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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Week #2

So last week was rough for me, and I felt really ashamed to post about anything because of my failure.... but then I realized that is what this blog is for... to overcome those hard times. So here it is...

All I wanted was soup. It was cold and snowy all week and I just wanted some dang soup. So when I found that recipe book, I found a recipe for a Chicken Bouillon Base that is used in pretty much all of the soup recipes. So I decided to make a big batch of it. Mmmm... it smelled like Thanksgiving in my house. I saved a bowlful for the freezer for soup another time, and a cupful for the fridge to saute veggies. The rest I added 3 days worth of celery and beef and spices. I don't know what went awry with my spices but when I went to eat a bowl of it for dinner, I about died! My lips, my tongue, my throat were BURNING!! That had to be the spiciest thing I've ever had! Water wasn't helping at all so I decided I needed a piece of bread. Uh oh. Oops #1.

Right after eating it I felt like total crap, like a complete failure. I almost gave up actually. And that's when all the doubt started filling up my mind. The hCG, to me, kind of tasted like a watered down liquid Stevia, and as I was looking for liquid Stevia, I found out it comes in the same container. So I began to be skeptical. I mentioned it to my hubs and he reassured me that probably wasn't the case and I should stop thinking like that.
So the whole week wasn't a good one for me. I only gained not quite 2lbs during that week, so that was a good thing... but I needed to be more strict with myself.

So I will be re-doing week #2 in way. After being REALLY good on Monday, I got back down to my pre-Week#2 weight and now today I've lost another almost pound-and-a-half. I'm confident that I'm back on track!

Friday, January 22, 2010

hCG Recipe book... a must have!

I found THIS on Amazon and it finally came yesterday. It has soo many good recipes that I never would have thought of! I have been wanting soup so bad... it actually has a chicken bouillon base recipe that you can use to make the soups. I made that base today and am now making a beef stew! I can't wait!!!

Seafood Ceviche Recipe

So the recipe actually calls to make it with Shrimp, but I've been a little "anti-shrimp" lately (it's just not the same cooked at home...), but I'm sure it would taste GREAT on any kind of seafood that's HCG-approved!
Here it is (I cut the recipe in half and it made PLENTY!):

2 lg. lemons (about 1cup)
2-3 lg. limes (about 1cup)
1 TBS. fresh minced garlic (2 cloves)
1 Cubanel or other mild pepper ( I used a poblano*)
1 red onion, finely chopped
1-3 TBS Tabasco or hot sauce (I used El Pato, about 1/3C.)
4 lg. tomatoes, chopped
2 cucumbers, chopped
fresh Cilantro (about 1/2Cup)
fresh Parsley (about 1/2Cup -- I didn't use)
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

In a non-metal bowl combine all ingredients.

If mixing seafood right into it, do this:
Cook seafood and rinse. Combine juices of lemons and limes in a baggie and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Add hot sauce, garlic, onion and pepper and mix evenly. Return to fridge for another 30 min. Before serving, toss in the cilantro, parsley, tomatoes and cucumbers; add salt and pepper to taste.

GREAT on Melba toast! I boiled up a lobster tail, pulled out the meat and put a few tablespoons of the ceviche on top and man it was DELCIOUS!!

Does anyone know an easier way for getting the meat out of the tail?!




*I LOVE our local BYU Channels, especially Create (11-4 for us). It has two of my most favorite chefs: Ming Tsai (Simply Ming; he combines East w/ West ingredients in one-pot meals), and Rick Bayless (Mexico, One Plate at a Time). This season, Rick has been grilling Poblano peppers quite a bit, and so I thought I would try it for this recipe. Here's how:

Put pepper directly onto a grill (I don't know if I had a bad pepper, or if the George Foreman just doesn't work for this, Rick uses his grill that's on his stove) and keep turning until it's nice and charred. Once it's pretty black let it cool until you can handle it. Under running water, peel off the charred skin and cut pepper open. Cut out seed pod and rinse well. Then chop it up! Yum!!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Beginning of Week 2...

Well, I needed to see where I stood yesterday, so I broke down and weighed myself. I lost another 2 lbs since Friday! But my normal weigh-in day is today, so I weighed myself again... I LOST ANOTHER 4 LBS!! This is amazing! I haven't been this small since April! (another great reason to weigh yourself with Wii Fit)

I feel I have a little bit of explaining to do... the other day I mentioned I cheated a bit. It wasn't anything SUPER BAD like going to McDonald's for a Big Mac or anything like that... it was just a little thing...

