Eftimia

Hey Eftimia! Congrats on the 12lbs!! Awesome job. I had the same problem with my nonstick pans...everything stuck I bought a George Foreman grill and it was a life saver...cooks things really fast and it doesnt stick! I would also throw a whole package of chicken on the real bbq at the beginning of the week and put them in their seperate baggies making it easier when I am hungry. I found my first round I got creative with recipies but by my 2nd I just used salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. The simpler the better worked well for me. No thinking lol When I cooked my egg+3 eggwhites I would put it in my nonstick pan...add a little bit of water and then cover it with a lid. This worked pretty well! Good luck..hopefully that helped a little.

I eat pretty simply. Don't do a lot of the recipe stuff in P2. You can bake your fish on parchment paper in the oven and it will come out moister. Just don't over bake it. I but some blackening spice on mine. Look for some in your stores w/o sugar or make one. I also have a Santa Maria seasoning I use on trout and tenderloin. I buy it but I know there are recipes online. I also buy a spice hunter Mexican seasoning and do my extra lean ground beef in it for a taco type flavor. I eat it on lettuce with lemon or with tomatoes but I don't do tomatoes much as they make me stall. Also I make a homemade chicken broth and have it in the fridge. I can then heat it and put either my cooked chicken or some shrimp in it with either Swiss chard or spinach for a simple soup. I also put blackening spice on my chicken and either put it on the Forman grill or the grill outside. Again if you overlook it it will be dry. And yes you can have apple cider vinegar and braggs organic with the mother is the best for you. congratulations on your incredible loss.

Eftimia, you are doing great. I am down 12.5 if you include the four pounds I gained with loading. I used a slight spray of canola oil in my pan I cooked the tilapia in and it did not stick. Next time I'll use the parchment paper trick. Just don't overlook it. I have not been eating just a single vegetable and I know they say not to do that but lettuce is so blah by itself and I can't eat asparagus for a long time. I also ate mixed fruits over the weekend. I was out of town and the cut up fruit looked so good. Will see what the scales say tomorrow as they say a cheat will show up later. Also made pico to spice up chicken and I know that tomatoes onions and peppers are not recommended but I need flavor. Keep up the good work. May have to stop the mixing thing if the scales don't make me happy tomorrow! Jim

Greetings everyone!

Your recommendations are all very valuable! One of the biggest advantages I have is that my career is as an entrepreneur, and I make and sell spice blends and teas for a living. So I have over two dozen spice blends that I've made personally on hand at all times, and I know that they do not contain anything extra outside of herbs in them. It's actually what led me to come here. One of my customers was an HCG dieter who told me all about it, and expressed how hard it was for her to find flavorful spice blends that were allowed for the diet. Perseverance, I'm a huge fan of cajun blackened catfish and chicken...they were among the first foods I started on with this. I will DEFINITELY take on your advice for the parchment in the oven. I've only just started learning to grill this summer, so I will need to try my hand at that as well.

As of right now, I don't have a George Foreman grill, but I really would like one now. I have a small sandwich grill that is pretty much the same as a Foreman grill, but it's not because it's not non-stick for one...but the design is shaped for the sandwich bread, not like a grill.

I'm thrilled to know I can use apple cider vinegar...that will get me through this even more so. Like Perseverance, I don't really want to get too elaborate right now. By nature, I LOVE to cook, especially elaborate dishes. I admit it! I love "gourmet cooking". Whatever that means! BUT on this diet, I find that I have NO desire to cook anything elaborate. I've been VERY content to make lean beef (found 96% at the store!) with just a dash of onion powder...and voila! Dinner.

I really appreciate all of your advice so much! You guys are also doing so well...this forum really is invaluable!

I have tried all kinds of "white" fish without success. I now only prefer Talapia and for me it tastes best when I bake it using different spices with a littel veggie broth for the liquid. I bake a huge batch of fish and chicken on the weekend so I have different flavors for at least 2 weeks. I tried boiling my chicken one weekend and it was really dry and tough for some reason, so I only bake because it's more moist over boilling.

I've found quite a few cooking vlogs on YouTube and I have a binder of P2 recipes that I've collected.

I keep my food from sticking by using a little Coconut Oil Spray [it's like PAM]. I know some ppl don't use coconut oil while they are on P2 but I don't have any problems with it an actually lose more when I do use it.

I've been also thinking about getting an anodized saute pan - like that "Orgreenic" pan that you can find at the "AS SEEN ON TV" website. I also saw Emeril on HSN who advised that you should get an anodized saute pan which is much better than "non-stick". I don't know if that's true but I trust what Emeril says, he is a world famous chef... right?

I'm still doing my research on that Orgreenic pan.

Good luck.