Some of my students recently have some questions about the long term but I was finding it difficult to give them a good answer, so I am open to any answers from those of you that did HCG years ago.
They are noticing some of their friends from a year or two ago that had, they thought, been through and lost all the weight they wanted. Here is the question, once you have lost all the weight and are to your goal, do you find you have had to do additional rounds after 6 months, 1 year or more? It seems that many people start gaining the weight back gradually after a year or so. I know some have talked of JUDD and that sounds doable following paleo-ish style eating. But if you are doing paleo-ish eating anyway, why would the weight start coming back on? They just don’t want to have to do a round every year for the rest of my life. Can those of you that have lost the weight and kept it off for more than a year talk about your experiences with this?
One of my students called Catarina lost about 50 pounds and kept it off for about 10 months. The weight start gradually coming back on after that. She chalked it up to the fact that she had an injury, was unable to do any exercise and then got depressed and started easy garbage again. Now she is having to take off the 20 lbs she gained and really would like to get down to her goal weight with another 50 lb loss.
First of all I personally do not notice hCG being prone to regain creep more than any other diet, in fact I’d say it is less, if you are correcting vigorously and immediately as the protocol indicates. Additional rounds are sometimes considered ‘easier’ when one has let their weight slide more than a pound or two, but I don’t believe they are actually necessary for maintenance. Nor do I believe JUDDD is needed to maintain, though many gals find it helpful because it essentially has built in correction days.
Different strategies are used for maintenance, it really boils down to what works for YOU and keeps you in range. I maintain the most effortlessly with low carb and grain/sugar/legume/most dairy gone. Is that a diet, or is it just what I need to do to feel and look the best? And is it a burden, compared to being fat and sick? I’d say not. But maintenance isn’t just eating the way we were before, that is a recipe for regain. There seems to be this expectation among dieters, in general, that once the losing is over there is no more counting/watching/adjusting/correcting, or that it is unfair if there is. I’d say that is the reason most people regain – an unwillingness to accept that vigilance and consistent effort may be required to keep weight in an acceptable range, and that not all foods in all quantities are helpful to that end.
JUDDD is one maintenance strategy. Paleo, calorie counting, low carb, whole foods, are others. Whatever keeps you in your goal range that you can live with is what it is going to take. And that looks different for everyone.
The body does want to regain lost weight after any diet. but the key here is to correct fast. and people seem to give up on that after a while. you can tell because they come back here saying they regained 10 or 20 lbs. that doesnt sound like they corrected when they were up 2 lbs.