just started the hcg diet, any advice?

Thanks for the advice, im going to look more into it. I am a full time student and I also work so im thinking this may be too draining for my body to handle lol all i think about is how much i want to eat!

A very wise choice! As you do your research you'll see that it really isn't a smart choice. Keep in mind- its a fad diet. Its not a lifestyle change. Your weight is going to return as soon as you stop, most likely.

As you can see, many of the people on this website are VERY against diet trends and such. That majority of us are all for healthy eating and finding new ways to balance your eating in a way that will allow you to lose weight (or gain it, in rare cases) while still getting the nutrition that you need, plus allow you to maintain a healthy body when you do get to your goal weight.

Don't let all the 'DON'T DO IT's scare you off. People are only jumping because we know the negative effects of these things. I hope you find the forums helpful!!!

My advice is to give it up, its a scam.

Agreed. Portion control, healthy eating choices, and exercise is the only sustainable way to lose weight and keep it off.

Agree! The only way is the healthy way!

Thanks for the advice, im going to look more into it. I am a full time student and I also work so im thinking this may be too draining for my body to handle lol all i think about is how much i want to eat!

Especially if your in college, start arriving to school about an hour early, and workout for about 45 minutes. You will not believe how energized you feel. I used to fall asleep in class everyday, but now Im alert and ready because of my morning workouts.

Also as a medical student, Im gonna tell you this. 500 calories a day, you will lose weight. Your body will enter starvation mode, but you still will lose weight, because you are eating even less than your body can process under starvation mode. A word of caution: some people can operate just fine at 500 calories a day, it is possible. But there are a few things to note:
-EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! EXERCISE EXERCISE EXERCISE! This is the element that is severely flawed about this diet, and makes me question it. No diet, should EVER, reccomend no exercise, because exercise is very important. Exercise should be done everyday if possible. If you look at earlier Man, we were hunters and gatherers, meant to go and find our food. Human bodies are complex and diverse machines, capapble of unthinkable and amazing things (if you dont believe me, look up videos of "parkour" and youll see what I mean. As to the poster above me, Jesus, while fasting, WANDERED IN THE DESERT! He didnt sit on his butt and play farmville all day. Talk to anyone you know who fasts, and theyll tell you that just decreasing your calories like that does not cause weight loss, for many it causes weight gain. Exercise is EXTREMELY important. Your body is intended to be moved, shaken, stressed, danced, manipulated. Go to any retirement community in the USA, and youll see a prime example of what I mean. Head down to the pool area, and look at the 74 year old doing laps at the pool, at a nice consistant pace, and doing maybe 50 laps in total. When he emerges from the water, even if his skin is not where it used to be, you can see he is in pretty good shape, very mobile, and ready to go. Then head over to the bingo hall and look at some of the old ladies there. Youll think to yourself, why are they in such totally different shape? Answer: EXERCISE!
-it is very, very, very easy to go over 500 calories. Everytime you go out to eat, to drink, etc, it is very easy to break. Ive always found Ive stopped a fad diet after breaking the rules, and never returned
-You need to realize you will not be able to eat the same again, at least for a very very long time. If you are able to sustain yourself on 500 calories, your body will get used to that intake. Once you achieve your achieved weight, even going up to 1000k (which is still on the lower end) will cause you to gain weight, because of what your body is used to
-Lastly, your initial weight loss will be water weight, ignore anyone who says different. The truth is the majority of weightloss techniques cause water weight loss, but fad diets are very good at targeting this, and thats why they do so well. Doing a fad diet, I lost 10 pounds in 8 days. It was all a fad diet, but because of the rapid weight loss, I stuck with it- until i realized I was not losing anymore weight

These are all things to consider. Do what your body tells you to do, and congratulations on trying to find a more healthy lifestyle

Is it just me, or does the latest magic miracle fat loss product always need to be paired with a super strict diet to work?

Its the perfect marketing scam. If you lose weight, you credit the product, if you fail to lose weight, you blame yourself.

There are so many people who only need to lose less than 20lbs trying this ridiculous method of losing weight. Eating under 800 calories (giving the benefit of the doubt) will help ANYONE lose weight. And this BS about it not being lean muscle is only supported by the SELLERS and ENDORSERS of HCG. Any real endocrinologist knows that this hormone does nothing in weight loss claims.
Desperate people do desperate things. Too bad they don't have enough faith in themselves to do it the harder, but correct way.

