet:
Now it's the 24th.  I didn't get to finishing my blog yesterday so just finished it now and am gonna write a bit for today. I went to my weekly weigh-in and this time I walked down the hill and up 4 flights of stairs.  I was a bit winded after the stairs but mostly my legs hurt.  From last Thurs (if that's when my last app't was) I went down 6 lbs.  Like I said before, their scale is different than mine by 2 lbs so she says I lost 23, I say I lost 25.  When I went in last week she wanted to know my starting weight as I didn't start the diet until 6 weeks after my first consultation.  The weight I gave her was from my scale so it will be 2 lbs off from their scale.  So we'll continue to have that difference but if she had a starting weight from their scale when I started the diet, we'd be par.
I requested my original measurements as well so I can compare them to my current measurements.  


This am I looked in the mirror and did see a difference.  My upper half is smaller, my middle section a little bit smaller and my face is definitely slimmer as well.  The mirror didn't show my bottom half so can't comment but I think my thighs aren't rubbing when I walk as much as before but I may be dreaming on that one.  ;)  Things are looking up and by the end of the 40 or 46 course my goal is to be down a total of 50 lbs....I'll even take 48 lbs.  I can't even imagine the what the "new me" will look like as I don't remember what I used to look like when I was a size 12 or whatever.  Oh boy oh boy!!

Day 21 of hCG diet: Breaking News

This am I weighed myself and was down another 1 lb.  So 0.5 lb more to get to 25 lbs lost!  That kind of news makes me giddy and I felt like I was on a high at the beginning of work too.  haha  It's really great when you can feel the difference in clothing not fitting very well or too baggy.  Yay for too big clothing!  haha

But....and it's a bit but too....I fell into a moment of weakness again this evening at dinner time at work.  Oddly enough I was good yesterday when I found out a pharmacist had brought in a leftover b'day cake that was 3 layers and had the soft, smooth, sweet icing on it and between the layers.  Here's the but, I had a piece of it moments ago before my dinner and it was superb...and it was still frozen too as that's where it's stored.  I know I'm gonna pay for this moment of weakness by the number on the scale but what's a little indulgence every 20 days or so in the grand scheme of things?  I won't hit my 25 lb loss tomorrow so I guess I sabatoged myself but that's ok...I'll be redeemed the next day because I'll be good again.

So for lunch before work I had the Cajun fish again and it was pretty good....one or two bites that tasted fishy but other than that it was fine.  My dinner was something new as well....Beef tacos in a lettuce leaf wrap.  The beef had 1 garlic clove minced, cilantro chopped, s & b to taste, onion powder, pinch of cayenne pepper, and 1 tbsp chopped onion.  I omitted the garlic powder as there was already a clove in it. (Don't want my pores or the kitchen stinking of garlic too much!)  It was quite good and the cilantro added some really nice flavour.  Because I used lettuce, that was my veggie for the meal.

Today's Menu

breaky:  coffee & stevia & orange

lunch: cajun baked cod & cucumber

snack: apple

dinner: beef tacos in lettuce leaf wraps (and BAD cake)

snack: ??

I'm prepared for the bad news tomorrow am.

Days 19 & 20 of hCG diet

I really gotta get back on track with blogging on a daily basis instead of putting 2 days together...yeesh.

So yesterday when I hopped on the scale I was down 1.2 lbs and today I was down 1.0 lbs....so over the wknd I went down 4 lbs....wonder how that happened besides following the strict guidelines.  I wasn't anymore active than usual except Fri at work was busy and I worked until 8pm. My diet hasn't changed to anything really exciting until this afternoon when I had to have fish.  As you could see in the previous post, I found a good fish recipe and it was fish-flavour free!!  I'll be making it again tomorrow for lunch.

I wore my black cargo-style pants today and before I put the belt on (I always wear a belt) I noticed the pants were a bit loose....like about 2 inches too big loose!  When I put the belt on the waist band had to be sinched by the belt to get it done up.  Haha.  When I got to work today, my coworker Marianna said off the bat "I can see a difference".  Nice eh?  I was quite giddy at work too....probably the loss of the 4 lbs helped with that.  On dinner break, I went home to eat and changed my pants to a newer pair that fit just right.  No belt needed.

