Let's get this out of the way: This guide is copywrited by HCGDietCommunity.com. You cannot copy it or even portions of it. You must consult your physician before starting any new weight loss plan. This is for informational and entertainment purposes only.

Before we get started, this guide is to help you through the HCG diet. It is not a replacement for Dr. Simeons' guide, and you should read that before you start, but this guide is the condensed version that will have all you need, without any fluff or filler.

I will be smashing some preconceptions that you might have about this diet, as well as correcting what you might have heard in the media. Unfortunately no one spends 10 minutes researching the diet before writing an article or doing a news story. Oh well, they are just in it for the ratings anyway. So enough time wasting, let's get to it.

So first of all, you'll need some HCG. You can get it in either an injection form, or oral drops. Injections are a bit more expensive and you must go see a doctor, but they work just fine if that's your cup of tea. I however prefer a good oral product. What I use is here: HCG Drops

Do avoid cheap products. HCG is not cheap and who knows where those cheap products are coming from. I have plenty of horror stories that I won't bore you with so just work with someone you trust. See if they have a guarantee and support. The diet is easy but you will have questions and need help.

So once you have your HCG, you are ready to learn about the diet. Now before we go any further I want you to know something. HCG does NOT make you lose weight. It's not supposed to and never was supposed to. People use HCG to help with hunger and to target the fat storages on their body, leaving their muscle untouched. That's why those "shocking" news stories they do when they just give someone HCG and don't see weight loss are absurd. You must combine the HCG with the low calorie diet that Dr. Simeons tested. But you can't do the low calorie diet without the HCG because you will lose muscle mass, and be too hungry, that's where the HCG comes in.

Also notice that I have been saying "low calorie diet", not a 500 calorie diet. This is another issue that no one understands, and the ones who do understand it don't talk about it. So you've probably heard that this diet is 500 calories. It's not.

Let me explain.

The media loves to point out that the diet is nothing but a "crash" diet, whatever that is, and it's unhealthy to eat just 500 calories a day. Well, first off, it's not 500 calories, you don't count calories at all. You simply choose food from the list, which we'll get to in a minute, and weigh it out on a scale or in measuring cups. If you actually measure the calories from the meals they are closer to 700-900+, depending on which protein you choose. But that's beside the point. Not all calories are created equal. I can have 2 people both eat 1,000 calories of food, but if the food is different, than the results will be extremely different. I don't have time to go into this in detail and I'm getting off track. So just realize that the diet is not 500 calories, and you don't worry about calories either. So just ignore it. You are eating specific foods, in the right amounts, and that's it.

Moving on.

In addition to the food you are drinking about 64 ounces of water per day. This is very important and whenever someone comes to me with stalls or problems on the diet, 9 times out of 10 they aren't drinking enough water.

During the diet you also need to avoid oils. Even oils that go on your skin like certain lotions. Why? Well because the oils will be absorbed into your skin and the HCG will target that instead of your fat storages. Don't believe it? Neither did I. Till one day I forgot and put lotion on my arms and legs. It was too late by the time I realized it. But sure enough, the next day I gained a pound. And I never had any problems like that ever, on any other round. So do take the oil issue seriously. No need to go buy a ton more products, just avoid lotions, use mineral oil, like baby oil instead. And for makeup use a mineral makeup, or just cut back on what you are using. It's just for the low calorie phase while you are taking HCG, then you can go back to whatever products you have always used once you hit the maintenance phase and after the diet of course.

OK. So let's get to the days of the diet.

So on your HCG round you typically do a 23 or 40 day diet. You can go less, despite what some people say, but do not go past day 40. Once you hit day 40 you stop the HCG, continue the diet for 3 more days to get the HCG out of your system, then you do 3 weeks of the "maintenance" phase, which we'll get to later.

Loading Days
The first 2 days of the diet you take your HCG, but you "load" or "gorge". On these 2 days you eat as much food as you can and stay full all day long. The purpose of this is to let your body know that you have enough available fat in your system so it will readily release the storages of fat on your body. It's important to load so don't skip it. I know many people are nervous about this part but don't be. It's fun, at the beginning anyway, and it will set your diet up for success later. So eat the things you love and stay full all day long. You will gain some weight on these 2 days, that's fine, it will come off within a day or two on the next phase of the diet, and then you will continue to lose more and more after that.

On the morning of the 3rd day you start the next phase, which is the low calorie diet phase. You continue to take your HCG but you switch your foods to the low calorie foods that are outlined below.

So let me paraphrase the list of food on the HCG diet as Dr. Simeons' wrote:

Breakfast
Tea or coffee in any quantity without sugar. Only one tablespoonful of milk is allowed in 24 hours. Saccharin or liquid Stevia may be used.

