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Cheating on the hCG Diet: What To Do When You’ve Screwed Up
I’m writing because it’s GOING to happen. Maybe not this round. Oh let’s hope not this round. But at some point or another, if you have a bunch of weight you’re trying to lose, you will make a mistake. And since you will likely feel like cheating again in the future at some point, I have some great tips for “cheating” smart on the hCG Diet that you can check out
As someone who came across this post through this particular google search said it, “I ate 2 peanut butter sandwiches while on my 5th day of hCG.” If that’s something like what you did, you’re here to find out what will happen, and how to fix it right??
Rather than dwell on the bummer-ness of it all, let’s focus on what you can do, now, now that it’s “too late” to un-eat whatever you ate.
And lastly before we get started, one important thing:
If you are not using real hCG and are really struggling to not cheat due to feeling hungry, the non-real hCG is most likely a big part of the problem. 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 definitely going to make you struggle.
Please see my resources for authentic prescription grade hCG online. 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 4 years, and seen many others not maintain, using the real hormone is one vital key for most!
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I like to give you the DETAILS. The WHY and HOW of it all. In detail. Did I mention detail? But I get it. You are busy. You’re exhausted from work and your eyes start crossing after 300 words. Or you have ADD. Whatever the case, here’s a summary of the article, after which you will find the longer version.
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Article Summary – the Short of it:
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What Might Happen After you Cheat
- If you’re lucky, nothing happens, no gains and no loss. Weight loss continues.
- Small gain the day after the cheat but continued weight loss the following days.
- You lose the day after the cheat but weight loss stalls the next day.
- You may or may not gain but your weight loss stall for several days.
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How To Fix The Cheat
- Apple Day After a Cheat May Not Be the Best Choice. Detailed post about that here: whether or not Apple Days are a good idea for cheats and stalls here
- EATING CLEAN for a few days after a cheat, where I ate only the protein and vegetables and ditched the melba and fruit entirely was a good way to fix a cheat.
- Drink enough WATER but don’t overdo it. Here’s my article on drinking water/liquids in a balanced way.
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Why You Should Avoid Future Cheating
- Gaining Fat Happens Faster on hCG. With the hormone in your system, it appears to me that your body can actually gain fat stores much more quickly and when you cheat on this diet, it seems like you can mess up your fat to muscle weight loss ratio.
- Wasting Time/Getting Nowhere For a LOT of Effort and Self Control. If you do lots of what you might think of as minimal cheating throughout a whole round- say you consistently end up eating like 1000 calories on the diet- you may not gain, but you also likely won’t lose much if anything either
- Gaining Fat Happens Faster on hCG. With the hormone in your system, it appears to me that your body can actually gain fat stores much more quickly and when you cheat on this diet, it seems like you can mess up your fat to muscle weight loss ratio.
-
Don’t Let a Mistake Dictate The Overall Outcome!
- When you make a bad choice one day, this does not mean that you are a failure or that you don’t have what it takes to succeed- not at all. The people who succeed make mistakes. To follow through with success you have to be able to learn to move past them and continue to believe in yourself DESPITE those mistakes.
Main Article- Let’s Get Nitty Gritty Shall We?
The Aftermath: What Might Happen After Your Cheat
To be honest, there’s no way to be completely sure. It depends partially on your unique body’s response, but also depends on the type of cheat. Let’s NOT dwell on this too long, but just at least to prepare you for the basic things that usually happen – we’ll talk about it, we’ll be done with it, and we’ll move on to what you can DO about fixing your cheat.
- Best case scenario: nothing really happens. You don’t gain. You might not lose for a day but then weight loss continues as normal.
- More likely scenario: a small something happens. You have a gain- say 1.2 lbs. But then weight loss gets back to normal in the days after this
- The I-almost-thought-it-was-a-good-thing-scenario: You initially still have a loss the following day- perhaps even a bigger than normal one! But then in the ensuing days after that, you experience a stall in your weight loss.
- On rare occasions scenario: a bigger something happens. You may or may not have a gain, but your weight loss stalls for several days following the cheat, despite the fact that you are still eating 500 calories each day. This pretty much really sucks. I’ve had it happen.
Let’s FIX This Thing!
Some have the first thought to do an apple day- here is why I don’t feel this may be the best approach to fix a cheat.
Why An Apple Day After a Cheat May Not Be the Best Choice
Here’s the thing- apples, especially 4-6 apples have a lot of 2 things- carbs and sugar. So here’s what I’m thinking- most likely when you cheated you ate……something(s) with carbs and sugar and fat right? As much as you’d like to be able to say you just couldn’t help yourself you had to eat ten pounds of tomato salad, we all know that’s not what happened. :)-
Just to give you a comparison, if you eat six medium sized apples in one day on this protocol, you will be consuming approximately 114 grams sugar and 123.6 grams of net carbs. On a regular vlcd day you might consume only 32 grams sugar and 38 grams of net carbs. So 3-4 times as much carbs and sugar as a regular vlcd day.
I have a very detailed post on whether or not Apple Days are a good idea for cheats and stalls here.
How I Fix A Cheat on the hCG Diet
It took me awhile to figure this out, but I came to the conclusion that eating clean for a few days after a cheat, where I ate only the protein and vegetables and ditched the melba and fruit entirely was a good way to go- basically once again, helping your body clear those carbs out of our system by not eating yet more.
