Table of Contents:

• The Basic Summary of This Whole Article
• Are You Using Homeopathic or Hormone-Free hCG Drops?
• Reasons to Pay Attention to Dose
• What Should My Hunger Level Be on hCG?
• Reasons for hunger the first few days on the hCG diet
• Carb withdrawal – Loading for hCG affects hunger
• Benefits of Loading Clean/Low Carb on Hunger for the hCG Diet
• The Right Dose of hCG– Finding the No-Hunger Sweet Spot
• Homeopathic Drop Dosing
• Tiny Dose Adjustments Have Big Effects
• When to Make a Larger Dose Adjustment Quickly
• hCG Dosing for Men
• The Dosing Debate
• How to Go About Adjusting Your Dose of hCG
• When Hunger is Not a Dose Issue
• Don’t Just Let Yourself Be Hungry on hCG……Whatever You Do
• What to Do in the Meantime While Waiting for Dose Change to Take Effect
• How Long Before You Should Notice the Effects Of Your Dose Change
• MINOR Adjustments Are Often All That is Needed
• Where to Find Your Dose on the Syringe
• Real hCGer Dosage Stories on Finding Their Best hCG Dose

Just one of many similar emails I get:

“I’m only on day 4 of P2 and I am having a difficult time thinking I am going to make it. I am insatiably hungry ALL the time. In the morning, before I have lunch, right after eating lunch, mid afternoon, before dinner, right after dinner. Besides the food being less than appealing, I am sticking to the 500 calories. I am a mom of three small boys and I won’t make it to the end of this if I continue feeling this horrible. I am completely miserable.“

I promise you it doesn’t have to feel this way.

You: “WHY do I feel hungry on hCG?? Why I am starving??”

Me: You are NOT crazy, and IT’S FIXABLE. Fixable.

Right Dose = No Hunger

Wrong Dose = Hunger

This is how it should be and can be:

Even though most are only eating only 500 calories during Phase 2 of hCG, with the right dose of hCG, there is no hunger. Really really. As a person whose done 5 rounds total of this protocol with injections myself to get to my current weight (which I’ve maintained for 6 years now as of November 2018 with no further hCG use), I have seen this for myself and it’s pretty miraculous. So if that’s not how you are feeling, I’m here to help you GET to that lovely place of not feeling like you’re starving.

While there ARE other reasons that hunger might become an issue unrelated to dose, which I discuss briefly later on this article, by and large, this is THE NUMBER ONE reason people struggle on this diet because they find themselves constantly hungry and they don’t realize their dose is off. Tiny tweaks to dose really do change the hunger you experience.

You will also hear from a growing number of real hCGers who have sent in their “dosage stories” – that is people who were starving (not okay), then adjusted their dose, and felt way better (way okay-awesome).

If you’ve gotten your hCG from a weight loss clinic, they tend to dose too high for many which causes the hunger. You may not know that you can now get real hCG injections, drops and pellets online through the following sources- it’s legit, and you get your prescription along with the hCG when you order through them:

Check out buying hCG options

Disclaimer! Please read! I am not a medical professional in any way, shape or form, and this is not to be misconstrued as medical advice. I am simply sharing what has worked for me and others. It is your responsibility to discuss these matters with your physician.

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Article Summary – the Short of hCG & Hunger:

1. Reasons to Pay Attention To Dose of hCG:

• If you are hungry on the diet, it will be totally intolerable and you will give up.
• Having no hunger on this protocol is a good indicator that your body really is using your stored fat for fuel. It is possible that being on too high or too low a dose of the hormone that causes you hunger will cause your body to hold on to fat instead. This could cause you to not lose weight at all, or to lose muscle.

2. How You Should Feel When on a Good Dose of hCG For You

• Aside from the first few days of the diet, for the majority of the time you are on the VLCD of the protocol, you should not be hungry most of the day.
• So in general how you should feel on the right dose of hCG: Most of the day not hungry, hungry at meal times, even more hungry if you wait too long to eat one of your meals, but then once you eat your meal you should be satisfied and no longer hungry for several hours afterwards. For those with blood sugar issues you may find that you need to eat a little something in the mornings. Many though will not need to eat anything until lunchtime.

3. How to Find your Dose:

• The majority of people on hCG will find a dose somewhere between 125iu-175iu for hCG injections to be their sweet spot. On a rare occasion, a woman may need as high as 200iu. Typically 125iu is the lowest dose a person would ever take on the diet, however I have also read on a rare occasion that menopausal women may need a dose as low as 75iu in order to not feel hungry- please keep in mind this is not normally the case though. By and large, the majority of females do best with the least hunger on a dose between 125-175iu. Typically the leaner you are, the lower the dose you need. If you are have only 15-20 lbs or so to lose, you will most likely feel best on 125iu. If you are more like 50+ lbs overweight, it’s very possible a higher dosing of 175iu and above may be best for you until you lose more weight.
  
• One thing I want to iterate here is that tiny differences in dose can make a HUGE difference in your feeling of hunger. The time when making tiny dose adjustments of 10-15ius at a time is if you are put on a much higher dose than typically works for most to begin with, like 200 iu or 250 iu. In those cases, if you are on such a dose and totally starving, I would immediately jump all the way down to 150 iu or 125iu and then go from there, raising in small increments as necessary once I have that lower starting point.
• Men in general seem to do best with slightly higher doses than women on average. A number of men seem to feel the least hunger on 200iu.
• One way to figure this out is to gauge when you are feeling hungry. If you are feeling hungry especially towards the end of the day, that may be an indication that your dose of the hormone is too low and you need to increase it. If you are feeling very hungry earlier in the day, that may be an indication your dose is too high and you need to lower it.
• Hunger is not a dose issue when you are on the leaner side or when you’re not sleeping enough.

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Are You Using Homeopathic or Hormone-Free hCG Drops?

If you are not using real hCG injections or prescription drops or pellets and are hungry – changing your dosage will likely not help.

hCG is a real hormone, not a placebo – you need to use the real thing to get the real effect of it. So if you bought your hCG from a local store like walgreens or walmart or GNC, or you purchased drops online that were already mixed, this is not real hCG, and this is why you are starving and feel so weak and lethargic.

In this case I highly recommend checking out my resources for real prescription hCG injections, pellets, or drops – you do not need a prior prescription for this, you get it through these companies when you order.

I know it’s both popular to think all hCG is the same and tempting to buy something for 30 bucks off the shelf, but I promise, now is not the time to screw with your metabolism.

As someone who has been maintaining my own hCG weight loss from the real hCG injections for 6 years, and seen many others not maintain, using the real hormone is one vital key for most!

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Reasons To Pay Attention to Dose

1. First of all, if you are hungry on the diet, it will be totally intolerable and you will give up. It’s totally miserable to be hungry all the time and not sustainable. Not to mention you will probably run your family members out of the house because you’ll be so grumpy.
2. Secondly, and more importantly, having no hunger on this protocol is a good indicator that your body really is using your stored fat for fuel. Experiencing excessive hunger then would indicate the opposite. It is possible that being on too high or too low a dose of the hormone that causes you hunger will cause your body to hold on to fat instead. This could cause you to not lose weight at all, or to lose muscle. I don’t think I have to say this not what you want while eating only 500 calories each day!

I have seen far too many people not address hunger issues soon enough- if you are abnormally hungry after the first 3 days of the 500 calorie diet, please read this article carefully to check into the possible causes right away so you can get the best results for your time on the diet.

What Should My Hunger Level Be on hCG?

Let’s talk about it in a nutshell first, then we’ll expand on the topic in a little more detail.

In a nutshell: Aside from the first few days of the diet (we’ll talk about those in a minute), for the majority of the time you are on the VLCD (very low calorie days) of the protocol, you should not be hungry most of the day. However, at mealtimes, times like noon and 6pm, it’s normal to be hungry to need to eat the designated hCG meals. That’s why we do eat that small amount of 500 calories.   You are going to feel the need to eat something, so it is normal to be hungry at those times. So just because you do get hungry a couple times during the day, if it’s time to eat your meal, that’s fine, that doesn’t mean that you are on the wrong dose.

The key here is that when you do get hungry and then eat your small meal of 200-250 calories, when you complete eating it you should then be satisfied and no longer hungry for several hours afterwards.

hCG Doesn’t Give You That “Just Finished A Bowl of Spaghetti” Fullness

However, one big thing to note here is that you’re not going to feel “full”. And that sensation can take a little getting used to and can sometimes be mistaken for hunger. When I first started the diet, I was in the habit of overeating pretty much constantly, so I wasn’t used to, or comfortable, with my stomach not feeling full. Over time, the feeling became more comfortable to me, and today, years post my hCG weight loss journey, my “normal” is not feeling full.

