P2D8

What a weekend I had!

Friday evening started the weekend off on a great foot when my friend Kim came over for Scrap Friday. I know I was physically hungry, but there was an emotional/habitual eating pattern to overcome as well. We normally snack (sometime healthy, sometimes not) at these little scrap fests, but this night we abstained. We were both hungry, but we fought off those hunger pangs with lots of Rooibos Carmel Apple tea from Republic of Tea. Yummy! Lots of creativity and plenty of laughter got us through.

Saturday when I weighed in on my home scale I was down, but I don't recall the exact numbers. We got up and did our usual Saturday morning routines. Just before lunch time we headed over to our friends' house to split wood then moved to our house for more of the same. We shared a power splitter and some trees that we cut from our property. While the power splitter helped a lot, it was still hours of hard work. We split, lifted heavy logs, and hauled and stacked wood for the better part of 8 hours. We were all exhausted after that. We enjoyed a dinner together, which I will elaborate upon, before we parted.

Despite a soak in the hot tub before bed, I woke many times in the night with a lot of muscle pain. Ibuprofen barely touched it. I wonder if my muscles were more painful than usual due to the HCG. Perhaps my body broke down muscle to compensate for the huge amount of extra calories it required with the strenuous labor of the day. Not sure. I know that I still saw weight loss when I weighed in on Sunday morning.

I tried to rest up on Sunday. Being a mom of 2 young children means resting is a relative thing. We still had to get chores and errands done and spending quality time as a family is not optional. All in all, it was a great and productive (not quite restful) day. I'll go over the fab food below.

So, today is Monday. I am showing a little more weight loss. Overall, just a couple of pounds over the weekend. There may be some residual inflammation from the weekend's exertions.

I am getting rest today. I have to. My regular physician called and told me that the strep test she took on Friday was positive. I have to take penicillin for the next 10 days. Goody. My HCG doc says it shouldn't interfere with my program. I am nervous though, doesn't antibiotic therapy usually mess with hormones? Guess we will wait and see. All I know is that I am looking forward to feeling better. While I have been less hungry, not getting dizzy anymore and have plenty of energy, I have felt off. I have been sweating at the slightest exertion, and getting shaky after small tasks. I wrote it off to overdoing it this weekend, but now I know. I can't wait to see how good I feel once the penicillin starts winning the battle in my body.

So, the food. By now you know my typical daily menu. Breakfast is a constant and lunch is usually leftovers. I will just go over the highlights of the weekends recipes.

Finally made the minted cucumber recipe:
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Minted Cucumbers

1 cucumber, peeled (optional), seeded and chopped
1 minced garlic clove
2 T. fresh lemon juice
2 T. chopped fresh mint or 1/2 t. crushed dried mint leaves
onion salt
black pepper
dash of stevia powder

Mix cucumber with garlic, lemon juice and mint. Season with onion salt and pepper. Add a sprinkle of stevia, mix and taste. Adjust as needed. Refrigerate for 45 minutes or longer. Toss before serving.
Servings: 1 vegetable

Oh...my...gravy. This was good. It was crunchy and fresh. I loved it and will be making it over and over again. The first time I made it, it sat for over 4 hours and it was delish! The second time it only sat for about 20 minutes. Still good, but I think it really needs the time for all the flavors to penetrate the cucumbers.
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Not Rocket Science Grilled Chicken

2 chicken breasts, boneless and skin removed
onion salt
pepper

Sprinkle both sides of chicken breast with onion salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Grill over medium heat until thickest part of breast reaches 165 degrees. If you do this on a Foreman Grill I would suggest about 8 minutes. Allow the breast to stand for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve 3 oz to HCGers.

3 oz=1 protein serving

I know, I know this one was not rocket science. I was worried how they would turn out, but I had to come up with something on the fly after splitting wood all day. I couldn't believe how good they turned out. My whole family, and the guests, gave it enthusiastic thumbs up. You would have thought I slaved over it or marinated it all day.
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Not Rocket Science Fish
Another, duh, that was simple recipe that turned out to be incredibly tasty.

halibut or other white fish
lemon pepper (find one that is HCG okay)
onion salt

Sprinkle both sides of fish with onion salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Grill over medium heat until fish is opaque, but still moist. Flaky is usually too dry, but cook it to your taste. My very thick (about 2") halibut took 25 minutes total.

3 oz=1 protein.

Again, delicious and a whole family hit.

Wahoo! I can cook HCG okay food and feed my entire family. They just have larger servings and more sides. I was so afraid that I would have to become a short order cook while on this phase. I am so glad I don't have to.

Here's to me feeling better in about 24 hours. I am really hating it now so I am heading to my bed for a nap.

Cheers,
Amy