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The HCG diet can help you lose a lot of weight in a short amount of time, but how much does it cost? There’s a big difference between HCG injections, the traditional method, and HCG drops, the newer method of doing the HCG diet.

In both cases, there is a huge range of prices out there. To help give you a better idea of the range, I’m going to give a few concrete examples of the process of buying HCG drops and injections. These examples are based on real, average prices.

HCG Injections from a Clinic

John’s doctor tells him that he’s in danger of developing diabetes and needs to lose weight. The doctor offers a coached HCG diet program that will help him lose the weight in about a month. Otherwise, he’s looking at a full year of restrictive dieting and intense exercise. He’s all for the HCG program. First he pays for the initial consultation and the prescription for the HCG. This costs about $150. The doctor says he will need to do a 43-day program with one injection per day. Each injection costs an additional $15. He does some quick math and figures the injections will cost him $645. That adds up to about $800. Whoa. That’s going to empty his wallet pretty fast. But then he thinks about the alternative: being fat, feeling depressed, developing diabetes, and paying for all the treatment and medication that involves. He decides $800 is a small price to pay to get his life back on track.

How does that sound? If you think there might be a cheaper way, you’re right. Here’s another example.

HCG Injections from the Web

Heather has been overweight for most of her life, and she’s finally decided that she has had enough. She has tried other diets and only ended up heavier each time, which is why she wants to try the HCG diet. (Good choice!) However, unlike the example above, she doesn’t have $800 to spend. So she starts looking for alternatives online and discovers she can buy HCG online for a lot less than she would at her doctor’s clinic. She still has to get a prescription from a doctor, but she decides to risk doing this online, too. She fills out a questionnaire that’s reviewed by a doctor somewhere, and gets her prescription for less-only $50. She orders enough HCG for a full 43-day course of the HCG diet, which costs only $80. She’s feeling pretty good about her decision. But then she finds out she has to buy additional supplies. What? The HCG comes in powdered form and has to be mixed into sterile water and refrigerated. Supplies for storing, mixing, and injecting cost Heather another $50. Adding in shipping costs brings her total to $200.

That’s much better, isn’t it? She saved $600 by purchasing her HCG online. Let’s look at another example, this time with HCG drops.

HCG Drops from the Web

Madison started gaining some weight after she got married, and after having three children she still has some baby weight to lose. Like the previous example, she decides to do some research online before buying anything. That’s when she finds out about homeopathic HCG drops. After reading some information online, she learns that homeopathic HCG drops have the same results as injections, but doesn’t require a prescription and costs even less. She takes a look at some different companies to find which one is best. She weeds out some companies that don’t work with an FDA-registered lab or don’t have a guarantee, or whose guarantees have bothersome restrictions. Among the remaining candidates, she chooses a full-service, dedicated HCG drops company that offers unlimited phone and e-mail support, free guidebooks, free recipes, a membership with discounts on further orders. Although she could have gone with a slightly cheaper company, the extra support is worth a few extra dollars. Besides, she’s already saving quite a bit. Her company doesn’t charge shipping, and she gets enough HCG drops for a full 43-day course of the HCG diet for just $100.

I hope this helps illustrate the difference in price between the HCG drops and injections, as well as some additional considerations such as the need for a prescription, shipping concerns, and support. Keep in mind that the numbers above are only examples, and actual prices can vary a lot. But in general, the difference between roughly equivalent products will follow the same trend as these examples.

Regardless of what the popular culture makes you believe, weight loss is not as mysterious as it seems. The process is boiled down to simple math as you have to burn more calories than you actually consume. But if it’s so simple why there are so many people with excessive weight problems? Sometimes, the process of loosing weight becomes so hard and with no real effect that it makes people think about radical measures like extreme diet, special medications or widely advertised gadgets that promise amazing results in the TV ads. In reality, there’s a little secret that can help you achieve the right effect without struggle – make small but gradual changes every day. Don’t focus on short-term goals and results, the longer you are going to your weight loss, the better.

