Must vent!

**crl8474** · June 14th, 2021, 06:55 AM

A little history…I’m a guy and have done HCG 3 times before. The first 2 times I had great success (25-30lbs losses on a 23 day protocol) but would gradually get back into old eating habits and gain the weight back. My last round was cut short as I lost the initial water weight then stalled for two weeks, after which I stopped early and moved to Phase 3 out of frustration. I am also capable of losing weight via exercise and slight adjustments to my diet and did so last summer getting down to where my body seems to settle which is in the 179-182 range although I’ve been as low as 169 and stayed in the mid-170’s for quite a while after my first HCG round. I had done really well during COVID until the last 3-4 months when I fell off the deep end and started eating anything and everything including sweets, which I have never eaten much of in the past. As a result, my weight increased to 197 quickly and I felt miserable.

My wife and I decided to do another round together as she was looking to drop a very modest amount of weight that she was having issues losing via the traditional methods but this is more of a vanity/maintenance/detox round for her. After my 2 load days I was up to 204, quickly dropped to 187.6 in the first 6 days and have now been stalled there for 7 days. Over the first 5-6 days I was ravaged with hunger so I decreased my dose and now feel much better between meals only getting that truly hungry feeling at mealtime. Clearly I was seriously inflamed at the beginning thus the major water weight loss in the first week. I have been sticking to the protocol, drinking plenty of water but no weight movement in 7 days - this is exactly what happened during my last round when I decided to bail early due to no losses over a 2 week period.

My diet is protocol boring consisting of chicken or lean beef, lettuce, spinach or cucumber for lunch/dinner and an apple mid-afternoon and a few strawberries after dinner. I will use the juice of a lemon as a “dressing” for my lettuce “salad” and season my food with salt, pepper or a Cajun seasoning on chicken which contains no sugar or other disallowed ingredients (I guess the cayenne in the seasoning could be detrimental since it categorized as a nightshade and isn’t technically on the protocol, although I’ve used this in the past with no issues). As for water, I drink quite a bit so I know water intake isn’t the issue. Only other beverages are black coffee and unsweetened tea.

I realize that a stall after the initial loss is completely normal but 7 days seems excessive and has me worried that it will turn into 14 days as it did during my last round. My wife is also experiencing the same stall but with the modest amount of weight she is looking to lose is not as concerning - she looks great already! I should also mention that I do take TRT shots every 4 days but have taken those for years. If anyone has any words of wisdom, I’m all ears! I can’t imagine that I could reasonable function on only 500 calories/day unless the HCG is causing my body to burn stored fat as intended; however, it’t not showing up on the scale. I’ll look forward to any comments/suggestions. Thanks!

**Dubbles** · June 14th, 2021, 07:16 AM

Crl, my recommendation is to hang in there. Even while "stalling" as far as weight loss, your body is prob losing inches. The protocol does say pounds and inches. I believe there are a few suggestions for when you are experiencing a stall of over more than 4/5 days--and I know other people have experienced 10-12-14 day stalls before. I don't like to give specific advice, afraid I will advise incorrectly, but maybe Leeze or sdwis, a moderator will comment on what you can do to try and break a stall. For myself, I generally just keep on protocol, unless i decided to go to only 1 fruit a day on P2. For a bit. I really looked forward to my apple and strawberries daily. You sound like you are POP. So, you are on P2, day 13? And losses so far 6.4? I understand being a little disappointed, especially being a man, but I really believe in the protocol and think if you just ride this out, there will be losses soon. Hope someone else chimes in to advise. Not sure if the TRT shots are part of the issue or not. Good luck, I will watch to see what other people have to say. You didn't mention if there is a "going"/elimination problem. Maybe some added magnesium to diet could help with that. Anyway, will watch to see what others advise! Good luck, it's discouraging sometimes, but it works in the long run.

**Leez** · June 14th, 2021, 08:28 AM

Generally, men don't encounter long stalls like you have experienced, but it does happen.

In fact, the protocol states that a stall of around 14 days is not unusual when you are at an old set point, and 10 day stalls are common. I wonder had you toughed it out a couple more days in your aborted round if you would have started losing again with a big whoosh. No matter how long a stall is, when all is said and done, the daily loss average is going to about the same as if you didn't have a stall.

For some reason, the body doesn't always change weight when burning fat. The fat cells are emptying their fat, but the body will replace the fat with water for a time, and then eventually the water will go too. We can't predict the timing for that. It can happen quickly, or take days to release. And to us, that looks like a stall.

As long as you are not experiencing strong hunger or weakness, the best thing you can do is stay on protocol and wait it out. You might try changing up your proteins or make some other variation within the food lists. Sometimes just a different routine can jostle the scale in to moving again.