A lady from a different dept came to the pharmacy tonight to do her job and she asked me how's it going because she's also doing the same diet but with the drops instead of injections.  I said I lost 4 lbs over the wknd and she said she gained 4 lbs.  It was her b'day wknd so she majorly splurged on food like pizza, cheese cake, chocolate cake, caesars, whoppers (malt balls)....mmmmm.  I think that's not too bad of a gain considered what she ate.  I will probably have a less of a splurge day this Sat as we're having a family bbq and I wanna enjoy the food with others rather than my piddly little portion of meat and veggie.  I will have a burger but no bun/ketchup, I will have some chips, some salads and some dessert  DARN IT!  Haha.  A girl's gotta give in once in a while, right?

Days 19 & 20 of hCG diet

I really gotta get back on track with blogging on a daily basis instead of putting 2 days together...yeesh.

So yesterday when I hopped on the scale I was down 1.2 lbs and today I was down 1.0 lbs....so over the wknd I went down 4 lbs....wonder how that happened besides following the strict guidelines.  I wasn't anymore active than usual except Fri at work was busy and I worked until 8pm. My diet hasn't changed to anything really exciting until this afternoon when I had to have fish.  As you could see in the previous post, I found a good fish recipe and it was fish-flavour free!!  I'll be making it again tomorrow for lunch.

I wore my black cargo-style pants today and before I put the belt on (I always wear a belt) I noticed the pants were a bit loose....like about 2 inches too big loose!  When I put the belt on the waist band had to be sinched by the belt to get it done up.  Haha.  When I got to work today, my coworker Marianna said off the bat "I can see a difference".  Nice eh?  I was quite giddy at work too....probably the loss of the 4 lbs helped with that.  On dinner break, I went home to eat and changed my pants to a newer pair that fit just right.  No belt needed.

A lady from a different dept came to the pharmacy tonight to do her job and she asked me how's it going because she's also doing the same diet but with the drops instead of injections.  I said I lost 4 lbs over the wknd and she said she gained 4 lbs.  It was her b'day wknd so she majorly splurged on food like pizza, cheese cake, chocolate cake, caesars, whoppers (malt balls)....mmmmm.  I think that's not too bad of a gain considered what she ate.  I will probably have a less of a splurge day this Sat as we're having a family bbq and I wanna enjoy the food with others rather than my piddly little portion of meat and veggie.  I will have a burger but no bun/ketchup, I will have some chips, some salads and some dessert  DARN IT!  Haha.  A girl's gotta give in once in a while, right?

Oh Happy Fish

The first fish recipe I can eat.

Cajun Baked Fish

100 g white fish (I used cod)

1 melba toast crushed

1/8 tsp onion powder

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1 pinch of cayenne pepper

1 pinch of thyme to taste (I didn't use it as I don't like it)

S & B to taste

Lemon juice (I used a fresh squeezed lemon)

Mix all dry ingredients in bag.  Dip fish into lemon juice, toss into baggie of dry ingredients and shake bag to coat fish.  Bake at 350 F for 20 min.

The main flavour is the lemon juice with a little kick from the cayenne pepper, otherwise NO fish taste!!  Yay, my faith is now restored in eating fish.

Haha!

Day 17 & 18 of hCG diet

Ok, this is gonna be a quickie as I'm feeling lazy, tired and not in the mood to blog right now.   Oh well.

On Fri after my weigh, I hadn't lost anything so thought I was at the beginning of a possible plateau.  I worked my butt off last nite and when I weighed myself this morning I lost 1.8 lbs.  I've been going on the scale about 5x/morning to see the average weight as it's different each time I step on it within moments of each time.  Stupid scale!

I shared my recipe for Finnish Meatballs with a pharmacist as she's never made meatballs before and mine smelled good at dinner last nite at work.  It really is a good recipe.  Has a nice garlic flavour from the garlic powder used.

