HCG Day 23 – What I Eat

Good Morning Effective Community!

Today, I am showing you a day in the life of what I eat. Prior to starting the diet, it was hard for me to visualize what I would be eating. How much food, for example, is 600 calories really going to give me? What does “unlimited vegetables” really look like? I had to actually go through a day to understand how everything I had learned about the diet really fit in to a day. Today, I had some yummy meals. However, you will see that life is not always perfect and I did go over a little. This is exactly why it is so important to track everything and, even more importantly, PLAN AHEAD!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! Or so they say. However, in our HCG world, it actually is extremely important. We recommend starting your day with some protein to help jump start the day. This should be consumed within 30 minutes of taking your hCG injection, which is first thing after you wake up. I ALWAYS start my day with coffee. It’s how I function. Any diet that would take it away from me is not the diet for me! Thankfully, you can have all you want (let’s just be careful not to drink too much) on the EIH diet. Below, my coffee is made with 1 tsp vanilla extract, 4 drops of stevia, 1 tsp MCT oil, and 1 TBSP of whole milk. You are allowed a total of 3 tsp of MCT oil a day and 2 TBSP of dairy (these both usually go in my coffees…yes, plural). I had one turkey sausage patty and one egg fried in a touch of coconut oil topped with “Everything but the Bagel” seasoning from Trader Joe’s. This spice is a serious must try if you like bagels!

I have no picture for my mid-morning snack because I ate it before I could take a picture. I considered taking a picture of my empty container, but that’s silly. I had 1 oz of chicken jerky that was 80 calories and 3 grams of carbs.

I didn’t eat lunch because I only worked half a day at our PG County office and decided to exercise as soon as I got home. This was something I meant to do in the morning before my son woke up, but I value sleep too much. So, that didn’t happen. Nothing like the present to get it done before some house work, though! I even took the obligatory post workout selfie just for you all! That’s real sweat on my brow, people!

In lieu of lunch, I opted for a post workout protein shake. These are BY FAR my favorite things to consume. I don’t know what it is, but they make me feel invincible….and possibly like I am an actual athlete. On a more serious note, consuming protein directly after exercising, especially any kind of weight lifting, in extremely important to the recovery and growth of your muscles. Muscles LOVE protein! I drank one with 2 scoops of protein powder and 1 scoop of detox greens. YUM!

I did also have an afternoon snack because I was hungry after exercising and the shake wasn’t going to last until dinner. If you have never heard or read about the benefits of bone broth, I definitely recommend you go here to one of my favorite websites, Dr. Axe, to learn all about it: Benefits of Bone Broth You too will be a convert! The best part is that I found some on Amazon that come in K-Cups! Super easy for drinking here at work when I need something hot that’s not coffee!

My favorite time of day is dinnertime. I get to sit around a table with my amazing husband and son and learn about their days. Frequently, this also accompanied by a fantastic dinner. No lie, my husband’s cooking can rival most restaurants. Tonight, however, I cooked. We just bought an Instant Pot pressure cooker and have been making everything we can in it. Rain = no grilling. Per my husband’s request, I made a brisket. It was pretty darn good, if I do say so myself! Below, you will see that I had one slice of brisket with pesto on it for some added fat, some carrots, some onions, and 4 olives. I chose to add some fat due to my exercising. This is something you can play with once you get in to the meat of the program. Your response (weight loss) will totally depend on what you choose to eat, when, and how much. It’s very individualized, so if you choose to go “off program”, you need to monitor yourself very closely to see if it works.

There you have it! Everything I ate today. Looks good, right?! It also tends to end up as more food than people realize. Certainly not as much as what most people eat in a day, but not as little as I originally thought. The grand total for today was: 654 calories of protein and 35.2 grams of carbs. I went over on both of my numbers, but remember I exercised today. Again, this is something you can play around with a bit once you get past the first few weeks.

I hope this helps you see that this can be done quite easily and with AMAZING food!

~Becky, FNP-C