So why is everybody jumping on the HCG bandwagon? Because everybody wants a quick fix. The diet promises 40 pounds of weight loss in six weeks. People will do anything to feel more beautiful, more valuable, more desired, more socially acceptable.
Don’t be tempted, my friends. The HCG diet is unsafe, it doesn’t work, and it’s little more than beautifully packaged snake oil. So do your body and your pocketbook a favor and steer clear.
Instead, if you need to lose weight to be healthy, do it the good old fashioned way that really works. I know everyone wants a quick fix, but real, sustainable weight loss comes from eating less, focus more on wholesome foods, and EXERCISE.
What is HCG?
Human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) is a hormone found in the urine of pregnant women. More than 50 years ago, Dr. Albert T. Simeons, a British-born physician, contended that HCG injections would enable dieters to subsist comfortably on a 500-calorie-a-day diet. He claimed that HCG would mobilize stored fat; suppress appetite; and redistribute fat from the waist, hips, and thighs . There is no scientific evidence to support these claims.Moreover, a 500-calorie (semi-starvation) diet is likely to result in loss of protein from vital organs, and HCG can cause other adverse effects. Gabe Mirkin, M.D., has noted.
Keep in mind that HCG is a hormone most commonly used in fertility treatments and to aid adolescents with endocrine problems during puberty. It is not — and never had been — a weight loss drug.
Dr. Simeon did a study to “prove” his claims, but no other researchers were ever able to reproduce his work. After the HCG diet was discredited by the scientific community, the diet mostly disappeared until 2007, when infomercial king Kevin Trudeau began promoting it as the secret diet your doctor isn’t telling you about. And suddenly, products appeared all over the internet and doctors at integrative and alternative medicine centers started jumping on the bandwagon, causing the diet to experience an unfortunate resurgence. Variations of the diet exist, but most require daily HCG injections, drops, or sublingual dosing, and costs can run you up to $1500/month (padding the pockets of many a doc). The pregnancy hormone is combined with a highly restricted, low calorie diet of 500 calories/day.
The pregnancy hormone tricks the body into believing that you’re pregnant, and because you’re starving the body, it starts eating away at fat — and you get no hunger pangs! Sounds good, right? To bad it eats away muscle first!
The only reason why anyone loses weight off this diet is because they’re eating 500 calories a day. While calorie intakes are different from person to person, most nutrition information at the grocery store is based off a 2,000-calorie diet. For healthy weight loss, a daily intake of 1,200 to 1,800 calories is generally acceptable. While calorie intakes are different from person to person, most nutrition information at the grocery store is based off a 2,000-calorie diet. For healthy weight loss, a daily intake of 1,200 to 1,800 calories is generally acceptable. When a body is subsiding off 500 calories a day, the body leeches protein from the muscle in the heart, and that makes the heart muscle irritable, which can lead to ventricular tachycardia and sudden cardiac death.
Being a fitness trainer, I can’t beileve I’m writing an article about a 500 calorie diet. If you’re a teenager or an adult, 500 calories for anyone is way too little. If you heard from a friend or anyone who suggested that you consume 500 calories a day to lose fat, then you have been provided with bad advice. Sure, at first you will lose weight which is obviously the goal, however your health will deteriorate and you will also lose a lot of muscle which is a bad thing.
A 500 calorie diet deprives the body from not only the much needed nutrients, but also from sufficient energy it needs to operate. Your body alone burns approximately 900 to 2000 calories on it’s own. Take that number and add on the calories required for your daily activities and you will find it is generally above 1,200 calories. The bare minimum is 1,200 to 1,300 calories a day to maintain a healthy lifestyle but also lose fat.
If you chose to only consume 500 calories a day, you would notice a few changes. You would feel completely without energy during much of the day, your body will feel depleted and sluggish. You will also notice weight loss which is exciting, but you will also notice strength loss from the loss of muscle tissue. When you realize a 500 calorie diet is unhealthy and decide to quit, you will gain all the weight back plus MORE. Why? Because the loss of muscle tissue creates way for more fat gain. In order to build that muscle back up, you will have to perform resistance training with either freeweights or machines.
wedmd
No comments:
Post a Comment