This is one of the most common frustrations experienced on the hCG diet protocol.
Everything starts out swimmingly well – the first ten days of the diet you are losing not only one lb a day, but sometimes two or three lbs overnight! Then, right around day 7, perhaps day 10, it seems to slow down. You get a .2, or perhaps even a ZERO day – a day of no weight loss whatsoever.
- What’s going on?
- Have you done something wrong?
- What can you do differently to get back to those 1-3 lb losses?
What would you say if I said what’s happened is actually perfectly normal?
What if I told you lots of .4’s and .2’s are NORMAL?
This article is all about dispelling some misconceptions about this process. The reason it’s important is because frustration and disappointed preconceived ideas lead to cheating and giving up- which will never get you to your goal right?
What is the Average Weight Loss A Woman Can Expect on the hCG Diet?
.5 lbs per day. On a 43 day or 6 week round, this would end up being about 21 lbs. Shocking right?? After all those other web pages you read saying you would lose a whole stinkin’ pound a day. I’ll explain why this very rarely happens later, so keep reading.
This does not mean you will actually be losing .5 a day, every day, until the end. The way the weight loss transpires is a LOT at the beginning (usually) and then it tapers down to a lot less later, sometimes speeds back up at the end- it really does vary, but basically all the 1 lb and 2lb losses, combined with the .2’s and .4’s you have, will add up to an average of a half pound over the course of the protocol, meaning you will most likely lose around 20ish pounds in 6 weeks.
There are MANY variables that effect this however.
– If you are heavier, you may likely have a higher average.
– If you deal with thyroid or hormone problems, you may likely have a lower average.
– Don’t forget you have to lose your loading weight
– To lose 1 lb of fat you have to burn 4000 calories a day on the hCG Diet- when’s that gonna happen?
– Weight loss averages often get smaller as YOU get smaller – a 200 lb person will lose more daily than a 140 lb person.
– Men have a higher resting metabolic rat because they have a higher ratio of muscle (which burns more calories) than women – thus they typically lose weight faster than women.
If you are heavier, you’re average weight loss will likely be higher- you may have a .6-.75 lb average weight loss, meaning you might actually lose 26-32 lbs in a 43 day round.
How much you lose and your average weight loss will also be affected by how much weight you gained loading. How much weight you gained loading will be affected by if you load for the hCG diet clean aka low carb or if you load the traditional way eating whatever you want including pastries, etc. If you do the latter, you will likely gain more weight loading, and will likely have a higher perceived weight loss that first week on the VLCD (very low calorie diet).
Why Don’t Most People Lose a 1 Lb A Day on this protocol?
Again, many reasons, but here’s some food for thought.
To Lose 1 LB of FAT you Must Burn 4000 Calories – Wait What?
1 LB is 3500 calories worth right? So in order to burn 1 whole LB of pure fat, you have to burn 3500 calories.
When on the hCG diet you are consuming at least 500 calories though most days correct?
So this means, in order to burn a whole pound of fat on this plan, in one day, you would actually have to burn 4000 calories that day. To do this every day, you would have to be burning 4000 calories every single day.
How many women do you know that burn this many calories a day? Even if you exercised for like 5 hours straight doing something super hard core (which of course isn’t advised on this protocol), you’d be hard pressed to burn that many calories.
While it’s said that being on the hCG hormone does increase your resting metabolic rate, ie., how many calories your body uses up each to perform it’s daily functions, it’s not THAT much.
So with that said, you can see why scientifically speaking, it doesn’t make sense that a person would actually lose one pound per day, every day. 40 lbs in 40 days is seen VERY rarely, and when it does appear, usually is by a man.
Additionally, those who DO lose that much weight, say that forty pounds in forty days, this is NOT all fat. Again because of the above argument.
Our body is getting rid of a few things when losing weight like this. For instance- one of the reasons that you can see such large, drastic drops in weight on the scale – things like two and three whole pounds overnight – at the start of the protocol is because of what is called water weight.
What is water weight?
I’ve found a few great articles that help explain what is going on a little more to help us understand what’s going on “behind the scenes” if you will.
of note is where he says, “In fact, both the joy and the despair you feel in response to this rapid loss or gain is misplaced. The quick losses and gains are almost entirely water.”
A Sampling of my Daily Weight Loss Pattern on Different Rounds:
How Much Weight I Lost Each Week of HCG
Before I get into this plethora of stats, please note, it’s not 100% accurate probably- probably more like 95% – so if you pull out your calculator and notice something should end in a .4 and not a .2, you’re missing the point. This is just to give you an idea of my overall journey, and to show you what is COMMON and how YOU CAN reach your goal .4 at a time.
Round 1 – February 2011
Starting Weight: 172 lbs
Loading Weight Gained: .8 lbs
Loaded: 2 Days, Dirty (ate whatever, sugar, carbs, whatever)
VLCD: Done with fruits, no melba
Week 1 losses: 6.6 lbs
Week 2 losses: 5.4 lbs
Week 3 losses: 4.6 lbs
Week 4 losses: 3.0 lbs
Week 5 losses: 4.0 lbs
Week 6 losses: 3.2 lbs
Total Net loss in 42 vlcds: 26.8 lbs
Net Loss excluding load weight: 26 lbs
Round 2 – June 2011
(keep in mind this is the round I cheated a lot and didn’t do well and had to re-do)
Starting Weight: 149.2 lbs
Weight Gained Loading: 3.6 lbs
Loaded: 3 Days, with sugar/carbs
Week 1 Losses: 7.8 lbs
Week 2 Losses: 5.0 lbs
Week 3 Losses: 0.6 lbs net – not doing proper protocol/cheating – lost and gained this week.Week 4 Losses: 5.6 lbs net (gross 6.8 lbs, but 1.2 gain from cheating)
Week 5 Losses: 0.4 lbs net (3.6 lbs gross, but 3.2 lbs cheating/being stupid)
Week 6 Losses: 0.0 lbs net in 3 days- didn’t do a complete 6th week – lost 2lbs but gained 2lbs on a cheat day.
