Since this is my second time doing the HCG diet, there was a lot less prep work involved as compared to my first time around. I already have a food scale, a regular scale, and of all the vinegar, seasonings and spices that I’ll need for cooking. This meant that on Sunday all I had to do was buy food. It ended up being a fairly cheap shopping trip, about $40 for enough food to get me through my first week (and, as far as protein is concerned, maybe my second week as well).

I bought:

• Vegetables – spinach, cabbage, cucumber, and tomatoes.
• Fruit – Grapefruits and apples. I would have also bought strawberries but I couldn’t find them in the supermarket.
• Protein – Chicken, shrimp and crab meat. (And yes, I know farm-raised shrimp and imitation crab meat are bad. But those are two very cheap sources of protein that also happen to taste great, and it’s only for a few weeks.) I already had a few cans of tuna fish, so I didn’t need to buy any, though tuna will definitely be on the menu.

I’m glad that I won’t have to spend too much time figuring out which HCG recipes to make, since I already know what I like and what I don’t. I’ll be posting the recipes as I make them.

Stay tuned for Day 1!