HCG Diet

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  • fivefatcats
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    Actually I did take body comp tests before and after.

    March 2010 - weight 182, lean weight 131.4 - fat weight 50.6, body fat 27.8 %
    Sept 2010 - weight 167, lean weight 124 - fat weight 43, body fat 25.5
    Oct 2010 . . . . .weight 154 . lean weight 116 , fat weight 38 . body fat 24.6.

    I am due to have another one since its been a year now.

    You can see that all the numbers went down, but my lean to fat ratio increased with each new measurement.

    Also - I eat perfectly 'normally' now. By that I mean on an average day I eat 1600-1800 calories a day. My goal is 120g carbs, 120grams protein and 70g fats. I have not eliminated refined carbs from my diet but eat them in much smaller quantities than I did. I still have a double cheeseburger from McD on occasion . . I just toss 1/2 the bun. I love bread and butter, but unless I am having only a bite or two, I try to eat that Ezekiel sprouted grain bread or low carb tortillas etc. I eat spaghetti with the family but go easy on the pasta. I LOVE coffee - but use sugar free creamer instead of fat free creamer. So I eat like a moderate low carb-er.

    I also run 2-3 days a week and my goal is to lift weights twice a week but I have been really lacking on that one - but its on the agenda anyway. My family/life/work schedule is hectic - I get 5 hours of sleep a night on average, see a counselor a couple times of year to help me refocus, go to church regularly and read my bible every day. I'm not particularly cranky, have plenty of energy, take no medications (just calcium and omega 3 fish oil when I remember) and have no health issues.

    So, yeah, I'm confident I have not had any adverse effects.
  • fivefatcats
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    Just one more thought - I now love to run. Last year I participated in 7 running events (a triathlon, some 5k and 10ks and one half marathon)

    This year I wanted to do 10 events. I did two 10k races, several 5k races, The Tough Mudder, The Dirty Girl, and The Warrior Dash (all muddy obstacle course races) and have my eleventh event, a 10k, in a few weeks.

    And I don't hate it . . .at all. I just have fun participating and feel great that I am now taking care of my body and it allows me to participate in these events.

    FYI -

    http://toughmudder.com/
    http://www.godirtygirl.com/
    http://warriordash.com/
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    HcG success story.

    PM me if you want my personal opinion.

    It works.

    I am more healthy (and slim) at 42 than I have ever been.

    If I'm reading your stats right, you gained some weight between round 1 and 2, that doesn't tell you something? )-:
    You are a "success story" b/c you lost weight while taking this "medication", the true test is to keep it off after you trash your metabolism and stop taking the HCG.

    My metabolism was not and is not trashed. I put on a little weight in between and since - I am currently at a very comfortable weight and very happy with my results and the method I chose to achieve them.

    No one said it didn't work, what we said is it is not healthy, and it isn't, no matter how much or fast you lost weight.
  • noneya2010
    noneya2010 Posts: 446 Member
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    You will get lots of opinions. I tried it through a doctor's office doing injections and I can tell you I was NOT hungry past the initial 2 days it takes to get used to it. My problem with it was that I got really tired of eating the same handful of choices over and over and over again. At the end of 1 month, I had not lost a significant amount of weight (10 lbs?) and decided I could probably lose that much eating healthy and exercising. Some people claim to have great success with it though.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Actually I did take body comp tests before and after.

    March 2010 - weight 182, lean weight 131.4 - fat weight 50.6, body fat 27.8 %
    Sept 2010 - weight 167, lean weight 124 - fat weight 43, body fat 25.5
    Oct 2010 . . . . .weight 154 . lean weight 116 , fat weight 38 . body fat 24.6.

    I am due to have another one since its been a year now.

    You can see that all the numbers went down, but my lean to fat ratio increased with each new measurement.

