Women really hate to hear this, but men seem to do better than women do on the hCG portion of the program. We're not sure why that is ... It just is. Men lose an average of one pound per day, whereas women will average between ½ to ¾ pounds per day.
It's possible that this is accomplished by the stimulating effect of hCG on the testis. It mimics LH (luteinizing hormone) from the pituitary gland and signals to the testis to increase their production of testosterone.
Generally speaking, men who suffer from obesity are hormonally imbalanced and tend to have lower testosterone and higher estrogen than fit/healthy men. When used for this purpose, hCG normalizes testicular function. Keep in mind that this is expected to occur at higher doses but has not to my knowledge been studied at the lower doses used in this program. Although there is no clinical data at these low doses, you may expect libido/sex drive to increase.
An interesting side note is that hCG is commonly used in the body building world during the off cycle of anabolic steroid users. Anabolic steroids are “borrowed” and thus over time have a negative feedback on the hypothalamic/pituitary/gonadal axis - meaning that they will slow down the production of endogenous (self made) testosterone. With this in mind the hCG is used between cycles of anabolic steroids in order to “normalize” hypothalamic/pituitary and secondarily the gonadal (testicular) function.
If you're following this, give yourself a pat on the back, because this is some fairly deep endocrinology!
The bottom line is that men lose weight at a faster rate than do women on the hCG phase. It is safe and manageable even for us men. We expect a man following our mentored program properly to lose 30 - 50 pounds during the 12 week program.
