HCG Diet, fact or fad???

lindsay1982

Anyone heard of the HCG Diet, it is a hormone that is either injected ot sublingual. While on the HCG hormone, you only consume 500 calories, and the HCG causes you to lose "abnormal" fat, and you never feel hungry. Soooo, any takers???

greeneyedgirl829

I'm really not being a smart a** or anything, but I can choose 3 parts from your short post that give the answers by themselves. It is never healthy to inject an artificial hormone into your body. 500 calories is not a healthy amount for any person to consume, you may lose weight, but then you'll lose muscle and go into starvation mode. Never feeling hungry? Nuh uh, either untrue or extremely unhealthy. This sounds like a horrible idea...hope this helps!

BarbH1

Be very careful of a "diet" like this. FIrst of all, 500 calories per day is far too low for anyone. Secondly, you are not learning anything about healthy eating. Portion control and the right foods will get you the same results. It may take longer to reach your goal, but you will have done your body no harm and will have learned a lot about you and your diet.

fitterpam

Isn't HCG the pregnancy hormone? I would think that diet could cause your hormones to go all out of whack because your body will think that it is pregnant.....doesn't sound like a good idea to me. And I haven't even thought of the 500 calories a day....yet....

poustotah

hCG is a hormone that, in its natural state, will produce these types of results on a long term basis. Natural implies that your body is making it on it's own. If this is the case with hCG you are either pregnant or have a tumor. When hormones are altered and the forced into an abnormal environment you are taking tremendous risks with your health and your body's ability to function correctly should you decide to have children. This particular hormone is produced in the pituitary gland and is directly affected by the hypothalamus. This controls all of your 'stuff' including your hormone levels and the production of your ovaries - you're basically steroiding your body into thinking its pregnant. Now I've been pregnant and during the pregnancies, I didn't feel hungry during the first trimester (when the hCG is working it's butt off and making my sick) and I did slim down some. I then went on to gain 40+ lbs during each pregnancy and continued to eat like I was still pregnant AFTER I had the baby.

Be VERY careful.

Stephomie

DON'T DO IT!!! Never inject a hormone into your body unless you are receiving some sort of medical treatment provided by a licensed physician. You didn't put your weight on overnight, so you can't expect to lose it overnight, either. It's much healthier for you to do this the right way, by eating the right foods & exercising. If you need more help, then I suggest you contact a dietician at your local hospital/clinic, or a diabetes center (you don't have to be diabetic to meet with them). They can help set up a healthy eating plan to get you headed in the right direction.

I think you know the right thing to do from everyones responses here - good luck!

firegirlred

My husband did this-but only the diet portion-not the hcg. He started 9 weeks ago, and has lost 54 or more pounds over that period of time.

It is my opinion that this is not safe, nor will it last, but I'm just supporting him. He actually ate more than 500 calories because he is a BIG (strong) guy. He didn't eat breakfast, just had coffee with truvia. Lunch would usually be a lean protein like chicken and some vegetables. He would eat a MIXING BOWL full of vegetables every night for dinner, plus another portion of lean meat.

We'll see. I hope for his sake, mine and our children that the weight stays off. I'm reserving my opinion to see what happens next.

bby_baer

I actually just heard about this last Friday night. It is supposed to reset your metabolism. My mom has a client who is doing it and has lost 17 pounds in 3 wks. So, yes, it works, you lose weight, and it is supposed to be good for you. I suppose it's just one more thing that is controversial when it comes to natural health. I honestly am on the fence as far as how I feel about it. I was considering it, that is until I read the extremely strict guidelines for taking it. It goes way beyond diet. There is a list of which deodorants, soaps, shampoos, etc. to use. There is another list of how much of what to eat when, and what to absolutely avoid, such as certain oils and stuff. Regardless if it were proven to be safe or not, those guidelines already are enough for me to say no! I'm a single mom of two kids, I don't have the energy (or brain capacity, LOL) to worry about all that stuff on top of trying to be super-mom!! Concentrating on what I eat now and logging it on MFP takes up enough time and energy without dealing with all of that other stuff.
There is a whole lot more to it that just taking drops...

arasm

I would never inject Hormones into my body for ANY reason. There is NO way that can be good for you! Don't do it!

catherine1979

I say no way. I'd rather lose weight slowly and steadily and keep it off because I've learned something about healthy eating and exercise than quick fix results that won't last.

