The HCG Diet
Hi Guys. Sorry to keep mining ya'll for information, but the EN Network has provided me a lot of insight into both sides of many hot topics (ie medical marijuana.)
Tomorrow, Im sitting on an advisory panel on the HCG Diet. At our gym (were a medical fitness center so we a lot more med stuff than a reg gym, like cardiac rehab, physical therapy, nutrition consults). If your not familiar with the diet, basically, you take shots of human chorionic gonadotropin, the pregnancy hormone, restrict yourself to 500 calories a day, and you lose weight.
From my research, there is not much information out there to support this phsyiologically. Plus, as many recognize, eating only 500 calories alone will cause you to lose weight. In fact, its commonly called starvation. Another interesting point is that the diet recommends not exercising -something that I think everyone on this team can find fault with.
So, anyone have any experiences with this diet? I would like to have some anecdotal information for the barage of questions Im going to get asked. Thanks ahead of time. Oh yeah, since we were able to keep the "gun discussion" civil, I assume we can do the same for this one. If youve ever tried the diet and had success, I'd like to hear about that too. 
GV
Comments
Sounds real doubtful to me. It doesn't appear that the HCG injections provided any advantage over just the 500 cal diet according to controlled studies. Either choice is going to force the loss of considerable lean tissue.
Here's a useful link I found http://health.howstuffworks.com/health-illness/wellness/physical-fitness/weight-loss/hcg-diet.htm. I tend to trust HSW.
DrD
I have several friends that have done this diet and my MD administers the HCG diet also.
500 calories is what they get and it is very specific what is passable for meals. There is a couple days of binge eating during the start with a minimum of 23 days of daily HCG shots at 125-150 iu's/shot (some like IM some like into the fat) and a maximum of 40 days. Clean eating/non-refined foods are a must at the end for 2-3 weeks to "reset" the metabolism.
I have a buddy in Idaho who started 5-6 days ago and lost 9 lbs in the first 3 days (likely water) and had some fat but is now down to 0.5-1.0 lbs/day with minimal hunger. I think everyone realizes that there isn't energy to exercise but it is just for 4-6 wks, which after losing 20+ lbs of bodyweight...sort of justifies the lack of exercise.
I have a cyclist that dropped that last 15 lbs of weight and pushed their watts/kg to 5.1+.
My MD says it hasn't worked well for everyone as some people do not get adequate blunting of their hunger and therefore cannot stay on the diet. Of those that have stayed with the diet he has seen a significant improvement in their metabolism 6-12 months IF they do not return to eating lots of refined foods. It's almost like they have their teenage metabolism back BUT they can't abuse it like they did way back when.
I will keep you posted on my buddies progress if you'd like. He is a DC in his mid-40's and does Crossfit but wasn't making any progress with his body composition even with eating clean. He weighed 214 @ 5'11" when he started.
V
P.S. I've considered the diet for the fall as just 3 years ago I was able to maintain 8% bodyfat with relative ease BUT I did 12-14 weeks of basework and never exceeded 80% HRmax in both running and riding without any exogenous aides/hormones.
Patrick
I'm going to do a blog post on this too so y'all can have some academic references.
I think the literature is a mixed bag but primarily leaning away from the diet. But it is not questioned that we put people on very powerful anti-depressants for sustained timeframes or other meds with serious side-effects yet there is a gut check reaction to a short-term course of HCG to help people improve their BMI and subsequently lower the risk for all diseases associated with obesity. Seems like a double standard of thinking in the field. Again, I will continue to monitor my patients and friends before making a decision on my end come Fall.
Please keep us informed.
Vince