Archive for March 2011

 
 

What is HCG? Is it Effective for Weight Loss?

The HCG hormone occurs naturally among women during pregnancy.  Men also have it but in lesser amounts. It’s produced in the placenta of pregnant women. It is particularly useful in strengthening the inner walls of the womb. It increases the ability of the womb to absorb and channel nutrients coming from the mother to unborn baby. It makes the work of the metabolic process of breaking down foods into nutrients and expelling waste out of the body more efficient, allowing for increased food intake.

What is HCG? It’s probably the most potent and safest substance for weight loss.

The power of the HCG to improve the performance of the metabolism has evident benefits to dieters and this is the basis of Dr. Simeon, after extensive   tests, to come up with a weight program featuring the HCG as one its main components.  The doctor found out that the hormone also effectively suppresses hunger pangs which make it perfect for weight loss efforts.

The HCG weight loss program is a 26 day program proven to have the ability to drop a pound or two of excess weight off your body. To accomplish without inconveniencing yourself with needless hard workouts, there’s the daily absorption of the hormone and the HCG very low calorie detox diet.

The HCG diet is one of those very low calorie diets. You’ll find out, however, it’s only difficult during the first few days. Eventually all discomforts coming from it will taper off and become negligible. You have to strictly follow diet instructions though since its role in the program is more than just limiting your calorie consumption. It is likewise intended to activate the powers of the hormone.  It’s uncertain whether you’ll be able to handle the diet without these power fully activated.

The HCG diet allows just 500 calories a day. A diet menu is provided which details what foods are to be consumed for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the amount of liquids, and the prescribed manner of preparing and cooking the foods. This menu has undergone various tests and any deviations from it can have negative effects on the success of the program.

Foods allowed by the diet are those rich in protein and content. This is to cleanse the body of all impurities that prevent the metabolism from working efficiently.  With the diet and powers of the hormone, dropping pounds fast with least difficulties is inevitable.

The required 125 IU to 200 IU of the HCG hormone can be administered either though injections or orally. The injection has been the only mode of administration for a long time, but there are certain dangers related to it demanding professional assistance. Besides, it is expensive.

The oral method through the HCG drops on the other hand is utterly safe and convenient.  Position the drops under your tongue squeeze off 15 drops, and hold the hormone for 15 seconds before swallowing. This is done thrice a day, 20 minutes before eating or after if you have forgotten, but this should not take a lot from your time. Think of the precious minutes you have to spend preparing shot or the amount of money you have to spend for professional assistance.

Why the HCG Diet is Effective and Safe

Seldom will you find a diet as low calorie as the HCG diet. It allows just 500 calories a day. Despite the very minimal calorie which you may think dangerous, it is in reality perhaps the safest diet around. In addition to this, it is also the fastest. In a single day you stand to lose one to two pounds of excess weight.

The HCG diet timeframe normally is 26 days, but there’s one covering 40 days for those who have more pounds to lose. The diet follows a strict menu designed to maintain the required calories as well as the protein and fiber nutrients of the diet. It is not after all your typical low calorie diet. It is more importantly a detox diet, cleansing the body of toxins and activating the powers of the HCG in the process. It is the powers of the HCG hormone which include the ability to suppress hunger pangs and increase the metabolic rate that makes the diet a lot safer and fast.

The start of the diet does not coincide with start of the daily absorption of the HCG hormone. The first two days of the HCG is spent on gorging on high calorie foods. This is to ensure the dieter has enough stocks of energy for the low calorie diet.

Though the HCG program has safeguards to prevent intolerable discomforts, you can still expect to experience some side effects. But these will not be any different from the side effects that are typical with other low calorie diets – some mild headaches, slight depression, poor water retention and irritability. The poor water retention can easily be understood. The diet is after all a detox diet.
If there are any differences between the side effects of the HCG diet and other weight loss diets, it can only be in the level of intensity. With hunger pangs well under control and adequate stocks of energy assured you can expect HCG side effects to be lesser compared to other diets.

