A short novel for ya =)

Good Morning, Folks!

I lost half a pound today. The turtle ticker I chose only moves in 1 pound increments, so when I lose just half a pound, she doesn't go anywhere. BUT since I've lost half a pound TWICE, she gets to inch forward just a bit more. =) 13 pounds down. I've lost 8.5 pounds in 9 days and I'm happy with that. I figured out if I lose 17 pounds each time I do it (as I plan to do the diet twice) I will be back at the weight I was at before getting married and having kiddos. It's been about 7 years since I've seen that number, so I am MORE than ready to embrace it once more. =) 130 is the magic number for me.

To answer a couple of questions I've been asked:

The binge days... I'm not entirely sure since I didn't research this myself. I just took the advice of my friend's mom who has lost 70 pounds so far. She said to binge hardcore with LOTS of fat the first two days. Apparently it helps your body let go of the fat easier, since it's just been inundated with it. Now, having said that, I did binge. I gained 2 pounds. So now, I keep thinking to myself, "Dang, if I hadn't gained those two pounds, I'd weigh 2 pounds less right now!" So I don't know if I'll go so all out next time.

If you'd like more info on the diet, you can simply google "HCG Diet" or else you can look at this website where I purchased my drops from: www.handstoheavenonline.com

I haven't researched any other blogs or forums yet.

As far as how I cook my chicken, I've been buying chicken tenders from Costco. They are precut into smaller portions, and 3.5 ounces ends up being between 1.5 and 2 of them, depending on size. I place them on my Pampered Chef stoneware pan that has a lip, sprinkle them with a tiny bit of garlic powder and a generous amount of Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb seasoning. Then I bake for 25 minutes, or until done. I let them cool and then package each portion into a snack size baggie, which I store in the fridge. When it's time for lunch or dinner, I just grab a baggie of chicken and then decide which vegetable I'm going to have. It makes it SO MUCH easier to have it done ahead of time.

If you are contemplating doing the diet, you HAVE to buy a digital food scale. It makes everything so much easier, from weighing your meat to weighing your vegetables and knowing you've got the right amount. It's $20 (at least mine was) but worth every penny.

Couple of other things... I did 3 things yesterday that I haven't done so far in this diet.

1) I bought fat free creamer and used it in my coffee instead of the 1% milk.
2) I drank a Diet Coke.
3) I had hamburger for dinner instead of chicken.

The creamer isn't going to work out for me. For some reason both yesterday and today when I used it in my coffee, the coffee tasted weak and bitter. I thought it was a fluke yesterday because my husband doesn't like his coffee as strong as I do, but today I made it and it was buhscusting. So I will be sticking to tea for now.

The diet coke... you're actually allowed 2 diet sodas a day on the diet. I haven't been drinking any because I just really don't think those chemicals are good for you. I do have to say though, it TREMENDOUSLY helped when I was hungry and couldn't eat anything. I don't particularly like Coca Cola, so I'm going to buy either Diet Dr. Pepper or Diet A&W Root Beer to have on hand.

The hamburger... You are allowed to have hamburger, but it is supposed to be very lean; 86% meat to 4% fat. Mine was not; I think it was 15% fat. I had cooked it up, drained the fat and that's what my family ate with their tacos 2 nights ago. Last night I couldn't face the chicken, so I measured out 3.5 ounces of meat and 3.5 ounces of shredded lettuce (also from our taco meal) and made myself a faux taco salad. And it was BLISS. So incredibly good. ;-) So I will be investing in extra lean beef as well.

I emailed Beth, under the ruse that I had a vegetarian friend who wanted to do the diet, and what they could substitute for meat. Mostly, I wanted to know for myself ;-), but I figured that maybe some of you vegetarians might want the info too. Anyway, she wrote back and said many vegetarians have done the diet successfully substituting their kind of protein- whether that's beans, soy products, whatever- in place of the meat. I think the most important thing to be aware of is to make the calories and fat match as closely as possible.

For example, there are approximately 165 calories in 3.5 ounces of boneless, skinless chicken breast and about 3 grams of fat. So you'd have to make whatever you're planning to substitute match that as closely as possible. The goal is to stay right around 500 calories a day, total.

Anyway, when I get closer to my goal weight I might give eggs or beans a try as my protein, instead of the chicken or hamburger.

I must say, the hunger pangs have basically gone away 100%. I am so glad!!! It was really excruciating to prepare food and even grocery shop, when all I wanted to do was eat everything in sight. This morning I made my kids scrambled eggs, turkey sausage and toast with no problem at all; my mouth didn't even water. ;-)

I'm enjoying my cup of tea. I feel really dehydrated today. My lips are chapped and my head and joints hurt. I'm not sure if it's from the extra fat from the hamburger last night, or if I'm just coming down with a cold. I can't take Emergen-C or Airborne because it has too many calories!

I have friends coming in to town tomorrow for Memorial Day weekend and I'm also meeting up with another friend before that so our kiddos can play together, so I probably won't blog Sat or Sun. I will be back on Monday with a picture of the scale for you. =)