There’s definitely an empty feeling going on that’s not the same feeling as finishing a bowl of spaghetti, but you should be no longer hungry. You may consistently have an “empty” feeling in your stomach that you are not used to, especially if you’re used to eating to the point that you are really “full.” Remember, there is very little actual food in your stomach, so an “empty” feeling is normal. This is different than actual hunger.

Overall How You Should Feel When on a Good Dose of hCG For You

So in general how you should feel on the right dose of hCG: Most of the day not hungry, hungry at meal times, even more hungry if you wait too long to eat one of your meals, but then once you eat your meal you should be satisfied and no longer hungry for several hours afterwards. For those with blood sugar issues you may find that you need to eat a little something in the mornings. Many though will not need to eat anything until lunchtime.

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And remember that real hunger is not the same thing as your stomach growling – that’s something I didn’t use to know! I learned over time that if you’re stomach grumbles but you wait it out for 15-20 minutes, the growling completely goes away.  The growling sensations that our bodies give us have to do with a hormone called ghrelin. You can learn more about what true hunger is in Robin Woodall’s excellent book on the hCG protocol here: Weight-Loss Apocalypse: Emotional Eating Rehab Through the hCG Protocol

Hunger during the first few days of the 500 Calorie Diet

The first few days that you are on the low calorie portion of the protocol require it’s own explanation, because during these first few days it is normal to experience a little more obvious hunger than you will experience for the majority of the diet. It can be a little harder those first few days to tell if you are on the right dose of hCG, because even if you are on the right dose, you may feel hungry.

Reasons for hunger the first few days on the hCG diet

When you start the loading phase for the diet, the majority of people load the traditional way- that is to load up on any and all foods- this means the foods will not only be high in fat, but high in sugar and refined carbohydrates as well.

To explain the sensation that this can cause, have you ever done something like eat a large meal full of carbs like tons of pasta late at night and got really full, then the following morning you find yourself waking up very hungry, much hungrier than usual? And it seems strange doesn’t it, because you think to yourself, “I ate a lot more than usual just 6-8 hours ago, yet I’m starving when I wake up!” Whereas when you just eat normal meals, you do not wake up feeling extremely hungry. Why does this happen?

Why you feel hungry soon after a large meal

• The SKINNY on why you feel hungry an hour after eating that 350 calorie bagel
• Why Am I Hungry After a Big Meal?
• Why Are We Hungrier in the Morning When We Eat Late At Night?

I’d like to quote just a small excerpt from Dr. Braverman’s article on his pathmed.com website regarding simple carbs and resulting hunger: “Simple carbs drive down ghrelin initially, but this hormone then rises within a few hours to above normal levels; causing you to feel even hungrier than when you started eating in the first place!”

Ghrelin is a hormone responsible for those growling sounds you hear coming from your stomach at times. So loading with lots of carbs and sugar for the diet could cause a lot more stomach growling at first.  So when you load for the diet the normal way, consuming vast amounts of not just fats but sugar and carbs as well, you may be hungrier in those first few days because of that drastic change from having an excess of carbs and then suddenly cutting your body off from those carbs cold turkey.  Wisegeek.com also mentions regarding Ghrelin that, “research seems to demonstrate that ghrelin suppresses the utilization of fat in the adipose tissue.”

Carb Withdrawal: The Regular Carb to Low Carb Diet Switcharoo

Additionally, I found a number of forum threads discussing how people feel when they switch over to a low carb diet and many of them mention a period of a few days where they experience carb withdrawal.

Here’s a good article describing this: Getting Through the First Week.

You had all these carbs, now all of a sudden your body isn’t getting any, and your body has to make that adjustment. Your body will be craving those carbs for a few days, and it’s not getting any. Having a higher fat diet makes it easier to get through carb withdrawals, but of course if you’re on the diet you’re not taking in fat. So it is normal the first couple days, especially if you’ve loaded the traditional way to be hungry those first few days.

Try to avoid being in the grocery store on VLCD 1 at around 3pm!  I made this mistake my first round of HCG Injections and was almost in a daze while walking my cart through the piles of delicious looking foods and feeling quite hungry. But within a couple days, that passed and I was no longer hungry anymore- I was able to have my two small meals each day and feel totally fine the rest of the day.

The faq page of lowcarb.ca mentions this about carb withdrawals: “Many people, but not all, experience unpleasant symptoms during the initial period of switching to low carb eating, such as intense cravings for sugars and sweets, or maybe headaches, fatigue or irritability. This is not a sign of illness, or a reason to quit. Your body needs to clear itself of the excess carbs in your system left over from your previous high-carb diet. Once your blood sugar and insulin levels have evened out, you will feel better, and cravings will disappear. Most people find this only takes a few days, for a few though, it may last over a week.”

So do give yourself a few days on the diet before messing with your dose too much, because you may experience some hunger anyway those first few days.

Benefits of Loading Clean/Low Carb on Hunger for the hCG Diet

The last 3 rounds of the diet, I have done something a little different, which is to load “clean” or low carb. I load on high fat and high protein foods and I eliminate sugars, grains and carbs completely, including no fruit. The only carbs I have during the loading phase for the protocol are low carb veggies.

I have a very comprehensive post all about loading clean here.

This is not something you have to do by any means, but one of the reasons I choose to do this is because I find I am not as hungry those first few days on the very low calorie part of the protocol. I think this is because my body is not making that huge carb transition as I would have been if I had loaded the regular way.

Additionally, I eat low carb for 7-10 days prior to loading for the protocol as well, so by the time I’m loading and by the time I start the low calorie part of the diet, I’m basically at the point where my body has already cleared itself of excess carbs so it’s a little bit of an easier adjustment for my body. I was still a bit hungry the 2^nd day on the diet this past round but nothing at all like the hunger I experienced the first few days when I loaded “dirty” (aka with sugar and carbs). You can see my 1-week pre-hCG diet thing here.

So if you choose to load for the diet with sugars and carbs as part of your diet, give yourself those first few days, unless you’re totally ravenous all day long or something, for your body to adjust to less carbs and the hormone to get into full effect in your system. After the first few days, if you are not finding yourself less hungry on the protocol like you should be, it’s time to start thinking about adjusting your dose of the hormone to find that no hunger sweet spot.

If you choose to load for the Diet “clean” or low carb you  may find the first few days of the VLCD to be pretty painless and well and have little or no hunger actually.  That has been my experience, and one reason I choose to always load clean now.

The Right Dose of hCG- Finding the No-Hunger Sweet Spot

The majority of people on hCG will find a dose somewhere between 125iu-175iu for hCG injections to be their sweet spot. So the three most used doses I’d say are 125iu, 150iu, and 175iu. I’d suggest 150ius as a good start point. If you don’t have much weight to lose you might try a starting dose of 125iu and go from there.

On a rare occasion, a woman may need as high as 200iu. Typically 125iu is the lowest dose a person would ever take on the diet, however I have also read on a rare occasion that menopausal women may need a dose as low as 75iu in order to not feel hungry- please keep in mind this is not normally the case though. By and large, the majority of females do best with the least hunger on a dose between 125-175iu. Typically the leaner you are, the lower the dose you need. If you are have only 15 lbs or so to lose, you will most likely feel best on 125iu.

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Homeopathic Drop Dosing:

Please see this hCGer’s guide to homeopathic hCG dosing for help on that.    

Tiny Dose Adjustments Have Big Effects

One thing I want to iterate here is that tiny differences in dose can make a HUGE difference in your feeling of hunger. I need to say this because when you are actually drawing up your hCG dose in the syringe and you think about changing a dose from say, 125iu to 150iu, or even 125iu to 135iu, the difference in volume is practically imperceptible!

It seems like such a tiny difference that it’s hard to believe that such a small change could really alter much in your body. However, I have found this really is the case, and it’s important to be aware of because making too large a change in dose could easily cause you to bypass your no hunger sweet spot entirely causing you to still feel hungry because you are now on too high a dose (or vice versa).
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When to Make a Larger Dose Adjustment Quickly

The time when making tiny dose adjustments of 10-15ius at a time is if you are put on a much higher dose than typically works for most to begin with, like 200 iu or 250 iu. In those cases, if you are on such a dose and totally starving, I would immediately jump all the way down to 150 iu or 125iu and then go from there, raising in small increments as necessary once I have that lower starting point.

hCG Dosing for Men

Men in general seem to do best with slightly higher doses than women on average. A number of men seem to feel the least hunger on 200iu.

