While "evil intent" may be over the top as a description of what's happening with adulteration of medicines manufactured in China, neither is it plausible that this is happening merely by accident or neglect. Time and again, it's been shown that prescription drugs not revealed on the label have been added to China-made supplements/herbal products, and the clear intent is to make them more effective while luring customers with a supposedly "natural" product. Check out the list of drugs found in Chinese supplements as indicated in this report. "...case reports showed that two or more adulterants were present in 14 of 15 Chinese herbal medicines. There was one death reported in these reports, and at least six potentially life threatening events. Suspicion of adulteration was based not only on adverse effects, but suspiciously good efficacy. Chinese herbal medicines may work because of the adulterants. Most people consider alternative therapies to be safe, and often do not mention that they are using them. Given that multiple adulteration of Chinese herbal medicines seems to be common, there is potential for problems, especially when other treatments are being prescribed. Imagine an older patient on NSAID and aspirin additionally taking a Chinese medicine containing indomethacin or phenylbutazone! We simply do not know what the rate of adulteration is. One UK study of 11 herbal creams showed that eight contained dexamethasone at concentrations up to 1.5 mg/gram of cream. In the absence of better information, we should assume that Chinese medicines are adulterated."

I bought HGC Platinum drops from Super Supplements. Friend used them with amazing results. I'm a skeptic but have lost 2lbs on load days and just starting VLCD today. Only had mild hunger but drinking more fluid helped that. Good point I saw on another diet site. Usually if you feel hungry, you are really thirsty. Drink fluids first, if you are still hungry, then eat. Works in this too. Good luck.

The MetaSystem did not work for me. Yes it has ephedra in it. Hope this helps!

Hey Thanks Everyone! Ali, as far as SO goes, he doesn't actively discourage me. He actually wants me to lose weight. He really just doesn't agree with how i do it I think. He says he doesn't like me to be deprived of anything. So if i am low carbing, he will break his roll in half and put it on my plate, or give me some of his fries......so irritating. Or bring home a brownie. He tells me "Eat what you want,just stop eating so much." Then he will turn around and say, "If you're hungry, you need to eat." Ugh. Keep in mind this is a man who cares NOTHING about food or being hungry and will wait until I either shove it in front of him or come close to passing out to feed himself. Last time I told him, "You don't tell me how to diet, and I won't tell you how to quit smoking like i know anything about it....OKAY?!?!?!!" But, yeah, he knows about my walking and other exercise. I just don't mention anything about the food. He will figure it out eventually. Mama, I saw that too. But I do not really agree with her "methods" either. When she was on the Biggest Loser, they worked out 8 or more hours a day and gave them diet pills to aid weight loss. Not to mention her affinity for screaming at people and calling it "motivation." If she tried that brand of motivation with me, it might be dangerous for her feelings. Not to get personal with it, but i find her overly masculine manner and condescending personality off putting. Maybe that's why i don't put much stock in what she says. Besides, I am really not sure I am doing "keto" specifically. I don't really follow plans like that. But I could be and just don't know it. :) biondanonima,I do exercise for the other health benefits really. Any weight loss resulting from it would be a bonus. Otherwise, i work a 12 hour night shift desk job, then go home and sleep. If I don't purposely get up and walk, my fitbit registers less than 2000 steps a day. A little more if I am home. The nurse we have on staff at my job advised me to get up and move a lot more. So I do. I get what you are saying though. The doctor I went to said that when low carbing, exercise, especially in women, doesn't really do much for weight loss, but is good for maintaining any progress and is important for overall wellness. I feel that you are right about calories though. I mean as I said, when i did this diet the first time i didn't worry about calories at all and the weight fell off. I think i might have been overthinking that aspect of things. I actually went digging and found my old food journals from that time. I did find that eating WHATEVER low carb foods i wanted, and it seems, in any amount that i wanted did appear to work. One day: (keep in mind i work 5pm-5am) 6 pm- 6 devilled eggs (made with mayo, bacon and cayenne pepper) 11 pm- Atkins shake (dark chocolate royale), Jif to go cup, 1 string cheese 5:30 am- 2 scrambled eggs with bell pepper, green onion, and cheese Another: 5:30pm- Salad with lettuce,tomato, cucumber, olives,avocado, 1 hard boiled egg pepperoni, cheese and Olive garden dressing 12 am- same as above(no egg) 3 am-Atkins shake 6 am- 2 slices bacon, 1 sausage patty, 1 fried egg Last one I promise: 5:30pm- Rotisserie chicken breast, small can green beans with lotsa buttah 9pm- Chicken broth (1-1/2 cups about) 12 am- cucumber slices dipped in ranch (homemade and FULL FAT BABY) 2 am-Atkins frozen meal, sugar free jello (black cherry) 6 am- 1 scrambled egg with cheese According to my journal, or as i call it "Amylou's BIG FAT diet book," I lost 3 pounds that week.....interesting. I don't remember being QUITE as hungry as I am now though.