Week 2 September 7th - September 13th

Week 2 was quite a bit harder.. At this point my hunger was not the problem, I had all the energy in the world, it was just the mental problem of seeing my kids or other people around me eating the foods I used to eat. Kinna like an addiction.. I guess you could say it was actually an addiction.. I decided that the variety of food I had eaten for a week prior just wasn't satisfying me. I went on to this list that I found here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1RsLsF/www.hellojody.com/2010/05/my-story-hcg-diet-food-list-and-some.html .. It was the following:

HCG Phase 2 - 25 or 45 Days

This is where it gets real! 500 calories a day of only lean protein and low carb fruits and vegetables. Besides the food restrictions, there are a ton of rules for this phase. I don't pay attention to most of them but I'll call out the ones that I do.

Basic Rules:
• 20 units of HCG every morning at the same time each day - If you are doing the drops: 5 drops under the tongue, wait two minutes then 5 more drops under the tongue.
• No sugar and all sugar products
• No sodas, including diet sodas and drinks such as Crystal Light - Basically Avoid Aspartame - I do drink Hansen's Soda (they have Splenda in them) and have found them not to affect my weight loss.
• No fruits except those listed
• No starches including bread, pasta, tortillas, cookies, etc. - Although some HCG dieters are able to eat melba toast and grissini sticks. I used to eat them but the longer I stay on the diet, it seems the less will power I have. So I avoid them now. When you first start getting off the bread they can help to wean you. However, as soon as you are used to not having bread in your diet I would cease to eat them. You'll get better results if you do.
• No fast food - Duh!
• No alcoholic beverages
• No creams, moisturizers and lotions that are oil based - Your skin is your largest organ. Your body will pull calories from your beauty products. Who knew?
• Eat different protein for your two meals - Eat the heavier protein for lunch and the lighter protein for dinner. Example: Filet Mignon for lunch, Shrimp for dinner
• Eat less Beef and more Fish
• Try not to eat out at restaurants - it challenging right now to find a place where you can trust their ingredients as well as find something on the menu that fits into the food list below. Although I did eat a child's bowl of meat only chili at Chili John's in Burbank and did not find that it affected my weight loss.
• DO NOT SKIP MEALS!

There are a ton more rules out there like avoiding sugarless gum and not combining your vegetables. I have not found doing either of these things makes a difference. You can experiment and if your body does not have any weight loss after chewing gum or combining tomatoes with cucumbers then don't do it.

Phase 2 Food List: (I try to buy all organic, free range and grass fed products that I can find. Eat Clean!)

PROTEIN - (100 grams at pre-cooked weight/ 200 grams per day)
• Chicken Breast
• Buffalo (Ground or Steaks)
• Filet Mignon
• Veal
• Fresh White Fish (No Ahi Tuna, No Salmon)
• Lobster
• Crab
• Shrimp
• Scallops
• Albacore Tuna
• 3 Egg Whites

VEGETABLES - (1 cup per meal/2 cups per day)
• Spinach
• Fennel
• Chard
• Beet-Greens
• Green Salad/Mixed Greens
• Celery
• Tomatoes
• Red Radishes
• Shallots
• Cucumbers
• Asparagus
• Cabbage
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower

FRUIT - (2 servings daily - recommendation is to eat them in between meals. I don't follow this rule too closely and often have fruit with lunch or dinner.)
• Apple (smaller size - I typically buy Gala apples)
• 1/2 Grapefruit
• Strawberries (1 cup)
• Blueberries (1 cup)
• Raspberries (1 cup)
• Blackberries (1 cup)
• Orange (Some people say oranges are not ok, others say they are fine - you'll have to figure out what is best for you.)

OILS -
• Olive Oil (1 tablespoon per day)
• Pam Cooking Spray
• Braggs Oil (get it at Whole Foods)
• Spritzers Salad Dressing

MISC. -
• Tea (all day)
• Coffee (all day)
• Mineral Water, Perrier, Regular Water (3 liters per day)
• Lemon Juice
• Lime Juice
• Braggs Amino Acids
• Spices of any kind
• 2 Melba toast, breadsticks or grissini (not at the same meal, no one can stop at one, avoid if possible)
• 1 tablespoon of half and half daily (I use this in my morning coffee)
• Stevia - I personally hate this stuff so I use Splenda and Whey Low


This helped me get through week 2.. but I did end up cheating 1 day. We had gone to Burger King and I was dying for an original chicken sandwich.. So i ordered it and told myself I would only eat 1/2 of it.. well next thing I know I had eaten the whole thing.. I ended up staying the same on a lot of the days during this week but did end up losing total for the week about 3 pounds.. I was up and down alot this week like a yo-yo basically.. I turned down alot, including some cupcakes! That was surprisingly easy to do..