Day 18

I am happy to know WHY I've gained .6 of a lb today. Water weight gain from, you guessed it, my period is here. Oh Joy! So I have no worries that the weight will come off soon. I will be continuing to take my HCG even though some books encourage skipping one or part of these days. And some don't. So I'm opting out of an additional skip day. My sister continued to take it and all was well. Besides, I have a skip day coming tomorrow anyway.

On to a more pleasing topic...food. I took some pics of a few of my meals so you can get an idea of what that 500 calorie diet looks like and what's allowed. It looks like more than you thought, right?

-The first picture is shrimp with tomatoes, seasoned with apple cider vinegar and my Costco organic salt free herbs. This is a great meal if you're in a hurry. That's actually only 1 cup of tomatoes. If you get the cherry tomatoes and cut them up, it looks like a lot more.
-The second picture is of my "taco salad". I use ground buffalo because it's much leaner than beef and I season it with the same taco seasoning I've been using for years. I use Bearitos seasoning from health food stores or the natural isle in the grocery store. I put that over 2 cups of spinach or mixed greens depending on my mood. This is the meal that will get me through this diet.
-The third one is tilapia with a cucumber salad. One thing I love about the tilapia is that it looks pretty big when you divide it into 100 grams. That's about half of one fillet. I mixed apple cider vinegar and again, my Costco herbs with the cucumber. And I love to spice up my fish with a tiny bit of cayenne pepper and some garlic powder. 2 cups of cucumber is just about a whole one if it's not colossal. But who doesn't love a colossal cucumber? just kidding.
-And of course, the dumb little Melba toast on the side. They are actually good. Kinda buttery and crunchy. If only they were twice the size. I can only dream.
And believe me I am dreaming.