Chad is following the “instructions” exactly. He does what the protocol says because he wants to reap the benefits. He wants to see maximum weight loss. And even more than that he wants to see weight loss that is noticeable. He loaded for the first two days and then started the low calorie portion of the diet on Day 3. He stuck to it very well on both Day 3 and Day 4 and now he’s sharing Day 5 with us.

After one day of sticking to the low calorie diet requirements Chad weighed in at 7.5 pounds less than the day before. Chad was amazed; as he should be! That is definitely…weight loss! More than 7 pounds lost in one day! It’s become pretty obvious to Chad that the late evenings are his hardest time of day, but so far he’s been able to stick to the protocol even when he really doesn’t want to.

Day 5 saw Chad weighing in at 235.5 pounds.

And that’s another 3 pound drop! After two days on the low calorie diet Chad has dropped a total of 10.5 pounds. That’s a terrific start to the homeopathic HCG weight loss plan.

He’s finding his results amazing. He’s probably more amazed than anyone else that it’s working so well. He knew people called it an effective weight loss diet and talked about it offering substantial weight loss in a short amount of time, but actually seeing the numbers on his scale change over and over…it still surprises him!

Chad decided pretty after starting the diet that he’d like to keep track of his progress by video. So each morning he takes a short video of himself to document his progress. It’s a great option for weight loss journaling. (It’s also highly recommended because seeing the weight loss come off on a visual recording is great motivation for dieters).

Chad’s Day 5 went great. He had Stash peppermint tea in the morning and decided it was a good flavor choice. He had a hard time falling asleep the night before, but no longer has a headache. He called the HCG Diet Direct support center and they told him that the headache was a normal withdrawal reaction to dropping sugar from the diet “cold turkey.” He’s excited to see more weight come off tomorrow.

But there are tools out there to make sure dieters and potential dieters get the tips they need to navigate the diet. That includes potential dieters that are wary of depriving themselves of sweets. Following the diet protocol exactly can leave dieters feeling satisfied. It’s just very important to take advantage of every tool.

To prove that dessert is possible while on the homeopathic HCG diet weight loss program…check out a few treats outlined in the HCG Diet Direct cookbook:

Strawberry Shortcake, 1 serving

The ingredients listed are: 2 drops of Stevia (vanilla creme is best), sliced strawberries, and plain Melba Toast

Instructions: take the melba toast and add one drop of stevia. Slice up a few strawberries and place them along the toast in a layer. Then add one more drop of stevia. And you’re finished. Don’t form an opinion until you’ve tried it.

Strawberries and Cream, 1 serving

Ingredients: strawberries, 1 tablespoon milk, 2-4 drops of vanilla creme stevia, 1 packet of dry stevia

How to make it: Slice the strawberries. Place the strawberries in a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of milk and both the Vanilla Creme Stevia and dry Stevia. Toss the ingredients together and serve the dessert.

The Strawberry and Orange Smoothie recipe serves one

You’ll need to have 1/2 and orange (1/3 cup orange juice as a substitute if necessary), 1 cup strawberries (fresh is always best, but frozen is fine), 3/4 cup crushed ice, 1/2 dropper any flavor Stevia (or you can use dry Stevia), you can also add a handful of frozen spinach.

How to make it: Put all the ingredients in the blender together and turn it on until it’s smooth. Pour and serve immediately.

Looking into the homeopathic HCG diet weight loss program can leave potential dieters feeling wary of the lack of sugar and fat. But after trying a few of the dessert/treat recipes most will change their mind. It’s not nearly as difficult as many potential dieters make it out to be.

Considering how tough the diet is…it surprises many that the majority of dieters are successful in completing the diet. But there are countless success stories because the diet results in weight loss. Weight begins to drop off in the very first week of dieting in most cases. The weight loss keeps almost all dieters from veering off plan. They see the weight coming off and they’re so excited about the weight loss that they are able to stick to the requirements.

But no one can deny that the diet is tough and has really, really difficult moments for example:

1. At home sometimes dieters find that they have the hardest time in their own environments. This isn’t that surprising considering that most of us do a majority of our eating in our own homes. And most of us have developed a large number of our bad eating habits in our own home. Our own homes (and our own pantries) typically carry the most tempting food items when we are attempting to diet. Fix it by getting rid of items that you can’t have. Your family can eat healthy for a month or two.

