The HCG Diet, or How to Starve Yourself and Pretend You're Not

I fall for it too. 

The radio, television, the Internet; they all do the same thing: convince us that their false advertisements are really worth a hoot.  The fact of the matter is, we buy into them. 

Weight loss products are being promoted through the media hardcore.  One such diet program boasting big results is the HCG diet.  And like any person begging to shed a few pounds I bought into it. 

Here's how it works:

The HCG supplement comes in different forms.  There are HCG drops which you simply swallow, and there are HCG injections which you, with much courage, inject into yourself like a diabetic does with insulin.   HCG is a concentrated form of the pregnancy hormone.  Yes, you heard correctly, the pregnancy hormone.  Although I'm not sure how many times a day a person injects him or herself with the HCG supplement, drops are taken three times a day; fifteen minutes before anything is consumed -- this means liquid or solid.  The first two days of the HCG diet users are asked to eat as much of anything they like while taking the supplement.  However, fasten your seatbelts, because the next part of the diet is horrendously ridiculous. 

Users are then told to drop down to a 500 calorie a day diet.  Yes, 500 calories.  Per day.  For forty days.  Not to mention the diet is only forty days, but the food in which one is allowed to eat is also ridiculous.  For breakfast a person is allowed green tea.  That's it.  Well, that's not completely it . . . because you're allotted as much green tea as you wish.  Let me just add this little tidbit of info: THERE IS NOTHING IN GREEN TEA.  Water tastes better and has the same caloric value.  Just sayin'.  For lunch you're allowed a dark green salad, a few ounces of baked or grilled chicken (I believe it's three ounces . . . ), a piece of melba toast (which you can hardly find anywhere anymore), an apple or orange, and water. That's it.  Supper is the same.  Not once did the HCG supplement stave off cravings for me.  I felt hungry the entire time.

Admittedly, I was turned on by the potential this diet had promised for me.  However, having unsuccessfully tried the HCG diet, I can honestly say I don't need to pay an extra $40-$50 on a supplement when I can just as easily starve myself. 

A lot of people claim a great deal of success with this program, and I suppose a person would have some success if he or she only ingested 500 calories a day.  The long and short of it is this: it's not worth your time or money.  Look elsewhere.