I have stumbled upon many weight loss solutions all over the internet today. But none of them seems to offer great results. The process of freezing your fats for reduction seems great, since you will not need any recovery time following your Coolsculpting. But I hesitate undergoing such procedure, that is why I look for some more.
In the fall of 2010, I learned about what I was told was an easy diet called the HCG diet. My wife was interested in it and asked me to do some research. Within minutes, I was dead set against this diet. The reason was simple. You were to drink a hormone extracted from a pregnant woman’s urine and then eat only 500 calories per day! Absolutely insane.
But then again…
My wife had told me that some of her mother’s friends had done it with great success, anywhere from 17 to 26 pounds lost in just a few weeks. I slept on it and in the morning decided to dig a bit deeper and find out HOW the diet was supposed to work.
In a nutshell, the human body is still essentially designed to sustain life in the hunter-gatherer environments that existed 10,000 years ago. For example, HCG evolved to protect a pregnant woman in times of famine to not only keep the mother nourished, but also sustain the unborn child by tapping into the excess fat stores we all have, primarily in the buttocks and abdomen areas, for sustainance.
In the 70’s, it was discovered that this false-famine scenario could be artificially induced and extracted HCG injected into both males and females who were subjected to the 500 daily calorie regimin with incredible results of between 1-2 pounds of fat loss per day for 24-33 days.
Over time, homeopathic HCG drops were developed and marketed. I was hooked.
After some local searching, I found a GNC store that sold the drops and begin the diet the next day.
Initially, the diet is a bit of a challenge as you adjust to the much lower caloric intake, which is extremely limited to certain meats and vegetables, and apples…. lots of apples. I drank a ton of water (you have to pretty much give up all other forms of fluids thought unsweetened teas and coffees are fine). I did feel hunger pangs. I’m not going to lie. But, after about three days of diet and drops, my body found a nice balance and I only got hungry at mealtime. The drops have an incredible appetite suppressant side-effect.
In the first 5 days, I lost about 11 pounds, which is about normal for men. Women overall tend to lose a couple pounds less initially and overall. Needless to say, I was thrilled. My wife, still convinced that the diet was unhealthy, was not.
For the following two weeks or so, I generally lost at a rate of about.8 pounds per day though there were the occasional day or three where no weight was lost. This is perfectly normal as the body tries to re-distribute your internal fat stores a bit to compensate for the loss.
I had considerably more energy. The only downside is preparing for and dealing with social situations where the foods you so badly crave are in abundant supply. It should be noted that cheating even once will set you back 3-5 days. It simply was not worth it. As someone once told me, nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.
At the end of the diet (I completed 28 days) I had lost a total of 26 pounds and several inches off my abdomen, which is my trouble spot. I was getting complements on my appearance for the first time in forever and felt great.
At the end of the diet, it should be noted that it is critical to then transition to a no sugar/low-ish carb diet so that the body can adjust to your new set weight point. I made the mistake of NOT following that advice. As a result, I regained 20 of the 26 pounds I lost due to the holidays and my poor self control. Next time, and there will be a next time, I will know better.
In case you are wondering, I had my bloodwork checked after a month of being off of this fairly easy diet and found that my cholesterol and liver panels had improved significantly (by about 20% each).
I would absolutely encourage anyone considering this diet to weigh the facts before committing. If you quit this after less than 23 days, the weight will re-appear seemingly overnight.
Best of luck and happy dieting.