FrenchMob

Why do people always look for a quick fix? THERE IS NO LEGIT / HEALTHY QUICK FIX!!!!! It's called a healthy diet and some exercise....that's the ONLY fix!:grumble:

maryann78

You are suppose to have a Dr. inject the hormone into you. You would not be making the injection. Just wanted to clarify that.

sweetteacher123

You are getting good responses from your the posts on here! I believe Oprah said it best years ago; it was something along the lines of "If there was a shot a quick fix for weight loss, I would have it...no matter what it cost!" Injecting ANYTHING into your body is very dangerous. Eating under 500 calories a day is very dangerous. Real weight loss that is healthy and will stay off is slow and steady. Lose weight the right way. You'll be happy, healthier, and thinner in the long run!

P.S. I have heard of a few people who have done this. Number one, they were injecting themselves (scary!) and number two, one could barely get through an hour Zumba workout without passing out. Again, I repeat, DANGER!!!

bby_baer

I do not know much about this, but here is the site I was referred to when I found out about it...

yourhcg.com

These are drops, NOT injections. So, if you were going to go ahead and do it, this would probably the safer and less expensive way to do it.

nhendri

I worked at a beauty school and watched several people try this (the Chiropracter who prescribes the prescription did a seminar there). First off a chiropracter is very smart and they know alot but they do not specialize in the entire humane body. So does it sound resonable to have him inject a hormone into my hip No. Again I am not saying they are not knowledgable just maybe should precribe outside of their specialty. Anyways all the people I know who tried it had good result but a year later they all have gained and then some and are looking for the next quick fix. We also had several girls that would passed out or get sick because they were not being good to their body and giving it the fuel they needed . I would highly suggest against this unless you want to loose the weight Temporaly ( Crazy) and then gain more then you lost!!!

nhendri

Yes your suppose to have a Doc or a nurse inject it but they are not very strict on that. The people I know were able to pick it up and inject themselves after a couple of appts.

msrichmond

I'm doing it right now. Just started yesterday in fact and am using myfitnesspal to keep track of everything.

While I respect every post in this thread, those of you who talk about how you'd never inject hormones into yourself are fooling yourselves. Every piece of food you eat and the water you drink has stuff in it. It's why America is the fattest nation on Earth! It's why even though the diet industry rakes in hundreds of billions of $ per year, a vast majority of people are still heavy!

I've proven this to myself time & again because I used to travel internationally (Switzerland & Thailand) a lot, for extended periods of time. EVERY TIME I went to either country for at least a month, I'd come back 20-30lbs lighter. I didn't workout, and I ate a LOT. It's simply that the food is healthier outside the USA.

HCG helps you clean this stuff out.

Go to youtube and search for mamaclok and look at her videos. They are truly inspirational

I could be 100% wrong about this diet, and if I am, I will be the first to admit it and publicly denounce it. But I've seen too many fantastic results and the science & logic about it makes sense to me.

I'm very excited to finally have found a cure for my weight problem. I plan on losing 41.2 lbs in the next 2 months and I will reach that goal. I'll be blogging about my journey if you feel like checking it out.

