Are you desperate to shed over a dozen pounds quickly? Do you feel like you could commit to a restrictive diet for three to six weeks? Are you ready to relieve joint pain, improve your health, and fit into the skinny black jeans nearly forgotten in the back of your closet? If so, you may be a good candidate for HCG weight loss at Optimal Health and Wellness in Pasadena, CA. Keep reading to find out just how much weight you can shed with this effective program.
How Much Weight Can You Shed With HCG Weight Loss?
You can generally expect to lose between two and three pounds of fat per week throughout most of the HCG protocol. Specifically, you can expect to lose around three pounds of fat per week if you consume only 500 calories per day. If you consume 1,000 calories per day, you’ll have an easier time sticking to the diet. However, you can only expect to lose approximately two pounds per week.
Don’t be surprised if you see large reductions on the scale. Especially during the first week of the protocol, you can expect to lose a significant amount of water weight. When you’re operating at a caloric deficit, your body first turns to glycogen for fuel. Glycogen is made up of a gram of glucose and three grams of water. Since there are four calories in a gram of glucose, you will lose four grams for every four calories you burn from stored fuel at first.
Will I Lose Muscle Mass?
You do not have to worry about losing muscle mass on the HCG diet if you keep your activity level up. Even just walking around the office, grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning will prevent muscle atrophy. Your body will only catabolize muscle tissue in two cases. First, your body catabolizes muscle tissue that is dead or very seriously damaged so that stronger, healthier muscle cells have room to take their place.
Second, catabolization occurs during times of true starvation. Your body will always turn to glycogen for fuel in periods of a caloric deficit because it is the easiest fuel to use. Second, it will turn to stored fat. It will only turn to your muscle cells for fuel if there is no more fat for it to break down. During the HCG protocol, your body fat percentage will not drop this low.
What Else Should I Know About This Weight Loss Program?
The Program Is Broken Up Into Three Phases
Phase One: The Loading Phase
The loading phase of the HCG diet is the first phase. It only lasts for 48 hours, and it’s pretty straightforward. You can eat whatever you want, but you have to get HCG supplements. If you want to make the second phase of the diet as easy as possible, though, you should do your best to facilitate ketosis. To accomplish this, you’ll need to cut your carbs down as far as you can and load up on foods that are high in healthy fats.
For example, you may want to eat celery and carrots dipped in homemade guacamole or nut butter without added sugar. A burger loaded with whatever you want, including bacon, cheese, avocado, or a fried egg is another great idea. However, you may want to use portobello mushrooms or lettuce in lieu of buns. You can eat carbs if you want. However, you may struggle a bit at first if you aren’t in ketosis when you start your low-calorie diet.
Phase Two: The Weight Loss Phase
Since you can eat whatever you want during the first phase of the HCG diet, you may not lose any weight. It is during the second phase of the diet that you can expect to see astonishing results on the scale. Depending on your weight loss goals, you may be advised to spend anywhere from three to six weeks in this phase. Therefore, you can expect to lose between six and 18 pounds of fat during phase two of the HCG diet.
During this phase of the diet, you can have as much water, unsweetened coffee, and green or black tea as you want. You should not use more than a tablespoon of skim milk per day to flavor your coffee or tea. If you need to drink a sweetened beverage, you may use pure Stevia. You should eat two 100-gram servings of protein per day (800 calories) if you’re on a 1,000-calorie diet. If you’re on a 500-calorie diet, this should be cut in half. Approved foods include:
- Chicken
- Shrimp
- Lobster
- Whitefish
- Very lean ground beef
- Veal
- Steak
- Crab
- Low-carb vegetables
- Low-carb fruits
Phase Three: The Stabilization Phase
You can generally expect the third and final phase of the HCG Weight Loss, sometimes referred to as the stabilization phase, to last for 21 days. During this time, you will not be able to eat sugar or starchy carbs. For the first 72 hours following your last HCG injection, you should maintain your very low-calorie diet or low-calorie diet. From there, you should slowly incorporate more foods back into your diet.
Ideally, foods should be reincorporated into your diet one at a time so you can see how your body reacts to them. for example, you may want to add whole dairy one day, peanut butter the next day, and olive oil after that. Just minimize your consumption of fruit that is high in sugar, like mangoes and bananas. If you are not yet at your goal weight, you can come back for more HCG injections, restarting the first phase.
You Won’t Feel Hungry
Another thing you should know about HCG Weight Loss is that it is so successful because people don’t usually feel hungry when they’re on it. To reiterate, you may struggle for a while if you eat a lot of carbs during the loading phase of the HCG diet. However, with the help of HCG injections, you won’t feel hungry. Reducing the levels of hormones that cause hunger and increasing the levels of hormones that cause satiety are just two functions performed by HCG.
Due to these two functions, you are more likely to stick to your low-calorie diet. There are a lot of reasons people fail to stick to their diet plan. Some consume an excess of calories because they are emotional eaters, consuming too many calories to celebrate birthdays or holidays, soothe anxiety, or boost feel-good hormones temporarily. However, most people overeat when they diet because they feel like they’re starving.
Tips for Sticking to Your Diet
If you find yourself craving something that isn’t on the approved list of foods, you don’t have to give in. You also don’t have to sit in agony feeling like you’re missing out. Fill your time and occupy your mind with something enjoyable. Put together a puzzle of beautiful countryside. Go for a walk with your puppy. Take a hot bath. Pick up that book you bought but never made time for. With time, the cravings will subside.
If you’ve already had your allotted calories for the day and you think you feel hungry, quell your hunger with some carbonated water or green tea. This will fill your stomach without adding calories to your diet so as to prevent an increase in the amount of time it takes you to reach your goals.
It’s Only As Successful as You Make It
The final thing you should know about the HCG diet is that it’s only as successful as you make it. A third function performed by this important hormone is revving the metabolism significantly. In other words, you’ll burn more calories than you usually would. If there is an important event coming up that you want to lose weight for, do some extra exercise.
Find Out Today If the HCG Diet Is Right for You
HCG weight loss may be right for you if you have a lot of weight to shed and an aggressive timeline. You should not be surprised if you shed three pounds of fat per week and see even more weight loss on the scale as a result of shedding water weight. To find out if you’re a good candidate for this protocol, schedule an appointment with us today at Optimal Health and Wellness in Pasadena, CA. We can’t wait to help you reach your weight loss goals quickly, easily, and safely.
