The human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) diet is among popular weight loss solutions that have been popularized lately. Basically, this is a calorie-restrictive diet program that supports the body to burn excess fat within few weeks. Many people to begin using this diet don’t understand how it works and the kind of benefits they should expect. Before you start using it, you should first understand how you can use it to benefit your body.
Here are some of the things you need to understand before you try it.
1. Knows your minimum protein intake requirements
One of the mistakes you need to avoid while taking the HCG diet is being too restrictive on protein intake as you try to minimize calorie intake. The minimum protein requirement is 1.0 to 1.5/Kg of body weight. You should not take less than 72 to 80 g per day. This is necessary to preserve lean body mass and to also ensure bone mineral density remains intact as you lose weight. Failure to consume sufficient amounts of protein might lead to fatal effects.
2. HCG stall
When on an HCG diet, you are likely to experience the HCG stall, which is a condition characterized by the sudden stop in losing weight despite still following instructions. The condition may last from four to six days and will eventually correct itself. To accelerate the performance of the diet, you can take HCG drops that come with all the minerals you need. You can see this list of the 3 best HCG drops on the market – customer reviews and ratings to find out how you can deal with the HCG stall and achieve your weight loss goals on time.
3. Observe correct calcium intake
It’s recommended to observe a calcium intake amount of between 1,000 and 1,500mg per day. This helps in protecting bone mineral density. Sometimes you may require supplementation to achieve the right amount of calcium because the low-calorie diet is likely to lure you into consuming less than is required. The National Institute of Health recommends that a step 1 low-calorie diet should offer 1,000 to 1,200 calories per day for women while men should take 1,200 to 1,600 calories, and these are the guidelines approved for treatment of obesity and overweight.
4. Minimum vitamin and minerals requirements
You also must meet the minimum requirements for vitamins and minerals. For this diet to work, you need to create a balance of all essential minerals and vitamins so as to ensure you don’t starve the body of the required items. Talk to your doctor to know the amount you need to take while on the low-calorie diet.
5. Permanent lifestyle change
If you are using this diet to lose weight, you should plan how to drop it and still maintain your weight. Of course, you are not going to be on the diet forever, so you need to make lifestyle changes that will ensure you don’t go back to the weight problem.
6. Skipping loading days
Loading days are days in which you don’t restrict yourself to consuming just 500 calories. During these days, you take as much as you can. The reason you should not skip loading days, which come as first two days of the diet plan, is to ensure the body has enough fat stored, which will later help in maintaining energy levels.
An HCG diet comes with many benefits including helping in weight loss. To tap full benefits of the diet, take some time to learn about how it works and the way you could maximize its effect. You only need to understand how to control your calorie intake without disrupting the intake of other minerals. The points above also show you some of the things to expect when you get started with the diet.