Right after the low calorie diet and after the daily ingestion of the hormone, the maintenance period starts. This will last for three full weeks. During this period you will be allowed to eat all you want, even sugar and starch, but it is recommended you consume them in moderate amounts to maintain diet gains and the new lifestyle. The first signs that you are gaining weight, you have to cut back on the sugars and starches.

Why HGC Hormone is Safe For Weight Loss

Pregnant women produce as much as 1 million international units of the HGC hormone during the initial stages of pregnancy. It’s used to develop the sex organs of fetuses, and strengthen inner walls of wombs. It also helps channel nutrients produced by mothers to their unborn babies.

In experiments conducted by Dr. Simeon it was found out that the ability of the hormone to adjust metabolic process was useful for weight loss. Coupled with a 500 calorie daily diet, it was determined that daily absorption of 125 IU of HGC was capable of getting rid of unwanted weight at an astounding rate of one to two pounds a day.

It is understandable for you to have doubts about a dieter’s ability to survive such level of calorie consumption. The minimum level required by the body is 2,000 units for women and 2,500 for men. However, you have to factor in the fact that the hormone, aside from its ability adjust the metabolic rate upwards, also has the power to suppress hunger pangs. With this power, you will not find the diet difficult at all.

You will find the process of losing weight with the HGC diet program a peculiar one. In other weight loss programs, you’ll most likely be asked to go straight to dieting and workouts. Not so with the HGC. The program has no use for workouts in the first place. Prior to the diet and simultaneous with the first two days of HCG absorption, you will be asked to gorge on fatty foods.

The reason for this seemingly nonsensical proposition is really simple. It takes around two days for the hormone to make the fats available for fat burning. And the additional calories from all that fat gorging helps in stimulating the fats already stored in your body.

Still another reason for the fat gorging is it builds-up your energy source, preventing the danger of energy loss during the very low calorie diet period. It helps ease the hunger pangs during the first few days of the diet.

As you can see, the 125 IU to 200 IU of HGC daily cannot cause you any kind of harm. In pregnancy issues millions of units are used without apparent worrisome side-effects. But there are some discomforts associated with its use, but these tend to be the result of the body adjusting to the presence of the HGC and the process of losing weight.

The diet likewise should not pose problems as long as you closely observe the prescribed protocols. Remember that these protocols have undergone comprehensive tests and it will take another round of comprehensive to improve on them. Deviations to the protocols can lead to not losing weight or some dangers.

You won’t find a weight loss combination as efficient and easily manageable than the HGC program.

There is one thing you have to be wary of when utilizing the hormone. The original method of administration is through injection. Of course, you will about it. It is painful, can cause dangerous blood clots, time-consuming and expensive. Though effective you may have to engage the services of a professional for it.

What to do with HCG warnings

The HCG program is one of the safest weight loss diets these days despite the rather very limited calorie consumption. This attributed to its two components that work together to prevent really serious side effects. Still no diet is ever perfect and there are still some things you have to be careful with the program. There are certain HCG warnings that you must be alert for in order make sure you are doing what the program requires.

First thing to remember is that the success of the program depends a lot on how you follow its protocols. Whenever you experience side effects that are not typical to low calorie diets or side effects that bother you for longer time than they should it means simply that there might be something wrong in your implementation of the program.

You are specifically to follow the HCG diet. It’s a 500 calorie a day diet that’s also a detox which means that your meals will contain mostly fiber and proteins accompanied with lots of water. This diet is meant to do a couple of very important thing essential to the success of your program. One is to activate the natural powers of the HCG hormone to curb hunger pangs and increase the rate of the body’s metabolic process. Another is to guarantee weight loss.

The HCG diet provides specific foods you are to include in your daily meals. There is a method of ensuring that meals contain the appropriate nutrients demanded by the diet. When you are not losing weight as expected or not losing weight at all or having problems with side effects which are not really expected to bother you it could be that your calorie intake is more than the required amount or its not detox enough. Either of these two can lead to the HCG hormone not fully activated and this can really give you some problems.

