HCG to Cut?

[kyleave1979]

I have heard of some using HCG alot recently but what i am wondering. If you use HCG diet to cut after bulking wouldnt you loose most of your gains. from what i understand it is 500 cals a day plus and injection for two weeks and you loose 20 lbs? wouldnt some of that be muscle?

 

[d_rson]

The secret to the diet is not the HCG, it's the 500 calories per day. The HCG just helps you feel halfway decent while on only 500 cals (and it's arguable anyway since you feel like crap no matter what). When you cut cals that low, your hormones shutdown and you feel like crap. But yes, you will go into a catabolic state and eat muscle away. It's stupid. Just like the Juice diet. It's not the juice that works, it's the 500 calories you only take in. It's just a way to market something.

 

[phArmstrong]

All clinical trial evidence shows that HCG does not trim fat.

 

[Zyglamail]

The HCG diet seems to be all the rage and admittedly havent done a lot of research into it but from what I know, its not meant for people actively performing strenuous exercise, so that basically rules out any BB or weightlifter cutting. As for how it works, you cant help but lose weight when only eating 500 cals a day. The only thing that comes to mind is the HCG causing an extra test boost in men to keep mass loss to a minimum. But going back to this is not for active lifestyles then those folks who this diet is meant for wont really have a lot of mass to worry about anyway.

A zone diet and crossfit peels the fat off like nothing I have seen. Your not going to get massive doing CF but if your goals are cutting you can probably keep your mass AND lose a lot of fat in 30-60 days. Do a CF workout 5 days a week and on 3-5 of them spend about 20 minutes working on a single heavy compound lift. Do about 4 warm up sets then a 5,3,2,1,1 rep scheme for the heavy compound movement. Compound movement should be bench, deadlift, squat, overhead press or an oly lift. That should be enough work to keep your size and strength and the high intensticy cyclic and anerobic nature of the crossfit WOD will melt fat off you.

 

[zedhed]

Gr8 post Ziggy!