Lunch

1. 100 grams, 3.5 ounces, weighed raw before cooking, of veal, beef, chicken breast, fresh white fish, lobster, crab, or shrimp. All visible fat must be carefully removed before cooking, and the meat must be weighed raw. It must be boiled or grilled without additional fat. Salmon, eel, tuna herring, dried or pickled fish are not allowed. The chicken breast must be removed from the bird.
2. One type of vegetable only to be chosen from the following: spinach, chard, chicory, beet greens, green salad, tomatoes, celery, fennel, onions, red radishes, cucumbers, asparagus, cabbage.
3. One specific Italian breadstick called grissini OR one Melba toast (often found in the croutons section of your grocery store).
4. An apple, orange or a handful of strawberries or one-half grapefruit.

Dinner
The same choices as lunch but you can choose differently than what you ate at lunch. No need to eat the same thing, just from the same list.

The juice of one lemon daily is allowed for all purposes. Salt, pepper, vinegar, mustard powder, garlic, sweet basil, parsley, thyme, majoram, etc., may be used for seasoning, but no oil, butter or dressing.

Tea, coffee, plain water, or mineral water are the only drinks allowed, but they may be taken in any quantity and at all times.

So that's the diet food in a nutshell. Seems kinda basic and boring? Well if you choose a good provider they will have recipes for you to use that can spice up the diet and make it really interesting. No need to be bored with the food.

Also, you can spread out your food during the diet. So if you are a typically hungry person in the morning you can take something from lunch and have it earlier. Just make sure you are eating the same quantity daily and not adding in extra food.

And of course, do not forget to drink your water. It's best to have a water bottle that you carry with you that has measurements on the side so you know exactly the amount of water you are getting.

So how do we measure results?

Well on the morning of the first day you should weigh yourself as well as take measurements. It is very important to know where you are so you can watch your progress and know if you are doing OK.

After your initial weigh-in you need to weigh yourself every morning. The best way to do that is to weigh yourself upon waking after having gone to the bathroom, and also without clothes on to keep everything consistent. Make sure you have a scale that is digital and can weigh in decimal points. Do NOT weigh yourself throughout the day, it will not give you accurate numbers that are helpful. Once a day is all you need. But when you do weigh in you might want to take several times to weigh yourself to make sure you are getting a consistent number. Try to use one scale throughout your rounds because they can differ. Also, moving your scale can also effect results so try to keep it in the same place.

It is also important to note that you will be gaining some weigh on the 2 loading days. So make sure to weigh yourself and mark down these results. Your weight loss results should be based on your current lowest number subtracted from the highest weight you hit after loading. You gain weight on loading so you do need to factor that in and give yourself time to lose that weight. Some people try to base their number off of their starting weight before loading but that won't be the most accurate way to measure yourself.

You should be keeping track of your weights daily, and then measure your inches lost once weekly. Sometimes you won't see a big weight change, but you will see a big change in inches, but if you aren't measuring your inches you'll miss out on those good feelings of seeing your inches shrink.

It's also important to keep track of your food daily. By doing this you'll be able to look back and see what's working and what's not. You can use pen and paper or something on your computer. The program that I use that is made specifically for the HCG diet can be found here: http://www.MyHCGDietJournal.com It's free and works on any computer. But use whatever you feel comfortable with. You just need to use something so find the best one for you.

Take Before and After Pictures
It is very important to take before and after pictures. I know people who lose 50+ pounds but say they don't see a big difference. Is there a big difference in how they look? Of course! And everyone can see it except for them. The reason this happens is because we look at ourselves daily in the mirror so we don't notice the changes along the way. But if you take a before picture, and then compare it to yourself now, you'll see a huge difference. It will keep you motivated to keep going and make you so glad that you did. There's no need to share your pictures with others if you don't want to, but do it at least for yourself.

The Best Way To Be Successful On The HCG Diet
I find the people who do the best are those that know "why" they are doing this and have a clear goal. So before you start sit down and think about why you want to lose weight. Is it to look better, is it to improve your health, or is it to prepare for a special event? Whatever your reasons are find them out and write them down. Also write down your goal. Is your goal to lose 10 pounds or 100? Whatever it is know what you are trying to achieve. Write it down and keep it somewhere where you can go over it daily. When you know why you are doing something, along with having a clear goal, it makes you much more successful and much more likely to stick to it if you run into adversity.

If you have a big number you are trying to lose then write it down but also write down smaller goals that you can achieve along the way. Hitting small goals and giving yourself credit will keep you going and get you closer to your larger goal. Long journeys are accomplished by taking small steps. Don't get halfway there, achieving so much, but then get frustrated that you aren't there yet. Always remember how far you've come.

