Here is a breakdown of the approximate calories of each food allowed during the HCG diet. As a refresher, HCG, short for Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin is a hormone found in pregnant women that when taken allows a person to survive on a low calorie diet (500 calories a day) and in which case they are able to lose on average about a pound or two a day, all while maintaining a healthy physique and not experiencing the usual hunger pains that accompany many diets. Read “How I Lost 40 Pounds in 40 Days” for more information on this astounding diet.
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The actual food consumption consists of lunch and dinner (no breakfast) and the following items per meal:
- 3.5 ounces of selected lean meats (see below)
- 3.5 ounces of selected vegetables (see below)
- 1 Grissini Breadstick or Melba Toast
- Selected fruit (see below)
You are encouraged to drink lots of water (I averaged over 100 ounces a day) and you can drink all the coffee and tea you want as well as moderate levels of 0 calorie diet sodas.
And now for the calorie count of allowable foods.
Fish (avg 98 calories)
- Cod (3.5 oz) – 83 calories
- Crab Meat (3.5 oz) – 100 calories
- Flounder (3.5 oz) – 90 calories
- Haddock (3.5 oz) – 88 calories
- Halibut (3.5 oz) – 110 calories
- Lobster (3.5 oz) – 98 calories
- Red Snapper (3.5 oz) – 110 calories
- Shrimp (3.5 oz) – 110 calories
- Tilapia (3.5 oz) – 94 calories
Additional white fish are listed at the bottom of the page.
Very Lean Beef (avg 152 calories)
- 93/7 Lean Ground Beef (3.5 oz) – 150 calories
- Cube Steak (3.5 oz) – 160 calories
- Sirloin Tip Side Steaks (3.5 oz) – 130 calories
- Top Round Steak (3.5 oz) – 166 calories
- Tri-Tip Steak (3.5 oz) – 154 calories
Chicken
- Chicken Breast (3.5 oz) – 87 calories
Veal (avg 114 calories)
- Veal, sirloin (3.5 oz) – 110 calories
- Veal, loin chop (3.5 oz) – 117 calories
Vegetables (avg 18.8 cal)
- Asparagus (3.5 oz) – 20 calories
- Asparagus (2″ tip) – 1 calories
- Asparagus (small spear) – 2 calories
- Asparagus (medium spear) – 3 calories
- Asparagus (large spear) – 4 calories
- Broccoli (3.5 oz) – 34 calories
- Broccoli (1 cup – 88g) – 30 calories
- Broccoli (5″ spear – 31 g) – 11 calories
- Celery (3.5 oz) – 15 cal
- Celery (medium stalk) – 6 calories
- Cabbage (3.5 oz) – 24 calories
- Cabbage (1 cup shredded) – 17 calories
- Cauliflower (3.5 oz) – 22 calories
- Cauliflower (1 cup) – 28 calories
- Cauliflower (3 flowerets) – 12 calories
- Cucumber (3.5 oz) – 12 calories
- Cucumber (small) – 19 calories
- Cucumber (medium) – 24 calories
- Cucumber (large) – 34 calories
- Cucumber (English long) – 60 calories
- Lettuce, all varieties (3.5 oz) – 20 calories
- Lettuce, all varieties (1 cup) – 8 calories
- Lettuce, all varieties (small head) – 32 calories
- Red Radishes (3.5 oz) – 12 calories
- Red Radishes (one medium) – 1 calories
- Spinach, raw (3.5 oz) – 20 calories
- Spinach, raw (1 cup) – 7 calories
- Spinach, frozen (3.5 oz) – 23 calories
- Spinach, frozen (1 cup) – 41 calories
- Spinach, cooked (3.5 oz) – 31 calories
- Spinach, cooked (1 cup) – 48 calories
- Tomato (3.5 oz) – 20 calories
- Tomato (cherry) – 3 calories
- Tomato (plumb) – 11 calories
- Tomato (small) – 16 calories
- Tomato (medium) – 22 calories
- Tomato (large) – 33 calories
Fruit
- Apple (small) – 55 calories
- Apple (medium) – 72 calories
- Apple (large) – 110 calories
- Orange (navel) – 69 calories
- Orange (Florida) – 65 calories
- Orange (California) – 59 calories
- Strawberries, 12 large – 72 calories
- Strawberries, 20 medium – 80 calories
- Pink Grapefruit (California) – 92 calories
- Pink Grapefruit (Florida) – 74 calories
Bread
- Grissini Breadstick (3 g) – 12 calories
- Melba Toast (3 gram) – 12 calories
- Melba Toast (5 gram) – 20 calories
White Fish List
- Ayr
- Cat Fish
- Cod
- Coley
- Dover Sole
- Flounder
- Flying Fish
- Haddock
- Hake
- Halibut
- Hoki
- John Dory
- Kalabasu
- Lemon Sole
- Ling
- Monk Fish
- Parrot Fish
- Plaice
- Pollack
- Pomfret
- Red & Grey Mullet
- Red Fish
- Red Snapper
- Rock Salmon/Dogfish
- Rohu
- Sea Bass
- Sea Bream
- Shark
- Skate
- Tilapia Turbot
- Whiting
Keep in mind that all the above calorie counts on meats and vegetables do not include any sauces, salad dressing or butter. You are in fact encouraged not to us sauces such as barbecue sauce, A-1 Steak Sauce, etc., on meats nor any salad dressings on salads or butter on vegetables.
