My name is Lisa, and this is one girl's HCG Diet Diary. I have been overweight ever since the birth of my daughter 4 years ago. Prior to that, I weighed between 115 and 130 - when I got to 130 I quickly lost five pounds or so to get to where I felt comfortable again. Since my daughter's birth, I have struggled to lose my pregnancy weight - and have not been successful. Today, I weigh 173 pounds. Ugh. I tried everything - but honestly, I simply did not have the willpower to stick with anything for very long. I was moaning about this to my doctor, and she told me she was going to be offering the HCG diet. I was intrigued - she sent me on my way to do my own research, and then I decided to sign up.
So, you may want some information on what the HCG Diet actually is. I am doing this diet through a doctor - I did not feel comfortable doing it without medical supervision. There are a lot of sites out there that give information about the diet, but my doctor only recommends these sites: www.hcgdietinfo.com , which has Dr. Simeons "Pounds and Inches" manuscript available online. Also, www.hcgrecipes.com has an e book called "The HCG Dieter Gourmet Cookbook" by Tammy Skye - this is what I use, it's amazing what you can do with so little food.
The basics of the diet are as follows: You begin the diet with two days of gorging, or eating everything fattening you can get your hands on. After that, you are on a very low calorie diet - only 500 calories per day. The entire process takes 43 days, and people lose up to 40 pounds in this time period. You give yourself an injection of HCG every morning. The HCG makes you feel full, so you can be successful on a very low calorie diet. You have to eat VERY specific foods - 2 grissini or melba toasts, 2 fruit (apple, orange, 6 strawberries, or 1/2 grapefruit), 3.5 ounces (before cooking) of skinless chicken breast, beef, buffalo, veal, white fish, lobster, crab or shrimp twice a day, and 2 cups of veggies twice a day. Legal veggies include spinach, asparagus, green beans, lettuce, etc. That's the short version - now here's the long version:
My doctor said that when she had a client come back from Europe and tell her about the HCG Diet, she was intrigued, but skeptical. My doctor is always very conservative and researches programs intensely before offering them to patients. She looked at the existing research and said it was CRAP. However, she had worked with HCG quite a bit and knew what it could do, and also knew it had no side effects. She had used HCG in the past to medically treat men and women for many different conditions like infertility and hormone regulation. So she did her own trial, and was thrilled with the results. The amount of HCG you are given is miniscule compared to what a pregnant woman makes - this does not fool your body into thinking it's pregnant. What it does is make your body use fat stores for fuel, and give you a full feeling so you can be on a low calorie diet with ease. It also prevents the bad side effects of a low calorie diet - muscle atrophy, skin and hair problems, etc.
My doctor's version of the diet, the one I am following, is different from the original one. She said there is no issue regarding hand lotions, makeup, things like that. Average weight loss is 1/2 to 1 pound per day. This is for people who want to lose 20 pounds or more. The course of therapy takes 9 weeks. It starts with the first injection (which you give to yourself in your mid-thigh) and a 'forced feeding', consuming as much fattening food as you can for two days to increase the body's fat reserves. This will be lost in the first three days. Patients will be able to continue normal activities and their energy levels remain as if they are eating normally. The injections are given daily for 23 to 40 days, depending on how much weight patients want to lose. The diet must be continues for 3 days past the last injection (there is still HCG in the body at this point). During the injection period, patients are closely monitored with Bio-impedance analysis (BIA), body composition tests, lab tests and weekly visits with a nutritionist. At the end of week 6, patients are instructed on a low-carb diet which they follow for 3 weeks. Patients then begin a maintenance program to help maintain ideal body weight throughout a lifetime. Common side effects are: pain at the site of injection and bruising. Headache, irritability and restlessness are the next most common and shortlived, if they occur at all. Fluid retention, breast tenderness and depression may occur infrequently. Allergic reactions are possible but very rare.
I think this diet is extremely affordable, as the cost is $695 and includes: a 60 minute RN (registered nurse) consultation and instruction on injection technique. Six 30 minute visits with the nutritionist, one vial of HCG and supplies (will last for entire course), physician review of lab tests at week 3 & 6, four BIA's (Bio-impedance analysis), patient information booklet and weight loss log, and various handouts.
I went in on April 7th and had a BIA - this measured many things, including how much fat I had verses muscle. Through my doctor, I have this done every two weeks to make sure that I am not losing muscle. Right now, my body is made up of 111 pounds of bone and muscle, and 62 pounds of fat. I was trained on how to do my own injections, and started the diet the very next day. Today was my first injection of HCG. This was a gorging day. I had no problems with the injection this morning – I guess years of having a diabetic cat helped me become pretty handy with a needle. But I did have problems gorging – total surprise!!! I ate a few cookies, then later forced down a Whopper. I only ate ¼ of my fries. Then I had two cheesesticks, and then got pretzel sticks at the mall. Then I got a Wendy’s frosty shake. I truly had to choke down everything – the longer the day went on, the fuller I felt. Truly amazing.
I weighed a whopping 173 this morning. At 5'4, that is most definitely overweight. Here are my measurements:
Bust: 43
Arm: 11.5
Waist: 37
Hips: 44.5
Upper thigh: 24
Calf: 14
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete