Okay. I'm sure most of you have heard of the infamous HCG diet by now and probably even know someone who's tried it. Two of my friends recently tried it and they had awesome results...of course. She lost 14 lbs. in the first two weeks and her husband lost 18 lbs. I was over at their house for dinner and they fixed me a yummy salad (like that always do...they make the best salads ever...and I'm not even a salad person) complete with feta and pine nuts. Yum. They had plain leaf lettuce (you're not allowed any sort of dressing - just lemon juice), a chicken breast and four or five pieces of Melba toast. Yum again. They explain to me that they got their "supplies" online and you take a few drops in your morning water (you cannot eat for the first three hours every day), have a lunch that consists of exactly what I just described above and a dinner that consists of exactly what I described above....every day for 26 days. You're limited to around 500 calories a day. I immediately ask them if they think they'd probably lose a similar amount of weight just eating 500 calories a day and skipping the hormones. "Maybe. But the drops ensure you are burning fat and not muscle mass." Not quite sure why this is. My next comment..."Good luck keeping it off". We all know that's a whole different ball game. Don't get me wrong, I wish them success...I'm just skeptical. But that's my nature. Even so, I (of course) contemplate ordering the drops and when I look at one of the many websites devoted to this fad, it explains how your weight loss on this diet comes from fat stores and not muscle but in the end, I really didn't understand how or why. I'll admit it....I'm no expert on physiology.
I'll concede that I sometimes post certain statuses on FB just for a reaction. I want to know what people think of certain "hot" topics. I like to play devil's advocate. Like when I asked if people let their kids watch Spongebob. I don't really care...I just want to know who thinks what and why. I find it interesting. Anyway...moving on. So I post the following status -- "thinking about ordering HCG drops. Anyone tried this fad diet and if so, what kind of results did you have?" I got about six or seven responses and had several more people send me private messages saying (in a nutshell) "don't do it". I also got sent links to everyone from Dr. Oz to Richard Simmons giving me THEIR opinions (they're against. Go figure).
When you see people around you having such fantastic results with "fad" diets, it's difficult not to be tempted into doing them yourself. I'm 39-years-old and I know myself pretty well. I knew deep down I would never order them no matter how tempted I was. I'm just not built that way. Not that I've never tried fat diets...I just know through experience that even if they work, you can't keep the weight off. The only way to lose weight healthfully and to have much better odds at keeping it off is to eat better/less and exercise. Period. I know this...everyone knows this. And this knowledge is reinforced by the fact that I have managed to keep all the weight I've lost off just by making better choices every day.
I'm not lecturing people...if they have luck with a method and feel it's right for them, they should do it. I just know weight loss is a slow and steady thing. You need to stay the course. Besides, I can't imagine how crappy I'd feel eating 500 calories a day.
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Cam personally I'm glad you aren't doing it. 500 calories is reallllly not enough. It's pretty bad for you I would guess.
ReplyDeleteWhen I workout with my trainer we talk about diets, or any 'new' thing out there. The fact is, unless you can be consistent with whatever you are doing, it will come back. Who in their right mind could stick to a 500 calories per day diet? Hello I could eat more than that just by hitting DQ!
PS: Love your new haircut!