PS. I'm doing it sublingualy. I could never inject myself.

adow

My dr. gave me a prescription that had HCG compounded into cream. I had extremely unbalanced hormones and was unable to lose weight naturally. My dr. is working at this time to correct the hormone problem and mentioned that a weight loss will also positively impact my hormone balance. It truly reset my metabolism and absolved abnormal fat. I lost 15 lbs and 6 inches in my belly alone. I was never hungry because the HCG burned the abnormal fat instead of calories I took in. I did not change my soaps or other products that I used. I even cheated throughout the diet which would cause me to stall for a day or 2 and not lose. I am now on mainenance mode and using the MFP as my calorie counter so I am careful at how many calories I consume. I am still not hungry now that the HCG is out of my system. I plan on doing another HCG cycle in 6-8 weeks to reach my goal weight! I feel like a new person with lots of energy I did not have before.

jenschu

Good luck Richmond! I just completed my first round. It went really well. I'll be doing a second round in the spring.

jagged

Before people respond to this person's HCG question, they might want to educate themselves about the diet itself. First of all, read Dr. Simeon's "Pounds and Inches" (free online, just Google it). Then go talk with some of the actual physicians (not just chiros offer this plan). This is not a fad diet or quick fix – at least it's not intended to be. It resets your hypothalamus to lower your "set point" of weight and helps you lose the desire for sugar and processed foods if you follow the plan.

The HCG and 500 calorie diet (or VLCD, for very low calorie diet) are only one phase of this program, and that phase only lasts from 21 to 40 days max, or your body can build an immunity to the HCG. The reason for the HCG and not just eating the 500 calories is that the HCG coaxes the body to use stored fat, not normal fat or structural fat (which helps hold organs in place). That's why people on HCG don't get sunken jaws and hollow eyes, or lose their chests. The purpose of the limitations is to do a type of chemical cleanse – as one person stated, our bodies are full of chemicals from the food and products we eat and use every day. I'm not a fanatic – I use my share of everyday products but am getting so much better about it now that I've educated myself. Just look at how many things have high fructose corn syrup in them, for example. That stuff is horrible for you and it's in almost everything in one shape or another.

I agree with the guy below – check out Clockster's videos on YouTube. And yes, she does sell the sublingual kits on eBay, but didn't do that until she saw how great this program worked. She lost 71 pounds. And you don't have to do shots (yes, you CAN do them yourself if you can handle doing that. My son's diabetic so I'd have no prob doing my own, but it didn't seem as handy as the other methods). Instead, you can get inhaled HCG or sublingual, which is drops you hold under your tongue for 10 minutes twice a day. And yes, you CAN use the homeopathic drops, which a few people I know have done, and they worked for them as well. I got the real thing and mixed it myself – it's easy to do and again, the gal on Youtube even has vids on how to mix it. I bought my HCG from pharmacyescrow.com and they emailed me a 120-page booklet with "Pounds and Inches," the program and a bunch of recipes.

My first day of the very low calorie diet was today, and I wasn't terribly hungry, It takes time for the HCG to build up, but that's what keeps the hunger away, so once it's in my system more, I expect the hunger pains will go away. (I also mowed, edged and raked my yard for about four hours, so that made me feel hungry.)

it's not for everyone, that's for sure. But I've counted calories, done Jenny Craig, TOPS, Weight Watchers, etc...and lost less than 8 pounds each time over many months. I even joined a gym and had a personal trainer, etc. and while I was very toned, I still weighed 20 pounds more than I should have so I hope to just do one round of the HCG and then maintain. (You have to have a six-week time period between phases of HCG to prevent immunity.) Once you lose the weight you want to lose, this plan reintroduces foods back into the diet. (I'm looking at a recipe for alfredo sauce, which looks pretty good!) Portion control and exercise, once you get the weight off, are key, as is eating foods that are REAL foods, not processed. I suggest people look into Clean Eating with Tosca Reno of Oxygen magazine as another option after doing HCG.

I think we all know that no matter how you lose it, without changing your habits, it WILL come back, so it's not so much how you lose it but how well you maintain afterward. Gaining it back is not the diet's fault...it's the willpower of the person in my opinion. I feel that losing it quickly will keep me motivated and I'm confident in my ability to maintain, since I've maintained being 20 pounds overweight for 16 years, since the birth of my second son.