You can replace the calories you would have had from your fruits either with more P2 veggies, or if you want to do something “rogue” (off protocol) you can replace it with 0% FAGE greek yogurt (or some other fat free yogurt that is very low in carbs- double check labels as many fat free yogurts are not). I have done both and I feel they work well.
Water water water…still don’t over do it though!
Yes drink lots of water- water is always good. But even that you can drink too much of. What actually constitutes “lots” of water? I actually have an article on drinking water/liquids in a balanced way.
Why It’s Good to Avoid Future Cheating
You know that I feel a very important part of success is not beating yourself up over mistakes but rather making a plan, and moving on. For anyone who has done 2-3 rounds of this weight loss journey, I would venture to say 99.9% of them made at least 1 slip-up and cheated with at least one meal during the course of the 3-6 weeks. I probably had about 5-6 total cheat days between my 5 rounds of this protocol. Did not ruin my long term success- just took me a bit longer is all.
It is still good though to discuss why cheating on the this diet is something to avoid when at all possible- in case this helps you the next time major temptation arises. Certainly, if we can’t learn from our mistakes and the cheating becomes chronic or perpetual, you could really harm your body and you will not get where you want to go.
And I have some great tips to keep in your back pocket for cheating smarter on hCG when you DO find yourself in challenging situations.
1. Gaining Fat Happens Faster on hCG
hCG is not like other diets in more ways than one. You can achieve fast results, and you can lose results fast as well.
That crazy thing that no one can still logically explain where the body releases a lot of fat while on this diet? Well, it goes both ways- fat seems to become very volatile in our bodies while on this protocol- whether it’s going out or coming in.
Cheating on other diets isn’t as big a deal because the consequences are not as high- you body will not gain more fat than it normally would when you weren’t on other diets. So you can technically just take a day off if you want then go back to it.
With the hormone in your system, it appears to me that your body can actually gain fat stores much more quickly- like somehow the calories you eat are stored more efficiently as fat than in regular life. I can’t tell you how much or why but we have all seen it enough now to know, something strange goes on when you take in calories beyond 500-800 and consume fat.
Why else would you GAIN weight on hCG eating 1,000 calories a day? I would NEVER gain weight in regular life eating 1,000 calories a day- in fact, I’d definitely be losing weight. But on hCG, most people would gain fat.
Because of this, when you cheat on this diet, it seems like you can mess up your fat to muscle weight loss ratio. Even though muscle loss in general is pretty low, there is still some- when you are losing weight, you are losing a small amount of muscle- then when you cheat it seems like you’re gaining all fat, then when you re-lose that weight on the scale, you are losing once again a small amount of muscle- so what I’m saying it the 156 lbs you were the day before cheating? And now it took you 2 days to get back to 156lbs? I feel that a slightly larger amount of the 156lbs that is you after cheating is fat than before you cheated. I don’t know if that makes sense.
2. Wasting Time/Getting Nowhere For a LOT of Effort and Self Control
A 2nd reason it’s wise to avoid cheating on this journey if you can is that you are wasting time in the middle of doing something very difficult. It’s kind of like trying to eat a fancy $50 catered lunch while running 10mph on a treadmill. Any takers so I can shoot a quick video so we can all get a visual?
Essentially, it’s just one big mess and huge waste- I mean how long did it take you to make that fifty bucks?
If you do lots of what you might think of as minimal cheating throughout a whole round- say you consistently end up eating like 1000 calories on the diet- you may not gain, but you also likely won’t lose much if anything either- and I think we can all agree even living on 1000 calories a day is more like a walk through a long muddy puddle in your brand new 4 inch heels than a jaunt on a fresh spring day.
So here you are consistently cheating but still having a rough time every day for weeks on end and what do you get out of it? Nothing. No weight loss, nada.
You can see why this is all so pointless. Which is why I often advise people who ask me about it to simply abort the round early if they can’t get their head back in the game. That’s okay- to me better to recognize that you just can’t handle it right now and try again later than to spend so much time wasting time and emotional energy- in that case I think it’s a demoralizing experience that you will have to now recover form emotionally and you can save yourself that by just stopping early.
Don’t Let a Mistake Dictate The Overall Outcome!
Hey, you know what? I’ve eaten 2 porkchops sauteed in butter during the middle of my 5th round of this diet plan. Also multiple large handfuls of cashews. No it wasn’t a good choice at the time, but I did it, and guess what, I got over it, and I’m here still maintaining my weight loss from hCG over a year later now, so it didn’t ruin the whole thing.
Yep, it wasted time on the protocol- it wasn’t fun seeing the scale go up 2-3lbs overnight and then taking another 2 days to get back to where I was 4-5 days prior to that, essentially close to a whole week “lost”- but I got through it. So can you should this happen to you. I hope it won’t, but I’m just being realistic.
The most important thing is DON’T LET A MISTAKE DICTATE THE REST OF YOUR ROUND. When you make a bad choice one day, this does not mean that you are a failure or that you don’t have what it takes to succeed- not at all.
The people who succeed make mistakes. To follow through with success you have to be able to learn to move past them and continue to believe in yourself DESPITE those mistakes.
This is something I didn’t use to know. I used to think that I was the only one who screwed up and that meant I wouldn’t achieve what I saw others achieving. Then I read that people that people who succeed make mistakes too. NO WAY!! For real?
