By now, you must have heard of the HCG diet given the bad publicity that it has been getting over the years. But regardless of this, and unlike the many different weight loss diet plans that have emerged over the years, the HCG diet, whether by the use of the HCG nasal spray, pills or injections has stood its ground and has continued to better the lives of many by helping them achieve their goals in weight loss. Given the mixed information that is out there in the public, some of which are facts and others myths, we will have a closer look at the HCG diet so as to clear the air once and for all.
To start us off is the duration of the treatment. Here, you should realize that men generally tend to lose weight slightly faster than women do. With the HCG diet plan, and of a 40 day cycle, a loss of about 20-40 pounds is very normal. Patients who are looking to lose more than the 40 pounds would have to go for a second or even third cycle. Pauses in between these cycles should be of six weeks at the very least though they can always be longer. A 40 day cycle has 40 injections or pills or nasal sprays depending on the method that you are using to administer the hormone. The reason why a cycle is limited to 40 injections is because some patients start to show signs of immunity to the hormone and it take close to six weeks for this immunity to be lost and then the HCG can be effective again.
The HCG hormone causes very little if any tissue reaction. It is a relatively painless process and inflammation to the point of injection is never observed. It is safe to say that there are virtually no contradictions to this method.
The diet that is used together with the HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) should never exceed 500 calories daily. But even more important is the way in which the calories taken in are made up. While on the HCG diet, the body is always able to bet the calories that it requires from the excess fat deposits regardless of the amount that it uses up every day. A patient should be made to understand that he/she is living to a great extent on the fat that he breaks down daily rather than what he/she takes in.
There are some patients who have over the years expressed fear that with the restricted HCG diet, they may be running low on vitamins and other important minerals and may therefore may be anemic of develop other vitamin deficiency related conditions. However, this fear is not valid and has no scientific backing as during the break down of the abnormal fats in the body, all the proteins, vitamins and minerals are left intact in the body. There is therefore no point of worrying of developing deficiency diseases as a result of the HCG diet. If anything, it will do you more good than harm first by losing weight and by providing you essential foods that you may have left out in your diet.