Advice!!

     The past three days have been very disappointing! I lost half a pound then gained it back yesterday and didn't lose anything today. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if it's normal for the weight loss to slow down so drastically and come to a halt. I haven't cheated, and I stick to the servings. I think I may start walking everyday, that might help it move along. I just really hope I start losing again, I tend to get discouraged very easily on diets. I want to stick with it, but the strict rules don't seem worth it if I stop losing the weight or only lose half a pound a day. Also, I'm getting bored with the same foods. I keep trying to add variety to my meals, but many times I end up eating repeat meals because it's easy. I'm trying to stick to the rule of rotating what I eat, but it isn't as easy as it seems. I don't really like the white fish, so that leaves me with shell fish, chicken, and lean beef (which I'm told is only supposed to be eaten once a week). Really it's between chicken and shell fish, but I definitely eat beef more than once a week, I can't help it. Plus, when I buy shell fish early in the week I try to eat it quickly since seafood doesn't last very long, so I get stuck with chicken and beef at the end. I hate how limiting the diet is. I read that egg whites every once in a while was okay...I kind of want to try it, but now I'm scared about eating something that will stop the weight loss. I just wish I could talk to someone who has had the same problems and experience. I'm not really sure what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Help!

Shedding the Pounds!

    I've lost seven pounds in four days! It seems kind of crazy actually. If I lost ten pounds this week that would be fantastic and such an amazing start to my diet. I've heard the first two weeks is when most people lose the majority of their weight. My hunger between meals has almost completely vanished! Thank goodness! When I finish my meal I wish there was more but after a few minutes I feel satisfied. I'm trying to eat smaller bites so it will take me longer to eat, that way my brain has time to register that I've had enough to eat.
     There are two lifestyle changes I've learnt from this diet so far that I am hoping to keep up when this is over. The first change is portioning my food. Of course, I don't intend to have to weigh my meals so precisely, or even at all, like I have to do for this diet. I want to put a healthy amount on my plate to eat and not take anymore than I need. Secondly, and this corresponds with the first, is putting all the food away after preparing my plate. My family has always put all the food in bowls or on platters, to have on the table. That way, when I finished the first serving, the pasta or whatever we were having that night would just sit in front of me within reach. It made it so easy to just pick up the spoon and ladle more food onto my plate without really thinking about it. Now, I prepare my plate, then put the leftover food in containers which are put in the fridge. By doing this, once I finish my plate I don't go back for seconds, which I don't need. I'm hoping these strategies will keep me from overeating, which is my biggest offense in gaining weight!

Beef/Cauliflower/Sugar-free Salsa taco

The cauliflower tasted like rice! So YUMMY!

BBQ chicken salad with smoky/honey mustard dressing.
Dressing Recipe: Mustard, organic beef broth, dash of splenda, couple drops of liquid smoke. (so good!)
Add beef broth to mustard until desired consistency. Best thing:Calorie and sugar free..still tastes delicious!

Cooking for future meals

It's so easy to cook everything at once rather than cooking every meal!

        I lost three pounds this morning! A total of four pounds in two days! I'm so glad all of these hunger pains and cravings are worth ignoring. Hopefully I keep losing, although I am definitely not expecting to be losing two pounds on a normal day. I don't want to get my hopes up so I won't get disappointed stepping on the scale. Today was pretty good, the fact I lost weight made the hunger pains more manageable. Since I can only have two meals a day, lunch and dinner, I find that I start to feel tired and weak in the mornings. When lunch time is approaching I hover by the kitchen waiting until I can put something in my tummy. This week is a huge adjustment for me and it's taking its toll on my body. I feel weak sometimes, like I want to sit down and go to sleep. My body needs to get used to the 500 calories a day. I've also been kind of irritable today, mostly this evening though. As I sat down at the table to eat my dinner of spinach salad, my family was also eating their meal of delicious looking pasta and bread. I found myself getting resentful that they were taking second and third helpings of their meal when I just wanted a bite. At least I was able to resist the temptation. Sometimes I wonder if I can really make it through the round without cheating. The thought of cheating scares me because I know that if I cheat once I will keep cheating. Food wise today was a hit and miss. For lunch I ate a piece of the bbq chicken and broccoli. It was super yummy! I realized that I love broccoli because the stem almost has a buttery flavor to it without the butter. For dinner I made spinach salad with homemade dressing. To make the dressing I put in white vinegar, braggs liquid aminos, water, stevia, mustard, and ginger. It had a spicy asian flavor. I also topped off the spinach with shrimp I had grilled on the foreman grill. The shrimp were okay, not worth the time I spent de-shelling and de-veining. They really shriveled up too which was a bummer. Oh well, I'll have to look for better shrimp recipes and shrimp that is already ready to be cooked. 