One trick I learned in phase two of my diet is that I could use Louisiana Hot Sauce on chicken as it has zero calories. That has helped immensely and because it is spicy, you feel fuller. I also use Balsamic Vinegar on Spinach salads which is quite tasty.
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I just started 5 days ago and have lost 5 lbs. My list does not include broccoli or radishes……I would love to have more veges to choose from. Is anyone eating these 2 veges and losing weight?
My natureopath said it was safe to chew the xylitol gum. I have been chewing it off and on. On my 60 day tpday/ Down 29 pds. I am 53 and take hormones which makes this a slower weight loss than many I have followed on this blob. I am still thrilled. My Naturopath also clams that you do not build an intolerance to the HCG. You will find many different thoughts on protocal out there.
Deb
Joan,
For what it is worth, Xylitol is an alcohol that is derived from a particular form of sugar. I suspect that it would be metabolized as sugar in the body. I would restrict it’s use to Ph4 when you can eat sugar and starches.
Harvel
Question…I bought some gum today at a health food store that is sugar free, non-gmo and gluten free. It is sweetened with 100% al-natural Xylitol. Does anyone know if this is safe to chew on any of the phases?
Jason,
Good to hear from you again. 23.6 pounds in 31 days is Great!
From a purist standpoint (Dr. simeons’ original protocol) the salmon was a no-no. He specifies non-oily fish such as “whitefish” like cod, halibut, hake, red snapper, flounder and the like. Stay away from all smoked fish, salmon, tuna, trout and eel, among others. Shrimp, crab and lobster are OK.
When you get to Ph3, you can eat any fish you want. The changes for Ph3 are to add fats and oils to the diet. You can eat any vegetables (except the real sweet ones like carrots), all fruits except the real sweet ones like watermellon and other mellons, peaches and others. You can mix your vegetables. You can add cheese, butter, olive oil, coconut oil, bacon, eggs and heavy whipping cream. Oh, and nuts–but watch the starch content. We went for Brazil nuts, pecans, almonds, almond butter, and walnuts (less than an ounce total for the day)
Stay away from sugar and starches (basically anything made from cereal grains or potatos) of all kinds.
Sounds like what you are doing is working. I wouldn’t change a thing.
As far as the sodas are concerned, I think any commercial soda should be treated like toxic waste (personal opinion). Why would you drink something that can strip the paint off a car? We have fallen in love with carbonated mineral water and flavered stevia (Sweet Leaf Brand). It tastes good, it doesn’t have all the stuff in it and it’s all natural.
Harvel
Jason,
You really should use stevia instead of the artificial sweeteners like splenda. They are not good for you and they make you gain weight. I love stevia and find it tastes really good. Try different brands so you can see which one you like best. I like the Sweetleaf Stevia Plus (in packets) and the stevia liquids (which come in different flavors). NOW brands also has a plain liquid stevia which is good. When I was on Phase 3 I only had stevia, and now that I’m on Phase 4 I also avoid sugar. Since I like stevia, (and it’s healthy for you) I find it is easy to do. Good luck!
