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chels0120
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Anyone do HCG?
chels0120
member
K I'm going to preface this by saying I'd always been anti HCG! I thought it was the craziest thing to do to your body!! That was until 3 friends and 2 relatives did it... and 2 friends have done it twice. My one friend came over yesterday to show me her book on it and everything and now I really want to do it! I have PCOS and no amount of eating super healthy, portion control and excerise is working.
So I'm curious if any gals on here have done it and what their experience was like! TIA!
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Re: Anyone do HCG?
I've used it as a trigger for my 3 IVFs but I haven't done the HCG diet. I know it's not the same thing but I really can't see voluntarily doing it. If my body is going to have pregnancy hormones floating around, I want to be pregnant!
Everything I've read about it makes it sound super restrictive and low calorie - it would be hard NOT to lose weight eating 500 cals a day.
My personal stance on it has always been to leave the HGC for people who need it - so it can be available and as affordable as these types of meds can be.
If you read up on how it works it makes a lot of sense. The hormone tells your body to take the necessary fat needed from the fat stores in your body the way it does when you are pregnant. I have been to both. I was eating extremely healthy and following the rules to a T for 6 months and still gained weight. My friend did it after each of her pregnancies.
Yes! I am on it right now actually. I did it last year prior to my wedding. I followed Dr.Simeons' plan to a T - never cheating or doing anything off protocol. I had less than 15 pounds to lose so I did the 23-day and lost everything I wanted plus all the "bad fat". I looked and felt amazing. A few months after, I ended up getting pregnant so I cannot say if I would have been able to keep the weight off.
I'm on it again so I can lose the last of the baby weight and extra fat. I literally just started - I loaded for 2 days and this is my first day on the VLCD.
You will find a lot of "haters". Most of these people have not done the research so they do not know what they are talking about. Do your research and talk to people who have done it. I have only heard of success stories.
The diet was more mentally challenging for me than anything. Knowing you only have 26 days of the VLCD though got me through it. P3 was my favorite (no sugar/starches). I struggled with P4 (adding back sugar/starch) because I hated to see the scale fluctuate and it was frustrating when you went past your 2 pound limit and had to do a steak-day. (If you don't know what I'm talking about....make sure you read Pounds and Inches).
I highly recommend this ONLY if you are dedicated and have a support system at home. Let me know what you decide!!
-- That post is from me. I logged in using my Nest account on accident -- Let me know too if you have any questions.
Can I just say THANK YOU SO MUCH! I will fully admit before I did my research I though this was the most insane thing I'd ever heard of, but now I feel so totally comfortable with it! My friend also emphasized that you really have to be mentally prepared cause that is the hardest part! My DH is super supportive (he has watched me be miserable and feel completely helpless for over a year now!) so he will support me a ton through it! I know that I can be super dedicated becaues of the diet my doctor had me on before (no oils, sugars, startches, refined anything) so I feel confident I can handle the food part. I'm just so looking forward to feeling like ME again! Thanks so much for your input!!!
maybe it was mentally hard for you b/c 500 calories a day restricting carbs made your brain literally not function properly? It sounds like you like research. I highly recommend doing research on what constitutes disordered eating and calorie restriction...and how our bodies function with nutrition.
My family has done the HCG diet and yes the results are remarkable but , Ive seen people drop 80lbs and think they can go back to a semi normal diet and they gain all that weight back. I work in a medical facility and we have had people admitted to the ICU from the HCG diet. The MD I work for HIGHLY discourages this diet.
Disclaimer: I have not read anything on this HCG diet.
But I have to ask, and I'm not trying to be flammatory, but do you plan on doing HCG thing forever? Because if PCOS is causing your body's hormones to be out of whack and causing you to gain weight, and healthy eating and exercising isn't working now, won't your body go back to the way it was before you started HCG? You reach your goal weight, go off of HCG, and go back to eating healthy and exercising, but because of the PCOS, your body will still gain the weight. Or is the HCG supposed to permanently help with the PCOS?
Also, have you tried any medication like clomid? I know some people who have the same struggles as you with PCOS and clomid helped. (Again, I don't have any personal experiences with it. Just mentioning it as something to look into.)
This is a "drawback"?!
I mean, what bigger clue do you need that you're seriously effing up your body by doing this diet?
