I went on HCG this past summer. I've been eating low-carb/paleo for the past 3 years and lost 50 lbs within the first 15 months. After I stopped going to the gym 3x/day (which I was doing in the last 4-6 weeks) I've gained 25 lbs back. I never got it officially checked, but blamed my thyroid. I began seeing a "holistic" doctor who had come highly recommended, and he sold me HCG for $300. Desperate, I bought it, thinking it would cure all my weight issues. I lasted about a day and a half and almost died of hunger. According to the receptionist (who rarely let me speak with the doctor about the problems I was having) I was the only patient who had any sort of difficulty. I figured that since I already ate paleo, I wasn't on the same par as most of the other clients, and that made me frustrated, that I already ate so well and these people who went from mcdonalds to 500 calories a day were losing 30-40 lbs and I couldn't even lose 5. I almost forced my doctor to prescribe me adderall, so that my hunger would be suppressed (and not even that worked). Now, about 6 months later, I've discovered (without the help of that doctor... I was told to find another doctor) that the problem isn't my thyroid or the way I eat, but my liver. I do not recommend HCG to anyone.... I agree, part of it makes sense, the logic that the doctor and his assistents threw at me anyway, but overall... figure out what's not working for you instead of using a (very expensive) band-aid to cover it up.

There is absolutely no evidence to support the use of hcg for weight loss. And the *small print for these diets is that they are grossly calorie restricted to between 400-600/day.

Here you go:

"Br J Clin Pharmacol. 1995 Sep;40(3):237-43. The effect of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in the treatment of obesity by means of the Simeons therapy: a criteria-based meta-analysis.

Lijesen GK, Theeuwen I, Assendelft WJ, Van Der Wal G.

Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Abstract

1. A meta-analysis was conducted to assess if there is scientific ground for the use of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) as adjunctive therapy in the treatment of obesity. 2. Published papers relating to eight controlled and 16 uncontrolled trials that measured the effect of HCG in the treatment of obesity were traced by computer-aided search and citation tracking. 3. The trials were scored for the quality of the methods (based on four main categories: study population, interventions, measurement of effect, and data presentation and analysis) and the main conclusion of author(s) with regard to weight-loss, fat-redistribution, hunger, and feeling of well-being. 4. Methodological scores ranged from 16 to 73 points (maximum score 100), suggesting that most studies were of poor methodological quality. Of the 12 studies scoring 50 or more points, one reported that HCG was a useful adjunct. The studies scoring 50 or more points were all controlled. 5. We conclude that there is no scientific evidence that HCG is effective in the treatment of obesity; it does not bring about weight-loss of fat-redistribution, nor does it reduce hunger or induce a feeling of well-being."(emphasis mine)

Best weight loss method for new mom - breast feeding. (also the very best thing to do for your baby) This diet looks like it would preclude breast feeding which requires a lot of calories and nutrients.

n=1 I lost 40 lbs in 6 months after birth by simply breast feeding (despite not have an ideal diet) and not owning a car - hence lots of "foraging" type walking to store, laundromat etc. while lifting a (semi)heavy weight - daughter, and heavy weights - grocery and laundry sacks. I definitely did not calorie restrict at all - had to eat a LOT to support the feeding and activity.

I did two rounds of HcG in July and September of this year. If you want to understand the diet better, I recommend reading Dr. Simeons Protocol. It is available for free from just about any HcG website. There are two types of HcG available. Real HcG, which is only available through a doctor's prescription, and homeopathic HcG, which is sold all over the internet (purportedly, some suppliers are charlataigns selling fake stuff!).

I lost 25 pounds over the two 23-day rounds. Not very impressive but I was not terribly obese to begin with (5'5", started at 175). I used the "real" hcg injections. I was a little hungry, but mostly bored with the very limited food choices (its in the Protocol). The first few days are carb withdrawals for most people.

After the hcg/VLCD phase is over, and this is very, very important, then another phase begins that bans all sugars and starches though one is allowed to eat to satiety!

