500 Calorie Diet? Yes or No?

dancer4275

I'm thinking of going the HCG diet. You take drops of a natural substance which is supposed to help control appetite. You're only supposed to eat 500 cals a day when on it. Has anyone on mfp ever heard of it, tried it, or knows anyone who's tried it? Is this a good idea? (and please no "you would be stupid for going on this diet" comments! haha!) I'm just want to know if it's a safe, harmless diet before I actually start. Thanks!

quitmakingexcuses

Just a heads up, you're probs going to get a lot of negative comments. Just do a search of the message boards and there are a TON of threads on this!

TluvK

I would never call you stupid for considering this, but I think you really need to sit down and think about the fact that the average person should consume roughly 2,000 calories a day with a proper amount of exercise. Now, think about eating a quarter of that and see if you can answer the question on your own.

Thomasm198

Please read this topic:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/338789-looking-for-peeps-who-did-hcg-diet-with-bad-results

This article:
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/diet-fitness/diet/articles/2011/03/14/hcg-diet-dangers-is-fast-weight-loss-worth-the-risk

And the following Blog.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MrsCon40/view/hcg-a-handy-reply-to-the-multitude-of-quick-fix-seekers-148860

Below is the text of the blog

So, here’s the bottom line on this “hCG Diet“.

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a hormone approved by the FDA for use in pre-pubertal boys to help aid normal sexual development, and in women to treat fertility problems. hCG is produced by the placenta and is also found in pregnant women’s urine. It is not approved for weight loss and has never been proven by credible peer reviewed science to cause weight loss. So how did hCG surface as a weight loss solution?

Back in the 1930’s, a physician named A.T.W. Simeons was using hCG for the standard reproductive medical conditions for which it was approved. He observed that some of his patients dropped weight while on the hCG injections. Thinking that perhaps the hCG was the cause, he administered the injections along with a dietary plan to overweight patients and noted weight loss. Please note that subsequent researchers repeated his clinical study and were never able to replicate any association between hCG and weight loss.

Since then, most independent, peer-reviewed studies have shown no difference in weight loss between subjects on a low-calorie diet who received hCG injections and subjects who received a placebo. In 1975, the FDA noted that hCG is not a weight loss drug. In 1995, the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology published a summary of research showing no hCG related weight loss association. The American Society of Bariatric Physicians does not recommend hCG for weight loss as noted in a December 2009 position paper.

Flash forward to 2007 when Kevin Trudeau published his book “The Weight Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About“, in which he concocted a weight loss plan which included hCG injections. Trudeau has no professional training in medicine, health or science. He is widely known as a controversial businessman who has tangled with the law regarding false health claims related to his books and products. You’d think that common sense would dictate running the other way when this guy hawks anything. But, people are desperate and when they are promised rapid weight loss and an end to their misery, they’ll often line up to sign up.

What is involved with the hCG “diet”:

1) Daily injections of hCG, with online prices ranging from $30 to more than $600 for a month’s supply. One side effect is pregnancy, as hCG increases fertility among women.

2) 500 calories per day of highly restrictive food intake, including coconut oil. One tablespoon of coconut oil contains 13.6 g total fats, 11.8 g of which are artery clogging saturated fats, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.

3) A range of body “flush and detox” regimens. Here’s my quote from a prior WebMD interview about this regimen. “All the flushes and cleanses are pure nonsense, unnecessary, and there is no scientific basis for these recommendations,” says nutrition and metabolism expert Pamela Peeke, MD, chief medical correspondent for Discovery Health channel. “Your body is well equipped with organs, such as the liver and kidneys, and the immune system, to rid itself of potential toxins and do an excellent job of cleansing itself without needing flushes or cleanses.“

Here are other concerns related to this “diet”:

1) You’re starving yourself. Your brain alone requires 600 calories per day to function optimally. By consuming only 500 calories per day, of course you’ll drop weight. But at what price? You’re cannibalizing your muscle mass, reducing your metabolism and consequently the effectiveness of your calorie burning. If I had you consume only 500 calories per day and then injected you with water, should I now call this the amazing water cure for weight loss? hCG has nothing to do with your weight loss. Starvation does.

