Popular Questions About the HCG Diet

The hCG diet is an extremely low-calorie diet combined with taking human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone produced during pregnancy. This article explains everything you need to know about how the controversial hCG diet works.

What is hCG and How is it Used in the Diet?

• hCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, is a hormone produced by the placenta during pregnancy.
• In the 1950s, Dr. A.T.W. Simeons hypothesized that hCG could help people lose weight by suppressing appetite and mobilizing fat stores when taken along with an extremely low-calorie diet.
• On the hCG diet, supplements or injections of hCG are taken during the very low-calorie phase. Proponents believe it acts on the hypothalamus to suppress appetite and promote abnormal fat mobilization.
• However, there is no scientific evidence that hCG offers any benefits for weight loss beyond the effects of severe calorie restriction.

How Does the hCG Diet Work?

The hCG diet consists of 3 phases:

1. Loading Phase (2 days):
   • You are supposed to eat plenty of high-calorie, high-fat foods like butters, oils, fatty meats and cheeses during this phase.
   • Consuming an abundance of these foods supposedly prepares your body for switching to the very low calorie diet in the next phase.
2. Very Low Calorie Diet Phase (3-6 weeks):
   • During this phase, you restrict calories drastically to just 500 per day.
   • hCG injections, drops or supplements are taken during this phase.
   • In theory, the hCG helps suppress appetite and promotes abnormal fat mobilization to encourage weight loss. But there is no scientific evidence to support these claims.
3. Maintenance Phase:
   • In this phase, you stop taking hCG.
   • You slowly increase calories over 3-4 weeks up to around 1200-1500 per day.
   • The goal is to maintain weight loss results and avoid regaining the weight.

Why You Can’t Mix Vegetables on the hCG Diet

The hCG diet has very strict rules about which foods you can eat:

• You cannot mix multiple vegetables together or eat salads containing a variety of veggies.
• Each meal can contain only one vegetable serving such as spinach, tomatoes, cabbage, etc.
• The reason for this rule is that eating multiple veggies provides more fiber, nutrients and variety than the very limited hCG diet allows.
• The diet aims to restrict calories and food options drastically, so salad and mixed veggies are prohibited.

What Happens If You Eat Sugar on the hCG Diet?

Consuming sugar or starch is strictly prohibited on the hCG diet:

• Eating sugar goes against the severe carbohydrate restriction rules of the diet.
• Sugary and starchy foods may halt weight loss by causing fat storage instead of fat burning, according to diet proponents.
• These foods may also disrupt ketosis, which is a fat burning metabolic state the diet aims to create through carb restriction.

What You Can Eat on hCG Diet Phase 1?

Phase 1 is the 2 day “loading” phase at the start:

• You are supposed to eat plenty of foods that are high in calories, fat and taste to load up your body.
• Allowed foods include fatty cuts of meat like hamburger, butter, cheese, nuts, avocados, and calorie-dense salad dressings and oils.
• Carbohydrates including fruits, veggies, grains and sugars are restricted during this phase.
• Consuming these indulgent foods prepares your body for the upcoming very low calorie diet.

What Can You Eat on the 500 Calorie hCG Diet?

During the very low calorie phase, each lunch and dinner meal on the hCG diet contains:

• 1 lean protein like chicken breast, white fish, shrimp or lobster.
• 1 vegetable serving such as spinach, chard, tomatoes, cabbage, beet greens.
• 1 fruit serving – typically an apple, orange, handful of strawberries or half a grapefruit.
• 1 serving of bread such as melba toast or grissini breadsticks.

This provides about 500 calories per day. Other small snacks may be allowed depending on hunger. But calories, portions and food variety are extremely restricted.

Tips for Success on the Challenging hCG Diet

Here are some tips to help you succeed on the very restrictive hCG diet:

• Consult with a doctor and registered dietitian to ensure you are meeting nutritional needs in a healthy way.
• Plan all meals and grocery lists out in advance to prepare for the diet.
• Drink 64+ ounces of water daily to stay full and hydrated.
• Take a multivitamin to help fill nutrition gaps from the limited diet.
• Incorporate light exercise like walking to burn extra calories if able to.
• Get support from friends or an online community doing the diet too.

Does hCG Lead to Weight Loss, or Is It Just the Low Calories?

• Proponents of the hCG diet claim the hormone suppresses appetite and helps mobilize fat.
• But multiple studies have found no benefit from taking hCG for weight loss.
• The extremely low 500 calorie intake is what causes dramatic weight loss, not the hCG.
• Cutting calories this low can cause side effects and is very hard to sustain over time.
• Most health experts recommend against the hCG diet due to health risks and lack of evidence.
• A balanced, moderate calorie diet combined with exercise is a safer approach for weight loss.

Always consult a doctor before attempting the hCG diet or other very low calorie diets. There are healthier and more sustainable ways to reach weight loss goals.