I did a 40 day round of this diet and lost 20 pounds!! Great i felt cause i kinda cheated throughout it..! I want to do 1 more 20 day cycle..cause i want to lose 5-10 more pounds..heres THE QUESTION..? my husband is not overweight by any means and neither was I..but he regularly goes to the gym and does intense workouts weights/cardio..he is building tons of muscle but cant seem to get that layer of fat of, especially his (small)belly..has anyone tried or heard of doing this diet while keeping up this sort of exercise and maybe eating a few hundred more than the VLCD of the the allowed food?? any opinions? please??!

lgoode- you can read this in the protocol, but Dr. S spoke about treating actresses that were not overweight in general, but still had fat on their body. they did the regular program, for 23 days- if they met their goals before that, then they increased their calories to 800 until the end. i don't think he'd have the energy for intense work-outs while on the hcg. he certainly could lose weight by taking hcg and eating 800 calories, but then i question whether or not his hypothalamus will be adequately "reset". anyone will lose weight on that calorie level- the question is what kind of weight, will you regain it, etc.

i was fairly active before i started the program, doing yoga twice a week and hiking 2-4x per week. but now i've stopped those, mostly because of the heat where i live (above 100). My weight loss has been good so far, but i decided i'd take advantage of some cooler weather we're having and go for a walk last night. that was fine, and it was nice to get moving. However, i went for another, longer walk this morning and ended up being completely tired out. mind you, this could have been because i had only had coffee and no food :x
Dr. Simeons wrote about muscles losing some of their tension when the fat around them is lost, but he says that effect can be avoided for those who are active and continue to do so throughout the treatment. i'm not sure his exact words, but he doesn't go into much detail. kevin trudeau insists high intensity workouts/cardio are counterproductive and suggests that only walking and yoga are acceptable. I think if you maintain the muscle you have without training to a higher level, you may see good results. Most of all, you simply have to try things out to see what works for your body.

txtim- i'd doubt you have the strength to run those kind of distances eating only 500 calories. if you wanted to continue with your running i'd probably try adding more protein to the program- although it's just hit or miss, in terms of how that would affect you.

I use to work out a lot before the diet but I haven't had the energy to since I've been on it. I get worn out really fast and sometimes I can barely make it up the stairs or straighten my hair without my muscles getting really fatigued. I do some ab work outs but once I hit P3 I'm plannin on hitting the work out hard to trim up all thats left.