A weight loss plateau on the hCG diet is to be expected. This hCG diet plateau may last up to a week or more if you do not take aggressive steps to stop it. Here are the best ways to do so.
What is the HCG Diet Plateau
This is simply the stoppage of your weight loss from one day to the next. This is why it is crucial for you to weight yourself every day. Normal progress is a weight drop of a half a pound to a pound (sometimes more) from one day to the next.
As soon as you discover that you are on a plateau, here are the five best ways that people have found to break through it. Any one of these might do the trick, although you may need to adopt a combination of two or more to get fully back on track.
1) Best Way: The Simeons Apple Day Strategy
In the book, Pounds and Inches, by Dr. Simeons, the apple day was the first recommendation for breaking through a plateau. An apple day is very simple. It requires that you eat nothing but six apples all day and that you drink as little water as you can get away with. Dr. Simeons' explanation for this strategy entailed the movement of sludgy food. His explanation is a challenge to understand physiologically, so just know that it almost always works.
Excess fluids are removed rapidly from an apple day, so you may see your weight the next morning be two or more pounds less than the previous day. That should put you right back on track for your regular daily weight loss again.
2) Get Bowels to Move Better
Constipation and infrequent bowel movements are the main problem leading to an hCG diet plateau. This makes impeccable sense. You must move your bowels at least once per day during the protocol, and two or three times per day would be better.
Increasing the frequency of your bowel movements is relatively easy by just drinking more water. If that doesn't work, though, you can move things along by adding a soluble fiber to a glass of water each morning. The best one is psyllium powder, which is found in Metamucil and similar products. Those kinds of products usually contain too many unnecessary additives to be good for you health, including the worst ones of all, sugar or aspartame. It is better to get pure psyllium powder, which is easily found in health food stores and some supermarkets. Besides, pure psyllium powder costs about half as much as the brand name products that contain additives.
3) Stick Closely to the Original Protocol
Modern variations of the protocol include adding lean ground beef and mixing multiple vegetables at the same meal. The original protocol was more of a sure thing, so eliminate ground beef and have only one vegetable at a time instead of in mixed salads, etc. Also, make sure that your carbohydrate source (e.g., Melba toast) is just the right amount. You can even reduce this amount if need be.
4) Change Up Your Foods
If you are in the habit of eating chicken breast at every meal, or otherwise the same kind of protein source, then substitute a different source for one of your meals. In other words, do not eat use the same kind of meat twice in the same day. This also goes for eating the same type of fruit or the same type of vegetable. Change them up and see how this can move you off of your plateau.
5) Eat Enough!
Reducing calories is almost never a good strategy for losing weight, especially on the hCG diet. If you cut back on your food intake, going below 500 calories, you will slow down your metabolism. When that happens, the rate that your body burns abnormal fat, which is the underlying cause of weight loss on the hCG diet, will slow to a stop. So make sure you eat everything, in the right quantities that the protocol calls for!
What is the HCG Diet Plateau
This is simply the stoppage of your weight loss from one day to the next. This is why it is crucial for you to weight yourself every day. Normal progress is a weight drop of a half a pound to a pound (sometimes more) from one day to the next.
As soon as you discover that you are on a plateau, here are the five best ways that people have found to break through it. Any one of these might do the trick, although you may need to adopt a combination of two or more to get fully back on track.
1) Best Way: The Simeons Apple Day Strategy
In the book, Pounds and Inches, by Dr. Simeons, the apple day was the first recommendation for breaking through a plateau. An apple day is very simple. It requires that you eat nothing but six apples all day and that you drink as little water as you can get away with. Dr. Simeons' explanation for this strategy entailed the movement of sludgy food. His explanation is a challenge to understand physiologically, so just know that it almost always works.
Excess fluids are removed rapidly from an apple day, so you may see your weight the next morning be two or more pounds less than the previous day. That should put you right back on track for your regular daily weight loss again.
2) Get Bowels to Move Better
Constipation and infrequent bowel movements are the main problem leading to an hCG diet plateau. This makes impeccable sense. You must move your bowels at least once per day during the protocol, and two or three times per day would be better.
Increasing the frequency of your bowel movements is relatively easy by just drinking more water. If that doesn't work, though, you can move things along by adding a soluble fiber to a glass of water each morning. The best one is psyllium powder, which is found in Metamucil and similar products. Those kinds of products usually contain too many unnecessary additives to be good for you health, including the worst ones of all, sugar or aspartame. It is better to get pure psyllium powder, which is easily found in health food stores and some supermarkets. Besides, pure psyllium powder costs about half as much as the brand name products that contain additives.
3) Stick Closely to the Original Protocol
Modern variations of the protocol include adding lean ground beef and mixing multiple vegetables at the same meal. The original protocol was more of a sure thing, so eliminate ground beef and have only one vegetable at a time instead of in mixed salads, etc. Also, make sure that your carbohydrate source (e.g., Melba toast) is just the right amount. You can even reduce this amount if need be.
4) Change Up Your Foods
If you are in the habit of eating chicken breast at every meal, or otherwise the same kind of protein source, then substitute a different source for one of your meals. In other words, do not eat use the same kind of meat twice in the same day. This also goes for eating the same type of fruit or the same type of vegetable. Change them up and see how this can move you off of your plateau.
5) Eat Enough!
Reducing calories is almost never a good strategy for losing weight, especially on the hCG diet. If you cut back on your food intake, going below 500 calories, you will slow down your metabolism. When that happens, the rate that your body burns abnormal fat, which is the underlying cause of weight loss on the hCG diet, will slow to a stop. So make sure you eat everything, in the right quantities that the protocol calls for!
About the Author:
Looking the real science behind the hCG diet? Visit Dr. Dennis Clark's blog at BestHCGWeightLoss.com. Find out about Dr. Clark's best advice on where to order hCG.
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