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The Dosing Debate

There’s really no set facts here- I’m just relating my observations based on my own experience and the experience of the many people that I’ve watched on youtube. Many weight loss clinics prescribed hCG injections doses of 200-250iu and most of the time, the patients are starving on this dose! Then they come on to youtube and the hcg community on youtube tells them to reduce their dose, and then their hunger goes away.

I repeat, many weight loss clinics prescribe hCG injection doses of 200-250iu and many times, the patients are starving on this dose!

I know, because I get all the “help!!” with multiple exclamation point!! emails.

People who have never done this diet but are administering it will get red in the face and insist that everyone feels good on these higher doses. I HAVE to speak up about this because it’s simply not what I have observed and patients are then blamed when they are having a hard time on the diet as if it’s their fault. I am not at liberty to prescribe you anything because I’m not a doctor, I’m a mommy blogger. 🙂  You must do make your own choice about what you will do with this information.

As you lose weight and get smaller, you will most likely have to reduce your dose. I now find 125iu’s to the best best dose for me. When I started I injected 150-165iu which was fine when I was more overweight. As I got smaller, I found myself getting hungrier on this dose, and reducing to 125iu eliminated my hunger again.  I have noticed this same trend in many others as they lose more weight with this protocol.

Dr. Simeon’s original dose that he used was 125iu, injected intramuscularly (IM), into the muscle. When I first started the diet back in February 2011, most were injecting 150iu subcutaneously (SQ), into the fat layer. The idea behind the higher dose was that it was suggested that not as much hCG would be absorbed subcutaneously, so a little more was needed. This doesn’t seem to hold in true in practice though. I get to be in contact with a LOT of hCGers by private email, and I am finding a large number of people, including myself, doing quite well with 125iu-150iu, despite using subcutaneous injections- they are not hungry and they lose weight well.

How to Go About Adjusting Your Dose of hCG

Here’s some help finding these different doses on your syringe.

• If you were to start at 125iu and you felt very hungry, that would be a pretty easy fix as you can be almost positive you need to raise your dose, since 125iu is typically the lowest dose used.
• If you start with a dose of 150iu hCG, you may need an increase or decrease. One way to figure this out is to gauge when you are feeling hungry. If you are feeling hungry especially towards the end of the day, that may be an indication that your dose of the hormone is too low and you need to increase it. If you are feeling very hungry earlier in the day, that may be an indication your dose is too high and you need to lower it.
• If you are simply hungry ALL day long and there is no time of the day you aren’t hungry you are likely on either much too large a dose or much too low a dose. If you are on, say, 200ius or more (and this is not a rule, just a guesstimate) and feeling this way, my guess is that most likely you are much too high a dose for you- at this point a larger reduction to 125iu or 150iu might be in order to try first. If you are hungry all day and you are on 125iu, you most likely need an increase.
• If you have already started this diet on a higher dosage and are feeling ravenous, if it were me, I would make a big dose change right away, down. So if I had been on say 250 ius and I wanted to eat the kitchen table, I’d drop the dose to 125iu and see how I felt, then make minute adjustments as needed from there.
• If you were started on a lower dose in the range of doses that people in general feel better with, between 125 iu-175iu but are feeling hunger, I would start out with minor adjustments first rather than any big jumps – you are most likely fairly close to your ideal dose you just need to tweak it by another 25-50ius – it’s important when you’re in that range to adjust in these small increments because otherwise if you make too big a jump you could end up bypassing your ideal dose entirely and then you’ll still be hungry because both too high and too low a dose cause hunger.
• A more reliable possibly quicker way to know what dose change to make, once the hormone has been in your system already for at least a week, is to skip a dose entirely one day. That will make it pretty clear- if your hunger is much better on the day you skip a dose, you need less hCG. If you are markedly hungrier on the day you skip the dose, you need more hCG.
• As you can see, dialing in the right dose of the hormone is a bit of a guessing game and requires you to tune into your body a bit- however, it’s not as hard as it sounds most of the time, and once you do find a good dose, ensuing rounds of the protocol will be easier to get your dosing right from the beginning.

When Should You Expect to Feel the Effects of the Dose Change?

If you adjust your dose, how soon before you can tell if it’s changing anything for you? This depends a little bit on how much of a change you are trying. I’ll give you a couple examples to help you kind of find your way.

Starving on a High Dose (200-250 ius or so): In this case, if you drop to say 125iu or 150iu, it may take more like 2 days to really know if this new dose is good for you because it will take a little time for this higher dosage from the previous days to reduce in your system a bit.

Hungry on a Median Dose of 150iu: If you are on a dose that is nearer to the dose that most people feel good on, it is likely that you will notice the effects of a dose change more quickly, that very same day. Ie. if you change from 150iu to 125iu or 135iu, likely you will know if it’s better for you or not on the very day you change your dose.

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When Hunger is Not a Dose Issue

• When You Have Only Say, Fifteen Pounds to Lose

I have to write an article about this still, but for now, if you are on the leaner side, no matter what dose of hCG you try, you may be finding yourself with a constant nagging hunger feeling at the 500 calorie level – Robin Woodall, the author of the hCG book I referred to earlier, feels that this is because the hCG hormone is not able to stimulate as much leptin (which leptin allows for that feeling of satiety) in thinner people.

What this means is, if you are at that point where you only have 15 lbs or so left to lose, you may simply have to eat a slightly higher calorie diet while on hCG in order to feel comfortable- this can be anywhere from 600-800 calories.

The best way to decide how much more than the 500 to eat is to go by your hunger – there’s no need to decide to eat a certain amount of calories each day and stick to that number. Instead, see how you feel each day and eat more as necessary when you are hungrier, and you may still find some days that you are not as hungry, which it then makes sense to go ahead and eat less those days- basically a play it by ear type deal.

• Not sleeping enough

I’ve written a much more comprehensive article on sleep here (with tips on how to address sleeping problems as well) for you guys, but lacking enough sleep on this protocol interferes with the diet negatively in several ways. Two of them are that one, when you are awake more hours of the day than a normal person would be, then no matter what dose of hCG you are on, you may end up dealing with hunger – because you’re awake so long! And secondly, a small study in 2010 on how sleep (or lack of it) affects weight loss, found that, among other things, “When sleep was restricted, dieters produced higher levels of ghrelin, a hormone that triggers hunger and reduces energy expenditure.”

Whatever You Do….Don’t Just Let Yourself Be Hungry on hCG

Whatever you do, don’t let yourself be hungry on the protocol. This is not necessary nor it is healthy or advisable and it makes sticking to the diet almost impossible. It’s not about willpower okay? The hormone in the right dose is supposed to make the diet fairly comfortable, to an extent. Of course we’re all going to have emotional and social reasons for wanting to eat- that’s not going to just go away so easily, but the physical aspect of eating 500 calories or less on the diet should be manageable and fairly easy when you have the right dose of hCG.

Giving myself as an example, my 5^th round of the protocol, when I “eat to hunger”- that is only eating when I’m hungry and stopping when I’m not hungry anymore, I’m only eating 300-400 calories a day, I’m not hungry most of the day at all, I feel great, my energy is the same as if I were eating 2000 calories on a normal diet and I’m getting a lot done.

What To Do in the Meantime – When You’re Still Hungry

So sometimes it takes a few days to figure out your best dosage right? So what do you do in the meantime while you’re still hungry?

Here are some suggestions to manage the hunger pains while you are making dose adjustments? Or as one hcger put it to me in a help email, “If at the end of the day Monday I’m ready to eat the kitchen table what would you eat to curb the hunger until the adjusted iu’s on Tuesday am have taken effect? How long does it take for those adjustments to kick in?”

YES we totally need tricks to not eat the kitchen table while getting it worked out-
So for me the things I would do to keep hunger at bay while getting dosage dialed in:
1. Miracle noodles– this is off protocol of course- if you haven’t seen my post on this already it’s here.
They are so filling and have no calories whatsoever. Makes your P2 like 3x as big lol. These do need to be put into a recipe to be tasty/edible- they can’t be eaten plain for a snack.
2. Pickles– almost no calories and have their own taste – they don’t need to be helped or embellished to enjoy. Grab and stop starving.
3. Lots of Tea in a QUART size jars with stevia
4. Additional P2 protein potentially- so you could add say 50g or a full 100g portion of shrimp or chicken breast- 100g of chicken breast is about 162 calories, or half that would be 81 calories, so that would only put you at 581 calories, or 662 calories for the day to add that if needed for a few days.
5. Additional P2 veggies– a lot of the veggies have very few calories- that can help. I even utilized additional vegetables that weren’t on the original protocol and found this was fine for my P2 weight loss – see my article on Modifications to the hCG Protocol.

