How I Lost 30 Pounds in 1 Month

With 2012 coming to an end and 2013 right around the corner, I’m sure most of you are either humbugging New Year’s resolutions or embracing them. Me? I’m embracing the opportunity. Partly because I’ve been binging on holiday goodies. Okay, more like mostly. But I’m not alone, and I’m sure you had your fair share too. Or maybe you didn’t and are at a constant struggle to lose weight and keep it off. Welcome to my world, I’ve been struggling since I hit my teen years. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t tried to get it off. 

I’ve done tons of diets. I’ve used tons of products. I have worked out for hours every day for months and hadn’t lost a single pound of fat. I’ve starved myself. I’ve done detoxes. I have changed my entire diet...but to no avail. That is until I came across a random Facebook post earlier this year that sparked my interest and led to tons of research.

The HCG Diet. Have you ever heard of it? Most people I’ve spoken to have never heard of it, and tons are quick to dismiss it as a “fad diet.” Do not be discouraged. This diet has been around for decades and is the only diet with a huge community online with real people with real results. And no, nobody paid me to write this. I want to share what has changed my life and what can change yours too whether you are extremely obese or just have a few pounds you can’t get rid of. I am no doctor, but I will outline the basics of the diet here and me and my fiancées’ experience in doing it.

First let me show you Pre-Diet Emily (and Alberto, fiancée extraordinaire).

Oh my. YUCK! It’s a great picture (so cute), but would be better had I been a lot thinner. Now let me show you Post-Diet Emily:

OH LA LA! At 30 pounds lighter, I'm still not at my target weight just yet (there’s a lot to go) but…damn! Now lets see Emily from a couple days ago:

The . Weight. Is. Still. GONE!  I might be loading on the holiday yum yums, but the scale doesn't lie. It hasn't come back. I just feel like it has thanks to all these pies and cookies. 

If you have any ounce of self control and want to see 1-3 lbs fall off every time you step on the scale you have GOT to try the HCG diet. First and foremost, HCG is that hormone that pregnant women release (thought it occurs naturally in men and women). You can either get HCG injections from a clinic or buy the HCG drops and take them sub-lingually, which is what my fiancé and I did. DO NOT buy the homeopathic “all natural alternative” to real HCG. They’re banned, for one, and two, you’ll end up gaining weight and being malnourished.  It has got to be real HCG. If you are not sure, you can buy a cheapie pregnancy test and drop it on the strip. If it comes out positive, it’s real. If it doesn’t, send it back and get your money returned.

The diet regimen we did consisted of 3 phases. The load up phase/Phase 1 (2-3 days), the VLCD phase/Phase 2 (roughly 20-40 days), and the maintenance phase/Phase 3 (No shorter than 3 weeks). Phase 1 involves loading up on very fatty foods to get your body into fat burning mode.

Phase 2, or VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet) involves eating no more than 500-700 calories per day. Absolutely no sugars, no starches, no carbs, no fats, and a very restricted diet allowance. Basically, we ate a LOT of chicken and tomatoes. But there are tons and tons of delicious Phase 2 recipes online that not only teach you how to cook without unhealthy fats and ingredients, but show you that healthy food CAN be delicious when cooked correctly with the right kind of food. We just happened to like the chicken and tomato recipes. ;)

I will be frank. The first day or two on the VLCD will be hard. Very hard. You will be hungry and will have to fight cravings. It’s all a part of the process and will soon fade as the HCG kicks in. In fact, you will be battling with yourself to actually eat because the HCG makes you feel full all of the time and completely takes away your cravings, which makes the entire process much easier.

This is the phase where all of your weight will come off. We started losing between 2 and 4 lbs the first week or two but then…well, let’s just say you CAN NOT CHEAT. You absolutely cannot stray even an ounce away from the diet or there WILL be dire consequences. We did, only a few bites and we plateaued for a few days. So instead of telling you how I lost 30 lbs in a month, I could be telling you how I lost 40 lbs in a month. Oh well!

The last phase is still keeping from starches and sugar but your calories are back to near normal and you can eat normally again…yay! You should not lose or gain any more than 3 lbs within the 3 weeks of the maintenance phase  to keep you weight stable so that you keep off all that fat you dropped.

If you do it to the T and follow the diet 100% you WILL lose weight daily and it WILL stay off, like it has for me and my fiancée. Together, we both dropped nearly 65 lbs in only a month and couldn’t be happier with the results. That being said, I advise you to do the diet with a friend or your significant other. I can’t say with complete certainty that I would have done the diet without him and vice versa because it is just so great to be going through the same thing together, you can both serve as each other’s rock and motivation.

Please don’t use my post as a guide! Read Dr. Simeons’ book Pounds and Inches to get the original guidelines for the diet and to learn the science behind how it works. Good luck if you do decide to do it! 

Stay strong and love on!