I never left that phase, LOL. Instead I discovered first Mark Sisson then Robb Wolf and the rest of the lunatic fringe :)

I wouldn't recommend the hcg diet to everyone, but I caution anyone who wants to try it that you MUST be committed. No cheating or your just wasting your time and money. As far as the research goes, well, I don't know if it is true or not but look at research that denies our paleo lifestyle as healthy, just saying. But there's not a lot of studies the successes of hcg are, indeed, anecdotal. Keep that in mind.

In defense of hcg, it is the method I lost the majority of my total weightloss (I've lost only an aadditional 5 pounds, but no weight gain either). Also, were it not for hcg, I may never have discovered all that I have about Paleo lifestyle and the truths therein.

the real issue with this diet is the calorie restriction and the fact it allows the user to remain leptin resistant. Anything that calorie restricts means leptin will make us regain the weight when calories return. HCG is useful to raise testosterone levels......in some cases. And the reason it works for obesity is because of its effects on hormone sensitive lipase and lipoprotwin lipase in the belly and butt and hips adipose tissues. In my view your better off optimizing your sex steroid hormones exogenously with bioidenticals with a doc who knows what they are doing and eating with a paleo diet. There must be a documented hormone discrepancy before you can use them but i have not met an overweight person yet who does not have some type of hormonal imbalance.

Did you guys know that if a person tests positive for HCg and they are not a pregnant woman, that they have cancer? See World without Cancer: the story of vitamin B-17 by G Edward Griffin.

My sister did it and her appendix burst 2 weeks after starting it. May have been coincidental. Injecting something from anyones urine is totally bizarre in my opinion and shows just how desperate people have become to be "thin."

I say love yourself, live a good life responsibly and stick as close to "natural" as possible.

I am with Laura! There is so much bogus research on the internet and in newspapers, but without going further and actually reading the book to see how it works, you wont get accurate information! This diet is not for everyone and for others it works wonders when nothing else has worked. I am currently on the HCG diet and finally have lost the weight that wouldn't come off with diet & exercise alone. I do Crossfit & Paleo and indeed lost 10 pounds and then nothing. After being on several medications for a severe injury as well as anti-depressants. No matter what I did my metabolism was whacked. Many people on HCG who follow protocol keep the weight off and never regain it back. You have to be extremely disciplined & if you want to keep the weight loss, you can't go back to eating your unhealthy lifestyle prior to the diet! We are also able to eat 1500 to 2000 healthy calories a day to maintain the weight we lost. If this diet didn't work thousands wouldn't have had successful results including me! I have done every diet in the world and nothing worked. I've even done the master cleanse and similar low cal diets and I was starving. This diet, when your dose is correct, you are NOT hungry and your body is learning to use it's stored abnormal fats for energy in addition to the 500 calories. On the days I do Crossfit or other exercise I increase my protein.

There are also clinics out there giving out bad information. If your going to do this diet, I would suggest reading the book "Pounds & inches" br Dr. Simmeons, it's available online for free and then choose an appropriate clinic who follows protocol. I spent hundreds on HCG/shakes/bars/supplements at the clinics not loosing any weight before finding out the real information for myself. There are real clinics out there who follow protocol and this is how it should be followed.

HCG also follows a Paleo lifestyle & when followed correctly encourages it's users to make healthier life choices as to food. It teaches you discipline and retrains you how to eat healthy. It completely transforms everything you thought you knew about food and all the bogus crap the government tells you is "healthy for you."

HCG (as other people have mentioned) is noted as being a crazy / non-weight loss thing.

I would not take an insurance company supporting it to seriously either, there is currently a lot of hand-wringing in medicine over the inclusion of "integrative medicine" "traditional Chinese medicine" and the generic homeopathy variants in the real medical field. So you will see crazy things supported by entities that would traditionally avoid quackery now.

A good place for the odd stuff like that is http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/ (relatively long running blog by a surgeon). Though I think the anti-vax stuff is usually considered more vile than things like HCG, but still its all bad stuff.

