The HCG Diet: Good or Bad?

For the last couple of years, I have been hearing a lot about the HCG Diet. The diet, as with all fad diets, offers quick results with little to no effort. Often, HCG comes in the form of injections, but it can also be ingested in pill form. Along with medical therapy, patients are often advised to follow an extremely limited diet of 1,000 to as little as 300 calories per day.

Though the HCG diet has been around for several decades, it has only recently come into mainstream usage. My initial reaction was one of shock, then horror. I was treated with HCG when I was undergoing my struggles with infertility and, in my experience, it is nothing to be trifled with. HCG is the pregnancy hormone. It is created by the placenta in pregnant women and is also present in some cancerous tumors. When used as a fertility booster, side effects can include serious abdominal pain, swelling, muscle tenderness, depression, and weight gain. I experienced all of these and could not imagine someone choosing HCG voluntarily knowing the risks. HCG has not been proven to be an effective weight loss method, though those who continue to take the injections beg to differ. Of course, if this is followed by a restrictive diet, the reason for the HCG Diet's effectiveness is not surprising.

If you follow this blog, you know that I am on a quest to live as healthfully as possible. I have been eating clean foods for the past few months, exercising regularly, and constantly researching the best choices for my life. I am not perfect. I make mistakes. Often, these mistakes are on purpose and are largely centered on chocolate. However, filling my body with hormones in order to promote weight loss is not a mistake I will ever make.

According to the Mayo Clinic and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, HCG is not only not effective as a weight loss method, it is also a threat to human health. The diet has been linked to gallstones and irregular heartbeat. Furthermore, weight loss that hinges on severe caloric restriction is not sustainable over the long term. The FDA has declared over-the-counter, homeopathic HCG drugs to be illegal. Those that are still sold in stores are likely not "true" HCG drops, and are simply amino acids disguised as HCG. 


If you are considering using HCG drops for weight loss or HCG injections for weight loss, reconsider. The "diet" will cost you significantly - a month long plan can cost as much as $500. Instead, opt for a healthier caloric intake of 1,200 to 1,500 per day and increased exercise. You may not lose 30 pounds in your first month, but the weight you take off will stay off. The Mayo Clinic, and common sense, says that losing weight with a restricted calorie diet not only is unsustainable, but also can cause metabolic problems making it even more difficult for you to take off the weight you will invariably regain.