If you’re struggling to lose stubborn weight and are seeking effective lifestyle changes that’ll help, you may want to try the HCG diet. You’ve likely heard of it in recent years, but it’s actually been around for decades.

The HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) diet activates rapid weight loss—up to a pound a day—with the aid of a pregnancy hormone. Combining a low-calorie diet with hormone injections, the HCG diet has taken the internet—and diet industry—by storm. Read on to learn everything you need to know about the HCG diet.

How it Works

The goal of the HCG diet is to reset the metabolism by limiting daily caloric intake and cutting out certain foods from your diet. This process lasts for 23-40 days while concurrently taking HCG hormone. The hormone is taken from either an injection or an oral supplement. The injection must be given by a healthcare provider, and the over-the-counter hormones come in the form of pallets, sprays or drops.

What You Eat (and don’t eat)

You’ll eat two meals daily, lunch and dinner. Included in each meal is one item from each of the major food categories: a protein, a veggie, a fruit and a breadstick if you are not gluten free. Let’s go over what each items looks like on the plate:

Protein: Protein consists of any animal protein that doesn’t have visible fat. You will want to stick to lean beef, chicken, white fish and some shellfish. Proteins high in fat such as salmon and tuna are excluded from the diet as well as turkey, bison and lamb. You will limit your protein to 3.5 oz per meal.

Veggies: The vegetable choices are a little more broad and can include one serving of spinach, chard, chicory, beet greens, green salad, tomatoes, celery, fennel, onions, red radishes, cucumbers, asparagus, and cabbage. You will limit your veggies to 3.5 oz per meal.

Fruit: Fruit options are limited to two per day and include a apple or orange, 1/2 a grapefruit or a handful of strawberries.

Breadstick: This part of the diet is not required, but you are allowed a breadstick/grissini a day. If you are gluten free you will omit these calories and add in a few more veggies.

Beverages: You can drink as much water, coffee and tea as you fancy, however nix the added cream and sugar as you’re only allowed 1 tbsp of milk a day. If you’ve gotta have sugar in your coffee or tea, you can use a sugar substitute such as stevia.

Exclusions: Butter and oil. You’ll be mainly steaming, boiling and broiling on the HCG diet, so cooking fats are not allowed as well as any carbs or sugar. You have to be mindful of oils on your skin and cosmetics as well as this can be absorbed into the body and throw off the HCG.

The Phases

Phase 1: This is the pre-diet phase where you’ll do all of your preparation for the diet. It’s a vital part of the diet and it works most effectively when using a detox method. Following the 28 meal plan in Wandering Palate will set you up for success for phase 2.

Phase 2: For the first part of phase 2 you’ll eat a high-fat diet and use injections daily. The first 3 days are called your loading days and on the 4th day you will begin the 500 calorie diet. The loading days are important because it helps the HCG know where to go after your abnormal fat reserves.

Phase 3: During phase 3 you are essentially focusing on maintaining your weight. This period last for 3 weeks and you are focusing on resetting the hypothalamus to maintain your target weight longterm. During this phase you’ll eat the right amount of calories based on your last day weight, height and age. You are working toward stabilization and then you will slowly reintroduce new items into your diet to allow your body to respond naturally. After the stabilization phase you’ll go back to phase 2 or move on to phase 4, depending on if you are getting injections. Ultimately, you do not move on to phase 4 until you reach your goal weight. During phase 3 you need to make sure to stay within 2 pounds of your last day weight, and if you go over, you will need to do a correction day to reset back to your last day weight.

Phase 4: Once you’ve achieved your goal weight, you’re ready to move on to phase 4. Phase 4 is your longterm phase, where you’re at your desired weight and want to maintain it healthily. Once the body is correctly stabilized, staying in phase 4 is pretty easy to maintain. You can even reintroduce some sugars and starches—but ultimately you want to monitor what you eat to avoid gains. This is a good time to go back to eating Wandering Palate to stay healthy.

Challenges and Dietary Restrictions

While it might be initially difficult to adjust to the lower calorie intake, with any lifestyle changes there is an adjustment period. Truth is, you’re only putting nutritiously dense food in your body which sustains longer and in turn helps you feel less hungry throughout the day. Your body is also using its fat stores for fuel with the HCG so in reality, you are getting about 2,500 calories per day. After the first week you do not feel any hunger and should actually feel pretty full of energy.

The HCG diet can be more challenging for those with dietary restrictions or who eat a vegan or vegetarian diet as the protein is what helps keep you full. That said, there are still options for dietary restrictions, it just takes a little more prep and adjustments.

Final Thoughts

The HCG diet is a great way to lose stubborn weight, and it’s actually easy to maintain because you’re essentially resetting your hypothalamus to a new target weight. The focus isn’t so much on losing weight fast, but making lifestyle changes that stabilize your body at its healthiest weight. While some worry they might gain the weight back, you’ve actually reset your hypothalamus to maintain your target weight longterm. This wouldn’t be possible without the 3-week stabilization phase, which truly does make a huge difference on longterm weight management.

There you have it! Personally, the HCG diet worked tremendously in helping me lose some stubborn hormonal weight after stem cell therapy. I struggled for 2.5 years and tried everything and nothing worked. It was really about resetting my hormones, hypothalamus and metabolism. Overall it was a positive experience and great way to stabilize my body so that I can maintain my new weight. Stay tuned for more info on my rounds and experience.

I hope this information helped to answer all your questions about the HCG diet!

Ready To Lose Weight?

Weightloss is a very complicated animal. It is so much more than calories and exercise. If you are needing some support in your weight loss journey, I can help with my Conquer Weight Loss Coaching Program. We will go over labs to have your doctor run, ideal diets and foods for your body, and I can guide you through the HCG Diet if you choose to try that modality.

Weight Loss Coaching Program

Where Do You Get HCG?

There is unfortunately a lot of fake HCG out there so you want to work with a qualified doctor to get a real source. Diet Docs is awesome and a partner of mine in this journey. I have used their HCG and what is great is that you will meet with a doctor to write you the prescription, they will compound it and ship it right to your door!

Buy Real HCG