The HCG diet was discovered by Doctor A.T.W. Simeons. Pregnant women have a hormone called HCG, which stands for human chorionic gonadotropin. This hormone transforms fat into energy for the fetus, and this process is the basis for the diet. While drastically cutting calories within the framework of a standard quick weight loss routine can potentially take away fats that are good for the body, like structural and normal reserve fat, HCG focuses on abnormal fat, which is fat a person does not need for health.
Phase 1 of the HCG diet sounds pretty fun, as the person is encouraged to build up as much fat as possible in two days by eating whatever they want, whenever they want it. It’s basically like a two day feast, and during this time the person will begin taking HCG. This type of “anything goes” eating allows the HCG to properly distribute itself throughout the person’s body.
Phase 2 consists of adhering to a strict diet for just under or over one month. The person will reduce his or her calorie intake to 500 per day, and this diet will be made up of 3.5 ounces of protein along with fruits and vegetables. All the while the person will continue to ingest HCG. Weight loss can be fast during this period, with the person shedding up to two pounds per day. So if a person wanted to lose a hundred pounds, they would be on Phase 2 for around fifty days in a row.
Once a person has lost all the weight they want, they go into Phase 3, which involves stopping the intake of HCG and flushing the hormone from your system by staying on the 500 calorie per day diet for a couple more days. At this point, according to the diet plan, there should be no more required intake of HCG. This phase of the diet is long term, and allows a person to return to their normal eating habits with the exclusion of sugar and starch.
In the past, HCG was only able to be administered through injections supervised by a doctor. Today, HCG can be taken without doctor’s aid, making it much more inexpensive. The HCG diet supposedly has an advantage over typical fast weight loss diets, with positive side effects for both men and women such as an increase in libido, faster metabolism, and no feeling of starvation. Also, HCG is now available through oral drops instead of a painful injection.
While the HCG diet sounds like a good thing, all miracle diets should be approached with extreme caution. For starters, HCG has not yet been approved by the FDA for weight loss purposes. Also, according to the Washington Post, the Federal Trade Commission and the FDA have sent letters of warning to a handful of HCG diet product makers, and have even gone so far as to call the distribution of over the counter HCG illegal.
This is likely due to the massive popularity of a diet that involves treatments not approved by the FDA and a calorie cutting procedure that may seem drastic to some, and possibly even dangerous. A 500 calorie per day diet can get brutal, even if it is only for around a month, and losing that much weight in such a short period of time is not recommended.
The best way to lose weight is slowly and surely, but for some people that may not be enough. As far as miracle diets go, HCG diet doesn’t sound half bad. According to customer testimonies, it can produce some positive and lasting results.
