The Case of the Missing Lost Lbs on hCG
or
The Case of the Promised 1 lb A Day on the hCG Diet
It’s time this little question get it’s very own article. It causes those who have been taught this so much grief!
Question/Concern from a reader:
My fiance and I this diet 4 weeks ago – we have this week and next which finishes up our shots.
I have a loss of 27 lbs and my fiance has a loss of 24 lbs.
Is it normal for the weight loss to drop so drastically? I was losing at least a pound a day and now its nothing for 2 to 3 days and than 1 lb nothing than 1 lb nothing for 3 than maybe a 1 lb.
I have a few issues right now. First I did this through a clinic – I signed up for the 45 day Plan but with only two weeks to go I’m definitely not going to hit that 40-pound mark they promised me. They told me it was because my BMI got below 30. Honestly, I’m not buying it…I stalled in my 3rd week, did an apple day and continued to lose. My total loss so far is 27. The last two weeks has only been 9 total. Guess I’m just frustrated since they told me I would lose 40 lbs.
After reading a lot of your stuff I’m thinking you know a lot more about this subject than they do.
Anyway sometimes its just good to vent.
Thanks for listening and if you get the time would love to hear what you have to say.
Answer:
Nice to meet you. 🙂
Sigh. So you have fallen into the trap of people thinking they can prophesy how much weight you will lose. :)- It’s okay- a lot of people experience this frustration. I have NO idea why they make people promises like this- it’s really ridiculous. As if they can actually know in advance what your body will do.
While the weight loss with hCG is indeed very efficient and quick as far as the percentage of fat loss of total lbs etc, it’s NOT common for a person to lose 1 lb a day.
If you think about it, a person would have to be burning literally 4000 calories every single day in order to accomplish this (3500 cals in 1 lb + the 500 cals you are eating) – while hCG seems to speed up the metabolism to a small degree while on it, not to that degree, and very few people actually use that many calories per day.
On hCG, the difference is that you are living mostly off your fat, but how much fat (ie calories) per day you’re body needs to function is going to vary with your unique metabolism, your daily activities, your hormone health, etc.
So I try to encourage people to start the hCG without expectations. To start not knowing what the final end result will be, so that instead of feeling frustrated, you can feel pleased with your results. All that frustration isn’t good for cortisol levels and high cortisol causes fat retention :)- Kinda joking but kind of not!
It’s interesting, I was recently doing some research on the Garcinia Cambogia because I’ve had more emails recently asking me my opinion on it – I had no idea because I didn’t know a thing about it. Seriously. In this blogpost (http://authoritynutrition.com/garcinia-cambogia-extract/) it mentions a 12-week study on humans where the resulting weight loss of the this supplement and a low-calorie diet (not sure how many) resulted in a 7 lb weight loss for those taking the supplement, and a 9 lb weight loss for those on the placebo. But the point I’m trying to make here is 7 lbs. In 12 weeks. 9 lbs. In 12 weeks.
And we thought we had a right to complain! :)- The majority of the time if you are an average say, 30-50 pounds overweight, you are going to lose between 20-35 lbs in 6 weeks. This of course includes loading weight but for people like me this has never amounted to more than about three and a half lbs.
Now I have no idea how these studies were done, etc. (we all know about the “studies” that prove hCG doesn’t work ya?), so I’m making no opinions on the supplement itself. I’m just saying wow. If you think losing 20 lbs in 40 days is bad, how about 9 lbs in 84 days. It’s funny how perspective can really change how we look at things at times.
Yes it is very normal for you to be having the weight loss pattern you are having. In fact, I have a post that discusses this topic in more detail here: http://hcgchica.com/hcg-diet-success-failure-2/
In general, it’s true that men often do lose more than women in the same span of time, but it really does have to do with how overweight a person was to start with AND how much of their body was lean mass vs. fat to start with. Men typically have a lot more of their weight that is muscle, something you wouldn’t want to lose anyway, so even if a man is heavier than a woman, he would technically still have less actual fat needed to lose- I don’t know if that makes sense.
The reason there is a higher level of weight loss at the start of a round is because of water weight being lost- I talk a little about that in the article above.
It is true that dose plays a role in weight loss, but the best indicator if you are on the right dose or not is hunger level- if you are feeling pretty much not hungry, like the 500 calories is enough, and have an empty feeling but not really HUNGRY, then the dose is good. Hunger to me means the dose should be adjusted. If you’re not hungry like that, you’re probably good.
I think 9lbs, if that majority of that is actual FAT, in the last 2 weeks – is really quite good. Fat takes up a lot more space on the body than muscle, so losing fat, not just water or muscle on the diet, means a greater change in how your body looks with less weight lost.
Anyway- I hope that helps. VERY few people I interact with online actually lose 40lbs in a 6 week round.
Keep on truckin- I think you’re results are great.
It’s all about perception- some emails I return just hours or even minutes after I receive them, because it happens to be a time I was returning emails, but others end up waiting a whole week to get a response from me because they emailed at a time I wasn’t able to respond – so some people think I respond quickly and love me for me it, and others realize that if they’re having an hCG emergency it may be a waste of time to contact me because they have no idea when I’ll respond (but at least in the end everyone knows I DO respond, just WHEN is the big question).