total Net Loss in about 38 vlcds: 19.4 lbs
Net Loss excluding loading weight: 15.8 lbs
Ending weight: 129.6 lbs
Notes about this round: On the surface, it looks like my average weight loss is a half pound per day despite all my cheating this round. However, it’s important to keep in mind that what we CAN’T see here is how much of this weight loss is fat vs. muscle and water. For instance. I’m actually about 126 lbs right now – and I can wear an outfit 2 sizes smaller than the size 6 jeans I was wearing at the end of this round 2 – essentially same weight, but I’m smaller. I have no idea all the havoc that all that cheating on hCG did to me that round – I feel most likely I lost more muscle and less fat than I did on other rounds. I will never know because I was so discouraged over that round that I didn’t do any follow-up bodyfat testing immediately afterward. So my actual fat loss that round may have very well been less than other rounds.
Round 3 – October 2011
Starting Weight: 142.6 lbs (yep regained most of what I lost R2)
Loading Weight Gained: 0.6 lbs net (gained 1.2 lb the first day, lost .6 lbs the 2nd day)
Loaded: Clean/Low Carb – no sugars or starches
VLCD: Done without fruits or Melba
Week 1 Losses: 7.6 lbs
Week 2 Losses: 3.6 lbs
Week 3 Losses: 3.6 lbs net (4.2 lbs lost gross, .6 gain one day, not cheating)
Week 4 Losses: 3.4 lbs net (4 lbs lost gross, .6 gain one day – menstrual cycle)
Week 5 Losses: 1.6 lbs net (2 lbs lost gross, .4 gain one day – guess is water retention from a walk I took)
Week 6 Losses (a half week): 0.4 lbs lost (.6 lbs lost gross, .2 lb gain one day) – this is over 3 days, not 7- I stopped early.
Total net loss: 20.2 lbs
Net loss excluding load weight: 19.6 lbs
Ending Weight: 122.8 lbs
Ending body fat percent: 27%
Round 4 – April 2012
Starting Weight: 133.8 (please note, I did NOT gain back weight from the previous round- I gained almost entirely muscle in between rounds 3 and 4. Please see this post for more info on that.
Starting bodyfat percent: 25.9%
Loading Weight Gained: 1.0 lb
Loaded: Clean – no starches no sugars
VLCD: Done without melba/grissini, and fruits only sometimes
Week 1 losses: 5.8 lbs net (6.0 lbs gross, but .2 gain one day – not cheating – attempted xfit on vlcd)
Week 2 losses: 1.0 lbs net (2.4 lbs lost gross, but 1.4 lb gain- my guess was sodium from soup I made)
Week 3 losses: 0.6 lbs net (4.0 lbs gross, but 3.4 lbs gain over 2 different days – didn’t cheat, but felt swollen – menstrual?)
Total net loss: 7.4 lbs
Net loss minus loading: 6.2 lbs
Ending Weight: 126.6 lbs
Average weight loss per day: .33 lbs per day over 22 vlcd days
Ending Bodyfat percent: 23.9%
Notes about this round: This was obviously a short round – only 3 weeks. I was very confused by this particular round because of losing SO little. I finally came to the conclusion that my attempts at trying to continue crossfit brought my weight loss to pretty much a screeching halt for the rest of the round- my theory is that I was asking too much of my personal body and it simply defied me. Hence why I have a whole series of articles on exercise and hCG to be cautious about deciding if it’s a good idea for you or not.
Round 5 – September 2012
Starting Weight: 134.2 (please not again, I did NOT gain back fat from the previous round- once again through crossfit I gained several lbs of muscle during my several month break from hCG- notice my starting bf% here is actually LOWER than the end of R4)
Starting Bodyfat Percent: 23.2%
Loaded: Clean – Low Carb
Loading Weight Gain: 1.6 lbs net (lost .6 lbs the first day, gained 2.2 lbs the 2nd day)
VLCD: No fruits, no melba/grissini
Week 1 Losses: 5.2 lbs (5.6 lbs gross, but gain of .4 one day)
Week 2 Losses: 5.2 lbs
Week 3 Losses: 1.4 lbs (2.6 lbs gross, but gained 1.2 over 2 days – one day felt very hungry and did a mini-load)
Week 4 Losses: 2.0 lbs (5.2 lbs gross, but gained 3.2 lbs over 4 different days that week – did not cheat, menstrual cycle)Week 5 Losses: 2.8 lbs (3.2 lbs gross, but gained .4 one day)
Week 6 Losses: 2.6 lbs (3.8 lbs gross, but gained 1.2 lbs over 4 days – ovulation and got very sick with cold, not cheating)
Total net losses: 19.2 lbs
Average daily weight loss: .48 lbs/day over 40 vlcd’s
Net losses minus loading: 17.6 lbs
Ending weight: 117.6 lbs
Ending bodyfat percent: 18.8% bodyfat