BBQ chicken and broccoli

Spinach/Shrimp Salad

  

Breaking Ground with My First Pound!

      Stepping on the scale to see a pound gone was a great start to my day. Here's to hoping it's not just water weight and that more will be gone tomorrow! After yesterday I was very apprehensive about the diet. I hated the recipes I made, had uncomfortable hunger pains, and annoying cravings. Today has been one hundred times better! Of course there was some hunger here and there and occasional cravings, but not like yesterday. Although, when I do get cravings, they take over my mind. I noticed I've been wanting sweets like cookies, brownies, and peanut butter. Before the diet, I was much more of a salty person, constantly craving potato chips and popcorn. My conclusion is that the sugar withdrawals is causing me to crave sweet foods. One of the hardest parts about being on a diet is watching other people eat foods that you can't have. My boyfriend was eating a pb&j sandwich making me want,  more than anything, to have one. Seriously, a pb&j sandwich, nothing spectacular! Yet it had me drooling at the mouth wanting to pounce like a starving dog. Luckily, I am not a starving dog so I was able to whip out my apple and chomp on it wishing it was a pb&j sandwich.
        Other than my cravings, my day was very successful. I made delicious meals that I was actually able to enjoy and eat! I think being able to eat the full servings helped my hunger subside. For lunch I made mashed cauliflower with salt/pepper, and garlic salt. I also sauteed an onion with my 1lb of lean meat with a bit of tomato paste and spices. I made enough meat and cauliflower to last me about 4 meals. I figured I might as well cook all my portions of a meal at once so I won't have to cook all the time. Of course, I will add ingredients here and there to change up the recipe. I'm hoping to use the meat to eat lettuce tacos with sugar free salsa, and hcg friendly chili, which I've heard is rather yummy. For dinner I grilled scallops and asparagus with spices all wrapped up in tin foil. It was so good! Since the grill was already fired up, I decided to go ahead and cook my remaining pieces of chicken. I love bbq chicken, but I couldn't use any bottled bbq sauce because of all the added sugars and preservatives. Determined to have bbq chicken, I decided to make my own bbq sauce. I put two cups of chopped tomatoes from a can, two tablespoons of yellow mustard, a few dashes of liquid smoke, and salt, letting it all simmer for about ten minutes. I then pureed it with my handy dandy hand-held puree machine and voila, bbq sauce! It definitely didn't taste like your average bbq sauce from the bottle but it was SOOO good on the chicken. Yes, I did try a little bite to see how it turned out. This is a recipe I will definitely be keeping on or off the diet! I bet it would taste wonderful on grilled shrimp too!
       One other problem I've run into is being able to drink enough fluids. I don't like water and don't drink beverages unless I'm thirsty, which is about twice a day. Even then I only take small sips. I've tried drinking more tea, but without sugar and milk it's hard to drink more than two cups a day. I've read that it's very important to drink eight glasses of water a day, which seems impossible to me! Does anyone have any suggestions?

Lean Beef and mashed Cauliflower for lunch

Making bbq sauce!

