Dr. Simeons stressed out in his book that even a small deviation in the protocol can slow your weight loss. So before you begin with the protocol read Dr. Simeons hcg diet protocol. Be familiar with every detail of each phase.

Here are the common errors many hcg dieters encounter during the 500 calories hcg diet.

1. Not loading well on gorging days– Before you start with your VLCD you need to binge well on high-fat foods until your third shot of HCG. Though it seems counter-intuitive it’s important that your fat stores are full before you begin.
2. Using the wrong spice– Some spices are mixtures of different ingredients not allowed on the HCG diet. This includes sugars, oils and starches. Before using any spices to spice up your food read the ingredients list carefully. Make sure that they are HCG approved spices.
3. Using gums and mints– Mints and chewing gum even those that are sugar-free are off-limits.
4. Drinking diet soda – Though diet soda may have zero calories it’s the other ingredients that can slow your weight loss off. Diet soda does not contain the actual sugar that you know but it contains other forms of sugar like aspartame that can cause a stall in your hcg diet.
5. Dining out– Foods in the restaurants have sugars and other additives that can stall your weight loss. If you can’t really avoid dining out at least keep it to a minimum. It’s important that you prepare your own meals so that you are certain that you follow strictly the protocol.
6. Weighing your protein portion after cooking– Well, you should weight your protein choices raw. And it should be 3.5 oz or 100 grams.
7. Eating the same protein for lunch and dinner– It’s important to vary your protein option during your VLCD.
8. Weighing at different times each day– Weight yourself at around the same time every day. Ideally, you should weight after urinating in the morning before breakfast.
9. Getting dehydrated– For optimum weight loss drink adequate water every day. But do not overdo.
10. Using of Oil-based beauty products– What you put on your skin is absorbed by your body just like what you put in your body. So, avoid oil-based cosmetics, lotions and other oil-based hygiene products.
11. Mixing your vegetables– Is Mixing of Vegetables on Phase 2 of HCG diet a YES or a NO? Mixing vegetables aren’t actually allowed while you’re on a VLCD. But some people can lose weight even when mixing vegetables. If you want to mix yours, keep in mind in the event your weight loss stops.

If you’re new to the program, doing exercise together with HCG diet can be a bit too much. Rather than doing it during your first week on HCG injection wait for about 1-2 weeks. Or until such time that your body is fully adapted to your new calorie intake as well as to your new food restrictions.

• Acceptable Exercise

Ideal exercise on the HCG diet is something that is less intense like yoga, gentle swimming and walking.  These light exercises will help keep your muscle tone and fit without risking your weight loss.

Yoga, for example, is an excellent HCG diet exercise. It can burn the same percentage of fats as jogging. However, some yoga sessions are intense in form. So stick with the easy and short one and do the exercise for 20-30 minutes every day.

• Exercise to avoid

If you’re a beginner and want to do some exercise, stick only with light exercises. Refrain from anything that is rigorous. Now may not be the best time to start with a high-intensity cardio considering your increase protein intake.

Intense cardio exercises can increase your heart rate. As a result, your body starts to store calories as fats. Strength training like weight lifting is also not advised on the HCG diet. It builds lean muscle mass that weighs more than fats. This could mislead you as to your weight loss on the scale. Exercising hard with only 500 calorie intake will cause your body to hold on to fats rather than using them up.

• Major concerns about over-doing exercise on the HCG diet

1. Hunger

Working out burns calories and you obviously know that for sure. When you burn calories you become hungry. And when you burn too many calories you get too hungry forcing you to eat something that is not listed on the approved HCG food list.  The tendency is you will cheat- and CHEATING while on the protocol can cause a stall on your weight loss.

2. Fatigue

Being on a very low calorie diet can make you feel weak and tired easily. If you begin to feel tired when doing some exercises, your workout therefore, can be too high in intensity.

Exercise on HCG diet can be beneficial if and only your body allows it. Some hcg dieters even do quite well with both the hcg diet and exercise. However, exercise should remain light and easy because of the very little calorie intake. If you attempt to exercise for a longer period of time without enough calories you will become exhausted. You may feel dizzy and become very hungry. According to Dr. Simeons, a hcg dieter who insists to do an intense exercise while on the very low calorie diet typically become hungry and tends to overeat.

What to consider when you want to exercise on HCG diet?

1. How do you feel after doing some exercise? Do you feel tired? If your answer is NO then that’s a good thing. Doing the exercise plus the HCG hormone works for you.
2. Do you feel tired and crappy after doing some exercise? OR do you crave for food? Well, this isn’t good and you should stop right away.

What to expect when you combined 500 calorie diet and exercise

1. Eat a little more. When you do the exercise you may want to increase your calorie intake a bit. Eat slightly more proteins like whey protein powder and egg white in the morning or before or after doing the exercise.
2. Slower weight loss. You may also experience slower weight loss due to water retention from exercising.
3. You need to decrease the intensity of your workout. Instead of doing a 35-minute exercise decrease it to at least 10-15 minutes.
4. See to it that you will replace your lost electrolytes. Rather than drinking too much water, add up some squeeze of fresh lemon or orange. You may also use some dash of salt.

• The benefits of exercise on the HCG diet

Exercise plus HCG diet can actually be better than the hcg diet alone because it can help preserve more lean muscles. But be cautious. Too much exercise can cause excessive muscle loss since you don’t have enough calorie intake in rebuilding your torn muscles. You may also want to add up your protein intake. Instead of two servings a day, make it 3 servings of 100 grams each. Or if you want, you can have a low carb, sugar-free protein shake.