Senior Golden Sneakers -April 2011

A few pages back in this thread there was some discussion of the HCG Diet. I posted some information and overall was quite negative in my comments. In the interest of fairness, I contacted Leigh, who has posted in our thread as "jstalikttlecryz". She is from Northern Wisconsin so we connected. She has been on the HCG diet and I asked her about it. She responded to me and I asked her permission to post what she said here. Again, i am posting this out of fairness. We should always have both sides of the story.

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"Yes, I am using HCG. I am a retired nurse and I spent about 3 weeks researching it and talking to different people on other forums about their experiences. And no, it's not that scary. There are many doctors in the country that prescribe it for weight loss
(my daughter's friend looked into it in Milwaukee, but could not afford what the physcian wanted - $800/mo)

Other I talked to have spent up to $2000 for a 30 day program. I started it February 28 - 2 days of "loading" then started the 500 cal diet on March 2. (I cheated at times during the month just to see what would happen) From March 2 @ 191 lbs to Feb 1st @ 172 lbs...... I was hungry at meal times but easily satisfied with my low calorie meals and sometimes "forgot" to eat till about 7:00-7:30 at night - then thought "I have got to eat my protein and vegtables" No cravings and the simple choices of food made it really easy for me.

Besides getting healthy and losing weight myself I wanted to try it for my daughters sake too. She has had problems with weight since the birth of her kids and tried many diets that just didn't work for her, always putting back more weight than she had lost and becoming completely discouraged with even trying.. .......and then talking about gastric bypass surgery!

Before I left for Ohio I called her and told her what I had been doing and the results I had. I sent her information on the diet and the severe restrictions and gave her some online threads to look at. I stayed with her for 3 days before leaving for Ohio and we talked about it and I made sure she was ready to commit to 30 days of dieting (and her husband too - much need for support)
and brought along all the supplies she would need for the 30 days. She started April 2 &3 (2 loading days) and the low calorie
diet on April 4. And she stuck to it! cheating only once when they were out at her cousins and although she avoided the pizza they were serving she did "cheat" with a scoop of ice cream. She lost over 10 lbs in that first week! I told her not to continue to expect that kind of result cause our bodies need to adjust and there will be stalls and maybe even some days with a small gain but just to hang in there for the 30 days........she is gonna do it! I'm so happy for her.

I get the HCG through a Canadian Pharmacy......it's so cheap! less than $20 for about a month supply. You need to purchase other stuff but the cost in small conpaired to what the docs charge.

I will continue with the "phases" on protocol until I reach my goal weight. (a woman I talk to did 3 phases (3- 30 day low calorie periods followed by 6 weeks of stabilaztion) starting last fall and just reached her goal - she lost 80 lbs, feels great and is now on her final phase 3 of the stabilazation part and keeping within 2 lbs of her goal weight) She never plans to "diet"

This is not a diet you stay on longer than 30 days at a time - It is not sustainable for longer than that.....and the stabilazation part is just as important as the diet itself (maybe even more) If you go back to the way you ate before (as with any diet) you will gain all the weight back. But if you follow the protocol and do what they tell you to, you can lose quickly, safely and with a mind set that you can remain at goal weight for the rest of you life. So many people (mostly those who have not tried it or did try it and "failed" due to not following the rules) are online saying it is not safe or too drastic or whatever. But there are also hundreds that say "it works" And I am one of them. "0

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I think Leigh will be dropping in on our thread in the next day or two so if anyone has any questions regarding the above, please direct them to her. And if you don't agree with what she is doing, I trust you will be open minded and fair.

Connie.