Let’s talk both about drinking enough water on Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) but also the dangers of drinking too many liquids as well. Here are 6 tips to help you drink the proper amount of liquids for your body.
Tip 1: Thirsty not Hungry.
Drinking enough liquids while on HCG Injections is a definite factor in not eating too much on the protocol. Sometimes when you think you are hungry on the protocol, you are actually thirsty- use this as your first line of defense before you eat too many calories on the protocol. Try drinking something first, like some hot tea with stevia, and see if you are still hungry after that. We know that eating too many calories on the diet makes the whole protocol totally ineffective, so this is a good thing to try when you’ve eaten your calories for the day and think you’re still hungry for more (being excessively hungry on the protocol is also often a dose issue which I talk about here.)
Tip 2: Drink liquids throughout the day, not all at once.
Interesting fact about your kidneys….it appears that healthy kidneys can process about a quarter gallon of water per hour at rest- that’s 1 quart. So it’s a good idea not to chug down a whole gallon of water in 20 minutes- that could be kind of taxing on your kidneys and cause an electrolyte imbalance as well. You don’t need to really overthink this, but I wanted to just mention it briefly because on this protocol, many people online and in youtube vlogs put a lot of emphasis on drinking tons and tons of water. This could actually be unsafe, even life threatening, depending on what your definition of tons of water is of course. One thing that can happen if you drink way too much water all at once is that the electrolytes in your system can get too diluted leading to a condition called Hyponatremia (insufficient salt in your blood). Honestly this isn’t probably gong to happen to any of you hCGers- most of the time this appears to be an issue for athletes who’ve just done a huge amount of exercise and lost a lot of electrolytes through their copious sweating and then drinking plain water which doesn’t replace those electrolytes. But it’s still worth mentioning, proving that, as with all things in life really, you want to approach everything in a balanced way, including how you drink liquids. Be sensible. Don’t panic and reach for a couple gallon jugs when the latest youtube vlogger reminds you to drink tons of water.
How To Tell If You’re Drinking Enough Water:
Tip 3: What Dr. Simeons, the original creator of the hCG protocol suggested
It is going to vary somewhat obviously because we’re all different heights, weights and have different activity levels on the protocol . Dr. Simeons who wrote the original diet protocol recommended 2 liters of liquids a day, which is a little over 2 quarts, or half a gallon.
Tip 4: Check how much you pee each morning and its color.
It should be a copious amount and pale or clear (unless you’re taking lots of b vitamins, in which case the color of your urine will probably be bright yellow even if you’re fully hydrated). So if you wake up the in a.m. and don’t really have to pee much or it’s fairly dark in color, you may likely be dehydrated.
Tip 5: To keep your electrolytes in balance, a simple cup of hot tea with a pinch of salt can do the trick.
You can also use this to maintain electorlyte balance during the 1st week:
Sugar Free Electrolyte powder – Blueberry Pomegranate Flavor
Lemon-Lime Flavor
Raspberry Flavor
Tip 6: Off hCG, weigh yourself daily for a week.
Try weighing yourself daily for a week- your weight should remain relatively the same when you weigh yourself in the morning. If you’re not drinking enough water and your body is dehydrated, your body is actually going to hold on to water and you may see bigger fluctuations on the scale. A good example of a time we’ve probably all experienced this phenonemon is when you eat 3 slices of pizza and a beer with your friends one night and the next morning, your face is feels swollen, your rings won’t budge, and you weight 3 lbs more on the scale than usual. All that’s happening is that your body is retaining water to compensate for all the sodium you took in. Water makes up about 60% of the human body, give or take. Here’s a great short article discussing water and our bodies. That’s why it’s important to get our fluids in. But some of us really don’t like to just drink plain water so it can really be a challenge- that’s why in my next post I’ll talk about some creative ways to make drinking enough fluids while on the diet plan both easy and enjoyable.
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I see in HcG blogs a discrepancy. I always thought I was to drink 1 gallon of water a day while on the plan. You say 1/2 gallon. Which is it?
This video is certainly the most important video ever.
