5-Day Cheating Marathon

Last Saturday, I just had to eat since my boyfriend was tempting me... he wanted to eat and he didn't want to eat alone... And so I went... and ate.

Sunday, we went on a trip to Bulacan... I forgot my drops because I was running late. It's BF's fault actually. He picked me up 6:45am for a 9:45am appointment. Talk about paranoid. Anyway, since I didn't take any drops, I was so hungry and ate breakfast at Mang Inasal where the rice is served unlimited. There was no other decent place to eat breakfast as other establishments were still closed (trust me, I really looked hard for one) and so we ended up at Mang Inasal. Of course, I had to order sisig and an extra piece of chicken. At the party, I ate a lot as well... out of respect to our host as he piled so much food on my plate. Seriously, I regretted this... the food was oily and bland... but I had no choice as I would be insulting our host if I didn't eat. Aaaarg!

Monday was supposed to be my non-cheat day. I started out well with eating strawberries for lunch. These were really yummy strawberries by the way. But come afternoon, I kept on thinking about the leftover steak in the freezer until finally, at around 5pm, I gave in to my craving (seriously, I was not hungry but I just kept on thinking about food) and grilled up a 200-gram steak.

Tuesday came and I had to go to school. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my drops again for lunch and was ravenous. I ordered canteen food and even had two servings of viand for my one cup of rice. Aaaarg again! When I went home, the dinner table was set and there was so much food since we were having visitors over. Aaaaarg again. I ended up tasting and tasting every food offering until I was stuffed.

Today, I almost didn't cheat but there was some leftover food from yesterday's feast that I just decided to finish it off. It was minimal... but for some reason, I had to eat a banana loaf and a chocolate chip muffin. Also, I had cravings for calamansi lemonade drink (which is 110 calories per cup) so I drank 4 cups.

All in all, it's like I am not on a diet at all. I guess not writing in this blog makes me forget I am dieting and on HCG in the first place.

Guess my weight? As expected, I gained weight. I am now 179 pounds. I hope it doesn't increase even further...

HCG Program Overview

The HCG diet program is divided into 4 phases of various lengths. Here they are in order:

• Loading Phase (2 days). Some call these the "binge" or "gorge" days. You start taking HCG drops on Day 1. For these first 2 days you must eat the most fattening foods you can until you are completely full. Concentrate on foods high in fats and oils, rather than sugar.

My Take: 
I did this the first time eating lots and lots of rice along with some fatty viands. This was okay but not the ideal because during Phase 2, I craved for rice. This time around, I did my loading with FATTY FOODS ONLY. I didn't eat rice or any carbohydrates. I settled on the following:

1. Pork Sisig from Sisig House
2. Crispy Pata 
3. Fatty Liempo Stick from Grill Queen 
4. Fried Chicken from KFC

I was sick to the stomach. I actually didn't enjoy so much because I didn't eat rice. In fact, I had to force myself to eat the fatty foods. I had a hard time finishing a barkada size of sisig in one day. But I did. Doing the loading phase well is the key to NOT GETTING HUNGRY in Phase 2. It's not eating all the foods that you like, but eating the FATTIEST foods that you can think of.

• Core Phase (13-43 days). On the morning of Day 3, you begin the 500-calorie-per-day diet. You also continue taking the HCG drops at the specified dosage. The length of this phase depends on how much weight you want to lose.

My Take: 
I am currently on Day 10 of this diet. I want to continue until I reach my conservative milestone of 169 pounds. But I really want to reach 165 pounds this round. I have 3 more days to go and I can actually stop. But why stop? I will do my best to get to at least 18 days before going into the transition phase.

So far, my average has been to lose a pound a day. There are misses because I have cheated thrice already on this diet. The thing with cheating is that I quickly remedy it the next day with a steak day. This way, I see another weight loss the next day. Another thing with cheating is that it doesn't necessarily equate to weight gain. You just don't lose any pounds which is just as bad.

• Transition Phase (3 days). Stop taking the HCG drops at the end of the Core Phase. Continue on the 500-calorie-per-day diet for the 3 days in this phase while your body transitions and eliminates the high level of HCG in your body. 

My Take:  
I haven't reached this round yet so I have no idea. But I guess something to watch out for in this phase is the hunger pangs because there is less HCG in the body. Since HCG make you forget hunger, I assume this time here... it will be harder to continue the 500-calorie diet.

I'll update this when I get to Phase 3.

• Maintenance Phase (21 days). Slowly increase your food intake and begin eating any foods that you want, except sugars, starches, or artificial sweeteners. Your metabolism is still trying to stabilize during this phase. Therefore, watch your weight closely, and slowly increase your calorie intake at a rate that allows you to maintain your new lower weight.

HCG Phase 2 Recipe: Easy Baked Tilapia

Here's another recipe that looks promising, and so easy to do. The original recipe includes cajun seasoning, but since I am not so fond of cajun, I decided to forgo that and stick to the basics. I have actually cooked this before and it is yummy!

Easy Baked Tilapia

Half of a slab Tilapa fillet
Salt and pepper
Lemon slices

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a sheet of tin foil on cookie sheet. Place Tilapia filets on cookie sheet and season with salt and pepper. Top with lemon slices. Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until fish is easily flaked with a fork.

