HCG Diet, fact or fad???

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!