​Getting Down to Business: What to Expect the First Week

On your third HCG diet drops day, you'll begin the 500-calorie per day restriction. You'll stay on it for a minimum of 21 days or up to 38 for a total of 40 days on the diet drops. Preparation is “key”, and knowing what you can expect during the first week of the restricted-calorie diet can help you prepare for the worst — and the best.

Headaches

You may experience headaches during the first week of the diet. This is likely a withdrawal symptom that sets in as your body detoxifies from the sugar and various chemicals that are so prevalent in our normal diet today. You can take ibuprofen, aspirin, or similar to help with the headache. Meanwhile, drink lots and lots of water to aid the detoxification process.

Hunger

If you didn't gorge properly, you may experience feelings of hunger in the first week or so. This usually peaks around the fifth day, after which feelings of hunger should subside substantially.

Using the Bathroom

You may find that you are using the bathroom every time you turn around the first couple of days. This isn’t unusual as the immediate effects of the low-calorie diet can kick off a cleansing process that releases excess water from ankles and the rest of the body. Continue to stay optimally hydrated to keep your body cleansing. Remember, you are losing weight through your urine.

Heightened Well-being — Or Not

Many participants experience a happy effect: a heightened sense of well-being, possibly bordering on euphoria. As you move forward, you may feel great, and have an increased energy level despite eating significantly less calories. Most people don’t feel hungry, and aren’t even tempted when others are eating foods that are normally highly appealing. Hopefully, these feelings will accompany you throughout the protocol.

If you didn't properly gorge yourself, the effects described above may be delayed. During that first week, you'll probably feel some hunger pangs, and may not feel much of a difference in your sense of well-being. You may even experience a decrease in your energy level. However, this should change after Day 4 or 5 when the HCG will be fully in your system.

Weight Loss

We saved the best for last. The whole point of the protocol is to lose weight, and you'll lose a lot of it if you're following the directions to the letter. During the first week of the low-calorie diet, you may lose as much as 7-14 pounds, but the rate of loss will decrease, so don’t expect that rate to continue as that would not be normal. Average weight loss will slow down to approximately 3 pounds per week. Keep in mind that fluctuations in the rate of weight loss are perfectly normal, especially with women due to water retention and hormonal changes.

Summary

Once the negative effects like headaches subside, you'll continue to feel better and you'll likely fall into an easy routine of eating the allowable foods and taking the HCG drops. Your sense of well-being and accomplishment will continue to build as the pounds disappear. But remember, in order to achieve long-term weight loss success and keeping it off, you will need to correctly complete the minimum 23-day protocol and the subsequent maintenance period. These parts are absolutely crucial and should lead to permanent weight loss and a normalizing of your eating habits. Quit the protocol too soon and you'll gain all the weight back, and possibly more.

Make sure you take before and after pictures and share your success story with us!