HCG... Help

After struggling for years with my weight, I decided to try a round or two of an HCG protocol that is administered in my GP's office (intranasal). I am on my second week of the VLCD (very low calorie diet). I lost 12.8 pounds the first week and looking forward to the second week results. It took me months to commit to it.

I agree with all the naysayers...it can have some negative effects. However, many of us have done things to our bodies over our lifetimes that may have longer lasting negative effects than a short term protocol of a naturally-occurring hormone and a lower calorie diet of whole, mostly natural foods with a follow-up to ensure you continue to eat in a healthy way. In my book, a better way than prepackaged, engineered food replacements.

I don't feel dizzy or tired. I've been hungry at snack/meal times...but not starving. My energy level is through the roof right now. I certainly miss certain foods right now. Mmmmmm....peanut butter (I just faded off for a moment) but I don't/won't miss being tired, or wondering if the seatbelt in the airplane will fit, or wondering if my daughter is ashamed of her fat mom.

Birth control pills and partying in my twenties were definitely more detrimental to my well-being (see blog entry for long version).

Don't do anything in life if you aren't willing to accept the consequences of your decision.

You say it is short term, but there are very very very long term implications to altering your horomones. You could be forever f-ing up the balance of horomones in your body. Not to mention killing your metabolism when you start actually eating again. I am shcking my head that there are doctors out there that are OK with this. Sigh.

I MIGHT be killing my metabolism...only time will tell. I had many doctors assure me that birth control pills weren't causing my problems in my twenties. I do my own research, weigh the risks, and decide what consequences I am willing to live with. It is what any responsible adult does. We don't all have to agree with each other.

amandacanales - thanks for your words. It's amazing to me how on these blogs everyone becomes an expert....they become doctors overnight and are so quick to judge. I did a lot of research on Hcg and consulted with my doctor first. I took the advice of others on here by following myfitnesspal and logging food, exercising, etc. BEFORE I did Hcg. I did this for 6-7 months and was just having a hard time losing weight (it's like I'd plateau after losing 6-7 lbs) because of strong cravings for food (stress, depression, etc). Hcg has been around since....what...the 1950's and I've never heard of anyone DYING from complications of hcg. People die everyday from FDA drugs been pumped into their system. All I can say is that maybe one day we'll find out that Hcg wasn't great for us, but for now I feel like a new person. I have more energy than I've had in my lifetime. Hcg drops ended for me and I'm just maintaining now. I've been at the same weight for 2 months - have learned to eat right, drink tons of water, cut out diet soda and reduce sugar intake. Good luck to you and again, thanks for your positive words in a forum of people who think they know everything about everyone else.

I decided to try a round or two of an HCG protocol that is administered in my GP's office (intranasal). I am on my second week of the VLCD (very low calorie diet)

Did you see a doctor that you've seen for years or one of the "specialized" HCG quacks that work in the HCG quack factories.

BTW, I dunno if I would see a doctor that administers HCG or trust them. I'm scientifically inclined and here's some family horror stories:

1. A doctor told my Great Aunt to douche with Lysol, and so she did.

2. A doctor gave my grandmother speed to lose weight, and she lost weight.

3. A doctor gave my grandfather "pills" (I suspect diet pills & speed of some sort) because he was morbidly overweight. He died at 58, shortly after he "lost the weight".

I would never trust any GP that administered this for "weight loss". Never. See the above examples.

I am seeing a doctor in my GP's practice...with my GP'S blessing. I agree with everyone that long lasting results will continue to take work. THIS protocol is work. I am eating the right foods, watching my calories, and exercising. I decided to try this protocol because of the way I felt when I was pregnant...energetic, lost my cravings for sweets, no net weight gain. I only gained what I lost during the first trimester. Puking and misery aside, I still felt great!

No one thing is right for everyone and this is a HUGE departure for me. I gave birth naturally with a midwife, I rarely take antibiotics, and I hardly ever eat fast food. I DO however, love to cook delicious, creamy, fatty, delectable food. Gravy. That has been my problem all these years.

Since before I started the HCG, I have changed the way that we cook and eat at home. I had a serious talk with myself about how ridiculous it was to work hard to ensure my daughter had an incredibly healthy diet but I wouldn't take the time to do it myself.

I don't believe that HCG is a panacea. I also believe that it could have some potential side effects. I know that I will have achieve my final goal through other more traditional means. But, the fact is that I was headed toward gastric surgery and I decided that those side effects were something I wasn't ready to face. I can stop the HCG any day....I can't reconnect my digestive system.

Losing weight is not easy, and you have a good point gastric surgery is worse than HCG. The key point is calories in and calories out. I think that HCG is nothing better than a placebo, but if it works for you, use it and bring your weight down.
However, you can't do HCG for life, and a 500 calorie is pretty drastic. You also need to think about what you are going to do when you are done with HCG. You need a plan to keep your calorie intake within what you need and not above.
To talk from personal experience, I gained 2lb per year for 20 years, got diagnosed as prediabetic 6 months ago, 40-50 lb overweight. Counting calories I lost 40 lb in the last 6 months, 8 lb a month in the first couple of months, slowed down to 6 - 4 - 2 - and 1 lb a month. I think that’s the way to do it, But you need to count all calories, weight all food and track everything, which is a lot of work. And I rarely ate deserts or drank soft drinks before. Logging I did figure out to eat breakfast ( I never did this before) less bread for lunch, less potatoes/rice for dinner, and no late evening snacks, especially peanuts. Doing that worked for me, my glucose and cholesterol are much better now 6 months later. But if HCG works for you, go for it. But think about how to are going to stay at you lower weight, what you need to change. I just slowed down slowly, and for my last 5-10lb I am not doing anything this summer (too much travel) and I will do it real slow in the fall, so that it eases you in a normal eating/exercising pattern that I can sustain for the future.
Too many dieters fall into a yo-yo trap, fluctuating way up and down. You need to figure a way to break this, and I have seen very little evidence that this works with these drastic diets. Yes, you lose, but for how long? That’s the key issue. I think losing weight at a slower rate taking longer and decreasing weight loss as you go along is a way to develop a sustainable healthy weight.

Think of HCG like this:
If I inject a hormone into my belly that makes women get pregnant and causes a fetus to GAIN weight, I'll lose weight. Does this make sense? Anyone who says "their doctor prescribed it" either needs a new doctor or went to a fat clinic where EVERYONE gets HCG shots, phetermine, and a 500 calorie diet. HERE IS THE TRUTH, since some don't know:

So why is everybody jumping on the HCG bandwagon? Because everybody wants a quick fix. The diet promises 40 pounds of weight loss in six weeks. People will do anything to feel more beautiful, more valuable, more desired, more socially acceptable.

Don’t be tempted, my friends. The HCG diet is unsafe, it doesn’t work, and it’s little more than beautifully packaged snake oil. So do your body and your pocketbook a favor and steer clear.
Instead, if you need to lose weight to be healthy, do it the good old fashioned way that really works. I know everyone wants a quick fix, but real, sustainable weight loss comes from eating less, focus more on wholesome foods, and EXERCISE.


What is HCG?
Human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) is a hormone found in the urine of pregnant women. More than 50 years ago, Dr. Albert T. Simeons, a British-born physician, contended that HCG injections would enable dieters to subsist comfortably on a 500-calorie-a-day diet. He claimed that HCG would mobilize stored fat; suppress appetite; and redistribute fat from the waist, hips, and thighs . There is no scientific evidence to support these claims.Moreover, a 500-calorie (semi-starvation) diet is likely to result in loss of protein from vital organs, and HCG can cause other adverse effects. Gabe Mirkin, M.D., has noted.

Keep in mind that HCG is a hormone most commonly used in fertility treatments and to aid adolescents with endocrine problems during puberty. It is not — and never had been — a weight loss drug.