Today I had to weigh out all my meat in 100 g portions, which oddly enough I don't mind doing.  Ran out of ziploc baggies though.  I weighed out 5 x 100 g beef, 4 x 100 g chicken, and 5 x 100 g fresh cod.  And man do I dislike fish now but can't just be eating the beef and chicken as the calories are too high for daily meals.  I try to eat beef only 3x max/week.  It is 190 calories/100 g where cod is 105 calories/100 g and chicken is 114 calories/100 g. 

I'm gonna have to browse the recipe book again for more variety in my meals as it's been 19 days of no variety.  Although tonite's chicken was bbq'd (yummy).  Gotta love the black carcinogens that come with bbqing.  Haha.  Give a little, take a little, right?

I'm not gonna include my usual log of my menus as there is no change....no variety to report. 

Day 16 of hCG diet

Just a quickie tonight as I'm worn out from tonight's shift.  I'm only down 0.4 lb this am.  I stepped on the scale about 5x to get an average idea as the scale likes to jump around.  I got an email from Dr. Mah mentioning he'll be sending the next script to the pharmacy and to come in for a weigh-in.  I called the clinic to book the appointment and the receptionist said I was supposed to come in weekly for weigh-ins and measurements.  I mentioned I had no idea about that.  I don't recall Barb letting me know about this at all....so I've missed 2 appointments as I'm on day 16 so I'll be going in at 9am tomorrow.  What a shame too cause I paid $250 for the consultation and didn't know they'd actually be tracking my weightloss and measurements too....I sure didn't get my money's worth so far.  Oh well.  I'll start tomorrow.

Today at work was much more livelier for me as I wasn't sitting for the whole shift doing order entry.  I ran the dispensary, answered phones, filled orders, retrieved meds, etc.  I hope a bit more than 1 lb will come off me by tomorrow am.  When I did a shipping/receiving shift last Monday I noticed a nice amount of 2.4 lbs come off.

Menu:

Breakfast:  coffee & stevia

Lunch: beef & tomato

Snack: apple

Dinner: chicken & celery

Looking forward to tomorrow's amount lost.

Days 14 & 15 of hCG diet

Just gonna combine both days, not much happened in them anyways....diet-wise that is.

On the 14th (tuesday) I had a moment of weakness and gave in with no regrets.  Guess that's ok then if there's no regrets but the scale wasn't so forgiving.  I had 1 banana timbit at work as there was a box of them in the dispensary courtesy of a Pharmacist.  I just wanted to taste the new banana flavour and the sweet frosted goodness on top....it was niiiiiice.  BUT, the next morning when I weighed myself I was up 0.8 lbs.  Crazy what one little timbit could do but the info book is very specific in being strict about the diet and that any sugar or carbs can make you gain 2-3 lbs....glad that wasn't me, I may have shed some tears if the gain was that much. 
I lost 1.2 lb on Wed am...so looks like I'm back on track.  Total loss so far: 19.1 lbs.


Nothing too exciting or different happening with my menu.  
June 14th
Breakfast: coffee & stevia & melba toast x 1
Lunch: cod & tomato ***Note:  I couldn't finish the cod....just yuck***
Snack:  strawberries
Dinner: chicken & cucumber
Snack:  apple


June 15th
Breakfast:  coffee & stevia
Lunch: chicken & tomato
Snack: orange
Dinner: beef & tomato

One Hockey Reference

I never talk about hockey because I don't know what I'm talking about and don't wanna look stupid BUT I think it's clear to all hockey fans especially those of the Vancouver Canucks that they are playing AWFUL!  The first 2 games they won....lots of positive vibes from them to win the cup and lots of happy fans hoping they win the cup for the first time since the 1914/15 season but when Vancouver was called the Millionaires.