I should also mention that I met with my doctor about it before I started it. I talked to my GYN at my annual physical about it, and she said several nurses she knew were on it and had lost a lot of weight. She said the hard part is keeping it off, but she felt it was fine to try and told me that if I followed it, she had no doubt I would lose the weight. That was a great green light for me, and I'm hoping to be able to share my results with her in a month's time.

Good luck if you decide to try it!

FrenchMob

Oooooooo, on youtube huh? If it's on there it must be healthy & true, right? Are people that naive?

Yes, I have read ALOT about it lately after it was posted on here, and yes, it's still a crock of *kitten* IMO. It's just another fad/quick fix feeding on people emotions & desparation to lose weight. 99% of people (if they don't screw up their organs/body from lack of calories) will gain it all back within a year of getting off the "junk".

I'm very excited to finally have found a cure for my weight problem.

CURE???? You're like every other fat person on earth. You ate too much and didn't move & got fat. I have a cure also: Eat less, move more! You can search that on Youtube also and there's a nice inspirational video on that cure also.

Sorry for sounding like an a**hole, but damn people, this is just plain ridiculous & dangerous, and any LEGIT doc that recommends this should have their license revoked.

Jenna1972

My fitness trainer said this was the scariest fad out there. And she doesn't make any money off of training me, she is an Army civilian who trains the best of the best in nutrition and endurance.

It just doesn't make sense to starve your body...even if it is short term and you don't feel hungry. It almost always mean some muscle loss..and as she pointed out, your heart is not immune from this loss! I am willing to bet there will be serious health issues related to this. Remember how many doctors were pimping phen-fen? They were quick to prescribe and quick to renounce...but the aftermath is horrible.

kiffypooh

Oooooooo, on youtube huh? If it's on there it must be healthy & true, right? Are people that naive?

Yes, I have read ALOT about it lately after it was posted on here, and yes, it's still a crock of *kitten* IMO. It's just another fad/quick fix feeding on people emotions & desparation to lose weight. 99% of people (if they don't screw up their organs/body from lack of calories) will gain it all back within a year of getting off the "junk".

I'm very excited to finally have found a cure for my weight problem.

CURE???? You're like every other fat person on earth. You ate too much and didn't move & got fat. I have a cure also: Eat less, move more! You can search that on Youtube also and there's a nice inspirational video on that cure also.

Sorry for sounding like an a**hole, but damn people, this is just plain ridiculous & dangerous, and any LEGIT doc that recommends this should have their license revoked.

Next they will be quoting wikipedia. I couldn't agree with you more on everything you've said!!

Eating less, and healthy! If someone believes there is stuff in all our food then eat clean! I know I lose more when I'm not eating as much processed foods, but that's my choice!!! I believe in eating fruits, veggies, lean meat and everything else in moderation. I don't have to read anything or watch anything to know that injecting yourself with something or taking a pill or drinking a shake or whatever is going to fix the problem or "cure you". Part of the process of losing weight, especially large amounts is finding out why and how you got to where you are and accepting responsibility for it. It's not just changing your eating or exercise plans, its about changing YOU!

KarenECunningham

I was shocked to hear HCG has come around again. It was very popular in the 1970's and I personally know of two people who ended up in the hospital because of this fad. Anyone who eats 500 calories a day is going to lose a ton of weight without the hormone injection. One of the people I know who ended up in the hospital was a close friend. Everything went crazy in her body including severe kidney problems. It wasn't the HCG that was the problem by itself it was also the starvation her body experienced by not eating enough calories. Everyone needs to make their own choices but before using HCG I would do a lot of research.

http://www.exploreexpandevolve.com/health-wellness/hcg-diet-dangers-is-using-hcg-worth-the-risks/

brendac72

I was just wondering what ever happened to just eating better, exercising and basically living a good life? How much weight do you need to lose that this HCG is so good that just regular diet & exercise isn't working? Hopefully it doesn't turn out to be like a Fen Phen kind of case. Look how good they used to say that was. But everyone has a right to their own opinion and wish everyone luck with your weight loss.