I was making my son toast for breakfast and I usually cut off the crust and I eat it and give him the rest. That day I did just that. As I was finishing the first little corner, I looked at my husband and said "What the crap am I doing?" and threw the rest away. I feel bad for wasting good bread like that, but I have to for now. Then either later that night or the night before, I had a huge headache that wasn't going away so I ate 2 little Dark Chocolate Hersey Kisses.

To me that was a huge failure... but it was just a small cheat in reality. But I do need to be more careful with my day-to-day things that I USED to do...

I am also very grateful for my husband in being so supportive. He wanted me to buy him a bag of potato chips the other day... and when he eats them, he makes sure I'm not around. I also told him I would make him more of his favorite Christmas cookies... but he has to be patient because I can't make them until I'm finished.... and he's been very good at not eating around me. In return, I've cooked him a few DELICIOUS meals...

I tell you, one thing I'm so excited to make as soon as I'm finished..... Soup. Yup... Soup. That's all I've been craving lately with it being so cold outside.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

I can't be dieting...


this just tastes TOO GOOD to be diet food! Today for lunch I had steak and salad... here's how I made it.

I sprinkled Rosemary, Coriander, Salt and Pepper over both sides of the steak and let it sit for about 30 min (overnight would be OK too).
I then grilled it on my George Foreman (Thanks Mom!) watching it carefully so as not to burn, turning it every so often.
Once it was grilled to perfection, I cut it up and added it to a plate of sliced and quartered tomato drizzled with Red Wine Vinegar, salt and pepper and chives. Then I realized that Salad doesn't weigh anything, so I added a small handful on top and broke up a Melba toast for crunch. I then added more S&P and one packet of this DELICIOUS dressing (I used Ranch today, not my fav!)
I cannot begin to tell you how good this was! I was literally in HEAVEN!! And I actually felt FULL!
I couldn't find this dressing anywhere in stores, so I bought it from Amazon, along with some Grissini. I am so glad I did... it makes this so much easier. And who doesn't love Red Wine Vinegar?! It's my new favorite!!


Enjoy!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Yummy Halibut Recipe

I wasn't sure how well I'd be able to eat Halibut as I can't have it covered in Tempura and deep fried, dipped in sauce. Well here's what I did and it was SUPER YUMMY!

(start out with the bag of Halibut filets from Wal*Mart, about $4/bag for 3 -- they're already measured into about 3.5oz!)
De-thaw filet in a bowl of water, I added a bit of lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Grill on a George Foreman until flaky
Once cooked, squeeze juice from 1/2 lemon, add salt and pepper and red pepper flakes

I also made green beans to go with it (I used the Fresh GB from Schwans)
cooking according to directions, measuring the amount I needed, then I added the same seasonings as the Halibut.... SOOO YUMMY!!

Closing of Week One -- Results

I've decided rather than weigh myself EVERYDAY (which isn't good!), or even once a week (too little if you ask me), I would weigh myself every FRIDAY and TUESDAY mornings. The best time to weigh yourself is:

A. After you've gotten out of bed and pee'd
B. BEFORE you eat or drink anything!
C. Naked. (well, I keep my undies on because of I have a little man that LOVES "playing" Wii Fit with me!)

So today was my first time weighing myself since starting the 500 calorie diet. I was a bit skeptical as I'll admit, I cheated a bit the past 2 days... but no more!

Ready for this though? Even though I did cheat a bit, I still LOST the 3.7lbs I gained during my Load Days!

Go me!!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Keeping Holiday foods in check...

Most people gain around 10lbs during the holidays, hence the #1 New Year's Resolution: Lose Weight.
This year, however, I LOST 5lbs during the holidays! How? Well... I'm really not sure, but I have a few ideas.

Thanksgiving, for starters, wasn't a good day for me to begin with. It was pretty rough and food was the last thing on my mind. Once things settled a bit, I snacked on a veggie plate I created. During dinner our son was very squirmy, and I didn't get to eat much (which is totally fine!). We didn't have rolls, which I usually have 3 or 4 dowsed in gravy... yumm!! That was ok too! I kept my dinner to one small plate of mashed potatoes, turkey and stuffing... and I didn't have seconds, only a piece of pie later. That's it.
When we got home, I went and bought items to make our own Turkey dinner and made my FIRST ever Turkey... soo yummy!! But after that we were so busy packing and moving that my husband actually had to stop me and make me eat something. I didn't even eat leftovers of that yummy meal much.
Once we got moved in we didn't want to go grocery shopping so we ate out quite a bit (BAD I know!) and my stomach didn't appreciate that very much.