2. At work many dieters note that they don’t know what to do with themselves at work because their normal procedure is to eat. For instance, one dieter noted that they worked in a call center and it drove them crazy to realize that all the employees sat and snacked ALL DAY long every day. Once on the diet there is no freebie snacking…ever. This is something that will just have to become a habit.

3. At parties/social settings, these are tough for most dieters. You can’t be sure what’s going to be served. There are a few options. Dieters can eat before attending a party and then stick to water. Or dieters can not eat before they go and then stick to approved foods that they find at the party (raw veggies and/or small amounts of grilled steak).

Regardless of where the hard times occur; the easiest way to make it through is to remember that the weight loss or gain of the next morning’s weigh in will depend upon the decisions being made in the moment. It’s a very successful distraction on homeopathic HCG diet weight loss programs because dieters typically see weight loss everyday if they are sticking to the rules. And when they don’t stick to the rules…they might not get the weight loss they want.

The strict nature of the diet makes any tips or tools even more vital. Experts suggest that dieters recognize the merits of the tools and tips that are offered by reputable outlets. Sticking to the rules exactly maximizes weight loss result. One very helpful tool is the homeopathic HCG shopping list.

HCG Diet Direct provides very helpful shopping lists. For instance, try the HCG Diet Direct’s health food store shopping list:

-Herbal tea, Stash brand, pomegranate, raspberry and mangosteen are all very good flavors.

-Liquid Stevia (popular flavors are plain, vanilla creme, apricot nectar and orange).

-Daily Multi-vitamin. Everyone should take a daily multi-vitamin, but dieters should take even more notice of the benefits.

-B6 or B12 B complex

-na-pca moisturizer spray (lotion is not allowed on the homeopathic HCG diet; the spray replaces it).

-Unfiltered apple cider vinegar (it’s very handy during the homeopathic HCG diet to make sauces, etc.)

-Sea salt. Sea salt has a more distinct flavor and enables dieters to use less salt without severely limiting the flavor.

The shopping list above is strictly for the health food store. There are additional lists to be used for the traditional grocery store. And when you’re on a weight loss diet it’s important to use everything you’ve got access to in order to make it as easy on yourself as possible.

The reason the homeopathic HCG diet weight loss program offers such amazing results is in the nature of the weight loss formula. But that alone isn’t enough. Success is also dependent upon the diet itself. The list of approved foods is very short. There are certain vegetables that are approved. There are certain proteins that are approved. And there are certain fruits that are approved. And there are only two starches that are approved.

Many say that the list of approved foods is too short and unnecessarily demanding. But it was created for a reason. Every item that is approved has specific qualities that make them eligible for the list. Every food not on the list does not make the list for a reason. The list is there to ensure that weight loss success is maximized for each and every dieter.

One major fallout that many dieters have with the homeopathic homeopathic HCG diet weight loss program’s approved food list is the lack of eggs. Eggs seem like an appropriate protein while dieting, right? But they’re not on the list.

Program coordinators continue to hear the question, “What about eggs?” And they continue to give the same response, “Look at your list of approved proteins. There are no eggs on it. That means eggs are not an approved protein.”

There are, of course, those dieters who take it upon themselves to alter the dieting rules. They might add in a vegetable here or a fruit there that isn’t on the approved food list. And they might still lose weight. But the list of approved foods is there to maximize weight loss so adjusting your eating off plan only means that you could have lost more. And if you’re working hard to stick to the diet you might as well actually STICK to the diet!

You can start by sprucing up your basic beverage. You need to drink a LOT of water. Try changing up this most basic of basics with the Stevia drops recommended to go along with the diet. Use your favorite flavor to create flavored water. You’ll be surprised how refreshing it can be.

The HCG diet stipulates two servings of fruit per day. Depending upon the dieter the fruit can either be incorporated at lunch/dinner or as a mid-afternoon snack or after-dinner snack. A popular choice is apples. Try this yummy variation to provide yourself a fun alternative to plain apples next time you’re feeling fed up with your choices.

Take your fresh apple and cut it in half. Sprinkle cinnamon across the tops of both halves. We like it absolutely covered. There are no carbs in cinnamon, after all! Put the cinnamon covered apples on a plate and place it in the microwave. Cook them for 2 to 3 minutes and then pull them out and enjoy. Remind you of apple pie? It just might!