What you need and where to get it
You don't need many things to do this diet and most of them you'll already have. Some of the necessities are your HCG, a digital scale, a digital food scale to weigh your food, a water bottle with measurements, stevia (to sweeten food), and melba toast or grissini. The rest can be found at your local grocery store and even stevia and melba toast and grissini can be found at a regular grocery store. Just about everything you need you should be able to find locally. However I know some people who live abroad or live in a small town might have trouble finding items like grissini or stevia. But don't worry, you can find everything you need online. Here are some links to help you get started:

• Stevia
• Scale
• Food Scale
• Melba Toast
• Grissini
• Water Bottle
• Fat Loss Monitor (not necessary but can be fun)

Exercise
Exercise while on the HCG diet is not needed. In fact if you try to overdo it you will see weight loss stalls or even slight gains. The reason behind this is that you are on a low calorie diet and that's doing the work of the weight loss. If you exercise too much your body can try to hold onto everything. You can walk or jog 1-2 miles per day and still be fine, but if you want or need to do anymore talk with your HCG provider and they should be able to make a custom plan for your situation. I've seen many exercise instructors who work 3-5 days a week and are able to do the diet just fine with some minor changes. But do get the help of someone who has experience.

3 Days of no HCG
To conclude any round you need to do 3 days of the low calorie diet without HCG. This makes sure the HCG is completely out of your system before you go back up to a higher calorie diet while on maintenance. So before moving to maintenance make sure to continue your diet without HCG. Your body is very sensitive to higher calories and food not approved on the diet so make sure it's out of your system before

Cheats and Mistakes on the HCG diet
I notice a lot of people worry about starting this diet because they think that if they make one cheat all results will be lost and they'll instantly gain 50 pounds. Not true. In fact just about everyone I know has made a mistake or has cheated on the diet. Typically you do it once, you notice how it slowed you down, you realize it wasn't worth it, then you refocus and get back on track. That's good. If you do cheat or make a mistake, that's OK. Just realize the mistake, learn from the experience and get back on track. No need to change the diet because of the cheat. Just get back on the plan as soon as possible. Beating yourself up about it and quitting is not what you should do. You won't lose any weight by quitting. It's better to have done the diet 95% correctly and to finish, then it is to make a mistake and then quit 100%. But do realize that this diet is very specific. If you plan on cheating on a regular basis then it's best to not start until you are committed. The diet works, but only if you work the diet. So commit yourself before starting and know your goal.

Hitting your weight loss goal early
If you hit your weight loss goal before your round is over, that's perfectly fine. In fact great job at hitting your goal! What you should do then is immediately do 3 days of the diet without drops or injections, then move to the maintenance phase. HCG won't let you go below a healthy weight, so there's no need to continue. If you have more weight to lose, but already hit your goal, you should decide on if you want to go lower. Sometimes our goal is just an arbitrary number, which is fine, but once you achieve it ask yourself if you like the way you look and are content. If not, you can continue on. Compare your results with your "before" picture so you realize how far you've come.

HCG Diet Maintenance Phase
Maintenance phase is 3 weeks of no starches and no sugars. Natural sugars found in things like apples are fine, but refined sugars, added sugar, sweeteners like aspartame etc, should be avoided. You are setting your weight point so you are more likely to stick at that weight. A lot of people freak out when they hit this phase because they are so worried about gaining weight. Don't worry, if you follow the simple rules you'll be just fine. Add new foods in slowly and track your progress daily. Still keep track of your weight and see how the new foods are affecting you. And remember, your body is not a machine, it's always changing. So if you go up a pound or two, that's fine, it's natural. Just make sure you aren't steadily increasing. But up a pound, down a pound is fine and natural. Also don't try to count calories on the diet. Just eat good, healthy food. Sound vague? It kind of is on purpose. You should have learned a ton from the diet and what foods are good and which are not. Continue to drink water and avoid drinking calories. The new habits you form during the diet and during maintenance will last a lifetime.

After The HCG Diet
Remember, if you go back to your old habits, you'll get your old results. We didn't gain weight magically, it happened because of our habits. Does that mean you can never have delicious treats and things like carbs? Of course not! You can have all that stuff. But you will know how to do it in moderation and know how to keep off the weight. Also, start a new workout plan. After losing a bunch of weight exercising is actually exciting and fun. Building some new muscle will help increase your metabolism and help keep the weight off forever. Your won't believe how much better you'll feel with just a little bit of physical activity.

So that's about it. I'm sure you'll have questions along the way. If so do ask your provider and get help. You can also ask questions on our HCG Q & A Page or in the HCG forum. I also encourage you to post your success stories. It's always fun to read those.

And remember, you can do this. All you have to do is get started.