2) It’s impossible to do. So you blame yourself (and not the author) when you cannot complete his plan. This is a core element of the scam. People who are overweight already feel guilty and are often filled with shame. After having laid down a lot of cash and not being able to successfully comply for a month or more, they figure “Oh well, just another diet I’ve failed at”.

3) It is unsustainable. This regimen is almost impossible to adhere to for more than a very short period of time. There are no healthy eating or physical activity behaviors to learn. Eventually you would have to enter the real world. And then, what do you do?

4) It’s unsafe. You cannot meet your baseline survival nutritional requirements on a starvation plan. You can seriously alter your healthy intestinal bacterial flora with repeated “cleanses and detox” regimens. This can lead to altered bowel function and inability to appropriately absorb food nutrients, which can then impair immune function.

Further, many of you have a lot of weight to remove. You may also have associated medical problems, including high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and high blood sugar levels. You could also be on medications to treat these as well as mental conditions like depression and anxiety. When people buy into a diet scam like hCG, they usually don’t tell their medical team. Rapid weight loss, radically altered food consumption, cleanses and detox regimens can seriously affect your underlying mental and physical conditions and alter the clearance and blood level of medications you’re taking.

Don’t turn yourself into a science fair project. Beware of these radical scam approaches as they can deleteriously affect your health and wellbeing. In the best of all worlds, you’re working with credible health professionals to remove your excess weight.

5) You’re not breaking food addictions. The promise is that you’ll no longer be addicted to food and any abnormal eating behaviors. Credible research has clearly shown that starvation and useless injections are not the solution to food addictions. Behavioral modification, healthy eating practices and regular physical activity have clearly been shown to control food addictions.

6) You’re broke. Take a moment and add up the total costs of the books and products required. That’s why I’ve renamed this “diet” the High Cost Game scam.

Finally, there will always be an endless supply of frauds and scams created to prey on your desires to drop weight. To help guide you, here are the Food and Nutrition Science Alliances’ “Ten Red Flags of Junk Science“:

* Recommendations that promise a quick fix.
* Dire warnings of danger from a single product or regimen.
* Claims that sound too good to be true.
* Simplistic conclusions drawn from a complex scientific study.
* Recommendations based on a single study.
* Dramatic statements that are refuted by reputable scientific organizations.
* Lists of “good” and “bad” foods.
* Recommendations made to help sell a product.
* Recommendations based on studies published without peer review.
* Recommendations from studies that ignore difficulties among individuals or groups.

Always remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it is. Anything worth doing in your life requires time and effort to achieve and succeed. Run from false promises like the hCG scam. Stick with life-giving whole foods and physical activity. Now, that’s better living through your own chemistry.

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

(Thank you MrsCon40 for this blog)

lor007

Simple answer: No.

ninerbuff

IMO, ballet dancers (because of the way the body is viewed) are some of the most notorious under eaters out there. There is no reasoning with a person who views their "normal" body as fat. At 5'8" and wanting to be 105lb is a body dysmorphia issue. So no using a 500 calorie diet to just get rid of a few pounds without approaching a sensible way isn't the way to go.

voluptuous_veggie

One of the side effects is DEATH. Don't believe me? I'd have you ask my former patient, but she's six feet under ground.

engineman312

of course its going to work... BECAUSE YOU ARE EATING 500 CALORIES A DAY!!!!!!!!! once you lose all the weight and go back to regular eating, you'll gain it all back because you didn't develop any good eating habits while on this diet.

HoopFire5602

OMFG YOU ARE MY HERO.

Please read this topic:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/338789-looking-for-peeps-who-did-hcg-diet-with-bad-results

This article:
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/diet-fitness/diet/articles/2011/03/14/hcg-diet-dangers-is-fast-weight-loss-worth-the-risk

And the following Blog.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MrsCon40/view/hcg-a-handy-reply-to-the-multitude-of-quick-fix-seekers-148860

Below is the text of the blog

So, here’s the bottom line on this “hCG Diet“.

