I have been following a childhood friend's journey to skinnydom via the HCG Diet, and have given some thought to trying it. Yesterday I was getting my nails done at a local salon and overheard the manager selling a bottle of HCG drops to a regular. She didn't buy it, but I jumped on the opportunity (at a discount!).
For the past 24 hours I have been researching the variations out there, 500, 800, 1200 calories, drops vs. injections, ready-to-eat meal replacements, vegan options, etc. It all sounds very restrictive, however I am assured that (1) I will not feel hungry if I'm doing it right and (2) I will keep the weight off. Interestingly you don't need to vigorously exercise on this diet, they actually recommend against it... only walking or yoga for 30-60 mins a day. I do that at work, so no biggie. Also you can only have one type of vegetable at each sitting. I find this silly, and am going to research it a bit more to figure out what that's all about!
Currently, I need to lose 50 pounds to be at a healthy weight, and an additional 15 pounds to be at my 'ideal' weight. Like many women, I have a daily fixation on food, either adhearing to a strict diet ideal or really Really REALLY wanting some ice cream. I would love to have my cravings disappear so I can finally eat healthy and drop this weight.
Ideally I want to be a vegan at a healthy weight, with an active lifestyle before I start having children. Let's be real, after you have kids it's harder to do anything for yourself, right? For the past year I have been a pescatarian (veggie with fish, dairy, and eggs), and feel I'm ready to try veganism. I'll say this now, while the slaughtering of innocent animals doesn't make me excited in the morning, I am going vegan for health reasons.
So here's the dealio. I am going to outline my plan, vegan-style, and post updates for posterity. As I continue I will add healthy recipes and post progress updates.
My Vegan HCG Plan
Phase One: Loading (2 days)
For the first two days, eat everything you KNOW you shouldn't. Ice cream. Fatty cheese. Hamburgers. Pizza. Deep fried anything. Whipped cream. This is all to load your fat cells. Just about every website out there says this phase is absolutely necessary to have success on your diet. And this is a diet - you can only do it for 40 days - any more consecutive restrictive days and you risk your longterm health.
Additionally, begin taking HCG drops/ injections. Daily injections occur once first thing in the AM, .15ml. If you are doing drops like me, you want to aim for 40 drops total, spread out through the day. They are taken sublingually (under the tongue), held for 30 seconds, then swallowed. You want to time your drops 20 minutes after and 30 minutes before eating or drinking anything. How often you take your drops is up to you, this is your opportunity to experiment your preference. I will be taking mine 13 drops, 3 times a day just before meals.
Phase Two: Weight-loss (45 days)
Each day you are restricted to 500 calories a day, and you want to aim for half your weight in ounces of water each day. For breakfast (after your HCG!) you may have coffee or tea in any quantity, using only Stevia to sweeten. Try to go for organic when you can, all natural, no additives. Brands to look out for are KAL and Sweetleaf for Stevia (avoid Truvia), Good Earth and Mighty Leaf for tea, and feel-good coffee brands like Just Coffee Co-op. For snack, you may have one piece of fruit. For both lunch and dinner (after your HCG) you may have one protein, one vegetable (unlimited quantity), a grissini breadstick or melba toast.
You may have the juice of one lemon, any sugar-free seasonings, Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids, homemade mustard (water, mustard seed, vinegar, and tumeric), Franks Original Hot sauce, and sugar-free gum.
I will be using SunWarrior Raw Vegan protein powder for my protein intake, Good Earth Green Tea with Lemongrass for morning caffeine, and Good Earth herbal tea in the evenings. As I continue, I will experiment with vegan recipes :)
See this cheat sheet I will be using.
Some things to note:
Avoid oil based lotions and cosmetics, sodas, over-the-counter drugs (except aspirin). Avoid eating fruit by itself for breakfast, although you may have fruit and the breadstick as a snack between meals. Also avoid eating highly processed 'vegan' proteins from the like of Morningstar Farms and Boca. Stop taking HCG during the first 2 days of your menstruation cycle.
The last three days of Phase 2 taper HCG while continuing the 500 calorie diet.
Phase Three: Maintenance (23 days)
Discontinue taking HCG and return caloric intake to 1200-1500/day. Continue eating low-fat foods and vegetables, while avoiding sugary, carbohydrate-laden, high fat foods. People (like me) who need to lose more than 30 pounds cycle the HCG diet multiple times. After the 23 days are finished you may begin Phase 1 again.
