Greek Salad

I have been awaiting so impatiently for the last 6 weeks for a Greek Salad with my favorite olives and feta cheese! Here is my lunch for today:

Eggs with Beef Chorizo -- Yolk and all....

Breakfast was Eggs with Beef Chorizo. The eggs were cooked in the frying pan with Olive Oil Cooking Spray and cooked till it was medium. I ate the yolks! Yay!

Guiltless Spaghetti & Tomato Sauce w/ Turkey "Meatballs & Italian Sausage"

Our first P3 meal was Spaghetti & Tomato Sauce with Meatballs and Italian Sausage made from Turkey. It was delicious! It was also completely guiltless when we were eating the pasta as it was made with White Shirataki Noodles (Miracle Noodles) -- 0 carbs, 0 calories, gluten free, sugar free, starch free, etc, etc! The total calorie count for my dinner was 470 -- that included the gluten free and sugar free three cheese tomato sauce (Fresh & Easy - 90 calories), 3 tablespoons of grated fresh Parmesan cheese (Fresh & Easy - 60 calories), 1 turkey Italian Sausage link (Jennie O - 160 calories), and 4 meatballs made from the following: turkey, melba toast, egg white, Romano/Parmesan grated cheese, fresh parsley, fresh minced garlic, and black pepper (Jennie O - 40 calories each). Watch the sodium intake if you use flavored Turkey meats from Jennie O and other manufacturers. The sodium in one serving of regular ground Turkey is 75mg while the sodium in Italian Sausage or Italian flavored ground Turkey is 680-682mg in a serving!

Here are photos of the process:

First, cooking the meat up in the frying pan and I may say not even an ounce of olive oil was harmed in the making of this meat:

Here we are with the meat cooked and mixed with the tomato sauce:

Now on to making the noodles (remove from package and rinse well 1-2 minutes).

Mix about 1/2 your sauce serving with the noodles to get them warm and tasting like the sauce:

Now add the remaining 1/2 serving of your sauce and add the meat:

The final photo of dinner showing the salad we prepared as well but were too full from the Spaghetti & Tomato Sauce w/ Turkey Meatballs and Italian Sausage, to even eat the salad. Total calories = 470

Last Day of P2

34.4lbs lost since we started on January 23! Woohoo! I hope to see a .6 lb loss tomorrow morning so I can say I lost an even 35lbs ;-)

We have our 'miracle noodles' (white shiritaki noodles) for Phase 3 and will be making some pasta dishes and soup. We have the Oopsie dough recipe so we can make some bread alternatives! We have our many types of mustard that are no sugar, no gluten, and no preservatives. We have chips made out of cheese (nothing else). We have a tomato sauce that has no sugar, gluten, starches, additives, etc. We have our organic Peanut Butter that is literally just Peanuts and Salt. We even found uncured, gluten free beef and turkey hot dogs that have no starches, preservatives, sugars or anything that we cannot have. It was a difficult task but we found them at sprouts. 

We are still looking for Black Olives that do not have Ferrous Gluconate (an additive to make the olives black that is corn-based), uncured Turkey Bacon, Andouille Sausage that has no starches, no gluten, no corn-based products, no sugar, etc -- so if you have found the brand and a store in the Phoenix area that carries them please let me know!

We are really excited about all the new foods we can add to our shopping list! Look what is on our list for Phase 3:

Green Olives

Kalamata Olives

Cheese (Cheddar, Feta, Goat, Parmesan, Mozzarella...mmm)

Jicama (going to make some tasty hash browns!)

Green Beans

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Zuchini

Tuna (canned, water based, no additives/preservatives)

Turkey

Turkey Deli meat (no nitrates, starches, sugars, gluten, etc -- Sprouts has it!)

Well, the list is getting longer as we think more about what else we want to eat!

Alternatives to Soda

A brief update on my total weight loss so far. I am at 33.6lbs lost as of this morning and have 3 more days of Phase 2 :)

Also, for all of those wanting a before and after picture, you will have to e-mail me a request ;-)

I gave up soda months ago long before I started the HCG protocol, and have no regrets. It really was a waste of my calories and putting weight on me. I have heard that cutting soda out of your diet can reduce 20lbs a year on a person...not sure if that is true. From time to time, I do wish I could have a real can of Coca Cola Classic (no diet Coke, no splenda or aspartame Coke, no plastic bottled Coke -- ick! and defintely no Pepsi, RC Cola or any other Cola) or Coke from McDonalds -- they know how to mix it correctly for the fountain! I know I am picky and such a snob when it comes to the Cola I drink! I ask every server at a restaurant if they serve Coke or Pepsi products before I order.

 I am sure I will indulge in that come Phase 4 here or there....say at Christmas or Thanksgiving but I don't plan on having it much more than that. I have found that after I drink at least 2 liters of water a day and have 1-2 cups of black herbal tea, I am not really in the mood to intake any more fluids. If I do want a treat, I will do Perrier with a Stevia flavoring like Orange Valencia or a new alternative is La Croix Sparkling Water. If you have not tried it yet and need an alternative, you can find it in Safeway, Publix, Target, Walgreens, Costco, Sam's Club, etc in the aisle with all the soda and flavored drinks. We tried berry last night with dinner and it was tasty! We have lime to try as well. You can also find them on several airlines in their in-flight beverage service (Northwest, United, Southwest, etc). La Croix comes in other flavors like: Cran Raspberry, Grapefruit, Orange, Lemon,  and original plain sparkling water. I highly recommend making the switch from sodas that have corn syrup, sugars, sugar substitutes, BPA from the plastic, calories, and preservatives in them to these no sugar, no sodium, no preservatives sparkling water with natural hints of flavor!

31.6lbs Lost!

I've lost 31.6lbs since January 23! Awesome :) I am .2 lbs from my weight goal for this round of the HCG protocol.We will start Phase 3 later this week!!! Can't wait to have tuna, olives, pickles, cheese, turkey bacon, and expand the list of fruits and veggies we can have! I really don't care about the carbs I can't have or the sugary sweets..so that is another positive that came out of this.

I also plan to experiment using Miracle Noodles (Gluten Free, Kosher, No Carb, No Calorie Shitaki Noodles) for pasta and rice dishes. I also plan to experiment making 'Oopsie Dough' -- and if you haven't seen this Gluten Free, Sugar-Free Dough and the recipes made from it, you have to check this out. She has made everything from doughnuts, angel food cake, crepes, waffles, French Toast, Pizza Dough, Taco shells, Buns, Rolls, and so much more! 

Hmmm, I can smell the pizza now! :)

We will start a 3 week course on May 3rd with the two days prior as our fat loading days. The goal is to lose 20lbs on that course to get me to a healthier BMI. We plan on also doing two additional 3 week courses in the late summer and fall. My hope is to be down to a healthy BMI and an ideal weight.