    Also - I eat perfectly 'normally' now. By that I mean on an average day I eat 1600-1800 calories a day. My goal is 120g carbs, 120grams protein and 70g fats. I have not eliminated refined carbs from my diet but eat them in much smaller quantities than I did. I still have a double cheeseburger from McD on occasion . . I just toss 1/2 the bun. I love bread and butter, but unless I am having only a bite or two, I try to eat that Ezekiel sprouted grain bread or low carb tortillas etc. I eat spaghetti with the family but go easy on the pasta. I LOVE coffee - but use sugar free creamer instead of fat free creamer. So I eat like a moderate low carb-er.

    I also run 2-3 days a week and my goal is to lift weights twice a week but I have been really lacking on that one - but its on the agenda anyway. My family/life/work schedule is hectic - I get 5 hours of sleep a night on average, see a counselor a couple times of year to help me refocus, go to church regularly and read my bible every day. I'm not particularly cranky, have plenty of energy, take no medications (just calcium and omega 3 fish oil when I remember) and have no health issues.

    So, yeah, I'm confident I have not had any adverse effects.

    Those results are horrible, out of a total 28 lbs lost you lost 15.4 lbs of lean body weight, that is a lot, and the less lean muscle you have the slower your metabolism, so you did slow your metabolism down with HCG. You actually lost more muscle than fat, why would anyone do a diet where you lose more muscle than fat.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Just one more thought - I now love to run. Last year I participated in 7 running events (a triathlon, some 5k and 10ks and one half marathon)

    This year I wanted to do 10 events. I did two 10k races, several 5k races, The Tough Mudder, The Dirty Girl, and The Warrior Dash (all muddy obstacle course races) and have my eleventh event, a 10k, in a few weeks.

    And I don't hate it . . .at all. I just have fun participating and feel great that I am now taking care of my body and it allows me to participate in these events.

    FYI -

    http://toughmudder.com/
    http://www.godirtygirl.com/
    http://warriordash.com/

    You are not supposed to workout while on HCG, too few calories, it is actually suggested that you don't.
  • SergeantSunshine_reused
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    Actually I did take body comp tests before and after.

    March 2010 - weight 182, lean weight 131.4 - fat weight 50.6, body fat 27.8 %
    Sept 2010 - weight 167, lean weight 124 - fat weight 43, body fat 25.5
    Oct 2010 . . . . .weight 154 . lean weight 116 , fat weight 38 . body fat 24.6.

    I am due to have another one since its been a year now.

    You can see that all the numbers went down, but my lean to fat ratio increased with each new measurement.

    Also - I eat perfectly 'normally' now. By that I mean on an average day I eat 1600-1800 calories a day. My goal is 120g carbs, 120grams protein and 70g fats. I have not eliminated refined carbs from my diet but eat them in much smaller quantities than I did. I still have a double cheeseburger from McD on occasion . . I just toss 1/2 the bun. I love bread and butter, but unless I am having only a bite or two, I try to eat that Ezekiel sprouted grain bread or low carb tortillas etc. I eat spaghetti with the family but go easy on the pasta. I LOVE coffee - but use sugar free creamer instead of fat free creamer. So I eat like a moderate low carb-er.

    I also run 2-3 days a week and my goal is to lift weights twice a week but I have been really lacking on that one - but its on the agenda anyway. My family/life/work schedule is hectic - I get 5 hours of sleep a night on average, see a counselor a couple times of year to help me refocus, go to church regularly and read my bible every day. I'm not particularly cranky, have plenty of energy, take no medications (just calcium and omega 3 fish oil when I remember) and have no health issues.

    So, yeah, I'm confident I have not had any adverse effects.

    Those results are horrible, out of a total 28 lbs lost you lost 15.4 lbs of lean body weight, that is a lot, and the less lean muscle you have the slower your metabolism, so you did slow your metabolism down with HCG. You actually lost more muscle than fat, why would anyone do a diet where you lose more muscle than fat.

    Couldnt agree with you more. I like my muscle and want to keep as much as possible! Anything that would cause a 15lb muscle loss is a no go here
  • BrianJLamb
    BrianJLamb Posts: 239 Member
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    tuzki-bunny-emoticon-023.gif

    ^^^^^^^
    What this says!!!
  • SergeantSunshine_reused
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    tuzki-bunny-emoticon-023.gif

    ^^^^^^^
    What this says!!!

