Lean meat, and leafy vegetables. No carbs, no sugar. Just lean and green. A few drops of HCG three times a day, and gallons of water. There are lots of sites to learn about the pros and the cons of the diet but what you will find here is how it is for a runner.
Tada! HCG tips for runners.
1) Skip the long runs unless you really need them for your training. By running shorter more frequent runs during the week, you can keep up your mileage without exhausting yourself.
2) Drink a stevia based electrolyte drink to make up for loss of well, food. It has no calories but salt, potassium, and lots of other goodies to keep you going without cramping. Or maybe it is a placebo but hey, it has been working for me!
3) Drink more water than you ever think you could need. The diet insists of glasses and glasses of water to help flush out the fat so your body will eliminating more than it’s normal share. I don’t tend to carry water when I run but for now, I am making a point to stop and sip at every mile.
4) Don’t be surprised when you get hungry. I experienced hunger so ferocious that at times, I lost sleep from visions of almonds dancing in my head, lusting for olive oil on my salad, a generous steak? When they say you won’t get hungry because of the magic drops, they lie. That’s OK, because it teaches you that being hungry isn’t such a bad thing which is helpful at mile 20 when your stomach starts to grumble.
5) When the weight starts coming off, you get fast! That 2:11 minutes that you shave off your half marathon time by loosing five pounds, believe me, you can feel it. I ran race pace on Tuesday just because there was a good song or two in my ears. No Garmin to guide me, no intervals to inspire me, no running buddy to push me, just happy tunes and a belly full of nothing.
6) I don’t know about you, but I don’t need to eat nearly as many calories as my culture thinks I should. Yes, 600 is a bit extreme, but it helps to make you realize that every morsel counts and to be dare I say, mindful of those bites so that you eat with intention. Ohm.
7) Two hundred calories is not binging on Ben and Jerries Ice Cream. It’s a handful of almonds or an apple and a cube of cheese. That is all that you need to refuel your muscles after a long run. Not French toast, sausage and maple syrup with butter and a big glass of orange juice. This diet reminds you of that in Phase 3, when you increase your calories back up, by just 200 a day. Do you want a corner of a cookie, or another 3 ounces of lean steak?
As to the HCG (pregnancy hormone that is the magic bullet of the regime) I make no claims of it being a miracle cure. I tend to doubt it because that’s just the way that I am. It would be easy to call this a dangerous fad and you might be right. Then again, one can easily argue (and they do) that running 26.2 miles as fast as you can isn’t so good for you either. But that’s OK by me because it’s a whole lot of fun.