Ditch the diet. Read actual SCIENTIFIC PEER REVIEWED STUDIES and don't rely on the snake oil selling tactics.

I love it. Lost 18 pounds in 21 days. I transition off of it this weekend and begin a low carb Adkins diet for three weeks according to plan. Then, I reintroduce foods slowly and monitor my weight to see what affects it in a positive and negative way. The diet is only 21 to 45 days long. Here is some advice:

Don't get flustered with people who say it doesn't work and you don't need the drops. Even if the drops DON'T work, and it is all in your head (totally psychosomatic in nature), you are losing weight on a short term diet so keep it up. Don't worry about the pregnant lady pee comments - Homeopathic versions don't have that, but will still turn the pregnancy stick positive. Don't listen to the people who say it is only water weight. If you are following the plan and drinking more than a gallon of water a day, I don't see how it can be water weight. Don't worry about the people who say you are starving yourself, if you are obese (and not just a tad overweight) you have plenty of stored energy in your body. People fast all of the time with absolutely no caloric intake for a week or more and have no ill effects. However, people are different, so if you feel "bad" on the plan then stop. Of the five people I know who did HCG, none of them had any problems - and they have not regained the weight. Don't get upset about the people who say you should just reduce calories. If this is the starting point of your weight loss journey - then start. Some people need to see those immediate positive results first before they can commit to changing their eating style for life. Don't feel bad about those people who say you are losing muscle. Even if you lose 20 pounds and 10% of that is muscle - you still lost 18 pounds of FAT! That is awesome. You can regain that muscle once you start exercising.

Remember this: follow ALL of the diet - you have to eat all of your meals. A different lean meat for each meal, a different green veggie for each meal, a different low cal/carb fruit for each meal, and only one low carb bread a day. NO EXERCISE AT ALL on this diet.

Here are some positives: when you finish your 21 days (or whatever), your stomach will not need as much food to be full. I am shocked at feeling full so easily now. If you have high blood pressure and are on meds, like me, it may have decreased - so get it checked. You will understand portion control - I have never measured so much food in my life. You will understand how some foods affect you (I now know that red meat slows down my weight loss considerably and I will not consume as much anymore). And you will get used to drinking water - all the time. It has now become a habit, and it was always something that I never really did enough of before. Use those tools as you migrate out of this radical-short term diet plan and into a more healthy lifestyle of eating and exercise.

Good luck!

So in other words you've burned off 63,000 calories in 21 days. That would equate too a calorie deficit of 3000 calories PER DAY and that's above what you also consume. Without any strenuous exercise, muscle gets catabolized during weight loss. This isn't disputed by any scientific study. So taking in to account that you need to burn off 3000 calories how in the world does this make sense when the Pro athletes have to do at least 2 hours of hard work a day to burn that amount?

I love it. Lost 18 pounds in 21 days. I transition off of it this weekend and begin a low carb Adkins diet for three weeks according to plan. Then, I reintroduce foods slowly and monitor my weight to see what affects it in a positive and negative way. The diet is only 21 to 45 days long. Here is some advice:

Don't get flustered with people who say it doesn't work and you don't need the drops. Even if the drops DON'T work, and it is all in your head (totally psychosomatic in nature), you are losing weight on a short term diet so keep it up. Don't worry about the pregnant lady pee comments - Homeopathic versions don't have that, but will still turn the pregnancy stick positive. Don't listen to the people who say it is only water weight. If you are following the plan and drinking more than a gallon of water a day, I don't see how it can be water weight. Don't worry about the people who say you are starving yourself, if you are obese (and not just a tad overweight) you have plenty of stored energy in your body. People fast all of the time with absolutely no caloric intake for a week or more and have no ill effects. However, people are different, so if you feel "bad" on the plan then stop. Of the five people I know who did HCG, none of them had any problems - and they have not regained the weight. Don't get upset about the people who say you should just reduce calories. If this is the starting point of your weight loss journey - then start. Some people need to see those immediate positive results first before they can commit to changing their eating style for life. Don't feel bad about those people who say you are losing muscle. Even if you lose 20 pounds and 10% of that is muscle - you still lost 18 pounds of FAT! That is awesome. You can regain that muscle once you start exercising.