Hi! I love your site and it’s really helped me along my journey. I decided to make some soups for this week (1 veggie/ 1 protein) and I think I might have put too much salt because this morning my weight jumped back up from 184.7 to 187.2. Given that all I had yesterday was soup (one each meal), strawberries, and melba toast, I figure it has to be the water retention. Trying not to be discouraged, but do I just have to wait this out? Is it okay to take a diuretic?
Thanks!
Hey GG! I had a 2 lb gain overnight one time from salty soup- so I agree that this is nothing to worry about and likely just water retention. You could do a diuretic but you might experience more weird fluctuations if you start utilizing stuff like that. It’s up to you. For me I would probably just drink more water today and let my body naturally balance out.
Hello im going to be really specific in the am I juice with pineapple celery parsley cucumber followed by 4oz cup of green tea tablespoon Apple cider vinegar with 1fat burner by lunch I’ll have a protein shake that I make with 1 cup of milk 1 banana 1/4 peanut butter 1teaspoon honey blended followed by 1 cup 4oz tea ACV with Phentermine like 2 or 3 hours later I’ll have another juice drink that I make with the juicer I’ll walk for 1 hour by the time night comes I’ll have another Juice 1 cucumber parsley ginger aloe vera lemon 1 cup 4oz tea with ACV and I drink 144oz’s of water throughout the day is this ok for the HCG diet and also I do the HCG injections
Hi Mildred,
Many of the ingredients are not P2 hCG diet approved (pineapple, banana, aloe vera and honey) and protein shakes work for some, but not for others. You can find the list of allowed foods here: https://hcgchica.com/phase-2-hcg-diet-basics-very-low-calorie-diet/
Li-an, Rayzel’s assistant
Hi! I live in Florida and usually drink about 80-100 oz of water a day. Should I lower this to the 2.5 liters as to not sabotage myself?
Hi Heather,
Drinking more water is actually ideal while on the diet. Just make sure your electrolytes are balanced, you may try adding lemon to your water intake to be sure!
Hi there – I have the exact same question as Jocelyn,
Hello, I had a question. Except this is my first round of the diet.
“Today is the third day of HCG, so i started the actual diet! ???? I am noticing though, that I am peeing A LOT, and I do feel like I’m about to get my period, when in reality, I should be getting it in about two weeks. Although, according to my iPhone app, I am currently ovulating. Could this be the reason why I’m feeling like my ovaries are going a little crazy?
About the peeing, I did LOAD quite a bit, I gained a total of two pounds but I felt like I ate a lot more than other loading times I have done.”
Thanks in advance!
Kristina
Hi Kristina!
This is Li-an, Rayzel’s assistant. Nice to meet you! I have to be honest that pregnancy-like (period-like/PMS too) symptoms are quite common because of the hormone. No need to worry about that, it should be gone after the hCG diet.
About peeing a lot, it is your body going through to detoxification, ladies tend to experience different detox side effects and it’s normal. I would prefer that than breakouts honestly 😀 Just don’t forget to drinks lots of water so you won’t get dehydrated.
Hope that helps!
How much black unsweetened tea can I drink a day on thr hcg diet
Hi there!
This is Li-an, Rayzel’s assistant. Nice to meet you 🙂
Unsweetened black tea technically has no calories, so you may drink as much as it can make your day happy! 😉 Though black teas usually have some caffeine in it and do take note the sleep is important while on hCG.
Hope this helps 🙂
okay so here is my question if I stop using HCG ? will make me gain weigh or my body will be clean of HCG right after
Hello, I had a question.
Today is the third day of HCG, so i started the actual diet! 🙂 i have done this diet previously, so I am no stranger to it. I am noticing though, that I am peeing A LOT, and I do feel like I’m about to get my period, when in reality, I should be getting it in about two weeks. Although, according to my iPhone app, I am currently ovulating. Could this be the reason why I’m feeling like my ovaries are going a little crazy?
About the peeing, I did LOAD quite a bit, I gained a total of two pounds but I felt like I ate a lot more than other loading times I have done.
Thanks!
Jocelyn