There is just no secret trick to successful weight loss. Even with sustained diet, exercise and determination it can be tough. There is lots we don’t understand about losing weight, but one thing I firmly believe is that to date there are no gimmick diet plans that get weight off and keep weigh off. Of the for profit centers that promise great results the “HCG diet plan” is one of the few programs where we have very good research showing it does not work but that somehow has again become popular and profitable. The best review of this article that I can find was in the LA Times last November A sign of our times is that this article outlining in detail the evidence that the HCG diet does not work is littered with ads for the HCG diet. The computer algorithm logic that places these Google Ads there is somehow flawed, or maybe not?
HCG diet was largely discredited long ago
Doctors comparing weight-loss results with HCG injections versus a placebo failed to produce evidence that the hormone was anything special.
November 02, 2009|Elena Conis
A long-ago discredited fad diet has been getting increased attention lately, thanks to Web chatter and the claims of a bestselling author. The so-called HCG diet’s recent popularity is a bit surprising — and not just because research suggests it doesn’t work.
Other currently popular diets call for cutting back on fat and sugar, consuming whole grains and lean meats, and even indulging in red wine. The HCG diet, in contrast, calls for eating just 500 calories a day while taking daily injections of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a hormone produced by the placenta during pregnancy and excreted in pregnant women’s urine. more
HEadway, a preminum $ for theme.
I am 44 yrs. old, and have been overweight most of my life, even as a child! I have a family history of diabetes, high blood pressure, and the like. I have total adrenal system failure…I spent a year under a doctors’ care trying to lose weight and regain my health. Nothing worked…I hardly ate anything anymore. My doctor suggested HCG, and I figured I would try it since I had nothing to lose. It worked for me! I lost almost 30 lbs. on my first round. I went from a skin tight 22, to a perfect fit 16. I feel better than I have in years. My husband was so impressed, he went on it too. It also worked for him. He was wearing 38-40 waist, and now a 34 is falling off. We have even lost a few lbs. on maintenance. We are starting our second round, and are finding it sooooo hard to load! But, I am a firm believer that HCG works, and I recommend it!
I’ve watched countless people regain control of their weight over the last year. I’ve helped them make nutritious decisions for long term weight loss success. The medical boards can say what they like, but I have proof that hCG works for our patients. Obese people are some of the most starved people on the planet. Every morsel they put into their mouths is stored in their bodies. The fat they have amassed works against them keeping them in starvation mode. Most obese people cannot lose weight without help. What are you offering that won’t damage their liver, kidney, thyroid/metabolism? What are you offering that will make them feel good enough to stay with the program? What are you offering that will show them real progress? What can you teach obese people to do that will help them live a happier, healthier, more productive life?
Denise, you obviously have no idea what you are talking about. Where in the world did you get the idea that people are injecting themselves with other peoples urine. Come on…… Think a little bit and read up a little on the diet! Why not be happy for others that are trying to do something positive with their life! I am starting my 3rd week on the HCG diet and have lost 15 lbs. Do all the negative blogging you want…. the people that this diet is actually working for don’t really care what ignorant people like you think anyway! Have a super day!!!!
Very true… many diet programs, fitness solutions and exercise regimes are available nowadays. But all of these don’t change the fact that losing weight is hard to achieve. It requires a good diet plan, exercise routine and will power along with the strong determination to succeed. We need to understand that weight loss and maintenance isn’t a temporary phase or a short-term plan but it needs to be developed into a lifestyle.
I find is funny that people don’t think this diet works. I have been on it for almost 4 weeks now and have lost almost 20 lbs. You lose about a pound a day and although you are only eating 500 calories a day, everything we eat is healthy! A fruit vegetable and lean meat with every meal! It works great if you stick to it. People don’t think it can be healthy but to be honest when people eat healthy with only fruit vegetables and lean meats on a normal basis, how many calories are these people really eating? Plus once through your first cycle, you eat around 1300 calories. All the cycles are doing is teaching over weight people how to eat right. By the way, I am doing this for my health, no other reason.
You have GOT to be kidding me! Injecting yourself with someone else’s urine and then eating 500 calories and you call this healthy?!? Of course you’re losing weight right now, but at what long term expense? I have read up on this because yes, I too was looking for that “quick fix” but don’t kid yourself into thinking you can keep this up for long; I’d love to see you 9 months down the road to see if you’re still laughing or crying because your body fought back after months of deprevation and the money tossed out the window.
Joanne, my guess is that you aren’t actually familiar with the hCG diet. The food we eat while on the injections are very specific, wholesome, unprocessed foods. There is no room in our 500 calories for anything “nutrient-poor.” And there is nothing better for breaking an addiction than having to give it up cold turkey for 6 to 9 weeks, which is EXACTLY what we do. Unless we are addicted to chicken breast. Then we may have a problem giving it up.