Just remember if you feel bad/guilty or like you are cheating when thinking about deciding to have some of these above items, ask yourself what is better- to have that, or to just freak out because you’re so starving and you tried to just live with it so that you dash out and eat a whole pizza lol. It’s much wiser to make use of these little things that are part of the protocol or that have very few calories to keep you sane. Feeling hungry is not okay in my book!

How Long Before You Should Notice the Effects Of Your Dose Change

As far as how long it takes for adjustments to take effect- if your dosage was too high, it might take a little longer like 2 days to notice if the lower dosage is better because it takes a little time for the excess hCG to get our of your stream, vs. a dosage that was too low to begin with, you should notice right away/the day you take a higher dose if you feel better or not.

Let me give a you a couple possible scenarios – remember these are just guesstimates and not something to be relied on 100%.

Example 1: You are currently taking 175iu and you are starving – you adjust down to 125iu – if that dosage is the right one for you, you will likely feel a lot better that first day on the dosage change.

Example 2: You are currently on 250iu of hCG and starving – you adjust to 175iu (but your best dosage is really 150iu) – you may feel pretty hungry the day of your dosage change. You adjust to 150iu the next day- likely this 2nd day of dosage change you should be starting to feel less hungry, and by the 3rd day you should be feeling pretty good.

But this does lead me to my next point…..

MINOR Adjustments Are Often All That is Needed

I wanted to add a little input from a fellow hCGer and her experience with adjusting her dose, just to give you a feel for the wisdom in making only minor adjustments when you are already close to the general good dosing range for most people:

Angeli says, ” Thought you might be interested in what I discovered works well for me. I have been adjusting the dosage by smaller amounts. I started at .15, and learned on your website that if you are hungry in the evening it may mean that you are not getting enough HCG (which happened to me at about day 6).

So I increased the dosage to:
.155 the next day, was still hungry that night (she is speaking of units on the syringe – .155 would be 15.5 units on some syringes)
.160 the 2nd day, and was not hungry that evening

Now I am getting really close to my target weight – on day 21, I have only 4-6 pounds to go. I also learned on your website that when you get closer to your target weight, you may need less HCG. I found that I have been getting hungry a little bit earlier each day to the point of being hungry in the morning. So I have been decreasing my dosage by the same small increments of .005 daily for the last few days, and am down to .145. So far so good!

In summary, I think the smaller increment dosage changes are much better easier for my body to adjust.”

Where to Find Your Dose on the Syringe

If you’re not sure how to find these different doses on the syringe you can do that here:

How To Find Your Dose of hCG on the Syringe

Real hCGer Feedback on Finding Their Best hCG Dose

I wanted to share what others had to say, not just my own experience, so here’s what some of my followers wrote in to me:

hCGer 1:

Rayzel.
There is no question that your personal intervention made it possible for me to continue with my HCG program last spring. The provider had suggested a certain dose–sorry can’t remember the specifics–but after about 10 days I had such hunger I was in despair. You advised reducing the dosage and that worked for me. I was able to continue, lost 14 lbs which I have kept off after completing the phases.
Tks so much. Love your blog and your kale salad.

hCGer 2:

The first week was so hard! That’s when I found your blog. I go to a clinic to get the HCG, and they were having me take 250 ius. I read your article, and decreased to 200 iu, then to 210 iu. It has been so much easier since I made the change. I’ve lost 18 lbs so far, and 2 inches from my waist!

hCGer 3:

“Hi HcgChica! I just wanted to briefly send you a huge THANK YOU!!!! I read your blog thoroughly before starting my diet and it helped wonderfully! This is the “easiest” the diet has ever been. The main thing that helped was your info on the right dose. I had been prescribed to take 200 iu. And I always felt completely and utterly miserable the whole time. I was constantly hungry and cheated out of sheer hunger!

But I loved how you explained if you’re hungry in the morning before noon, your dose is too high and if you get hungry late afternoon it’s too low. I immediately changed my dose to 125 iu and I had to remind myself it was time to eat!! It was a breeze. Towards the end of the 6 weeks I increased to about 140 iu and that was perfect.  Thank you so much for all your help!!!”

hCGer 4:

OMG! Are you kidding me!! When I first started on HCG, it was through the nutritionist at my docs office. They started me out on 300 IU’s!! I spent the first couple of weeks soooo miserable. I even asked after the first week if the dosage was to high. The nutritionist said, no. Leave it alone and lets see how you do after another week. The next week, he looked at me like I was cheating or doing something wrong. Well, that was it.

After two weeks of virtually no fat loss, and all lean, and after watching enough of your personal vlogs and the educational ones, I got the guts to take my dosage into my own hands. I had nothing to lose…..but fat. Lol! It took quite a while to find that magic dose. I made the mistake of lowering it little by little first.

I wish I had dropped it all the way down to 125 iu and starting from there, but there was a lot of fear. I mean, I was getting it from a doctor’s office. Don’t doc offices know what they are doing? Eventally, I have learned, do your own homework!!! Get perspectives from those who have succeeded!! If virtually all of the people succeeding are using 1/4 of the dose you are using, pay attention, no matter what the doc’s office says. I will also mention that the docs office gave me the wrong syringes!! I couldn’t find the smaller doses. Oh, and you can’t just buy syringes and needles from the Pharmacy in California. So here I had all this HCG (12,000 IU’s, which would likely go bad before I used it all) and the wrong syringes, and a bad relationship with the nutritionist because I didn’t treat him like a god. I finally ordered them through a vet supply company.

Anyway, I am now on 140 IU’s and that is a very good dose for me. My first round, I lost 10 pounds of lean in the first two weeks. This round, I lost 10 pounds of FAT in the first two weeks!! That is how powerful getting the dosage right is. And your vlogs helped me get there.

hCGer 5:

Rayzel,
Yes your info was very helpful on dosage …my ideal dose was 200 IU …trials with 150 IU ,170 IU left me with hunger pains…

hCGer 6:

On this round my dose is 125 IU, which felt good. I started eating Grissini part way in and my hunger skyrocketed. I conveniently disregarded your info that said bread can do that. I raised my dose to 150 IU to see if it would help. It did not! The hunger remained and I didn’t have my usual energy level. So, I am off of the bread and back to 125 IU. I feel great today and will leave the bread alone, for sure. I will be watching your vlogs religiously to help me learn to maintain and identify foods that are bad for me.

hCGer 7:

Hiya!
You’ve helped me many times with dosage, thank you!
I’m in menopause so finding a correct dose is tricky EVERY round. And in my 4 rounds, the dose has changed each time many times!

Round 1 started at 125 iu and went all the way down to 85 iu. This was a 46 day round.
Round 2 started at 100 iu and went down to 95 iu. This was a 28 day round.
Round 3 started at 125 iu and went between 100 iu, 110 iu, 115 iu. This was a 24 day round.
Round 4 started at 125 iu and went to 110 iu. This was a 23 day round.
Each round, regardless of the duration, I would take the 7th day off and check my hunger. If I was not hungry at all then I would maintain the dose or lower it by 5 iu’s. I usually had to lower it SEVERAL times during a round, and it was very rare that I found 1 correct dose and stuck with it the whole time. I usually adjusted every 4 days! I attribute this to menopause body 🙂
Hope that helps!

hCGer 8:

As I got hungry I would up the dose. I kept getting hungrier. After reading something from you I went down and hunger went away. Thx

hCGer 9:

hCGChica.
You have helped me so much! In particular, you helped me find my right dosage. I was in Phase 2 for about 10 days, but I felt a little hungrier than friends said I would. I went to your website to see if you spoke about this subject. And, of course, you had a whole article on how to find the correct dosage. So I followed your directions (which were super easy). I increased my dosage by just 5 iu’s, and, voilà, I am no longer hungry except at meal times.
Thank you hCGChica!!

hCGer 10:

I started off at 150 iu and that actually ended up being perfect for me. I had amazing energy and often forgot to eat. I lowered the dose a little bit to see what would happen and it actually made me hungry and I ended up overeating and led to a cheat day. I moved the dose back to 150 iu and all was good again.

hCGer 11:

Yes and many thanks. The mystery has been solved, and now I don’t “freak out” when I notice the day to day differences while on VLCD. Most days I am hungry around 10am. Of course I haven’t had anything to eat since 6-7pm the night before so this stands to reason now. At 10am I take my shot (150 iu) and I am good the remainder of the day, there still is that late night snack craving around 9-10pm which I would love to do without but it is controllable. Keeping my eye on the prize and loving that you are there to give help and advice. Many thanks.

