The hCG Diet

A few posts ago I briefly touched on this diet because my hair dresser was/is on it. The other day, I received an email that contained some information on this diet. If you've not heard of the hCG diet, it requires either hormone injections or consuming pellets and eating no more than 500 calories per day. Yes, that's right, per day.

We all know that eating only 500 calories a day can't be healthy but there are so many people who are jumping on the hCG train. Here's the skinny on this diet so you can determine if it's a good fit for you.

Pros:

• Losing weight rapidly - yes, rapid weight loss happens because you're consuming so few calories. Think about it like this: 500 calories is almost one meal! Of course you're going to lose weight

Cons:

• Unhealthy - nutritionists and the American Society of Bariatric Physicians are warning people about this diet. If it were healthy, do you think these people would warn against it? Yeah, I didn't think so.
• Expensive - the hormone injections and/or pellets are very costly. Many people, like my hair dresser, use the internet to make the purchase. Now you have to be careful what you buy online because you never know what's in it.
• Hard to maintain weight loss - losing weight so rapidly, as any Biggest Loser fan knows, can make it very difficult to maintain the loss. That's because it's not a lifestyle change.
• Few choices - because you're only permitted to consume 500 calories per day, you don't have many options. Think about it like this, there are 400 calories in 1 cup of Minute Rice

So, there's some more information on the hCG diet. What do you think about? Healthy or not healthy? I said it before and I'll say it again, there's no way this diet can be healthy. Losing weight has to be a lifestyle change for you to keep it off.