The book “Pounds and Inches” written by Dr. Simeon, the creator of the HCG program, contains the specific details of the HCG menu including the foods allowed and the manner in which they can be cooked. Included also are the amount HCG hormone to be taken each day.

With the introduction of the oral HCG as an alternative to the HCG injections, you may have to follow other procedures. While the injections are taken once the day, the oral drops are taken thrice a day, to be effective 20 minutes before or after meals.

The injection method understandably is not the preferred method of many HCG dieters. It has its own side effects which tend to increase the discomforts resulting from the low calorie diet. Side effects that cannot be attributed are HCG warnings that should prompt you to abandon the injection method and replace it with the more convenient oral drops.

What are the HCG side effects in women

One cannot deny that the HCG diet program has side effects. All weight diets have side effects. But if you are asking about HC side in women, then, the answer is simple – the usual. Properly interpreted this simply means that women will experience the same side effects men will experience.

HCG side effects generally will not cause you a lot of problems. You will understand this better if you know what the two components of the diet are and what they are supposed to do. There is the HCG diet and the HCG hormone.

The HCG diet is demanding. For the 26 or 40 day program, you are allowed 500 calories each day only. That’s not a lot. In fact many consider it too calorie-starved. They do not rule out potential dangerous side effects.

The fear of dangerous side effects is valid. The body requires 2,000 to 2,500 calories a day in order to function properly. However, the HCG diet is unlike other diets. First, it’s not just about the calories. It’s more important than that. It is a detox diet which plays an important role in the success of the program. Second, you do not engage the diet without ample preparations. Prior to it, you are to indulge in fatty foods.

How does the low calorie detox diet prevent serious side effects? The diet works tandem with the HCG hormone which has powers to control food carvings and redirect the metabolism to go after fats stored in the body. Unfortunately, these powers are not immediately available once you ingest the hormone. They need to be activated and the diet is formulated precisely for the purpose.

Hunger pangs are one of the primary causes of side effects. It can easily get you depressed, irritated, and there are also the headaches. With the powers of the hormone fully activated, hunger pangs are kept well under control and consequently their related side effects. .

How about the fat gorging? What good does it do? Well, the 500 calorie is a bit difficult. You have to be sure there are enough stocks of fats for energy in your body. The two days of indulging in fats increases your level of fat stock which prevents physical weakness.

There is one thing in the program, however, that can bother women more than men – the HCG injections. Women can’t tolerate pain as well as men. They should at all cost avoid the injections. For that matter men also.

There’s the oral HCG – cheaper, not time-consuming and easy to administer.

HCG Side Effects, are they Dangerous?

More and more people are using the HCG weight loss program to resolve their weight problems. This is not at surprising. Ever since the liquid HCG was introduced as an alternative to the dangerous injection people realized that it’s actually the injections that made them fearful of the HCG program. In truth, serious HCG side effects rarely happen and only if people take the protocols of the diet granted.

Critics of the diet portray a rather bleak picture of what will likely happen to you should you persist on engaging the program. Continuous vomiting, severe headaches, harrowing abdominal pains and swelling of hands and feet are just the minor side effects you are predicted to suffer from. The worst include but not limited to physical and mental breakdown from severe loss of energy.
The combined effect of the 500 calorie a day diet and ability of the HCG hormone to increase the metabolic rate is predicted to lead to massive loss of muscles and proteins in the vital organs of the body.

In truth, and most HCG users will attest to this, is that what you’ll experience are side effects that are typical of all low calorie diets. You will experience nothing worse than slight disorientation, mild headaches and irritability and poor water retention. Except for the last, which is the product of the diet being also a detox, all of these side effects can be attributed to the sudden drop in your calorie consumption and hunger pangs.

When you consider the power of the hormone to suppress hunger pangs, it’s easy to see that these side effects will not bother you for long. As an additional precaution, the program also has a calorie load-up period where you are allowed, compelled actually, to load up on your stocks of body fats. There are no mysterious reasons for this. The additional calories generated during this period are meant to preempt the feared loss of energy by preventing the energized metabolism from eating up muscle loss and proteins.
Apprehensions about the purported severity of HCG side effects have no solid basis really. The protocols of the diet and the HCG hormone have passed through extensive testing to determine their effectiveness in accomplishing the objectives of the diet and fending harmful side effects.

