Just what the doctor ordered...

Basically if you can go 60 days without breads, pizza, cookies, candy bars, sugary snacks, etc., (starches and sugars) you can do this diet!!

The average weight loss for this diet is 20-30 pounds in 40 days.  This is not a “results may vary thing” it is a definite as long as you follow the diet religiously.  Men tend to lose more then women… Most of the women that I have helped through this have lost an average of 25-27 pounds per round… Most of the men that I have helped tended to lose between 43 and 51 pounds per round depending on how much they have to lose…

The first two phases are the only time you are taking the hCG drops (explained more below).  Do NOT exercise the first two phases, as your body has taken a diagram of your fat stores and when you exercise that fat is turned to muscle, making it so your body has to look harder for the fat, so it is easier to just let your body find the fat and burn it for you.  If you need to exercise, a light walk or something similar should be fine (just make sure you drink plenty of liquids and eat your meals on time as much as possible... don't space your meals too far apart).  The last two phases you are maintaining your new weight and you will want to exercise to help maintain as well (you feel really good at this point so you want to exercise)…

Summary of a Typical Round

Phase 1 (day 1 and 2):  Take the hCG and gorge yourself for two full days – eat more food than any one person should eat – even if you aren’t hungry, if you aren’t ready to throw up, eat – otherwise you will end up being crabby and have headaches and cramping the first week.

Phase 2 (starting with day 3):  500 calories (no breakfast, 1 protein, 2 cups vegetables (only 1 vegetable – not mixed), 1 fruit, 1 Grissini breadstick or Melba toast for lunch and dinner) – I actually eat the protein and vegetable (or fruit) for lunch and have my fruit (or vegetable) and breadstick for snacktime around 3:30 or 4:00 and around 7:30 for an after dinner snack.  You are on this phase for 40 days (or 20 days if you are doing a half round).  Drink as much 0 calorie tea, green tea, water, coffee as you like, but no sugar, creamer, or sweetener except Stevia.  Sweetleaf stevia granules and liquid taste best, Stevita stevia liquid also tastes good and costs a little less... these are the only ones that we found that didn’t have some other variant of sugar in them – causing you to stall in weight loss. 

Sometime after 20 hCG days, but before 41 hCG days:  Stop taking the hCG, but continue following the 500 calorie diet for 72 hours/3 days.  DO NOT exercise yet!!

Phase 3:   No starches or sugars.  You are adding back all meats, all vegetables (except potatoes, corn, beets, yams, sweet potatoes), and all fruits, all cheeses and milk, but no breads or sugary stuff yet…  All of a sudden you will switch to eating 1200-1700 calories per day (males will go with the 1500-1700 calorie count, females 1200-1400 calorie count... as the drops were taking the fat and melting it to burn for the additional 700-1200 calories – so if you try to stay on the 500 calories you will actually gain weight because your body goes into starvation mode).  You are on this phase for 3 weeks.  Start to exercise at least 15 minutes to 30 minutes each day – we did the Power half hour series by Tony Horton each evening from www.beachbody.com but even going for a jog or brisk walk for 30 minutes works pretty good…

Phase 4:  Gradually start adding back starches and sugars (breads, cookies, pizza, spaghetti, potatoes, corn, etc.), but make sure to weigh every day still to make sure you don’t go above 2 pounds from your lowest weight – if you do go up above the 2 pounds from your lowest weight, you can do a 6-apple day or steak day to bring your weight back down, but you have to do it the day you see your weight go up otherwise it won’t come right back off (explained more in the manuscript or I can give you more explanation if you decide you would like to try this)… You are on this phase for 3 weeks as well, and then you have reset your metabolism and you now know how to eat to give your body fuel and keep at your new weight instead of giving it fillers. 

For life:  You can eat whatever you like within reason, still maintaining smaller portion sizes, but really no restrictions on what foods… Keep exercising to help maintain – at this point you feel so good you want to exercise.  The one thing I have found is that if I exercise first and then have dessert, a bowl of ice cream, etc., that my body uses that as fuel instead of adding it in storage… Everything in moderation though!

If you have more weight to lose you can do this diet multiple times just wait an additional amount of time after each round, otherwise your body will become immune to it:

After completing phase 3 and phase 4 of the first round you can start directly into a second round.

After completing phase 3 and phase 4 of the second round you need to wait an additional six weeks to start into a third round.