If you get your total calories low enough, you are also getting your carb intake low too, and in a lot of cases it is low enough to go below what Atkins called "carbohydrate equilibrium"--the point where your insulin is not jacked up and preventing fat loss. So you're going to see some fat loss that way, especially on a very low-cal diet that still allows meat, as apparently the HCG diet does.

That said, I can't fathom someone is getting their nutritional needs met on that little food. They might if it were all meat, including organ meat, but let's face it, your average fad-diet plan doesn't go that far.

Even without the potential risks of taking a hormone that should only be found in pregnant women, I can't believe a mixed diet at that low level of calories is giving the dieter enough protein to maintain lean mass, hormone production or anything else. It's probably lowfat too, even worse. I wouldn't touch a diet like this with a ten-foot pole. It amazes me how many people out there understand that anorexia is an undesirable eating disorder but are still willing to starve themselves if it's an Expert(tm) with a bunch of letters after his or her name telling them to do it. And that includes bariatric surgery patients.

I am currently on my third round of this diet. I've done it with and without the drops. Personally, I feel it is the DIET alone that works. However, I think the added cell salts and such in the drops do help with energy, constipation, etc. I've lost over 40 pounds and kept it off in this manner. I have eaten primal/paleo for the past year. I lost a bit but that was it. I maintain beautifully eating primal/paleo/dairy free in between HCG rounds but some of us just need this extra push. Even Eades said that some people have to watch calories. I view the HCG as a short term period of cleansing and near fasting eating lean meat, organic veggies, and fruits. It's hard but so is being fat. We all have to find what works.

I've been paleo for 3 years and after the initial 10 lbs came off, I found no benefit to my weight (thought tons of benefit to my general health, skin, hair, nails, energy and mood). I still carried around extra weight and I wasn't able to tweak my diet and exercise to lose it. My sister unsuccessfully tried HCG and when I read about the diet it sounded like a HUGE scam to me, and as a scientist the studies I read suggested that it was essentially a restricted calorie diet - basically starvation level - and that was why users lost weight. However the papers concerning the interaction of HCG and adipose tissue demonstrated the reason for the lack of hunger was the increased release of leptin from adipose cells when reacting with HCG. I did a quick little experiment with my sister's leftover HCG to see if I could restrict calories without hunger, just for kicks. I didn't lower to 500 calories because frankly I didn't want to, but I did lower to 1000 (which for me is fairly low and leaves me quite hungry) and at first I felt absolutely nothing different while taking HCG, perhaps the first few days I felt like crap and lost zero pounds, but after that I have to admit I had an odd artificial "full" feeling, nearly nauseating, and even eating 1000 calories was a chore. Take that for what it's worth. I didn't like the feeling and after about 10 days total I stopped taking it. The full/nausea continued for the next several days after stopping and it made me really nervous. I suppose that's what the HCG hype is - you probably actually can restrict calories without feeling hungry. Whether that's healthy or not and what else is actually happening in your body while you're starving yourself I don't know. I will say that in the course of the 10 days I lost 6 lbs and when I resumed my normal paleo diet only 1 lb came back to me, but I'm not sure that will be a long term change and I'm guessing not.

By the way, it's not 6 to 8 weeks, at least as I've read it - it's 3-6 weeks. the 3 weeks seems almost like a "cleanse" IMO - I cannot imagine carrying on for 6 though.

I tried a round of this with success. I was as skeptical as anyone but seeing people like Dr Kruse, Robb Wolf, even Dr. Oz (well he'll endorse anything but still)...say "its basically harmless if done correctly" made me think why not. During a recent Balanced Bites podcast, Diane even said something like "she wouldnt recommend it, but there are some cases where it might be reasonable to try it".

There are a lot of scammers and I recommend only using shots, but yes, for whatever reason it works if you get the real deal and stick to the protocol (I did the no grains version). Some say it's because of the 500 calories and for some yes, perhaps that is part of it. However, I've tried crazy things like 500-800 calorie diets before without any success (like not even losing 1 pound!). Some people's metabolism is just broken and do not respond to calorie restriction the way it might work for others. So for whatever reason it works. Don't knock it unless you've tried the real deal. It's actually been around since the 40s or 50s so I feel pretty good about it.