You might have come here from Part 1 on the HCG Diet and Exercise– now lets get to the meat of this info on the whole Exercising + hCG Diet plan idea – how can you tell if it’s a good combo for you? Because FYI, we are not all the same (as some other articles on the net will lead you to believe) – besides being human of course. :)- If you’re a dog reading this and thinking about dieting, I think you should just go play frisbee now. Back to humans:  You can also head over to Part 3 when you’re done where I talk about how to know if it’s not such a good idea for you.

What to Consider When It Comes to HCG and Exercise

Basically I think it comes down to this-

1. When you do exercise on the protocol, how do you feel?  Do you feel fine?  Good even?  That’s probably a pretty good indicator that for you, adding exercise to the diet plan is a good thing, beneficial even.

2. If you exercise on the diet, do you feel crappy afterwards?  Do you get bad food cravings, feel extremely fatigued or depressed?  This is an indicator that exercising while on the protocol is not in your best interests.

Why Exercising on HCG Can Be Beneficial If Your Health Allows It

It appears that some people really can exercise on this diet plan and do quite well.  If your body is in sound enough health to handle it, meaning, you’re overweight but that’s really all that’s wrong with you, exercising while on HCG Injections can actually be better for you than just the diet alone- it can help preserve more lean muscle, if not increase it (the latter part more if you’re a guy).  In general there is very little lean muscle loss anyway, but exercising could eliminate even the small amount that happens.

One little word of caution though- you could also potentially cause excess muscle loss by exercising too much when you don’t have enough calorie or protein intake to rebuild torn  muscles….so keep that in mind. If you do exercise, you will likely want to add in a 3rd protein serving like a protein shake (sugar free, low carb, obviously), unless it’s something super chill like walking.

Aside from this, exercise may increase your feeling of well-being while on the hCG program as well.

Before we get too far along, IF you are looking for something that has all the hCG info you need in one place, AND a place to daily/weekly track your progress, that’s printable and fillable on your device and reusable, you might want to check out my digital hCG workbook.

Workbook? Yes lemme check it out

What You Can Expect if You Combine HCG and Exercise

If you choose to do this, do keep a few things in mind so you won’t inadvertently get discouraged okay?

1.  Expect Slower Losses

You might experience some water retention from the exercise, which may translate into what appears to be slower losses on the scale or more frequent “zeros” or “gains”- just keep in mind that your actual fat loss is not really being affected here.  Please, if you are exercising and losing hardly anything on this diet and feeling crappy, do not email me asking if the hormone is bad okay?

2.  You May Need to Eat A Little More

I’ve seen it recommended and it really seems to make sense, that if you do choose to exercise while on this protocol, you may need to increase your calorie intake a little bit.  Think an extra protein portion either in the morning, or before or after your workout.  Some ideas might be some egg whites, or perhaps whey protein powder.  I can’t exactly how much extra calories you might need, but I’m guessing somewhere between 100-250 extra calories over the 500 may be in order, depending on the length and intensity of your workout.

3.  You’ll Likely Need to Decrease the Intensity of Your Usual Workout

While you may be able to continue your previous workout program on hCG, you may find that you still have to turn down the intensity of it.  In fact, one woman on this hCG forum thread put it nicely- she said, “It’s that your body has no sugar to work out – and the using of the fat for fuel is not as immediate. Before this protocol, for example, I could do 35 min on the EFX machine with no problem. Today I did only 7.  It’s still a benefit to me.  I feel better, and I still get the endorphins.”

So she didn’t really lose actual strength in her workouts- it was temporary while being on the protocol, but for her, even doing the little exercise she could manage was beneficial and worth it to her.

4. Make Sure to Replace Electrolytes

A lot of emphasis is placed on drinking a lot of water on the diet protocol, but you can actually drink too much water believe it or not, and you can seriously screw up your electrolyte balance if you’re exercising, drinking tons of water, and not replacing lost electrolytes.

A simple way to keep your electrolytes in balance while sticking to the protocol is just to add a little fresh squeezed lemon or orange and a dash of salt to a glass or two of your water.

Will I Lose More Weight If I Exercise on the hCG Program?

Mathematically speaking, it sure seems like it should right??

Like okay, my resting metabolic rate (RMR – what it takes to keep me alive and kicking minus my daily activities) is say 1400 calories or something.  I walk around and feed my dog and have a pillow fight with my kids and feel emotionally disturbed when they start fighting. All this burns calories. I load the dishwasher and do late night studying for the one of six classes online college classes I have left to get my business degree on the side. So let’s say now we’re at like 1900 calories. I exercise my little butt off to burn 600 calories on some elliptical or spin class or something. Now we’re at 2,300 calories used for the day. Now I eat only 500 calories on hCG that day. That SHOULD mean that I have a deficit of 1800 calories right? So I SHOULD lose about a 1/2 lb of actual fat right? (they say 1 lb of fat is about 3500 calories, although even this isn’t completely a sure thing) And if I did this exact same thing every single day, then I SHOULD lose another half pound of fat every single day on the diet then right?

But in reality, our bodies don’t seem to understand math so that’s just not how it goes. Our bodies are more interested in homeostasis (keeping things balanced and the same) than in math. So our bodies will adapt and adjust hormones levels and activity and such to make our bodies more comfortable with what we’re doing to it so there isn’t TOO much drastic change that it can’t handle going on.

All this is to say sometimes you may lose more weight by employing exercise on hCG, but in  many cases you will not, and in some cases you will actually lose less (as we discussed above). This is not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just important to know WHAT IS. So you’re not surprised or frustrated.

And again, I know I’m always hammering on balance and listening to your body, but it’s because it’s true! So often we find something seems to be okay when in reality we are only “getting away with it” for awhile, and pretty soon our body starts to let us know that what we’re doing is actually not cool. I have seen several cases where initially a person was exercising on hCG no problem and seemed to feel healthy and fine and energetic, but then a few months later I get emails saying they are really run down and gaining weight and feel horrible. I feel this is likely overdoing it catching up with them. I’ve totally been guilty of this too, so I’m not putting shame and blame – I’m sharing these stories to hopefully spare you.

Others Experiences with hCG and Exercise

Here are some great forum threads regarding the Protocol and Exercise I found useful (hearing the experiences of others is always helpful to me).  The individuals who gave their input on these threads were running, jogging, lifting weights, doing workout videos and programs at home or in the gym, doing pilates, etc- there’s a wide variety of perspectives.

hCG and Intense Exercise/Crossfit- hCGDietInfo Thread

hCG and Exercise- LowCarbFriends Forum Thread

hCG and Exercising Successfully – hCGDietInfo forum thread

Eating Extra When Exercising with hCG- hCGDietInfo forum thread

Extra Calories with Exercise and hCG- hCGDietInfo forum thread

I hope you guys found this helpful!  Head on over to Part 3 in the Exercise and hCG series, where I discuss when it’s not such a hot idea.

The post hCG Diet + Exercise: Comprehensive Guide to Exercising on the hCG Protocol – Whether it’s Super Rad or Super Bad appeared first on The HCG Diet Plan with HCGChica.