HCG #2: Week Four

Our 4th week on this cycle of hCG has shown promise!  Jacob, of course, continues to chug along like a weight loss machine.  Sarah seems to have finally broken through her plateau.  And I'm hopeful that I may be at the end of my plateau, but we'll see...

In 28 days Jacob has lost exactly 29 lbs.  Not bad, my son!  We still have 2 weeks left on this cycle of hCG, so it looks like he'll reach his goal to lose at least 30 lbs!

Sarah's week started out unhappily.  She did the "apple day" and she actually gained weight!  We were stumped.  We'd tried everything we could think of.  I finally told her to try taking a diuretic one night, just to see if she was retaining water.  I don't recommend this since Dr. Simeons is against using diuretics as a diet aid, but we were desperate. 

It worked.  The next morning, Sarah had shed 3.2 lbs!  I told her not to be upset if the weight returned, that at least now we knew water retention was part of the problem, but the next morning she had lost another 2.0 lbs, this time without the diuretic!  Yesterday her weight remained the same, but today she was down another 0.8, for a loss of 6 lbs this week.  That makes her total loss now 45.0 lbs!

My week was also very frustrating.  I did maintain my 1.8 lb loss from last weekend's "apple day," but all week I lost only 0.8 more.  I planned to do another "apple day' yesterday, but then I changed my mind since I wanted to try a new chicken salad recipe I dreamed up (see below).  I figured I'd have the "apple day" today instead. 

Now I'm glad I didn't do the "apple day" yesterday.  This morning I found I'd lost another 1.8 lbs.  If I'd done the "apple day," I'd have attributed the loss to it, but now I know it was an actual loss.  I didn't do anything different yesterday, other than skipping one of my two servings of Melba toast (weekend days are shorter, due to being able to sleep in, so I don't need as many meals or snacks).  I spent about 6 hours on the computer, scanning in old photos and organizing them into my desktop files, so I certainly didn't get any more exercise than usual.  So it was my first real loss larger than a pound in more than 2 weeks!

Therefore, I'm not going to do any "apple days" this week.  I'm hoping that this loss signals the end of my plateau, too, and the regular losses, even just half a pound a day, will kick back in soon.

My net loss for this week was 2.6 lbs.  If you recall, I stated last week that anything less than a 3-lb loss in a week was unacceptable to me.  I still feel that way!  However, if I'm on the verge of returning to a pattern of regular weight loss, I'm willing to wait it out and hope for the best.

Meanwhile, my total weight loss is now 57.7 lbs.  Not too shabby!

I should also mention that, despite the slowness of our weight loss over the past 2 weeks, the number of compliments Sarah and I are receiving is multiplying at an amazing rate.  The pounds aren't exactly falling off, but apparently the inches are.  Suddenly everyone is noticing that we've lost a lot of weight.  Even my chiropractor expressed astonishment at how much thinner I am when I saw him on Wednesday.  I visit him every two weeks, so he has been aware of my diet since November and watched my progress, but he insists that even though I've only lost a few pounds lately, all of a sudden there is an obvious difference in my size.  (It makes my joints and muscles easier to manipulate, he says.)

Thank you to all of you who have said how great we look.  It kept us hanging in there through the tough times!

One last odd note: Of all the potential side effects of taking a pregnancy hormone (most of which are positive effects, I might add), I am experiencing the strangest one of all.  The hCG is changing my hair color!  Before I became pregnant at age 34 with my oldest, Sarah, my hair was still a bright yellow-white blonde.  During the pregnancy I noticed my hair turned to a richer gold.  Two years later, when Jacob was on the way, it became a darker gold.  By the time I had Dylan when I was 42, my hair was a much darker blonde.

Then, during the first cycle of hCG, several people commented that my hair was darker.  I didn't think much of it until I told Wyndie about the remarks, and she said it was probably the hormone.  I guess she was right, because it has already happened again during this cycle.  I think about a dozen people (including a couple of men I work with) have recently told me they love my new hair color--one colleague even gave it a name: champagne blonde!  They are shocked when I tell them I do not now nor have I ever colored my hair.  It must be the hCG!

Here are a couple of new recipes we have added to the menu:

We enjoy London broil steak quite often, but the asparagus soup recipe was developed by Wyndie.  It's quite tasty.

