HCG anyone? page

[bokbadok]

Curious how many here tried HCG before turning primal. I did. I lost 40 pounds doing it, and don't regret it. However, I do not want to do it again, and I am going primal to lose the last 20 pounds. It's slow going so far pound-wise, but I see positive body comp changes and i feel fantastic, so I won't be changing anything, even if I don't lose all the weight.

I've heard someone refer to doing it and saying that it messed up their metabolism... but I don't remember who that was. I didn't feel like my metabolism was ruined... but it's hard to say. I'd like to hear others' experiences.

[apple]

Aren't you supposed to only eat 500 calories a day? That would help a lot of people lose 40 pounds! Your metabolism will regulate itself in time, the body is resilient like that. I'm not convinced that the HGC hormone does anything, since it is said to be given at homeopathic levels. I put my money on the extreme calorie restriction.

[bokbadok]

I guess I should explain some more. My doctor (DO) recommended it as a weight loss option, and at first I was appalled because of the calorie restriction. However, as he explained the science behind it, I remembered that when I was pregnant, I would lose 10 pounds and lean out during the first 3 months. Every time. HCG is the hormone a woman's body produces during pregnancy, and one of it's actions is to mobilize stored fat into the bloodstream so that the fetus has a continuous supply of nutrients.

I used the pharmeceutical grade HCG injections. I absolutely believe that it works -- I experienced it! For one thing, I like to eat too much to get by on 500cal/day, but with the hcg I had NO problems at all. Wasn't hungry, energy was great, mood, etc. The diet is very restrictive and monotonous, which was my only complaint. But it definitely works and is a very different experience from severe calorie cutting alone.

I've known people who have done the homeopathic oral drops, and had success, but I'm not sure how it compares to the injections.

[Zophie]

My sister in law is doing it. I believe it is killing her. Only 500 calories a day and she can't even walk across the street to get the mail. She has lost 35lbs but still looks "puffy". I get so sad every time I see her.

[TigerLily]

Yeah, I've done it. Won't do it again. Of course, because I have/had an underlying eating disorder, I went straight back to my old patterns afterwards.

I was doing the real stuff -- injections -- not the fakeass wimpy homeopathic version.

I lost 30 pounds quickly, and saw drastic changes in my body composition -- much more than 30 pounds' worth. There's definitely something to it -- it's most definitely not "just" from calorie restriction.

BUT, I truly do regret it because it did something totally bizarre to my neck. It gave me this bizarre webbing under my chin and at the top of decolletage that I've only recently begun to put a dent in with copious applications of CO. I also developed this weird bruised, bubbled, tender vein on the leg where I was doing many of the injections. My primary care provider thought I'd better get an ultrasound just to be sure it wasn't something really serious, and I concurred. That bruised, hurty area on my outer calf (injection site: mid thigh) did eventually go away on its own, but it has taken more than a year.

Primal is so easy and works so quickly. Why bother?

[TigerLily]

I used the pharmeceutical grade HCG injections. I absolutely believe that it works -- I experienced it! For one thing, I like to eat too much to get by on 500cal/day, but with the hcg I had NO problems at all. Wasn't hungry, energy was great, mood, etc. The diet is very restrictive and monotonous, which was my only complaint. But it definitely works and is a very different experience from severe calorie cutting alone.

This was exactly my experience as well, all of it.

[TigerLily]

P.S. I do not feel like my metabolism was ruined because of it.

[eelnus]

My exerience is just like TigerLily's. I lost 30lbs really fast and I looked great. I kept it off for 2 years, then binged and gained it all back plus 20. You gain it back really fast if you eat starch. I believe it really works and it was what I needed at the time and you can go from that to PB and keep it off. It's like Gary Taube says in his book, you eat carbs, you get fat again. So now I'm the heaviest I've ever been and I know for a fact I wouldn't be this heavy if I never did HCG. But I don't blame the HCG. Sometimes when I get impatient and depressed, I'm tempted to do it again for the instant results, but I'm controlling myself and going to be patient this time and make sure I change my lifestyle for good. I know PB is going to take time, but it's forever, not just for 2 years.

Zophie, I don't think you need to worry about your sister. You just have to make sure she understands that if she wants to keep it off, she should adopt a primal/paleo lifestyle once she reaches her goal weight to maintain. If she doesn't and goes back to her old way of eating, she WILL gain it back and then some...guaranteed. But that's about the extent of the damage...but no more then any other diet.

[Zophie]

eelnus, thank you for telling me that. I just worry when she is out of breath bringing in bags from the car or going up the stairs. I don't remember that happening before the HCG... but it could be some thing else causing it.

[emmie]

I'm 69, and over the past several years, I've gone from my all-time high of 340 to my current 155--without surgery or drugs on any kind. Since I'm post-menopausal and also hypothyroid, my loss was very slow, but I think that it's not only more healthy to lose slowly but in the process my low carb (now primal) WOE became normative for me--i.e., not a diet but my preferred menu. I've also experienced a surprising benefit in getting insights into my food issues that are helping me deal with the challenges of maintenance.

I think that HCG has the same appeal as all 'lose weight quickly' schemes. But I chose not to take any hormone replacements with menopause, and I certainly wouldn't take hormones just to lose weight. As far as doctors recommending it. In my life, I've had doctors suggest amphetamines and other drugs for weight loss, so a doctor's recommendation isn't something I value.

There's a lot of online chatter about HCG, and I think some of the supposed benefits are fiction. For example, some people claim that it will 'reset your metabolism' so that you can go back to eating as you formerly did and not re-gain. That's absolute bunk--as those of you who have re-gained illustrate.

Moreover, the dangers of losing weight too quickly have been well documented. We are an instant gratification society, but that's what has made a lot of use obese in the first place. Why compound the problem by going for the quick fix?