I have many stories going on in my life; many are still unfinished. Even this weight loss/weight maintenance journey is never fully over- but a chapter of it has closed enough that I feel I can confidently say yes it’s true, I am a person who has successfully gone through the process, and maintained the results for over a year, and I did make those mistakes along the way.
Successful people make mistakes- I’ve now experienced this. It feels good to know there’s hope. You WILL get through this- some days you won’t, but over the period of weeks, months, and years, you will get where you want to go with this journey if you stick to it.
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Hi there
I am currently in phase 2 and split the drops with my friend. (She is doing 36 days and only needed a portion of the bottle I purchased). This means I only have enough for 2 weeks if that. I would like to lose more but if I stop at the end of two weeks do I need to wait 3 weeks and start with another loading day to complete another 2 weeks?
Hi Vicky,
Thank you for reaching out to us. Rayzel has not gotten a lot of personal feedback on others doing hCG for only two weeks but there was one hCGer who told her that her doc prescribes 2 weeks frequently for leaner people and they seem to do just fine afterwards, so it seems like you could try it.
Rayzel also has some posts about the length of time you should be on hCG and the breaks you can take. You can find them here: http://hcgchica.com/length-of-time-on-the-hcg-diet-and-breaks-from-hcg/
Hope that helps a little.
Hi. Will having 1-2 tbsp of coffee creamer set you back too badly ?
Hi Teresa,
There are non-dairy creamers. You can get fat-free/sugar-free or the non-calorie ones if you really want creamer in your coffee.
Gen
HALP!!! I’ve been eating .5 cup of lowfat cottage cheese with berries for the past 5 days (this is my first week). Hubby did the grocery shopping and didn’t realize it has to be NO FAT cottage cheese? I am supposed to get weighed in the next two days. Not sure if the apple day is a good idea – thinking skip the bread and fruit and just do veggies and protein. Any advice?
Hi Jennifer,
Rayzel is not too fond of apple days actually and there are reasons why. You can read about her post here: http://hcgchica.com/apple-days-hcg-diet-two-cheats-and-stalls
Additionally, she wrote a very detailed post on how to fix an hCG diet cheat as well as a whole section of blogposts that discusses ways to cheat “smarter” when struggling, and what causes cheats, etc. I think you’ll find them most helpful:
http://hcgchica.com/how-to-fix-cheat-on-hcg-diet/
http://hcgchica.com/cheating-on-the-hcg-diet/
Hope that helps 🙂
Gen
Hello, I’ve been on the HCG diet now for 8 days and have lost a total of 13.8 lbs. On day six, I ate two peanut butter cookies and the next day, my weight loss was only 0.6 lbs. Then the following day my weight loss was only 0.4 lbs. I’m hoping that my body has corrected itself when I weigh In tomorrow. How many days does it take for you body to get readjusted?
please advise::almost done my loss and got totally derailed and ignored my goad .
Round 1 P2 I was determined and lost 35 lbs. and 9% body fat. YAY ME Stayed with in 2 lbs. for phase3 and lived life for 4 weeks. I was fabulous, I had lots of energy and felt great.
Time for Round 2—it started with a cold so loading was minimal and nothing seemed right after that. (((i had changed pharmacies and I really think that made a difference.))) The first time I almost hungry and had to force my meals, so it was very easy to stay on protocol. this time it was hard everyday. I only lost 5 pounds and it time to start phase 3. I was so so unset.
I ordered more HCG from the ORIGINAL PHARMACY and want to get back on track and on the program. I still have 15 pounds to drop at the curb. But and holding off because I don’t know when I should start back.
everything says i have to do round 3 and the 3 more weeks stable…I don’t know if I am capable.
What is this correct. please help. I don’t want to go that long.
Do you think the 2nd batch of HCG i got was not quality. I felt night and day. the first was like fun crazy me energy===even the 6 weeks in between. i miss that feeling of control and want to get rid of this last bit.
please give advise and thoughts. my HCG is in frig unmixed ready to go.
thank you for all your advance and help in this process.
Hi Lauren,
I am sorry for the late reply. Rayzel has a post that should help you in your research. You can read about that here: http://hcgchica.com/how-to-learn-about-hormone-problems/
Furthermore, these are Rayzel’s thoughts on cortisol testing, in her own words, “Mainly, the cortisol testing that current research seems to show is best to get is a one day 4 saliva cortisol test- that means you will take your own saliva sample 4 times throughout one day, stick it the freezer (the little vials come with the lab kit, which there are links to these lab tests in the above link), and then you mail it off to the company. The blogpost also has a link to interpreting lab tests – it can be tricky because often times the lab test will seem like your results are in the normal range, but the lady I frequently link to over at stopthethyroidmadness.com who has interacted with and helped thousands of people now, has shown that these supposed “normal” levels are actually often too low in something or too high in something, meaning you actually need intervention/help. So like for me, my cortisol Levels on this test seemed kind of normal, but when I actually started dosing with physiologic doses of cortisol 3 times a day, I felt WAY better and my stamina and energy were greatly improved. I’m still on it to this day actually as with my chronic illness I can’t seem to heal enough to get off it. So like I take 15 mg of cortisol per day. Another interesting thing about this, while high cortisol causes weight gain, I found that when my cortisol was too low I also had trouble with fat gain, despite my diet and exercise being the same as it had always been, and when I added the cortisol in, I lost weight and was able to maintain much more easily again.