1 can or 1 bunch of asparagus,

            boiled and pureed

1 can chicken broth

1-2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp onion salt

Dash of allspice

One day I was thinking that chicken salad sounded really good, but how could we make it without some type of fat?

So I diced 3 small tomatoes and 300 grams of cooked chicken breast (that's 3 servings, enough for Sarah, Jacob, and me to share), mixed them up with garlic, pepper, onion salt, and paprika, then put it all in the fridge overnight to marinate.  It was yummy.

Next time I plan to try it with some dill (I was out of dill this weekend) and a few spritzes of red wine vinegar.

And here's a peek into my freezer.  I spent several hours this week cutting up steaks and chicken breasts; portioning out ground beef, chicken, and turkey; and counting out shrimp (7-8 medium make 100 grams).  Now my freezer is packed with little snack-sized bags of protein, enough to get us through to the the end of our diet in about 2 weeks.

The freezer was so stuffed that the little bags would fall out every time we opened it.  I solved that problem by packing 6 little packages per 1-quart freezer bag.  The freezer is still loaded, but the bags no longer fall out!

I also recommend labeling your packages.  Once they freeze, it's surprisingly hard to tell ground beef from steak or ground chicken from chicken breasts!

Wyndie's Report

Today was Wyndie's final day on the 26-day version of the hCG diet.  Tomorrow she gets to return to regular food (lucky lady!), albeit without starches or sugars for her first 3 weeks of maintenance.  Remember that for the next 6 weeks she's supposed to neither gain nor lose more than 2 lbs while her hypothalamus resets itself to her new weight.

Wyndie has kindly written up her experience to share with those who would like another perspective on the results of this diet, especially those who, like her, have little weight to lose and are considering the shorter 23-day hCG cycle.  To see her story in her own words, read on...

My hCG Experience – Part One

       ...by Wyndie

Many people wondered why I chose to go on the hCG diet. After all, I certainly didn’t have a great deal of weight to lose, just the typical five pounds we all seem to battle. After watching Mary go through her first cycle and reading more about the diet, my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to try it for the following reasons:

 

 My endocrine system: Recently, I had begun to experience more and more symptoms of the thyroid problems that run in my family. Some afternoons, I would be unable to get off the couch because I was too exhausted to function, and these afternoons had become more frequent in the last year. In addition, type II diabetes is very prevalent in my family’s medical history. Both of these disorders have to do with the endocrine system being out of whack. I was also very interested in the concept of “resetting” my metabolism. I know some of the diets I’ve done over the years have been unhealthy, and I figured it couldn’t hurt to try this diet and see if it helped balance my system.

 My food issues: I have become a rather compulsive eater. I just like to put things in my mouth, chew them up, and swallow them, especially if they are loaded with the sugars and fats that are so bad for me. For some reason, I rarely feel full, and if I do, the feeling is short-lived. I do try to eat a healthy diet, but my efforts are often undermined by attacks of the munchies. Since the hCG diet purports to redefine your relationship with food, it was my hope that I would see a decrease in my appetite and cravings as well as come to understand why I eat so much, so often.

 My body proportions: While I am not overweight, I have never been overly fond of my hips. I have a weird “square” shape on the bottom because my hips immediately broaden out at the top. This has always caused me grief when it comes to getting pants to fit me. They usually ride up to fit the wider part on top of my hips, cutting me through the crotch. I am a regular exerciser, but no other diet or exercise regimen (and I’ve done a few!) has ever taken care of this particular problem. Other areas where I tend to hold fat are my upper arms and the lower part of my back. I wanted to see if the hCG diet would succeed in reducing these areas specifically and reshaping my figure.

I had some big concerns about this diet as well. I certainly didn’t want to lose too much weight; I feared that I’d end up looking older if I did, especially if I lost a lot in my face. I also didn’t know if it would really be possible for me to subsist on a mere 500 calories a day. Would I have enough energy to get through the day? Would I have low blood sugar issues? Would I lose muscle tone? Would I regain any weight I lost once my calorie intake increased? Upon completing the first 26-day phase of the diet today, I have a few preliminary findings to report, though some questions and concerns remain.

When I began the hCG diet, my starting weight was 131.4 lbs. I’m 5’4”, so this is considered a reasonable weight for my height and frame. I did the “gorge” days as instructed, gaining 3.6 lbs. and bringing my weight up to 135.0 lbs. I really enjoyed eating whatever I wanted, I must say!