After completing phase 3 and phase 4 of the third round you need to wait an additional twelve weeks to start into a fourth round…

After that additional 12 weeks of waiting in between phases, you can start over as if you were doing the diet for the first time… most people don’t have to do this diet more than 2-3 times, but you can do a half round like we did at the beginning of this year after the holidays, just as a maintenance round every year if you like…

The biggest thing this diet does is teach you how to eat right and exercise – just what the doctor ordered J!!

They call this the last diet you will ever need because if you see yourself going up 10 pounds or more again, you can just redo the diet to get those pounds back off quickly…

We used Jason Products Thin to Thick shampoo and conditioner (keeps your hair from falling out and/or thinning and helps grow new hair) found cheapest at http://www.vitacost.com/Jason-Thin-To-Thick-Shampoo, but they also have another shampoo and conditioner by Nature's Gate that seems to work in keeping your hair in place and clean too http://www.vitacost.com/Natures-Gate-Biotin-Strengthening-Shampoo.  We used Dove bar soap, Aveeno oatmeal lotion or Dead Down Wind lotion because our hands both seemed to be drier.  We used Scent-A-Way hunting deodorant, but I found this one as well made by Hugo Naturals that is according to the hcg protocol http://www.vitacost.com/Hugo-Naturals-Unscented-Deodorant#IngredientFacts as well as Jason Products tooth paste http://www.vitacost.com/Jason-Healthy-Mouth-Toothpaste-Tea-Tree-Cinnamon - Certain products contain variants of oils and sugars, and these all seemed to follow the hcg protocol and not cause a problem with stalling in weight loss.  The mint toothpastes somehow affect the homeopathy from working as well, so cinnamon or baking soda tooth paste is more highly recommended…… Anything natural/organic should work fine as well…  You just want to avoid propylene glycol and sodium laureth/lauryl sulfate in any of the daily toiletry (soaps, deodorants, etc.) products you use…. You don’t have to be this strict, but if you start noticing that you are stalling in weight or not losing as much weight, start avoiding the items that have these chemicals in them…

We bought a George foreman grill for $24 from Walmart (84”-black) (to make it simpler to cook our meat and veggies without extra oils and butter) and the food scale to measure the 100 grams or 3.5 ounces for $4 and some change at Walmart… 

Weighing every day keeps you motivated to stick with it – the Wii Fit or Wii Fit Plus with the balance board make watching the BMI and weight go down that much more exciting and pretty exact as it will measure to the ounce that you lost…  however, using a regular bathroom scale will work too…

We also use the Magic Bullet to make slushies and stuff that requires a food processer, but any food processer or blender will do…

 
A side note as far as the hCG drops... 10-20 drops held under your tongue for 2 minutes 15 minutes before or after eating or drinking anything will give you the most benefit.  We found taking 10 drops six times a day made us not as hungry throughout the day versus 20 drops three times a day.   The six times a day started first thing in the morning when getting out of bed, mid morning, lunch, mid afternoon, dinner, and evening time sometime between dinnertime and bed.

Good luck if you try this diet!! 

Make sure and post your results too!!  I love hearing how people do with this diet...

-Melinda :)

Whether you think you can or you think you cannot, either way you are right - Henry Ford

Commitment... This diet is a challenge.  Yes you are typically feeling good and losing weight each day.  Yet, there are always those parties, luncheons, weddings, and delicious brownies sitting on the counter that force you to answer one question: "Am I going to stick with this for a month to lose the weight and reset my metabolism or am I going to give in and just cheat a little?"  You have to decide before that question ever surfaces what your answer is going to be.  So, when it comes down to this, tell yourself, "I can do ANYTHING for a month!"  ...and you can...  Think about it, it really is such a short period of time to make a world of difference in your life.

Now that you have read the manuscript and purchased your hCG (drops, injections, tablets, spray or powder) and the recipe guide and pocket guide to the hCG diet... The next step in prepping for your course of the hCG diet is to plan your food choices for at least the first week and some stuff will carry into the following few weeks.

