The HCG Diet... Does It Really Work?

What it the HCG Diet?

Developed initially by British endocrinologist Albert Simeons in 1949, the somewhat controversial HCG diet has been very successful to help overweight people finally reach their healthy weight goals.  The HCG Diet adds the HCG hormone (human chorionic gonadotropin) to the dieters system paired with a 4 Phase Diet Protocol for weight loss success,

Dr Simeons was famous for injecting HCG sourced from the urine of pregnant women into obese people in the ’50s and ’60s. Produced naturally by the placenta to help women access fat stores when pregnant, HCG was believed to promote weight loss and reduce hunger and cravings when combined with dietary changes. Today, homeopathic drops are more widely used instead because of their much lower cost and also ease of taking the hormone.

Phase one of the protocol is the most popular. Lasting two days, it promises license to indulge in as much food as you like, especially fats. Phase two to three lasts for the next three weeks, in which time you reduce calories to only 500 a day, consisting of fruit, salad, vegetables and lean meat. Halfway through this harrowing three-week period, you stop taking the HCG drops and by the end of it, you’re well and truly ready to return to eating a normal, healthy diet.

THE CLAIM

HCG weight loss can happen fast, but nobody’s claiming it’s exciting because you have few options for food choices. On the flip side though it is easy to curb your eating to the 500 calorie protocol because the dieter loses their hunger during the diet.

“The system is set up to draw the fat from the fat cells,” says nutritionist Cyndi O’Meara, from Changing Habits. “When you’re eating 500 calories a day, your body is supplying 2,500 calories a day in energy approximately. So it’s actually a 3,000 calorie diet, it’s just that 2,500 calories are saturated fat that you’re getting out of your fat cells.”

O’Meara claims to have seen participants lose five to 10 kilos during the three week period. “When I first came across the HCG protocol, I thought it was a load of rubbish,” says O’Meara. “But I just saw too many good results. Then I did it myself and was blown away by it.”

PROS

The HCG Protocol gets points for sheer originality as well as rapid results.

“What we’re doing in phase two and three, by lowering calories and eating only certain foods, is trying (1) to get the SIRT1 gene activated, which is an anti-ageing gene naturally activated by exercise and restricted calorie intake, and (2) get leptin to be reduced by the amount of fat you’re burning and get you to a point of leptin sensitivity again” says O’Meara.

“Leptin controls how you eat and when you’re five kilos or more over your ideal weight, your fat cells produce so much leptin that you become leptin resistant. This resistance makes you want to eat more.”

CONS

Studies criticizing the HCG diet have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Both concluded that HCG was unsafe and not effective as a weight-loss aid.

“It’s not evidence based – that’s the main concern,” says Gudorf. “I suspect that any weight loss you see is the direct result of the low calorie diet and not as a result of the HCG. If you want to follow the meal plan that’s fine but beware that it’s a very, very low calorie plan. It’s not something you can follow long term.”

THE CONSENSUS

When reading all of the testimonials about the HCG Diet it is hard to dispute that it works because the success rate is astounding and it looks like the only diet that has worked for many people.

Hearing about the 500 calorie per day eating plan is a bit scary before you do the HCG Diet but once you are on the drops and the diet, it is actually quite easy. Without hunger or cravings it is not difficult to curb your eating, and when you are losing a pound a day of stubborn fat the motivation to stay on it is definitely there.

If I had weight to lose I wouldn't think twice about giving this controversial diet plan a try - what would I have to lose other than stubborn pounds and inches.

---