How I Lost 40 Pounds in 40 Days – The HCG Diet
August 19th, 2008 Posted in PersonalThe last few weeks have been quite a journey for me. A little over 40 days ago, I weighed in at a whopping 247 pounds. That’s about 50 pounds more than I should weigh and is for the most part the result of eleven plus years of poor eating habits and lack of exercise. Today as I write this post, I weigh 210 pounds. How did I lose so much weight in such little time? It was due to a combination of taking the hormone HCG and a very extreme low calorie diet.
Before I get into the “how I did it” I must say that I had to first change my mindset about food. I’ve come to the place in my life where I really need to lose all the extra pounds I have put on since leaving manual labor some eleven years ago when I started my Internet marketing business. I went from a size 34 waist and 180 pounds to a 42 inch waist and about 247 pounds. The goal is to get back to at least a 36 inch waist and a weight of about 190 lbs.
Now, what about this HCG? HCG is short for Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin which is a hormone found only in women during pregnancy. It is produced in enormous quantities, so that during certain phases of her pregnancy a woman may excrete as much as one million international units per day in her urine. It is never found in the male, obviously because men don’t get pregnant.
Seeing that HCG is only found in women during pregnancy and never in males, it is something I had to take daily. Some take it by injection but I took it sub-lingual meaning I’d have to hold it in liquid form under my tongue for about 15 minutes before swallowing. I repeated this process twice daily. Having this hormone present in my body for 40 plus days along with limiting myself to a very strict diet of just 500 calories a day (you read right – 500 calories) allowed me to not only lose about a pound a day, but also to maintain a healthy physique in the process.
Now I’m going to try to explain how HCG works in layman’s terms. So please forgive me if this is lacking its proper medical terminology.
First of all one must understand that there are three kinds of fat that are stored in the body. The first is the structural fat which fills the gaps between various organs, a sort of packing material. The second type of fat is a normal reserve of fuel upon which the body can freely draw when the nutritional income from the intestinal tract is insufficient to meet the demand. The third type of fat which is entirely abnormal is the accumulation of such fat, and of such fat only, from which overweight people suffer. This abnormal fat is also a potential reserve of fuel, but unlike the normal reserves it is not available to the body in a nutritional emergency. It is, so to speak, locked away in a fixed deposit and is not kept in a current account, as are the normal reserves.
What HCG does is to allow a person to comfortably go about their usual activities on a diet of only 500 calories daily and lose an average of about one pound per day. Because the body needs more than 500 calories a day to function, fat reserves are used for energy. Under the effect of HCG, the overweight body is always able to obtain all the calories it needs from the abnormal fat deposits, regardless of whether it uses up 1500 or 4000 per day. The HCG allows you to live to a far greater extent on the fat which you are losing than on what you eat. Normal fat reserves (the healthy kind) are not touched. In the meantime, skin remains fresh and turgid, and gradually body weight returns to normal. The daily administration of HCG appears to have no side-effects other than beneficial.
When I embarked on this diet, I had pretty good hopes it would be successful simply due to the fact that my wife had come across so many testimonies from people who experienced success with it. Nevertheless, I knew I’d have to change the way I eat and exercise for the rest of my life unless I want to return to the fat man I had become.
I am reminded of the lyrics from Jethro Tull’s song “Fat Man” –
Don’t want to be a fat man,
People would think that I was just good fun.
Would rather be a thin man,
I am so glad to go on being one.
Too much to carry around with you,
No chance of finding a woman who…
Will love you in the morning and all the night time too.Don’t want to be a fat man,
Have not the patience to ignore all that.
Hate to admit to myself half of my problems
Came from being fat.
Wont waste my time feeling sorry for him,
I seen the other side to being thin.
Roll us both down a mountain
And I’m sure the fat man would win.
Here is a brief chronicle of my journey over the period of several weeks to become once again a “thin man.”
Day 1
I weighed in at 247 pounds prior to starting diet. After taking the initial dose of HCG, the first two days consist of “loading” or in other words, eating lots of food — pretty much anything i want.
Here’s what I loaded up with the first day:
- 4 donuts
- 4 pieces of Papa John’s Italian sausage pizza
- 1 hamburger
- Whole order of Tom Kha Gai soup with side of rice (usually feeds 2 people)
- Whole order of Crispy Shrimp (8 jumbo prawns, deep fried and dipped in spicy sauce)
- 1 Dancing Deer brownie
- 1 Snickers ice cream bar
It is supposed to be difficult to eat SO much food and the HCG makes you feel full. While i did feel full, I didn’t have any trouble eating all this stuff.