Scallops and Asparagus for dinner

BBQ'd Chicken!

    

Hunger Pains

     As you can probably tell from this posts' title, I had a rough day. I honestly didn't think it would be this difficult, especially the first day in. My morning was good, no cravings or hunger. I made myself a cup of green tea with some stevia, but had to toss it due to the stevia's aftertaste. Bleh. When I got home from my morning class, I thumbed through my hcg diet guide to find a recipe to try out. The citrus basil chicken sounded rather good, so I went with that. On the plate it looked beautiful and delicious, but it ended up having quite an odd flavor. I put basil/salt/pepper, and lemon-lime juice in the pan and let the chicken cook. Once the chicken was cooked on the outside, I added tomato and orange pieces. All of the ingredients simmered for about 5 minutes. Then I put the food on top of a lettuce leaf and dug in! The chicken had a decent flavor, but the tomatoes and orange just created a funky flavor. So pretty much, I had a piece of chicken for lunch. After about an hour I started to get cravings! Cravings for peanut butter, bread, popcorn, and a cookie. I don't normally crave these foods, but knowing I couldn't have them made me want them even more. I made myself a cup of tea and drank it hoping it would null my hunger. Nope, still hungry. Another hour later and I ate an apple, which was the best thing I've eaten all day. I could have eaten three. To take my mind off of food and the temptations in the kitchen, I got in bed and watched a movie. I think I need distractions, but I was home almost all day, which is extremely rare, so my bored mind kept wandering back to the food sitting on the counter that I couldn't have. Finally, it was time to make dinner! I had bought fish at the store on Saturday and thought it wise to use the fish as soon as possible. I put the sole in a skillet with lemon-lime juice and salt/pepper. It began falling apart and had an overwhelmingly fishy smell. Tasting it, I nearly gagged. The fish turned mushy in my mouth and was really fishy. I had to throw away five pieces of fish. I only had two left, so I decided to keep it simple and just cook it in the skillet with a little bit of pam and salt/pepper. The fish turned out okay. I then made a soup consisting of chicken broth, cabbage, curry, ginger, and miracle noodles. I had bought the miracle noodles today hoping they would take the place of carbs and curb my hunger. I added the fish to the broth and voila, and asian soup. The broth was pretty good, but the fish was still mushy and the miracle noodles had the consistency of rubbery worms. Another huge disappointment. I ended up tossing half my bowl of soup down the drain. So today I ate a small chicken breast, an apple, and half a bowl of soup. I'm really hoping I can find a recipe that I like so that I can actually eat an entire 200 calorie meal! Sheesh. Otherwise I don't know how I can keep dealing with the hunger.

       Since I know some of my readers are also on the hcg diet, do any of you have any yummy recipes and how did/do you deal with the hunger? Any information/advice is greatly appreciated!

                                                   This is the Asian Soup I made for dinner

                                            Orange Basil Chicken. Doesn't it look good? 

                                             Unfortunately it wasn't as good as it looks.