Dr. Simeon did a study to “prove” his claims, but no other researchers were ever able to reproduce his work. After the HCG diet was discredited by the scientific community, the diet mostly disappeared until 2007, when infomercial king Kevin Trudeau began promoting it as the secret diet your doctor isn’t telling you about. And suddenly, products appeared all over the internet and doctors at integrative and alternative medicine centers started jumping on the bandwagon, causing the diet to experience an unfortunate resurgence. Variations of the diet exist, but most require daily HCG injections, drops, or sublingual dosing, and costs can run you up to $1500/month (padding the pockets of many a doc). The pregnancy hormone is combined with a highly restricted, low calorie diet of 500 calories/day.

The pregnancy hormone tricks the body into believing that you’re pregnant, and because you’re starving the body, it starts eating away at fat — and you get no hunger pangs! Sounds good, right? To bad it eats away muscle first!
The only reason why anyone loses weight off this diet is because they’re eating 500 calories a day. While calorie intakes are different from person to person, most nutrition information at the grocery store is based off a 2,000-calorie diet. For healthy weight loss, a daily intake of 1,200 to 1,800 calories is generally acceptable. While calorie intakes are different from person to person, most nutrition information at the grocery store is based off a 2,000-calorie diet. For healthy weight loss, a daily intake of 1,200 to 1,800 calories is generally acceptable. When a body is subsiding off 500 calories a day, the body leeches protein from the muscle in the heart, and that makes the heart muscle irritable, which can lead to ventricular tachycardia and sudden cardiac death.

Being a fitness trainer, I can’t beileve I’m writing an article about a 500 calorie diet. If you’re a teenager or an adult, 500 calories for anyone is way too little. If you heard from a friend or anyone who suggested that you consume 500 calories a day to lose fat, then you have been provided with bad advice. Sure, at first you will lose weight which is obviously the goal, however your health will deteriorate and you will also lose a lot of muscle which is a bad thing.

A 500 calorie diet deprives the body from not only the much needed nutrients, but also from sufficient energy it needs to operate. Your body alone burns approximately 900 to 2000 calories on it’s own. Take that number and add on the calories required for your daily activities and you will find it is generally above 1,200 calories. The bare minimum is 1,200 to 1,300 calories a day to maintain a healthy lifestyle but also lose fat.
If you chose to only consume 500 calories a day, you would notice a few changes. You would feel completely without energy during much of the day, your body will feel depleted and sluggish. You will also notice weight loss which is exciting, but you will also notice strength loss from the loss of muscle tissue. When you realize a 500 calorie diet is unhealthy and decide to quit, you will gain all the weight back plus MORE. Why? Because the loss of muscle tissue creates way for more fat gain. In order to build that muscle back up, you will have to perform resistance training with either freeweights or machines.

Don't do it, stop looking for a quick fix. The weight these peopel are losing, they WILL see again. I garentuee it.

I feel you shouldn't do it. My doctor gives me HCG injections for 2 days to ovulate. So, I am not sure using it everyday is healthy esp. for ladies. Logically thinking, it could mess up with your cycles & create a hormone imbalance. HCG is the hormone that's produced when one is pregnant. I too have been thinking about it since I've heard that it helps in fast weight loss. I'm not sure if it will have any side-effects in later life. So, I don't want to play with my health. Anyways, please consult a good doctor for suggestion.

@erinhale: That was very informative.

I cut and pasted it from my blog, but HCG kills me! If you are a female and take it, you increase your chances of getting pregnant SIGNIFACTLY, even if you are on birthcontrol.

I wish people would stop with the quick fixes and get in the gym. I promise with hard work, exercise, eating right and a commitment- weightloss will happen. The weight you want to lose didn't happen over night, so its not going to come off over night either. I am actually going to go post now in sucess stories!

I'm afraid of it. I don't like things that are un-natural. I've never even been on birth control. I take a multi vit. and calcium daily and that's it! Shooting yourself up with pregnant women's urine is just that, un-natural. At 53 I haven't had any symptons of menopause and I am scared to put this stuff in my system and screw things up. That's just my feeling on it. I'd rather take my time and lose weight the old fashion way. Watch what I eat and exercise!