A lot of naturopathic doctors treat and work to heal people’s adrenal with various adaptogenic herbs and such- I’m sure that can work eventually but I have found that it’s often the case where you feel SO horrible, and you have responsibilities you have to do in life, and this herbal process can take like 2 years to notice hardly any improvement AND has to be combined with having like no stress in your life and completely babying yourself- to me this is just not possible for most of us- so for me, taking the physiologic doses of cortisol was a lifesaver because it instantly provides your body with sorely needed cortisol to carry out your life and feel half-alive, while letting your adrenals rest and taking some of the burden off them. From what I understand- and please do Google this yourself- as long as the dosing of cortisol is what’s called “physiologic” – doses that your body would naturally produce (vs the high dosages of steroids given in hospitals which is WAY higher than your body would normally produce), this will not compromise your own adrenal’s ability to make/produce cortisol in the long term- meaning you can potentially wean off the cortisol as your body heals. I’ve actually done that a few times in the past with no issues. I hope that helps get you started. You may have to search around a bit to find a naturopathic doc who will prescribe you the cortisol. I actually did buy mine online for a time from overseas pharmacies without a prescription but this is getting harder to find now – you can Google that though – usually Mexican pharmacies have 5mg of 10mg tablets of cortisol.”
I’m in my first round. Just started phase three. When reading labels how many grams of sugar should we stay under. I know zero would be optimal but not everything is sugar free. Like organic pasta sause. I put it on zucchini. It’s got 4 grams sugar. I have a rule if anything has more than 5 grams of carbs I dont get it. Is this a good rule with sugar as well??
Hi Molly,
I do agree, not everything is sugar-free but if you could stay away from sugar or eat food with as less sugar as possible, it would make for a better weight loss and make it easier for you to stabilize your weight.
Here are Rayzel’s thoughts about this:
“Sugar is a misunderstood thing. It’s not actually ideal to have zero sugar in this case. We are wanting to avoid ADDED sugar as well as the higher sugar content of higher carb foods. However, as you discovered while checking your zucchini, even low carb vegetables have natural sugars in them, and these are NOT bad or a problem for stabilizing. Even for instance canned tomatoes- you will notice a few grams of sugar on the label even though the ingredient list will show no added sugar – this is simply the natural sugar contained in tomatoes that make it slightly sweeter tasting. Additionally, the if anything has more than 5 grams of carbs thing is another rule of thumb that even I myself used to go by, but the problem was I found myself often overconsuming calories on other low carb foods as a result. My structured Phase 3 to Life program actually has a range of 30-75 net carbs per day on the plan, all from whole low carb veggies and small amounts of fruit sources, and I kid you not, basically everyone who follows this program stabilizes or even loses a little weight during the 3 weeks. I have realized through the creation and now seeing women follow the program that we have come to misunderstand what really works well for stabilizing and maintaining and what foods are appropriate to eat in Phase 3 and regular life. You CAN choose to use that rule of thumb about the 5 carb thing but I have found this often ends up meaning you don’t even eat a lot of vegetables and start reaching for 2 net carb protein bars instead and in the end, I just find this isn’t a healthy or sustainable way to eat long term. People do so much better utilizing low carb whole veggie sources and having a nice sized meal using these types of ingredients that makes them feel truly full and satisfied instead of eating one 2 net carb bar and then not feeling satisfied which leads to eating more of those bars or other calorie dense low carb foods and before you know it, you’re overconsuming and/or falling off the wagon. These are just my personal thoughts on this and the evidence from the women following my program seem to be proving it to be true. I hope this helps you!”
Additionally, I am posting here a free Phase 3 food list for you to download if you are looking for ideas. I am sure you’ll find it very helpful: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/blogoptinshappyfeet/P3+Foods+List+-+Free+Download.pdf
Also if you want to check out Rayzel’s full fledged Phase 3 program people are stabilizing excellently on, you can check into that here: P3tolife.com
Gen
Day 6 of P2. Last night, I made tacos for the kids. Took out my own meat and made a little P2 taco salad.
And then I ate more meat. And some cheese. And then a quesadilla. And 4 valentine cookies. And more meat and cheese on tortilla chips. All that within an HOUR!
Up 3.4lbs this morning. SOOOO not worth it!!
Oh- and a package of Belvita cookies was thrown in there too. At least I didn’t hit the margaritas!
WELL I DID IT. ATE AN EXTRA CHICKEN BREAST WITH SOME ONION, & CUCUMBER, AND LETTUCE. USED MUSTARD TO DIP THE ABOVE. LESS THAN TSP OF MUSTARD.
NOT TOO BAD I GUESS THERE BUT NO I DRANK 2 VODKA SODA’S ALSO. WENT HOME AND HAD 1/2 GRAPEFRUIT WITH STEVIA ! WOKE UP 2LBS HEAVY 🙁
HATE MYSELF TODAY OF COURSE. KETONE STRIP WAS STILL PURPLE THIS MORNING SO I THOUGHT I MAYBE OK BUT NOPE. JUST GOT A BRAND NEW SCALE SO THERE COULD BE SOME LEAWAY THERE, BUT OBVIOUS WEIGHT GAIN ANYWAY YOU LOOK AT IT.