Game 3 & 4 they lost in Boston....both embarrassments forsure.  Game 3 a shut out and game 4, an 8-1 loss.  Now really, how can that happen when the Canucks had a shutout as well?  Game 5, they won 1-0 in the 3rd period....faith in the Canucks was renewed.  Everyone started believing again....the cup was in sight.  Game 6 (tonite's game), a 5-2 loss!!  The first 4 goals in the first period.  Ugliness!  Luongo was pulled after the first quick 3 goals and Schneider brought in.  Schneider blocked 30/32 shots compared to Luongo's 5/8 shots on goal.  Now....it's anyone's game but the chances are very high in Boston's favour.  Game 7 will be in Boston and they're a very strong team with an exceptional goalie, Tim Thomas.  I don't have much hope but do hope for the cup to be brought to Vancouver.

I may not know anything about hockey but I do know what's obvious and that's my piece.

Day 13 of hCG diet

Today I have to confess something.  I gave into a piece of food that was in front of me for a couple hrs at work and just said "screw it" (for a moment) and ate it.  It was the new banana timbit from Tim Horton's.  It was soooo good and sweet, mmmm.  I don't really regret it but I hope there was some grace baked into that timbit when it comes to weighing myself tomorrow am.  I'm not a failure at this diet because of this, I'm just human with the slightest of decrease in will power for 30 seconds, that's all.  I should be good now for the rest of the time on it.

Breakfast:  coffee & stevia

Lunch:  100 g cod (bbq with dill), cucumber

Snack:  apple

Dinner:  100 g chicken & tomato basil salad

Snack:  orange

Yesterday, to prepare for dinner I prepped all 4 x 100 g cod for bbqing.  The other 3 portions are for other meals this week.  I also weighed out 7 x 100 g chicken and cooked up 2 portions for today and tomorrow.  Last nite in bed I came up with a plan as I'm really tired of fish.  Each week from Mon-Fri I will have chicken 5x, fish 3x, and extra lean beef 2x = 10 meals.  Maybe that'll ease the dislike of the fish.  We'll see.  I'm not to eat the beef more than 3x/week so don't wanna do that.

Today's weightloss was 1.4 lbs so am down 18.7 lbs.  Almost to the big 2-0!

Day 12 of hCG diet

Since I'm behind a day in posting this may be just a shorty.

I didn't eat as much as I missed both snacks and I think my calorie intake was just over 400.  I didn't have a nap nor feel tired.

Breakfast:  coffee & stevia

Lunch: chicken, cucumber

Dinner:  100 g cod (bbq with dill), tomato

After lunch mom and I went shopping at Costco, Reitmans and Walmart.  I found a cute outfit at Reitmas   that was both a size smaller in the top and pants!  That's really my first proof this diet is working (besides the scale).  And to not reveal too much, I'm finally in the teens!

Day 11 of hCG diet

I set my alarm for 5:30am  for my daily weigh-in.  Didn't lose much this time, 0.4 lbs.  Oh well...I think it had something to do with me not eating protein for dinner last nite.  Who knows...I'm no expert.  This am I had to get up at 7:00 as I was helping set up at my sister's garage sale.  It was great weather and very warm.  I had my coffee & stevia, strawberries and 1 melba toast...a bit more than usual as I'd be busy.  I didn't have a morning snack so was quite hungry for lunch.  I made chicken and a sliced tomato.  I had an apple for a snack after the garage sale, and for dinner I bbq'd dill halibut for mom and I.  Mom made the apple cider vinegar coleslaw.  She added a baked potato to her dinner.  That was fine by me; I had no cravings for a potato.  The fish tasted ok but wasn't feeling like fish.  

Once again I wasn't interested in cooking dinner....maybe because it was gonna be fish again.  I'm trying to cut down on the beef eating as it's higher in calories and not recommended to have many meals of it per week

I went to Walmart for some stuff and picked up more chicken and found some frozen cod (4 x 100g pieces).  I wonder what it'll taste like...hopefully mild like the halibut.

Day 10 of hCG diet

Ok, just a quickie tonite.  Need to get to bed soon as I gotta get up at 7am to help with my sister's garage sale....actually more like a yard sale cause it's in the front yard.

Anyways...woke up this am, did my morning pee, and weighed myself....I was 1.4 lbs lighter and past my first weightloss goal.  My total loss so far is 15.5 lbs in 7 days.  Wowzers, eh?!  I had to broadcast that on Facebook this am too.  I get lots of "likes" when I post something like that...makes me feel good inside....for once.