Day 2
I weighed in at 250 pounds, gaining 3 from the day before which I hear is normal. This is what I consumed on day 2 of loading:
- Jack in the Box Croissant Breakfast sandwich
- Jack in the Box Extreme Sausage sandwich
- Dairy Queen 32 oz. Hot Fudge Milkshake (my favorite)
- 1 Taco Bell taco and 1 burrito
- Breyers Coffee Ice Ice Cream in Waffle Cone
- 2 hamburgers and 2 hot dogs, 2 servings baked beans and potato chips (birthday party)
- Bowl of Goldfish (the crackers not actual fish silly)
Day 3
I weighed in at 252 pounds – a total gain of 5 lbs. after “loading.” It’s pretty crazy I could gain that much weight after just two days of stuffing my face.
Now I begin the journey of eating just 500 calories a day which essentially will consist of two meals (lunch and dinner) of just 250 calories each. Each of these meals will consist of the following:
Breakfast – Nothing
Lunch – 3 ounces of lean meat which may consist of one of the following: veal, lean beef, chicken breast, fresh white fish, lobster, crab, or shrimp.
3 ounces of select vegetables which may consist of one of the following: spinach, chard, chicory, beet-greens, green salad, tomatoes, celery, fennel, onions, red radishes, cucumbers, asparagus, and cabbage.
1 selection of fruit with choices of an apple, a handful of strawberries, half a grapefruit or an orange.
1 breadstick (grissino) or one Melba toast.
Dinner – same thing as lunch
It is important to note that no matter what combination of items you eat (i.e. choice of meat, vegetable and fruit), the meals could not exceed 500 calories a day. So if I decided to have cube steak instead of chicken, I’d have to watch my vegetable portion seeing that cube steak consists of more calories than chicken. It was also recommended that I eat the same things for lunch and dinner on any particular day.
I mostly ate grilled chicken and cucumbers with a touch of lemon juice. Periodically I substituted white fish and cube steak and variations in vegetable choice included spinach salads and cooked cabbage. For my fruit, I always stuck with an apple.
I would also add that you can drink all the coffee and tea you’d like (unsweetened of course) but must also drink 2 liters or more water every day. I drank about 3 liters a day besides about a pot of coffee and a glass of green tea daily.
Sound boring? It mostly is but surprisingly, because of the HCG, I did not feel hungry prior to meals. Also when consuming these small 250 calorie meals I felt comfortably full afterwards.
As I think back now, most of my initial struggles steamed from the boredom that comes from not eating all the time. In other words I had spent a good amount of my time eating, snacking, drinking wine, etc. and now I had to find things to replace the time I used to spend eating.
For the duration that the HCG was in my body, I could not use regular lotion or use any conditioner in my hair due to the fact that the body can absorb the oils in these products which adds to calorie intake. I ended up using Corn Huskers lotion (which contains no oil) for my feet as I wear sandals most the time which cause my feet to get very dry. This worked out as well if not better than the oil-based lotions I typically use.
Another thing I thought I’d struggle with is the fact that I could not have my peppermint Lifesavers. My wife sternly warned me that I can have no breath mints of any kind and that many doing the HCG diet complain of having bad breath. However, I found a solution – Starbucks sugar-free peppermint breath mints. These are extremely small but powerful mints that contain zero calories.
While I am not going to bore you with the daily details of what I ate, how much I weighted each day, etc., I will say that I lost an average of about a pound a day. On day 42 when I stopped taking the HCG, my weight had gone from 252 pounds (weight after “loading”) to 210 pounds. That’s 42 pounds from my weight after loading or if you count from the weight I was prior to loading – 37 pounds. They say that you should count the pounds you gain after the loading phase which is why I can say I lost 42 pounds. Oh and as for the title of this post – “40 pounds in 40 days” – I had actually lost 40 pounds at the 40 day mark. Besides, it sounds better than “42 pounds in 42 days.” (I like round numbers)
I feel great right now. Everyone I know says how I look so different, not only in the size of my gut but the face, legs, arms – everywhere. I no longer get heartburn after eating certain foods or snore at night. I don’t even recall bouts of sleep apnea as I did before. I have about 20 more pounds I feel I need to lose and so will embark on a second but shorter phase in October where I have a period of about 4 weeks in which I will not be traveling.