Here I Go

       I have just begun my first day of phase 2. I spent Saturday and Sunday indulging myself with delicious food! On Saturday I went to my favorite Thai restaurant and had a big bowl of Panang Curry for lunch, and it was the yummiest it has ever been! For dinner I had a big mac...not too yummy but it allowed me to reach the high caloric intake. Sunday I went to Disneyland, and I went kind of crazy! I ate fried chicken, a corn dog, potato chips, ice cream, a root bear float, a chimi-cha-cha, and fajitas.  I even snuck some popcorn in before I went to bed. Needless to say my body is filled with delicious food that makes my body feel like crap. I think I did pretty well on the first phase. It called for eating and boy did I eat!
       I've been taking the drops now for three days. I forgot a couple times and had to double up the dose the next time round. I was afraid they would taste terrible, but to my pleasant surprise they taste like minty water. I also began taking acai gels and glandular support pills. In a couple of days I will add in the potassium pills as well.
      My starting weight for phase one is....179 lbs. I weighed myself several days ago and I was 175 so I think a couple pounds is all the food I've eaten and haven't digested yet.  I'm hoping to be closer to 125/130. I know that will take a couple of rounds. My goal is around 150 by the end of my first round. I will also be measuring myself later today, and once again at the end of the phase to see the difference.
      I'm kind of hungry this morning, and walking into the kitchen and seeing the bread was kind of tempting. I figure it's best to stay out of kitchen until it's time for me to cook my meals. I know I should be drinking water but I don't drink much of anything let alone water. I would drink tea but the fact that I can't use sugar is a huge let down. I bought stevia as a sugar replacer but in all honesty it tastes horrible and has a disgusting after taste. I'll have to get used to it somehow. I heard there is flavored stevia but I didn't see it at Ralphs, maybe whole foods carries it. Hopefully the flavored stevia tastes better than the regular kind.
I bought all the ingredients for a weeks worth of meals. Now I have to pick out which recipes to use. I will be posting about recipes I'm using in case anyone is interested in a low fat/low calorie meal.

Explaining the HCG Diet

        Many people might be wondering what HCG actually is. I hadn't a clue what it was when I first heard about it. HCG is a natural hormone that is found in pregnant women. This hormone allows the body to mobilize fat and use it as energy. Although pregnant women have extremely high levels of HCG, only a small amount is needed for weight loss. Using HCG does not mimic pregnancy, so it may be used on men as well as women. HCG can be administered through injections, pills, or drops. I opted for the drops which I will be taking four times a day.

There are four phases to the diet.
Phase 1.  Start taking the drops. The first two days I can eat anything I want, in fact I want to load up on high caloric/high fat foods. This phase is known as the "Loading Phase." I am trying to prepare my body for a period of low calorie intake. This keeps my body from going into starvation mode. I like to think of myself as a bear before winter. I have to say that this step kind of excites and scares me at the same time!
Phase 2. Continue taking drops. I will then start a very strict diet with an intake of 500 calories a day at the most. This sounds crazy, right?! 500 calories?! I know, that's what I thought. After reading and hearing about people who went on the diet, it doesn't seem so crazy. The HCG works as an appetite suppressant so the 500 calories won't make me feel too hungry. All I will be eating are organic fruits, veggies, and lean protein. This will give me enough energy to go about my day. Instead of drawing the rest of my energy from my muscles and bones, my body will take the energy from my fat stores. This phase lasts anywhere from 23 (the minimum amount of time it take to re-program that Hypothalamus) to 45 days. It all depends on how much weight you want to lose.
Phase 3. This phase lasts 3 days. It's when I will be going off the HCG drops but remaining on the 500 calorie diet.
Phase 4. This phase is 3 weeks and is known as the Maintenance Phase. During the process I will be gradually adding in more foods while staying away from sugar and starch.

      One of the reasons I chose this diet, other than having amazing results, is that after getting off the diet, the dieter can maintain the new healthy weight. I wanted something long term. Even though I will definitely be changing my eating habits, I will splurge every once in a while. I don't want to gain my weight back the minute after I start eating more than 500 calories! I want to be able to eat 1200-1500 calories on a normal day and keep the healthy weight.

In case you are wondering, here is my food list during the weight loss phase:
Fruit-2 different/servings a day. Apple, half a grapefruit, handful of strawberries, orange

Veggies- 2 servings/different veggies a day. (each serving=3.5 oz) Spinach, lettuce, cucumber, asparagus, cabbage, bokchoy, swiss chard, beet greens, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans,  tomato, celery, onions. Green and Red salsa with no sugar is okay to eat as well.

Meats- 2 different servings a day weighing 3.5 oz uncooked. Chicken breast, Cod, Flounder, Halibut, sole, tilapia, sea bass, shrimp, crab, lobster, scallops. I can also eat a serving of lean beef once a week.

