HCG Diet?? This just doesn't sound safe.

[photobob]

My brother and SIL have been doing this. I'm sorry but once you quit eating 500 calories per day and start eating a normal amount of calories, you'll gain it back like gangbusters. It sounds pretty crazy to me. I am not a big fan of fad diets, I think many do the body more harm the the weight lose does good.

 

[Anewman]

Um, why didn't someone tell me the HCG hormone makes people lose weight. I keep gaining so far .

HCG makes/helps you lose weight?

It sounds like the idea of these HCG shots is to prevent the body from going into starvation mode. Apparently, a pregnant body produces HCG naturally if it is not getting enough calories in order to protect the fetus.

It is the reduced calorie diet that is causing the weight loss.

HCG when used during dieting is shown to help preserve muscle mass, so most of the weight lost is FAT. But it alone does not help or cause weight loss.


I think 500 Calories a day might be unsafe, but depending on other risks and length of the plan the DR may have weighed the risks. If she has lost 30 pounds in about 6 weeks, she must have been at least 220 pounds.

 

[Anewman]

My brother and SIL have been doing this. I'm sorry but once you quit eating 500 calories per day and start eating a normal amount of calories, you'll gain it back like gangbusters.

It depends on what we call "eating a normal amount of calories".

It is all based on the 15 calories per pound per day theory.

I am currently at 220 pounds.
220pounds X 15 calories per pound = 3,300 calories per day

If I eat over 3,300 calories I will start gaining weight again, If I eat less it starts coming off.

I used to be 265, I am working out and watching what I eat while targetting about 2,500 calories per day. I have gone down about 3 pant sizes, the day I had to buy a pair size 40 waist jeans I started taking care of my self. Today my 36 jeans require a belt to stay up.

 

[cseca]

I lost weight swiftly which was so very encouraging. I had no hunger which was amazing and even now...3 months later, I have been able to maintain my weight loss (within a 2 lb tolerance) with very little trouble. The diet broke my need to have sweets!

...
Suzi

Hi Suzi!
Congrats on your weight loss!
I'm always interested to hear about these diets and how it works. Do you mind explaining how you are able to maintain your weight?
Is it by calorie restrictions, food restrictions?
Do you still have to take the pills during your maintenance phase?
Congrats again!

 

[Parkhopper]

Hi Suzi!
Congrats on your weight loss!
I'm always interested to hear about these diets and how it works. Do you mind explaining how you are able to maintain your weight?
Is it by calorie restrictions, food restrictions?
Do you still have to take the shots during your maintenance phase?
Congrats again!

The diet helps to reset your hypothalmus which helps to regulate weight. I can eat almost anything that I want to now in the maintenance phase. I just need to avoid processed foods, transfats, and fast food. We have also eliminated high fructose corn syrup, MSG and artificial sweeteners for the most part. Is our eating perfect? No, but we are making much better choices.

We eat "clean" now. We have 3 meals a day and 3 snacks with protein. I have to watch my carbs a little bit, but find that if I just make healthier carbohydrate choices, I am usually okay (whole grains). We read labels on everything and try to eat organic when possible. Reading the labels takes a LOT more time in the grocery store, but in the end, our overall health is worth it.

If you truly follow the diet, the maintenance phase only gives you about 4 lbs of tolerance (2 lbs above your "last injection weight" and 2 lbs below.) Once you go above the 2 lbs above, you need to take steps to get the weight back down where it belongs. This needs to be done IMMEDIATELY on the day that you go above the 2 lb tolerance in order for the results to be lasting.

Having the accountability of the daily weigh in, helps me. Keeping a food diary helps too.

I am committed to maintaining this weight loss for life.

Suzi

 

[DisneyMomma81]

My step SIL & her dad have had amazing results with this program. You aren't just living on 500 calories a day ~ you're living off your own fat that you're getting rid of thanks to the HCG. Check out mamaclok (maybe mamacloks) on youtube & http://hcgdietinfo.com/

 

[disbridemimi]

I did a little research, cant find a dr in Mass that does it. Seems big in California. I just am a little leery of buying any medications online, seems wway too risky. I wonder if my dr would get this if I asked.

 

[davidsprincess]

I love how the google ads on this thread are for the HCG diet.

 

[ilovepcot]

What's old is new again. This diet with the HCG injections was big in the 70's. Something went bad and all the clinics shut down. Hope history won't repeat itself.

 

[mistymouse5001]

Do you know that even if all you did in a day was sleep you would burn 1400 calories? There are so many ways to lose weight and be happy healthy and FULL. Maybe you could talk your friend into eating clean for a while and seeing what happens.

 

[JMD]

The HCG allows your body to use calories from your "abnormally stored fat" to make up the difference between the calories that you take in (about 500 per day) and what you need. I lost weight immediately and most of the weight lost came from my hips, thighs and stomach. My husband lost 35 lbs and almost all of it was "belly fat".

What is "abnormally stored fat"? Anytime you have a caloric deficit your body will burn fat for energy, you don't need HCG for that. Also, you cannot spot reduce, regardless of the hormones you are taking. Most of the weight came off your hips, thighs, and stomach, because that is probably where you were carrying the excess weight. Same with your husband. You will lose the fat from the places the fat is stored.

 

[JMD]

The diet helps to reset your hypothalmus which helps to regulate weight. I can eat almost anything that I want to now in the maintenance phase. I just need to avoid processed foods, transfats, and fast food. We have also eliminated high fructose corn syrup, MSG and artificial sweeteners for the most part. Is our eating perfect? No, but we are making much better choices.

We eat "clean" now. We have 3 meals a day and 3 snacks with protein. I have to watch my carbs a little bit, but find that if I just make healthier carbohydrate choices, I am usually okay (whole grains). We read labels on everything and try to eat organic when possible. Reading the labels takes a LOT more time in the grocery store, but in the end, our overall health is worth it.

