I love hCG!

I lost exactly what I needed to lose to be back at my LIW -- an amazing 2.6 lbs!!! I've discovered how others may be able to use this correction day method, known as the "Chicken Thigh Day" (or, "CTD" for short). A Steak Day (SD) didn't work for me; I lost only .8 lbs, then gained back double that amount the very next day. So I wound up searching for an alternative to doing another Steak Day, and searched the web for answers. Someone else invented the Chicken Thigh Day; they didn't say anything more than "ate 7 chicken thighs through the day." This is what I'd personally feel comfortable recommending to others, based on my experience and what I've seen as the experience of others.

CHICKEN THIGH DAY:

+BREAKFAST: Starting at Breakfast, eat just one and a half (1.5) thighs, including the skin, the more greasy the better...I'd eat this at 7:30 AM; with two 16.6 ounce glasses of water -- one before I start eating, one after, both glasses with a lemon wedge inside it

+SECOND BREAKFAST: Drink your "large cup of coffee" sometime between Breakfast and Lunch; I use a large mug that has 3 cups of normal-sized cups of coffee as its capacity, and I fill it up!

+LUNCH: Eat two (2) thighs at Lunch, including the skin, the more greasy the better...I'd eat this at 11:30 AM; with two 16.6 ounce glasses of water -- one before I start eating, one after, both glasses with a lemon wedge inside it

+ONE MORE GLASS: Drink one 16.6 ounce glass of water, lemon optional, between meals -- doesn't matter which meals it's in-between, could be anytime throughout the day

+AFTERNOON SNACK: Eat two (2) thighs at Afternoon Snack, including the skin, the more greasy the better...I'd eat this at 3:30 PM; with two 16.6 ounce glasses of water -- one before I start eating, one after, both glasses with a lemon wedge inside it

+SECOND SNACK: Drink your second "large cup of coffee" sometime between Afternoon Snack and Dinner -- as long as you're drinking 3 cups of coffee (large mug optional, of course!) sometime throughout the afternoon, in addition to your morning one, that's great

+DINNER: Then finally, eat one and a half (1.5) thighs at Dinner, including the skin, the more greasy the better (and eat dinner no later than 7 PM)...I'd eat this at 6:30 PM; with two 16.6 ounce glasses of water -- one before I start eating, one after/during, both glasses with a lemon wedge inside it; drink your last glass of water before 7 PM as well

COOKING
It took me almost 1 hour and 20 minutes to cook 7 chicken thighs at 425 degrees. The key to making sure the thighs do not stick is to place them on aluminum foil (not cover them in foil, but just place the chicken thighs on top of the foil; pan or no pan below the foil, doesn't matter), then "wiggle" the thighs during the first 15 minutes, and occasionally thereafter. You could flip them back and forth throughout the baking time, but for some folks, flipping increases the chance of foil sticking. So just make sure you check on them occasionally (such as every 15 minutes or so), and wiggle them when you do. Note: if you forget how long it was exactly since you started cooking them, wait to make sure the skin is brown/golden brown, and crispy on top. That's the ultimate indicator of doneness. Then, leave all thighs uncovered in the fridge. If you cover them, condensation begins to gather, and it makes the skin floppy, and doesn't make eating them all that yummy. The grease/fat in the skin and meat will prevent it from drying out, so don't worry that if you leave it uncovered it will dry out; it won't. You're not going to leave them in the fridge for more than a couple of hours anyhow, because you'll eat them before the end of the day.

NO BUTTER, NO OIL, NO SPRAY USED IN COOKING
There was no butter, no oil, and no non-stick cooking spray used on the chicken thighs; all I used was a dash of salt on each, on the skin, mid-way through cooking the chicken thighs. In fact, I would never use dairy on my food because of my lactose intolerance. Just stuck them on tin foil that covered a roasting pan; again, I'll mention that there was no non-stick spray, no oil over the aluminum foil. Many sprays have silicone in them, or soy, or other nasties, and I choose to never use non-stick spray as a rule anyhow. The grease from the chicken thighs was enough to keep it from sticking. Just watch the thighs, as they first start cooking, and remember to wiggle them as I mention above. And also, remember: kitchen thongs are indispensable to grabbing and wiggling your thighs...(that sounds silly, I know! Heh heh), so grab a pair from the store if you don't have some already!

