Every year, it seems like the media finds a new
diet to tout. Fads in recent years include the South Beach Diet, the Atkins Diet, and, get this, the baby food diet. Well now another diet trend has caught the fancy of the American public. It’s the human chorionic gonadotropin or hCG diet, and it was developed by a doctor who believed that a hormone found in a pregnant woman’s body could help overweight men and women lose weightand keep that weight off after returning to a normal routine.
HCG is actually a hormone that can be extracted from the urine of pregnant women. It is approved by FDA for treatment of certain problems of the male reproductive system and in stimulating ovulation in women who have had difficulty becoming pregnant. The hCG claim is that you’ll lose 1-3 pounds per day by combining daily injections with a very low calorie diet (500 calories per day). Well guess what? You actually can and will lose “weight”.But the question is what type of weight would you like to lose? Fat? Or how about water,muscle and a little fat? If you picked the later….water, minimal fat and muscle loss (which will happen on the hCG), then you’re opposing the ultimate goal which is to be HEALTHY and FIT!!
Can you tell I’m passionate about this topic? Can you tell that I’m upset because the masses are trying it and don’t care about the muscle loss? Most people want to lose weight to fit in their jeans, look good for their reunion or wedding… completely ignoring the fact that the fat WILL come back and come back fast after you begin to eat more than the required 500 calories per day.
No one on this planet can be considered healthy while consuming only 500 calories per day. 500 calories per day is not enough calories to support normal brain function or for your metabolism to work properly so you can actually lose fat. Your body will compensate by using stores of glycogen, protein (muscle) and some fat, which lowers your resting metabolism.
Our metabolic factors that run our organs and glands and keep us burning fat cannot work properly when we are starving ourselves. Regardless of how skinny and healthy you may appear because you can fit in your clothes again or because people comment on how good you look, skinny fat is NOT healthy. I would rather have 15lbs to lose any day than to be in a muscle wasting, failing immune system state that invites disease and a whole host of other issues you won’t have the ability to keep at bay.
HCG injections have not been approved by the FDA for use in weight loss and was recently added to the list of “banned substances” in Major League Baseball, as it was becoming increasingly popular among steroid users. Some negative (and common) side effects include headaches, mood swings, depression, blood clots, confusion, and dizziness. Some women also develop a condition called Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS); symptoms of this include pelvic pain, swelling of the hands and legs, stomach pain, weight gain, shortness of breath, diarrhea, vomiting/nausea, and/or urinating less than normal. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it?
Is the doctor who promotes this diet ignorant or just reckless? Or perhaps a genius marketer? Because guess what? Everyone is talking about it, even me on my radio show and in this article. As if we don’t have enough stress in our lives, by using the stupid hCG diet you can expect to be irritable, lightheaded and crave bad food that you may not have prior to this >diet. Sounds like I’m really on it now doesn’t it? Well I write this way because I truly care and want people to attain their goals. Especially with the new year and all of the so-called resolutions that have been made. I refer to new year resolutions as new year reunions, because you’re reunited with the failure of years past. I basically think they’re a waste of time because more times than not people end up being let down and relapsing back to old habits. Don’t believe me? Stats show 80% of you “resolutioners” will quit exercise programs by March. That’s just three months after being all gung-ho to lose that gut or those saddle bags.
But I digress. I’ve said this on my show and want to share this logical thinking with you here. Personal trainers should not give medical advice, aerobics teachers should not give personal training advice and most doctors should not give eating/nutrition advice. Stay within your own field of expertise and we’ll all be better off. Most doctors are not educated in nutrition and should not be recommending diets or supplements. Unless they went outside of medical school to gain nutrition experience and/or learned from a board certified clinical nutritionist this just isn’t something they are knowledgeable about. And no doctor has the right to endanger the lives of others by abusing their MD title to promote unsafe nutritional practices just to earn an extra buck.
Fad diets are called that because they come and go. Learn to lose fat from people who know what they’re talking about and have proven results over a period of time. I’ve been in this industry over 21 years and have learned what works and what doesn’t. Every time someone uses a short cut to lose fat, they’ll ultimately come up short themselves.