Thread: the hCG diet?

I doubt many here know of it, many of the fatties using it actually go oral from what I've read. Honestly I can't say if it works or not, I've come across it but haven't poked deeply enough at it to know if it works. Plenty of people take hCG and nobody reports of amazing fat loss, T3, clen, HGH, usnic acid, peptides/GH fragments and DNP are going to be far more common.

I've been on the boards for years and can't recall having seen a single post with anyone trying it, maybe in some of the women's sections possibly.

The people who loose weight and are trully folowing the HCG diet are consuming less that 500 calories a day. No typo, 500 kcal a day. Who wouldn't loose weight on that little of food. However, the HCG is suppose to aid in some way by preventing catabolism or stopping the body from not burning calories as it normally would on such a caloric restricted diet, or something like that. I am not really all that knowledgeable in how HCG effects women, but I know it is different than in men.

Fabulous starvation and muscle wasting, mmmmmmmm goodness.

Sounds like a way for non-juiceheadz to keep hormones up when otherwise they'd be suppressed due to poor diet.

It is a complete scam. I have studied these effects in women and done a ton of research. A 5 minute search on Pubmed will answer your question. It is nothing more than a starvation diet that strips muscle.

Ineffectiveness of human chorionic gonadotropin in weight reduction: a double-blind study.

Stein MR, Julis RE, Peck CC, Hinshaw W, Sawicki JE, Deller JJ Jr.

Our investigation was designed to retest the hypothesis of the efficacy of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) on weight reduction in obese women in a clinic setting. We sought to duplicate the Asher-Harper study (1973) which had found that the combination of 500 cal diet and HCG had a statistically significant benefit over the diet and placebo combination as evidenced by greater weight loss and decrease in hunger. Fifty-one women between the ages of 18 and 60 participated in our 32-day prospective, randomized, double-blind comparison of HCG versus placebo. Each patient was given the same diet (the one prescribed in the Asher-Harper study), was weighed daily Monday through Saturday and was counselled by one of the investigators who administered the injections. Laboratory studies were performed at the time of initial physical examinations and at the end of the study. Twenty of 25 in the HCG and 21 of 26 patients in the placebo groups completed 28 injections. There was no statistically significant difference in the means of the two groups in number of injections received, weight loss, percent of weight loss, hip and waist circumference, weight loss per injections, or in hunger ratings. HCG does not appear to enhance the effectiveness of a rigidly imposed regimen for weight reduction.

PMID: 786001 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]



Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) Treatment of Obesity

Kaup R. Shetty, MD; Ronald K. Kalkhoff, MD


Arch Intern Med. 1977;137(2):151-155.


Abstract

After a nine-day control period, six hospitalized obese women were placed on 500 calorie diets and were given 125 IU of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) intramuscularly daily for 30 days. Another five obese women received injections of diluent only and consumed identical diets for the same period. Mean weight loss in the HCG-treated group was nearly identical to that achieved by women given the placebo. Reduction of triceps skinfold thickness or circumferential body measurements of the chest, waist, hips, and thighs were not different. Patterns of change of a variety of plasma and urine substrates, electrolytes, and hormones were similar in the two groups and consistent with semistarvation and weight loss. These results indicate that HCG has no effects on chemical and hormonal parameters measured and offers no advantage over calorie restriction in promoting weight loss.

(Arch Intern Med 137:151-155, 1977)



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.

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.

Publication Types:
Meta-Analysis

PMID: 8527285 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
PMCID: PMC1365103


Chorionic gonadotropin in weight control. A double-blind crossover study.

Young RL, Fuchs RJ, Woltjen MJ.

Two hundred two patients participated in a double-blind random cross-over study of the effectiveness of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) vs placebo in a wieght reduction program. Serial measurements were made of weight, skin-fold thickness, dropout rates, reasons for dropping out, and patient subjective response. There was no statistically significant difference between those receiving HCG vs placebo during any phase of this study (P greater than .1).

PMID: 792477 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Figures, casual passerbys trying to find an easy way out. To my knowledge I'd swear a lot of them are drinking it too.

Mudge/heavy thanks for the input. I did a bit of my own research, but that was my first trip to pubmed, so I obviously had a lot less info than you found. I did read the original program by Dr siemons, and it looks like the diet shoulda been 1000 calories a day (100 g uncooked protein, 2x a day) but that's neother here nor there. Id be interested in how fatigue, hunger and mood are effected (if at all) on a modified versoin of the original diet (say psmf? Thanks built)

Thanks again for the input folks

Originally Posted by Cgrant

Mudge/heavy thanks for the input. I did a bit of my own research, but that was my first trip to pubmed, so I obviously had a lot less info than you found. I did read the original program by Dr siemons, and it looks like the diet shoulda been 1000 calories a day (100 g uncooked protein, 2x a day) but that's neother here nor there. Id be interested in how fatigue, hunger and mood are effected (if at all) on a modified versoin of the original diet (say psmf? Thanks built)

Thanks again for the input folks

While taking HCG?

Of course, as ridiculous as it may sound

Originally Posted by Cgrant

Of course, as ridiculous as it may sound

Reread the studies, your answer is already posted.

Good read Heavy!


/V

Originally Posted by heavyiron

Reread the studies, your answer is already posted.

Hmm welll no shit. The things you can discover by re-reading and actually comprehending. Massive reps to you bro. I appreciate it, you should do an online class "how to research on pubmed and not be an uneducated douche" lol thanks again bro