Drinks- WATER! Tea and Coffee. But only 1 tbsp of milk a day. >_< I can add lemon/lime to my water. Pretty much calorie/carb/sugar/aspartame/nutrasweet free drinks are okay. (Stevia is a good sugar replacement although I hate the taste! Guess I'll have to get used to it.)

Seasonings- Anything without added sugar or starches. No oils!

       An odd rule on the diet is that I am not allowed to wear lotion or use hair products with oil! Apparently they contain calories which your skin absorbs, interfering with the diet. I honestly did not know that the skin could absorb calories.

       I tried to make the explanation rather short...ish. There is just SO much information! It's taken me days to research and I still feel unprepared. As I start to go through the phases I will elaborate on the rules and tidbits I left out. If there are any questions feel free to ask! :)

Getting to This Point...

       Hello to all of you who have decided to take an interest in my blog! I'm using this blog as my diet journal in an effort to keep myself motivated during the process. I will try to write everyday/every other day when I can find time. During the next month or so I will be sharing my hardships in attempting to lose weight and sticking to a strict weight loss plan. Hopefully, I will also be sharing my positive experiences during my journey as well! :)

        I want to begin by sharing some background with you and why I decided to go on a diet and start a blog. I have struggled with my weight since 5th grade. Even though I was continually dancing, I kept increasing in size. It was always difficult to stand in the dance studio in a leotard and be the biggest one in the room. When I was fifteen I went into a deep depression. One of the side effects of being depressed was losing my appetite. My need to be away from everyone caused me to begin running multiple times a day. Between living off of several bites here and there and continually running, I was able to lose 30 lbs in a very short amount of time. While I stayed in my depression I was able to keep off the weight, but once I became myself again and started eating, I gained all my weight back within a few months. I am now 19 and I have gained 60 lbs since I was 16, I am overweight. I lived (continually live in) and grew up in a house where we did not eat out often and we rarely had junk food such as potato chips and soda. I've been very fortunate to grow up with a mom who cooked nutritious home-cooked meals every night. There was always a protein, vegetable/fruit, and salad at the dinner table. I am not a couch potato. I dance when I can fit it into my schedule and I walk and chase kids around at work all day. My main problem over the years has been the fact that I eat too much. When there is food in front of me, I will eat it, even if I don't necessarily like the taste or am not hungry. Also, between juggling my work, school, and social life I end up grabbing whatever I can to eat, which most of the time is not a healthy choice. I definitely don't pig out, but after a while all those extra helpings and grab and go meals add up. I gained the weight slowly and steadily, until one day I realized that I didn't like the way I felt about my body or the way I looked in pictures or clothes. That was quite some time ago. Since then, I have tried eating less, and dancing/exercising 9 hours a week. I lost a little and then hit a plateau. This semester I don't have much time to exercise so I know I've gained back some of the weight. I'm tired of wasting my energy on hating the way I look and comparing myself to skinny girls. If I don't make a drastic change now, the scale will keep rising and it will only become harder to reach a healthy weight. I have tried doing unplanned diets on my own, which have always ended up in miserable failures. This time around, I bought a diet plan called HCG to follow and am writing this blog so that I won't fall by the wayside and give up. 

          My goal during this journey to a healthier me, is to love my body and feel comfortable in clothes that I want to wear. No more hiding in big baggy t-shirts and sweatshirts! I by no means want to be "model" skinny. I love curves, they make women beautiful. Bring on the hips, thighs and butt! I am not going to set a goal weight. Instead, my focus will be on slimming down in general, until I like...no, LOVE how I feel. I also want to create a healthy relationship between myself and food by picking up good eating habits for the long-run.

        As I am waiting for my diet plan to arrive in the mail, (which should be tomorrow!), I have been trying to prepare by getting supplies, doing research, and trying not to psych myself out. I plan on starting my first day on Saturday. Tomorrow, I will try to find time to explain the HCG diet and what it entails.