5 Risks of hCG diet: Is it safe for weight loss?

The hCG diet combines a very low-calorie diet with an injection of HCG. Is the hCG diet a healthy and effective way to lose weight? Or is it an unhealthy and dangerous method that does not help its dieters achieve their weight loss goals? The hCG diet is low in calories, and so far, no research has proven its effect on weight loss.

The hCG diet has two main components: First, it limits calorie intake to 500 to 800 calories per day. This diet focuses on protein intake from lean meats, fish, and poultry and recommends reducing your intake of carbohydrates and milk and eating only moderate amounts of vegetables and fruits. The next component of this diet is hCG, which is usually either injected into the thigh or used as an oral drop.

How does the hCG diet work?

The hCG diet was first introduced in 1954 in “Pounds and Inches: A New Approach to Obesity by Simmons. Many nutritionists emphasize the importance of eating a healthy breakfast, but the diet developed by Simmons did not include any foods before lunch.

For breakfast on this diet, you could have coffee or tea without sugar or calorie-free artificial sweeteners. On this diet, if you wanted to drink milk, you were only allowed to use one tablespoon every 24 hours.

Also, in the hCG diet, people should inject this hormone into their thighs daily. Of course, there are other ways, such as using drops, pills, or sprays.

What foods can you eat?

In this diet, a person gets most of his calories from lunch and dinner (protein sources). According to this program, about 100 grams of lean meat should be eaten at each meal. The recommended protein sources in this diet are:

• Fish meat
• Crab
• Shrimp
• Lean beef
• Buffalo meat
• Chicken
• Egg white

Fatty options such as salmon, tuna, and herring have no place in this diet. Also, dieters are required to separate the fats before cooking the meat. Sometimes you can eat low-fat cheese or eggs instead of beef.

A low-calorie vegetable is also allowed as part of lunch and dinner. Allowable vegetables include the following:

• Celery
• Spinach
• Fennel
• Cauliflower
• Onion
• Beet leaves
• Cucumber
• Green salad
• Cabbage
• Radish
• Shallot
• Asparagus
• Tomatoes
• Broccoli

You can also eat a unit of fruit at lunch and dinner. These are the approved fruits:

• Grapefruit
• Orange
• Apple
• Lemon
• Blueberry
• Strawberry

They can also use a small piece of toast as a carbohydrate for dinner. This bread is permissible on the hCG diet due to its low fat and low calorie content.

Seasonings such as salt, pepper, sweet basil, parsley, and mustard powder are also allowed. This diet does not allow oils (even healthy cooking oils), butter, or any sauce.

One similarity between the HCG diet and other diets is that you cannot eat foods with added sugar. Prohibited foods in the hCG diet include sweets and chocolate. This diet does not allow carbohydrate-rich foods such as muffins, pasta, and baguettes.

The FDA has declared hCG diet products illegal.

The Food and Drug Administration says hCG diet products that do not require a prescription are illegal, and consumers should not use them.

Unfortunately, there are many claims on the packaging of these products that hCG affects weight loss, but the collected information does not confirm this. All of the weight loss from the hCG diet is due to severely cutting calories, which is an interesting fact.

Weight loss with the hCG diet

Even though the hCG diet’s few calories can help you lose weight, many experts think it is unhealthy. They also believe that there is no weight stability in the long run.

The hCG diet is regarded as a very low-calorie diet that, despite weight loss, slows down the metabolism and loses control of the diet.  s a result, the person tends to overeat.

The FDA in the United States has warned many companies that sell hCG and make weight-loss claims. In 2014, a good company was fined $1 million for making hCG, and the FDA banned making drugs that claimed to help people lose weight.

5 Risks of the hCG Diet

Many people reported that they were anesthetized on the hCG diet because of their very low calorie intake. One of the main criticisms of the hCG diet is its severe calorie restriction.

Depending on their age, gender, height, weight, and level of activity, women should eat between 1600 and 2400 calories a day, and men should eat between 2000 and 3000 calories a day.

In the case of this diet, half or even a quarter of this amount of calories is given to a person. Getting 500 to 800 calories a day is dangerous.

With this many calories, the body can’t get enough vitamins, minerals, and proteins that it needs. Eating a restricted diet can cause gallstones, electrolyte imbalances, and an uncoordinated heartbeat.

In addition, taking hCG drugs has side effects, including:

• Headache
• Depression
• Swelling of the legs and hands
• Severe sagging breasts in men
• blood clotting

Bottom Line

In addition to being low in calories and the harm it causes, the hCG diet also causes more severe problems by forcing people to inject it. This diet, even in the short term, can cause you many problems and in no way change your lifestyle or eating habits.

The best way to lose weight is to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet and work out often. With this method, you can slowly change the way you eat and stay at your ideal weight even after the diet is over.