Hcg-day 1

 

Saturday was spent shopping for this new beneficially restrictive culinary venture.  Our first stop was at the HALO HALO Diner.  The lechon and deep fried tilapia were fresh out of the fryer upon arrival.  Much to my heritage influenced satisfaction, Dylan approved and reveled the Hong Kong style lechon.  However, there is nothing more famously copacetic than the Philippine lechon.  In keeping with the bi-weekly tradition even more, lunch was topped off with a halo halo.  I'm not a particular fan of the scoop of vanilla ice cream in my halo halo so it was put into a separate bowl... and Dylan devoured it.  

goofin' off at Lee Lee's

Buying for 500 calories a day makes it facile on the pockets and the general menu-ing.  The effervescence of fish hit our awaiting proboscises  upon entrance into Lee's Lee's Oriental food market.  Literally made the eyes cross. We typically like to get 3-8lb. of lean beef and have the butchers thinly slice it up for us.  That's also where we like to load up on chicken breasts and leg quarters.  But on this particular day, for me, we really loaded on the chicken breasts.  Dylan liked the bucket of fried veggie chips in Sprouts.  Mike made purchasing allowance for the corn nuts that Dylan has an apparent affinity for.  It was so nice to have his [extra]  hands/legs help with all the day's shopping.  Aside from that, we really enjoyed spending the day with him.  While some parents carp through their teen's first, entire or latter teenage years as something luridly indigestible...Dylan's just an all around fun kid.  Sure, it's just the beginning....but, still. I love that boy! 



This was the first day I'd ever stepped into the 99 cent store...next door.  It was surprisingly half the size of a Wal-mart.  They typically have bread and better priced bags of chips.  However, this one had more than I'd ever seen.  Things like frozen one pound packages of ground turkey/chicken and some fresh produce.  Before finally making it to Wal-mart, on Happy Valley, Mike wanted to make a quick run to Burlington in hopes to find Dylan a pair of  "skinny" jeans.  What an odd sounding style of pants for boys...but what he picked out was pretty decent...after over an hour.
 

At this point I felt slightly spent on energy and was feeling the end of the day to be rather latish.  Dylan's eyes were progressively getting tired and red.  However, the supper stop at the Hawaiian BBQ where he enjoyed a large helping of palatable fried chicken and rice, seemed to give him a second energy boost which he delightfully displayed through the Wal-mart isles.  Sadly, that's not something I could say for myself.  Ubiquitous to Hawaii's culinary culture, I keep wishing I had tried the signature spam plate.  But should I really care?  When this diet is over, I'll have the rest of my life to try...or not to try. 



I couldn't resist cutting up one of the two $.97 pineapples I bought

 at Sprouts.  Enjoyed it with a few bites of cheddar cheese.  A

combination favorite in the Philippines.  Brought great memories. 

There's nothing like a fresh pineapple!



Today it was incredibly hard to get up after such a long day in Phoenix, getting home after 10pm, and still having to unload/put way food.  Mike miraculously got up early to go get his weekend tasks done at the radio station. I simply went back to bed until after noon.  So, that's when I had my first meal (Mike made chicken tacos with the ground chicken) and swills of water.  I enjoyed two tacos.  It's so much better with cheese and sour cream....two key ingredients that weren't a grocery shopping priority the last several months.  Okay,  I will admit that eating as much as you want is beyond easy.  How much more fortunate that there is such a thing as capping.  It's nice to know I have my limits despite my previously self-inflicted blossoming circumstances.



I practically stayed full the rest of the day.  The conference call with Chuck Quinley (in Thailand) and Carol didn't happen as planned in the evening.  We did, however, manage to get through to FA and get a few questions answered about tuition.  Unsatisfied with the limited (though, still helpful) information, Mike went on to call mom and ask her a few more questions.  Of course, having been on the staff for quite some time she was able to satisfy her son-in-law's pressing inquiries.  So, even though we didn't make all the communication connections today, at least we had more to shape our annual budget with.

Mike's metabolism was re-revved by that point.  He made sigsig with the only contents being chicken breast and bacon...oh, and the seasoning he found at Lee Lee's.  We don't have an entire pig head to make the dish, fortunately.  I wouldn't have eaten it, anyway, if we did.  Our version of the dish would've greatly disappointed Anthony Bourdain.  Surprisingly,  it was all more than I could quaff.  I only managed to drink half a gallon of water the entire day.  That's the minimum requirement.  So, it's all good. 

Food supplements are discouraged from the protocol so, because of all the ingredients, and what Dr. Simeon's has researched, observed and learned over the years of how changing the food can slow or halt the fat releasing process, I most likely will not be using the berry green supplement starting on the third day.  So, today and tomorrow I will be heavily using it.



With Tori's help, Maverick sports his belated birthday present we picked up at Wal-mart



Off to bed....tomorrow's a new day.  Day two to be exact.