Colleen:

Thank you for being concerned about me stabilizing :-) I very much appreciate you words.

This is my take on the situation.

There are many ways that people are successfully doing this protocol. Some stay on injections for up to 43 days and lose huge amounts of weight before they move on to the next phase. Then there are those who stay on it for only 23 days and lose a lot less weight. Some of these people will successfully go through P3 and some will not. How many people on here have followed the protocol to the letter and then not stabilized in P3? Or who may have stabilized in P3 but then have had problems with P4? What about those who have stopped for a few days and then went back onto P2 without loading or going onto P3 or P4? And how many people have done their own variation of the protocol and been totally successful? Maybe anyone reading this who has done it their own way and won, would like to come and start a new thread telling us of their experiences.

This isn't an exact science although we are all very grateful to Dr. Simeons for developing it as far as he did. Since then, many variations of the protocol have been developed by other people who have studied it and understand how hcg works. Kevin Trudeau has his own take on it and Dr. Belluscio has his. All those clinics in the US offering all those variations of the protocol also have their own understanding of how it works. And a lot of them are working well.

Throughout the history of healthcare, things have changed and moved. Once the importance of basic hygiene was understood, things changed dramatically and humankind started to live longer. So-called first world countries developed chemicals that mimicked natural remedies. Some of the natural remedies were copied and patented and Big Pharma was born!

But some of the old ideas remained in the minds of the people and now many of those ideas are making a comeback. Leeches are once again being used in some hospitals to clean decaying flesh and stop gangrene from taking hold. Wise woman remedies are being used by millions of people in the first world - people who are starting to distrust Big Pharma and the financial interests of those who profess to have our interests at heart.

In the 50 years since Dr. Simeons started working on his protocol so much has changed. Food is different, meats are chemically and genetically modified. In the US, cows are injected with hormones and antibiotics and this is one of the causes of ill health in the population. Chemicals from industrial plants are leaking into the water table and filling the water supplies with xenoestrogens. Artificial fertilizers are breaking the soils down and making them useless for crops. Genetically modified seeds are being forced onto the people of third world countries in order to keep multi-national companies such as Monsanto in business.

Things will change and go on changing and the world will continue to go round .

HCG may one day be passed by the FDA as suitable for weight-loss but not until the multi-nationals have managed to develop some sort of patent for it. Either that or they will try and discredit it as they have done with vitamins and supplements. Whatever happens, the hcg protocol will change and develop and some people will still successfully lose weight with it, whilst others will fail miserably. The way that the successful people arrive at their goal will vary for everyone but the basics will remain the same. Some will stick to the diet exactly and not lose well and some will make small variations and lose well.

I have eaten eggs regularly on all my rounds and lost well. I have eaten fresh grilled tuna on the last 2 rounds and lost well. I choose not to eat grissini or melba toast as I'm not at all bothered about not having any bread substitutes. But I do have a couple of extra tablespoons of semi-skimmed milk a day as I can't live without my cups of tea. However, I never drink sodas, I don't use sugar substitutes or oil-free/fat-free/sugar-free products and I never chew gum. So any of these things could affect the outcome of your personal hcg journey.

And that is why I think that some of us will achieve our goals and some of us won't. Perseverance is the key and making the protocol work for you in whatever way you can.

nice post mags, and amen! i think the quality of the food is the biggest factor, in my eyes. that, and the fact that we eat so little "real" food these days.

i find the whole soil topic fascinating. used to work with a doc who also has his doctorate in physics, and is an expert (lectures all around the world) on soil and what has happened to it. not only is it the fertilizer, but the fact that all those fertilizers cause us to get a much higher volume of crops. if a certain plot used to yield 50 bushels of potatoes, that same piece of land might now yield 300. thus the quality of the soil becomes poor, and this translates to lower vitamin/mineral content in the food. another factor is that they no longer "rest" the fields. it's interesting that the bible tells you to rest a field every 7 years. now sciences knows that this is so it has a chance to recover, and allows the soil to regain it's former richness.

Thanks again Mags! I believe I am also going to get keto sticks and the other sticks that measure your protein levels...So if I got a 2 oz. bottle would this be enough for a 23 day round? Would I have some left over?

Margie, the reader who told me about this protocol followed a modified plan and never did the 500 calories. She lost about 15 pounds a month doing it that way.

Not really. She lost a total of 60 pounds but she sure didn't look that overweight to me.
Colleen