Be careful taking advice from people who have not had the time to do the research. FYI most people do not inject the HCG formula anymore. There are sublingual methods that are just as effective. @erinhale...that is simply not accurate information about pregnancy...if you have quality hcg...they are homeopathic and do not show up in urine or bloodwork. Won't be back to this thread so don't bother "arguing" with me...You feel how you feel and I know I how feel....great thing about where we live...

Yes I edited my spelling...it's the teacher in me since it seems many are into name calling....

My IDIOT of an x husband is doing this and he already has poor family genes, DVT's and has to take Viagra for his male insufficiencies. His new GF talked him into this FAD diet. It's going to be interesting to see the long term effects it has on the body just like all the other weight loss fads including surgery. Unfortunately in my profession, I have to take care of people who do these FAD diets and suffer long term effects and the dammage it causes to their bodies. Another concern is what are we teaching our children........I have to combat all of his stupid ideas with my daughter and try to teach her the differences between hair brained ideas and good old fashioned work and good choices. Thank goodness she is tall and slender.

lulu, be very cautious with this and make sure you do a lot of research and look for the long term effects this has on the body before you do it. Good Luck to you. Your going to need it with this diet.

Quote from erinhale:

I cut and pasted it from my blog, but HCG kills me! If you are a female and take it, you increase your chances of getting pregnant SIGNIFACTLY, even if you are on birthcontrol.

Maybe you misread doc georgia

Adding: The homeopathic drops will not affect fertility at all - no matter if you are on birth control or not. Some serious HCG treatments (straight injections of a VERY high dose - done only by a fertility expert) are used for fertility issues but the homeopathic dosage used with this protocol will NOT affect it. There is a lot of information out there - some correct, and some not unfortunately.

I stand corrected. Actually, I thought you were referring to erinhale's original post, not the second one. I apologize for the oversight and for my snide and uncalled-for comment. I do not have enough information about the homeopathic dosage to address this intelligently.
Of course, the issue of homeopathic dosing is a whole 'nother can of worms, best not to address here!

500 calories a day. Of course you will lose. I wish my doctor would let me be anerexic again some days or bulemic at 240lbs how bad could it hurt. The hormones??? May help a little.

Adding: The homeopathic drops will not affect fertility at all - no matter if you are on birth control or not. Some serious HCG treatments (straight injections of a VERY high dose - done only by a fertility expert) are used for fertility issues but the homeopathic dosage used with this protocol will NOT affect it. There is a lot of information out there - some correct, and some not unfortunately.

Curious, and not trying to be snide, but I'm assuming that by homeopathic, you mean over the counter and not regulated. Why in the heck would anyone want to take what basically sounds to me like grey market hormone supplements?

I'm guessing ANY endocrinologist would be horrified at the thought.

lulusland - I can help you with HCG. My husband and I are in Phase 4 and feel incredible! I lost about 24 lbs and he lost 37 lbs. Don't listen to anyone who says it's unhealthy as it was fully approved by my family doctor. It's the BEST thing I've ever done for myself. I have never felt better and have so much energy. It resets your metabolism and helps you retain your new weight. No joke - it's a hard program for the first 30 days, but as you see the lbs dropping off - it's a motivator to keep going.

Well, your doc is insane.

DO NOT MESS WITH YOUR HOROMONES!!!! DONT DO IT!!!!! Especially as a woman, it can screw you up for life.

:laugh: I like your Spunk! I too have nothing good to say about hcg. 99% of us on MFP are taking the high road and losing steady, healthy and learning to keep it off. OP? You're more than welcome to come join the majority, that way you can keep the weight off and not find out down the road you've damaged your body!:noway:

wow I just had this conversation 10 min ago with a co worker. Since I'm the largest around they keep trying to pitch me the HCG diet. I dont think I can function on 500 cal a day without feeling deprived. I dont feel deprived here and know it will be slower but will stay off this time.

Kudos to you!! The hcg diet doesn't allow you to exercise, which is a pretty big red flag in my book. Who tells someone working on weight loss they can't exercises? Not that you'd have the energy but still. I know I personally would get sick of eating Melba toast everyday and apple days and steak days if you screw up. If that doesn't scream fad diet, I'm not sure what does!