Day 19 & 20 of Phase 2

Days 21 and 22 of a 42 day program
Weight: 4/22/11 = 207.4
             4/23/11 = 206.2

The last I left this blog I was in a very frustrating place in my diet journey, to say the least. I woke up that next morning praying that the scale would show me something great. Something that would tell me that this was working. Something that would motivate me to push forward through this dark chapter...

What did I get? -0.2. That was it. Nothing motivating about that. Nothing at all. So I walked back to bed, thought very seriously about crawling back under the covers and having a good cry until I went back to sleep. That was 3 days in the 207 range. In diet terms - I hit a plateau.

So I didn't cry and after several choice curse words directed at my scale, I settled for sitting on my bed with my laptop and began scanning the net for ways to break an HCG diet plateau. I found several sites and several testimonials that explained many people on this diet hit a plateau at one point or another. Well, at least I am normal. Another thing they all had in common was the reference back to Dr. S's original manuscript and his "proven" plateau breakers: Steak day or Apple day. I went with Apple day.

In case you are not familiar with what an "Apple day" is, it is simply - you eat nothing but 6 apples spread out over the entire day. For me that meant a large apple at hours: 8, 10, 12, 2, 4 and 6. No other fruit. Not even the lemon. I did still have my coffee, which I did more for the sake of my coworkers than anyone else, but I did leave out all Stevia as another trick I read was to d/c all artificial sweeteners. That should have been enough, but I wanted to make double sure and I took things a step further. I made parsley tea (not great tasting, especially because I was not using sweeteners) because parsley is a natural diuretic. I figured if I still had any water weight hanging around from my system, this would be a sure fire way to get rid of it.

So did it work? Well, I guess. This morning the weight was 206.2. That is a little over a pound down from the previous day. I am not going to call this a break in the plateau until I have at least one more day of loss.

EATING OUT IS HARD TO DO!!
I say this because today was the first day I attempted to do this. I was out this afternoon, running around doing errands with my parents, son and brother. After we were finished it was the group's decision to head over to an restaurant to have some lunch. It was already after 12 noon and I was hungry. We went to McAlister's Deli, which is a salad and sandwich shop type place. I figured I could find something to eat there.

I ordered a salad with grilled chicken. I should have asked what all came on the salad. When I got it, it had to have at least 3 cups of greens, bacon, cheese, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, croutons and of course there was the side of crackers. I looked at it and just sighed. I asked for a box and began to sift through the salad. Thankfully I had the forethought to order the salad without any dressings, so I didn't have that to worry about, but I think I spent the majority of the time picking out iceberg lettuce (what I thought equaled approximately a cup) and at 3/4 of the chicken. I had no control how they grilled the chicken and I am sure there was some kind of oil that was used, but I hope that it was not enough to make trouble. It is very time consuming to pick through all the good stuff and just eat the lettuce. If there was ever a doubt that I am committed to this diet, that act alone should have squashed it.

Unfortunately my salad picking actions did not go unnoticed by my parents. My father, who is a medical professional, had little to say when I finally explained why I was doing what I was doing. To me that is worse than him just coming out and telling me he thinks I am in the wrong. Silence is a killer.

Surprisingly, my mother, on the other hand, was very supportive. She commented that she knows several people who have worked their way through the program and have been very successful with it. She said she knows that it is a difficult plan and she was very proud that I have been able to stick to it. That was nice. Dad's reaction was still a bummer though.

Anyway, tomorrow is Easter Sunday and I am supposed to have brunch with my entire family at a seafood restaurant in downtown tomorrow after services. So another day of eating out complications. I guess I'll just do the best that I can.

READER COMMENTS
I want to take a moment to address something that was left for me as a reader comment. It is from a woman who is in about the same place that I am in on this crazy diet journey. She said that she had expected to be in the 100s at this point and was disappointed that she, like me is still a few pounds away from it. I cannot tell you how great it is to hear that someone else had the same expectations that I had, and that they too are frustrated with the progress.

I guess the important thing to remember is that we are making progress, even if it is slow progress. That is better than going backwards. Perhaps this is easy for me to write tonight because I had a loss this morning, so chances are when I find myself back in the "dark place" from yesterday, I may need someone to remind me of my small epiphany.