When I started eating the 500 calories a day, I did experience some hunger the first day, but nothing I couldn’t handle. After that, my hunger pangs were few and far between. I felt “off” for about the first three days, a little tired and foggy. I’ve experienced this on the first days of some other diets, so I was expecting it. However, I had no noticeable drops in blood sugar or any drastic reactions. I had caffeine-free herbal tea and one fruit for breakfast each day, and then spread the rest of the allowed menu over the day, relying on my stomach to tell me when to eat. I did occasionally put a finger full of something off limits in my mouth, but overall, I did well sticking to the diet. I still craved chocolate, cheese, eggs, and milk and am looking forward to having them back in my diet tomorrow. I did have one really off day about a week and a half before the end of the cycle. I ate three store-bought sugar cookies that day! I don’t even really like them, but I was just starving. I still have not figured out what that day was all about, but it did set me back in my weight loss by about 1.6 lbs.

During this first phase of the diet, I lost a total of 10.2 lbs. from my gorge weight, or 6.6 lbs. from my starting weight, finishing at 124.8 lbs. It was just the perfect amount of weight to lose, as far as I was concerned. I am very pleased with this aspect of the diet.

As for my “extra-cushy” spots, I have to say I am certainly impressed by the results. The puffy patches at the top of my hips are gone and so are the flabby folds on my back. My upper arms are not as proportional as I’d like, but there was definite improvement there as well. I wish I had thought to measure these areas specifically before beginning, but I didn’t. I know on average, I lost about an inch everywhere, but I suspect these spots lost more. The diet really delivered on that promise! As for looking older, I didn’t notice any real difference in my face, though when I asked her, Mary said my cheekbones are a little more prominent. Ü

At the present time, I have no way to tell whether or not my endocrine system is functioning more efficiently. I plan to go see my physician for a regular check up, and I will have more information after that. I can report that I was not tired or run-down while taking the hCG drops and eating 500 calories a day. In fact, though I had planned not to exercise during the first phase, I did do some exercising for the last two and a half weeks of the diet with no ill effects. My muscle tone and endurance seem to be unaffected as well.

Additionally, I’m not sure yet about my cravings and appetite. I do experience feelings of fullness now that I didn’t have before. However, I still crave certain foods, and I’m nervous about my appetite soaring once I begin the next phase of the diet. I don’t think I will have too much of a problem avoiding sugars and starches for the next three weeks, since what I mostly crave are fatty items. But I am very concerned about piling weight back on after being so restricted the last few weeks. I’ll keep you posted. Ü ~ Wyndie

HCG #2: Week Three

We made it through week 3 of our second cycle of the hCG diet, which means we are halfway through the 40 days.  But that patience I've been trying to develop is already wearing very, very thin.

Jacob has left Sarah and I in the dust. 

Yesterday, after only 21 days on the diet, he had lost 25.2 lbs.  Amazing!


If Jacob loses just 8 more lbs, he will have reached the maximum amount of weight Dr. Simeons allowed patients to lose during one cycle of hCG, which is 34 lbs.  He should be able to do that easily over the final 3 weeks.  Then he will be mighty close to his goal weight.

For Sarah and I, though, this cycle and especially this week have been rather disappointing compared to our first round. 

Sarah lost only half of a pound all week.  That is so discouraging for her.  And yet I can see her becoming smaller around the middle, so it may be that the microbiologist I mentioned last week was right about a plateau being the time when the body loses inches.  She has a total loss of 40.4 lbs, so she is still doing well!

As for me, when I weighed myself on Saturday, I looked back to my weight on the previous Saturday and saw that I'd only lost 1.2 lbs over the 7 days between.  It made me mad!  I'm sorry, but on this diet I feel that anything less than 3 lbs per week is unacceptable.

So I decided to have an "apple day," which I described in last week's post.  It's Dr. Simeons's answer to breaking a plateau for us impatient folks.

I wasn't thrilled to do it, since I'm not a big apple eater (now, if it were a "strawberry day" or a "banana day" or a "kiwi day," that would be different!).  Still, I was desperate enough to give it a go, plus I thought it might be helpful to see if it really works and post the results on this blog for others who might wish to try it.

So I chose my 6 apples, fasted all Saturday morning, and ate my first apple at 12:30 (lunch time).  I ate another at 5:15, one at 7:30, and one at 11:00 pm, while I was on the computer.  By that time I was all appled out and called it quits.  I could have eaten the 5th and 6th apples on Sunday morning, but it didn't sound at all appetizing to me.  In the end, I only ate 4 of the 6 allowed apples.

