KATV Channel 7 - The Spirit of Arkansas: HCG Diet Helps Shed Weight Fast. But is it Safe?

Each year Americans spend millions of dollars of weight loss products. It seems like every time you turn around, another diet trend hits the market – many promise quick results with little to no effort.

The latest trend is the known as the HCG diet. People who tried it have lost 20 to 30 pounds in a month.

HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin) is a hormone found in pregnant women. It's been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a fertility treatment. But lately some people have been injecting it to shed pounds quickly.

While the patient takes the hormone, he or she follows a severely restricted diet that contains only 500 calories a day.

"It decreases your appetite," says Doctor Suzanne Yee, a cosmetic Surgeon in Little Rock. "So you don't feel hungry even though you're on a 500-calorie diet. And it mobilizes 1000 to 1500 calories of fat from your own body."

The theory is that the HCG forces your body to consume the extra fat in your body as energy.  It works just like HCG that uses a pregnant woman's fat reserves to feed the baby in her womb.

Bernice Burchfield, 57, went to Dr. Yee's office after noticing a marquee advertising the HCG diet.  Thirty days and 40 injections alter, she's in her old clothes again.

"I had gotten up to 171 pounds," Burchfield says. "And I said, ‘no more.' I'm down to 140 today."

Geoff Carmack and Lisa Faver have down well with the HCG diet, tool. Carmack lost 25 pounds. Faver lost 40.

However there are many physicians and dieticians who are against this type of extreme weight loss. Besty Day is one of them. She's a registered dietitian and heads the weight control program at UAMS.

"Anyone's going to lose weight on 500 calories a day," Day says. "It doesn't matter if you inject yourself with cake batter. You're going to lose weight on 500 calories a day."

Day says at the UAMS program they focus on long-term lifestyle changes. "Anyone who uses this diet probably isn't making those lifestyle changes. And they may lose all this weight, but if they aren't making those changes, they're going to gain all that weight back."

So far the three HCG dieters KATV interviewed have kept the weight off. Only time will tell if that will continue. In the meantime, they are enjoying a renewed sense of self-confidence.

"Before, I didn't like to be around people because I was overweight. " Faver says. "Now I can do things that I wouldn't have normally done."

Remember there is no quick weight loss will work in the long run if you don't learn how to eat healthy the rest of your life. Before you start any weight loss program or use any supplements for weight loss, it's best to consult with your doctor. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the HCG Diet. So it's best to do your research.

Click here for more information on the HCG diet.

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