HCG to Atkins to lose MORE weight - advice

[Tuki]

Hi everyone,

I am on day 17 of my first P2 taking hhcg pellets (6x, 12x, 30x, 60x). This entire time, I have been unable to get my dose right and have struggled greatly with weakness, hunger, feeling like I'm going to pass out, and increased blood pressure from normal to stage 1 hypertension (at least from something as small as a short walk through part of a grocery store). Next week, I begin some teacher training that will require me to be very active and with how I feel right now, I know I wouldn't make it through an hour, let alone all day. I am down 18 pounds, but I have learned that since my hcg dose isn't right, I am not burning the right kind of fat and my body is basically in starvation mode. I fear I have damaged my body because of this. My husband has seen the side effects and my weakness and has at times wanted to take me to the hospital and he really wants me off the diet. I understand the purpose is to help fix my metabolism, but without the proper dose, I don't see how this can happen for me. My plan is to quit this diet early because I can't maintain my school schedule when I'm this weak, and to try hcg again when the semester is out and I'll have a few weeks to take it easy. But, I'm worried I've broken my metabolism with hcg. If p3 of hcg is basically induction on atkins, and we only maintain then, have I now made it impossible for me to lose weight doing low carb? I can't continue with hcg, but I also don't want to postpone losing weight for 4 months. I'm hoping someone has some advice for me. I really want to and need to lose weight and I don't want to stop now, when I'm feeling motivated. These last 16 days have shown me I have a heck of a lot of will power.

[minimonkey]

Tuki --

I don't want to sound discouraging, but I suspect you are right that the dosing isn't correct for you, and that your body is in a starved state right now. I'm assuming you've tried adjusting the dosage to see if that helps? A lot of us have needed to lower the dose to get better results.

As for your questions --- Some people can lose on Atkins, even after an hcg round -- others can't lose on it. It may be that you stabilize initially, and then start to lose on low carb after being stable for a bit...

I wish I knew what to tell you -- but I had similar problems. I do agree that stopping the diet soon is a good idea (whether you decide to do the minimum round, or not, is up to you.)

You've only been on the low calories for a fairly short time, relatively speaking, so I doubt you have done much long-term damage metabolically -- and since you've lost a LOT of weight in such a short time, stabilizing for a while is probably a good idea before losing any more.

I'm sorry to hear the round has been such a struggle -- I definitely know that feeling all too well! I also definitely understand the need to be functional, and how difficult that becomes when weak, lethargic, etc.

[dawnyama]

How are things going for you Tuki?

[riss]

Tuki - I hope you're feeling better. From what I've read on here it sounds like yours could be a dosing issue. I don't think you could have done any sort of long term damage to your metabolism. I know that during pregnancy hcg levels are skyhigh compared to taking this. I've known some women that were so sick during early pregnancy that they barely ate and some that even dropped weight. You may be able to lose on low carb without using hcg. I think it's hard to figure out for each individual what the best plan is. Unfortunately the only way to figure it out is by trial and error. I wish you luck with whatever method you choose.