I've been trying to control my weight for DECADES, with limited results. My husband Mark and I tried Phen-Fen in the mid-1990s and countless diets, shakes, etc. over the years together. The last thing was Sensa sprinkles, which I found disgusting (resold the unopened packs on eBay!) But then I came across hHCG last April.
I know it's a bit bizarre by most medical standards, but I got inspired by the stories and began to have HOPE (absolutely vital, IMHO!) that this might work for us. The original protocol involved daily hormone injections but there's a homeopathic spray that's easier and cheaper to use in conjunction with the diet. There's an element of snake oil to this, and even though it's working like gangbusters for us, I still don't quite believe it's due to the spray. But I can't argue with the results, and so we continue - even if it's ALL placebo-effect, it's helping us get a lot healthier.
The plan is basically to fat-load for a couple days, then melt-off excess fat through using the spray twice/day + a 500 calorie/day diet for 6 to 7 weeks - followed by 6 weeks of stabilizing at the new weight. The spray is supposed to make the starving phase bearable - and I'm not sure what it actually DOES, since so much of my overeating is automatic/habit, and still difficult to control. But the weight has melted off from the places it never did before: upper arms, belly, thighs... my waist went from 52" to 40" - Mark's went from 65" to 55". It's advertised as dropping 1 pound per day, but for women it's more like 1/2 pound per day on the average - bearing in mind that most women don't have 100+ pounds to melt off! On the first round, I dropped 39 pounds. On the second, I dropped 25 but regained 5.5 pounds during the maintenance phase (because I cheated a bit!?) Mark's now 80 pounds less since last August, and I'm 90 pounds less than May 2010.
The loading phase consists of your favorite heavy-fat, heavy calorie food with an emphasis on avocados, fatty fish, nuts - and plenty of them! Plus whatever sweets, etc. you think you can handle. The actual melting-phase of the diet consists of very plain, low-to-non-fat food in smallish portions: PROTEIN: chicken breast, white fish, lean beef, cottage cheese, egg whites + 1 yolk, shrimp, lobster - VEGETABLES: spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, celery, onion, asparagus, etc. - FRUIT: apple, strawberries, grapefruit - and grissini (thin breadstick) or melba toast. (My friend Stephanie calls this phase Prison Camp, and sometimes that's exactly what it feels like.) The maintenance diet is pretty much everything EXCEPT starch and sugar. Supposedly following this protocol heals your hypothalamus and resets your appestat, but I don't know about that because it hasn't happened to me yet.
What's most encouraging to me is the change in our blood chemistry. May 2010 I had very high triglicerides and cholesterol problems, and the results of my latest blood work has shown incredible improvement in both areas. Plus I'm feeling better! Mark's blood work is even better than mine, and he hasn't had any problems with any part of the diet, even though he's diabetic. He DID have to cut way back on his hypertension meds, though - and his diabetic meds are down to less than a quarter of what they were (he had to - his blood pressure and glucose levels were getting too low!!!) His doctor was SHOCKED at his last checkup.
The best thing this particular version of HHCG has going for it (bear in mind there are many drops, injections and sprays out there to choose from!) is the website forum where many questions can be answered by folks who have a lot more experience with this product and protocol than I do... I check in every day to get inspiration, post our weights and blog about our experiences.
You can find out more about it through this link: