"An Apple a Day . . .

The Infamous "Apple Day!"

keeps the doctor away" is what they say, but what about 6 APPLES??? Well, we are going to find out folks, because today I have chosen to do an "Apple Day" in which I only eat 6 apples and drink water.  I only lost half a pound yesterday, so I have kinda hit a plateau with only a couple of days to go on phase one of the diet.  I would really like to get to 170 by Monday so I need to jump-start my weight loss again.  The HCG Diet protocols recommends doing an "apple day" if you plateau or your weight loss slows down considerably over two or three days.  Also, I have stopped taking the drops even though I will remain on a 500 calorie on Saturday and Sunday.  The protocol requires dieters to go off the drops 72 hours before they begin the maintenance phase to ensure that all traces of HCG is out of your system.  So it will be a very interesting weekend - will I make it to 170 by Monday morning???  Here is was my diet from yesterday:

No Breakfast

Lunch:  4oz 96/4 Lean Ground Beef Patty - 140 cal
              1.5 cups of Mixed Salad - 20 calories 
              1 Wasa Multigrain Crisp Bread - 45 calories
              1 tbs of classic yellow mustard - 0 cal
              1 med. Gala Apple - 75 cal

Dinner:  4oz. Grilled All-Natural Skinless Chicken Breast - 110 cal
               2 leafs of Romaine Lettuce - 10 cal
               2 pieces of Old London Melba Toast - 40 cal
               1 tbs of classic yellow mustard - 0 cal
               1 med. Navel Orange - 80 cal

Snack:  1 cup of 99% Fat Free Swanson Beef Broth - 5 cal

Total Calories :  525 calories

What is it about baseball and little boys . . .

"Put me in coach . . ."

that go hand-in-hand?  Is there anything more awesome and American for a dad than to play catch with his son?  I think not, and am really enjoying watching Myles experience and enjoy baseball.  That's the good news, now for the not so good news.  I failed to lose any weight yesterday, but it happens periodically on teh diet.  Sometimes throughout this phase you will "plateau" and go a few days not losing as rapidly as you have or wish to.  Looks like I'm headed for infamous "Apple Day" to jump-start my weight loss again.  I plan on doing it tomorrow.  I'm still at 174.5lbs and holding steady.  Here was my diet yesterday:

No Breakfast

Lunch:  4oz. Top Sirloin Steak - 170 cal
             2 cups of Spring Mix Salad - 20 cal
             1 Wasa Multigrain Crisp Bread - 45 cal
              1tbs of Classic Yellow Mustard - 0 cal
             1 medium Gala Apple - 75 cal

Dinner:  4oz. All Natural Skinless Grilled Chicken Breast - 110 cal
              4 small leafs of Green Lettuce - 15 cal
              3 pieces of Old London Melba Toast - 60 cal
              1 tbs of Classic Yellow Mustard - 0 cal
              1 medium Navel Orange - 80 cal

Snack:  1 cup of 99% Fat Free Beef Broth - 5 cal

Water:  2.5 liters

Total Calories:  580 cal  

Rangers Keep Winning and I Keep Losing . . .

and I don't know which is better - I'll take both!!  I lost 1.5lbs this morning and now weight 174.5.  The Rangers just won their 5th in a row to start the season 5-0.  What was all that talk about their starting pitching???  Their rotation starts out the season with 5 wins - very nice indeed.  Also, I'm getting excited about the Masters starting on Thursday.  It has to be one of the coolest sporting events there is and is certainly on my Bucket List.  Now to the diet yesterday:

No Breakfast

Lunch:  4oz 96/4 Lean Ground Beef patty - 140 cal
              1 Cup of Spring Mix Salad - 10 cal
              1 Wasa Multi Grain Crisp Bread - 45 cal
              1 tbs of Classic Yellow Mustard - 0 cal
              1 medium Gala Apple - 75 cal

Dinner:  4oz. All Natural Skinless Chicken Breast - 110 cal
               3 leafs of

I'm spoiled . . .

because I get upset when I only lose a half pound a day, and that is what I did for the second day in a row.  I'm weighed in at 176 today which brings me 6lbs away from my target of 170.  However, I am in a race against time now, because next Monday I am scheduled to start the maintenance phase of the diet.  So we will see if I can "finish strong" and get to 170lbs.  Yesterday was kinda crazy and my plans got interrupted with a meeting I had to attend.  I was not able to go home after work and consequently, did not have a meal with me for dinner.  I had to stop in a restaurant and order a salad, but it worked out alright.  Here was my diet for yesterday:

No Breakfast

Lunch:  4oz. Grilled All Natural Chicken Breast - 110 cal
              2 leafs of green lettuce - 10 cal
              3 pieces of Old London Melba Toast - 60 cal
              1 tbs of Classic Yellow Mustard - 0 cal
              1 medium Gala apple - 75 cal

Dinner:  Mixed Greens Salad with Roasted Chicken Breast (Corner Bakery) - est. 210 cal
               1 medium Gala apple - 75 cal

Water:  1.5 liters

Total Calories - 540

Only a half pound again today . . .

