Original email for context: I am due to start my second round of HCG this coming Friday the 20th of October. I have lost about 33 pounds. 28 during HCG and an additional 5 pounds since I finished almost 6 weeks ago. I have a couple of questions for you. During my first round I did not even workout at all. I thought since I was just eating 500 calories I would not lose as much weight as I did. But, after I finished I had lost a bunch of muscle. I want to be able to lose another 28 pounds and not lose as much muscle. But, I have heard that if I workout hard in the gym and do a lot of cardio then I will not lose as much weight. Is that true? What is the best thing to do during HCG, to just eat the 500 calories and not workout or to workout and eat the 500 calorie diet. OR, should I up my calories to 800 calories if I do workout? Anyways, I have an additional 70 pounds I want to lose.
Okay the key here is what you mentioned about having an additional 70 lbs to lose, which means that if you’ve lost 33 lbs, you were about 100 lbs overweight when you began- based on this info, I have an article that will show you that a fair amount of muscle loss will actually have to occur in order for you to reach the size and weight you are likely seeking to reach for you height – please check that out:
That said, I will still address your question about exercise – in general, most ladies will do best if they either do not exercise OR do a very minimal resistance training to aid in keeping muscle. But lots of cardio will only really fatigue most people, make the diet feel very difficult, and for things like cardio, this could easily lead to excess muscle loss actually. It’s lifting weights and resistance training in small amounts that may aid in retaining muscle, but do please see my article above as it will explain why until have lost more weight, you will likely continue to a mixture of fat and muscle on this diet.
Also here is my article on Exercise on the hCG Diet to explain more why you need to be cautious with it.
