8 Ways to Sabotage Your HCG Injections Diet

Around since the 1950s, the popular yet controversial hCG injections diet was designed to facilitate rapid weight loss without the issues that challenge—and ultimately sabotage—many diets, predominantly gnawing, unrelenting hunger pangs and fatigue.

Originated by Dr. A.T.W. Simeons, who’d studied obesity for 40 years prior to creating the diet protocol featuring injections of hCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, the hCG injections diet was popularized by Simeons’ 1954 book, “Pounds and Inches: A New Approach to Obesity,” and an article in the medical publication Lancet on the subject.

Simeons mandated the diet be followed stringently, including the strict adherence to specific types of non-oily fish, oil-free make-up (he believed any fats or oils, ingested or absorbed into the skin, can mitigate the diet’s fast-acting effects), fat-free dairy and no alcohol. Challenging these conditions is tantamount to chasing an hour at the gym with a banana split.

Here, then, are 8 ways to sabotage your hCG injections diet:

1. At your child’s birthday party, make sure you order enough pizza in the event you want to scrape off the cheese (a fatty no-no) for a little treat before bed.
2. ONE bite of her birthday cake isn’t going to make a difference. Actually, it will. First, sugar is not on the diet. Second, it can push you over the 500-calorie-a-day limit.
3. A little salmon (one of nature’s fattiest fishes) goes a long way—toward obliterating weight loss on the hCG injections diet.
4. A half-caff latte (no whole or lowfat milk) will do wonders for you on a cold morning, but not on this protocol.
5. A dirty vodka martini a day keeps the doctor away. While the original Simeons diet made no mention of alcohol, why challenge your results by introducing it? Besides, a dirty vodka martini contains about 250 calories—half the daily calorie intake—probably not the best way to handle the hCG injections diet.
6. I’ve been good all week, so tonight I deserve seconds. I’m having halibut—clearly on the diet protocol. Though you’ve chosen the right (minimum fat) seafood, seconds are not recommended on this diet. Even a large bite can push you over the 500-calorie limit.
7. After a hot bath, slathering on a rich emollient lotion is my favorite thing to do. That’s fine on the other days of the year, but Simeons was adamant about ingesting fats while on his diet protocol—either in food or through the skin. Most cosmetic creams and lotions contain concentrations of oil, so finding oil-free products or using mineral oil as a moisturizer is preferable.
8. Stressed? Feeling like a long, hard run will help relieve that daunting day at work? Simeons advocated curtailing heavy exercise during the diet, only because 500 calories a day does not provide enough energy and stamina to do so. A light walk might be all right, or try some deep breathing, restorative yoga and invest in some mediation tapes for a while.

While these examples might seem like common sense to those experienced with the HCG Injection diet, new comers may believe that a cheat here or there has no consequence. Mistakes can be overcome but rededicating to the program, after all the low calorie phase of the diet program is typically around 30 days or less. Hang in there!