I HAVE DONE SO GOOD FOR A WEEK AND NOW I HAVE BLOWN MY WEIGHTLOSS TO PIECES.
MY QUESTION I GUESS IT. I MUST STILL BE IN KETOSIS RIGHT CAUSE MY STRIP WAS PURPLE THIS MORNING. SO AM I STILL BURNING FAT EVEN THOUGH I HAVE GAINED LBS ? GOT TO FIND SOMETHING GOOD IN THE TRADGEDY 🙂 MAYBE SOME WATER WEIGHT ? GRASPING AT STRAWS I GUESS.
GOING TO EAT CLEAN TODAY. FISH TACO LETTUCE WRAPS ONLY.
I know everyone’s body is different but my body responds extremely well with the Apple day, usually if I have stalled, the day after apple day I will have lost anywhere from 3-6 pounds. I am on the real HCG now but have mostly done homeopathic HCG, I lost quicker with the homeopathic but it was more strict than this and if I cheated the next day would be a 1-2 pound gain.
I have cheated but with breadstick. I am supposed to have one a day but I went crazy and had 10!! Tasted so good!!! Hope I won’t gain tomorrow. I do injections phase 2 day 8.
My husband was diagnosed with cancer two weeks into my r2 of hcg. I then messed up tremendously on the diet and I suddenly found that I had gained almost fifteen pounds (it seems like it was just overnight) and lots and lots of cellulite. Any thoughts on how to rid myself of this cellulite? It’s so awful !! Thank you very much!
I have successfully completed one round (lost 25lbs) and am ready to complete round 2 (16 lost so far) which I own has been hard. Yeah I had an evening of Jack Daniels and Taco Bell but tried the Fage yogurt solution and…yum! I gained 3lbs from my drunken midnight Taco Bell blunder but lost all of it after my yogurt day. For all those who described their cheats of an extra bread stick or a glass of wine…girls I ate 5 soft tacos, a Mexican pizza, and I think 6 jack and diet cokes. Hey if I am going to be bad might as well be super bad then brush it off and get back on plan.
My comment thought is how the yogurt day is the best solution ever! The apple days just don’t do it for me. I’m h-angry on apple days but the yogurt day actually felt like I was cheating. I ate 4 Fage 0% small containers with stevia and vanilla extract. I did have a few slices of cucumber too. Best suggestion ever. You rock Chica! I’m totally ready for Phase 3 and since dairy is my all time favorite thing in the world actually did 6 weeks of Phase 3 in between thee rounds and lost another 2 lbs. I could probably live in Phase 3 the rest of my life.
I am doing my first round of HCG through a weight loss clinic. Do I understand correctly that the injections are only through the second phase? Do you have to go through all phases before starting the program again? If so, how long do you wait in between rounds? So far, I am averaging a pound per day and would like to loose about 90 pounds. Is the typical experience, with additional rounds the same or decreased? Thank you so much.
This is my 3rd attempt on HCG and I’m determined this time to get through the whole way. I’ve realized that just keeping your videos on in the background, really, really, REALLY have helped me this time around.
Thank you so much for having all of these awesome resources and being so inspirational, I truly appreciate it!
Also, 5 days in VLCD and 6 pounds down.
Hi hcgchica I want know can you do the hcg diet when you had a full hysterectomy? Thanks Ms.Monlyn
Yes! I did and went from 179 to 134 in 6 mos.
Hello! I am on day 4 of my very first round of the protocol, and I am doing great and feeling great. I am seeing very quick results and that is keeping me motivated. However, I have a pressing question: I am heading to Mexico in two weeks. I will be on day 17 of Phase 1. I will be at an all-inclusive, and want to enjoy what they have to offer – I will be there four days…How should this be handled? I have a long way to reaching my goal, and want to continue with the protocol upon my return. Any advise or shared experiences would be helpful, Thanks!
Help!!!
The first time I was on this diet I lost 35 lbs. I am doing a second round now but in 12 days I have only lost 2 lbs. Yesterday I could not help myself and cheated. I had enough sweet stuff that I felt sick. Now what do I do? Should I stop the diet since I was not loosing any weight to begin with or go on? I am taking the injections, by the way.
I am on day 37 of HCG and have lost 22 lbs. But for the past 8 days only have lost 1.5 lbs… I’m keeping the diet to 600 calories (per my clinic) I work out twice a week, but I’m not having the loss like before. I started out at 231 lbs, now I’m 209. It this normal???
Hi Sharen!
Rayzel has a blog post that might help answer your question here:
http://hcgchica.com/not-losing-weight-stalls-hcg-diet/
Hope that helps!
Lucelle
I have a quick question.. so this is my first time doing hcg diet. Got started on it so surgery on my herniated disc wont be so risky because of my weight. I started loading thanksgiving day which was pretty awesome. its day 13 and im down 16 lbs. 297lbs- 281bs… but today in at 283lbs.. didnt do anything different.. i been pretty strick. Is it normal to gain weight? I thought about cheating because i love cereal buy ive controlled myself. I also have atleast to bowel movement a day. My hcg counselor was surprised when i told her that. Aha. When you cheat does it make a difference if its a tiny bite to a meal? So just in case i wanna cheat i do a worth cheat. Lol. Thank you for reading. This diet is hard mentally. All you ladies are awesome!!!