Lo and behold, on Sunday morning I had lost 1.8 lbs!  That brought my total for the week to exactly 3 lbs, which I can live with.  Barely! 

I returned to the 500-calorie diet at noon on Sunday, eating lunch right before we left for church.  I was a little nervous that my weight might bounce back up this morning, but I actually retained the loss even though I weighed myself 3 hours earlier today than I did on Sunday.

That makes my weight loss in 3 weeks 17.8 lbs, for a grand total of 55 lbs gone.  That does make me feel pretty good! 

And, in spite of losing only 1.2 lbs during all of last week, I will say that I received more compliments in that one week than I have during all the rest of the weeks since I started the diet on November 1st.  Again, maybe it was time for me to lose some inches despite the plateau.  (I've lost 10.5 inches off my waist so far.) 

Sarah is doing the "apple day" today.  I hope it does the trick, kick-starting her weight loss off this plateau she's on.  We moms love to see our children succeed!

Here are a few new hCG recipes we've dreamed up these past couple of weeks:

Above, chili con carne.  We browned the ground beef, added 2 cups of chopped onion, and seasoned it heavily with garlic, chili, cumin, and parsley.  Then we simmered it in a little water until the water cooked away.  Delicious!

This one looks a little weird, but it was also yummy.  Jacob diced up chicken breast and added asparagus and seasonings.  Sarah doesn't like asparagus, so this one was just for Jacob and me.

I think this version of a strawberry smoothie has become a family favorite which will continue long after the diet is done.  We've only made it once in each cycle, so it's definitely a splurge, but we love it.

Simply fill the blender with fresh or frozen strawberries (we've used both) and fill it up halfway with a sugar-free strawberry-flavored drink, something like Crystal Light.  Then blend it until it's smooth or just a little chunky.  Mmmmmm!

If you use frozen strawberries, let them thaw a bit so they aren't rock-hard before blending them.

And here we have the finished product, ready to enjoy.  We got a little brain-freeze when we used the frozen strawberries, but boy, was it good!

Tonight Jacob is going to grill us some tiny steaks and make a nice asparagus soup on the side.  Wyndie came up with the recipe and says it is very tasty.  I'll share photos and recipe next week.

Wyndie has completed her 23 days of hCG drops and has just 2 more days on the 500-calorie diet before she begins the 6 weeks of maintenance.  She promised to write up her experience and results, which I'll share here soon.  Stay tuned!

HCG #2: Week Two

Our second week on our second round of the hCG diet has produced mixed results, but some success overall. 

Jacob is the clear winner.  He has lost 19.8 lbs in 15 days!  I put it down to the these contributing factors: this is his first hCG cycle, he is male, he is 18 years old, he has a healthy metabolism, and I'm so jealous!  Oh, sorry, I guess that last one wasn't a contributing factor... 

Sarah had some starts and stops earlier this week, but in 15 days she has lost 14.8 lbs, for a total loss of exactly 40 lbs as of this morning.  So today is a big milestone for Sarah!

It's been frustrating for me.  My goal was to lose at least 6-7 lbs more this week, but I only lost 5.4  for a 15-day total of 14.8 lbs (the same as Sarah).  That makes my total loss 52 lbs, which is nothing to sneeze at, I know, so I'm trying to focus on that success.

Here's how it went down:  At the beginning of the week I was losing much more slowly than usual.  There were a couple of 1-pound losses, but also a tiny 0.6 and 0.2.  On the last cycle, I didn't see such small losses until the final 2 weeks.  At least my weight was moving downward each day, but I didn't feel it was coming off fast enough.

I haven't cheated at all, not so much as licking my fingers!  The only thing that seemed different this time was that I wasn't hungry since I'd raised my three-times-a-day dose of hCG from .35 to .40cc.  Maybe it was releasing too much fat into my system, I reasoned.  Maybe the weight would come off faster if I went back to the .35cc.  Maybe my body wanted to be hungry!  Okay, maybe not, but I would rather be hungry if it would speed up the weight loss.

I reduced my hCG drops on Thursday morning.  By Thursday afternoon my stomach was growling, and it has pretty much remained like that ever since.  However, on Friday morning I'd dropped 1.4 lbs and on Saturday I'd dropped 1.4 more!  Almost 3 lbs in 2 days--now, that's more like it!  I thought I'd discovered my solution.

