Wow, it’s been a whole year since my last posting. I need to get back on the horse… how about another diet review…
I've been hearing a recent diet fad lately is taking the hormone 'hCG'. In doing my research, I found, it’s actually not new, and has been around since the 1930s. hCG stands for Human Chorionic Gonadotropin. It is the hormone than women make when they are pregnant, and the one that is detected in the urine for pregnancy tests. The basic theory doesn't sound too crazy. It is based on the idea that women who are pregnant and don't eat enough for their fetus just burn fat and not muscle, so if you take it when you diet, you should burn fat more specifically. It also has claims that it decreases feelings of hunger. There are two ways to take it orally or injection. And the earth shattering surprise: in addition to the daily dosage it is recommended to have 500 cal/day diet!
Hmmm, where do we start on the issues with this one? First off, I don't know how many pregnant people you know, but appetite suppression isn't one of the things I use to describe them. In fact with my wife's last pregnancy, the moment I really knew she was pregnant was when she wanted 'Animal Style' french fries from In-N-Out several days in a row. One order every 6 months or so is usually enough for her.
Plus, there are very few hormone therapies that can survive digestion, so those of you who take it orally are basically just taking whatever products are left after it passes through your stomach, which likely don't resemble or act like hCG at that point.
Most importantly, multiple studies (some even 50 years old!) have been shown that there is no difference between those taking an injection of hCG or placebo as far as weight loss or hunger pains go. In other words... it just plain doesn't work. So why all the attention? A guy (Kevin Trudeau) wrote a book about it in 2007 entitled,The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About. I'm not sure who 'they' are, but I'll tell you what HE (Trudeau) doesn't want you to know about... He has been investigated by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) for promoting all kinds of fake medicines and as of 2004 has been banned by said Commission from appearing in any infomercials on TV. Source: http://articles.
Ease of following: As easy to follow as any 500 calorie/day diet. Which should be read as = hard. In my dieting experience, the lowest I ever got was 1200 cal/day and at that point I was constantly hungry and bit anyones head off that crossed me. Throw in daily injections and I'd say its not that easy.
Medical safety: It probably won't cause any major problems, but some side effects that have been reported are: headaches, mood swings, depression, blood clots, confusion, and dizziness. Women who use this hormone can also develop Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS), which is usually mild, but ironically can result in weight gain. And if you are a guy you could start to look like this:
Or this:
I do have concerns of living with a prolonged diet of 500 calories. You are basically starving yourself, and if done for a prolonged time you could suffer similar consequences of those with anorexia nervosa. If you decide to stop the diet after a prolonged period, be very careful not to increase your intake suddenly, even to a normal level, as it may cause ‘refeeding syndrome’, which is a common cause of death among anorexics.
I generally would not recommend ever being on a diet of 500 calories for any amount of time, but some people like to do it to ‘kick start’ their diet, and if you feel so inclined, I wouldn’t do it longer than a month. Decreased calorie diets are not only recommended, but needed, but you can go too far. For the RIGHT way to do so see my previous post:
http://exwandering.blogspot.com/2009/03/dont-count-me-out.html
Check this one out, too (because diet can’t do it all):
http://exwandering.blogspot.com/2009/04/body-movin.html
Chance of keeping weight off:
Almost zero unless you add to this diet a long term diet/lifestyle change to keep your calories down (but obviously not this low)… FOREVER. If not, weight will be regained, plus more. Starvation diets such as this decrease metabolic rate, and therefore will cause you to gain MORE weight when you return to your old habits. Which most people do.
Conclusion:
A friend of mine in medical school used to sit around and make plans for a diet supplement we were planning on making that just consisted of lawn clippings in a capsule with the recommendation of: “Best results obtained when used with a combination of diet and exercise changes.” Apparently this diet beat us to the punch. It is a sham is just about every way possible.
But if you are the type of person who is sensitive to placebos and need a kick start to your diet, I guess you could do worse. But seriously, I can sell you some capsules with lawn clippings for a lot cheaper than you are probably paying for the hCG. And PLEASE do yourself a favor and make plans for what changes you are going to make in your life AFTER the diet, or you will end up heavier than when you started…
More on the hcg diet:
http://health.howstuffworks.
http://www.dietsinreview.com/
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