Hi. I have a question that seems to not be addressed anywhere. I know that during your period you skip the shots on heavy flow days. That’s usually 2-3 days for me. But I can never get an answer about how Dr Simeon’s preaches that you need 21 full does for the diet to be effective. So is it recommends that you add an additional
2-3 shots ant the end so you get the full recommended round of shots? Or do you have enough hcg in your body from your cycle that it counts as still working in place of the shot?
I am four days in and my daughters birthday is on saturday and i was wanting to have a piece of cake with her on her birthday. Do you think i will gain weight from one small slice?
Any vegetarians on this diet? What do you substitute your meat with?
Hi…I’m on R3 P2 day 22 (first day of the 72 hrs w/out HCG). I fell off the wagon, first time ever. I have a stomach bug, couldn’t eat for 24 hours aside from 2 mugs of progressive chicken broth. Here’s the problem, so sick to my stomach had to have plain saltine crackers and before the day was over I had eaten a whole sleeve. What do you suggest my game plan should be tomorrow (day two of the 72 hrs w/out HCG). I was planning on following protocol the next two days — unless you have a better suggestion? I don’t have it in me to extend the round. Appreciate your thoughts. Thanks & love your website.
The place I got my hcg through has a 750 calorie plan and with my job they want me at 1000 calories. Should I ignore them and stick to 500 calories? They say my body goes into starvation mode if i don’t eat enough and therefore I won’t lose weight.
So I’m on week two of P2. Two nights ago I snuck a snack size Hershey bar. Tiny, right?!
Well I woke up yesterday and weighed myself and luckily I didn’t gain anything BUT I didn’t lose either.
So I left out my bread sticks yesterday and left out my afternoon fruit….. hoping this would help.
Woke up today and nothing! Didn’t gain but didn’t lose. Slightly frustrating.
Has anyone else has this happen to them? If so, what should I do?
Apparently keep leaving out fruit and bread. Intake more protein. Make sure you drink enough water and try a 1 mile walk every day and a hot bath every night. Hot enough you start sweating and stay in tub till it’s lukewarm.
To clarify I did not do my previous rounds back to back
I did 3 back to back round s as I was unable to stabilize on p3 . I had done previous round s exactly the same and was successful. Is this because I did my round s too close together.currently up to 197 from 177 help
Hey @Sandra McLeod – it does seem like when people do hCG very close to other rounds that weight loss and maintenance seems to get trickier. But it’s also very possible that you have some unresolved hormone imbalances- have you checked into this fully yet? My favorite site to recommend researching this is stopthethyroidmadness.com and I have a post about this topic as well here: http://hcgchica.com/how-to-learn-about-hormone-problems/ I hope that helps! – Rayzel
This post helps so much! Not just for the tips, but more so for the self-forgiveness I can grant myself. Cheating is not the end of the world and it doesn’t even have to be the end of the diet. As you said – life happens. A couple of weeks ago (week 3 of my 1st round), my mom passed away very unexpectedly (I’m still only in my early 30’s and need her!), and I tried hard to plug away on the diet but the stress really got to me not to mention the events surrounding her death (funeral, sitting shiva, having to travel & stay w/her husband who only has junk food in the house, etc.) – and my diet was completely done for. I am restarting a round this week and have learned that I can fall down but get right back on when I choose, and it doesn’t mean I’m a failure that I fell in the first place. Im going stronger than ever this time around! Making mom proud, too.
I’m so sorry for your loss. Take care of yourself. Grief is stressful both emotionally and physically, so do listen to your body as you go forward. I lost my dad in May just as I was about to start my second round after losing 23lbs in the first round. I put it off for a couple weeks, but when I started the second round I decided to cut it short at 20 days because of headaches and weakness that was definitely related — it stopped as soon as I increased caloric intake. I believe that the stress of grieving was too much for my body to tolerate on the protocol, and it was pretty damn difficult. I did another 30 day round this past month and am now down a total of 45lbs. I have decided that to remain determined I may need to lower my expectations of how quickly the weight will come off. But that’s okay.
Oh my goodness @Alyssa Baum I can’t imagine what a time you have been through with the passing of your mom. Being in my mid thirties myself, I just can’t imagine being in the same place- I am so sorry for your loss. I think it’s completely understandable to need time and space to grieve- that’s not failure at all, it’s allowing yourself what you need to process different life effects, so glad that you realize that as well. – Rayzel
@Kris – lovely comments as well, thanks for posting. I so agree about realizing that our body can only handle so much and we need that time and space to grieve. Sounds like you have handled things in a good way for yourself with gradual progressive movements forward. I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your dad. – Rayzel
I am currently on protocol….11 days in have lost only 1 # (after load weight coming off). I was planning on doing a round this month and stuck to it even though my boyfriend passed suddenly. I appreciate your post as I was wondering if the grief, lack of sleep and emotional mess that i am may be causing the lack of results. This is my 3rd round and atypical of what has happened in the past. I am debating stopping and will probably just finish out this week. Then wait until spring for another round since you are supposed to follow the seasonal circadian rhythm since in winter your body naturally wants to hold onto weight. I guess I needed permission….? Anyway, thank you.
Hi! 🙂 i unfortunately cheated this weekend and I see what your saying about the yogurt. ..but how many oz per serving would you recommend? And how many times per day and for how many days? Sorry for all the questions I just don’t want to make any mistakes. And should I be replacing both fruit servings that we are allowed daily with the yogurt?