CHICKEN GREASE IS YOUR FRIEND
Since the time I used this protocol, I've eaten chicken thighs on occasion in my regular daily meals. Something someone asked me recently is if I "patted the grease" off of the chicken thighs. And my response? That I "actually drizzle some chicken fat/grease on top of them...and lose a little weight the next day, by the way!"

The chicken grease is integral to helping you lose! If you've grown up with all this rhetoric of animal fat is "bad" and carbs, no-fat anything, hydrogenated "butter" (margarine) is "good".....I suggest you re-think your thinking. Animal fat is not bad. Animal fat will not make you fat.

Be aware that "vegetable oil" (that's a way of saying "soy oil") and hydrogenated oil (as with Crisco)....is HORRIBLE!!!! So when I say "grease is good" don't think that means ANY greasy substance; I only mean grease coming from animal fats, and it must NOT be messed with (hydrogenated) by a processing plant; avoid lard by Armour for this reason.

DON'T FEAR THE FAT
People think you'll get fat if you eat fat, which is entirely untrue. SO.....don't fear the fat! You'll be better off with more of it, not less of it. The only time it gets wacky in your system is when you combine fat with sugar/starch. That's when your body sees a chance to use up the sugar/starch immediately (because they flood the bloodstream so quickly), and when that happens, your blood sugar levels go up. When your blood sugar levels rise, everything that comes into your bloodstream after that gets stored for "later use" (into your body fat!). So never, never ever eat a high sugar/starch meal that has a high fat content. This is yet another reason why going sparingly on carbs after a correction day (the "easing in" strategy I mention later on in this blog entry) for awhile works so well. And helps set in your correction day's weight loss.

LIQUIDS, WATER IN PARTICULAR
Also: NO liquids of any kind should be consumed after 7 PM. If you're not drinking water as you needed to throughout the day, this rule may be adjusted; try to drink as close to the 9 glasses of approximately 16.6 ounces each before 8:30 PM at the very latest. It takes, in my experience, approximately 10 hours for all the liquids drank (water included) to clear one's system, and give someone an accurate read on the scale in the morning. So add 10 hours to the last time you took a sip of anything, and your read will be accurate the next morning (after you've peed that same morning, of course!). This is why the cut-off period for liquids is 7 PM; it can show as less of a loss the next day, due to water still being in your system, if you drink late. BUT, the more negative consequence for not drinking enough glasses of water is a gain, so keep this all in mind as you drink water later than usual, if you ever do. Water drank late is better (even if your loss would show low, because it's not a true measure) than not enough water drank at all (which could lead to a true gain).

HOW TO DRINK ALL THAT WATER
I cut my lemon up into 9 slices now, to help me remember how many glasses of water to drink, and also to make sure each glass of water is tasty! Do NOT DRINK OVER this amount of water. It works out to be a little more than a gallon in water, and it's spread out over the period of the day, which is healthier than drinking a lot of water at once. If you drink more than this allotted amount, you risk unbalancing your cells and possibly having serious health implications. So no more water than this, okay? Don't let that frighten you into not drinking enough; the amount of water I drank should be fine for everyone. It gets truly scary when someone drinks close to 2 gallons in a day. Drinking just one gallon of water a day is safe though, especially when spread out over the day as I did.

IMPORTANT: "EASING" BACK IN AFTERWARDS
And, one other thing: after this, or any other correction day, I recommend "easing" back into normal eating through a no-carb/low-carb strategy, gently and gradually increasing the amount of carbs and calories you consume over a period of time. Again, this is done starting the very next day after your CTD -- or any correction day (CD), for that matter. There's also a need for your body to consume less calories and so forth after a correction day, because, in my experience, piling on the calories and going back to how you ate before the correction day may be too much too soon; any correction day puts your body in a state of stress. This is true with even this highly effective correction day strategy, even if you're eating chicken thighs starting at breakfast; it's a shock to your system regardless.

So, the key to locking in and keeping the weight loss you'll get with the CTD? It's "easing" back in to normal eating. Here's the Post-Correction Day Strategy that outlines how to do this. It's written in indexed chapters, and commonly referred to as "The Guide." It's for the days IMMEDIATELY following this correction day (or any successful correction day, for that matter): http://hcgdietinfo.com/hcgdietforums/entry.php?b=16711

If anyone has any comments or questions, feel free to post them here, or PM me for more immediate answers. I'll be happy to help!