HCG: Weeks Four and Five

I intended to blog about our progress last Sunday, but after indulging ourselves (be it ever so slightly) for Thanksgiving, I decided to wait and see how all that turned out.

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As of Friday 9 days ago, Sarah and I had both lost exactly 26.2 lbs in 26 days. Pretty good!

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That night we enjoyed a small holiday dinner, and within 2 days I'd gained back 1.2 lbs. Sarah had gained 2.0 lbs.
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Not bad. We'd hoped for no more than a 2-lb gain, and we quickly returned to our 500 calories per day.
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At right: ground sirloin and Italian-style diced tomatoes, one of our diet dinners. Flavorful!

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It took another 3 days to take off the weight and start losing again, so we basically lost 4 of our 40 allotted weight loss days.

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No more cheating for us!

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We've done well since then. As of today, we've each lost exactly 29 lbs in 35 days.

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Above, broiled chicken breast and diced cucumber in vinegar.

We've decided to extend the diet by 4 or 5 days, to recoup the days we lost. Our last day would have been next Sunday, Dec. 13th. Instead, it will likely be Friday, Dec. 18th.

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That's 47 days of diet, but really only 44 since we stop taking the hCG 3 days before ending the 500-calorie diet, allowing time for the hormone to leave the body. This prevents weight gain resulting from extra calories while fat released by the hCG is still in the bloodstream.
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Above, tilapia on a bed of spinach, baked in lemon juice and red wine vinegar. It's modified from one of my favorite recipes, but I do miss the drizzled olive oil and sliced tomato and red onion that top the original dish.
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At left, our dessert of apple slices and cinnamon, microwaved. It almost tastes like apple pie filling. Almost.
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At right, one of my school lunches: shrimp and sliced, seasoned tomatoes.
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The timing will be perfect for ending this cycle of the diet. Dec. 18th is the last day of the fall semester, and then Christmas break begins. I can endure this diet until school is out.
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Then I intend to fully enjoy eating normally during my 2 weeks of no school!

It's funny, but I don't crave junk food at all. I'm not yearning for cookies or potato chips.

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I long for healthy fats and proteins, like eggs for breakfast, cheese for snacks, a salad of mixed vegetables (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red onion, radishes...) with my favorite olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing!
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In my last hCG post I mentioned the controversies of the hCG diet. I'd planned to go into those in this post, but I decided instead to update on our progress and share some of the meals that currently make up our daily menus.
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But next week, the controversies!