HCG is short for human chorionic gonadotropin, the hormone found in pregnant women's urine. The diet uses drastically reduced calories and daily injections of HCG.
Here's a bit of how it works, from "How Stuff Works:"
HCG may play many roles, but one function it performs is guaranteeing that a developing fetus receives the calories and nutrients it needs to grow, nearly independent of the daily caloric intake of the pregnant woman in those early developmental months. How does it do this?
We aren't ravenous for fatty foods for no reason. Our bodies like to maximize caloric intake in case lean times are ahead. In the case of women, excess calories tend to wind up in "problem" areas such as the hips, buttocks, abdomen and thighs. However, once pregnant, fat from these areas is released in the presence of hCG, and this fat then makes its way to the fetus. This way, if a woman doesn't consume the nutrients needed for fetal growth, her fat reserves will suffice. (Structural fat, such as that found in the face or layered beneath the entire skin, isn't affected.)
And:
In addition to receiving shots, dieters are instructed to cut their daily intake of calories to 500 a day, but not until after the third shot. Once the hCG is active in a dieter's body, its release of long-stored fat provides the body with the calories it needs to burn to get through a day (a day, it should be noted, without much exercise). As long as fat deposits are being released for use, the 500 daily calories being ingested is supposed to be enough to sustain the dieter without the crazy hunger pangs one would normally experience on a 500-calorie diet. Once a dieter drops the excess weight, the treatment must stop, because hCG only affects stored fat. Once that's used up, the body will quickly reject a self-imposed limit of 500 total daily calories.
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HCG is short for human chorionic gonadotropin, the hormone found in pregnant women's urine. The diet uses drastically reduced calories and daily injections of HCG.
Here's a bit of how it works, from "How Stuff Works:"
HCG may play many roles, but one function it performs is guaranteeing that a developing fetus receives the calories and nutrients it needs to grow, nearly independent of the daily caloric intake of the pregnant woman in those early developmental months. How does it do this?
We aren't ravenous for fatty foods for no reason. Our bodies like to maximize caloric intake in case lean times are ahead. In the case of women, excess calories tend to wind up in "problem" areas such as the hips, buttocks, abdomen and thighs. However, once pregnant, fat from these areas is released in the presence of hCG, and this fat then makes its way to the fetus. This way, if a woman doesn't consume the nutrients needed for fetal growth, her fat reserves will suffice. (Structural fat, such as that found in the face or layered beneath the entire skin, isn't affected.)
And:
In addition to receiving shots, dieters are instructed to cut their daily intake of calories to 500 a day, but not until after the third shot. Once the hCG is active in a dieter's body, its release of long-stored fat provides the body with the calories it needs to burn to get through a day (a day, it should be noted, without much exercise). As long as fat deposits are being released for use, the 500 daily calories being ingested is supposed to be enough to sustain the dieter without the crazy hunger pangs one would normally experience on a 500-calorie diet. Once a dieter drops the excess weight, the treatment must stop, because hCG only affects stored fat. Once that's used up, the body will quickly reject a self-imposed limit of 500 total daily calories.
If you would like to read more:
http://health.howstuffworks.com/health-illness/wellness/physical-fitness/weight-loss/hcg-diet.htm
January 8, 2010 - 9:03amThis Comment
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