Being Pregnant
Ewe: Women Taking Pregnancy Hormones to Lose Weight
There’s something very untoward about an article in today’s New York Times, “Diet Plan with Hormones Has Fans and Skeptics.”
The article reports on a weight loss trend where women are purposely injecting themselves with hCG, a pregnancy hormone, and then starving themselves on a 500-calorie-a-day plan to lose weight very quickly in “all the right places”–weddings were mentioned as a popular motivation. They are doing this under a doctor’s supervision as hCG is approved for off-label weight loss.
Now certainly I get how eating 500 calories a day would make a person lose weight. The “science” behind the idea seems to be that the hormone helps you not feel hungry and creates a more toned body thanks to its induction of male hormones to produce muscle mass (rather shakily proven) and delete fat from problem areas, such as bellies. This is the same hormone that got baseball star Manny Ramirez suspended for 50 games for using hCG, which is banned by Major League Baseball.
Besides the noted cardiovascular risks and the anorexia-like caloric intake, it just seems wrong to be to take a pregnancy hormone to do something so unnatural to one’s body. Am I overreacting, or are these women totally crazy (especially the former anorexic on the diet)? Can’t they just go on a diet like a normal person?
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4 Comments
ann in CA commented on Mar 09 11 at 12:49 amDon’t knock it until you’ve read the medical protocol it is based on. It’s been a solution for people since the 1950′s in Europe to reset their hypothalamus glands and metabolisms; it’s changed the lives of a lot of people (including 4 of my close friends). After dismissing it for over a year, I read the protocol and tried it. During the process there were days that I told my husband that I had never felt better in my life.
Regina commented on Apr 22 11 at 4:35 amI have not tried this as a weight loss solution but I will tell you this.. for s
All three of my pregnancies.. I felt better then I have ever felt not pregnant and have always lost weight.. I have less sweets and starch cravings.. I can completely see how this would work.. although I would not agree with the 500 calorie diet…that’s a little much..
LJ commented on Dec 29 11 at 10:50 amTrue it has been around since the 1950′s and there has been clinical data demonstrating it’s ineffectiveness since the 1970′s. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: http://www.ajcn.org/content/29/9/940
Barbara D. commented on May 06 12 at 10:17 amIt worked for me when nothing else did. Now even my husband has done it and lost 30 lbs. He feels so much better for it.
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