[JJoon077]

Hey guys!

I did the hCG diet in october (3-weeks round) and although I'm all done, I wanted to come back here to tell you about my results. I remember when I was on the diet and I posted on this forum, someone said it would be nice to have some comments about the experience and the results from someone who was off the diet for a couple of months. However, this would seldom happen, because once you're done, you don't really hang out in the forums much.

So I wanted to share my insights and all...

I started sometime in October, along with my boyfriend. We did three weeks of homeopathic hCG. I went from 152 to 138lbs and he went from 213 to 188. At the end of phase two, we were really excited to see how our weight would stabilize. Then, a person posted this video in a forum thread: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vr-c8GeT34 (How Bad Science and Big Business Created the Obesity Epidemic). This was an eye opener for us. We started doing a lot of research and ended up buying the book Primal Body Primal Mind and embarked on a "Primal" lifestyle.

Even though I'm not quite at my ideal weight, I won't do another round of hCG because when I follow this primal nutrition, I can loose about 3 pounds per week and I really do feel like the primal lifestyle is the answer to modern illness.

Now back to hCG... Has my metabolism truly "reset"? No. Sorry to say... My weight will climb back up whenever I eat wheat flour, sugar and most processed foods. I still can't eat everything I want and not gain weight. I still have to be careful about carbs. However, I am sooo sooo grateful of my experience because I learned portion control and I saw that video and started a primal lifestyle which is really working for me.

So that's about it! Let me know if you have questions!

[evalayCap]

Renee,
Congrats on your lifestyle change. I am one of the guilty ones who did hcg then disappeared from the forum. Last sping I did a 40 day SQ round and lost 20 lbs. I stabilized at my LIW nicely. During P3 I lost another 5 lbs - not on purpose, but because being on VLCD and hcg showed me that I don't need carbs or sugars in my life. The hcg experience taught me what my body can and cannot tolerate.
During P4, I cut sugar and slowly introduced carbs as a treat. I ate all the fat and calories I wanted. I love meat and cheese, and those work for me just fine.

About November, I decided to do hcg again after the holidays, to take off the last 10 lbs to get to my goal weight. Knowing I was doing it again, I went CRAZY with my eating at Christmas and New Years. Desserts, wine, bread, etc. If I wanted it...I ate it! My weight stabilized and stayed - even with the holiday treats! After all that, I was still below LIW.

Did hcg "reset" my metabolism? Absolutly did. But more importantly, it taught me what I can and cannot eat.

[Reftsheette]

Thanks so much! The video really is an eye opener. I have heard time and time again that the primal or paleo is a lifesaver. I have always done much better on lower carb diets, and I've got a wheat/gluten sensitivity as well. I guess I've sort of accepted (even though I'm only at the end of P2) that I will always have to watch my carbs, never be able to eat processed junk, and I'll never be able to go back to an easy way of eating. My question for you is, do you have any experience with low-carb alternatives and if so, have you had any problems? I am looking forward to re-learning how to make sweets and baked treats but with almond and coconut flours, sugar alternatives, etc. I just love to cook and love flavors, so the idea of totally cutting something out sounds horrible! But at the same time, there is no way I'd return to the junk just for variety's sake. Would love to hear your experience, if any, with the alternatives!

[Anneskobsen]

That's fantastic for your metabolism! Maybe mine didn't because it was homeopathic hCG? I don't know. But on the other hand, was my metabolism so out of place? Probably not. I believe it is normal to gain weight after eating a lot of sugar and carbs. People who can eat a pound of candy and be fine probably have an abnormal (though probably desirable!) metabolism. And I also believe that the metabolism is kinda like the engine of a car. If it's super fast, you can pretty much eat everything, but just like a car, you can't go 300 miles at 6000 RPM. A metabolism that is super fast may appear desirable because of what you can eat and not gain weight, but it also means more free radicals in the body.

Anyway, my metabolism is just fine I think. I won't gain 3 pounds if I eat something I shouldn't, but I do see the effect on my weight when I weight myself everyday (I can loose about 0.3-0.5 when I eat low-carb; and gain 0.5-0.8 when I have a high-carb day [more than 200grams]). Does this mean my metabolism isn't fast enough? I don't think so. Rather I think it simply means that I do better on a high-fat/low-carb lifestyle.

[wllsqyuipknczx]

I did a 3 week round a year ago. The only reason I stopped was because my daughter dumped the bottle on the kitchen floor. I have stayed within 3 pounds of my "set" weight although I really didnt even finish phase 2. I am back on the diet now because I want to lose more, I didnt lose all I was aiming at before.
Once I was off the diet, I watched what I ate for a while and continued to lose but after a few months, i went back to almost what I was eating before. Nope didnt really gain anything back. I am a somewhat active person but I also really love sugar and pasta.

[Tusanoc]

@swtbttrfly23 I TOTALLY hear you! I love baking and I just can't give that up! Another great thing I discovered thanks to hCG was Stevia and Xylitol. You can replace sugar in pretty much all recipes with xylitol. As for flour... that's a bit more tricky. For crusts, a mix of almond and coconut flour +butter works just fine. But I gave up baking bread, results were not good at all!

There are tons of great recipes out there, but you do have to look. This website is all about coconut baked goods: http://www.tiana-coconut.com/coconut_flour_recipes.htm. Also a bunch of recipes (not just desserts) here: http://fastpaleo.com/ and here: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/categ...axzz1mUYKw06Gc

Also, when you sign up for Mark's Daily Apple (marksdailyapple.com) newsletter [I am in no way affiliated, but I will admit that I read the blog daily], you have access to two cookbooks. Let's see if I can post them here... Ok apparently the files are too big... See if this works: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/wordp...book-Final.pdf and this: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/wordp...12292010-1.pdf The books are technically password protected so if the links don't work, you may have to sign up for the newsletter, or send me a PM with your email address and I should be able to send them to you that way.

If you like ice cream, then a ice cream maker is a must! That way, I can make my own sugar-free ice cream and I know that the final product only contains quality ingredients.

Anyway... There are many ways to make this work and you don't have to give up baking. You just have to substitute and accept that you probably won't be able to bake a chocolate eclair, but you will be able to bake a chocolate cake and a raspberry-coco cream pie (absolutely delicious BTW, recipe is in the coconut cookbook link above)