Harvel,
Congratulations on your and your wife’s success, that’s so great! Have fun with your family and please check back after the first of the year. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say we appreciate your insights. I also agree that this diet really works. I feel confident I will not have a weight problem again. The weighing every day is important as well as the portion education received on this diet.
I have been telling everyone I know what a great diet the hcg diet is. I have been on Phase 4 for more than 2 weeks now and I find myself craving the healthy choices rather than having a desire to go back to french fries, etc. I continue to maintain my weight about 1 to 1.5 pounds less than my last dose weight. While I am cutting back on bread (I was a bit of a pizza queen), I have been able to have 2 glasses of wine with dinner with no problem. I find myself eating more vegetables and fruits than I did before.
Good luck everyone!
Another question about phase 3 –
It states to not eat any sugar, or artifical sweeteners, but a little stevia would be allowed. Has anyone used those sugar-free coffee syrups that use splenda? (da vinci brand, etc) or even diet sodas with splenda???
THanks again !!! Jason-
Hello everyone. I have been off this site for awhile, I hope everyone is doing well.
I am on day 31, and have lost 23.6 pounds; been using drops. I have been eating grilled chicken, cucumber, apple and melba toast for about 95% of those 31 days.
Coffee, tea and lots of water too.
Today I ate a piece of salmon, since a couple sites I have visited said it would be ok. I am thinking that this is false info, due to the high fat in salmon. Am I going to see adverse effects from eating the salmon? Has anyone eaten salmon on HCG?
ANother question: I am going to be starting phase 3 in about a week. Once again, I have been finding some sites that say that you can eat certain things that like this site say you can’t.
Does anyone have a good sample menu of foods to eat on phase 3??
THanks to all – Jason-
An Update on Myself to share with all.
Keep telling myself….Remember it is INCHES too! About every ten days I have a day that comes up for something special. I just do the PROTEIN DAY;(see above post for) as I feel that once I get off the drops in about three months it will be a good way to approach my new eating style. The weight fluctuates and today I am down 25 lbs from starting on September 6th after my load days. What is really coming off is the inches. Mainly, I want to look & feel better. That is about .5 lbs a day so I feel like I am on track. At 5 ft today I am also now classified as overweight instead of obese. YEAH! So it is a Milestone Day for me TODAY. I am also going to invest in a class to get to the root of my eating issues. Like the Rewards & when I am not feeling good why I choose to eat. This will really help me once I get to my goal weight of loosing 60-63 lbs. I am not going to race through this plan either & do my best to not let the scale get in my way.
HERE is the website of the person who teaches the class. Her name is Kathy & I believe she does tele seminars worldwide. Wouldn’t it be fun to all do one with her together as we get to the root of our eating issues.
http://www.Inside-Answers.com
I believe our new style of eating & her Kathy’s tele seminar would be like a marriage of ourselves for each of us.
Meanwhile, everyone keep up the great work.
Karen
Deborah,
I will be excited to hear how you do & be sure to let Ann know I told you to call. Her number is 636-634-2500. She is a great person & expert to ask about the protocal. Plus she will not let you off the phone till she is sure you understand any question you ask her.
Hilary,
SEE BELOW
I had posted this for you the eve before you went on your vacation. I wonder if you recall seeing it. Anyone who wants to can do this at Thanksgiving….
Karen
October 2nd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Hi Hilary,
Here is the PROTEIN eating plan. If you or anyone have further questions feel free to email me at ksrosie2@verizon.net. I do not get on here everyday like I would like to. Where are you going? No one has notice my weight loss either. Maybe it is because the RESULTS show up differently on this HCG eating plan. Or is it because I have not switched to smaller size clothes yet & the ones I have been wearing daily are the same ones since before I started loosing weight. Or is it society does not compliment us; because they want to be careful what or how they say it. For example I am almost a year in a new job & no one has said a word is it because they do not know me well enough or what? Meanwhile, it is between our very own selves and our higher power. I have not been around any of my regular friends in awhile so maybe they will notice. LOL I still do have my stomach; however all my other body part look less. Also remember it is not always in the scale. This plan is called Pounds & Inches.
Please if you have any questions or feel like you do not have an answer feel free to call Ann at http://www.hcgliquid.com.