Menu:

coffee & stevia - breaky

apple - snack

Finnish meatballs & cucumber - lunch

strawberries - snack

1 melba toast - dinner....I needed a protein break and a cooking break so progressed through the hunger feelings, they went away and didn't come back so that's all I ate.

apple - pm snack

= 428 calories....I wouldn't have had any room for protein for dinner anyways in regards to calories.

On the plus side, my boss noticed a change in my appearance.  Thinner face and smaller bust area (even though she didn't say those words).  I think I noticed some change there too.  Tomorrow sometime I'm gonna hit Walmart to find a couple cheap t-shirts and maybe capris....need to compensate for the loss and not have my clothes look soooo baggy.  Till tomorrow....

Day 9 of hCG diet

Another day at work with a bit more activity so hopefully I've reached my first goal weight when I weigh myself tomorrow am.  One more lb to go!

I weighed myself this am and lost 1.6 lb...not too bad.  If that's my daily average after today, it'll be clear sailing the rest of the way.

Just to clarify one thing, there are 23 days of injections and 23 days of eating the 500 calorie diet but the diet part end on the 26th because the first 2 days were gorge days and day 3 was an "ineffective" day and day 4 is considered the "effective" day.  On the 25th we're having a family bbq and I'll have to be good of course, but I think I may add a veggie or two more than allowed just to enjoy the meal more....still no carbs or sugars though. Man, if there's dessert, I may have to go to a different room until it's done.  I was a the movies tonite watching Bridesmaids (which is a riot!) and watched/smelled people eat their popcorn buttery goodness, but I ignored it as much as possible....still woulda loved it though.  Even a 1/4 of a small bag woulda been nice but not for a while yet.

Menu:

coffee & stevia - breakfast

orange - am snack

chicken & tomato salad - lunch

apple - snack

dill halibut & cucumbers - dinner

melba toast x 1 - snack

Can't wait till tomorrow at 5:20am when I get on that scale....I may just have to treat myself if I make the goal and this time the treat won't be food!

Day 8 of hCG diet

Today was a bit tough with the hunger feelings.  I felt them 2x at work and my afternoon was more active than the morning was.  But I still plowed through it.

I weighed myself this morning and was down almost 5 lbs!!  I couldn't believe it....bizarre. So I re-weighed myself and was actually only down 0.6 lbs....a bit more realistic, disappointing but realistic.  I weighed again and that was confirmed.  I'd be below my first goal weight if I had lost the 5 lbs but that's ok....only 1.4 lbs to go anyways.

I had the usual coffee & stevia for breaky, strawberries for am snack, chicken with a dash of s & p and garlic powder...much better.  For snack, which I ate late cause I didn't take an afternoon break, I had an apple and then came home tired so had a nap for almost 1.5 hrs.  I woke up at 5:15pm and didn't want to cook anything.  I was so unmotivated.  I tried to convince myself I wasn't hungry either.  This whole thing about cooking 2 meals for myself a day is getting old.  I know people do it all the time but really....it's never been in my routine to use the stove/oven to prep for 2 meals/day.  I know it's a lot healthier to cook from scratch myself, but it's not very enjoyable for me unless I'm cooking for more than myself.  I ended up prepping some Finnish meatballs before going out with mom for 30 min...came home, cooked them up and made the tomato basil salad again.  That is a tasty dinner, but small portions.  

I've been on the computer since about 7pm tonite, drinking water but forgot the melba toast again. Oh well...I'm alright.  Wonder what the scale reading will bring me tomorrow??

Day 7 of hCG diet

I'm a day late posting but was quite tired yesterday and busy with helping mom babysit then work on my homework.

