Hcg

3dogsrunning

Its funny to me that GNC and all of these other health food stores are making a mint from people who dont actually know that you cant buy authentic HCG without a doctor script. Its a hormone and must be screened for disease just as blood must before it is given as a transfusion or such.

Yep, the synthetic is actually illegal. The pure kind is legal for hormone therapy and as a fertility drug, not for weightloss.

My cousin argues that with me by saying, "then when we prescribe it, why do we code it for weightloss?" I say, "Because your clinic is a scam and your doctor is a quack."

They will probably be on the news for some kind of medical fraud.

I'm shocked that the FDA doesn't crack down on this as a form of fraud.

Good point about the over-the-counter HCG stuff too.

Don't know about FDA but Health Canada's reasoning is "Health Canada regulates the sale of prescription drugs. It does not regulate the the prescribing or use of medicines". That fall under the authority that regulates doctors.

zaph0d

A friend of mine lost 20lbs in 15 days on HCG. And she didn't even workout...she barely ate..but says it worth it. She is starting to convince me to try it...opinions please!!

:laugh:

20 lbs of what?

jesse1379

I have found that a lot of these same HCG clinics also cater to the amphetamine crowd. They specialize in prescribing speed type drugs like Redux, Adipex, etc. Thats not ,to say that those particular drugs dont have a place but I have seen a lot of people abusing the existense of these clinics solely as a hook up for their ampetamine fix.

Let me emphasize again before I step on anyones toes...I know that there are legit uses for these drugs. Not everyone that takes them is a drug addict, just as everyone that takes opiates for pain is not.

GeekGirl23

If you want to hurt your metabolism sure... go ahead. Easy fixes are not permanent.

aemoomoo

this.

DebbieLyn63

[I have seen posts lately about this and starting thinking about my experience with it. I wrote this in my blog this morning. I apologize for the length, but thought perhaps it would give a very detailed account of someone who actually used it and was successful in losing, but after much soul-searching, wouldn't do it again. Hope this helps someone who is considering it, make a more informed decision.]

HCG diet

Two years ago I heard about the HCG diet from a friend who had lost 25 pounds in 6 weeks on it. I researched it to see what it was. I don't normally buy into the fad diets, especially ones that used drugs, so I was a bit skeptical, but curious about how it worked.

The diet part consists of 500 calories a day consisting of 2 servings of lean protein, 1 apple, and a short list of allowed high fiber veggies. I wasn't too sure that was a healthy way to lose weight, and figured it would drastically kill my already slow metabolism, but the kicker for me was the HCG factor.

As you probably know, HCG is the hormone your body makes when you are pregnant. When you are pregnant, your body will take care of your baby. If you don't eat enough, your body will make sure that your baby gets fed by targeting your fat stores in your belly. That sounded good, but does it really work that way?

I looked at my history of pregnancies. With my first child, I gained 60 pounds. She weighed 7 pounds at birth. I lost all the baby weight plus some within the 6 months after she was born, and shortly after her first birthday I got pregnant with my second child.

I was extremely sick with her for the first 6 months, so I didn't gain anything til my third trimester. I was alread at a low weight (136) so my dr was telling me I needed to gain weight. I did finally get past the morning sickness and gained 20-25 pounds in the last 3 months. She weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces at birth. MORE than my first child who I fed like crazy for 9 months.

So that convinced me to give it a try. I went to a doctor to get the HCG in a cream form that you rubbed on your wrists to seep into your blood stream. Didn't want to do the shots. BTW, any HCG you get without a prescription has very little if any real HCG in it, so don't buy into the MLM schemes with the drops. Save your money.

So I did it. It was really tough for the first couple of days, but then it got easier. I wasn't really that hungry and I ended up losing 22 pounds on the first 6 week round. I was so excited, 199! I was back in onederland for the first time since 2003. I also felt better. Less pain, less moody. I was on track to be at goal weight by my 30th HS reunion.

Waited 4 weeks before I could do the next round. I gained 3 pounds during that break, but knew I would lose it, so I didn't worry. The next round didn't go as well. I really had trouble staying to the plan 100%. I wanted broccoli. I didn't have carb cravings, but wanted more healthy food and more variety. I also wanted to exercise, but doing that made me really hungry and tired. I ended up only losing 6 pounds in the 6 weeks, and 3 of those were making up the 3 I gained. So net loss was 25 pounds. Still I felt awesome and was glad I did it. I kept 20 of it off for over a year, but last year stresses of life eventsgot to me and I just completely gave up on watching my diet and ended up at 228 by August of this year. I had regained all the weight plus an extra 7 pounds. Yeah, I was really kicking myself for doing that. I am still 14 pounds away from getting back to my lowest weight of 196.

