After witnessing my wife lose more than 10% of her body weight and literally change the shape of her body in three weeks using HCG, I decided to try the product out myself. My goal was to get rid of the last bit of my love handles and the stubborn bulge around my belly that just wouldn’t go away no matter how much I worked out.

I started taking the HCG drops on Monday, April 11th, 2011. The protocol dictates taking the drops each day while consuming 500 calories per day (of strictly controlled food content) for 21 days. Following the 21 days, the protocol dictates 3 days of 500 calories per day without the drops and then another 21 days at 1,500 calories without the drop. The intent is to burn off excess or “stored” fat and to reset one’s dietary choices and metabolism.

The following is my daily diary:

Day 1: I found that I had a bit of a low grain headache for part of Monday, but other than that, no big deal. When I woke up Tuesday morning, I weighed myself and I was 189.6 pounds, which was a 3.4 pound weight loss. Hmmm. Rather remarkable, but it could have been due to a number of factors. Nonetheless, the loss provided enough encouragement for me to try it another day.

Day 2: It was actually pretty easy for me as I didn’t experience any negative side effects all day. Opening the fridge door was a bit of a challenge as a box of Twinkies kept calling me, but no real problems. I wasn’t hungry except when it had been several hours since I had taken the HCG drops. After taking the drops, the hunger quickly went away. Wednesday morning brought another weigh-in. I dropped another 3.4 pounds as the scale showed my weight was at 186.2 pounds. I weighed myself about four times as I didn’t believe it.

Day 3: Today was a bit more difficult for me. Mary was away most of the day babysitting our new granddaughter Emma and I was alone all day. I have always used food to combat boredom or stress and I didn’t have Mary around to support me, so it was a bit of a struggle, but not much. When I weighed myself Thursday morning, I weighed in at 184.0 pounds, which was another 2.2 pound loss. I couldn’t believe it, 9 pounds in three days, which represented almost 5% of my body weight.

Day 4: Most of the day passed without any difficulty. I ended up going out for dinner Thursday night with Mary and our son and one of his friends. Once everyone started eating, I was OK, but I have to tell you that the few minutes leading up to dinner, knowing everyone would be feasting seafood pasta and other delights was getting on my nerves. The issue of food was clearly psychological as I wasn’t hungry. When I got home, when nobody was around, I ate four small shrimp that were not on the diet. It was my revenge on those horrible people who enjoyed their meal so much while all I could do was take in the exquisite aromas. When I woke up Friday morning, my weight was only down slightly at 183.6 pounds for a loss of 0.4 pounds. That makes a loss of 9.4 pounds in the four days. While the results were still positive, I found it a bit disappointing after the large losses the previous three days. However, losing weight at 3 pounds per day is obviously not going to continue to happen.

Day 5: I didn’t work out today as I was a little concerned about being over heated and feeling light headed during my workout yesterday. Food wise, things went well most of the day but I cheated after dinner. I forgot to take my evening dose of HCG (one of three during the day) and I suddenly found myself starving. A bag of chips and dip jumped into my hands and I killed a few. I felt bad about munching on the chips, but I just couldn’t stop myself as they were so good. I managed to wrestle the the chips and dip out of my hands before the damage became irreparable. The morning weigh in produced a happy result as the scale blinked out 182.2 pounds. That means that day 5 produced another loss of 1.4 pounds for a total of 10.8 pounds for the five day period.

Day 6: Worked out at the gym today (making if 5 out of 6 days so far). At an apple before the gym and drank a strawberry smoothie. I’m not supposed to physically exert myself according to the diet and I’m not supposed the drink a smoothie or anything except the recommended items. My smoothies these days are extremely simple as they consist of fresh strawberries, 30 grams of protein powder, and ionized water. I didn’t experience any hunger pains all day but I did eat a piece of toast and peanut butter (hard to imagine it could taste so good). I took my last shot of HCG about 6 pm because I find that if I take it later in the evening, I’m too jacked and I don’t sleep as well as usual. I had a diet meltdown about 11pm as I had four shrimp and some Tostitos and dip (once again, the taste seemed exquisite after the bland food I have been eating. The reading on the scale Sunday morning dished out the bad news as it read 182.6 pounds, which meant a 0.4 pound increase. That means the six day total is now a loss of 10.4 pounds. It was a bit of a setback, and provided a reminder that the diet is to be followed, not “played with”. The information that comes with the diet is very specific in terms of what and how much you can eat. To be honest, I wasn’t hungry, I was just rebelling against “the bland”.