The Protein Day Suggestion from Ann at http://www.hcgliquid.com
If you have a special day from time to time or every few weeks here is what you can do to enjoy.
Continue to do your drops or injections as normal as well as DRINK your water like you are suppose to.
Day One (You can do just this ONE DAY before a CELEBRATION DAY) then REPEAT this the DAY AFTER YOUR CELEBRATION & then do DAY 2 & DAY 3
TWO hard boiled eggs at breakfast
4 oz. of chicken at lunch
8 oz. of chicken at dinner
My suggestion for flavoring is for the eggs put some paprika & a few other spices on them.
For the chicken I took the Southwestern Rub(what spices I had) along with paprika & poutlry seasoning or sage. This RUB was out of Linda’s Pristners book which is at Amazon for $19.95. Bake/Broil with the spices or steam then add spices.
Day Two
Eat your daily protocal with NO FRUIT. you can eat VEGGIES.
Day Three BACK TO YOUR PROTOCAL
Eat your daily protocal with fruit & veggies like normal.
If you are taking a SPECIAL DAY off for any kind of CELEBRATION(I did for Yom Kippur because we have a great light dinner every year at our Temple at sundown)
Then repeat the next three days of the protein protocal.
My experiecne was that the chicken with those spices tasted like stuffing; which I love. I was not hungry. You can also have the 8 oz. of chicken at lunch & 4 oz. for dinner. Or you can even have the chicken at breakfast(as I forgot to bring the eggs to work). While my weight seemed to stay the same from Sunday AM weigh in till Wed. AM weigh in my pants were looser between Tues. to Wed. Also since I fasted on Monday with only drinking water & still taking the drops I was never hungry on Monday. When it came time to eat evern though I was not that hungry I indulged. On Tuesday as I did the Protein Day I got a little tired(probably from the fast day) & did have an urge for chocolate. LOL Under mormal conditions; because I took a celebration day I would have gone off the eating plan. However, since I know my commitment & I had PLANNED for the Eating Celebration Day it was so easy to get back on track.
Let me know your thoughts,
Karen
Karen,
Thanks so much for the info. I will be taking advantage of those drops and trying them next week on a trip I have to take.
Deb
Hillary-I hope you brode the plateau also. Keep with it. Checked out the market and there is one in Omaha-yeah I will be there in about a week. Will have to check it out. Thanks!
Apple day went fine…dropped one whole pound this morning. I hope I broke the plateau. I have done two apple days and I find it is easier to do when you are NOT at work.
Joan- are you near a Whole Foods Market? They have most of the flavored Stevia as well as the Smooth Move tea and have one other organic tea that works even better.
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/
I am feeling as if the last few days parallels the last few days of pregnancy. Restless to begin eating some food again yet knowing it is all worth it in the end.
Karen: Where is your protein day? do you remember the date and why did you do it?
Joan,
I got my Stevia at vitacost.com. You can go there to try different ones. They work great in water. You can buy the NIA DVD’s straight from NIA for a fair price. Hard to find them anywhere else except maybe EBAY. You might check at Vita for the tea or most health food stores, too!
Apple Day.
Eat normal breakfast.
Then from lunch thru breakfast the next day have 6 medium apples and only water when thirsty.
You might want to check out my protein day on here, too! Just follow day one, only. And drink plenty of water, too on a protein day.
Gotta run to work,
Karen
Karen, thanks for the reply. Where do you buy your flavored Stevia. I checked out the Nia video’s and it really looks like fun. I live in a very small town and have about 60 miles to drive to get to health food stores, classes, even a good grocery store. I am going to check to see if I can buy a Nia video somewhere.
Hillary, where do you buy the Smooth Move tea? How many drops are you taking? How did your apple day go? I am thinking about doing one. Still dropping very, very slow.
Thanks everyone!
Joan
Hi All,
Great news to Harvel & his wife along with Danielle. I just wanted to let Deborah Barron know where to purchase the drops. On around Oct. 11th at the bottom of page 28 I posted where to get the FREE DROPS for 12 days. So go look there & you will find out more about the FREE DROPS. Here is the info 636-634-2500 & ask for Ann. Please let me know you received the info, ok. No to refrigeration…
Everyone else I will get back on later in the week & catch up with all.
Thank you,
Karen
Awesome Harvel!!!
