Saturday, February 25, 2017
Starting The HCG Protocol
Before - 197 Pounds
After - 155 pounds
21 POUNDS DOWN IN ONE MONTH!
What is it & How
does it work? By using a combination
of VLCD (very low calorie diet) and hCG injections, the hCG
diet focuses
on losing and maintaining weight by shifting one's food intake to 500 calories
while taking daily injections of hCG, or the
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin hormone
During the HCG protocol, there are three phases that one
goes through.
Phase One:
The first phase is known as the “loading phase”. On the first day of the diet when the HCG is taken you are
allowed to eat anything you please and as much as you please. An important hint
would be that you should eat everything that you are going to miss while on
your diet. Eating things such as cake, french-fries, Ice cream, pasta, bread
and candy are highly encouraged! This phase continues for 2 days and ends on
the third day of the diet.
Phase Two: Phase 2 of the diet starts on the third
day. You should wake up feeling like you couldn't take another bit of food even
if you wanted to! You now take your HCG at the time you selected and reference
your food list for the amount of time you have chosen to
do the diet for. A Good rule of thumb for people who need to lose 30 lbs or
more may choose to do the diet for the full 40 days. Because most people lose
1- 1.5 pounds a day you want to make sure that you choose a realistic time
frame for your diet. Someone who needs to lose 10-15 pounds does not need to do
a 40-day protocol. Phase 2 consists of a 500-calorie diet drinking lots of
water along the way.
What to eat during phase 2:
Breakfast – Coffee or tea with sugar substitute
(i.e. stevia)
Lunch - For lunch you are to eat a weight of 100 grams of
protein each day. On a scale with ounces this may be about 3.4, but it varies
with items. When weighing out your foods, make sure that it is indeed raw and
unfrozen to get an accurate weight. Protein consists of lean beef, chicken,
shrimp, lobster, crab, fish or veal. When using ground beef you want to choose
something such as 93/7 or something close, this means that it is 97% lean 7%
fat. The less fat the better! Be careful when choosing a fish, there are some
sources of fish that are very high in fat such as salmon, catfish, tuna and
eel. Tipila however is always a great choice and also very easy to find in
almost every market. Make sure that all your meat is stripped of any visible
fat.
You are allowed 1
vegetable at lunch, which you also need to find from your food list. Some
examples are tomatoes (1 whole), lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, cabbages and
asparagus. Most types of lettuce and greens are allowed. I have done
mixed vegetables for lunch and this has not affected my weight loss.
One type of bread
stick or melba toast goes with every lunch. Both are pretty easy to find in the
store but make sure to check the box for any added cheeses or seasonings, plain
are always better!
Fruits consist of 1
whole apple, ½ a grape fruit or a handful of strawberries, I say about 6.
Dinner
- Dinner is the
same as lunch 100 grams of protein, 1 veggie, fruit and your bread stick or
melba toast.
**Helpful Hints**
Fruit and melba toast
are both carbohydrates and if you find that you are not losing weight you
should take try to remove these foods from your diet.
On a lot of the
vegetables, the original diet doesn’t seem to come with any instructions as far
as quantity goes, you just have to use your best common sense. Most vegetables
such as lettuce and greens are fillers, so a salad size is best. You will find
that most veggies are very low in calories! Now the original diet does not say
you can mix your veggies, but I never saw any change in my diet by making a
small salad using 2 or 3 ingredients from the list. Dressing however is very restricted. No oils or high fat or sugar
dressing are permitted at anytime. Apple Cider Vinegar, Red or White Vinegars
are always good choices. Seasoning, however is another thing most every type or
seasoning are ok. Salts, Peppers and spices are never very harmful as long as no sugars exist in their ingredients.
Sauces such as
mustard, hot sauce, teriyaki, and others that mainly consist of sodium are safe
choices. Make sure to read labels!
If it has less then 2 grams of sugar
its probably safe to use a little for taste, but don’t drown your food in it.
Also when your body’s intake of sodium reaches high levels your body reacts by
retaining water which could make a difference on the scale, so keep that on
mind and be sure not to over season! During phase 2 Cosmetics and moisturizers are also restricted do to your body’s ability to absorb the fats you skin
comes in contact with.
Stay away from the
massage parlor!
Getting a massage can be very damaging to your diet! When getting a massage,
fat stores are moved around and tissues are adjusted which might interrupt a
certain area your body was burning.
Phase Three: Phase 3 of the
protocol is what we call the maintenance phase. This is probably one of the
most important phases in the diet. When you reach the last day of your HCG
intake, you must stay on the 500 calorie diet for an additional 3 days. This
makes sure that all traces of HCG are out of your system before you begin to
introduce larger portions of food back into your body.
What
to eat during phase three:
When the 3 days are
up you can now increase your daily intake of food, not increasing more than
1500 calories per day. This part of the phase is continued for 2-3 weeks after
the last day of the 500-calorie diet. You will now introduce things like dairy
products and other healthy fats such as avocados back into your diet. Protein is the most important part of this
phase, and keeping it at a good working level for your body type. The
average person needs about 80 grams of protein per day (Nutritional Value) not
to be confused with 80 grams of weight, but actual nutritional content. When
moving from phase 2 to 3 people can be excited by the new food choices open to
them neglecting phase 2 foods such as steak and chicken that give them the
proper protein content they need. Though phase 3 is less restricted with food
choices it's still important to keep up a high level or protein throughout your
day.
In this phase you
must weigh yourself every morning after you have emptied your bladder and other
bodily substances. Your weight should
not increase 2 pounds from your last weight the morning before. If this happens
you must have high protein day.
Phase 4: In phase 4 when your
weight has become consistent and stable you will start to re-introduce sugars
and starches back into your diet. Starting off slow is always good. Don’t go
binging!
A chocolate bar one
day and some bread with dinner another day is a safe place to start. Start off
slow and keep an eye on how your body reacts to these strange new items.
Remember these are now foreign things to your body, it will take some time for
your body to get use to burning them off. By the end of phase 4 you should have
both the freedom and knowledge you desire! I say knowledge because through my
dieting experience, I learned not only
how to diet but how my body reacts to different foods. With the little
things we learn from what is bad for us, we can slowly become healthier people
and need diets in general less and less.
Maintaining your weight is important. If you go back to
old eating habits your weight most likely will come right back on. Many have
found that making a life style change is the solution. One idea for after the
hcg diet is to find a eating plan that offers a healthy way of life, not just a
quick fix. There are many healthy eating plans that offer just that. If you
don’t mind going mostly vegan, than a plan such as a macrobiotic diet might be
your answer. Eating a macrobiotic menu means you eat fresh locally grown foods.
Items like whole grains, fresh vegetables, and soups will all be popular
choices with a macrobiotic diet. However, if you are a meat lover this may not
be the plan for you. Other plans that seem healthy are the Dash diet or even
the Mediterranean diet plan. Do some research and find what works for you.
There are a lot of healthy eating plans available; you just have to find one
that allows foods to your liking. Lose the weight and maintain it for a life
time.
Do I Exercise During
the Diet? You can exercise during phase two however limit it to light walking.
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