It also doesn’t lower our metabolism, as our body is getting ALL the fuel it could possibly need … it is just getting it internally, rather than from what we eat day by day. Proof? Me. I’ve tracked my food and exercise for YEARS and know how much I will gain if I eat over a certain amount of calories. I had TRASHED my metabolism with years and years of dieting, to no avail. But after my first round of hCG, when I went into the no sugar/no starch phase for 3 weeks following the end of the injections, I was able to consume much higher calories than EVER before, without gaining ANYTHING. In fact, I continued to lose a few more pounds. And no, I didn’t return to my “nutrient-poor” foods. I was eating high calorie healthy foods: nuts, cheese, avocados, etc. Still not much processed food, as almost everything processed has either sugar or starch. I have finished my second round of hCG now and the few processed foods I tried last week tasted so nasty to me! I have absolutely no fear that I will regain any of the 44 lbs that I lost and can’t wait to start my next round in 3 more weeks.
And to Dr. Pullen: I have tried to do 1000 calorie a day diets in the past, aided by all types of appetite suppressants, etc. and COULD NOT DO IT FOR MORE THAN A FEW DAYS, despite how optimistic I was about whatever aid I was using at the time. Yet I have NO problem staying on the 500 calorie diet and, in fact, often don’t finish my 500 calories for the day … and I was VERY skeptical coming into hCG. In fact, I’d probably still be deciding if I should do it except that a friend bought the supplies for me. So I did it and it changed my life. I’m not tired. I’m not constipated. I’m not hungry. I’m not weak. In fact, I regularly work out for 1 to 5 hours a day, even while on the injections and low calorie portion of the protocol. And I am a nanny, so I have to be able to keep up with 4 kids ages 3 1/2 and under! Trust me, I could NOT do this weak and hungry.
I lost 35 lbs through diet and exercise and it was a CONSTANT battle to keep it off. In fact, I actually lost more than that but 35 lbs down is where I was when I started the hCG. I have now lost a total of 79 lbs and do not struggle with my weight anymore. I still have quite a bit left to lose, but it isn’t a battle. It is a schedule that I keep to and that’s all – no big deal: 3 to 4 weeks of injections/500 calories, 3 weeks of no sugar/no starch, 3 weeks of healthy, unrestricted eating, REPEAT. And the longer I go, the less pull food and emotional eating have on me. So I am making changes that will last a lifetime. Like I said, nothing like going cold turkey to break an addiction. And nothing like NOT having food to smoother emotions to make you face and deal with your emotions. This is more than a “diet” … it truly has CHANGED MY LIFE. So, believe what you want. It really doesn’t matter to me what you think. You can tell me this isn’t real as much you want and I’ll simply laugh all the way to the store (as I have to buy a whole new wardrobe.) I have my life back and I’m going to enjoy every moment of it.
What people want more than anything is a way to lose fat while continuing to eat the nutrient-poor foods to which they are addicted. They grab onto any passing promise. Remember the fat blockers? Yes, they escorted ingested fat out of the body, but they also escorted fat-soluble vitamins and made a lot of people sick.
Most people can, with enough motivation, discipline themselves to cut back on calories to lose weight, just until their thyroid lowers metabolism to keep up with this starvation level. Then they return to their former diet with lowered metabolism, and they’re worse off than before.
All diets work for losing weight. But unless people make a permanent change to their diet, one that causes the body to naturally shed its fat, they will always gain the weight back. It may happen in a month or a year.
The only way to truly lose weight and keep it off is by eating healthy food. By that I mean pasture-raised meats, high fat, low carb, and get rid of all those horrific vegetable oils with their trans fats. Eat the foods that have sustained our species for millennia. Those would be ones you could acquire were you lost in the forest.
I fail to see how the HCG diet threatens my job security. I’d love for there to be an easy way to lose weight. This plan has been called a scam by others, and I don’t disagree. I suspect an hCG Diet Coach has a bit more financial interest than I do.
I would be refreshing to hear an honest comment about the hcg diet that from someone with whom the hcg diet does not threatens their job security.
The same old eat right, and exercise to lose weight does not work for 87% of the people who have tried these methods. I do agree that once you lose all of the weight you want to with the hcg diet protocol, you will need to maintain a clean, healthy and, well balanced diet mixed with a solid exercise program in order to maintain your new hcg body.
So I say don’t knock it until you try it. I lost 41 lbs in 43 days, and completely transformed my body. This diet has led to now living a healthy lifestyle and helping others do the same.
Colin F. Watson
hCG Diet Coach