    +1
  • fivefatcats
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    The results are NOT horrible.

    If you lose weight, you WILL lose lean weight also.

    If “Sue” weighs 200 lbs and is 30% body fat, she is 140lbs lean and 60lbs fat.

    If she drops to 150 without losing any lean she now weighs 140 lean and 10 fat – that’s only 7% body fat – NOT POSSIBLE.

    At 150, if she was 25% body fat, she would be 112.5 lbs lean and 37.5lbs fat, meaning she lost 27.5lbs lean weight and 22.5lbs fat weight.

    These are GREAT statistics.

    IT IS THE RATIO OF FAT TO LEAN OR THE BODY FAT PERCENTAGE THAT YOU SHOULD BE PAYING ATTENTION TO.

    If you think you can lose a significant amount of weight without losing any lean weight, you’re kidding yourself.

    @ erickirb – that is my routine now . . during the 3-4 week low cal phase I run once weekly.
  • fivefatcats
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    Those results are horrible, out of a total 28 lbs lost you lost 15.4 lbs of lean body weight, that is a lot, and the less lean muscle you have the slower your metabolism, so you did slow your metabolism down with HCG. You actually lost more muscle than fat, why would anyone do a diet where you lose more muscle than fat.

    So what would be good numbers, then?
  • MIMITIME
    MIMITIME Posts: 405 Member
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    Too rigid for me. I would not be able to hold out for the long haul.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Those results are horrible, out of a total 28 lbs lost you lost 15.4 lbs of lean body weight, that is a lot, and the less lean muscle you have the slower your metabolism, so you did slow your metabolism down with HCG. You actually lost more muscle than fat, why would anyone do a diet where you lose more muscle than fat.

    So what would be good numbers, then?

    with a 28lb weight loss you would not want to lose more than 1-5 lbs of muscle (<20% of your loss) if you don't have a lot to lose, if you had a lot to lose you would only want to lose 0-5% so out of 28 lbs that would be 0-1.5 loss of muscle.

    The slower you lose weight the less muscle you will lose, as your deficit is better for your body given the amount of fat you have. On top of that if you strength train and eat a good amount of protein you can limit the amount of muscle you will lose.
  • RangerSteve
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    The results are NOT horrible.

    If you lose weight, you WILL lose lean weight also.

    If “Sue” weighs 200 lbs and is 30% body fat, she is 140lbs lean and 60lbs fat.

    If she drops to 150 without losing any lean she now weighs 140 lean and 10 fat – that’s only 7% body fat – NOT POSSIBLE.

    At 150, if she was 25% body fat, she would be 112.5 lbs lean and 37.5lbs fat, meaning she lost 27.5lbs lean weight and 22.5lbs fat weight.

    These are GREAT statistics.

    IT IS THE RATIO OF FAT TO LEAN OR THE BODY FAT PERCENTAGE THAT YOU SHOULD BE PAYING ATTENTION TO.

    If you think you can lose a significant amount of weight without losing any lean weight, you’re kidding yourself.

    @ erickirb – that is my routine now . . during the 3-4 week low cal phase I run once weekly.

    If you DIET CORRECTLY, you will lose very very very minimal muscle mass. That's why you're supposed to do it slowly while lifting weights to maintain muscle mass. Stupid diets like HCG don't take that into account because it's all about scale weight and starving yourself. If that's the case, just don't drink water for a couple days and then weigh yourself. You can lose a solid 10 pounds that way. Who cares if it's not healthy!
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    The results are NOT horrible.

    If you lose weight, you WILL lose lean weight also.

    If “Sue” weighs 200 lbs and is 30% body fat, she is 140lbs lean and 60lbs fat.

    If she drops to 150 without losing any lean she now weighs 140 lean and 10 fat – that’s only 7% body fat – NOT POSSIBLE.

    At 150, if she was 25% body fat, she would be 112.5 lbs lean and 37.5lbs fat, meaning she lost 27.5lbs lean weight and 22.5lbs fat weight.

    These are GREAT statistics.

