Is the HCG Diet safe??

jtodacheeny

Hey everybody, I have a question...a good friend of mine has begun taking HCG hormones to lose weight. She has lost 21 pounds in 24 days, and is eating a VERY small amount of calories per day. This all seems sooooooo unhealthy, and I was wondering if anyone has done it or knows anything about it, and will it have long term health affects for her??? Thanks for your input.

hiddensecant

Your instincts are right; it's unhealthy and about as dangerous as any other starvation diet.

The guy who throught up the idea was heavily fined and banned from making infomercials because of his false claims. Look up "Kevin Trudeau HCG" and you'll find a lot about it.

Nich0le

I have heard a lot about this from women at the gym, the hormone itself is probably not why they are losing, it is the extremely low calorie diet. It will be hard to maintain and can't possibly be a healthy way to lose weight.

Although it is always tempting to go for a quick fix, slow and steady are truly better. With a 1-2 lb loss per week you will be more likely to maintain your weight loss long term because your path there will be easier to adjust and keep up with.

Just stick to what you are doing and the results will come......and last longer than your friends quick fix!

allbut1

Hi.

I've tried te HCG diet. I do not recommend it to anyone. The reason being- you gain all the weight back in a matter of weeks. I started the diet in April of 08 at 194 lbs and by October of 08 I had gotten down to 161 lbs. I was tired of starving myself. (You eat 500 calories a day, and they tell you what food you can eat.) Like for instance- one day's worth of food consisted of 200 grams of chicken, or very VERY low fat beef, 1 apple, and or 1 orange, or 1 handful of strawberries. (2 fruits total in a day) and 6 oz of either: cabbage, lettuce, celery, cucumber, tomato. And of course all the water, tea, and coffee you could drink. (But you couldn't add anything to it but stevia for sweetning.) That basically is what one day consisted of. The only real reason I can think of for losing weight on this diet is you have NO food in your digestive tract. As soon as you start eating again- you gain.

I know with the holidays I went a little overboard with eating. And I didn't stick to the "protocol" of the diet for the maintenance round. But like I said, I was tired of starving myself. I hated going out with friends and seeing them eat whatever they wanted, while I just had water. I also had to fix 2 dishes for every meal. One for me and one for my family.

The moment I stopped the diet, I gained most all the weight back. (Back to180 lbs by Valentines!) I noticed my "fat deposits" were not in the same places as before. My arms and legs have both gained 1 inch, while my waist seems to be the same in inches, I look more round. Definitely not the goal I had in mind. I tried 1 more round of HCG in April of 09 and couldn't force myself to stick to it.

I know dieting is more of a lifestyle change instead of a quick fix. It's still hard for me to control my eating habits, even after I went through all the trouble with that diet last year.

This year, my sister and I are challenging each other to eat better and exercie every morning. We've been doing this for about 2 weeks now, and so far I'm down almost 4 lbs. And I've just been watching what I eat. I usually ask myself if I'm really hungry or if I'm feeding my junkie when I'm standing at the fridge. I've all but cut out sugar from my diet now. Just for the fact that I don't need it to live. I'm trying to eat more healthy. But as you probably know- healthy, fresh food is more expensive and rare than any processed food. (Which I think is totally ridiculous!) So to compensate, I've planted a great big garden this year!

Ok, enough of me rambling. If you have any questions about the diet, please feel free to message me. I'll be happy to tell you my findings, and experiences with it.

Have a great day!

LeanLioness

HCG diet is very dangerous IMO................

MindyAZ9

Wow and here is it my doctor pushing me to do this HCG Diet. There are quite a few doctor's pushing this to patients. Implying it is perfectly healthy.

moujie

Wow and here is it my doctor pushing me to do this HCG Diet. There are quite a few doctor's pushing this to patients. Implying it is perfectly healthy.

RUN from that doctor as fast as you can! any doctor who thinks 500 calories a day is ok is a quack (no disrespect to ducks)!