hCGer 12:

You definitely helped me with dosing. Thank you so much!! I started at 170 IU and dropped the dose several times until I got to 125 IU. It was hard to get my head wrapped around the fact that more is not necessarily better – and less can actually be ideal. Thank you so much for helping us all.

hCGer 13:

Thanks for all you do. Your knowledge and the info you share has made a difference between success and failure. I started on hCG injections at 200 iu and after reading how to adjust dosages from your blog, I realized I was hungry because my dosage was too high. I lost control for 2 days, 5 of the 6 ibs I lost in the first week came back. First, adjusted down to 17, still hungry, then 15, which is my sweet spot. No more hunger.

hCGer 14:

Thanks for your help last night. I decreased my dose and and feeling 100% better already. I had one bowl of tomato soup and am feeling pleasantly full

hCGer 15:

Convo between me and hCGer 15

hCGer 15: Hi hcgchica. So im doing injections. Today is day 29. Im injecting 160 units which has worked awesome for me. I have lost 14 pounds so far. But I have been stalling last 6 or 7 days. And my hunger is back. So much so that i cheated a little the last 2 days. My goal is 8 more pounds.  I started at 152 and now im around 139. My goal is 130. Should I change my dose? Or is this all im going to lose? I want to finish the full 40 days but this stalling is demotivating me. And like I say my hunger is back. Never had a hunger problem until last 5 or 6 days.

Me: Since you mentioned hunger and you’ve lost 14 lbs I am thinking it’s possible your dose is now too high for you- it’s very common to need to lower dosage as you get thinner- If you try that, both your hunger and losses may be better. I can’t be sure of course, but that’s probably what I’d try if it were me- I’d probably try by dropping to 125ius and see how i felt for 2 days, then if it was better but not perfect, I might bump it back up just by 10 ius or so (ie 135 ius, 145 ius) till I felt okay. Remember I am NOT a medical professional so this is JUST my opinion- I am NOT prescribing anything here. This is what I would do if it were me.

hCGer 15: So 130ius of hCG is the dose!!! I tried 140ius the next day, it felt better but not totally. Then I tried 130 units and I was feeling amazing again. I had to remind myself to have my two proteins and veggies. I still haven’t seen any changes on the scale but I feel great again and will finish up the 40 days. Thanks soooo much for your advice!
I hope this helps you guys and I hope I’ve convinced you guys that it’s worth putting in the effort to find that sweet spot!

hCGer 16:

Convo between me and hCGer 16

hCGer 16: “Hi HCGChica! I love your webpage and you have been my inspiration to keep going. I am on round 2 (26 days) and really struggling with hunger. My first round I did Homeopathic pellets and they worked ok but had some hunger issues. But this round I ordered the shots thru your link. I started at 150. I am still struggling with hunger. I could eat lunch and about an hour later, I’m starving. I went down to 125iu and it was worse so then I went as high at 200iu and still felt hungry. So in the end, I went back to 150 and decided I would just have to fight the hunger. HOWEVER!, I am now on my period and still taking the shots and notice that I am much less hungry then before. So that has me thinking, should I be taking more? What does that mean? Is 200 the highest I should go? I am so lost. Do you have any advice that isn’t already on your blogs about how to get this right. On my normal (non-period) days I get to the point I just want to eat anything in site and not sure I can make it like that.”

Me: “Did you try a couple doses between 150 and 200? That’s actually a pretty big jump – you may have missed your sweet spot entirely– it’s possible that 165-175ius is good for you- I would definitely try some doses in there (maybe once your period is gone) – sounds like you just need a little tweaking between the 150 and 200 to get a sweet spot.”

hCGer 16: (a few days later) “You are an ANGEL! You were right. 175iu is my sweet spot. THANK YOU so much!”

hCGer 17:

“Hey!  Just wanted to tell you that your website has really helped me. After one week of being on 125ius and starving I was ready to just give up. But after reading your article about dose I adjusted it today to 150ius and it was so much better.  I wasn’t having that hunger pains all day like before. Thanks so much Rayzel!!!”

hCGer 18:

“HI Rae. I started hcg 23 days ago and lost 15 pounds. My prescribed starting dose was 150 and I was HUNGRY. I read the blogs on dosing here and dropped my dose to 125. It was better but I was still hungry so after 3 days I went to 140 and felt about the same as 125 (it seems like such a tiny insignificant amount) but I skipped right over my magic number ) I went to 130 and that was it. NO HUNGER. I get a slight twinge at 12 and 5pm and I eat . Perfect. I’ve had two stalls and I just continue the protocol and wait them out. I would recommend dropping to 125 and increasing by 5 iu’s every 2-3 days until you feel comfortable. Best wishes.”

hCGer 19:

Hello Rayzel.
Initially, I was to use 200 iu’s. I was feeling hungry at that dosage and I was tempted to cheat as a result. After listening to your video on dosing, I adjusted to 130 iu and that has helped me tremendously.

hCGer 20:

“I just wanted to share since this. I’m 47, went through menopause last year. I mean I went from not even premenopause to being in it in 6 months. In the last two years I’ve gained almost 20 lbs. Nothing I did, exercise, diet, seemed to help. I would lose 3-4 lbs over and over again but couldn’t break past it. I am short, so my ideal weight is somewhere in the 105lb range.

This is my first round of HCG and dosing has been a challenge. I started at 200iu as that’s what the directions said to do. I did this on my loading days Feb 11 and 12. Day 3…. could have gnawed off someones arm, I was so hungry at 200iu’s. Dropped the dose to 150iu for two days, was still super hungry, dropped to 125iu for 4 days, same. Dropped to 100iu for one day. was slightly better but wanted some carbs or sugar really bad. Yesterday, on day 11 I did a skip day to evaluate the dose. I felt so good yesterday. Barely hungry. Ate what I was supposed to eat…… no cravings. Felt in control for the first time in 10 days. Today, Feb 22, my dose was 90iu. This is the magic number for me today.

I feel great. I cooked breakfast for my family this am. The usual breakfast food, high fat, fried. It smelled good, but I had no desire to eat any of it or cheat. My stomach did not growl one time. I was amazed. When I made the toast, I did get this kind of down feeling as I wanted to eat a piece but just because I like toast. Not because I was hungry. Right now, I am eating an apple. I feel good. It’s awesome. I am also doing a very low sugar, low carb, high protein shake on days I can’t stomach eating meat. Meat is not my fav thing to eat on a good day.

I just want to thank HCGChica and everyone on the board who has shared their stories, struggles, and triumphs. Reading through all the information has helped me tremendously. I am looking forward to dropping the extra weight in comfort and ease. I am down 5 lbs in 9 days. Did have a few stall days but it was no big deal. I’ve not gained any back……… just a few days where I didn’t lose. My clothes are looser, my skin is clearer. I don’t miss the carbs or sugar and plan on detoxing the rest of my household from these during phase 3. It’s really helped my rosacea, which is triggered by something I like to eat. So all in all even though I am not done, I feel it’s been hugely successful for me so far. I’ve been able to identify where I eat from boredom and since I work from home, I use food to procrastinate doing work. So since I am not eating as much, I am much more productive.”

hCGer 21:

I’ve been meaning to send you my “dosage story”… and here you are asking for it! 🙂

I started at 150 ius. I was… definitely not starving, like all the other people were complaining online. It was totally manageable, but… I had this constant, nagging “better each lunch soon” feeling, and a very slight wooziness behind the eyes. In reading all the many different comments online, everybody else seemed to be quite literally starving if they were off-dose, and after a week I was to the point that I was thinking the hCG was probably just a placebo, and/or that I was being a huge wuss and I should just suck it up.

But then it was a Saturday, and I figured, “Eh… can’t hurt to try changing the dose since I don’t have anything particular to do today.” So I upped it to 165 ius… and I was markedly hungrier all day. Markedly. Still not starving, but I sure could tell the difference.

Next day, I lowered the dose 135 ius. Miracle. It’s almost incomprehensible that such a small amount of liquid could make that much of a difference.

I’ve been on that dose for almost the full 43-day round now, and excluding that first week, my hunger level has been one of three things, in pretty equal thirds, depending on the day: 1) Just hungry enough to eat at mealtimes, plus coffee and an apple for breakfast; 2) Not particularly hungry, but able to make myself eat at mealtimes; and 3) Can’t even be bothered to stop whatever I’m doing and force myself eat something.