The introduction of the liquid HCG which made the management of the diet a lot easier by eliminating the dangers of the injections, besides considerably reducing program cost, greatly helped in making people realize that they have a lot to benefit from the HCG method.

HCG shots vs drops, Which are better for HCG Hormone Administration?

There is no question about the effectiveness of the HCG hormone as a weight loss solution. But you may have some problems with it if you make a mistake in choosing the manner of administration. There are two methods.  The first and original are the HCG shots which were introduced the first time the HCG program was presented for weight loss. The second is the HCG drops which is the most recent innovation to the HCG program.

When it comes to convenience and making the implementation of your program manageable, the drops are hands-down the winner over the shots. HCG drops administration is quite easy, though frequency is thrice a day instead of the once a day with the injections. Unlike the injections, it does not involve tedious and time-consuming preparations. You simply squeeze 15 drops of the HCG hormone into your mouth (under your tongue for better absorption), hold them for 30 seconds and swallow. Do these 20 minutes before or after meals and you should be getting all the benefits the HCG hormone offers.

This is not to say that the HCG shots are not effective. It is. But the shots have many inconveniences that can make your program difficult and less effective as expected.

First, it is painful. The pains can result to anxieties and increased blood pressure that may be dangerous.

Second, it is time-consuming. You need to prepare the shots and do them yourself everyday. The HCG program is designed as a do-it-yourself.

Thirds, shots are highly prone to contamination. It requires a highly sterile environment which means more time needed for preparations. Moreover, if you are not adept in it, it will be more painful and you can get skin lacerations that may need immediate medical attention.

Fourth, the shots are expensive. You need to spend at least a thousand dollars for the 26 day program and this does not even include the cost of syringes, mixing kits and solvents you need for the preparations of the injections.

Besides avoiding all the constraints of the injections mentioned above, HCG drops make the program more relaxed and comfortable for women dieters.  They are required to stop HCG injections when they are menstruating which delays their program. This restriction is not applicable to the drops. They can just go on with the HCG administration and complete the program faster.

HCG shots vs drops? There’s no doubt which is better.

Advantages of HCG for weight loss

As reaction to the growing number of obese, the number of weight loss programs has increased tremendously. And it’s not just the usual diet and exercise routine which has dominated the dieting scene for a long time that’s making waves. Today there are all sorts of programs promising to help people solve their weight problems. And one of the most innovative and most effective is the HCG weight loss program.

Many current weight loss programs offer to eliminate excess weight without troubling you with the traditional exercise regimen. This is an innovation that really sits well with dieters, majority of whom contend with crowded daily work commitments. HCG program, though not new one having been introduced more than 60 years ago, is one of them.

The HCG hormone which is one of the two components of the HCG program is a hormone secreted by pregnant women during the first trimester of pregnancy.  This hormone sends messages to the brain and focuses it on changing the metabolic process, speeding it up which results to rapid burning of fats already accumulated in the body and in the foods you eat everyday.

However, when used for weight loss, the HCG does not work automatically. Its powers which also include the power to suppress hunger pangs need to be activated. The HCG diet, the other component of the program, accomplishes this. But this is not the only role that the diet plays, a detox diet that limits calorie consumption to 500 calorie a day, it facilitates an even more rapid rate of weight loss by cleansing the body of toxins that impede the metabolism. Users have recorded lose of more than two pounds a day which no other diet can achieve.

The HCG hormone does not have side effects since it’s natural in the human body. You cannot, however, continue using it once you have achieved your diet objective regardless of whether you have completed the prescribed 26 day or 40 day diet time-frame or not. You are to stop taking it at immediately.  Continuing it may be dangerous besides being a waste of money.

There are two methods of administering the hormone – through injections and oral. The injections are not actually the best method though it is the original one. It entails pains which can lead to some dangers if you have a low level threshold of pain. They are also expensive. For the complete 23 day program you have to shell out not less than a thousand dollars.