The rules of losing weight

In order to lose a pound of excessive weight (which is usually fat) you have to burn about 3500 calories in excess to the amount of calories you usually burn when performing daily activities. That’s a big amount of calories and burning it in a single day is of course not the brightest idea to think of. The right way to do this is to take it step-by-step everyday and performing things that can help you burn this excessive amount of calories over a longer period of time. Here’s a step by step overview of how to get the whole thing on track and working for you:

1. Define your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). The BMR represents the amount of calories your body requires for normal everyday functioning. Take it as a minimum requirement for the amount of energy you have to get with food every day. Remember, that it’s nearly impossible to calculate the exact number and you will have to adjust and estimate the number within a certain range.

2. Define your level of everyday activity. You can use a special calorie calculator to define how much energy you use while doing ordinary things throughout the day (walking, sitting, lifting weights, etc.). This could be helpful for registering your progress, and you can also wear a heart monitor to keep track of how much energy you are burning at any moment.

3. Monitor the amount of calories you consume with food. There are many sites and applications that help you keep a journal of what you eat and calculate the exact amount of calories consumed with foods and drinks each day. Accuracy is encouraged, and make sure that you have the information on nutritional values when you’re eating out.

4. Do the math. Sum up your BMR with the daily activity calorie burn and subtract the amount of food calories. The resulting number will give you a clear idea of where you’re going now. If the result is positive you will gain weight as you eat more calories than you actually burn. A negative number is what you need because it means that you are actually loosing weight.

How to achieve results?

You have two variables that you can experiment with (it’s hard to adjust your BMR because it’s a constant number). You can decrease your everyday calorie consumption with food. Some people use drugs like Acomplia to suppress their appetite and achieve substantial results. Or you can increase your everyday calorie burn by being more physically active (work out, running, swimming, cycling, etc.). The best way of course is combining the two techniques. Many doctors suggest using both Acomplia (or similar appetite suppressants) and increasing physical activity for the best result.

Overbought and Oversold are the two most powerful concepts in trading the Forex. Understanding that a market that is over bought will fall and that an oversold market has no choice but to rise takes a lot of confusion away from trading. So having simple to use indicators that tell when a market is trading in these extremes becomes vitally important.

Enter The Stochastic

Invented by George Lane the stochastic is based on the relationships of where a market closes in relationship to their highs and lows. George noticed that when a falling market is about to turn its closing prices tend to be near their daily lows. And of course the opposite would be true in a booming market that is about to turn south.

Based on this Mr. Lane built a simple indicator called a stochastic.

The Insides

Obviously the math behind the stochastic indicator is lengthy but lucky for you and I most charting services provide the indicator as a free service with their charts. Peeking inside the stochastic you will noticed that it has two lines that are smoothly rising and dropping and crossing each other in their paths. The two lines are represented by the titles %K and %D. The lines represent this relationship between the closing price and the daily high and low. The reason there are two lines is due to sensitivity – the %K is set up to be more sensitive to the market fluctuations than the %D and it is also a moving average of %K which is why it lags a bit behind.

These lines are plotted on a scale of 1% to 100% and it is in this scale that the trade signals are made.

Trade Signals

A good Forex trading signal is when the stochastic enters the upper 80% region, or the lower 20% region. This is the range where the markets are becoming over bought or over sold respectively. And the official “trigger pull” moment comes when the %K and %D cross each other inside these regions.

The beauty of this signal is that it is simple and it conforms to the principle of overbought and oversold. It is not predictive but rather helps to clear up the crazy price movements of the Forex markets.

Suppose you had a tubal ligation and like so many women every year, you decide you want to have a baby.  What are your choices?  Most likely they will be either a tubal reversal or IVF.  But you will have questions about which choice you should make.  Let’s start with these three below first.

My Doctor Has Never Heard of Tubal Reversal and Pushes IVF.  What’s Going On?

Of course it could be your doctor has heard of tubal reversal but still pushes IVF, or in vitro fertilization, anyway.  Why would he do that?  There are a couple reasons.  First, if your doctor has not heard of tubal reversal it could be that didn’t receive training in it.  Because most insurance won’t pay for tubal reversal, unless you have a specific rider, this means you have to pay for it yourself.  Hospitals charge big bucks to have the surgery done.  Therefore, most don’t do it very often at all which means your doctor probably never saw it done during his training.  If you don’t see something done, you may think it’s impossible.