I was down 2.4 lbs yesterday morning, so that makes a loss of 12.1 lbs so far....not too shabby.  I'm still not really noticing where the loss is coming from but my face may be a bit slimmer.  Mom took a pic of me with my niece & nephew and there was no double chin....makes the picture almost frameable. :)

I had my usual coffee & stevia for breaky, strawberries for am snack, stinky chicken and onions for lunch but I couldn't finish the onions...too odd of a flavour (mental note: don't make that recipe again). Plus it stunk up the house too much and for too long! For pm snack I had an orange, for dinner was the last of the lemon/dill sole (yuck) and tomato salad which I like and for a late nite snack, 1 piece of Melba toast.  I really really enjoy the hard crunch of the Melba toast.  Almost satisfying in that regard as the rest of my diet isn't crunchy at all.

I wasn't super active at work today so I knew my weight loss would be less as compared to the activity I had on Monday.  I do feel hungry occasionally but nothing water won't cure, for a little while.  I'm not complaining about the hunger feelings though, comes with the territory I guess.  Some days my calories are less than others but on average my daily intake is about 440-450.  

I really don't enjoy the fishy meals but I can't keep having hamburger and chicken all the time....gotta have some lower calorie meat, like the seafood.  Plus the info book doesn't recommend having the beef more than 3-4x/week.  But man it tastes 100% better than fish. (And the kitchen smells better too!)

Day 6 of hCG diet

Right now (5:38pm) my nose and tastebuds are being tortured by the smell of the crispy stuffed chicken breast mom just baked for her dinner.  I LOVE those things, mainly the Kiev ones, garlic butter and parsley....mmmm....ok stop thinking about them!!
My weight this am was 1.2 lbs less so am down 9.7 lbs total.  I had my usual coffee & stevia for breakfast, orange for morning snack, leftover Finnish meatballs and cucumber for lunch and now Chicken Fajitas without the Fajita for dinner.
I had a 1.5hr nap after work today, was super bagged.  My job was fairly active and I burned out when I got home.  My chicken was supposed to marinate for 2-3 hrs in fridge but whatever, 30 min should be ok instead since I didn't do it before my nap.
There were a bunch of questions from friends at work regarding what I eat and if I'm hungry.  The food is normal, portions are alot smaller, and I'm hungry when it's meal time.  Even if I feel hungry and it's not meal time the feeling goes away eventually.
Since I'm having 2 higher calorie meals today, lunch & dinner, my snack will be 1/2 piece of Melba toast...woohoo! haha  Can't go over 500 calories and with the high calorie meals, I'm not left with much for a snack later.  I'll plan better next time.


p.s. I over calculated the calories for the cup of coffee, so instead of 4 it's now 2.  So I can have my full piece of Melba toast now....little luxuries.

Day 5 of hCG diet

I weighed myself at 6:20am and have lost another 3 lbs!  So now it's 8.5 lbs since my first injection....let's keep going.  I had coffee and stevia for breakfast, and an apple for snack.  Since I got up late my meals are closer together this morning.  Lunch  (right now) is left over shake n'bake chicken and 1 cup of cucumbers and water....mmm mmm good.

Mom and I went to Walmart for groceries as I had to stock up again.  Here's the bill: $10 for chicken and $7.99 in fruit and veggies....not too bad, right?  Anyhoo, today is either a super lazy day for me that I don't have much energy or it's a day where 500 calories or less is kicking in.  I came home and went straight for a nap....1.5 hrs later and it's 530pm.  (Unfortunately I forgot to have an afternoon snack which may have perked me up).  I coulda kept on sleeping but instead had to get up to made dinner.  I already had pre-weighed hamburger and so I made Finnish meatballs...it has chopped fresh parsley in it.  With 200g of meat I made 12 x 1 inch balls....6 for today, 6 for tomorrow.  Then I made apple cider vinegar coleslaw.  It's ok, definately not the creamy variation but it's alright.  I had to cut up and measure the chicken that I bought and got exactly 6 x 100g portions.  That'll be the start of my breaded chicken fingers for tomorrow's dinner.

Now tomorrow I go to work, first day at work and on the diet, and I'll be the shipper/receiver helper.  It's a bit of a physical job so hopefully I don't burn out too easily. 