Then came Christmas Eve. I made a super delicious Prime Rib and Dutch Oven Potatoes. That was the one meal of the holidays that I actually stuffed myself with. I LOVE love love Prime Rib!
Christmas Day we drove to my mom's for dinner and once again I didn't really eat a lot of the yummy Turkey dinner. We also have a cheese ball, shrimp, veggies, sausage/cheese/crackers, pie, cookies, candies, etc during Christmas and my mom did not slip up at all! It was all there... and it was all delicious. But for some reason, I just had no desire for it. I even made my own cheese ball earlier in the week and couldn't eat it, and mine was no where NEAR as good as my mom's (she puts nuts around hers). I did finish off her shrimp and ate a lot of veggies, oh and pie! I really wanted pumpkin and apple pie this year.

The week between Christmas and New Years, we had some friends come over and we vegged on corn dogs, taquitos, chips and salsa, veggies, and shrimp. It was a great time. I also made a 7layer dip in one of those disposable 9x9 cake pans, in which we did a good job of destroying half of it that night! Well... the next day I disposed of the rest of it by my lonesome (sooo yummy!).

For New Years we went back to my mom's and I brought a veggie tray and another 7 layer dip (in which I ate almost half before anyone else arrived, luckily J.Jr. brought a larger one with him!). Rather than having a dinner, we just vegged again. We had hot wings, corn dogs, taquitos, chips salsa and guac, sausage cheese and crackers, a cheese ball, veggies, cookies, candy, pie... soooo much good stuff! But once again I stuck with the dip and taquitos and veggies.... oh and pie!

A few days later I weight myself for the first time in at least a month... no, probably closer to two months... and I had lost 5lbs!

So if I can give any advice on holiday eating... instead of snacking on cookies and candy, snack on some yummy veggies and be careful with everything else!

Day 1 of 500 Calorie Diet

Well as you can see I gained a few pounds the past 2 days... it's really sad. I did so well during the holidays in actually LOSING 5lbs (post to come about that) and now I've almost gained it all back... but it's for a good cause. I really think those two load days are essential in losing weight on this program. It was actually harder than I thought to eat high fat foods. After one meal, I felt so bloated and gross I didn't want to even think about food again... but I had to just keep going. I probably could have eaten a lot more than I did... but my stomach is already killing me!!

So far this morning I've had an orange with salt and a melba toast and two glasses of water. In about an hour and a half I'm going to have steak and a tomato. Then strawberries and melba toast for my afternoon snack, and halibut and green beans for dinner.

I have so much energy lately, I don't know if it's the hCG or I'm excitement to how I'll look in a month... but I just can't sit still!

Going to be another good day! And we're supposed to get snow tonight! Yay!

Monday, January 11, 2010

FYI: Info about "Apple Days"

If your weight loss plateaus for one week, you may be able to do an "Apple Day" if you fit one of these categories:
  1. "just because" plateau-- everyone will have one sooner or later. It usually lasts 4-6 days and can occur around day 20, or the end of the hCG cycle. It always corrects itself, but you may do an "apple day" to correct it. Make sure to drink plenty of water so your body doesn't store extra.
  2. menstration-- during your "time," your weight loss will plateau. At the end of your cycle you will need to do an apple day to get back on track. Continue taking hCG and doing the 500 Calorie diet, unless other prescribed by a Doc.
  3. dietary error-- if an error is made you will be set back 3-4 days and an apple day will not help you.
What is an "Apple Day?"

During an Apple Day you are to eat six apples whenever you feel the desire. The body will store water if your normal intake falls below requirements (10glasses). Apples have an enzyme in them that release water retention.

REMEMBER: It is useless to do an apple day unless your weight has been stationary for at least one week WITHOUT ANY DIETARY ERROR HAVING BEEN COMMITTED.

Grocery shopping



Eye of Round Steaks (almost zero marbling)

One of the reasons I waited until today to start was due to the lack of grocery funds. As many of you know, the EBT card gets renewed today! So I got my son all ready and we took off for a fun-filled adventure to Walmart and Smiths. I had a very small list to go off, but it ended up being HUGE with the fact I have to have meals for him, as well as food for my husband (soo picky he is) PLUS my hCG items. Luckily, my son and I can share a lot of the veggies and fruit.

So after about two hours, we were finally on our way home (with Hermie's in hand...)

I have a question! Have any of you found Grissini breadsticks anywhere here in Cedar?! I found Melba Toast... but no Grissini. Darn.

I did load up on tons of apples and oranges and a few grapefruits as well as lots of veggies.

Tomorrow is Load Day #2.... and I may not post until I've had my first 500 Cal. Day! So until next time... thanks for supporting me!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Gettin' ready...