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a hormone approved by the FDA for use in pre-pubertal boys to help aid normal sexual development, and in women to treat fertility problems. hCG is produced by the placenta and is also found in pregnant women’s urine. It is not approved for weight loss and has never been proven by credible peer reviewed science to cause weight loss. So how did hCG surface as a weight loss solution?

Back in the 1930’s, a physician named A.T.W. Simeons was using hCG for the standard reproductive medical conditions for which it was approved. He observed that some of his patients dropped weight while on the hCG injections. Thinking that perhaps the hCG was the cause, he administered the injections along with a dietary plan to overweight patients and noted weight loss. Please note that subsequent researchers repeated his clinical study and were never able to replicate any association between hCG and weight loss.

Since then, most independent, peer-reviewed studies have shown no difference in weight loss between subjects on a low-calorie diet who received hCG injections and subjects who received a placebo. In 1975, the FDA noted that hCG is not a weight loss drug. In 1995, the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology published a summary of research showing no hCG related weight loss association. The American Society of Bariatric Physicians does not recommend hCG for weight loss as noted in a December 2009 position paper.

Flash forward to 2007 when Kevin Trudeau published his book “The Weight Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About“, in which he concocted a weight loss plan which included hCG injections. Trudeau has no professional training in medicine, health or science. He is widely known as a controversial businessman who has tangled with the law regarding false health claims related to his books and products. You’d think that common sense would dictate running the other way when this guy hawks anything. But, people are desperate and when they are promised rapid weight loss and an end to their misery, they’ll often line up to sign up.

What is involved with the hCG “diet”:

1) Daily injections of hCG, with online prices ranging from $30 to more than $600 for a month’s supply. One side effect is pregnancy, as hCG increases fertility among women.

2) 500 calories per day of highly restrictive food intake, including coconut oil. One tablespoon of coconut oil contains 13.6 g total fats, 11.8 g of which are artery clogging saturated fats, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.

3) A range of body “flush and detox” regimens. Here’s my quote from a prior WebMD interview about this regimen. “All the flushes and cleanses are pure nonsense, unnecessary, and there is no scientific basis for these recommendations,” says nutrition and metabolism expert Pamela Peeke, MD, chief medical correspondent for Discovery Health channel. “Your body is well equipped with organs, such as the liver and kidneys, and the immune system, to rid itself of potential toxins and do an excellent job of cleansing itself without needing flushes or cleanses.“

Here are other concerns related to this “diet”:

1) You’re starving yourself. Your brain alone requires 600 calories per day to function optimally. By consuming only 500 calories per day, of course you’ll drop weight. But at what price? You’re cannibalizing your muscle mass, reducing your metabolism and consequently the effectiveness of your calorie burning. If I had you consume only 500 calories per day and then injected you with water, should I now call this the amazing water cure for weight loss? hCG has nothing to do with your weight loss. Starvation does.

2) It’s impossible to do. So you blame yourself (and not the author) when you cannot complete his plan. This is a core element of the scam. People who are overweight already feel guilty and are often filled with shame. After having laid down a lot of cash and not being able to successfully comply for a month or more, they figure “Oh well, just another diet I’ve failed at”.

3) It is unsustainable. This regimen is almost impossible to adhere to for more than a very short period of time. There are no healthy eating or physical activity behaviors to learn. Eventually you would have to enter the real world. And then, what do you do?

4) It’s unsafe. You cannot meet your baseline survival nutritional requirements on a starvation plan. You can seriously alter your healthy intestinal bacterial flora with repeated “cleanses and detox” regimens. This can lead to altered bowel function and inability to appropriately absorb food nutrients, which can then impair immune function.

Further, many of you have a lot of weight to remove. You may also have associated medical problems, including high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and high blood sugar levels. You could also be on medications to treat these as well as mental conditions like depression and anxiety. When people buy into a diet scam like hCG, they usually don’t tell their medical team. Rapid weight loss, radically altered food consumption, cleanses and detox regimens can seriously affect your underlying mental and physical conditions and alter the clearance and blood level of medications you’re taking.

