E-mail to Antonio - this is the diet and protocol in a nut-shell.

Antonio,

Some very important things to do with this diet for best results:

1) On days 1-3 of taking the hCG, you load. You have to really, really pork out to the extreme. Sweets, fats, and high calories stuff. This does two things, number one and most important is that it tops off the depleted normal fat stores in your body. They pad organs, feet, hands and joints. When we don't eat right, the body stops keeping track of where it stored the excess abnormal fat, so when you don't eat perfect and try to lose weight, the body takes the normal fat because it doesn't see the abnormal fat, and this is not healthy.

On any diet, the body will resist if the normal fat stores are not topped off first. Put it this way, it is trying to top them off while re-balancing caloric intake and fat utilization and can make for a rocky week or two up front if you don't really load well.

Second loading well will allow you to have big weight losses in your first week. This sets the pace of weight loss high and makes you get through the diet sooner.

2) Water. Drink plenty of it all through the day. You body is using the fat out of the cell and then what makes this diet unique is it is actually consuming the resulting empty cell. That's why it is called Pounds and Inches. You shrink proportionately until you consume all the abnormal fat generally, and then the concentration of consuming/shrinking goes to the places you easily store fat.

I suggest one cup of water at the top of every hour. You can drink coffee, tea or diet soda to your hearts desire, but drink that in addition to the water. On my blog, I have a web based calculator to figure out what exactly you need to consume based upon activity level and weight. Water is really needed when consuming the empty cell, and if you don't consume enough, the body retains water to help the task and your weight loss will be sporadic instead of consistent.

3) 3-1/2 ounces of LEAN meat at lunch and dinner (no breakfast or snacks). As lean of meat as possible. Again I have lists of the kinds of meat allowed on my blog (here). I just normally do boneless, skinless chicken breast and grill it with garlic salt and pepper or I fry in WATER on the stove. Can't use grease. No spices with sugars of any kind in them.

In addition to the meat, you eat an apple or an orange or half a grapefruit each meal too, and 4-1/2 ounces of non-starchy vegetables. I just eat one medium sized tomato because it is easy, but any leafy greens work, and there is a whole list (here) on my blog.

Finally, and this one is important, the 2 little grissini breadsticks at each meal that you can get at Publix (or other higher end food stores). This gives you just a little carbs. Enough to stave off craving. It is important. Don't skip it or you will feel like snacking, even though you aren't hungry.

4) Be consistent in when you eat your meals and when you take your hCG. And weigh every morning after you get up and take a leak. Good to record it for your psyche. You won't see drastic weight loss in the mirror. Others will who don't see you a lot through the week. You shrink proportionately at first. Your clothes will become noticeable looser in a hurry and the amount you lose is crazy (1-2 pounds a day for guys). At church the next Sunday, people will comment. Yes, that quick!

5) Listen, 500 calories from food doesn't seem enough, but it is. Here is why, your body has an all-you-can-eat buffet in abnormal fat. All the calories it could want or need. Without hCG it is just extremely hard to get to them, because you have to go into starvation mode first. The hCG in your system tells the hypothalamus, fat utilization just became of utmost importance and to break the rules and just use fat proportionately (you fooled it into thinking there is a baby being built, yes even though you are a guy - I guess the hypothalamus doesn't check that!).

500 calories is the minimum you need because the body uses externally consumed calories for brain function and muscle repair, which is a constant process, even just from taking stairs or dashing to catch a door causes the body to need to do a little repair.

Here is how you know the hCG is working like it is supposed to: On day 3, at the end, you have a bit of a euphoric feeling and plenty of energy. It is like a feeling of being content-well, it should make you content. For the first time in a long time you are getting enough calories right when you need the energy.

For me, at work I would take 3 flights of stairs (they are really like a double flight of stairs each floor, so like 5 to 6 stories). At the top, I would feel wasted and worn out. My heart would be pounding hard and I would be out of breath for like 5 minutes. Day one, day two, same thing. All of a sudden, day three and boom, I am up the stairs with energy! No heart pounding. No heavy breathing. I just ran way short of energy.

Here is why, your hypothalamus is responsible for many, many important functions. Fat utilization if one of them. Normally, whatever excess you eat, it stores and catalogs the location. Last in, first out. When we over-eat for a prolonged period of time, the body says, "Hey this is a waste of my time! Dudes never gonna starve to death, so no need to spend my valuable time keeping track any more." So when you take the stairs or dash to the car, your hypothalamus does it's job, "Let's see...he needs energy, so 3 flights of stairs, and he weighs 165 pounds, so I will dump this much stored energy from fat." However, in my case, I weighed 258 pounds and so, I was way short of energy.

Hypothalamus sees the shortage, and says, "Huh?" and compensates the short-fall by turning on craving. See you look lean when the hypothalamus checks the fat storage logs. "Dude is lean!" You go pig out and get the calories you need, you feel better, but you consumed far more calories than you needed and the problem just got worse.

So, that's it in a nut-shell. I recommend people read Pounds and Inches 2 times through prior to starting the diet, so they understand how this works, why it works and how it is different than any diet they have done.

Don't treat it like a normal diet. Do it as perfect as you can, and when you blow it, get it right and continue.



Thanks,
Dan