For lunch or dinner you could try Chicken in Tomatoes (although Beef works just as well). Grill your meat beforehand and have it ready to go. (Don’t forget to control your portion size). Slice up a couple tomatoes. You’ll be sauteing them on medium for about 5 minutes. During the cook time you need apply pressure repeatedly to the tomatoes with the back of a spoon or something similar. By the end of the 5 minute cook time you want your tomatoes to resemble a really thick spaghetti sauce. Next you add your meat. And last you add some seasonings…try garlic salt, onion salt and some Italian seasonings.

Incorporating interesting meals and snacks into the HCG diet is necessary in order to give you the best chance of successfully completing the diet. Don’t deprive yourself of taste; use the seasonings that are at your disposal and keep it fun and interesting by trying different recipes. There are plenty of options available out there if you care to look around!

If you know anything about how HCG works, you understand that such a low calorie diet is necessary. But you also know that the presence of this remarkable hormone prevents one from wasting away, preserving muscle mass and good health despite the starvation level of calories.

Not only that but those who follow the HCG Diet Direct weight loss protocols carefully, normally feel very little in the way of hunger or deprivation.

Dr. Simeons’ Research and What It Revealed

Dr. Albert T.W. Simeons was an endocrinologist. This is the branch of medicine that deals with the system of “ductless” glands that among other functions produce hormones, proteins that are involved with intercellular communications and therefore control many of our physiological processes.

The primary function of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, or HCG, is to protect the developing fetus during gestation. It accomplishes this in two ways:

(1)    HCG prevents the mother’s body from stealing nutrients or feeding off the fetus
(2)    it suppresses the mother’s immune system, preventing rejection

The second possibility stems from the fact that that the presence of the father’s DNA could trigger an immune response from the mother.

In pregnant women, the hormone plays a large part in maintaining the health of the fetus. While working in India during the 1930s and 1940s, Dr. Simeons determined that HCG helped prevent the mother’s system from robbing the fetus of nutrients in the event she was experiencing starvation.

While studying thyroid patients in India during the 1930s and 1940s, Dr. Simeons found that treatment with HCG injections could actually result in weight loss in these patients. He then came to some startling conclusions about the nature of obesity and fat.

The Real Causes

Dr. Simeons finally realized that there is no one single cause of obesity; rather, excess fat is the result of a number of different factors, all of which were related to genetics and evolutionary tendencies as well as the impact of agriculture on the human diet.

Agriculture changed the human diet in two ways: it introduced new foods into the human diet that had not been available previously, and the labor demands of the farm forced humans into new, unnatural patterns of eating. In the first place, humans began eating grains, legumes and dairy products that would not have been available in nature. In the second, humans were forced to abandon their earlier pattern of nibbling small amounts over the course of a day and take in large amounts at set times.

HCG, when combined with a low calorie diet, resets and restores metabolic balance, which in turn causes unwanted pounds to disappear almost effortlessly. To learn more about the physiological mechanisms involved, use the search function to find articles and posts on how HCG works with your own body’s natural tendencies instead of fighting them.

Although it may seem to be magic (dropping one to two pounds a day can certainly seem miraculous), Dr. Simeons’ weight loss method is based on solid science.

Origins of HCG

Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG for short) is a natural by-product of gestation. It is secreted by the fetus during its development and protects the fetus in two ways:

• should the mother be undernourished, it prevents her system from leeching nutrients

• it prevents the mother’s immune system from mistaking the father’s DNA for a “foreign” pathogen (like a transplanted organ)

Dr. Simeons used the hormone on patients who were morbidly obese due to a dysfunctional thyroid. He discovered that small amounts of this hormone could actually cause weight loss.

How It Works

To one’s bodily systems, which are controlled by the brain but have no consciousness of their own, there is no difference between a deliberate reduction in calories through a low-calorie diet and a genuine famine caused by external factors (such as drought or pestilence). In either case, these systems will adjust themselves in such a way as to conserve fat reserves.

This is all very well and good in a state of nature, but it makes most forms of dieting exceptionally difficult. The mechanism by which bodily systems and their function are fueled is controlled by a small gland in our brains, called the hypothalamus. It is like a combination fuel switch and throttle. It determines which fuel sources are used and the rate at which these are utilized.

So, imagine you are driving a car with two reserve fuel tanks – one which holds lubricating oil and the other jellied gasoline. You are out in the desert and the primary tank is almost empty.  You can run the motor on lubricating oil for awhile, but it won’t run very well, and that oil is really needed to protect the engine components. The jellied gasoline is extremely volatile – but because it is in jelled form, the fuel injectors cannot use it. Therefore, the fuel switch automatically goes to the oil tank, then cuts way back on the accelerator so that the car is barely moving.