Great to hear from you again!!! We missed you
I am soooooo glad that you are back and congratulate you and your wife on an awesome journey. Thank you for all your help, insight and suggestions. I for one, would have been a complete disaster but, for your insight. I am too on phase 3 and trying to maintain equilibrium between the 2 lbs rule. Can’t wait for phase 4 and to start again this process for one more round.
To everyone else, please remain encouraged and continue to press forward.
I am grateful for the encouragement today. I am still stuck with the same two pounds that feels like forever. I am on an apple day today and I am hoping it will break the plateau and I will be on my way. I cant wait to finish. I know it will all be worth it in the end. Thanks to this blog I was able to see it through and not even think about cheating.
I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for the encouragement of this blog. None of you really responded to my questions when I had them but I still found a lot of useful stuff on here. I am on my first day of Phase 3 and had a cheese and bacon omelet for breakfast!!! Amazing!! I went from 156.6 to 135.2 for a grand total on 21.4 lbs lost! I feel amazing..I haven’t weighed this since i was a teenager. I agree with Harvel that there were some rough patches but in the end every single minute was worth it! Even sitting at my favorite Italian restraunt watching 12 people eat what I couldn’t have..lol. Keep on keeping on guys..it’s worth it!
Would anyone feel like they could share a reputable source for sublingal HCG pills? I am a flight attendant and need to go that direction over the shots. Sounds like they are working for some of you. Also do the drops need to be refrigerated if not that would work?
Thanks for the help
Deborah
Good Morning, Everyone,
I figured that an update on where my wife and I are and what our progress has been with this diet would be appropriate. First of all, we started the first round (40 doses) on July 1st. We went through the entire process: HCG-VLCD, no HCG-VLCD, Phase 3, “Normal Diet,” and went back on the HCG-VLCD for another 4 weeks (We went solo and had enough HCG left for another week.). For the most part, we stuck pretty closely to the original Dr. Simeons protocol.
The most gratifying thing has been the drop in my wife’s blood sugar numbers. For the last 22 days, that number has been under 120 mg/dl—and it has been under 100 for 8 of those 22 days. I had read that obesity is a major contributor to insulin resistance (Type 2 diabetes), but did not believe it until I actually saw it. Just for comparison, her blood sugar was generally 160 or above with occasional spikes to as high as 210—truly dangerous.
Over the course of the last 120 days or so, my wife has lost a total of 31.3 pounds and I have lost 59.9. (Dang, I was hoping for a nice round 60!) In the early stages, we had difficulty finding the right combination of HCG dose and foods for my wife since we were also trying to control her blood sugar or her weight loss might have been greater. None-the-less, she is now wearing clothes and shoes that she could not even think of wearing when we started this thing. She’s wearing 12’s where she was wearing 16’s. I have seen my waist go from an estimated 49” (just to be kind) to almost 40”. My blood pressure has dropped to nearly normal and my pulse rate is down; and that’s without exercise.
We are on the last day of the VLCD. Tomorrow starts Phase 3. Cream in my coffee again, praise Heaven! Today I’ll go shopping. Avocados, bacon, eggs, cheese, cream… We will finish Phase 3 just a day or so before we leave for Denver to spend the holiday with family. We plan to take a look at the situation after the first of the year and decide whether to go back on the diet or not. We probably will since we both have more we can lose.
As usual, I get diarrhea of the keyboard. I’ll say a couple more things and then stop. What is probably as important as the actual weight loss is that we have learned what and how much to eat. We have selected the South Beach Diet to follow, more or less, for our “normal” diet in the future. Neither of us expects to ever have a weight problem again. And, if we do notice “scale creep,” we know what to do about it. Daily weighing has become a part of our lives.
Finally, I’m not writing all this to brag (OK, maybe a little bit), but to encourage all of you to stick with it. The darned thing works. I’m not going to try to tell you that it was always easy, or that we didn’t hit some rough spots. In the end, it all worked out.
Harvel
I was wondering if anyone has caught a cold while on the HCG injections, and if there is anything that you can take to help with a terrible night time cough, seems like everything has sugar
Joan,
I was on sublingual hcg (but not the homeopathic) so my Dr. sayds it does not have an immunity issue. I was on it for 36 days, took a break of about a week or so, then was on it for another 20 days.
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