So I started here on Aug 27th. Lost 6 pounds the first week, and 2 the second week. Then I hit a wall. Dropped my carbs and lost a couple of more pounds, then hit another wall. Lowered my calorie level, upped my exercise, and lost some more, but was still finding it very hardto lose at least 1 pound a week. I was tempting to do a round of HCG cus I just really wanted to get back below 200 and thought that would do it for me.

Then I did the math. My first round I lost 22 pounds in six weeks. The first 15 came off in the first 3 weeks, so the last 3 weeks were only 7lbs lost. Then I had a 4 week break where I gained 3 back, then 6 more weeks on where I only netted 3 pounds lost after the 3 I had gained.

Total time to lose 25 pounds was 16 weeks, averaging 1.5 pounds per week.

And my life was put on hold pretty much for that time. I couldn't eat out, or eat at someone elses house due to my extremely limited food choices. I couldn't exercise. But I did look a lot better. Had I continued eating low carb, but at a higher level and exercised regularly I could have kept off the weight, but I didnt.

In the 8 weeks since I started on MFP I have lost over 18 pounds. That comes out to more than 2 pounds per week. I have done this while eating at 1000-1200 calories per day and exercising around 5 days a week.

I eat REAL food, and lots of it. I have a variety of food that is very tasty. I don't eat white sugar, or grains, but I don't really miss them, as my lower pain level and higher energy level is SO well worth it. I find substitutes to foods I used to eat and miss. Atkins bars help me up my protein while eating basically a chocolate candy bar. Cauliflower is a wonderful substitute for mashed potatoes and even pizza crust, as I discovered this week. Protein drinks blended with frozen strawberries and bananas give me an awesome ice cream-like treat to share with my hubby many nights.

When the scale doesn't move for several days I start to get discouraged and start thinking about doing the HCG. That 25 lb loss in 6 weeks is very tempting. But I have to realize that

1. I won't lose that much since I have already been low carb for so long.

2. I would have to stop exercising and that just isn't a good idea for me.

3. I would have to go back to eating the extremely limited allowed foods, and that would just really suck right now.

4. The HCG cream is $100 for 6 weeks.

and most of all

I am proving that I can lose MORE weight doing it the right way, and am much happier while doing it.

Can I continue eating like this for the rest of my life?? You betcha! And I will be looking hot by the time I hit 50 next summer!

So Dr Andy- I will pass on the HCG, and will continue on this journey doing what I am doing. It is working!


(And BTW, the friend that originally told me about it, quickly gained her weight back plus even more)

fbmandy55

I have found that a lot of these same HCG clinics also cater to the amphetamine crowd. They specialize in prescribing speed type drugs like Redux, Adipex, etc. Thats not ,to say that those particular drugs dont have a place but I have seen a lot of people abusing the existense of these clinics solely as a hook up for their ampetamine fix.

Let me emphasize again before I step on anyones toes...I know that there are legit uses for these drugs. Not everyone that takes them is a drug addict, just as everyone that takes opiates for pain is not.

My cousin's boyfriend is actually a patient of theirs and that is how they met. He is going for testosterone therapy. He's been through a vicious cycle of steroid using and with the testosterone the Army pumped in him, he can't even get a hard on anymore, and he is 25. His body is totally out of whack.

This clinic has him on around 30 different kinds of medications, has him buying OTC supplements and in my opinion, are making his problems worse!

jesse1379

There have been times where steroids really appealed to me even though I tend to stay au naturale most of the time. However you hit on something there lol. Now I remember why I dont take them.

psuLemon

Dear Posters,

MyFitnessPal strongly recommends that our users follow the calorie guidelines automatically assigned by our site, unless they are under the direct supervision of a doctor. We are currently reviewing the medical literature on the HCG/500 calorie diet and reserve the right to moderate against discussions of this diet at any time in the future.

Thank you all for your concern. We're definitely looking closely at this issue


psuLemon
Forum Moderator