This is essentially what happens in your body on a low-calorie diet. The fat deposits (adipose) are like jellied gasoline – they are rich in energy, but in a form that the body cannot readily use.

What HCG does is: (A) breaks up these adipose deposits, turning them into a liquid that the body can burn, and (B) reprograms the hypothalamus to access the adipose first rather than turning to muscle tissue and viscera.

The result is that normal metabolism is maintained, even when calories are in short supply.

The Making of an Endocrinologist

Dr. Simeons was a graduate of the University of Heidelberg Medical School in the 1920s. He chose endocrinology as his specialty, which in turn led to a fascination with tropical diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and leprosy.

Simeons spent several years working at a hospital in Hamburg where the diagnosis and treatment of such diseases were the focus. In 1928, Simeons went to central Africa in order to study these diseases in their own environment. Following this, he accepted a post in India, where he spent most of the next two decades.

During his time working in a Mumbai hospital, Dr. Simeons was able to do intensive research into the effects of undernourishment  on pregnant women as well as patients who because of a defective thyroid gland had gained a great deal of weight. While these might not seem to have any connection, Dr. Simeons came to two startling conclusions:

• The primary function of HCG was to protect the fetus, preventing the starving mother’s system from leeching nutrients

• Administering low doses of this hormone to morbidly obese patients caused them to actually lose their excess fat.

Dr. Simeons believed that this excess fat, known as adipose, was a kind of “fuel reserve” that was locked up in a usable form should the person experience a “nutritional emergency.” What happens instead, he wrote in 1954, “is that someone suffering from obesity who attempts weight loss through a low calorie diet will first lose lean muscle tissue, followed by protective visceral fat.”  That “…only as a last resort will the Body yield its abnormal reserves,” adding that “by that time the patient usually feels so weak and hungry that the diet is abandoned.”

This is the tragedy of those who repeatedly attempt low calorie diets that invariably fail

The Role of HCG

Dr. Simeons concluded that when HCG is reintroduced into the adult system, it recalibrates the hypothalamus gland – the part of the brain than regulates metabolic processes. It helps to unlock adipose deposits, making them available as a fuel source when calories are not otherwise available – as when eating a low calorie diet.

This does not happen on the HCG program however. The key lies in how HCG changes your metabolic processes, forcing your body to burn excess fat from the beginning instead of muscle tissue.

It’s Unnatural

Contrary to popular judgmental wisdom, fat is not about laziness or lack of “will power.”

In fact, virtually nobody chooses to be fat, any more than they choose to be white or black, gay or straight, short or tall.  According to Dr. Simeons’ research, obesity is the result of many complex variables. Some of these are genetic in nature; others are due to the modern lifestyle, including food choices and eating patterns imposed upon us by agriculture.

For example, did you know that hunting-gathering peoples do not normally eat grains and legumes or dairy products? These are plants that normally must be cultivated. For the first 90,000 years or so, they did not exist in the human diet. Like their simian relatives (chimpanzees and gorillas), Stone Age humans ate tree fruit, wild root vegetables, eggs and meat. The human digestive system was simply not designed for many agricultural products we take for granted today.

This said, there is archaeological evidence to suggest that larger women were considered desirable in later Stone Age cultures. This is still true in many parts of Africa and Polynesia. Such women are viewed as more fertile and able to bear strong offspring. Such genetic traits would naturally be passed on to children.

Finally, there is the subject of eating patterns. In nature, all primates (including humans) are browsers who nibble on small amounts of food over the course of the day. This kind of eating is not possible in an agricultural society due to the intensive labor demands. Humans were forced to eat occasional meals at set times, ingesting more calories that they required for immediate metabolic needs. Those extra calories wind up being stored around the abdomen and on the hips as adipose.

HCG Unlocks The Energy

Adipose is a rich source of energy and nutrients, much like whale blubber that sustains Inuit people in Arctic regions. However, adipose is not readily available to humans as an energy source when calories are reduced. This is why humans normally “waste away” on a low calorie diet. With HCG, Dr. Simeons’ diet makes adipose readily available for metabolism by reprogramming the hypothalamus. On the HCG program, when you restrict yourself to Dr. Simeons’ low calorie diet, the hypothalamus obtains the extra calories from adipose, not lean muscle tissue. It’s that simple!