If you truly follow the diet, the maintenance phase only gives you about 4 lbs of tolerance (2 lbs above your "last injection weight" and 2 lbs below.) Once you go above the 2 lbs above, you need to take steps to get the weight back down where it belongs. This needs to be done IMMEDIATELY on the day that you go above the 2 lb tolerance in order for the results to be lasting.

Having the accountability of the daily weigh in, helps me. Keeping a food diary helps too.

I am committed to maintaining this weight loss for life.

Suzi

It sounds like your keeping the weight off because you're committed to living a healthy lifestyle. Your making healthy food choices, reading labels, etc etc. Thats more important than "resetting your hypothalamus".


The HCG diet is a gimic. There are all sorts of unhealthy things you can do to lose weight, but there is no substitute for a healthy diet and consistent exercise.

 

[KSchwagg86]

This sounds like the kind of diet that the person will immediately gain the weight back right after stopping

 

[mexiboi]

I have done the HCG diet before, the diet was based on a 500 calorie diet, but the diet that I was on was a homeopathic HCG diet, and it is completely safe. They are droppers of HCG and they also come with droppers of weight off. This diet was approved by my doctor and if you are interested e-mail me and I can give you the e-mail for the person with the diet program in Calgary.

Mexiboi
(mexi_boi"yahoo.com)

 

[natsiswdw]

This diet is safe!!!! I just finished my first round of the HCG drops that I put under my tongue in the morning and night. There is very low levels of HCG that you are putting in your body if you took a pregnancy test it would be negative!! The drops just made it so i wasn't starving. When I started the diet I was 158 and i finished it actually yesterday at 142. I lost 16 lbs in 23 days and would of never been able to this on any other diet. If you go to you tube and search hcg diet you will find a lot of other people's experience with this diet, and how they HAVE KEPT IT OFF. Yeah of course if you go back to eating the way you did before you would gain the weight back. You would of never had to do the diet in the first place if you already followed a good healthy lifestyle

 

[FireDancer]

I am a firm believer that diets are all destined to fail because the idea of a diet has a starting and ending point. If anyone really wants to lose weight and keep it off it has to be looked at as a lifestyle change. This can be done gradually so you get used to your new routine and may even show slower results but it takes years to get out of shape, it also takes years to get into shape.

The bottom line is that to lose weight you need to burn more calories than you consume. This can be done by reducing the calories you take in, increasing the calories you expend, or both. On the surface cutting your calories down to 500 may sound like a logical choice but there is a threshold you don't want to pass. Our bodies, evolutionarily speaking, are pretty much the same as they were when we were picking grains out of the ground and chasing around animals with spears. We are designed to fluctuate how we process the food we eat based on a variety of things. It is way too complicated for a single post but there is a point at which we take in so few calories that out resting metabolic rate decreases and our bodies actually start to store fat because chemically it thinks we need to conserve fat, not burn it. This is because our ancestors often times went long periods without food and the fat stores they had needed to be preserved.

My advice would be to do the following:

Eat natural food and cut out or at least back the processed crap we love so much.

Chart exactly what you eat. This makes you look at what you are consuming and figuring out what an actual single serving is.

Increase your physical activity and set a goal to keep you on track. It could be to be able to walk for an hour or do an ironman, the goal isn't important, sticking to reaching it is.

Unless you absolutely have to, stay off of any drugs or hormones. Most drugs don't cure anything, they merely mask the symptoms of what is ailing you and cause side effects. A healthy lifestyle will often (I realize not all) times negate the need for drugs. This makes you healthier and saves us all a ton of money.

Above all though read a lot and do some research. There is a lot of information out there and the more you know the better the choices you will make.

 

[rascalmom]

This sounds like the kind of diet that the person will immediately gain the weight back right after stopping

I started on the HCG diet last August. I stopped in April & have been off for the past few months. From my signature below, you can see that I lost 65 pounds - pretty significant for anyone. I'm 5'6 and have a very small frame, so it was major for me.

After being off the plan since April & really enjoying my summer with my girls both being home , I've gained back 7 lbs. In an ideal world, I suppose I wouldn't have gained ANY back, but I am quite pleased overall.

I've done NutriSystem, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, a registered dietician's supervised plan, Weight Watchers, and now - HCG. HCG is the only plan where I felt satisfied & healthy throughout my program.

I did add some exercise (mostly walking), but I have a bum ankle & some pretty severe back problems - so the exercise was light. I also had a cardiac ablation procedure last March for an irregular heartbeat (congenital).

I was monitored weekly while on HCG (I used the sublingual drops) and am extremely thrilled with how well it worked for me. I plan to start back later this week to take off my "summer vacation" 7 lbs. & finish getting to my goal weight.

HCG may not be for everyone & there are some "questionable" people out there who have "hawked" modified versions of the original plan, but it definitely worked for me better than anything I have ever tried before - and I have spent about 17 years trying to get this extra weight off!

PS - I did this with 3 close friends and we all lost over 40 lbs.

 

[Jessd]

I am on the diet right now. I did a 6 week round of it earlier this year and lost 25 pounds. I am only doing the 3 week protocol this time. I started last Saturday and so far I have lost 9 pounds. I do agree that the weight loss comes from the 500 calorie diet, but when taking it, I do not feel hungry at all.

The biggest benefit of it for me is that I no longer place such an importance on food. Before it was all about snacking and what am I going to eat when I get home. Now food just isn't as important as it use to be, which for me is great. When I went off the diet the first time, I ate normally, snacked normally and I only gained back 4 pounds in 2 months. It will change the way you think about food, at least for me it did and that made it worth it.