#PerfectStrangers
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1/28 - Planet Adventure night trail 1/4-marathon - 1:25:47
3/24 - Sam Costa half marathon - 2:02:47
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7/8 - XTERRA Freedom Fest Hawaii 10K
9/1 - Indianapolis Women's Half Marathon
10/20 - Indianapolis Marathon Relay
11/4 - Monumental Marathon (full marathon #2)
11/22 - Drumstick Dash 4.5mi
It sounds dangerous to your health. Here is one of many reviews on the HCG diet:
https://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/07/hcg-diet-look-elsewhere-for-weight-loss/
The HCG diet causes you to lose weight because you are ONLY EATING 500 CALORIES A DAY! There is nothing "magic" about the HCG, it's just a gimmick for you to waste your money on. Everyone wants "immediate" results, but no one is willing to work for it. Having to mentally prepare yourself for a diet because you can't even eat enough to support your body's functions? Yeah, no thanks.
So after the HCG diet...what do you do? Do you go on this diet on and off for the rest of your life? How is this sustainable weight loss? How is a diet that makes your HAIR FALL OUT, healthy?
My sister has PCOS and experienced a lot of weight gain before her diagnosis, but she has since lost it through clean eating and exercise (she is now training for a marathon). She does a lot of meal planning and buys natural, unprocessed foods. Eating clean and tracking calories are the best, healthiest, most reliable way to lose weight. No, you won't lose 75 lbs in a month, but it WILL teach you how to control portions and keep the weight that you do lose off for good.
Haha! Yes!!
Anorexics also lose their hair. That should be a bit of an indication as to what you are doing to your body. The HCG diet is essentially a starvation diet. It is just the newest fad soon to be replaced by another fad diet.
I just loosely follow my gestational diabetes diet (low good carbs, high quality proteins) and the weight melted off and has stayed off.
I also exercise pretty much every day of the week too. Losing weight and keeping it off does not require following a fad diet. It requires using common sense.
I'm usually just a lurker, but had to post on this topic. My friend has gone through 3 cyles of 40 days (she is over 80 pounds over weight) and lost 60 pounds. After seeing her results I went through a 23 day cycle 2 months before my wedding. I was not strict on this diet since I only wanted to lose 10-15 pounds, but it did work (I ate 500-800 calories a day adding in foods that are not on the list). I lost my weight (thighs, waist, belly) and after my cycle I felt so energized that I went to the gym 3-4x a week, something I've never done, and I ate healthy. Since you are only eating 500 calories a day it really makes you aware of what you are putting in your body, and motivates you to eat healthy. The 500 calorie day sounds scary, but it is more of a mental thing then an actual hunger thing. The restricted diet also taught me about my bad eating habits....I learned bad carbs are my biggest issue and I would rather have pasta and pizza over chocolate and desert. This really helped me put together a diet after the HCG drops that allowed "cheating" for my beloved carbs but still ensured healthy portion sized eating.
With my experience I say give it a try and good luck! PM me with any questions.
Not to sound biotchy...
Have you tried a diet consisting of low sodium, low carb, high protein, lots of fruits & veggies, very few desserts?
In other words, quit the fad diets and just eat healthfully? Fad diets will never last forever.
If you can't do it without some kind of book/guide/naming your diet, I would recommend the Best Life Diet that was featured on Oprah about 5 years ago.
If you restrict your calories to 500 a day, you'll lose a lot of weight- with our without HCG.
I had to have an HCG shot to get pregnant this time, and I was worried about the side effects but willing to take them as we really wanted to have another child and it was not happening otherwise. I am so happy it worked and I got pregnant - but would never consider using these hormones for any other purpose.
Seriously?
Maybe if you read up on how proper nutrition works, you would see that limiting your caloric intake to 500 calories a day is completely unhealthy and unsafe! It's not the HCG that tells your body to take the energy from the fat stores in your body, it's your body going into survival mode that decides to do that, HCG or not. It's called starvation.
I've heard wonderful things about people dropping weight and then putting it back on just as fast as they dropped it. This includes friends and family members of mine.
I will admit, I am really intrigued by it though, but with me BFing there is no way I'm going to try it.
I'm not trying to be snarking, just curious. I've never heard of clomid helping women with PCOS lose weight. Maybe you are thinking of metformin?
Clomid is a fertility drug. Metformin is used to regulate blood sugars (women with PCOS have insulin problems).