My normal shopping list for starting the diet includes:
*1 bag of romaine lettuce (can be mixed with other lettuces) (I only buy one bag of either lettuce or spinach a week because then it won't get all brown and slimy before you get to it)
*1 bag of spinach (a side salad from McDonald's, Burger King, or Wendy's is comparable to the serving size you will need - approximately 1-2 cups)
*4-6 tomatoes - to slice or make into soup
*1 box of 8 count Dole Organic diced tomatoes - to make quick tomato soup
*1 bag of frozen boneless/skinless chicken breasts (can be tenderloins) - used to make chicken broth
*2-3 cucumbers (to slice and dip in the Walden Farms Bacon Ranch dressing)
*1 package of celery (to dip in the Walden Farms Bacon Ranch dressing)
*1-2 packages of fresh chicken breasts (you can also get grilled chicken breasts from McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, and any other restaurant that sells grilled chicken sandwiches, just ask for the grilled chicken breast by itself)
*1 box of Alessi grissini sticks
*1 box of sea salt Melba toast (they have all kinds of different flavors, but sea salt seems to taste good with a lot of meals)
*1 bag of large shrimp (you can actually have any of the white fish like flounder, tilapia and orange roughy and crab legs) (you can get tilapia and flounder from Captain D's too... they usually serve it with rice, so just scrape the rice off and eat only the meat)
*2 bottles of Walden Farms Dressing (I prefer Bacon Ranch... we went through these pretty fast and they have them just as cheap at www.netrition.com and only $4.95 for shipping to the lower 48 states no matter how much you order - just do a search for Walden Farms on www.netrition.com)
*1 bottle of Walden Farms Hickory Smoked or Honey BBQ sauce (you can have any of the Walden Farms stuff during any phase of the diet except the peanut butter and mayonnaise and salsa - which isn't worth it anyway - we just mainly liked the dressings, BBQ sauces and the chocolate dip)
*1 container of Walden Farms Chocolate Dip - they aren't exactly like the real thing, but are very nice to dip apples into when you can't have the real thing...
*1 bottle of Maple Grove Farms No Sugar Added Raspberry Vinagrette dressing (for dipping shrimp into if you want)... the Walden Farms shrimp sauce is not great, but they do make it if you want to try it.
*2-3 bags of frozen strawberries - to make slushies (just add 1 tbsp of milk 15-20 drops of vanilla creme stevia and 10 drops of chocolate stevia) (you can get the stevia from Nature's pantry or from www.vitacost.com)
*several different kinds of flavored stevia and clear stevia and stevia packets (cheapest from www.vitacost.com (Sweetleaf brand granules taste best, but Stevita brand or Sweetleaf brand liquid stevias taste great)
*1 bottle of lemon juice (to use for lemon water - add some clear stevia or vanilla creme stevia and lemon juice to taste in a glass of water and you have lemonade) and you will want lemon juice for sprinkling over asparagus and fish or shrimp too...
*1 pound 93% lean ground beef (makes 4 servings - I usually take each of the four servings and separate them into two smaller patties, totally 8 patties all together, 2 per serving that way)
*1 container Mrs. Dash salt-free spices (just make sure there are no sugars in the spices and you can buy the mixed spices - I use this mostly on chicken)
*1 container Steak seasoning (I use this on the hamburger and steak)
*1 package of fresh strawberries (to use to make apples and strawberry sauce)
*1 dozen apples (Jonagold tastes best, but Gala, Pink Lady, or any of the others are fine too - whatever you like the taste of) (2 packages of apple fries from Burger King or 2 packages of apple slices from McDonalds or Subway are equivolent to one whole apple)
*1-2 boxes of green tea bags.
*1/2 or 1 gallon skim milk

Note:  This is my typical list when beginning the diet... you may choose other things that you like too, but these are the foods I liked to have on the diet.  Different recipes call for different spices and seasonings, so you may want to check into getting those too... 

500 Calorie Diet...The following is the summary directly from Dr. Simeons' Manuscript (with a couple of my added notes in parentheses):

The Diet

Breakfast:  Tea or coffee in any quantity without sugar.  Only 1 tablespoonful of milk allowed in 24 hours.  Saccharin or Stevia may be used (Sweetleaf Stevia granule packets taste best).

Lunch: 
1.  100 grams of veal, beef, chicken breast, fresh white fish, lobster, crab, or shrimp (wild game such as wild venison is also allowed if you kill your own meat, however, venison and other wild game is not recommended if buying from a game farm).  All visible fat must be carefully removed before cooking, and the meat must be weighed raw.  It must be boiled or grilled without additional fat.  Salmon, eel, tuna*, herring, dried or pickled fish are not allowed.  The chicken breast must be removed from the bird (the serving size at most restaurants is right around the 100 grams or 3.5 oz size as well if you choose or need to eat out for any of your meals).
2.  One type of vegetable only to be chosen from teh following:  spinach, chard, chicory, beet-greens, green salad, tomatoes, celery, fennel, onions, red radishes, cucumbers, asparagus, cabbage.
3.  One breadstick per serving (Alessi brand grissini sticks) or one Melba toast (the small round pieces you can have 2 of).
4.  An apple or a handful of strawberries or one-half grapefruit, orange* (*in the original manuscript, but not in at least one version of the circulating manuscripts) (fresh tangelo, fresh tangerine, fresh (not canned) mandarin oranges are also allowed).

