I remember watching Dr Oz a while back and seeing a show on the HCG diet. He had brought a number of people on his show, some of whom had excellent success with this new diet, while others had horror stories about it. This was the first time I remember hearing about this diet – I can’t remember exactly when it was but it was within the last year. The thing that really caught my attention was the fact that it was injection-based (although there are now drops for it), and required a 500 calorie diet. Needless to say there are some HCG diet dangers you need to be prepared for if you attempt this diet.
Before we look at some of the hcg diet dangers and side-effects, it is so important that if you are ever considering starting this diet, or any diet for that matter, that you first consult with your doctor beforehand.
Also, I realize I have yet to write on exactly what the hcg diet is, but I wanted to address some of the concerns I had with it first while I was doing my research. I will make a detailed post of what exactly is involved with the diet soon. For now I just wanted to see is the hcg diet safe or not.
What HCG diet dangers to expect
Depending on the method you take of consuming the hcg – injections or oral – it will impact the dangers of hcg diet.
Dangers of injections
Needless to say if you are injecting yourself with a needle there is always risk of complication. From extreme bruising to blood clotting, there are many hcg diet dangers that surround the process of injection. That said, make sure that if you choose this route for intake that you only have a registered nurse or doctor administer the injections. Doing it yourself may result in additional risks.
Dangers of a low, 500 calorie diet
This is the biggest issue I had with the diet. Even trying to sustain a 1000 calorie diet can be extremely difficult, I could only imagine trying to live off of 500 calories or less. The initial hcg diet dangers I can think of would be surrounding this low intake of energy. Some side effects will include severe headaches, cramping, and extreme irritability. I suppose you could combat the headaches with pain medication and live through the cramping, but the irritability could be a problem if you are living with a spouse.
Bouncing back off the diet
This isn’t really a danger of the hcg diet, but it is something that concerns me. What happens when someone loses their 30 pounds on the diet and then stops taking the HCG drops and starts back to their usual way of life. Maybe I’m wrong, but it does not seem like you learn a lot of lifestyle changes, rather, simply try to starve yourself enough so you lose a bunch of weight – to me I just can’t wrap my head around how it is a good long-term solution.
But then again, I haven’t tried it. I suspect I never will, but I wish all the best to those who do.
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