Remember this: follow ALL of the diet - you have to eat all of your meals. A different lean meat for each meal, a different green veggie for each meal, a different low cal/carb fruit for each meal, and only one low carb bread a day. NO EXERCISE AT ALL on this diet.

Here are some positives: when you finish your 21 days (or whatever), your stomach will not need as much food to be full. I am shocked at feeling full so easily now. If you have high blood pressure and are on meds, like me, it may have decreased - so get it checked. You will understand portion control - I have never measured so much food in my life. You will understand how some foods affect you (I now know that red meat slows down my weight loss considerably and I will not consume as much anymore). And you will get used to drinking water - all the time. It has now become a habit, and it was always something that I never really did enough of before. Use those tools as you migrate out of this radical-short term diet plan and into a more healthy lifestyle of eating and exercise.

Good luck!

So in other words you've burned off 63,000 calories in 21 days. That would equate too a calorie deficit of 3000 calories PER DAY and that's above what you also consume. Without any strenuous exercise, muscle gets catabolized during weight loss. This isn't disputed by any scientific study. So taking in to account that you need to burn off 3000 calories how in the world does this make sense when the Pro athletes have to do at least 2 hours of hard work a day to burn that amount?

The best part is, the dieter does all the extreme work, the pill gets all the credit. Its the perfect marketing scam. If you fail, you blame yourself for not following the near impossible diet and the pill is off the hook.

I have not felt hungry, the drops help to control that and you do get a nutritious lunch and dinner as well as 2 pieces of fruit a day. You will be so happy with your results, so just stick with it!! This diet will retrain you bad eating habits (which is what got us here in the first place)

Right, because a nutritious lunch and dinner plus two pieces of fruit a day is exactly what she wants to replace her bad eating habits.

To OP:
There is no magic pill, drop, diet that will make you lose weight. A change in diet and exercise is whats going to make the weight come off and make it stick.. Please do your research and get informed!

I just need to know if these hunger pangs will go away. or if im just going to keep starving to death haha!

starving to death

PANTS!!!

the HCG actually doesn't do anything, you lose weight due to restricting calories

in case you were wondering...

Stein et al Ineffectiv­eness of human chorionic gonadotrop­in in weight reduction: a double-bli­nd study American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 29, 940-948

"HCG does not appear to enhance the effectiven­ess of a rigidly imposed regimen for weight reduction"

Lijesen et al The effect of human chorionic gonadotrop­in (HCG) in the treatment of obesity by means of the Simeons therapy: a criteria-b­ased meta-analy­sis Br J Clin Pharmacol. 1995 Sep;40(3):­237-43

"there is no scientific evidence that hCG is effective in the treatment of obesity; it does not bring about weight-los­s of fat-redist­ribution, nor does it reduce hunger or induce a feeling of well-being­.""

also see; JAMA 236:2495–2­497, 1976, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 29:940–948­, 1976, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 12:230–234­, 1963, S Afr Med J. 1990 Feb 17;77(4):1­85-9, West Journal of Medicine 127:461–46­3, 1977, Archives of Internal Medicine 137:151-15­5, 1977

..

Don't be throwing around your "esteemed scientific journal" mumbo jumbo! My brother's wife's next door neighbor's mailmen's tire guy's wife totally lost 325 pounds in two weeks on it. Just read "Pounds and Inches" then you'll learn how totally freaking rad HCG is!

:drinker:

Anybody can lose 2.5lbs in two days with 500 calories/per day!

You are wasting your $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Don't do it. The last time they found HGC in my body a tiny person forced his way out of my vagina...It hurt really bad and now he won't leave me alone and keeps calling me mommy all the time.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I have not felt hungry, the drops help to control that and you do get a nutritious lunch and dinner as well as 2 pieces of fruit a day. You will be so happy with your results, so just stick with it!! This diet will retrain you bad eating habits (which is what got us here in the first place)

What a crock.

You lost 18lbs in 21 days using this incredibly dangerous method of weight loss. Cool story bro. I lost 18lbs in just under 2 months...and guess what I'm EATING....about 1600 cals a day. Who's lost more muscle and who's healthier between us? I'll let whoever reads this decide.