Lunch - 245 Calories

still, losing two pound over an entire weekend isn't too bad I suppose.  But you get spoiled from time-to-time losing 1 to 2 pounds on some days on this diet.  I'm now weighing in a 176lbs and six pounds away from my target weight.  Hopefully by my blog entry a week from now, I will be there and on my way to maintaining that weight.  Here was my diet for yesterday

No Breakfast

Lunch:  4oz. of All Natural Skinless Grilled Chicken Breast - 110 cal
             2 leafs of Romaine Lettuc - 10 cal
             1 piece of Old London Melba toast - 20 cal
             1 piece of Wasa Old Crisp Bread w/All Natural Homemade Salsa - 45 cal
             1 medium Navel organge - 60 cal

Dinner:  40z. Grilled Top Sirloin steak - 170 cal
               1 cup of Spring Mix Salad - 10 cal
               1 piece of Old London Melba toast - 20 cal
               1 tbs of Classic Yellow Mustard - 0 cal
               1 medium Gala apple - 80 cal

Water/Tea:  2.5 liters

Total Calories - 505
             

Down 1.5lbs. . . getting closer!!



Harley - the "Backyard Beast"

 Well, I had a very busy Saturday and failed to make a post - my apologies.  Most of it was spent getting our backyard cleaned up and restored from the destruction caused by our dog Harley.  That dog has successfully destroyed everything and I mean everything in our backyard.  Thus, Stacy has labeled him simply "The Beast."  But over the past two days, I have lost 1.5lbs and weighed in this morning at 176.5lbs.  Here is a breakdown of my weight loss throughout the entire HCG Diet since I began the second week in January:

Beginning Weight - 220lbs 
After Phase 1/Round One - 187lbs (-33lbs)
After 3 Week Maintenance Phase/Round 1 - 187lbs
After two week vacation (Austin/Vegas) - 191lbs (+4lbs)
After two loading days of Phase 1/Round 2 - 195lbs (+4lbs)
After 15 of 23 days of Phase 1/Round 2 - 176.5 (-18.5lbs)

Total Weight Loss - 43lbs
Total Weight Loss while on Drops (Phase 1):  51.5lbs

Here was my diet menu for yesterday, Saturday, April 2nd:
No Breakfast

Lunch:  4oz All Natural Grilled Chicken Breast (Chicken with an Attitude):  110 cal
              2 leafs of Green Lettuce - 10 cal
              1 piece of Old London Melba Toast - 20 cal
              1 tbs of Classic Yellow Mustard - 0 cal
              1 large Cameo Apple - 130 cal (big mistake - Cameo's are good but high in calories)

Dinner:  1 4oz. Grilled Top Sirloin Steak - 170 cal
               2 cups of Spring Mix Salad - 20 cal
               1 tbs of Classic Yellow Mustard - 0 cal
               1 Wasa Multigrain Crisp Bread - 45 cal
               1 Navel Orange - 80 cal

Water:  2.5 liters

Total Calories:  585

*I went a little high today because I should not have had the Cameo Apple the same day I had the Top Sirloin because they are both very high calories (at least this on this diet they are). This probably explains why I only lost .5lbs instead of a full pound as I had been for the past couple of days.  Nonetheless, feeling good and loving life at 176.5!!







 

Bringing in April at 178 . . .

What a great evening I had last night at our end of the year Basketball banquet!  All my players were well dressed and we were able to give them some well deserved recognition for a great season of accomplishments.  But the banquet proved to be quite difficult for me and my diet because it was catered by Babes!  Babes is a restaurant chain here in North Texas that serves some of the best homesytle food you can imagine.  Their smoked chicken, mashed potatoes and biscuits are to die for.  It also happens to be one of my favorite places to eat.  Now usually banquet food is not all that great and I was thinking this will be no big deal to pass on the meal, but boy was I wrong.  I hope I didn't gross anyone out too much last night at our coaches table by gawking at their food and drooling all over myself.  I bet I went through 12 glasses of tea just to get through it.  Things like that are indeed a tough aspect of the HCG diet, because inevitably you are going to be put in a social situation where you are tempted to eat things outside your protocol.  You have a tough decision - do I just say "screw it" and eat and enjoy yourself, or do you bite the bullet and sit there in misery and watch your friends revel in culinary ecstasy?  My advise is to try as hard as you can to not put yourself in those situations, but when you do, just think about the weight you have loss (hopefully) and the progress you have made and that should be enough of a deterrent to provide with the will power hold the HCG course. I know that for me, after the first week and I had lost over 10lbs, you could not have paid me to eat foods that were outside the diet because I was so pumped up about the rapid weight loss I was experiencing. 

Enough with the advise column.  Here was what I ate yesterday:
Breakfast:  Bottle of water

Lunch:  4oz. All Natural Skinless Chicken Breast - 110 calories
             2 leafs of Romaine lettuce - 10 calories
             3 pieces of Old London Melba Toast - 60 calories 
             1 tsp. of Classic Yellow Mustard - 0 calories
             1 medium Gala apple - 80 calories

Dinner:  4oz. 96/4 Extra Lean Ground Beef Patty -  150 calories
               2 leafs of Romaine lettuce - 10 calories
               1 Wasa Multigrain Crisp bread - 45 calories
               1 tsp of Classic Yellow Mustard - 0 calories
               1 Navel Orange - 60 calories

Snacks:  1/2 cup of Swansons 99% Fat Free Beef Broth - 10 calories

Water:  2.5 liters

Total Calories:  525