Day 7: It really surprises me how little I think about “the diet”. Whenever I get hunger cravings, I take the drops and the hunger cravings just disappear. No, really, they just disappear. Please don’t ask me to explain why because I don’t have a clue. I had another weak moment at bedtime where I “junked out” a bit, but my definition of “junking out” has changed dramatically in the past week. I had a few cashews and a handful of chips (I crave the spicy dip all the time). My weight was 182.0 pounds this morning, which was down 0.6 pounds from yesterday and 11.0 pounds in total from when I started exactly one week ago. My wife insisted on taking a bunch of my measurements, which I honestly didn’t care about. Virtually every measurement (chest, waist, butt, arms, and legs) were all reduced by exactly one inch. I haven’t noticed a difference in my “look” at all but I guess something is happening. A couple people at the gym have mentioned that my face looks thinner…not exactly what I was targeting, but at least somebody noticed something.

Day 8: I really messed badly up yesterday in terms of my diet. I wasn’t hungry at all, but I had cravings all day and I had a few little cheats. Mary made a wonderful chicken stir fry for dinner containing a number of veggies and I know for a fact that I ate way more than the diet calls for….oh well!

The one thing that jumps out at me so far is that instead of reaching for chocolate and bread items, I’m satisfied with the meat and veggies that I’m allowed. I have always hated veggies and I have to tell you that they are tasting pretty good these days. For example, I had sliced tomatoes with my chicken for lunch. Now that may not sound like a big thing, but I have never had sliced tomatoes on their own before in my life. I didn’t mind them. One of my goals with this experiment is to see if I can make a permanent shift in my diet going forward. In order to do that, I need to get off the sweats and the starches and so far, it is working.

Now the ugly truth from a day of cheating. The scale read 182.4 pounds this morning, or a gain of 0.4 pounds. I was actually surprised that the gain was so minimal based on how much I deviated from the diet. In fact, I weighted myself earlier at 7am, which is one hour earlier than normal, so if I would have waited another hour, the weight gain would likely have been even less. I have been a “bad boy” three out of the last four days in terms of the diet and my progress has stopped completely. I’m determined not to cheat on Day 9 as I’m not being fair to the program. The funny part about the cheating, is that I’m not hungry. It is more a matter of missing savoury foods.

Day 9: No cheating today. The scale rewarded me as the reading was 180.0 pounds for a loss of 2.2 pounds for the day, making the 9 day total loss of 13 pounds.

I have to admit that this stuff works. First my wife Mary had great results and now me. Despite my belief that strictly adhering to the diet wouldn’t make a difference, it obviously does.

Day 10: I’m not hungry at all these days, but I find that I continue to cheat when it comes to the things I’m allowed to eat. The cheating is not on a large scale at all, but I do keep putting junk food in my mouth. Today, I had a bit of peanut butter and a couple of cashews at least three times during the day. The worst offense was a piece of pizza…not a big slice, but a small square. The diet calls for NO FATS OR SUGARS. I just can’t understand my lack of will power at certain moments in the day.

My day was one of those frustrating days where nothing goes really wrong, but a lot of little things were “off”. I have always used food as a “comfort thing” and perhaps that had something to do with it. I had a moment in the afternoon when I had the peanut butter and the piece of pizza within minutes of each other (strange combo for sure) as opposed to the cheating being spread out. The timing coincided with a phone call that was really annoying.

I was 180.0 pounds again this morning which means that my weight didn’t change at all and my overall weight loss through ten days remained steady at 13 pounds.

I think that the biggest problem when it comet to this diet is that I’m really not that committed to losing anymore weight. My ideal body weight (whatever that is) is 170 pounds. I’m 54, not 24 and I while I like the idea having the same washboard stomach as my son, it is obviously not important enough to me to keep my fingers out of the cashew jar. At 180 pounds, I feel great. The 13 pound weight loss coupled with the 5 pounds I lost by simply eating better before the diet started means I’m down 18 pounds, or almost 10% of my body weight. While many women I know seem to view every little imperfection as a source of frustration, I find the “new” makes me happy. However, I will try to do another “cheat free” day today just to prove to myself once again that sticking to the diet does work as well as all the advertisements claim.

Day 11: I was pretty good today other than eating a wonderful caesar salad for dinner. While some may think the word salad means healthy, it is not necessarily true. The salad contains oil, egg, cheese, dijon mustard, lemon juice, and pepper. The lemon juice and pepper are ok, but the other ingredients are definitely not part of the protocol. While the taste is awesome, they salad represented a setback.

I’m finding that resisting temptation is getting easier as I go. I also find that the “diet” is occupying more of my thoughts as the days seem to be grinding along slowly.

