Weight Loss - HCG Hype-Warning

[Guest guest]

Hi All

I've been following the HCG 'pound a day' weight loss hype. A short

while ago one of my fairly ill clients was still insisting that " Dr. Oz

said it was safe. " Well, I finally found the video she was talking

about and he didn't say that. He said it is worth investigating. A

little more digging and I found he was paid to do that little segment.

(sigh)

The HCG diet recommends that a person eat only 500 calories per day and

of course take the HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) drops. Duh!

Anybody trying to live on 500 calories per day is going to lose weight -

a lot of weight. That's a starvation diet. And, as anyone who has ever

tried to lose weight permanently on a starvation diet will likely tell

you, after you go off the diet, you gain weight again. Eating only 500

calories a day is a dangerous thing to do. It can lead to all sorts of

health problems.

Those of us who are taking medications and are physically moving fairly

slowly, know that we often can put on weight easily. Sometimes we blame

it on changes in our metabolism, or " water weight " or all sorts of

things - including a medication. Truth is though, it's calories in

versus calories burned. If we eat more calories every day, than we

burn, we're going to gain weight. If we starve ourselves on some diet,

our bodies will be screaming for nutrients.

The Mayo Clinic has a short article about HCG that quite nicely sums up

all the things I read.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hcg-diet/AN02091

So, just like every other fad, hopefully not too many people will be

hurt by this before it fades away. Common sense eating and moderate

exercise works for weight loss better than any starvation diet going.

(remember the Grapefruit diet? :-)

Please be careful of taking on a diet like this, or any other diet that

insists you eat an abnormally low amount of calories. We've enough

difficulties in our lives, without inflicting more on ourselves. For

weight loss help, there are truly helpful places to go. Your family

doctor is a good start. A dietitian. Even Weight Watchers - as they

use common sense in their meal planning.

My client who was on this diet, became my client because she ended up

having some mental health issues that she had never had before. She was

in the hospital for a week and is now having home care twice a day.

Before she started starving herself, she was working full time and had

no disabilities to speak of.

Lyndi, Moderator

Years ago, I gained 40 lbs while taking Amitriptyline. I completely

blamed the med at first. It did play a roll in the weight gain, as it

changed my feelings just enough that I ended up eating a lot more than I

did prior to taking it. Once I finally realized what was going on, I

was able to correct the situation.