Tomorrow I officially start hCG. I'm a wee bit nervous, but oh so excited! For my "load days" I'm planning on having my 4 favorite meals: Panda, Hermies, Pizza Hut and McDonalds. Crazy, I know... but I love em. Every time I try to diet and exercise and be good I ALWAYS end up craving McDonald's. So I figure if I eat it as my last meal... I should be OK!!

Wish me luck... and I'll check back in later!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Why am I doing this?

In 2007, I was diagnosed with ITP and spent 7 months having to take an awful steroid, Prednisone. If any of you know anything about this drug, it makes your face puff up, as well as the rest of your body. I gained 40lbs. during that short time. I was finally released from Prednisone Hell in Sept. of 2007. At that time I tried Isagenix, and logged my daily accomplishments, which really helped me lose a few pounds and inches.
But alas, in Feb of 2008 I became pregnant and could no longer diet. I had a hard time gaining weight as I could not stand the mere THOUGHT of food. I finally started gaining a healthy weight around 6 months, and had lost ALL of my baby fat by 6 weeks after my sweet little boy was born.

What happened after that is a mystery to me, and one that I regret. Since having my baby, I've gained a good 25lbs.

Which is why I'm here... writing this.

After high school I was able to fit into size 10 pants, which was HEAVEN to me. I will not be posting my pre-weight until the end... but at this current time I'm fitting into size 16/18 pants. I hate it. Something needs to be done and I've tried just about everything. I would be in heaven once again if I could get down to wearing size 12 pants. My goal is to get back to size 10's.... but I'll settle for 12's.

What is the hCG diet?

HCG is a hormone naturally produced in the body. It is the pregnancy hormone, but during pregnancy the levels double every two days. This hormone allows the body to mobilize fat and use it as energy for both mother and fetus. For weight loss, only a very small amount of HCG is used to capitalize on this same mechanism. Using it this way does not mimic pregnancy; but can in fact be used by both men and women.

This is how the diet works:

The max is can last is 40 days (6 weeks).
Day 1 and 2
You begin taking the HCG as directed (a dropperful 3x a day under tongue) and eat foods high in fat. The fat will not stick but will be used as energy and as an appetite suppressant through-out the diet.

Day 3 - 40
Begin the 500 calorie diet plan:
  • 3.5oz Protein, twice daily (Chicken, Steak, Fresh White Fish, Crab, Shrimp, Lobster)
  • 3.5oz Fresh Vegetable, twice daily (Spinach, Green Salad, Tomatoes, Celery, Onions, Radishes, Cucumbers, Asparagus, Cabbage, Broccoli, Zucchini, and Green Beans)
  • Two Fruit portions daily (Apple, Strawberries, Orange, Grapefruit, Watermelon, Honey Dew Melon)
  • Grisini Bread or Melba Toast, twice a day
  • Fluids, 10 glasses daily (Tea, Soda Water, Water, Diet Soft Drink)
This is what that looks like on a daily basis:
  • Fluids only for one hour after waking
  • 9AM One Fruit and 1 Breadstick/Toast
  • 12PM 3.5oz Protein and 3.5oz Veggies
  • 3PM One Fruit and 1 Breadstick/Toast
  • Dinner 3.5oz. Protein and 3.5oz Veggies
  • Fluids only and nothing for one hour before bed
Day 41-43
Continue 500 calorie diet for 3 days. After this you may now start maintenance phase. Fat may be added back in moderately. Sugars and Starches can be added in after 3 weeks have passed.

3 Weeks Maintenance
Begin 1000 calorie diet. It will take 3 weeks of maintenance before the weight reached at the end of treatment becomes stable and does not fluctuate.

1000 Calorie Diet:

Fruit: 4 servings
Veggies: 2- 7oz. servings
Protein: 2- 7oz servings
Dairy: very sparingly
Oil: 3 tsp.

Good to know extras:

One tsp. Milk allowed per day.
Salt, Pepper, Vinegar and other spices are freely available.
Juice of 1 lemon or lime daily.
Walden Farms dressings are allowed.
Sugar-free gum is OK.


So there it is in a nut-shell. I know this is going to be hard... but I'm so excited to start it. I think it will really help me jump-start my weight loss so I can get back to a Healthy ME!!


*!*SIDE NOTE*!*
I know some of you are thinking "this isn't healthy... why is she doing this?" Well ya know what... it's my last hope. It's only for 6 weeks, and I really think it will help. But I need your support. So please hold off on anything negative for AT LEAST 6 weeks. Thanks!