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What is the HCG Diet?

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What is the HCG Diet?

The first thing most people wonder when they hear about the HCG diet is "what does HCG stand for?" HCG stands for "Human Chorionic Gonadotropin." It's a hormone that is produced by pregnant women responsible for controlling metabolic function during the pregnancy.

During the HCG diet, this hormone is supplemented by the dieter, but it is created synthetically in a lab (so don't worry about it being extracted from pregnant women; it's not).

How Much Weight Can Be Lost?

The next most common question is "how much weight can I expect to lose on this diet?

The common figure thrown around is between 0.5 and 3 pounds per day. Compare this to "traditional" diets where the average figure is around 2 pounds per week.

HCG Supplementation

Small doses of HCG are used to help augment the diet efforts of overweight individuals on this diet. It helps decrease the appetite and boost the metabolism. This is often combined with a very low 500 calorie intake per day and can result in 3,500-4,000 calories per day being burned (hence the claims of 1+ pounds per day being lost).

Appetite Control and Metabolism Stimulation

The HCG also works to control appetite and help the person feel comfortable while on such a restricted diet. This is a common concern, especially considering that 500 calories is often less than one normal meal, and it's all that is eating in an entire day on this diet.

There are two variations of HCG supplementation: injections, and drops that go under the tongue. The drops are considered to be safer

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