Notes:

1. Lemon is not calamansi. I like to buy my lemons at Shopwise Libis. Look for Baguio lemons because this is the kind that is easier to slice. It is a nicer brighter yellow shade as well. 
2. I want to try this using just an electric griller, instead of an oven. Oven to fire up take quite some time. I think it will also do the trick. 

HCG Phase 2 Recipe: Chicken Asparagus Stir-Fry

In order to survive this diet, I will have to put variation in my meals. I can only go so long with only shakes and soya sticks to fill me up. So, I checked the Intermountain recipe book and found some Filipino-friendly recipes. I say Filipino-friendly because the ingredients are all readily available in the supermarkets here in Manila. This one sounds promising.

Chicken Asparagus Stir-Fry

100 grams chicken breast, cut in strips
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup asparagus cut in 1" pieces (FRESH)
1/2 tsp ginger, grated
1 dash cayenne
1 clove garlic, minced

Microwave or steam asparagus until tender, but still crisp. Set aside. Heat water in a
skillet and add chicken strips, stirring, until cooked almost all the way through. Add the grated ginger, garlic, and cayenne. When the liquid is reduced by half, add in the asparagus and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

Some Notes:

1. Don't use canned asparagus, because while more convenient, it is a no-no! The preservatives might not be HCG-compliant. You can find fresh green asparagus in Rustan's and Shopwise. I hear you can already find them in SM Supermarkets as well. 
2. I learned of Cayenne when I was doing the lemonade diet. It's cheap and available under the label "McCormick". 

Cheaters Never Win... Mini Steak Day Again!

I cheated yesterday. I tasted the most wonderful concoction... shrimp cooked in garlic and yummy cheese. And today, I paid for it. I gained weight... not a lot of weight, just 0.2 pounds. (Yes, I already finished emptying my bladder and I stepped on the scale lots of times to make sure.)

Even then, I feel very, very sad. It is really true that nothing tastes better than skinny feels. If I could, I would turn back the time and not eat those 4 pieces of succulent shrimps because it is just not worth it. I am not thinking of just the 0.2 pounds of weight gain, but also the weight I COULD HAVE LOST had I not given in to temptation and shut my mouth.

Oh well, this is life and we all have to learn our lesson. I really have no idea how I can reach my milestone now of 175 lbs. before the week is over. But today, just to help things a bit, I will do another steak day. I won't eat for the whole day. I will just stuff myself with water.

Here's what I learned so that a "steak day" will be successful:

1. Absolutely no food before dinner. Not even the tiniest bit of lettuce should be taken in. No... just because it's green and leafy doesn't mean it is allowed in any diet... and for today, protein is king!
2. Drink lots and lots of water. Don't wait for your stomach to grumble. Drink 2 glasses of water every so often (every two to three hours is recommended). Don't wait for thirst to get to you. 
3. Don't be idle. When you find yourself thinking of food, don't indulge and go on the net to look at food blogs. You are just torturing yourself. Instead, imagine yourself wearing nice clothes. Go to youtube and seek motivation from successful HCG dieters. 
4. Buy only 100 grams of steak! This is not a license to gorge on steaks. Since we are still on Phase 2, there's a limit to how much steak we can eat and read- that's only 100 grams.  
5. Look forward to your steak night. A taste of tenderloin will be worth the wait. Trust me! :) 

I will be doing this today and hopefully, tomorrow, I lose more than a pound so I can get this guilty feeling out of my system.

Free "Pounds and Inches" by Dr. Simeons

I don't actually follow to the letter the VLCD diet by Dr. Simeons... because it is just too hard. If you have been reading my blog, then you would know that I would rather drink replacement shakes than eat vegetables.

I will venture out into the world tomorrow, though, and buy lettuce so that I will have variation in my diet. I am fast running out of stock of replacement shakes. But reading through the WHOLE TEXT of the book really helped me because I got a clue not only as to what I should have to do to lose the weight through HCG but also the WHY, which is really important and drives me not to cheat.

Here's a link to a PDF copy of the book. Enjoy! :)

Phase 2 Day 8

Here's what I did for the day:

I sat and sat and sat... I literally had nothing to do. Well, I did mostly nothing except look for a small piece of paper that I never did find. So, it wasn't a wonder that my mind centered on food. My cravings were of the highest intensity. I was craving for KFC Fried Chicken. I was craving for Brickfire Cowgirl Annie Steak. I was craving for Sotanghon Guisado. Seriously, all I could think of earlier was food.

I quickly texted my boyfriend so that he could give me some motivation. He told me to think of the dresses I would wear and how many pounds less I would weigh than him (hehehe, we are almost of the same weight... shameful, I know). That actually did the trick for a couple of hours. I looked in the mirror and saw how my body had shrunk (just a little, but it is a "noticeable" little). However, I cheated a little later with some shrimps. I hope that did not lead to much damage to my weight.

Day 7 

Breakfast: 
1 scoop of Spiru-tein Cookies n Cream flavor (120 calories) 
4 sticks of Soyami Soya Styx (70 calories)

Lunch: 
4 pieces of medium sized prawns cooked in garlic and cheese (220 calories)
3 fork-full pancit bihon (80 calories)
1/2 cup of soup from Bangus with tomato and onion 

Dinner:
4 sticks of Soyami Soya Styx (70 calories) 

Total calories: 560 


The night is young. I better get to my bed early so that I don't get tempted to add any more calories.