My HCG Weight Loss Trial - Atlanta, GA

Hello good people, I'm writing this review of my experience with HCG mainly because no one really has. Several people have mentioned it in their reviews about other procedures they have had done, i.e." Now after much wt loss I'm having a TT" ect. I'm at the magical age where hormones rule the day, hour by hour. The hardest part is probably the weight gain and the seemingly inability to loss weight. So I did a little research and checked with Dr. Oz, of course! So here I am. What appealed to me is that once you reach your goal wt that your body can be tricked into thinking this is "comfy" wt it likes to be at, I've seen several reports that the experts think it somehow resets the hypothalamus . I'm no doctor, and I have no clue what claims can be verified, but as of right now, they don't know how hcg works, they just know it does. Here is the jist of it, HCG is a hormone that your body naturally produces all the time in small amounts. It's present in large amounts while you are pregnant, it's what pregnancy tests detect for positive results. When you are pregnant this hormone burns your fat so that the baby can get it's necessary nutrients, the theory is when you're not pregnant and you have extra of this hormone in you system combined with a vlcd ( very low calorie diet) that it attacks stored fat. Yes this is safe and very effective for men as well, of course as usual they usually have great losses on this regimen. The diet consists of several phases,( I'm on phase 2, vlcd part. ) Phase 1 is the "loading" phase and is only two glorious day, for these two day you take your hcg but eat high calorie fatty foods. I'm exactly sure why this is done , theory is something to do with resetting, I don't know and frankly didn't care. Phase 2 is the calorie diet, 500-800 cal per day depending on which protocol you are following. I'm following the original Dr. Seimions Pounds and Inches protocol which is 500 cal per day, no oil, no fat, no sugar, no fun. There are new protocols out there that probably work just as well still base on the same original principles, Pounds and Inches was written in the 50's and food and makeup products have change drastically since. I mention makeup because we are to wear oil free makeup and oil free lotions. Phase 2 last between 28-41 days depending on your needs. Next is Phase 3 the maintenance phase, where you eat very healthy and well maintain .
So here are my stats, I'm 41.5, I am 5' 4" and the day I started is was 175.5 lbs. Mind you I had a tummy tuck in Jan of this year. I thought I weighed different ( due to a broken scale) So I feel like a liar on my other posts. I called my doctors office and asked what I weighed on there scale the day before surgery, yup 175, so about 4-5 wks after surgery I did lose 8 lbs, but the second I started eating having some wine, so on I was right back to 175. That's when I realized my body thinks this it's comfy wt, like this is what I should always should weigh. That is just to heavy for me, it's uncomfortable and may cause breast growth, I had a reduction last Aug! So all that to be said, I'm going for it! I was inspired by many other testimonies, people who have actually kept off the wt, and from women who are my age and older keeping off the extra pounds. Most can be found on Youtube, and I follow a couple of bloggers who have wonderful information and recipes available. This HCG is like a religion with a cult following, so if you choose this diet you will not be alone. My favorite site right now is HCG Diet Recipes made simple, she's awesome and has info on all the different protocols, great food ideas, and is pretty motivating in general. Okay back to stats, I took my first shot on March 29,2014, I did my two loading days and gained 1 pound. I also get a B12 shot which has Lipoden (fat burner) one time a week. It came with the program I signed up with. By the way folks the average cost per cycle is about $500 and a cycle can be as short as 28 days, so shop around, I got my great deal on Groupon and love my clinician, she's so committed to helping others get healthy.
Age 41.5
Height 5'4"
Arm 13.5
upper Ab 33.0
Waist at BB 34.5
Hip 46.5
Thigh 30.0
Knee 16.5
Calf 16.5BMI 34.2 ( Online calculator )
Okay my disclaimer, After my TT in Jan I have been holding most of my swelling in my hips, butt, and thighs. My thighs were 27.5 day before surgery. I also have very fat knees as you can see and thick calves, I really want to see if hcg will effect my knees as this lovely trait runs in the family, lucky me. It's one of those places that once you gain there it may never come off, it's a genetic stubborn fat area, along with other places on my body lol! So for me the knees will be the true gold standard of fat burning! I will add pictures shortly!

Here are a couple of before pictures. I also have my first after picture. I have seen a difference in the areas I was hoping to lose. A small fat roll under my bra area the fat pocket on the side of my thigh, and even the knees. I haven't been asked if I lost weight by anyone yet, so I think the changes are suttle. My husband on the other hand says I've lost plenty and thinks I'm doing great. I don't have to many pictures from before, here's what I got.

So after 4 wks odd this pretty restrictive diet, remembering to take my daily, and some days my weekly shot, I was ready to be done with this. I was starting to wonder if all this suffering is worth it. Well hell ya it is! I'm so excited about my current stats. I'm going to do 2 more weeks! This is not easy by any means, it takes a LOT of self control. You learn real hunger from mind hunger. You learn to avoid events that trigger mind hunger. Learning to get over cravings is a definite challenge, especially since I'm coming to my monthly friend, and the end of my HCG cycle. I'm kinda looking forward to Phase 3 , and getting to eat a little more variety. The next phase is critical to stabilize my wt. I decided to do my update now because of being so close to my monthly, so my stats can be more accurate. Speaking of which ;
Weight; 160.0 March 29,2014, 174.0
Arm ; 13.0. 13.5
Abs.; 32.5. 34.5
Hip ; 44.5. 46.5
Thigh; 25.0. 30.0
Knee ; 16.0. 16.5
Calf ; 16.1/4 16. 5
BMI ; 27.4. 29.8

So guys that's 14 lbs. and 11 inches!!!!
In about 4 weeks!!!!!!
I'm not going to lie, I'm really, really pleased, but it is in the back of my mind will I be able to keep it off? I know other's have and I'm hoping I'm one of the success stories. I'm now taking a Biotin supplement to help prevent hair loss, it's one of the more common side effects, especially if you had hair loss after pregnancy. It's important to also take a multi-vitamin, you need to get all your essential minerals. I do have a friend who lost to fast and was not taking a vitamin, her potassium dropped and caused her to have heart palpitations. That's NOT good, So listening to your body, and the care of a physician is important. (She admitted not seeing a doctor)

Knee ; 16.0
Calf ; 16.1/4
BMI ; 27.4