KarenECunningham

http://dr-oz-dieting-secrets.blogspot.com/2010/03/hcg-diet-dangers.html

Another site to check before jumping on an old fad brought back again.

thumper44

bump

msrichmond

I'm down 23 lbs in 16 days. Feel great, have lots of energy, am *never* hungry and couldn't be happier. I'm getting *stronger* while I'm doing this, so I'm not losing muscle weight. It's all FAT. I also sleep better than I have in over a decade, no longer have to get up to pee 3-5x/night, wake up feeling fully rested, and even my manager at work has commented how much more productive I've been since I started this program. The loss in my face has been the most noticeable. My double-chin is almost gone!

If there are any negative side effects, they have not affected me yet. But if they do, I will post about it.

Don't believe it if you don't want to, but there are thousands of people losing a whole lot of weight quickly & safely with this program, and I am proudly one of them.

To each their own...


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Weight Loss Tools

FrenchMob

I'm down 23 lbs in 16 days. Feel great, have lots of energy, am *never* hungry and couldn't be happier. I'm getting *stronger* while I'm doing this, so I'm not losing muscle weight. It's all FAT. I also sleep better than I have in over a decade, no longer have to get up to pee 3-5x/night, wake up feeling fully rested, and even my manager at work has commented how much more productive I've been since I started this program. The loss in my face has been the most noticeable. My double-chin is almost gone!

If there are any negative side effects, they have not affected me yet. But if they do, I will post about it.

Don't believe it if you don't want to, but there are thousands of people losing a whole lot of weight quickly & safely with this program, and I am proudly one of them.

To each their own...


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Weight Loss Tools

You might be losing now, but it's not going to fix why ou got fat to begin with....that's the other issue.

Also, it'll be hard to give us an update from the hospital when your kidneys or heart have failed from malnutrition. I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

kalmf

Karen - I remember the seventies!

My seriously overweight (300ish) girlfriend would have me inject her with HCG which as I recall was derived from the urine of pregnant cows. I was young, so I forgive myself, but what an irresponsible idiotic dangerous thing to do. Thank Gd we got away with it and nothing horrible ever happened. If she had any weight loss it was very short-lived.

I am a Michael Pollen devotee - eat real food, mostly plants, not too much - and believe in the 'move more' philosophy, HOWEVER I don't believe everyone in the obesity range are lazy slobs. We accept that there are such things as metabolic issues, many accepted 'medical weight loss' clinics put you into ketosis to kick start weight loss - so, who knows, for certain people with certain factors this may be a way to get going.

But pregnant cow urine?! Ugghhh!

msrichmond

@RVachon71: Actually, it is going to fix how I got fat by resetting my hypothalamus gland and correspondingly my metabolism level. Haven't you ever wondered how somebody 1/2 your size can eat twice as much as you and not gain weight? Dr. Simmeons' protocol explains why and provides a way to reset yours to their level.

There is no reason whatsoever to imply that I'll have kidney or heart problems. You're just fear-mongering. You have nothing to back that up. But to satisfy you I'll have my wife post if it does happen.

@Karinf: If your girlfriend used HCG from cows, she was using the wrong kind and that's why it didn't work. The protocol clearly states it has to be human HCG. This cow trick is one of the many ways pharma companies have manipulated so-called "scientific" studies to disprove its effectiveness.

I lost another 4 lbs and tightened my belt another notch so far this week, and I'm wearing a pair of jeans today that haven't fit me in over 2 years, and they're a little big! I went for a miles-long walk last night in this wonderful weather we're having and my feet didn't hurt at all! I'm still never hungry, have a ton of energy, and for the first time in years slept a solid 8 hours non-stop last night! This stuff is a miracle!