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If you’ve been thinking about trying the HCG diet, I’ve got all the intel.
I have always struggled with my weight.
Never obese, I hovered somewhere in the realm of cute and chubby.
Did it sound too good to be true?
I started by researching how the diet began
The HCG dietwas developed in the 1950s byDr.
Simeons, who ran an elite “health” spa in Europe.
I was initially conflicted about the information I had learned.
Was Dr. Simeons a quack?
There are online HCG super-stars, like HCG Chica, who write cookbooks, and haveYou Tube channels.
Many of the people who bill themselves as experts also deal in selling the HCG itself.
I combed these groups for months.
I watched as people would check in daily, with their fantastic weigh-in results.
Women were losing 10 pounds in their first week, sometimes more.
I started to become convinced that HCG was the magic answer I had been looking for.
This supposedly cushions your fat reserves for the low calorie diet to follow.
All that happy gorging ends abruptly with the start of phase two, the 500 calorie diet.
You are instructed to completely avoid exercise, oil-based cosmetics, and massages or facials.
You must drink a ton of water, with a small amount of lemon allowed.
Coffee and tea are okay.
I was a bit terrified at the idea of living in such a state of deprivation.
The oral drops, though, I was comfortable with.
I began planning my calendar.
There are many doctors or weight loss clinics that offer HCG.
I decided pretty quickly that I could do this on my own with the help of the devotees.
I went to her house to purchase my first batch.
The two days of loading weren’t as exciting as you would think.
When you are excited to lose weight, it feels counter-intuitive to gorge yourself.
It also makes you start to feel sick.
I then began the 500 calorie HCG diet.
I carried on, but I didn’t start to feel any better.
By one week in, my hair started falling out in clumps.
I had no strength, no energy, and was miserably hungry and constipated all the time.
When I complained, I was told I must be doing something wrong.
Every part of my process was micro-managed.
I was advised to drink laxative tea.
The joy didn’t last long, however.
I was depressed, as I was not only eating healthy, but keeping my calories pretty low.
Some devotees convinced me the problem had been slight deviations I had made (flavored coffee!
I decided to up my game
Why didn’t I just quit the HCG diet?
The devotees had a dire warning for quitters who had not reached their goal weight.
But my jeans were smaller… right?
I hid this from my husband, stashing my horde in my closet and injecting in the bathroom.
I felt like a drug addict.
“Basically, other people have come along and written books making up their own HCG diet protocols.
I ended up doing a total of five rounds of HCG, experimenting with these different rogue protocols.
I was convinced that I just had to find the magic HCG equation that worked for me.
After all, it had worked for all those other women, right?
Most groups are extremely unforgiving of anyone who deviates from the original protocol.
What topics were off limits?
Anything that questions the faulty nutrition science of Dr. Simeon’s diet.
Or noting thenumerous scientific studiesthat have indicated that HCGdoesn’t work any better in control groups than a placebo.
And yet, in a decision I look back and marvel at, I carried on.
After all, I had a form-fitting costume to wear for my next show!
Common sense had been replaced in the quest to fit into my old size 8s.
I became distinctly aware of when I was ovulating, because the cramping was worse than during my period.
I didn’t feel healthy, and had no libido.
Our discussions would promptly get erased.
I read more about women who believed that HCG had given themsignificant health problems.
I decided that I was out for good.
I removed myself from all the social media groups, and tossed my supplies in the trash.
It’s now been two years since my last round.
But what about the claim that HCG preserves precious muscle?
Not so, according to Dr. Ayoob.
“There’s no reliable scientific evidence that the HCG adds anything beneficial to the 500-calorie diet.
So what did I learn?
I do struggle with the realization that I did something that could have negatively affected my health.
