If you think the secret to weight loss lies in a pregnancy hormone, then the idea of hCG might appeal to you.
Human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG, is a hormone found in the urine of pregnant women and marketed as an injectable weight loss ingredient that will deliver incredible results.
Other people have said that hCG is dangerous, and it is certainly controversial. People looking for fast weight loss are often willing to risk their health, but it is always best to look at the pros and cons of an ingredient or diet before making your decision.
How Does hCG Work?
The way hCG is incorporated into a diet varies based on which particular plan you are looking at, but generally, you see a plan that limits dieters to 500 calories a day and includes hCG injections or oral drops. If you do this for 45 days, you will supposedly fix your metabolism and lose several pounds a day.
Theoretically, hCG is supposed to suppress your hunger and trigger your body’s use of fat for fuel.
According to experts, however, this is probably not the case. You will lose weight on the hCG diets, they concede, but the weight loss will be the result of the very low-calorie or starvation-like diet, not the hCG.
Is hCG Safe?
Right now, no matter what people claim, there are no FDA approved hCG products. More importantly, if you are eating less than 500 calories a day, there is virtually no way you can be getting all of your dietary needs. When you get so few calories, your body goes into starvation mode and not only burns fat, but muscle mass as well.
Muscle mass is essential for a high metabolism, and when you finally do start eating again, you will probably be replacing it with fat.
Conclusion
Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD, a nutrional expert at WebMD recommends that you “choose a diet that works for your lifestyle, but don’t choose one that requires expensive and worthless hCG.”
If you are interested in retaining muscle mass, the best diet pills can sometimes offer you appetite suppressing benefits, which reduce your caloric intake enough that you see results in terms of fat loss, but don’t require the starvation that would deplete muscle mass.