Also started hcg drops on Monday. Weight loss great at the beginning of the week but up and down the last few days. Only want to lose about 12 lbs which sounds like a joke but I have middle age pudge I never had before and no diet has made a dent in this. I exercise every day and still no luck Frustrated beyond words till I heard about HCG. Like many of you though I am starving even though I did the loading days. My naturopath who prescribed this told me I could add a little more protein and also maybe skip the breadsticks for a day. She also suggested cocoa pure tea which is a chocolate green tea that is supposed to be great. I have ordered it and not tasted it as yet. I think you should be able to google COCOAPURE tea. Hope that helps

Harold - I had tried to low-fat / low-cal dieting in the past with little results. With or without exercise. The drinking I cut out completely, especially with the beer I drink (and only beer too). I have the 'gift' of being able to go no-drink at all for a while, or drink like fish (depending on mood). Though, from what I have been reading, they do forgive you one glass of red wine, or a spirit. One major thing that I am noticing is that the HCG is based on the original version (I discount Trudeau). What many people fail to take into account is the many changes in food over the past 30 years. What was available then and now has drastically changed. For example, I love Black Cherry Seltzer water - delicious. The one I drink is Zero calories, sugar, fat and naturally flavoured without extra chemicals that I can't pronounce. According the original diet - this is a big "NO". I believe that there is a large amount of latitude in the diet provided you follow it using common sense. I am moving into Day 5 (began at 201lbs - pre-load - 205lbs post-load) with a rotating work schedule which has me going to bed at 8am (taking my injection), then waking early afternoon for lunch, then having dinner around 11pm. So I will be interested to see how my body reacts. I have gotten the headaches - but a quick tablet and a nights sleep and it was clear. Not too much on the hunger pangs - only when I eat do I not feel full. I guess that is what the water helps to fill. Although, and I only began to notice this an hour or so ago, I have been awake since 8am (EST) and it is now passing 4am (EST) and I don't "look" tired and my face seems to have a comfortable "glow"... perhaps the weight loss will be attributed to my finally giving birth after so many years :-) As for exercise, I have been going to the Gym since 2007, first on a Mon, Wed, Fri schedule - presently (prior to HCG) on a 2xMon, 2xTue, 2xWed, 2xThu schedule. I roughly walk about 1-2 miles per day at my office (lot of leg work involved). I think my thought on uploading to Youtube may have been premature - my hectic schedule does not seem to allow the devotion to doing it.. so I guess it may be limited to my posting here. Until then, be happy.

Appetite suppressants don't seem like a good idea to me, but then neither does the HCG.

Gagarl35, I am writing this for you and others who will read this thread. My wife was 60 when she did the diet. She wanted to loose around 20 lb. She went the minimum and lost the weight. I watched with interest and decided to do it if she was willing to help. She is the cook and it meant a lot of work for her with the food preparation. She agreed. I was 67 at the time and lost 65 lbs in two sessions from 235 to 170. I kept most of it off for a year but eventually gained 20 lbs. I did another session, I got that 20 off and have been maintaining that weight eating mostly protein. Gave up the toast for breakfast. The best part of the diet is we both gave up carbonated drinks. We drank coffee, green tea, and lots of water during the diet and have wine for dinner now. We sweetened the tea with Stevia. Now that is all we use except for the homemade ice cream she makes with Xylitol. No Splenda or Nutri-Sweet. Both will make you put on weight because your body doesn't get it's sugar fix so you eat more carbs to make up for it. Friends and relatives saw what we did and used the protocol with much the same success. The only one who had problems was our daughter. She doesn't eat a lot of meat so it was hard to get the protein. She did loose the weight when all was said a done. There are two ways to use the HCG. Shots or Bi-lingual. Those are the only ways a hormone can inter your blood stream. We all used the drops. Our instructions said you were to keep it under your tongue for a minute. That is the only place it will inter your blood. I made sure I kept it there for well over a minute and advise others to do the same. Once you swallow it, no more will inter your blood. The other thing some people had a problem with was they couldn't understand how your body could function on 500 calories. If you read Simeon's protocol, you will learn that when women are pregnant, the HCG in their body allows them to use their stored fat if they can't find food. It is from when we were hunters and gathers. This is so their body would not use the good fat in muscles and joints except as a last resort when the stored fat is gone. It is the only thing that releases the stored fat that is usually in the belly of men and thighs in women. Once your body gets a high enough level of HCG, it will release and use your stored fat if it can't get enough calories from what you eat. That is why you don't want any fat in your diet or skin products. You eat 500 calories and your stored fat supplies 1500 or more for what your body needs each day. That is why you lose a pound a day or more from the right places. If you run out of stored fat, your body will let you know and you will have to stop the HCG and up the protein. That happened to my wife. My typical breakfast was and orange smoothie with 1 orange with Sweetleaf Vanilla Creme liquid Stevia, . For a change she made it with 1/2 orange and 3 strawberries or 6 strawberries. One orange or 6 strawberries are max for a day along with 1 apple of any size. The main thing with lunch and dinner is the weight of the meat/protein with little or no fat. The vegetables weren't as exact. Two handfuls was the rule. She used Brag's Apple cider vinegar for dressing on salads with a few spices. I am easy to please and will eat most things. One of my favorites was a 93/7% hamburger patty with 1/2 an onion and 1/4 of a bell pepper sauteed with garlic in fat free chicken broth. She sliced a small tomato and put it around it. We have it now and during the maintenance period with cheese and more fat in the hamburger. A few times she made a Sorbet with lemon juice and Stevia as a treat The bread stick is important. We used Safeway Select with sea salt. I usually had them at night with an apple. You are supposed to eat 2. Sometimes I would have one of them between meals to take the edge off if I needed it. As I stated before,drink lots of liquids. On warm days we had iced green tea with Stevea. We do the same now. Your body expels most of the waste from burning calories through your breath and urine. There is not much solid waste lbs wise. I decided it was more accurate for me to weigh first thing in the morning after I urinated. I have weighed before and after a bowel movement numerous times and can't see a difference. If you wait until after a bowel movement, you can have all kinds of variables affecting your weight depending on how much you have eaten or drank if it is later in the day. The best thing about this diet is that it gets you off of sugar for a month or more. Stay off it. You will be much healthier in the long run. I am still amazed that I have no desire to drink a soda pop. Water is just fine. We hope it works as well for all who try it as it did for us. BobnBernie