**crl8474** · June 14th, 2021, 08:47 AM

Am going to see if cutting out the lean beef for white fish will help but it didn’t last time so I’m not terribly optimistic. It’s not like we can make too many changes to the menu! I keep telling myself that regardless of the weight loss that this is a solid disciplined way to detox off all the bad stuff and start with a clean slate but that all sounds good until I weigh in the morning and see no loss. I’m going to hang in there because I don’t want to quickly gain back what I’ve lost. A 14 day stall might send me to the looney bin because I’m only doing another 23-day round and that would mean I’ll be at my current weight for the remainder of the round. Was sure hoping this would go differently! Thanks for the advise and encouragement!

**Leez** · June 14th, 2021, 11:01 AM

Respect for the decision to hang in. Its not an easy thing. But there can be a good payoff.

I encourage you to thoughtfully consider extending your round to 30 dose days, if that is at all a possibility. It increases the chance for a solid stabilization to about the same as if you did a 40 dose round. Another reason would be to give your body a few more days to bounce back from a long stall if that happens again.

Just something to check: commercial cajun seasonings can contain quite a bit of sugar, so that can derail you even if you get by with the peppers. But you are right, pepper (pimento specifically) is mentioned as something that is detrimental to the protocol. And it seems from reports that cayenne and chili peppers can cause problems as well. The tomato/beef combo has also been reported as causing stalls for some.

**crl8474** · June 14th, 2021, 12:44 PM

Originally Posted by Leez

Respect for the decision to hang in. Its not an easy thing. But there can be a good payoff.

I encourage you to thoughtfully consider extending your round to 30 dose days, if that is at all a possibility. It increases the chance for a solid stabilization to about the same as if you did a 40 dose round. Another reason would be to give your body a few more days to bounce back from a long stall if that happens again.

Just something to check: commercial cajun seasonings can contain quite a bit of sugar, so that can derail you even if you get by with the peppers. But you are right, pepper (pimento specifically) is mentioned as something that is detrimental to the protocol. And it seems from reports that cayenne and chili peppers can cause problems as well. The tomato/beef combo has also been reported as causing stalls for some.

Unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), we have a vacation that coincides with the end of P3 based on a 23 days round and I’d prefer to be towards the end of P3 when vacation starts versus being at the beginning or smack in the middle of P3. I’m sure you can understand as it can be difficult to navigate P3 when you don’t always have control of the food selection. This particular seasoning has no sugar or sugar substitutes so it’s either the peppers or something else that I’m simply not thinking about. I read ingredients on EVERYTHING and am pretty militant about how I prepare my food but who knows. I also do very little tomato since I know it causes me inflammation. I’ll keep drinking water, taking my magnesium and we’ll see where it goes. Like the title said, just needed to rant.

**crl8474** · June 16th, 2021, 07:12 AM

Update:

Felt great after waking up yesterday to a 2lbs loss only to give one of those back today. As such, I’ve only lost 2 lbs since last Monday (almost 10 days). Doesn’t make any sense. One more week of shots then I’m done. Given that this is the second consecutive time I’ve experienced the same trend I won’t be going back to HCG. Bummer.

**Leez** · June 16th, 2021, 07:50 AM

It is possible that when you dropped your dose, you didn't quite drop it enough. You could try skipping your dose tomorrow. If your dose is still a bit too high, you will feel relief from any remaining hunger in the late afternoon. You can then drop it more when you resume dosing the next day and hopefully can pull out some good losses before you end the round.

The other parts of the diagnostic: If your dose is right, you will either feel your normal pre-meal hunger level, or no hunger. If your dose is too low, you will feel greatly increased hunger.

Generally, dose changes are are by a 25iu increment.

**crl8474** · June 16th, 2021, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by Leez

It is possible that when you dropped your dose, you didn't quite drop it enough. You could try skipping your dose tomorrow. If your dose is still a bit too high, you will feel relief from any remaining hunger in the late afternoon. You can then drop it more when you resume dosing the next day and hopefully can pull out some good losses before you end the round.

The other parts of the diagnostic: If your dose is right, you will either feel your normal pre-meal hunger level, or no hunger. If your dose is too low, you will feel greatly increased hunger.

Generally, dose changes are are by a 25iu increment.

I’m currently at 125iu after starting at 150iu. Not sure that I’ve seen any males go down to 100iu but then again the subset of information specific to males is fairly limited. With only 6 shots remaining, I’m not sure it makes much sense for me to change although I would be thrilled if I could drop another 5-6lbs before the end of the round but don’t think that is a reasonable expectation. Appreciate the continued follow up.

**Leez** · June 16th, 2021, 11:54 AM

You are right, it would be surprising to see a man have to go as low as 100iu. But then again, its not the norm for men to have super long stalls either, so you are a bit of an anomaly in that sense.

Hopefully, your 2 pound drop is the start of a losing pattern for your last few days. Even though you went back up a bit, it still marks the end of the stall.

**Dubbles** · June 16th, 2021, 01:27 PM

Yes, I second Leez, hope your losses over next few days pick up!

**crl8474** · June 16th, 2021, 07:06 PM

Thank you.

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