Unfortunately even those specializing in reproductive endocrinology will be lucky to see a tubal reversal done.  What they will see, including your doctor, and know most about is IVF which is our second reason.  If you wonder why that might be, let’s take a look at the next question.  The answer is there.

How Does a Tubal Reversal Surgery Compare to IVF?

You might be surprised to know that IVF is expensive.  OK, maybe you aren’t surprised.  These procedures cost an average of $10,000 – $12,000 per cycle.  You usually have to expect an average of three cycles before you get the hoped-for outcome.  This is because each cycle, which last from three to eight weeks, only has a 10 to 30% success rate.  The average per cycle is 28% because more eggs are usually implanted which ups the odds.  Now do the math and you get an average of three tries that mess up your body for the whole time with all the drugs you have to take for a grand total of $36,000.  Understand that some doctors will charge a whole lot more than that.

With a tubal reversal, you will pay $8,000 to $9,000 per treatment on average.  The good news is that one does the trick, if you get the right tubal reversal surgeon.  Please choose one who is very experienced.  Don’t let someone who has done maybe two surgeries in three years operate on you.  Chances are he will cost you a whole lot more money as well.

Now the success rate of tubal reversal are pretty good as well.  There is one website online that publishes statistics from their own patients where you can check them.  So we will use those as our guide.  The average success rate, which means a pregnancy, is 69%.  You should know, though, that this will vary up to a high of 82%.  The rate depends upon your tube length, type of tubal ligation and age.  That last brings us to the next question many women ask.

I’m XX Years Old.  Will This Matter?

Hard as it can be to hear, yes, age matters.  If you are over 35, your body is already beginning to lose the ability to get pregnant.  If you are over 40, you know that even for someone not tubally challenged, you have a much lower chance of getting pregnant.  

So how does that play into getting a tubal reversal?  If you are under 30 when getting your tubal reversal, you have an 82% chance of getting pregnant.  Again, I am using the statistics from the site mentioned above that publishes their client success rates.  However, if you are over 40, your chances go down to 41%.  But even at that, your chances are better than with an IVF.  At least the way I see it.

It is one of the most common questions home insurance agents receive. These tips should help clarify things and make it easier to choose the right one for you. So, how much of a deductible should you carry?

When choosing a how big of a home insurance deductible to carry consider three things.

1. How much can you comfortably afford, financially, out of cash reserves?

2. How much can you emotionally afford? (If it makes you nervous when it storms, it’s too high!)

3. How much are you saving for taking the extra risk?

For Example: A recent quote comparison for a $300,000 home showed it would be $156.00 a year less for the $1000 deductible. If you take the $156.00 savings and multiply it by eight years – which is the average in this area for home insurance claims – the savings would be $1248.00. If you need to file a claim $1248 – $500 = $748. You would still be ahead.

Carrying a higher deductible also discourages making too many smaller claims which can impact rates by loosing claims free discounts and making it difficult to switch carriers. However, once you go past a $1000 deductible, the point of diminishing return starts to apply and the savings is usually not worth the risk. You want to manage your risk wisely.

Carrying a higher deductible is a wise way to cut your insurance costs. It seems everyone is looking to save some money these days. Insurance companies know this too. It is why their marketing is so focused on saving money. You need to be careful. These companies know people will shop on price alone. In an effort to provide the lowest cost some will offer policies with coverage reduced and sneak in things like 2% wind hail deductibles. On a $300,000 home that is a $6,000 deductible!

Be careful fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent and cost you a fortune if you suffer a loss.

Get quotes for each deductible and do the math. If you can recoup the savings in eight years or less choose the higher deductible. Raising your deductible is a good way to save.

Tim Peddycoart is an independent agent for The Insurance Specialists Team in Elk River, MN. http://www.Mn-Home-Insurance.com  He helps people lower their insurance costs, get better coverage, and shows them how to receive hassle free low cost insurance for life.