She has a really good post on skipping fruit on P2 that i really like, and avoiding the apple days after a cheat. i myself have found that i’m sensitive to ALL forms of sugar, even fruit sugar, so check out here: http://hcgchica.com/skip-fruits-on-hcg-diet-phase-2/
in this post she recommends subing the cut out bread/fruit with a little fage yogurt. I haven’t read anywhere that she recommends doing entire days of just yogurt, in fact i would assume you need to moderate your yogurt intake because yogurt has sucrose in it naturally…this could up your appetite…because it’s still a form of sugar.
Thank you for your helpful hints on this. I was doing so well…until last night. I am 17 days into Phase 2 with 13 lbs lost and was eating perfectly. I had also avoided social situations knowing that I may tempted.
Well, I was last night and it was a doozy! A glass of champagne, a egg/cheese biscuit and hash brown from McD’s at 1:30 am, then a LJS breaded chicken cutlet, hushpuppie, cup of 4% cottage cheese and a peach! I feel like there is a brick in my belly! Surprisingly, I’m only up about 2 lbs.
I’m putting it out there that I messed up. I’m owning it. But, starting right now, I’m not going to dwell in my shame anymore, I’m over it and back to clean eating. Thanks for the support board!!!
Hey @Sue Hemmer – that’s the spirit girl, yep just let it go once it’s already in your stomach right? You can totally move past this and keep moving toward your goals. I have a couple P2 porkchop days in my hCG history, and we all know that ain’t on protocol! But I am here almost 3 years of maintaining weight loss later, so these little things do not impact the overall result, as long as you do like you said and let them go and get back to protocol Keep it up! – Rayzel
I’m sorry I missed this @Arianna Messplay – in future, for emergency messages it’s better to email me privately so I see it for sure. I totally understand what happened to you! It’s happened to me before too- doing soooo good under all this difficult tempting situation, then bam, you can’t control yourself- it’s like willlpower so drained then you just fall apart. Happened to me more than once. I’m too late to give you guidance now though, not sure what you ended up doing – I like to think there’s not point in thinking that something is permanently messed up- the body is designed to heal and you can recover from even a big mistake- it just means it takes you a little longer to reach your goal, and that is perfectly okay. 🙂 Rayzel
Wish i wouldve read this sooner! After cheating for two day, ate ceviche on saturday, it was sooo good, and didnt go overboard on sunday with a baja shrimp taco a yogurt and some mexican cookies… today i was down 2# from the 6 i had gained by sunday morning, and i tried the apple day, three small green apples by the time i stumbled across this 😮 … should i drink water for the rest of the day? Or have some protein and veggies later today?
Hi my is Enjoli, I’m new to the hcg thing, I’ve been on since the first, I started at 219 I’m currently at 212.6 what are these phases you speak of and how can I curb being hungry?
Hi there @Enjoli Sparks – you can find my hCG diet dictionary to help you learn these basics- I think you’ll find it helpful! http://hcgchica.com/dictionary-for-hcg-diet-protocol-terms/
Hi I’ve been on the hcg diet haven’t cheat I lost 11lbs the first week now I’m on4th day of the second week and lost only 1lbs so far
This can become frustrating. I’ve experienced the same thing. Great first week, but this second week has been a great struggle. Not a struggle to eat well, i’m doing that. In fact, i’m eating less than 500 calories according to my food log. It’s that the scale is barely moving and I don’t understand why that is the case.
I have totally screwed up. I want to start over. How do I start over? I had lost 15lbs in 12 days. I did 21 days and started screwing up in those 21 days. Can someone help me?
I know these post are old, but I just need to just confess to someone! I’ve been on the HCG diet since May 5th, I started at 204, the scale at the doctors said 206 I now weigh 195, but had a doctors appointment today and I weighed 193.3 and it seems like I’m not losing weight as fast as I know I’m capable of. I got on the scale tonight and I weigh 195. Today I cheated I ate a hot dog with ketchup and mustard, salt and vinegar chips, I also had like two fork fulls of rice, and a very small piece of steak. Smh, I’m so disappointed in myself! Tomorrow is a brand new day, and I have to get back on track and stay on track. My goal weight is 150. And I’m determined to get there!
Hi @Keeonia – nice to meet you! Sometimes it’s just nice to share our struggles virtually out loud right?
You are right- the next day IS a brand new day and you can just move on. But one thing girl – don’t ever weight yourself at night! ;0 You will always weigh more. Drinking a simple 16 ounce glass of water will cause you to weigh 1 lb more on the scale, so weighing 1st thing in the morning and no other time is really the best- otherwise you’ll just be messing with your head and get discouraged for no reason. Hope that helps! – Rayzel
I was told I can’t do cardio and weight training is minimal to free weight only and my heart rate can’t go over 120…do I become a couch potato why can’t I go over 120hr
I have lost 20 pounds so far…
But I have had a 2 day – Saturdsy/ Sunday-pretty much cheat days due to holiday/ vacation….
Do I still continue the hcg and keep following the diet plan after these 2 days…????
Hi @Jillian if you feel up to continuing, yes you can just get back on track.
Thank -You….Back on track… Losing again and really sticking to it:)
Have 10 more pounds to go for my goal!!! Started at 166 – goal is 135!!!!