Day 4 of hCG diet

At the end of Day 3, I realized that the scale doesn't work on carpet!!  That's why I had lost 30 lbs, so now the scale will be in the bathroom rather than in my room. 

Day 4 was yesterday.  I weighed myself and was down 5.5lbs since the first day of injections.  Crazy eh??!!  I was thinking, "I'll take that!"  I began my day with coffee and stevia.  Then went out with dad to buy his father's day gift from mom.  We went in searching of a 40" LCD TV.  Did some price searching and ended up at Andre's Audiotronics.  After all the shopping, driving and purchasing, it was after 1230pm and I hadn't had more than 4 calories all day.  Time to have lunch.  On any other day besides these diet days, I woulda said go through the drive-thru but NOPE, not this time.  Went home, had left over garlic & lemon sole and strawberries.  Fish (& garlic) really stink up the kitchen.  Even if there was no garlic the kitchen would stink.  I'm not a fish fan as is, so it is a stretch for me to be eating as much as I plan to.  I may have to figure out an alternative meat source for a little while.

For dinner, dad bbq'd hamburgers and I was able to include my homemade one and 1 cup of sliced tomatoes. The burger consisted of: 100g of extra lean beef with parsley, pinch of salt, pepper, onion powder, and chili pepper flakes.  It was alright....better than the fish, that's forsure.  Mom made rhubarb pies that I CAN'T have....mean trick :(  Oh well....better to work on the discipline anyways.

Caitlin, dad and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (3D) tonite and I couldn't have any good snacks so brought an apple instead.  Before the movie, we went to London Drugs so dad can get a snack and he got peanut m&m's (that I love), and bite sized coffee crisps.  Caitlin got herself some low calorie twizzlers.  So I tried my best to ignore the snacking even though dad graciously offered me some....how kind.  Not cool!  The movie was great and I hear there's a 5th one in negotiation right now too.  Why not?  They've already done 4, might as well keep going.

Day 3 of hCG diet

This am I was awoken at 630am to step on the scale.  I had lost 30lbs!!!  That’s no misprint either.  The scale was 30 lbs less than the day before.  Well something had to have been wrong, so I pushed some buttons, switched the units of weight from kg to lbs to stone…still no change.  Went back to bed and when I got up the scale was the same.  Although I seemed to have gained 2 lbs. 

I mentioned this to mom and of course she knew something was wrong, rather than congratulate me on my awesome weightloss. She wasn’t home to check out the scale so I proceeded with my day.  I had a coffee with stevia for breakfast, an orange for snack, lemon/garlic sole and 1 cup cucumbers for lunch, and then shake n’bake chicken and 1 cup asparagus with lemon for dinner.  This totaled about 435 calories.  I’m not tired, not light headed either.  I’ve drank 1L of water so far and 1L to go (@730pm).  To this bottle of water I squeezed lemon and a couple drops of plain stevia and there’s a bit of sweetness to it, makes it more enjoyable to drink.

Ok, now my thoughts throughout the day.  After lunch I was sorta feeling unsatisfied with the quantity of food but didn’t do anything about it but drink water.  Mom made a stir fry with rice and chicken for dinner and the rice sure looked yummy, but NOPE, didn’t give in.  Too much at stake.  I had a left over bag of “sun chip” style French onion chips in my car that I handed over to mom.  I ate my dinner, which was ok….there was a bit too much kick to the homemade shake n’bake seasoning but don’t know what it was that did that.  While sitting outside on the deck with dad, mom came on the deck and dad said “Let’s get some ice cream”.  Mom said “I was thinking the same thing.”  Then dad said “Ok, the 3 of us will get ice cream.”  I just looked at him and mom said I can’t have any.  A little bit of torture.  I don’t think dad said that intentionally either….just not quite clued into what I’m doing.  So off they went.  I just made my last 1L bottle of water with lemon and stevia and am now blogging.

My one realization is that it’s easy to grab something to snack on even when you’re not hungry.  It’s just something to do.  At least that’s how it is/was for me.  When I normally would snack on crackers or something, I’m not having anything unless it’s a piece of fruit as long as I don’t go over 500 calories/day.  I hope this diet/routine will condition my mind that eating doesn’t need to fill in the time when not eating regular meals.  Guzzle down some water instead.