I now take four shot of 0.5ml of the HCG each day, beginning when I first wake up. The scientific community tells us that taking the HCG does nothing other than acting as a placebo. I don’t know about anyone else, but my body tells me the scientific community is wrong. After I take the drops, any hunger issues disappear. In addition, my body tingles inside for hours after each application in a manner similar to the “jacked up” feeling you get after exercising.

Last night, I took my last set of drops at about 10pm and I don’t like it. I had a restless sleep as I could feel the drops “working”. I don’t like to train at the gym in the evenings for the same reason.

I weighed in at 179.0 pounds this morning. That means another 1.0 pound weight drop for a total loss of 14 pounds in 11 days. It has been many years since my weight has been in the one seventies.

People are starting to notice the difference in my appearance as my face definitely looks thinner. I don’t notice the changes in my face, but my waist line seems to be melting away. My pants are all starting to get loose and shirts that were snug are now fitting again. Considering that I had already dropped from 198 to 193 due to eating better while my wife was on the HCG for three weeks, I have to say that I’m pretty happy about all of this.

Day 12: Start of the long weekend and family started showing up. Lots of little cheats but nothing serious. I seem to have no will power because I cheat even though I’m not hungrey. I have lost far more weight than I thought possible so my motivation has been wavering. Weighed in at 178.8 for a loss of 0.2 pounds or 14.2 pounds overall

Day 13: I did well all day and then blew my brains out dietwise in the evening. Too many people around that I love and the food just jumped in my mouth. Weighed 180.2 pounds for a gain of 1.4 pounds, but still down 12.8 pounds

Day 14: Easter Sunday. Disaster all day. Gained 2.8 pounds as I ended up at 183.0 for an overall loss of ten pounds. Nobody to blame but the bunny and an amazing cook.

Day 15: I was good all day but broke down again in the evening while watching a movie with the family. I really suck at this as I just don’t seem to care that much in the evening. If I was more diligent with taking my drops after dinner, I would be having a lot more success. I still lost 1.0 pounds on the day as the scale showed 182.0 pounds. That makes the total loss 11.0 pounds.

Days 16 to 23: I haven’t been reporting because I fell off the wagon on Easter weekend and I was off the plan for the entire week. I wasn’t hungry except when I didn’t take the drops for half a day and that happened a few times. I went back to eating meals that were definitely not on the diet. I suspect that my calorie intake was probably in the 1,500 calorie per day range, which is the intake recommended by the plan during the maintenance period. The final results were:
Final Weight: 179.6 pounds
Total Weight Loss: 13.4 pounds

Summary:

The drops work. In fact, I have to say that I’m stunned at how well they work. I don’t know how the drops supress hunger but they do.

The reports that I have read on the internet from the doctors tell us that the drops offer nothing more than a placebo effect. Based upon my experience, I would have to disagree. While the weight loss may be complelely determined by the “starvation diet”, I think there is more to it. After taking the drops, there is absolutely no question in my mind that the drops cause your system to acclerate. I liken it very much to the adrenaline “pump” that I feel after a good workout,except it lasts all day if you take the drops at the scheduled times.

I didn’t experience hunger at all unless I forgot to take the drops. I found that when I did feel hungry, my appetite was very strong. The funny part is that I would start eating and then stop and spit the food into the garbage can. It would be comical if it didn’t remind me of the terrible eating disorders that some people endure.

I didn’t experience the negative side effects such as headaches and grumpiness that I expected. I was surprised by the lack of side effects even though my wife Mary didn’t have any side effects during her test period.

I have to admit that I was a terrible participant. I hung in there for two weeks without any problems. The return of my kids from college, which brought incredible joy to me, and Easter weekend just blew me off course. I could have easily jumped back into it, but I just didn’t feel compelled to do so. I had lost 13 pounds in two weeks, on top of the 5 pounds I lost before I started the diet, for a total loss of 18 pounds. It was not as if I was that over weight to begin with. I felt great. It seems weird to be saying this, but I looked great, or at least my wife and kids and the people at the gym said so. It is hard for a man, or at least myself to talk about vanity stuff as it just isn’t that important to me.

The biggest win for me with the entire process is that it changed the way that I think about food in terms of accountability. I now have a different and I think much more healthy perspective about putting junk food in my mouth. I’m down over 18 pounds over the last couple of months, and I’m not going back there. I now know how easy it is to be leaner, and it all begins in the kitchen.

I would recommend the drops to anyone that is serious about losing a few pounds. I suspect that 30 and 40 pound losses would be easily achievable for anyone serious about losing weight.