Hcg how does the diet work

It is believed that the presence of the HCG hormone in the bloodstream takes away your appetite. One of the benefits of HCG injections, aside from weight loss, is that it keeps you from losing muscle while you diet. By elevating the hormone levels in your body, including testosterone, the HCG hormone creates a muscle-building state which counteracts the muscle-breakdown state. This sets the HCG diet apart from other weight loss systems because typically during a fast, dramatic weight loss with crash dieting, there is a high amount of muscle that is lost, which the type of weight that you want to lose.

It also will take quite a bit of time, effort, and work to build back the muscle that has been lost. Because of the low-calorie intake, the diet substantially restricts fat. It is recommended that you eat some fruits, such as oranges, strawberries, apples, and red grapefruit. For veggies, it is recommended that you eat nonstarchy vegetables, like lettuce, celery, cabbage, cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes.

It seems to do this by affecting the structures of the diencephalon, a part of the primitive brain that controls automatic functions in the body. Fat metabolism and storage is one of its main functions. One of the theories of obesity is that the diencephalon can be overwhelmed by excessive stressors or imbalances such as overeating, sedentary lifestyles, hormone imbalances, psychological, or emotional stressors, etc.

This can lead to weight gain especially in your late 30s or early 40s, when perhaps your caloric intake remains unchanged but your level of daily exercise decreases. This dysregulation of the diencephalon may also happen as a consequence of your changing hormone levels which can start to diminish starting as early as your mids. First, by having patients follow an ultra-low calorie diet of about calories per day and secondly, by administering daily hCG hormone injections.

The theory is that the hCG diet injections complement a low-calorie diet by decreasing feelings of hunger and allowing individuals to successfully maintain a low caloric intake for a longer period of time. Additionally, through mechanisms that are not yet completely understood, hCG is thought to make abnormal fat, the type that accumulates in the abdomen especially in men and hips especially in women , more accessible and usable to the body—the primary reason why it is produced during pregnancy.

In this way, hCG acts as a key that unlocks access to energy in otherwise inaccessible fat stores and therefore provides additional energy to a growing fetus; or, in the case of an hCG dieter, allows the individual to access and burn their abnormal fat by boosting their metabolism. The diet works by having the body run on this now accessible energy anywhere from calories per day wherein it is burning off what is otherwise stagnant and persistent body fat while simultaneously preserving normal and structural fat as well as muscle.

The diet is generally divided into three phases described as the loading phase, weight loss phase, and maintenance phase. The loading phase marks the initiation of receiving hCG injections and as the name suggests includes loading up the diet for two days with a high-fat,high calorie intake. The weight loss phase includes the combination of the notorious low calorie diet with the hCG injections and typically lasts for a period of weeks depending on the amount of weight loss looking to be experienced.

During this phase, dieters are encouraged to eat only two meals per day which should include a lean protein , non-starchy vegetables, and a carbohydrate portion such as bread or fruit. Lastly, the maintenance phase signifies the transition off of the hCG hormone and a gradual return to a more sustainable, higher-calorie diet with dieters continuing to avoid high starch and sugar foods for three weeks as intake increases.

While the proposed mechanism for the hCG diet may sound great in theory, multiple studies have concluded that the weight loss achieved by an hCG diet plan is likely is due to the ultra-low-calorie diet rather than the injection of the hCG hormone itself.

Studies comparing the effects of those following hCG diet with those following a calorie-restricted diet produced identical amounts of weight loss in each group. Participants being given the hCG hormone also did not report a significant reduction in hunger. It has nothing to do with the hCG hormone 8 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , Most of these studies compared the effects of hCG and placebo injections given to individuals on a calorie-restricted diet.

Weight loss was identical or nearly identical between the two groups. Several studies indicate that weight loss on the hCG diet is due only to drastic calorie restriction. It has nothing to do with hCG — which is also ineffective in reducing hunger.

One common side effect of weight loss is decreased muscle mass They also claim that hCG elevates other hormones, boosts metabolism, and leads to a growth-promoting, or anabolic, state. This is why nutrition experts recommend small calorie deficits over extreme calorie restriction Some people claim that the hCG diet helps prevent muscle loss and metabolic slowdown while severely restricting calories.

However, no evidence supports these claims. The hCG diet is a very low fat , very low calorie diet. While people seeking minimal weight loss may spend 3 weeks on the middle phase, those seeking significant weight loss may be advised to follow the diet for 6 weeks — and even repeat all phases of the cycle several times. Mineral water, coffee, and tea are allowed as well. The hCG diet is usually divided into three phases.

During the weight loss phase, you take hCG while eating only calories per day. Most of the hCG products on the market today are labeled as homeopathic. In general, homeopathy involves the use of potent substances that have been highly diluted.

Real hCG, in the form of injections, is administered as a fertility drug or hormone treatment. These products are unregulated, and they contain unknown ingredients. As a result, they should be avoided 1 , 2. These may be largely due to its starvation-level calorie intake, which is almost guaranteed to make people feel miserable.