Since then, I’ve been on an average of 250 to 350 calories.

Moral of the story: You’re not being a wuss. Just change your dose. 😉

Thanks, Rayzel!!

hCGer 22:

I think I finally found the right dose! Woohoo!! I started out the first week at 150 IU and everything was fine. I had no hunger and lost 10.6 pounds in 7 days. Life was good. By the second week I started getting hungry and feeling rather light-headed by lunchtime. I started having either half a grapefruit or an apple for breakfast but it didn’t really help. I lowered my dose to 125 IU and things got even worse. I stuck it out for another week, fluctuating my dosage between 125-135. I was becoming ravenous by dinner time and all I thought about was how bad I was starving and was so lightheaded. I started taking glucose tablets when it got really bad but they didn’t help much. It was scary. That second week I only lost 3 pounds, which I know was still okay but it was a significant difference. I felt so awful that I was thinking about quitting. On day 19 I decided it was time for a drastic change. I read on your website about a menopausal women (which I am) who only needed 70 IU and I was debating whether to skip an injection to see if that would help or if I should up my dosage big time to see if that worked. I took a gamble and upped my dosage to 185 IU. Success! I feel SO much better…no hunger, no brainfog and I lost 3 pounds in 2 days!!

I have about 50 pounds to lose and so far I’m down 16.6 pounds from 213.6 (after a 3.8 lb load gain) to 197 as of this morning and I’m on day 20 (18 days VLCD). I’m so glad I didn’t give up.

hCGer 23:

Sublingual hCG user.

Ali first emailed me with this trouble: “I love the moments/hours when I don’t even care about food. But Lord Have Mercy – these last 2 days have been white-knuckling and I know I can only keep that up for so long. And I really want to overcome both the weight, but even more the eating issues for once and for all. I am all-in. Thank you again for your amazing generosity of spirit and your example.”

We discussed dosing and pretty soon she replied back with,

“Rayzel, I tried lowering my dose after I read that on your site and it WORKED!  Thank you so much! I started off at .045 sublingual for 10 days and was so hungry I would spend hours surfing HCG recipes – which aren’t really all that mouth-watering!  I also felt fuzzy-headed and couldn’t concentrate at work.I lowered it to 0.40 and yes, I still get deep belly grumbling, but my energy is constant, I feel alert and food doesn’t really call my attention. I even sat next to someone on an airplane who had a greasy breakfast sandwich and far from tempting me, it hit me as synthetic and overwhelming.  

hCGer 24:

Love you! I am on p2d11. I was absolutely starving. I’ve done the protocol before about five years ago so I was really surprised I was so hungry. My doctor gave me 200 IU and I’m not a very large person. Because of your information I figured out that the dosage was way too high. The last two days I lowered the dose to 130 and I feel 100% better. I’m breezing through now. Thank you so much!!!!  

hCGer 25:

This is my first time doing HCG. I had great results (43 lbs in 100 days). Your videos were a great help especially with the dose. I was always hungry until I saw your video and reduced my dose.  I was put on the “Per Protocol “amount 0.250 cc (25 on syringe- which was likely 250ius of hCG). I did that for 2 weeks. I was so hungry. The person that got me interested in doing HCG (she lost a great deal of weight) mentioned she was on a much lower dose and her program allowed her more calories. I started searching the web to see what other said. I found your videos and after watching a few I realized you knew your HCG stuff. So I lowered my dose first to 20 then to 15 and then to 12ish. Mostly I stayed at 15 (150 ius of hCG), but as I said I was traveling during a create part of my time I was on HCG.  The change in dose was a blessing, I was no longer starving. I have inspired 2 other’s in my staff to go on the Diet. They are amazed that I have gone down from a 14 to a very loose 8 and never turned into an grouchy boss while dieting. BTW, I am in Medical Safety for a large Pharmaceutical company, so you can bet I did my research on HCG.

hCGer 26:

hcger 26: hello! First and foremost, thank you for you time and effort to help us in the HCG journey. I purchased your workbook and love it. I ran into your post about adjusting dosage. I am on VLCD 9 and I was feeling hungry. My dosage was 200iu so I decided to try 150 today. At about 3pm I almost ate my arm off from the hunger I felt. I was BAD! I am confused now. Do I dose back up or down ? I was hungry at 200iu but nothing like what I felt today! ……

Actually I re-read your post and the next day I tried 175. It’s perfect ! I feel no hunger !! Incredible So two days so far at that does and I feel incredible. Thank you so much

Me: Thanks so much for this feedback Karen- I will add your story about dosage to the article – a quick question – if you could relate to someone else how you felt on the various dosages what would you tell them? That will give people a full picture to relate their own experience to to help them.

hcger 26: On 200iu I was hungry at night after dinner ( around 7-8). No hunger in the mornings at all. The hunger started at around day 5 of VLCD. Being that I usually go to bed late, in the evening all I wanted to do was snack. When I switched to 150 that morning I was okay , did my shot at 8am and at 3pm OMG the hunger came over me so intense. I almost ate my husband ! I don’t remember the last time I was so hungry. The next day I switched to 175. It was like a calming blanket came over me. I was hungry at normal times ( 12ish and 6-7ish ) but otherwise I have no had any cravings at all. Most definitely nothing like the hunger I felt when I did 150.I hope my story helps

hCGer 27:

Greetings! I just want to say that your information on dosing has been very helpful. I got my supplies from ……….. and they set my dose at 200iu of hCG a day. Based on your blog and my own research I started at 150iu. This worked really well for the first week. During my second week I have had to do a few night shifts at work. I decided to up my dose to 160iu for the week since my “days” will be longer. That small adjustment has worked like a charm and I have had NO hunger even with my inconsistent schedule. Thanks for all your work!

hCGer 28:

I’m not going to lie, the first week was hell. I had headaches and was absolutely starving. I then read the HCG blog, which is hcgchica.com (where I purchased my supplies and read up on the diet), and found out that my dose might not be right. When you get your supplies for the diet, you get a vial of hcg and draw up your dose which could be anywhere from 100-200 units. I started at 175 units since I figured I was heavier, but this is not right. I lowered my dose every few days (from 175 to 150 to 130 and finally 120). When you find your dose, you WILL NOT BE HUNGRY.

hCGer 29:

As far as the 200iu hcg goes, I had a HORRIBLE round last time staying at 150iu and not moving my dose in enough time to make a correction. I finally had to cut the round short (23 days) because I was so hungry. And I mean hungry to the point where I was eating over what I normally would without hcg.

I would wake up with the best of intentions, do my 150iu injection and get some work done. Around 10 I would have to have a piece of fruit to hold me over until lunch. Within an hour I was counting down until lunch. I’ve never been one to be a big eater and gained weight because of hormones so that was so unlike me. I found myself doing a lot of P2 tricks/corrections so I wouldn’t stall or gain weight. Evenings were the worse time. I usually eat around 5pm and if I stayed up longer than 9pm I was in the kitchen cheating. My hunger was uncontrollable. Something was definetely wrong and I had to fix it or the entire round would be ruined.

I began to research online (on your site) about calculating the proper dose and once I decided to make the adjustment. First of all, I paid attention to my hunger scale for the days that I was making the adjustment using a 1-10 method for meals. I discovered that my the evening was the worst time for me so I began to dose up. I went from 150iu up in 25iu increments. So from 150iu I went to 175iu for two days and still felt hungry so adjusted it up again to 200iu. That was the magic dose for me. I didn’t feel hungry and finally found the magic number. And even though it was a little late for that round, I was now equipped with the information and could move forward empowered that the next round would be better.

Armed with this information, I had a successful round this time losing 18lbs and feel good about making adjustments when necessary. I now understand that the dose is such an individual thing and won’t allow anyone to dictate what dose I should be at based on their past experiences.

hCGer 30:

hCGer 30’s initial email to me: “Hello! I have done hCG a few times and love it. I’m having a really hard time this time though figuring out the dosing. I weigh 158 pounds and am 5’6″ and I’m taking .20 (200ius) hCG every morning. I love crossfit as well and I’m just trying to get the last bit of fat off so that I can be more lean. HELP!! I’m starving by 10-11am!”

Me: Hey girl! If you are taking .2 (or 20 units) and you mixed your hCG 5,000iu to 5ml’s mixture, then that is 200iu you are taking. That’s probably too high for you at your level of leanness. If I were you I’d try what would be 12.5 units, which would be the hashmark (not actually numbered) between the 10 and 15 number on your syringe, that will be 125ius dosage. leaner people almost always need that smallest dosage.

hCGer 30’s reply: “Holy cow!! I feel like a new woman! I was researching last night quitting hCG because I felt so miserable. Now I feel like I can do this for two more weeks. Dosing makes a huge difference!!!”