    IT IS THE RATIO OF FAT TO LEAN OR THE BODY FAT PERCENTAGE THAT YOU SHOULD BE PAYING ATTENTION TO.

    If you think you can lose a significant amount of weight without losing any lean weight, you’re kidding yourself.

    @ erickirb – that is my routine now . . during the 3-4 week low cal phase I run once weekly.

    I am aware you will lose muscle but it would be much better if this 200 lb person with 140 lbs lean lost 50 lbs, slowly to where they only lose 10 lbs lean mass (20% of total loss), which would be them at 150 with 130 lbs lean mass, and 20 lbs of fat with a BF% of 13.3%, not that is really low, but 30% BF is not that high to begin with, so most likely this 200 lb person should only be aiming for a 30 lb loss to 170 and of the 30,6 lb loss would be lean, so now lean mass 134 total weight 170, 36lbs of fat or now 21.1% BF% at 170, vs your number of 150 25%.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
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    I can tell you from first hand experience you dont always lose muscle while losing weight. I started my journey at 18% body fat at 210 lbs and now i am 195 a 11% body fat. If you train right and eat well the weight comes off without affecting lean muscle mass.
  • fivefatcats
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    That data is a great argument. You make a valid and respectable point.

    From that perspective, I would agree that my numbers are not as stellar as I have argued them to be.

    My goal then, should be and is to dedicate more time to resistance/weight training (which I have been meaning to do anyway) to adjust my body composition/ body fat percentage without any change in weight.

    I still feel that the Hcg diet was effective and not detrimental to my health. At the very least, it helped me break though a plateau to reach new numbers.

    Not everyone is successful "dieting correctly". But generally I feel" diet failure" is most often a result of one's ability (or lack thereof) to stick to a program, regardless of what program it is.
  • fivefatcats
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    .
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
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    That data is a great argument. You make a valid and respectable point.

    From that perspective, I would agree that my numbers are not as stellar as I have argued them to be.

    My goal then, should be and is to dedicate more time to resistance/weight training (which I have been meaning to do anyway) to adjust my body composition/ body fat percentage without any change in weight.

    I still feel that the Hcg diet was effective and not detrimental to my health. At the very least, it helped me break though a plateau to reach new numbers.

    Not everyone is successful "dieting correctly". But generally I feel" diet failure" is most often a result of one's ability (or lack thereof) to stick to a program, regardless of what program it is.

    I would like to say, you are probably the only one I have encountered so far that has been able to take constructive criticism on this board regarding HCG and I would like to say thank you. Unfortunately, even when you show people the math, they don't want to hear it becauase they believe the number on the scale outweighs the health benefits. Too many people associate light weight with good health. Hell, I have seen matharon runners diet of heart attacks from eating like crap (but they were skinny).

    And keep in mind, we never said the diet didn't work, many of us just argue it isn't good for your system and goes against every reputable health organizations recommendations due to the low caloric intake. There are cheaper and healthier routes than HCG but they require work. I have seen the same weight lose results with these programs but it does require you to workout 6 days a week. The programs I speak of are stuff like p90x, insanity, turbo fire, etc... My friend went from 280 to 235 in 90 days of p90x eating 1800 calories a day with a splurge day on saturday.


    Also, it's great that HCG didn't screw you up, unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there that the results are a lot different and severely mess their system up.


    Best of luck!
  • trini14
    trini14 Posts: 110 Member
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    Starving yourself/malnurishing your body will never work for long term results. Its taken me over a year and a half to lose 133 lbs- but I am doing it without harming my body. I haven't lost muscle- I'm turning into an athlete, doing things that I never imagined I could do (run a 10K, workout hard and with purpose, shopping in non-plus size stores, ect), and have a lot of energy. Literally, I can't imagine living on 500 cals a day- not worth it to me. Not worth doing a fad diet, just to go back to the way you were before and gain it all back. Slowly make the changes, and get on a path to a healthier life. I've come to figure out that losing weight is more mental than physical. If you don't do any of the mental changes and work- you will be back at square one.

    ^ this well said.
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