Dinner:  The same four choices as lunch.

The juice of one lemon daily is allowed for all purposes.  Salt, pepper, vinegar, mustard powder, garlic, sweet basil, parsley, thyme, marjoram, etc., may be used for seasoning, but no oil, butter, or dressing (other than the Walden Farms or Maple Grove Farms No Sugar Added dressings).

Tea, coffe, plain water, or mineral water are the only drinks allowed, but they may be taken in any quantity and at all times.

*In Dr. Simeons' time, tuna was only packed in oil.  However, now that you can get it packed in water, many people have had great success while using one 4 oz. can of tuna packed in water as their meat for their meal.

Though it may be tempting to use other meats such as pork or turkey or other vegetables such as broccolli, carrots, or green beans, or fruits such as watermelon, grapes, or other berries besides strawberries, etc., these are not recommended for the 500 calorie portion.  Each of the meats, vegetables and fruits chosen to eat on the 500 calorie portion (Phase 2) have been taken to an exact science to help you lose the most weight possible.

If you haven't already purchased it, I highly recommend the book 101 Worry-Free HCG Diet Recipes Book (available at http://www.diyhcg.com/hcg-books/hcg-weight-loss-cure-guide-linda-prinster-1).  It gives a lot of great recipes to help keep this diet from getting monotonous and a grocery list in the back.  I also highly recommend (if you haven't purchased it already) the Pocket Guide to the HCG Protocol (available at http://www.diyhcg.com/hcg-books/pocket-guide-to-the-hcg-protocol-prinster), which will guide you through the foods that are tested and proven down to what phase is okay to eat them and what serving sizes are, as well as calories, proteins, sugars, fats, and carbs breakdowns to help you lose the most weight possible and maintain your new weight.

Have fun shopping!

-Melinda

next step... what hCG to purchase???

Now that I have given you ample time to hopefully have read the manuscript by Dr. Simeons (http://www.diyhcg.com/media/Dr-Simeons-Manuscript.pdf)... what is the next step?

The next step is to buy whatever form of hCG you will be taking.  There are so many different varieties out there.  I have had friends who did the hCG powder, the injections with a physician, the hCG homeopathic spray, and I have done the hCG drops.  I have a feeling there are probably other ways that they make the hCG formula as well, but these are all of the ones I have heard of. 

Now, you may be thinking what is the best one, and honestly there are so many out there now, it is hard to know which one is the best one.  If you have done the diet, feel free to write in your comments about which types of hCG you have taken and how they worked for you.  The first round we did starting on Super Bowl Sunday in January of 2010 we started with the 2 oz homeopathic drops made by diyhcg.com hcg-diet-drops... however, both my husband, Jared, and I ran out of drops by about day 34, so we didn't get the final few days of drops and potential weight loss we were hoping for, though I lost 27 pounds that round and my husband lost 50 pounds.  The second round that we did started on May 1, 2010 and we decided to try the 1 oz bottles of Mediral brand homeopathic drops (we bought 3 bottles each for a full round, which allowed for the full 40 days and room for error in counting the drops under the tongue) mediral-hcg-diet-drops.  We were able to get the 1 oz Mediral hCG detox drops at that time on e-bay, but e-bay has since banned selling hCG on their website.  Jared only ended up doing a half round in May of 2010 as that was all the weight he needed to lose (he lost that last 15 pounds fairly quickly), and I lost another 27 pounds.  At the end of that round, I didn't have a whole lot of weight left to lose, but I wanted to see how far down my body would let me go (the one thing about this diet is that it will not let you get too skinny, models have tried but this diet won't allow you to go down too far), so I started another round in September of 2010.  By the end of that round, I had gotten down to my very lowest weight and had lost an additional 16 pounds. 