Have your own dosage story to share? Please write in to [email protected] and I can add your dosage experience here!

hCGer 31:

Let me tell you that I really love your videos and you seem like a lovely person.
I was taking 150 IU of HCG and feeling sluggish and even a little depressed. I watched your video and decided to go down to 125 Iu and did see a little change in the day after but after that was very apparent how much better I felt.

hCGer 32:

hCGer 32: This is day 10, and since the first day of ravenous hunger, I’ve turned to your videos instead of eating. Every time I think I’m going to break, I grab my phone and watch one of your longest videos to distract myself and remind myself what I’m doing this for. I’ve been ravenous to the point of tears all day every day for 6 days now.
Through that process of leaning on you, I discovered that this starvation was not only not how I should be feeling, it was also totally unnecessary and fully avoidable on the right dose.
So today I dosed down from 175iu to 150iu. I took my shot an hour ago and still sort of want to grab a loaf of bread just to breathe it.
I’m dying here! Lol. Yet somehow I have not cheated.
When will I know if 150iu is right for me?

Me: It sounds like you don’t have it dialed in- you probably need to go lower still. You should notice in like 1 day typically if you were that hungry – I’d try 125ius. You can always change it again but being that hungry you need to make the change fast! Try 125iu and see how you feel!

hCGer 32: I ended up dosing down to 135iu yesterday after the 150iu on Tuesday gave me very, very little relief. It was SO much better! But I still thought I needed to maybe go down a little more. Then I got your email last night, and that sealed the deal. This morning I injected 125iu and I’m feeling fabulous!

My weight loss picked back up too. I know I didn’t mention it, but once the ravenous hunger set in, I went from losing 1.5 lbs/day to losing anywhere from .4 to .8 lbs/day. So for the 6 really miserable days, I was losing less. Today (after my 135iu day), I woke up down 1.4 lbs!!! So exciting!!! And I even had a large fountain Coke Zero from McDonald’s yesterday. That’s the first time I ever went off protocol. It was worth it to stop myself from getting a Big Mac. Lol!

So today I’ll gauge my hunger on the 125iu and see how my weight loss is in the morning. Then I’ll know if the 135iu or the 125iu is the best overall for me. I’m betting it’ll be the 125 just based on how insanely better I feel today vs every other day. Lol

Me:  Please do let me know in the next couple days if the 125 feels best, and then maybe it’s okay.

hCGer 32:  I can say this already: yesterday on 135iu lead to me starting to feel better, but I did splurge for that Coke Zero to keep my mouth busy and my cravings subdued. Today on the 125 I have no urges. I had nothing for breakfast – no desire shortly after my shot – then I had my VLCD lunch of chicken over lettuce. I was completely full after it. That’s a first! I feel good to go until dinner with no worries that that’ll change.
But just to be certain, for blog posterity, I’ll continue the 125iu and check in on Monday to let you know how it went.
Not being starving is AMAZING!!!

hCGer 32:  I just wanted to let you know the 125iu is perfect for me. I’ve felt great all weekend. Very manageable hunger, and increased energy to boot. Thank you again so much for your advice!

hCGer 33:

“My first round was excruciating because I didn’t have the awareness of dosage and I was doing drops.  Though I was successful, I was also miserable and starving.  I’ve since switched to injections and learning about dose made a huge difference in my journey.   Dose journey for me: I started at 175 IUs and within the first week dropped down to 140 (dropped 5-10 IUs a day).  140 ended up being my sweet spot for me for the bulk of the journey.  For the last 10-15 pounds I found 130 to be more comfortable, I did test 125 IUs a few times but it just didn’t feel quite right. ( I’m 5’8 and 165 pounds – give or take 3 pounds and I lost about 35 total pounds).   The difference between being over dosed versus under dosed was this: When my dose was too high I was strong, but irritable and hungry.  When the dose was too low I felt weaker, and a little shaky.  When I had it just right, I felt pretty good.  On days where I knew I needed to be very strong (a long travel day or something), I would overdose by 5 IUs because I preferred feeling irritable over feeling weak.”  

hCGer 34:

Not to sound a little dramatic, but I feel like you saved my life!

I am not new to the HCG protocol and without boring you with all my past experiences, this is the first time that I am connected to your resources and finally, because of you, I realized that I was on a too high dosage (250iu) and therefore it wasn’t working! I always lost the first 1.5 weeks when the Dr. still kept me on the lower dosage (150) and always stopped losing after. This time, for the first time, I decided to persist after the 3 weeks despite not losing weight and feeling HORRIBLE! I was ravenous. Tired. Couldn’t concentrate. Irritable. Depressed. It was crazy! When I read your blog about dosages, I asked the Dr. who just laughed and said it doesn’t make sense for “too much” hcg to be a problem.

Despite the craziness, I persisted the 4th week because the dr. said if I continue my body will “catch up” and I will lose A LOT! That 4th week I felt worse then ever. It was scary and ridiculous. I took matters into my own hands and lowered the dosage. Within 2 days, I feel like myself again! I can think! I can concentrate! I am not hungry…And finally….I am losing weight again!!!! If it feels like this, I can keep to this another two weeks!

It makes me sad that I suffered through this for no reason for so many rounds and attempts. At the time I didn’t listen to my body and trust the signals. With your information out there, and my improved ability to believe in my body, I am finally on track! I finally feel that this is going to work. I will unfortunately have to do another round because of the wasted 2.5 weeks but it will be a short 3-week round and then I will probably have reached my goal weight.

Now that I am on the right dosage, I feel like I could do this forever! It isn’t that hard anymore. It’s an entirely different experience.

I can’t say it enough…..Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

And also, my Dr. is finally realizing that he IS giving too high dosages to people and beginning to see that it could be harmful. You didn’t just help me but you helped all the people that will use him in the future.

hCGer 35:

I realized that my best days were my skip days. I did not want to mess with the dose. So, I started injecting at night! Now every day feels like a skip day! Zero hunger, awesome sleep, good energy, and wonderful feelings of well being. My 3rd round, totally different from my other 2. So happy!! I’m injecting 150 in the muscle. Trying to stay true to the original protocol.  

hCGer 36:

I reached immunity–that means for a few days I was STARVING–dreaming of sugar, hunger pangs keeping me up at night b/c there was no hcg in me and I was eating 500 cals! (actually less!) Last night I got up in the middle of the night and ate a chicken thigh in the fridge that had a little oil on it…cos it was that or cookies!! This morning I was down 2.3 lbs –more than I lost in a whole week! Anyway, I went to day to full P3 hcgchica style that is and feel so much better.   Just for the info cos I know dosing things interest you…I started at 125iu and within a week or so dropped to 100iu and that’s where I was for a few weeks comfortably. then started getting hungry again. so we experimented by skipping a day and I felt better so I dropped to 80iu and then I was SO hungry so went up again to 100 and still so so hungry and also–very little weight loss and feeling weak. Anyway, the forum’s expert people both suggested the immunity thing and that was my gut feeling one night when I was up with intense cravings. I never had cravings on hcg–hunger, yes , but not cravings and these were intense. I understood something is really off. The hcg was just mixed 2 weeks before and was in the back fridge. So that wasn’t the issue..or maybe–dont know. I had planned just to go another few days anyway. Anyway, that is my dosing story –Bubbles

hCGer 37:

Hey Rayzel,   I just want to let you know how very grateful I am for you and the info you provide to the community. Particularly around dosing. I had done HCG through a clinic about 4 years ago…it was an uncomfortable white knuckle experience. So I dragged my feet trying it again. But I found drugs like Qsymia and Contrave even more uncomfortable in my brain. So I wanted to try again…thank goodness for you!   The online pharmacy started me at 200 iu, with no further instructions. I had no idea how adjusting dosage can affect hunger levels and well being. So thanks to you, I knew I would have to start scaling back bit by bit. Sure enough, when I begin to feel hunger (I track hunger levels each day) I know it’s time to cut 10 IU out. One tip I’ve found amazingly helpful is close monitoring on skip days. I skip my injection every 10 days, and sure enough, I usually experience zero hunger on skip days. So I always cut 10 IU out following skip days. Today happens to be a skip day, following a day with higher hunger yesterday….so tomorrow I will be cutting dosage to 150, down from 200 1 month ago. I don’t think I could survive without the selfless info that you provide!!   Thank you so very much!!! –Sue M

hCGer 38:

Another thing I thought might add to your body of knowledge is the IU’s that worked best for me. At the start of each of my rounds my weight has been 135 pounds. In my first round (which I did through a doctor’s office), I was on 200 IUs…and I was hungry. My 2nd round (done through your recommended source), I started at 150 but got hungry on the second week…I had found your website by then and I tried adjusting my dose based upon your recommendations. I was uncertain if it was because I was getting too much HCG or not enough, so in that round I upped my dose to 160, then 170…and it felt like I was starving! in my last week, I dropped my dose to 125…and that really helped. This time around I started at 150. I started getting hungry on my second week, so I dropped to 125. I dropped my dose down again to 110 IU’s in the 4th week and increased my veggies and protein slightly, added in some Wasa Light Rye crackers, and had a scoop of Hydrolysed Collagen Protein in a morning drink .   My ability to make all of these adjustments, and therefore experience a much more “comfortable” phase 2, is directly related to the information I learned from your website. I did lose weight a bit slower which is why I went 4 weeks instead of 3. However, the experience was much smoother because of these little tweeks. -Rebekah

hCGer 39:

Just wanted to say thanks to Rayzel. I was struggling on the diet. Then I read a post she made about “it NOT being about will power.” She went on explain how adjusting your dose could help with hunger. I adjusted my dose from 15ml to 18ml over the course of a week. I’m not hungry anymore and it’s so much more bearable! I was just trying to power through it and now I have to force myself to eat my protein some days. So far I’ve lost 30lbs. Thanks so much for the help! -Nate

hCGer 40:

I didn’t realize you could feel better by reducing the dosage, but I reduced my plan to 125iu from 200iu and busted through a plateau with truly no hunger and happily avoided the apple day. I look forward to knowing my final numbers and of course to keeping the weight off going forward. As of now I am down 19.2 pounds and am finally no longer considered obese! -Suzie

hCGer 41:

The DietDoc put me on an 800 calorie program, I tried to do the Dr. S religiously in the beginning, then combined with theirs, but I had two problems I was hungry and I wasn’t losing. I am not a heavy eater anyway, but a bad eater, bread and cheese and butter and mayo. OMG, I struggled with cutting those out and I was STARVING in the first few weeks, DietDoc kept telling me to increase calories…. (I was fine first few days after loading though).   After a couple of weeks of STARVING……I adjusted my shot dosage down (this didn’t help) I then adjusted my shot dosage up. Ahhhh at 200 I stopped wanting to eat non stop. I am not much of a meat protein eater, that part was hard for me. My loss was extremely slow going, however, I figured that would be the method for me. I’m down 10 pounds. I’m just about done with this round. I would have liked to have lost the 30 I wanted to lose in the first round, but I guess I’m going to have to try again.  -ShaSha

hCGer 42:

I was following you when you first started your protocol online youtube and watched you when you first started as a quiet timid young lady and watched you become this assertive strong woman. I’ve emailed you a couple times about my struggles with starting hcg and how I failed due to many emotional issues. Well, I think I finally got it right and found my dose, which is important in continuing the diet after almost 2 years of trying at various times. I just turned 58 on the 4th of July and was bound and determined that this was going to be the round. The last round I had so many issues in my life that was a roadblock and although they are still here I ended up with a dose I wasn’t sure that was right. This dose was based on your information and that you acquired from your mom on the diet and other postmenopausal women. I believe I have found the right dose, which is very low, 80 units. I started the protocol on Monday with my 2 load days and I think I gained a little over one and a half pounds. It is now Saturday morning and I have lost 10.8 pounds. So thank you for publishing all your information. I believe I am on my way. Thank you so much. -Deb

hCGer 43:

I began a round of HCG on Oct. 21…I used one of the pharmacies you recommended and your discount (thanks!). This was my first round in 7 years so I was nervous about a new pharmacy and dosage etc. I have really struggled with hunger and low blood sugar on some of the days…I looked on your page and very quickly found some good answers. One surprising suggestion was to adjust the dosage DOWN…I expected that I needed more since it “wasn’t working” and that stressed me out since how would I have enough? After reading the suggestion to reduce the dose, I tried that this morning (after waking up hungry again)…and I already feel better and more in control. I was afraid I was never going to be able to finish the round, but now I have hope and determination again…so nice to not have that hunger driving me crazy. -Karen

hCGer 44:

The very first time I used the homeopathic drops, it was from my doctor, so I knew that the drops were good.

Over the next few years, life happened and the weight crept back up. By this time my doctor was no longer giving out these drops and it was about the time HHCG got harder to find. So I bought some from what I thought was a good place, only to find out about a week into it I was starving. Well, it was easy to put the blame on the drops since I got them online. This happened a couple of times, buying drops from different places. Talk about getting frustrated! I gave up for a few years.

I finally found your page about dosages, and I tucked that info away because I wanted to try again!

I bought some drops, and again a few days into it I was getting hungry, so this time I reduced my drops from 10 to 8 three times a day and the results were immediate! I couldn’t believe it! I just finished a FULL 40 day round and lost 24 lbs with very little hunger! I will take a little break, 3 weeks, and do another round!

-Rita

hCGer 45:

I’m currently doing my 3rd round of HCG. I started at 253lbs last February and got to 220 in the first round. Then I did a round of 30 days in May/June and got down to 200. I decided to hang at that weight for a few months, which I did successfully. I started last week at 205 and am ready to get to my goal weight of 175. But this round, which I started last week, I was starving the first four VLCD. I was freaked out–there was no way I could do this for 36 more days. But I went on your site and saw your article about lowering the dose. My dose was prescribed for the same amount (250iu) as when I started 50 pounds ago! Anyway, I switched it yesterday to 175iu and immediately had a much easier day! And today has been even better. So I am simply writing to say thank you thank you thank you! I was really depressed–dreading a round of being starving all the time. But fortunately, thanks to you, that isn’t going to happen.-Ben 

hCGer 46:

hCGer 47:

How could I have been sooooooo dense. I have read your blog on the correct dosage and didn’t really absorb the information – really could it apply to me? So, I am on my 3rd round of HCG, I have done 2/21 day regimes, the first was great because I dropped from 170 – yeah yikes, to 150. (I’m in my late 50’s an post menopause). The second go around I was ALWAYS hungry. I dropped about 8 pounds, but went out of town and didn’t really follow the phase 3. So I decided, on additional go. I started the HCG and after 3 days, was dying…..so hungry. I began to play around with the dose, a bit higher, a bit lower, but discounted the advice for dosing at 70, until the second week. Oh. My. Goodness. what a difference that made. My stall in weight loss dropped 1.4 lbs the next day, and .8 the following. And, I’m not starving. Why oh why did I not this this applied to me?! It hasn’t been quite 2 weeks, but I have dropped a total of 8. To some this may seem not enough, but this is fat, and I am 5’8″. Hoping for and additional 5-7 lbs, now that I have the dose figured out. My advice to your readers, especially those of you in you 50’s and above. Consider the lower dose.-Lori

hCGer 48:

Another thing I thought might add to your body of knowledge is the IU’s that worked best for me. At the start of each of my rounds my weight has been 135 pounds. In my first round (which I did through a doctor’s office), I was on 200 IUs…and I was hungry. My 2nd round (done through your link), I started at 150 but got hungry on the second week…I had found your website by then and I tried adjusting my dose based upon your recommendations. I was uncertain if it was because I was getting too much HCG or not enough, so in that round I upped my dose to 160, then 170…and it felt like I was starving! in my last week, I dropped my dose to 125…and that really helped. This time around I started at 150. I started getting hungry on my second week, so I dropped to 125. I dropped my dose down again to 110 IU’s in the 4th week and increased my veggies and protein slightly, added in some Wasa Light Rye crackers, and had a scoop of Hydrolysed Collagen Protein in a morning drink .-Rebekah

hCGer 49:

The dosing advice you have given on your website is very helpful! In my own story, I assumed I would need a higher dose so I was messing around with going above 150units for a while. I read another readers experience, as well as thinking through the symptoms you described. After feeling pretty low for the first 2 weeks (hungry, grumpy, feeling like I couldn’t go on) something clicked for me. I realized that if the symptom of dosing being too low was not being hungry ALL DAY, until the evening, I wanted that!!! So I dropped my dose to 100 units and WOW- what a difference. After that, every time I dosed higher I felt hungry and frantic all day. Some days I even went lower. Of course I still had some days better than others but it was a big deal to realize that I could have good days on this diet! I plan on doing one more round next spring and this knowledge makes me more confident.-Hillary

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