I must truly thank my wife, Irma, for not only discovering this diet but doing all the research on it as well as preparing all the meals. She has done remarkably well on this diet herself but I’ll let her tell you about that in her own way.
If you would like to shed some of your “abnormal” fat by means of this diet, I’d encourage you to first read the eBook by Dr. A.T.W Simeons called “Pounds and Inches” and then do additional research online simply by searching the keyword “HCG” or the full phrase “Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin.” When you get ready to actually purchase HCG, you can get it at PharmacyEscrow.com.
This is a very controversial diet, especially for males, seeing that you have a hormone in you that is only found in pregnant women. It has however been tested for years and always proved to be successful. Don’t worry men – you will not become pregnant nor develop female body parts. Most of the controversy will stem from telling people that you are only eating 500 calories a day. They will be shocked not only on the little amount of food you are living on, but how healthy you appear despite that. We kept the fact that we were taking the HCG secret for some time, at least until we were confident it was working.
March 10th, 2010 at 6:41 am
Hi!
I was woundering if you can help me as far as the HCG diet. This is day 11 and I have only lost 3 plds. I have been following the diet to the T !! The last 2 days I have cut out the fruit and most veggies. I’m doing all protien. Well still weight the same. What can I do or what am I doing wrong. I’m reading about people losing 1 to 2 pounds a day, not me !
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank You
Kathy
March 8th, 2010 at 9:35 am
has anyone else bought their hcg on ebay? I’ve bought 4 bottles for 54 dollars on there. It says Mediral on the bottles, with the purple band on the label? Is this the right product?
March 2nd, 2010 at 6:52 pm
I am on day 29 of 43. Am using the homeopathic HCG drops and have lost 28 pounds. Friend is doing the HCG injections and has only lost 16 pounds. The diet is very easy to follow through with. I’m not hungry or craving foods. The 500 calories is actually satisfying me. Good luch to everyone.
February 28th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
I didn’t realize if I eat turkey breast, or chicken breast, or turkey pattie or say 90% lean beef patty or steak if I weight them at 100 grams, then I have to adjust the vetables because of the amount of calories?
I need help. I’m on my 4th day. I feel tired and kinda runned down. I’m a size 8 wanting to get to a 3.
I bought Homepathic HCG as well. I am suppose to take 4 ml, 3 x a day 15 minutes prior to eating or drinking with each meal.
February 27th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
i am on my six th day and til now i lost 5 pounds it great. i am cheeting aliyle , actually i am having a fglass of wine the past 3 days , i dont know if this is bad or not But!!!!!!
February 19th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
Thank you 4u2nv, your information was very helpful. I have received my kit but am anxiously waiting for my HCG so I can get started.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
the homopathic are the ones I use and they are working great for me.
February 18th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
I fell off the wagon with wanting to drink wine on weekends. I regained the 10 lbs I had lost!I heard the homeopathic drops are useless!? Any experience? The diet was also on the news and an endocrinologist said it was all bunk! I want to know how or if anyone has actually KEPT the weight off for any length of time? Its not that hard to lose it–but keeping it off is the real challenge! I want answers please!
February 16th, 2010 at 10:23 am
i lost 38lbs in 43 days and thought that i might be of help to some people out there who have just started this protocol.u could try buying from Allday chemist.com, i leave in the Uk and have always gotten my orders say ..10days (frm india)
loading: a patient could not be kept on a 500cal diet unless his normal fat reserves were well stocked.
Menstruation:u cannot take your Hcg while menstrating,but the diet is continued, resume Hcg immidiately after menses.no food substitutes, diet sodas,lean cuisine xcept the ones in the protocol.if u followed it to the teeth, u’ll soon find you’re not hungry @ all…try joining hcg dieters yahoo group, it could be of gr8 support.
February 16th, 2010 at 8:49 am
i have a question so im on the diet, on the first day of 500 calorie and ate just right that night i stepped on the scale and i gained 3 lbs from just that first day! the next morning i lost the 3 lbs again. is that normal or should i be worried???? HELP
February 14th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
David, I read your story and I am looking forward to starting the diet. However, I have read some terrible things about pharmacyescrow ripping off people. Have you experienced this in any way? Please let me know soon. Thank you!