Awesome @Jillian – yes it really is best when we can just let those little what I call “blips” in our journey go and move on- which sounds like you’ve done!
Hi there. .I just want to say thanks for your resources. .i had a baby 3 1/2 months ago and got up to 220. I had gotten down to 179 on my own with exercise and healthy eating. But couldn’t lose more so I started hcg, which I had done in the past. I am currently on day 12 of the drops and have already lost 20 pounds. Starting weight after load days wad 182 and I’m down to 162. However today has been very hard mentally. A group of us our going out to dinner and I really am struggling. I know I could probably get something on the protocol. .but all I want is a salad with ranch how much do u think that will set me back? Then I get upset for even thinking about cheating. .my mind is messing with me. Any tips on getting your mind on board with your diet?? Lol
What a great website. Since 2011 I have lost over 125# doing 7 rounds of HCG. On this current round I cheated and googled “cheat day on HCG”.. Totally agree with the information found here. HCG is an amazing TOOL if you want to live a healthier lifestyle.
I just did the Fage day on phase 2 and lost 3 lbs overnight. I was at a stall so I replaced all my meals with 24 oz Fage 0% Greek plain yogurt sweetened with Stevia and 8 oz of strawberries that I split up throughout the day. It actually wasn’t bad, I really wanted something salty though by the end of the night!
Hiya @Angela sometimes it’s nice to do something different. Thanks for writing in.
im at a 3 days stall and following to a T! Im not an apple fan but have never seen the Fage day…. is it recommended or should i just tough through it with apples? thanks
i have lost 13 lbs in 30 days where as I would have lost at least 26 in 30 days when I did this 3 years ago. I am very frustrated. i ran out of hcg 2 days ago but am getting a new bottle tomorrow and want to continue on it….has anyone done this with success?
has anyone re-started on hcg after having stopped for 3 days
I have done some cheating and I am starting today with the clean eating that you recommended…..how many days did see was needed before you reverted back to before you cheated?
Unfortunately a cheat will set you back 3 to 5 days. All though I’ve tried both ways I’ve only ever had success with the apple day not the clean eating way.
good morning I really need some advice. I started the very low calorie diet but then have completely went off the diet for almost a week now. I stopped taking my injections and everything. I am Not sure what to do at this point I was only on it for a foul 4 days before I stopped. Is there a way to get back on track from here?
I just started my hcg injections last week Tuesday, and did very well the first 4 days on (after reading your blog and adjusting my initial dose from 170 to 125 – the 170 was making me feel ravenous. I couldn’t focus on anything all day except my unusual hunger… But dropping to 125 has taken care of the hunger! Thank you!) So, I have 2 questions for you: My boyfriend and I were celebrating our anniversary this weekend, and he brought over some very lovely dry red wine. I did a good job of staying at or even under the 500 cals. for 2 days with my meals, but had 2 glasses of wine each night with dinner. 🙁 Is this going to totally destroy my diet?
Also, what do you recommend to do about injections during your menstrual cycle? I am on birth control, so my cycle is regular and fairly light. I’ve read varying things about the injections during menses, and I know the original protocol does not recommend injections during menses. What should I do?
Thank you!
You should not inject yourself with hcg while having your period.
Really, why?
Please help, I started round 1 on Thursday and on Monday, I had a couple glasses of wine and now it’s been a week and the scale won’t move!! Should I reload or do the apple
Thankyou
I have completely bombed phase 3 of my 1st round, I’m 1 week into phase 3 and can’t seem to stop eating gluten free pizza with chicken, bacon and cheddar, honey crisp apples and wine…..I haven’t been on a scale since my last injection day 10 days ago…I just don’t know what to do at this point….
I don’t think this is a really bad cheat, but today I was not able to eat my meal at lunchtime and so I ended up eating all 500 calories at dinner. Will this be a problem? I am on round 1 day 15.
Update: I lost .7lbs, so I guess eating all the calories at once didn’t hurt me. Do you have experience with eating all the calories at once vs. divided up in the day? I don’t know if I lucked out or if it doesn’t matter. It would be nice to be able to save all the calories for a special events that may pop up on my calendar.
Thank you for your blog! This site has been such a help to me!
Do you think some cardio could help offset the caloric intake of a cheat? I cheated during an afternoon party with drinks, chips, hummus. I am so upset with myself, but trying to get over it. Now, I am on my elliptical. I just had to wait until 10 pm. I wonder if you can exercise a cheat away.
I haven’t cheated but my weight for the second week is stalling I only loss 1lb last week I lost 11lbs
Don’t get down on yourself just know you’re still ok it will just set you back a day or 2 but I assure you as long as you stay strict you will start losing again and just as a recommendation take a good laxative to rush that cheat out of you and get you back to your previous weight fast
I HAD A STRESSFUL DAY AND TOTALLY BLEW MY DIET. I AM ASHAMED. WHAT IS good laxative for cleansing?
Also, what is a good cleansing laxative.
Good laxative that is recommended is Smooth move by Traditional Medicinals.
http://www.traditionalmedicinals.com/products/smooth-move/
Holidays are here. Should I take a day off for Christmas?? Or take the shot still? I def will have a cocktail or two.
I have lost 10kg and I was 5 days away from entering P3 but since Friday I have eaten everthing I can and now it is Monday with 4kg back on. How can I fix this? Should I go back to the drops or just stay on 500cals for 3 weeks? Then start again.