Yes, the hCG Diet is a Dangerous Form of Crash Dieting

Sunday, April 21, 2013

I've got some experience with diets. I used to be in the military and in great shape. Then came baby number one. Decided not to re-up when my time came around and stayed home with my son. Because of a high-risk pregnancy, I gained a lot of weight. I was suddenly not exercising and stressed...bad combination for weight gain. Ended up doing Weight Watchers and post-partum exercise tapes to lose the 70-plus lbs I gained. I kept it off until my next pregnancy almost five years later. Didn't gain quite as much but still gained a lot. After I stopped breastfeeding, I turned to the South Beach Diet. Yes, I could have done Weight Watchers again but there wasn't a meeting nearby and the online program just wasn't cutting it. I lost quite a bit with South Beach and kept it off until years later, I was bit by a black widow, pumped full of steroidal meds and gained about 15 very stubborn lbs that wasn't coming off. After that I gained about 10 more.

I guess I get bored with diets even though they worked because I made half-hearted attempts but wasn't losing. I'd never had any side effects with those diets and they worked so I really didn't think the hCG Diet would be any different. I had an online friend who was posting amazing photos of other people's weight lossses. What could it hurt?

So, if you've read my story:

www.squidoo.com/unsafe_hcg_diet

or this blog, you know, this diet threw my body for a loop and I'm still recovering.

So, today, I am reading an article on crash diets. A crash diet is any diet under 1200 calories a day. This was the first real crash diet I've tried. I vaguely remember trying the cabbage soup thing right before my wedding but I really didn't have much to lose and that was such a miserable thing, I quit right away. I used the Omni Drops for a month and this was definitely a crash diet at only 500 calories a day.

So, today I'm reading this article on crash diets and why they are the most dangerous types of diets:

www.medimanage.com/my-diet/ar
ticles/Crash-Dieting-The-Most-Harmful-
type-of-Dieting-!.aspx

Wow, okay, going through the side effects listed, I experienced so many of these on the hCG Diet and I never experienced them on Weight Watchers or South Beach.

Irregular Periods - Yes! My cycle was immediately messed up from the low calories (no hCG in the Omni Drops so I know that wasn't it). I spotted. My periods came early and my second period on the diet was so heavy. I came close to passing out a number of times and filled pads hourly.

Organ Damage - Yes! Fortunately, I went off this dangerous diet before it became more serious. I had to wear heart monitors. My doctor said this diet was causing my body to 'eat itself' (his words). Even if there had been real hCG, your organs are still at risk and my doctor has seen real damage done to the kidneys, heart and gallbladder as a result of this diet. Interesting that several distributors had had gallbladder surgery while selling the diet but they claimed it had *nothing* to do with Omnitrition...hmmmm...how gullible do they think we are?

Blood Pressure - Yes! My blood pressure was seriously low which was likely why I was struggling with dizziness and trying not to faint.

Anemia - Yes! Anemia has been a struggle for me since the birth of my daughter. However, we monitor it and, in fact, when I began the diet, we'd had my levels checked. They were good. Normally it would take six months before I'd need another check and, yet, one month later, I was starting iron infusions. Yes, it was a result of this diet.

Depression - Could be! I was treated poorly by others on this diet. I started this diet with a friend but once my side effects required a doctor's care and I was refusing to try new supplements to help, my 'friend' unfriended me online and completely ignores me when I see her around town. She became a distributor though and she was worried that my side effects would affect her sales. Fortunately my family and real friends rallied and I am thankful.

Osteoporosis - Don't know. Could I have harmed my bones in only one month? You know, with everything this diet has done, I am sure it is possible, but I have increased my dairy intake once again and hope to reverse any damage done.

Lowered Metabolism - Without a Doubt. My doctor introduced me to my Basil Metabolic Rate (the rate at which you burn if you laid in bed and did nothing). At that rate, any normal person would easily lose. Me? Now I'm gaining at that rate. That is not normal and that is very common for people who have done the hCG Diet. That is why so many people who have done the hCG Diet end up fatter eventually unless they start training for half marathons.

Fat build up - I would believe it. I am gaining so easily right now and I'm being careful. After two weeks on this diet, you start plateauing and even have gain days. I never had gain days on WW's or SBD. On a 500-calorie diet, if you have gain days, something is clearly wrong. And, yet, everybody I did the diet with plateaued like I did and had gain days.

Hair Loss - No but so many people on the hCG forum did! I kept seeing post after post about hair loss. They were assured it was perfectly normal and nothing to worry about.

Platform for Eating Disorders - No but eating disorders run in my family and I can recognize the signs. It was clear to me that several distributors on the site could easily have qualified as Anorexic. They looked sickly thin in their photos. Do enough rounds of 500-calorie diets and, yes, I believe Anorexia and Bulimia are very real possibilities for you.

Based on my experience, would I say the hCG is a crash diet? Heck yes! The biggest difference I found between my experience with Weight Watchers, South Beach Diet and the hCG Diet? With the first two diets, I had no problem keeping the weight off. It was a lifestyle change. With the hCG Diet, the battle has become not getting fatter than I was while trying to get healthy again. Dangerous diet. The side effects can come on suddenly as I learned. It just isn't worth your health.


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