Do you want to lose weight? Have you tried dieting but failed miserably? Don’t get disheartened; there’s no problem without a solution. If you are self-motivated to get to your ideal weight mark, you can get there very easily. Here, we are going to discuss a medically developed system for losing weight in just about two months. And the best thing is that you don’t have to spend hours sweating in the gym. You only need to take a daily dose of prescribed hormonal medicine and follow a strict diet. Yes, we are talking about the HCG diet protocol that is effectively being used since the 1950s. Without any further ado, let us give you the important information you need in order to take a decision about opting for the HCG diet.
What is the HCG diet programme?
HCG diet programme comprises a course of HCG hormone dose for 26 days with three stages diet protocol. You can get the hormonal dose from HCG official site to start your HCG diet programme. The three stages diet protocol you’ll have to follow would be –
- Loading Phase – The first two days of the diet will be your loading days. As the name suggests, you have to load yourself with calories on these two initial days. You’ll have to eat fatty and high in carbs foods as much as you can. You might find it counter-intuitive, but this is an important part of the diet so you cannot ignore this. The more you load on the loading phase the more rapidly you’ll lose weight during the diet.
- Burning or Dieting Phase – After the two days of loading phase, you’ll have to go on a very low-calorie diet for 26 days. If your target is too big, you can extend your burning phase for 43 days. The very low-calorie diet meals 500-calories a day. No need to get scared. The hormonal dose you have to take is designed for the purpose of making you stick to the very low-calorie diet. The HCG hormones break and utilize the stored body fat to give energy to your body. And, so you won’t feel starved even on such a low diet.
- Maintenance Phase – You’ll lose whatever fat you have to lose during the burning phase. In the 3 weeks maintenance phase, you just have to maintain your weight at the level it has come at the end of the dieting phase. Many people ignore this phase and as a result get back the lost weight. So, keep in mind the maintenance phase too is a part of the diet and you have to follow the procedures. This phase is not as restrictive as the burning phase. Here the only restriction is to eat a starch-free diet.
Important considerations before getting started with the diet
As told earlier, the HCG diet is a medically developed system of losing weight. So, we cannot suggest everyone for adopting the diet without considering anything. There are some important considerations you should keep in mind to decide whether the diet is suitable for you or not.
- Medical evaluation – A medical evaluation is important before you decide to go on the HCG diet. The diet is not suitable for persons with the history of cancer, blood clots, allergies etc. Patients with heart disease, diabetes, gout, and gallbladder disease are also not the good candidate for HCG diet.
- Pregnancy – Pregnant and breastfeeding women are strictly prohibited to go on the HCG diet. If you are not pregnant, start the HCG diet but take all the precautions for not conceiving during your dieting phase.
- Menstruation – Female dieters are advised not to start the HCG diet just before or during the dieting phase. If you plan to go on the HCG diet start it soon after your menstruation period is over. You can start the dieting at max 10 days before your next period date.
Lifestyle modifications during the dieting or burning phase
The second phase is the weight loss phase of the diet and so most of the rules are made for that phase only. There are some lifestyle modifications you’ll have to adapt to ensure maximum weight loss during the diet. Given below are the things you need to keep in mind in addition to the eating protocols.
- No exercise – It might sound counter-intuitive but physical exercise is discouraged during the dieting phase. Don’t try to burn more fat by exhausting your body it can work negatively for you.
- Adequate Sleep – Getting proper 8 hours sleep at night should always be a part of your lifestyle. But, even if you don’t do presently you will have to start this with your diet. Giving your body adequate rest is very helpful in making the body systems work efficiently. And, when body systems work well you’ll easily lose excess fat from the body.
- Lots of water – Drinking lots of water is another significant lifestyle change you need to bring. You need to drink at least 64 ounces of water each and every day during the diet. Water means plain water; you are not allowed to mix sugar or any such additives in your water. Adding lemon is allowed but you cannot consume more than one lemon in the entire day. If you like you can add stevia to your water.
- Vitamin supplements – 99-mg of potassium supplement in addition to 1000 unit vitamin D supplements should be taken daily.
- No multivitamins – You might like to take multi-vitamin supplements for fulfilling your body’s need for vitamins. But, you should not take any multi-vitamins as they contain sugar, starch, and fat that can slow down or pause your weight loss during the diet phase.
- No sugary drinks – In addition to increasing water consumption you need to cut on your sugary drinks consumption. No tea, coffee or soft drinks are allowed during the diet.
- Weighing yourself – It is mandatory for all HCG dieters to weigh themselves every morning. You cannot miss a day without weighing yourself. And, you cannot alter the time of weighing too, because, the weight will keep fluctuating due to water retention.
- Restricted Makeup – Lip balm, lotion, hand soap, shampoo, body wash or any cosmetic product you may be using can contain a certain form of oil. When these products touch your skin, the oil gets absorbed in the body. So, be very wary of choosing makeup or cosmetic products you’ll be using during your diet. Unless you are 100% sure that the product is oil-free you should avoid using it.
- No tanning – Sun tanning can cause water retention in the body and that can eventually affect the weight loss. So, HCG dieters are discouraged to tan themselves.
- No massage, No spa – Just like makeup and tanning, massage and spa treatments too are not allowed for the HCG dieters. You already know the reason for this restriction!
Now that you know everything about the HCG diet programme, you can take an informed decision if you want to choose this diet technique to lose weight or not. Wait! Before taking a decision, you should know this important information – foods that are allowed on the diet. Search for the foods allowed on HCG diet because those 500-calories cannot contain just anything. There’s a detailed list of allowed and restricted foods on HCG diet. You should have a look at the list of fruits, vegetables, cereals and meats that are allowed during the HCG diet plan. If you follow the HCG protocol word by word, you’ll surely get your dream figure in a very short period.
