HCG Diet

odusgolp

Many of my friends and coworkers are having success with the HCG diet. Anyone else try it?

If you're looking for approval for the use of it, go to the HCG support thread. As a trainer and after posting NUMEROUS links to studies that show that it's not a sensible way to lose weight, I am obviously not for it. A child needs about 600 calories a day for regular brain function.

How big of a child?

psuLemon

Dr. Mehmet Oz, a HEART SURGEON, has written and spoken about that HCG program many times. The HCG program (medication) has caused major ORGAN FAILURE and TUMORS in many people. Not only that but any 500 calorie diet is not adequate for your body to "survive". You might lose the weight quickly but it will be MUSCLE WASTING loss. Many years ago, I had to lose 35 pounds very fast due to pending surgery. You really do not want to experience the PAIN I had in my legs and arms from that fast weight loss along with severe shortness of breath.

DIETS WILL MAKE YOU FAT: Yes, they most certainly will. You will lose the weight but as soon as you go "off the diet", you will gain back what you lost plus gain additional weight on top of what you lost. That happens because, each time we do the yo-yo diet routine, our body "protects itself" by building/creating NEW FAT CELLS. That physiological defense mechanism is something that we cannot prevent.

There is NO successful quick fix for obesity. PORTION CONTROL and INCREASED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY are the two key factors to your success in becoming heart healthy again. I'm posting this for you right now but will add an additional post after I copy & paste some tips I shared with another friend a while back.

Not to say that HCG is good or anything, but Dr Oz is a joke. He's a TV personality just like Dr Phil. He get's paid to push certain products and ideas. I'm sure he was a legit doctor before he got a TV show, but now .... he's a TV host. As with everything else you see on TV, take it with a huge chunk of salt.

Plus, I'm pretty sure I've seen "Try Dr Oz's pregnancy diet" stuff floating around in reference to HCG. So yeah. There's that.

TV talk show host = Not real advice.

Lets put this in perspective. Below is a post I wrote after researching why a person needs 1200-1500 calories for proper body function and everything cited so you can look through it. So how do you think a body will respond with only 500. I hate to say this, but Dr. Oz is actually right on this. I know this because my friend is a cardiologist and has seen this at her hospital. But if you really want to do yourself a favor, do a before and after measurement of body fat. Get some calipers or go to a gym to get it done. You will lose muscle not fat. And by doing so, you will destroy your metabolism. Also, I would highly suggest researching how a metabolism works and how a body works before doing something as dumb as HCG.

There are several institutues that have research the needs of a body to maintain proper body function and all have come back with 1200 calories for women and 1500 for men (this includes teh Nation Institute for Health and American College of Sports Medicine). Decreasing your calories to below these standards (which are very low to start with) can affect your long term weight loss. Decreasing below your Basal Metabolic Rate can slow your metabolism, decrease thyroid function, decrease muscle mass, and have adverse affects on several organs, digestion, etc...

When you reduce the calories too low, your body may not go into starvation mode but your body doesn't function properly. Also, over time, if you don't eat enough, your body will store fat due to the metabolism slowing down. Your metabolism is contolled by the amount of muscle you body has. The more muscle, the faster your metabolism is (unless you have a thyroid issue or other medical condition). The AmericanCollege of Sports Medicine suggest 1.2 - 1.4 g of protein per kg of weight.


So for a 150 lb person, that comes to 88-95g of protein


150/2.2 = 68.1
68.1*1.2 (1.4) = 88/95g


Obtaining that much protein would be difficult with 900 calories, considering 400 of those calories would have to be from proteins alone. keep in mind the below.

1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories
1 gram of protein = 4 calories
1 gram of fat = 9 calories

Here is a link with some good information.

http://www.shapefit.com/basal-metabolic-rate.html

Also, keep in mind, when you don't eat enough calories, your body utilizes proteins from your muscles to fuel your body and holds onto the fat. If you want to run an experiement on your, go get some body calipers or get someone to test you to calculate your total body fat. Work out for 30-60 days and go back to see if anything has changed. Even if your weight changes or doesn't, if you haven't been able to decrease your overall body fat, then you aren't gaining lean body mass (LBM). In fact, there are many cases that I have seen women lose 10 lbs but there overall body fat was unchanged. This means, that your body lost weight by losing LBM. The lower the LBM, the slow your metabolism, the lower it will take to lose weight, the quicker you will plateau and so forth. I can't tell you how many people I have worked with that have hit a plateau and each time, we increased their calories and the weight loss started again. You may just have not hit that point yet but I would highly suggest you reconsider your method.

Beside, if you can eat more food and lose just as much weight, why wouldn't you?


Hope this is helpful, I just want to make sure you aren't hurting your body. Below are some links with some good information in them. Enjoy


http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/reference_calorie.asp

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

Qarol

let me drink this pregnant lady's pee so I can magically lose weight.

Have you got any?

MrsCon40

let me drink this pregnant lady's pee so I can magically lose weight.

Have you got any?

It's good mixed with vodka.

kpeterson00

I tried the HCG injection method and was able to lose about 10 lbs, but it was a waste of my money as I just don't see how any healthy person would or could survive on 500 - 750 calories a day. I also tried the oral method and was not very successful there either.
both methods were a waste of approximately $900.00. I kick myself when I think of the wasted money and of all the good things I could have done for myself. I do not recommend it to anyone.

gwenmf

I tried the HCG Diet. I did this for 3+ weeks. While I didn't get hungry, it did get BORING and I wanted different food. I missed salad.

My feelings are it's not something you can live on afterward...........I want to find a way to eat normally. I can count calories and find fun things to do to burn off the calories and build muscle. I'm not a gym person but I like biking, walking, Wii bowling, etc.

You don't get enough vitamins on the HCG diet. You don't get the right nutrients. I think this is a much healther way to eat and it's something I can live with. That's my long term goal. and it's coming off fine for me.

Good luck in what you decide.

koosdel

What's funny to hear is men on the diet and claiming the hormone is natural. Pregnancy hormone normal in men...........................:sick:

Lol!! Perfect.

leslielt

Check these out

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/truth-about-hcg-for-weight-loss

http://blogs.webmd.com/pamela-peeke-md/2010/12/diet-scam-101-the-hcg-con.html

ginny1214

I think I'd rather eat and exercise vs eating 500 cal a day lol

Kalrez

*snip* I hate to say this, but Dr. Oz is actually right on this. *snip*

Oh yeah, HCG is terrible and some of the information that the Wonderful Wizard of Oz shells out on his show may be accurate. My basic point was that people ought not take his word as gospel. He is an entertainment personality, not a physician.

Anyone can put "Dr" in front of their names. Heck, my email is dr.tonya. Doesn't make me any more of a physician than some guy on TV.

Kalrez

let me drink this pregnant lady's pee so I can magically lose weight.

Have you got any?

I keep trying to tell my boyfriend that I should get pregnant. We'd be rich selling my pee to people who are so desperate to lose weight that they'll drink it and pay me thousands of dollars to do so!