hCG Diet...

I haven't done HCG but my friend has. She lost a lot of hair while on it...I don't know if this is a common side effect, but just something to look out for. She literally wouldn't leave the house without a hat or scarf or something on her head because huge chunks of hair fell out. This diet is just too low in calories, and while you might lose weight it's just not enough to support basic bodily function. Stuff will start to break after a short time...you're also likely to lose muscle and bone because your body will look for other sources of nutrition, and if you're not providing those with enough calories and nutrients your body has to get them from somewhere else (organs).

I hope that you make a healthy choice regarding this. I would definitely go to a doctor regularly if you decide to do it, just to make sure everything is okay.

Best of luck on your weight loss journey!

Thank you, this is exactly what I want to use it for... I'm not looking for a quick fix, I need a jump start and I'm willing to follow a strict diet for 6 weeks and train myself to eat better. I've looked into the lapband and I don't qualify for it.

If you're willing to follow a strict diet for six weeks and train yourself to eat better, why don't you try doing that using a proven, healthful daily calorie intake without paying for the HCG drops and living off of the same amount of calories as an anorexic, while losing muscle and lowering your metabolism at the same time?

My thoughts exactly!

Please not that the two (count it, two) people who were successful on this board were much larger in their before pic than you are.

I don't mean this in an offensive way, it's just a known fact that VLCD are only suitable for those with a very high BMI.

There really is no need to call people out personally. People are adults and can make their own decisions whether we agree with them or not.

Lauraloo, I know the responses come off as harsh but people are just trying to warn of the possible side effects/dangers of eating at such a low level. There's a thread around here somewhere with scientific evidence that shows it's not as great as it seems on the surface, I don't have the link off-hand but maybe someone else does.... Anyway aside from the difficulty in getting adequate nutrition on so few calories, there is a danger in losing weight too quickly in that a large portion of the weight you lose may be muscle instead of fat. You want to lose fat, obviously, but you really don't want to lose a large amount of muscle if you can help it. Muscle helps drive your metabolism. If you lose a lot of muscle mass, it can make it much harder to continue losing weight or even maintain your weightloss after you come off of the 'plan'. The way to maintain muscle mass while also losing fat is to eat at a *moderate* deficit (MFP recommends no more than 2 lbs per week), and strength training is supposed to help you maintain your muscle mass as well. But when you're on such a very low calorie diet, you are advised to actually NOT exercise, you literally do not have the energy to spare for the extra activity, so it's harder to avoid losing more muscle than you would if you were on a more moderate plan.

Teagin has had some pretty amazing results, I'll admit that - she looks amazing. And I know there are others that have been happy with their results. But there are also a lot of people that have had really bad side effects - hair loss, hormone imbalances, mood swings, fatigue, gaining the weight back when they go back to normal eating, etc. There are also some people that have posted about being happy with their results on here before, but then when they listed their before/after weights and measurements it was shown that they actually lost a lot of muscle, not just fat, and then they decided that maybe it wasn't as great as they thought before they were shown the math.

It's a highly personal decision, it is generally not supported by MFP, however if you do decide to do it I think you should at least speak with your dr first and a nutritionist that would help you make the most out of that tiny amount of calories. I am skeptical of the actual HCG aspect of the 'plan' as it has not been shown to actually *do* anything to help with weightloss (anyone eating a tiny amount of calories like that would lose weight at least for awhile). It seems like one could just stick to the MFP allotted calories for free and not stress their body so much in the process. But as I said, we are all adults and can make our own decisions.

Okay, don't chew my head off! I don't get on the message boards as much as I'd like so I'm sure this has been up here before... Has anyone done or know someone who has done the hCG diet? How did you/they do?

I know there are a lot of opinions out there about this diet. I used to have mine and thought that of course, anyone eating 500 calories/day is going to lose weight... duh! But I researched more about it and how it actually works and it doesn't seem like a bad idea.

I've read that it also teaches your body to maintain on smaller portions and less calories. So you develop healthy eating habits along the way.

I looked at this and decided against it

1) It's basically a starvation diet. You will lose a lot of weight and quickly. The problem is keeping it off.
2) The side effects. Amongst the things like weight loss, is lack of energy, hair loss, not being able to do anything, loss of muscle. slowing of your metabolism.
Quite frankly as someone with an ED the above did not scare me. What did was this..
3) It's not the HGC that causes you to lose weight. It's the diet. Even 'Pounds and inches' written by the founder of this diet states this. Yet most people on this diet will deny this fact.

Build muscle and you'll keep the weight off in the long term. Get skinny fit not skinny fat.

Honestly? I don't really give a **** if you kill yourself doing HCG, but I cba with your whining a few months down the line when you put it all back on.

So do yourself and all of us a favour, go research it on the boards before wasting your time/money/health

That is a horrible thing to say to someone. If you don't want to hear "whining" later on then don't read the post! Simple as that! But don't say something like you don't give a **** if you kill yourself. That's just wrong.

Well why should I care when you don't?
You clearly don't care about your health, or you wouldn't be doing it ;]

You posted something about a controversial topic on a PUBLIC forum of people who take their HEALTH very seriously. Did you honestly expect to only receive responses filled with puppy dogs and rainbows? I'm not going to run on a pregnancy board and ask what people think about me smoking while I'm pregnant and expect pleasant replies. If you only want to hear the good opinions you would have maybe received one response. Im sure there are some HCG support sites out there with a bunch of balding, weak, sick people with no muscle just raving about it. If thousands of people here tell you how bad it is verses 1 or 2 saying its good.. But you don't want to pay any attention to what people are warning you about, you've obviously already made up your mind .. So why even post about it!

apotemnophilia is a great alternative to HCG if anyone is interested in losing a lot of unwanted and unsightly weight.

I do feel like I have one arm too many...