Question regarding female administration of HCG

[Delinquent]

I was talking to my girlfriend's sister today and she said she has been going to a shop where she gets injections of HCG to lose weight. They also put her on an 800 calorie diet for some reason. She has lost 6 lbs in 2 weeks and one of her friends has lost 21lbs so far. I tried searching and I didn't see any threads on it so I was curious if this was safe to do.

 

[wilson6]

hCG is a fertility drug and in women should only be administered by a qualified OBGYN or fertility specialist.

It has no place in weight loss and shouldn't be used for that purpose. No it is not safe for women to be taking for anything other than fertility or specific endocrine/fertility related problems.

W6

 

[FitFossil]

I've never heard of HCG therapy for weight loss before today. Seems just being on an 800 calorie/day diet would make a person lose weight. Unfortunately such low calorie diets usually cause muscle loss along with fat loss. And since less muscle means lower metabolism, the dieter will likely rebound (and be a repeat customer for the diet industry).

It seems hard to believe any hormone related to pregnancy could actually cause a woman to loose weight - seems like it should have the opposite effect.

It would be interesting to get her bodyfat tested now and when the diet's over, to see how much actual fat, as opposed to weight, was lost. (I'm sort of skeptical.) Also, I think a lot of the initial "success" can be attributed just be being on a structured program of some sort. Why not get her into weight training? That's the real secret.

 

[MS]

Are you SURE iw was hCG and not hGH. Or maybe the HCG stands for something else?

In any event, I agree that 800 cals per day would easily result in 6 lbs of weight loss in 2 weeks without ANY drugs. So I wouldn't get too excited about this stuff (whatever it is).

 

[Delinquent]

I'm positive she said HCG. I even asked her if it was the substance that came from pregnant women and she said yes. She said they are doing the injection in her stomach (subQ). The place is not the place I would thik could do this. It's a tanning salon that also does nails and other stuff.

 

[wilson6]

MS,

Years ago hCG was tried for weight loss. Don't know what the potential mechanism was thought to be, but it didn't work. In fact, if you check any of the common brands of hCG in the PDR, they state use for weight loss as a contraindication.

W6

 

[FitFossil]

I'm positive she said HCG. I even asked her if it was the substance that came from pregnant women and she said yes. She said they are doing the injection in her stomach (subQ). The place is not the place I would thik could do this. It's a tanning salon that also does nails and other stuff.

OMG! The thought of a tanning salon injecting anything, much less hormones (if they're even legit) is a very scary prospect. Who's doing the actual injection? Do they have any medical credentials? Aren't there any licensing laws regarding that sort of thing?

 

[MS]

"in the PDR, they state use for weight loss as a contraindication", Yes, I know. That's why I'm gob-smacked at this post. I'm also shocked for the same reasons Temple mentioned.

One of the best controlled double-blind placebo controlled trials I know of (using IM rather than SubQ) found "Subjects receiving HCG injections showed no advantages over those on placebo in respect of any of the variables recorded. Furthermore, weight loss on our diet was similar to that on severely restricted intake. We conclude that there is no rationale for the use of HCG injections in the treatment of obesity."....which is why I mentioned to delinquent that the 800 cal diet ALONE would have those dramatic weight loss effects, and that I seriously suggest he convince his girlfriend's sister to stop this nonsense.

 

[Delinquent]

Thanks for the responses.