But then yesterday and today the scale hasn't budged, not so much as one ounce.  Back to frustration, square one.  And so, again, I am reminding myself not to compare this cycle to my first cycle of hCG (by day 15 last time I'd lost 18.2 lbs...Shoot!  There, you see, I did it again!).  And I am trying to focus on the 52 lbs that are gone and never coming back!

I found this picture online of a 5-lb chunk of fat.  Think about it.  I've lost a total of 10 of those!  That's like losing a whole child!  And in just the past 2 weeks I dropped 3 of those blobs, so I will try to be more optimistic and patient.  Okay, Mary, be patient...be patient...be patient...

Now it's Lesson Time for those of you sharing this experience: 

First of all, this week seems to prove that slightly increasing your dose of hCG can take away the hunger, if that proves to be a problem for you as it was for me.  I'm going to raise mine back to .40cc and learn to appreciate the small losses among the larger ones while not being hungry.

Second, my friend A'Lece learned something while she was doing the hCG diet last year.  She went for a whole week without losing any poundage, but her microbiologist friend (who has worked with hCG) told her that it's when the weight loss pauses that more inches tend to come off.  When she measured herself at the end of the week, she had indeed lost a large number of inches.

Finally, Dr. Simeons himself had something to say about plateaus.  Here's an excerpt from his book, Pounds and Inches:

"The third type of interruption in the regular loss of weight may last...ten days to two weeks.  Fortunately, it is rare and only occurs in very advanced cases, and then hardly ever during the first course of treatment.  It is only seen in those patients who during some period of their lives have maintained a certain fixed degree of obesity for ten years or more and have then at some time rapidly increased beyond that weight."

I hope this is just a 2-day thing that will resolve itself this week.  I hope I'm not an "advanced case"!  However, I am definitely in the weight range where I hovered for a couple of years in my mid-twenties.  At that time I lost 47 lbs after I discovered I had hypoglycemia and changed my diet, but by the time I married and delivered Sarah at age 35, my weight had crept back up to that range, and there it stayed until I was expecting Dylan at age 42.  During that pregnancy I had many medical issues and gained weight rapidly.  It wasn't until my doctor introduced me to Dr. Atkins's book more than 2 years later that I was able to lose it all and then some... for the first time, anyway... 

So, yes, I did maintain that "certain fixed degree of obesity" in my current weight range for almost 10 years, followed by rapid weight gain.  Nonetheless, Dr. Simeons assures his readers that this type of plateau never lasts more than 2 weeks.

Repeat after me: patience, patience, patience...

Regarding other plateaus, Dr. Simeons states that a plateau of 4-6 days is perfectly normal, especially in the second half of the cycle, and will always correct itself.  For those who are impatient, he does propose a solution called an "apple day," although he says it is purely a psychological fix since it really only creates water loss and the plateau will end itself without help.  He also says this method is useless unless the plateau has lasted at least 4 days.  Still, here it is:

Only water is allowed until lunch time.  From that point on, you may eat up to 6 large apples any time you like, until just prior to lunch the following day.  Once you begin eating the apples (and nothing else for that 24-hour period), you should only drink enough water to quench your thirst, not enough to feel full.  If you can't eat all 6 apples, that's fine.  And that's it.  The next day at lunch you resume the 500-calories-per-day diet.

I think that middle apple looks like an old boyfriend of mine!

The Short Form:  My friend Wyndie is continuing on her 26-day hCG cycle and doing well.  She lost more weight than she expected during the first week, which made her a little nervous since she does not want to lose more than 15 lbs.  However, the weight loss has slowed to an acceptable level and all is going well.  I'll give a full report when she completes the diet sometime next week.

And so I leave you now with this thought: Remember, patience is a virtue worth waiting for!

HCG #2: Week One

There have been many mornings when I expected to see this message on my bathroom scales!  But no more!

Our first week on our second cycle of the hCG diet has gone well.  Better yet, I find I am less hungry this time around!  This may be because I upped my hCG dose from .35 to .40 cc 3x daily, but I think it also helps that I knew what to expect this time.

As anticipated, Sarah, Jacob, and I lost the weight we gained during our 2-day "gorge" within 3 days.