Day 2 of hCG diet

Well on my second day of the gorge part of the diet went alright.  I had pizza pops for breakfast, a chicken ranch pita and chips from Redfern's for lunch with an almond bark latte (yum!).  I didn't really snack during the drive back to PG but for dinner I had McD's....a big mac, med fries and med coke (yum again).  Then I baby sat for 1.5 hrs, went to the grocery store to pick up the groceries needed for the rest of the 21 days of the diet.  When I got home, I had a caramel drum stick and that's it for my food intake today.  Not as much as yesterday but didn't feel so great last nite while going to bed....got a bit of reflux from the late nite ice cream binge I guess.

I weighed myself this am and was almost 4 lbs heavier than yesterday but that's understandable.  I injected myself today too but in the side of the thigh instead of the top...went in good, no pain, and then no blood either.  I noticed I bruised a little bit from yesterday's 'virgin' injection...live and learn, right?

So tomorrow will consist of a coffee in the am with stevia to sweeten it, then probably some fruit, then for lunch some seasoned fish (prob with lemon), and a veggie, then dinner will be shake n'bake chicken with a veggie and I think mom will do the shake n'bake as well for their dinner.  Until tomorrow's update....

Day 1 of hCG diet Progress Report

Today was my first day of the hCG injection diet.  I thought I'd keep a progress report on my blog....why not eh?  What if my experience (hopefully a positive one) helps someone...ya never know. 

In April I went to a physician's clinic that prescribes the hCG drug.  Not all doctors do.  I had a consultation appointment that consisted of being asked lots of questions about my health history and family health history, being measured and weighed.  I was given a requisition for blood work, urine tests and an EKG.  After I'm free of any contraindications, I was given the prescription.  At the pharmacy where I got the med, they also supplied me with 23 insulin syringes, 23 x 25G needles, 1 x 10 cc syringe and 1 needle.  The 10cc syringe was to put the diluent into the vial of powder to be reconstituted.  The other needles/syringes were for my daily injections. 

I drove to BL yesterday for 2 nites to visit friends and when I arrived I realized I forgot my mom's bathroom scale.  I need to weigh myself at the same time everyday.  So my wonderful friend S.D. loaned me hers and I'll return it tomorrow on my way out of town.  So this am I woke up at 630am to weigh myself as that's the time I'd do it when I work day shifts.  After weighing, I went back to bed.  I could barely read the number on the scale...still asleep.  My first 2 days of this diet are 'gorge' days.  That means I eat all I can and to make it as unhealthy as possible to build up the fat store for when the body starts the reduced calorie intake starting on day 3.  Before going out this am, I injected myself in the thigh.  It really wasn't as scary as I'd first thought; first the needle is a 25G which is teeny, tiny.  Don't even feel it.

My breakfast consisted of pizza pops and Oreo ice cream.  When I went out I grabbed a bag of chips and drove to Granisle for a belated birthday lunch with a friend.  Our annual routine in March was me bringing a cheesecake to Granisle for the b'day lunch.  So I had a chicken burger/fries/gravy lunch with strawberry cheesecake for dessert.  Sure was full after all that.  Then I drove back to BL and at 445pm went to Mulvaney's for dinner with 3 friends and the hockey game.  I ordered 5 bbq wings to start and a lime margarita, then a taco salad and another margarita...mmmmm....once again very fully. 
Went back to the house for the 3rd period of the game, which the Canucks won 1-0 in the last 19 secs of the game, and at the remainder of my Oreo ice cream....that's it for today.  My weight increased almost 5 lbs since 630am....gross!!  Tomorrow I'm up again at 630am to weigh myself, back to sleep till whenever, inject myself then get ready to leave town.  Friday is when the 'petal hits the metal'.

So gonna end this with that.  I'm gonna try and record my progress via this blog regarding weight loss and daily menu.  Here's to an easy 20 lb loss!!  Yay for getting back to regular clothing sizes in a short period of time!!