After the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday, we had both gained a little weight back, so we did one more half round with the 1 oz Mediral hCG detox drops as well (2 bottles each to allow room for error, but most of the second bottle remained).  When telling others about the diet later in the spring, we then found out that Mediral had stopped making the drops altogether, so that particular brand of hCG has become much more difficult to find.  The potency of these drops is 6x, 12x, 30x, 60x, which is how many times the formula has been diluted.  There are several other brands out there that use this potency and several that use different potencies and sound like they will have great results without spending too much per bottle.  The following are just a few I found in a quick "Google" search...

directsupercenter.com has Natural Health Labs Homeopathic hCG 2 fl oz for $19.95 + shipping. 

http://www.ecrater.com/p/11218892/hcg-pharmaceutical-grade-weight-loss $15.98 for hCG Pharmaceutical Grade Weight Loss Drops 2 oz SEALED! FREE SHIPPING!

http://www.alternativehealthcompany.com/hcgfahcgdr6x.html 2 Oz Bottle of HCG Factory HCG Drops 6X,12X,30X,60X SINGLE REMEDY WEIGHT LOSS PLUS FREE GOURMET COOKBOOK & MORE for $38.95 plus shipping!

Whichever drops or hCG formula you choose to use, hopefully you find one that works perfectly for you.  If you have one that doesn't seem to be working, try a different one.  There is no way to be certain that it is the hCG formula either, as the way you eat is key to this diet, as well as NO or minimal exercise for the drops portion of the diet (either the first 21 days in a half round or the first 40 days in a full round).  Once you have purchased your drops, powder, or spray, you will want to purchase two very important books that will help you through the diet as well as maintain the weight after you have finished each round; 101 Worry-Free HCG Diet Recipes Book (Mennemeier & Prinster) hcg-weight-loss-cure-guide - this will help make the diet less bland and provide a grocery list so you will be prepared for the foods you are about to eat for the next couple of months; and Pocket Guide to the HCG Protocol (Prinster) pocket-guide-to-the-hcg-protocol - this will help in guiding you through the stages to come back off of the diet in knowing what foods to eat, when you can start eating them and how much is a recommended serving. 

As you will have found in Dr. Simeons manuscript, he has taken this to a pretty exact science on what foods are best to eat and best to avoid and what amounts of days to do the diet (21 or 40) and wean back off of the diet (3 weeks gradually adding back everything but starches and sugars and 3 weeks gradually adding back starches and sugars). 

Note:  If you are following the hCG diet with a physician, there will be different things to eat with each time you weigh as the physician will possibly change the diet weekly to meet the most potential weight loss for your body. 

The one website that I have found very helpful for this whole diet and a lot of questions that people ask me is www.diyhcg.com, but search out the web for other potential sources of hCG drops, powders, or sprays to your liking.  I know there are other hCG products out there that work too, so don't be afraid to give some other products a try.  I do know, however, that the drops offered by diyhcg.com really work to help lose the weight quickly and keep it off, but are more pricey than other places too... which is why I had gone to e-bay to buy my drops.  For those that have done this diet too, add a note to let anyone else reading this blog know what other products and companies are working and not working for you, that way we hear all sides... and can learn from others stories too!

Happy Hunting!

-Melinda

What have You got to Lose???

What have you got to lose but.... Weight!!!

I did it and you can too!!  I lost 65 pounds in 2010 with the hCG diet.  The weight truly does come off very simply, however, the maintaining can be the tricky part.  I was literally changing sizes every week in the first 40 days of each round of the diet.  Me and the thrift store became very good friends - lol!!

I have decided to write a blog that would hopefully answer your questions about this diet.  Any information you want to know, I have probably already gone through, so give me your best shot!  The only negative feedback I have found regarding this diet is from people who haven't ever tried it... I have helped my friends and family through this process and we have all lost a lot of weight... and now I want to help you too!  I hope you can learn from my mistakes and receive the best results possible!

Whether you have 10-15 pounds all the way up to 100+ pounds to lose, this diet really does work, but there are a few tricks to the trade and it does require you to learn to eat right and add in exercise at least a few times a week if not every day!  I am getting ahead of myself here though.  The very first thing you will want to do is read this manuscript... http://www.diyhcg.com/media/Dr-Simeons-Manuscript.pdf... Anywhere it says shots, trade that out in your mind for drops (homeopathic drops under your tongue - much less painful).

After you have read the manuscript, come back here for your next step.  I will be doing a new post every couple of days, and I will guide you step-by-step in your process to lose weight!

Read the manuscript before you move to the next step!  Feel free to leave comments on your progress!  I love to hear people's success stories!  I am here to help if you have any questions too!

Best of Luck to you in achieving your weight loss goals!

- Melinda