Don’t turn yourself into a science fair project. Beware of these radical scam approaches as they can deleteriously affect your health and wellbeing. In the best of all worlds, you’re working with credible health professionals to remove your excess weight.

5) You’re not breaking food addictions. The promise is that you’ll no longer be addicted to food and any abnormal eating behaviors. Credible research has clearly shown that starvation and useless injections are not the solution to food addictions. Behavioral modification, healthy eating practices and regular physical activity have clearly been shown to control food addictions.

6) You’re broke. Take a moment and add up the total costs of the books and products required. That’s why I’ve renamed this “diet” the High Cost Game scam.

Finally, there will always be an endless supply of frauds and scams created to prey on your desires to drop weight. To help guide you, here are the Food and Nutrition Science Alliances’ “Ten Red Flags of Junk Science“:

* Recommendations that promise a quick fix.
* Dire warnings of danger from a single product or regimen.
* Claims that sound too good to be true.
* Simplistic conclusions drawn from a complex scientific study.
* Recommendations based on a single study.
* Dramatic statements that are refuted by reputable scientific organizations.
* Lists of “good” and “bad” foods.
* Recommendations made to help sell a product.
* Recommendations based on studies published without peer review.
* Recommendations from studies that ignore difficulties among individuals or groups.

Always remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it is. Anything worth doing in your life requires time and effort to achieve and succeed. Run from false promises like the hCG scam. Stick with life-giving whole foods and physical activity. Now, that’s better living through your own chemistry.

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

(Thank you MrsCon40 for this blog)

creagan2011

100% agree with this comment. Do your research...

chickenpoppa

not a good idea

FairyMiss

I'm thinking of going the HCG diet. You take drops of a natural substance which is supposed to help control appetite. You're only supposed to eat 500 cals a day when on it. Has anyone on mfp ever heard of it, tried it, or knows anyone who's tried it? Is this a good idea? (and please no "you would be stupid for going on this diet" comments! haha!) I'm just want to know if it's a safe, harmless diet before I actually start. Thanks!

first off the drops are wasting you money, the real thing is in no way proven to help, the drops are water.
save you money and just eat 500 cals if thats what you want. you will get used to it and not be so hungry.

i am not however saying that this is a good idea, but to each his/her own

maidentl

just want to know if it's a safe, harmless diet before I actually start. Thanks!

No. Of course, there are people out there who have managed to starve the weight off without getting sick. Um, yay? You might be one of them or you might be the one who has half her hair fall out and collapses in the middle of the grocery store. I'd prefer not to take that chance myself.

JatieKo621

I highly doubt the hCG does that much, the fact that anything under 800 cal a day is considered anorexic is why you lose weight. So, if you think "should I starve myself to lose weight and also take drops of what comes out of a pregnant womans pee?"


.........I am gonna say no.

deathstarclock

Holy **** on a stick

Unwrapping_Candy

Uhhhh.....NO!

JennLifts

Recovering from eating disorders.. I might advise against it.

Poison5119

IF YOU WANT IT FAST
IT WILL NOT LAST.

fbmandy55

My mom is doing the HCG diet now. I am doing it the MFP way-naturally. She goes to bed starving every night, i do not. She eats the same chicken, green beans and apples daily, i eat what I want in moderation. She has to give herself injections and I don't. She drank soda water last night with stevia and got sick. She is losing fast because she is starving herself, I am losing nicely too but I will keep it off.

I think I'm the winner here.

micahnelson

If you have the willpower to eat 500 Calories a day, which you may have, you would also have the willpower to eat 1200-1500 calories a day.

Eating less than 1200 calories a day for any extended period of time is not weight loss, its physical abuse.

Eat 1200-1500 and exercise if you want to see more dramatic results. Just make sure those 1200-1500 calories are nutrient rich or you are going to be very ineffective in terms of your metabolism.

Bankman1989

This the dumbest diet in america. All it is is a starvation diet. Then after a week or two you carb load and weigh more than you did before you started. #Epicfailure