February 14th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
I have ordered my HCG and am anxiously waiting for it. I do have a few questions if someone wouldn’t mind answering. 1) Why do you have to “Load”? 2) I read that as a woman I can not take the HCG during my period. Is this correct and why? 3) With the 500 calories a day can you substitute a meal for a Lean Cuisine or a Healthy Choice entree as long as it stays within the allowable caloric intake? 4) Can you drink diet sodas?
Thanks for your replies.
Kelly
January 28th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
I see Jay’s question on whether or not you skipped the 7th day dose while on the 43 protocol. That is my question. Is it “extremely” important to skip that once a week dose to prevent possible immunity? My thought is, if a person is only going to do 40 shots in 40 days, and the “possible” immunity does not happen until around then, why skip the shot? Doesn’t skipping the shot extend the process another week – so that you get 40 doses in? I’m confused as to what to do!
January 10th, 2010 at 11:32 am
Why did my post directing people to a website that can ACTUALLY help them get rejected?? Not selling anything, just good info and advice free to everyone…some posts that did make it ARE advertising!!!
BTW-if you really are interested in helping people, allow the hcgdietinfo link, OR try to answer questions people ask you for a change!!!
December 29th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Awesome David,
I have been looking into HCG for a few weeks now and I am having trouble pulling the trigger because all of the physician assisted websites I have talked to charge from 700-1000 to get the product. After your blog I see that if I am reading right I can buy the 43 day injection program for under a 100.00. Is this what you did? Did you join a physician clinic for support? I do not think I need the support but I want to make sure I do it right. But, I am having a hard time thinking I will have to pay up to a 1000.00 even though it would be worth it if I new it worked.
What exactly did you order from pharmacyescrow.com?
Or how did you do the program?
Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make an educated decision.
December 29th, 2009 at 7:21 am
How do you know which HCG to start with. There are so many different ones on PharmacyEscrow.com. I would like to lose 20-30 lbs.
December 28th, 2009 at 1:13 am
I am glad to see this site is still active. Any of the OP’s still around to give us an update? David??
I just started and finished my loading days. Start VLCD tomorrow. I get the shotts locally from an MD and they are preloaded. I am a total needle phobe and wasn’t sure I could do it, but I’ve done 2 injections. Really affordable too.
My concern is preparing meals. I am really busy all the time. Any ideas on how to make some meals aheadb of time to grab?
December 22nd, 2009 at 7:23 am
Congratulations David and Everyone else, every one an inspiration and good read.
I have dieted for 17 days and have lost 20 pounds.
I agree with everything you say, am not too hungry but alittle bored with no food to plan or eat and alittle empty, which is many ways feels good.
I worked out hard one day, rode my bike 26 miles, and won’t do that again till after the 42 days … I was so hungry for 12 hours that could axe murdered anyone for a burger or a sub sandwich …..
I use alot of hot sauce on the food, eat alot of asparagus and spinach and generally have found the diet relatively easy.
Good luck on your next bout and final weight.
Ted
December 9th, 2009 at 1:20 am
Oh btw Robert….. Did u leave your hcg in a place that it got warm? That can ruin it too.
December 9th, 2009 at 1:18 am
Robert…. Sounds like you got “snake-oil” buddy! Sadly there are jerks out there selling false hcg! What u went through sounds like u had no hcg in your system. Try hcgdiet.com for the sublingual drops. They even give u a recipe book!!
. A friend of mine has list 20 lbs in 2 weeks so far with their drops!! Don’t loose heart. I am at the end of the first 500 calorie day and only a tiny little bit hungry but that is normal after stretching your stomach on binge days! I have a friend who has a lot of medical issues and she is doing awesome on the diet too… She is doing shots with a doc in town.. No thank u! LOL. I don’t do shots!!! Hint for drops….. Set your cell phone alarm three times a day so you take your drops regularly.
December 1st, 2009 at 9:20 pm
question…i’ve been trying to research but have come up with no solid answers. My husband has epilepsy and is on meds. Do you know if taking the HCG will have any effect on these or any meds? HELP!
November 15th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Is it okay to use truvia?
November 11th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Hi there. Thank you for this site and the helpful information you have shared. I have seen the billboards around Dallas and finally decide to search on the web. This site came up first and after reading it I went ahead and set a conultation with the Dallas clinic. I liked what they had to say but $1500 was more than I cared to spend. lol
So I came back here to see what else I could find out about doing this on my own. I ended up ordering online from escrow and the kit arrived quickly while the HCG took longer to get here. Finally came in yesterday and I just took it.
