HELP! HCG Diet opinions?

I hate to break it to you, but this diet is very unhealthy and is not advocated by anybody here. In fact, any time a thread gets posted with people asking questions about it, it gets locked because MFP does not want to be responsible or advocate unhealthy behaviors.

In this case I hope it's different this time around and I hope they keep the thread up, because you are concerned for the welfare of your sister and are asking for advice on how help guide her in the right direction.

HCG is definitely not a lifestyle change, and is not sustainable long term. It's a crash diet - the reason she's losing weight isn't because of the hormones she's taking - it's because she's eating 500 calories a day!

My advice is to gently be honest with her, and let her know there are better ways to do this. I'm sure she's excited about dropping the weight, but to lose 30 lbs in a month could land her in the hospital. A healthy rate is 0.5 to 2 lbs per week and there are so much better ways to do this that are going to get her to her goal and keep her there long term.

It's a terrible, terrible diet. I developed so many problems from this diet. The thing it that it is almost like a cult. These people get inside your head and you distrust any doctor, family member or friend who tries to talk sense into you. When you stop, you gain back the weight. I have to eat far less now than before the diet or I gain. I actually went above my starting weight very easily and while watching what I was eating!

If you are interested in my story:
http://www.squidoo.com/unsafe_hcg_diet

My hope is that it will prevent somebody else from making the mistake I made by doing this diet. And, please, if anybody has had a bad experience with the hCG diet, share it on that page. You don't even have to sign up to comment. If you've been on hCG forums (i.e. Omnitrition's), you know they delete all the negative comments that would talk people out of the diet. You don't get a realistic view of what this diet is from them. I am hoping that my page will help others really see what this diet is capable of doing.

The hCG diet is bad news!

I did a three month run of it. At 5'0, I went from 110lbs to 90lbs. Gained it all back in a few months and then some.

Not only that, but my measurements weren't that impressive and I felt absolutely horrible that I couldn't do any physical activity. I would almost collapse during cardio sessions and have a ridiculously high heart-rate even though my exertion levels weren't terribly high (Admittedly, you're not supposed to workout during the diet-- but that in itself should raise some red flags).

Doing it properly this time, with weight training, adequate diet and dedication. I'm about 103-105lbs right now, and my body looks better now than it did at the end of my HCG diet.

Don't do it. Just don't do it. Waste of time.

Don't get me started on this 'diet'. I have a friend on this diet and apart from the fact it is unhealthy and potentially dangerous, it has made her obsessed with dieting and promoted an extremely unhealthy relationship with food. This diet is just starvation and one step away from, if not actually being, an eating disorder. She has lost several stone on it in an alarmingly short period of time, and because she has managed to lose so much weight on it, this diet to her is up there on a pedestal.

Don't get me wrong, she has lost lots of weight and looks good but she is also very pale (probably the malnutrition) and has got so obsessed with diet that she spoke about sucking a softmint and then spitting it out in case the sugar gets into her system, she weighs herself every day, moans about social events as they involve food and drink, and talks about feeling dizzy with not eating as though it is something to be proud of. Try telling her the diet is dangerous, and she won't listen, the previous poster who likened this diet to a cult isn't far off the mark as it is exactly like one when someone gets it in their head.

I hope your sister is ok and sees sense soon as this diet is bad news!

The FDA has made the hcg products illegal:
http://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/consumerupdates/ucm281333.htm

I thought this too!

You have every need to be concerned about her. This 'diet' sounds extremely dangerous. The problem will be trying to talk to her about it.You can only keep trying and hopefully, after initially being defensive I would imagine, some of the information may get through to her.

I wish you the best of luck and hope you can help her soon!

I do know people who have had success with it, but they were trying to lose a small amount of weight and were only on the drops for a couple of weeks.

Everyone I know who's lost more than 15 lbs on it has boomeranged hard.

She'll learn the hard way like those before her. I don't know a single person that hasn't gained it all back and then some. You can't rationally argue with her current belief that it works because it does work (just not for long). So be there to support her when the bubble bursts.

Unfortunately there isn't anyway of getting people to change their minds about diets like this.. she just has to learn the hard way..

You know what I think the worst part of this diet was for me? Everybody doing it is your best friend. They love you. They are supportive. I was doing this diet with another mom I know who lives near me. Once I started having side effects, the love started to dissapate. She had just become a distributor and was pushing me to try other products from this company. I finally told her the side effects were too serious and I had to see a doctor. She hasn't talked to me since. She was so afraid my side effects would affect her sales that she even unfriended me on Facebook. I'm told by other friends that when asked if the diet causes side effects, she denies that she knows anybody who has had side effects on this diet. I'm told also that she is pushing this diet hard now because she really wants the extra money from it. She's willing to sacrifice her family's, friends, and other church member's health.

I've also shared on my blog how women obsessed about taking communion because they were afraid it would cause them to gain. Seriously, if you are gaining from taking communion, wouldn't you see that as a huge red flag? Of course, as the other poster shared, they avoided lotions and other things on the skin too. It's just a lot of bizarre weirdness but, as with all MLM schemes, the people up top that pyramid are rolling in the dough.

Aside from being harmed by the diet, I think I hate more what it does to people who are doing it.