Jacob had gained 2.8 lbs; he lost 2.8 lbs the first day.  I had gained 4.6 lbs; I lost 5.0 lbs in 2 days.  Sarah had gained 7.0 lbs; she lost 7.0 lbs in 3 days. 

And we have all continued our downward trend.  In 7 days Jacob has lost 13.2 lbs (must be nice to be a male teenager with a healthy metabolism!).  In that same 7 days, Sarah has lost 10.8 lbs, for a total loss of 36.0 lbs since November 1st, and I have lost 9.4 lbs for a total loss of 46.7 lbs.   

During my first cycle on hCG I lost 11.8 lbs in the first week.  I fully expected to lose slightly less weight during this second cycle, and I even told myself I'd be happy if I lost at least 9 lbs this first week.  I lost 9.4 and I am happy, yet I find I can't help comparing the results with last time and feeling mildly disappointed.  That's something I'll have to overcome during the next 5 weeks.

Part of the problem may be that, between gaining back 4 lbs during maintenance (the full amount allowed) plus the 4.6 lbs from the gorge, I really only have a net loss of 0.8 lbs for this week.  That means that after a whole week, I'm only eight-tenths of a pound lighter than I was at the end of the first hCG cycle back on December 20-21.

Still, everything from here on out is fresh, pure weight loss, with numbers on the scale that I haven't seen in several years.  I know I will find great pleasure in that.  No more disappointment!

The kids and I have been joined this time by my friend Wyndie.  That makes it more fun, since she and I work together (at school, Wyndie is my aide, and in church she is the Primary president while I'm the secretary).  Now we can compare notes everyday.

Wyndie has less than 15 lbs to lose, so she is doing the 23-day cycle of hCG.  Her main purpose in trying out the diet is to see if Dr. Simeons's claims that hCG can reset the entire metabolic system are correct.  Her family background includes thyroid disease, and recently she has had symptoms that may indicate she's moving in that direction.  Hopefully this diet can nip it in the bud.

Since I know of several other people who intend to do the shorter 23-day cycle, here is some information from Dr. Simeons's book:

1)  The doctor notes that the hCG should be used for a full 23 days, no less.  His experience shows that any shorter use of the hormone nearly always ends in regaining all the weight.  23 days are required to make the weight loss permanent.

2)  If the necessary amount of weight is lost more than a few days before the end of the 23 days, weight loss will stop and the dieter may begin to lose the appetite-suppressing effect of the hCG, leading to hunger.  If this occurs, do not stop the hormones or the diet!  Instead, increase the daily amount of food eaten to about 800 calories and continue to the last day.  (If hunger continues and weight is stable, it may be increased to as much as 1,000 calories per day.)

3)  Like the full 40-day hCG cycle, the 23-day cycle of the hormone must be followed by 3 extra days of the restricted-calorie diet, to give the hormone time to circulate out of the body (or weight gain will recur).  Thus it is actually a 26-day diet, with the first 23 days using the hCG.

4)  Also like the full 40-day cycle, the 23-day cycle must be followed by 6 weeks of maintenance.  This resets the hypothalamus so the body accepts the new weight as permanent.  During the first 3 weeks: no sugars or starches.  During the second 3 weeks, starches and sugars can be gradually added back into the diet. 

5)  You must weigh yourself everyday to see that you neither gain nor lose more than 2 lbs during the entire 6 weeks of maintenance.  If you gain more than 2 lbs above your weight on your last day of the hCG hormone, you must quickly take it off again by having a "steak day" that same day.  Drink lots of water but eat nothing at all until dinner time.  Then you eat a "huge" steak with either an apple or a raw tomato.  That's it.  The next morning you will find you lost all you gained, and usually more.  I know, because I had to do 5 steak days during my 6 weeks of maintenance.  It worked!

6)  Oh yes, and don't forget that--again--like the 40-day cycle, the shorter cycle also begins with the 2-day gorge of fatty, sugary foods.  You start the hCG drops (or injections, if you prefer) on day one.  On days one and two you "gorge."  On day three of the hCG, you begin the 500-calorie-per-day diet.

Here's a note for any vegetarians who might be interested in this diet.  Dr. Simeons does have a plan for you (see his book, Pounds and Inches, for details).  However, he states that the modified diet for strict vegetarians is very restrictive with fewer rewards.  His clients on the vegetarian diet lost at only about half the rate of his other patients.

Is it worth it?  Each individual must decide for himself/herself.  All I can say with any authority is that this is a diet that works!