The oral HCG method introduced not long ago is an excellent substitute for the injections. It requires less administration time and eliminates the pains associated with the injections. Moreover its price is very favorable for dieters in tight budgets.

HCG for weight loss Side Effects

If there is one weight loss program you really have to look into it’s the HCG program. It promises to take a pound or two off your frame on a daily basis. Such promise may be true, but it’s always wise to be careful. A lot of other methods promise the same but at great cost to the dieter.

The HCG program has been around for more years than most of the diets available nowadays. This fact says a lot about the program, but since the physical condition of people are not the same; the program may bother you but not others. The best way to determine whether the program is right for you is to know what exactly its side effects are and how you might deal with them.

HCG for weight loss side effects which include slight headaches, irritability, mild case of depression, poor water retention, a feeling of fatigue usually will not impede the progress of your program. They are attributed to the very low calorie diet and the presence of the HCG in your body.

The HCG diet admittedly is more low calorie than most, but you’ll be surprised by the lower intensity of hunger pangs than you may have expected and the way they quickly disappear.  This is the work of the HCG hormone, which by its ability to stimulate stored body fats and saturate the blood with them, curbs hunger pangs.

For two whole days before starting the VLCD, you are compelled to dine on fatty foods to make sure you have enough stock of fats, reducing hunger pangs further and preventing energy loss.

The headaches are as much the result of the low calorie diet as the process of losing weight. The fat burning process releases toxins that cause them. The fatigue on the other hand is caused by the loss of fat that used to serve as cushion to the muscles. Both side effects are bound to disappear when the body gets adjusted to the process and the presence of the hormone.

Dieters used to complain of constipation. This is actually a natural effect of the protein diet. The HCG diet is mostly protein and fiber. Three days of not having vowel movement is perfectly normal and as long as you follow the prescribed 2 liters of liquids a day, you should be alright.

The HCG for weight loss side effects evidently are temporary and non-threatening conditions. But you have to follow the protocols of the program as much as you can. Deviations however minor they may appear can have serious implications on the outputs of the program.

HCG Drops, the Best Way to Administer the HCG hormone

HCG short for Human Chorionic Gonadotropin is a hormone that naturally occurs among pregnant women. It was introduced for weight loss in the 1950’s by Doctor Simeon who discovered that small doses of it helps in burning fats in the body. The HCG is accompanied by a low calorie diet. With this combination, dieters are known to lose up to two pounds a day.

There is something very intriguing with the HCG program. It has this “gain first and lose” scheme. What this actually entails is the first two days of HCG administration is actually spent on consuming foods that are high on fats. These two days make the calorie restricted diet a lot easier to manage. This is because your body is well-stocked with fats, preventing possible loss of energy and reducing the expected hunger pangs during the diet proper period.

Previously, the HCG hormone can only be administered through injections. You cannot actually blame the doctor for recommending such a very inconvenient and painful method. There was no other method available then. The HCG drops or liquid HCG is the latest technology developed to enhance the effectiveness of the HCG weight loss program.

The liquid HCG brings changes to the protocols of the administering the hormone all of them beneficial to dieters. First, the frequency is now thrice a day instead of the once a day routine required by the injections. Though the frequency is increased, this still represents a vast improvement over the injections, since no time-consuming preparations are required. Second, the drops allow lower dosage which considerably cuts down the cost of the program. Third, in the injection method, menstruating women are not supposed to take the hormone. This is not applicable if you are using the HCG oral drops. They can go on with the ingestions.

It is not only the changes in the protocols and the incidental benefits that make liquid HCG the best alternative to the injections. It is a lot safer than the injections. The latter requires a highly hygienic environment because it is prone to contaminations.

HCG administration through liquid HCG is very convenient. It is taken 20 minutes before or after meals. There is nothing difficult to it. Just fill the dropper with the appropriate amount of the hormone, 15 drops to be exact, apply a gentle pressure, and hold the hormone for 15 seconds in your mouth, swallow and you’re done.

There is no doubt that the oral HCG is the best alternative to the injections.