I am excited about this new journey and hope to lose 130 pounds over the course of this. I am sitting here typing this with my first dosage under my tongue and almost wishing I had gone for the shots. lol It doesn’t taste bad but I don’t like keeping liquid under my tongue and not swallowing for 15 minutes. crapp…just swallowed a little. Still doesn’t taste terrible and I am nearly done holding it anyway.
The purpose of me writing was kinda to distract me and give me something to do while I had this stuff in my mouth so i wouldn’t think about it too much. lol Also I wanted to say Thank You to everyone for sharing your experiences and answering questions.
I will post in a few days after I start the 500 cal diet. I am not looking forward to that part but I am tired of being so large.
Have a great day.
November 4th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Go to DIYHCG.com 2oz bottle $75
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:16 am
do you know a safe website i can buy this at?
October 29th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
I have found information about the HCG way to lose weight and followed it. At first things seemed to be OK, I was extatic by the feeling HCG gave me.
I dropped 7 pounds very fast.
Then, hunger came, in waves. I tried to hold on to the diet. The hunger got higher and higher, until I stopped dieting because I couldn’t stand it.
During the diet, my hair started falling, and my energy plummeted to a level at which I couldn’t do my work.
Now I gained about 14 pounds. I am 7 pounds heavier than when I started.
October 24th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Hey every one, today is my first day of a 500 calorie intake and I am not sure if already cheated I had coffee for breakefast with two stevia for flavor and 1-2 tsp of nonfat milk just to make me feel better about my coffee I am trying to lose about 30-35 lbs and I really cant wait to see the results after one week, I plan on posting my progress at least two time a week good luck to all.
October 16th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Hello all
I ordered my HCG Drops yesterday
I need all your tricks… for a successful new lease on life!
I am ready.
Hope to hear from everyone.
October 14th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Can you eat grissini sticks after you are done with all shots? I just want to know if you can still eat some form of carbs (no sugar no starches) What is acceptable??? HELP!!!!!!!!!
October 6th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Sorry Attention Kerri the previous message was for you. thanks
October 6th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
TGTO- I am from Canada and the cheapest site I found them on was Ebay. Where did your sister find them for 20 dollars a bottle and were they from Mediral?
October 6th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Hello everyone, I am currently on my 6th day on the HCG diet and I did 3 days of food and fat overload prior. I am thrilled to report Since Thurday of last week (6) days I have gone from 224 lbs to 211. That”s thirteen pounds in 6 days….that’s insane. Please note the first few days are hard also the second day I experienced a massive headache that lasted all day and would not subside with tylenol or advil.This i believe is the release of toxins from the body.currently i feel great. I am not hungry, tired or dizzy in fact i feel clear headed, the mucous in the post nasal drip has gone away and I feel energized. My goal is to be at my ideal weight. 140 by my 48th Birthday which is Jan 20th. I have a feeling I will surpass that goal long before. Only time will tell.
Mary
October 5th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Questions about carbs; On the diet, you can have 1 melba toast/ 1 grissini or 4 saltines (Per doctor’s protocol). Is that okay to have the 4 saltines? Also, what do you do after? No sugar no starches, does that mean no crackers?
September 30th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Just started the diet. Is it ok that the drops have alcohol in them? Will it slow down wt loss? can you eat tuna, balsamic vinegar, or any type of salad dressing? what type of cuts of beef are allowed? Please respond with tips for eating correctly. Thanks for all your help everyone!
September 27th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Just a question, I have to fly out of town next week. As I purchased my injectable HCG on the internet- it does not have a pharmacy label. My doctor will write a prescription for it- will that get it through security at the airport? Oh, and I am on day 9 with 7 lbs lost- woohoo!! Love the vanilla stevia on sliced strawberries.
September 26th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
My husband and I are going to a ball game on day 2 of loading. Is it OK to have beer or wine on the loading days? Has anyone had alcohol on the loading days?
September 25th, 2009 at 7:34 am
30 seconds Jlynne! ; ) Good luck!
September 24th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Felicia,
You are so right! I do owe it to myself, I deserve to feel and look great! Thanks for the lift!
Jlynne
September 24th, 2009 at 10:54 am
I am new, today is my first day (3rd) on the drops, do you have a certain length of time you have to hold the drops under your tongue for it to work?
Thanks, Jlynne