MIAMI, March 26, 2012 - As numerous new diets, exercises and nutritional supplements are rolled out on today’s saturated weight loss driven assembly line, one must make sure not to fall victim to marketing trickery and whimsical gimmicks.
One of these newer “kids on the block” is the HcG Diet which has swept the nation as the quick new fix in creating bikini laden beauties with slender physiques by loosing a pound a day without even exercising. Too good to be true right? What they don’t mention is that you only get to eat 500cal/day and that the weight you lost will creep back just as fast as it disappeared.
I always joke with my patients that with a 500cal/day diet I could get them to loose a pound a day by prescribing them vitamin C. It is simple math that if you eat less calories than you burn, you will loose weight.
For example, the resting metabolic rate, calories burnt just sitting around, for a moderately active male that is 6’ tall and 200lbs is 3,033cal/day. Subtract the 500 cal/day one is allowed to eat on the HcG diet and we are left with 2,533cal burnt doing nothing. Of course you are going to drop weight fast, but will you keep it off?
This type of diet puts the body into a “starvation” mode which causes it to learn how to store fat more effectively. Congratulations, you just turned your body into a fat storing machine. Now with the return to a normal diet, NOT 500cal/day, the bodies new learned response to store as many calories as possible from each meal as fat is why we see the rapid weight gain once the diet ends.
Don’t get me wrong, the fat burning and muscle sparing abilities of HcG itself are fantastic for loosing weight effectively when added to proper diet and nutrition, and I use it frequently in my practice. I just believe that an overall weight loss program should focus on long term goals not short term success.
Ivan Rusilko, DO, CSN, PT, is an accomplished weight loss and wellness physician affiliated with the prestigious MIAMI Institute in Miami, Florida. A champion bodybuilder, international male fitness model, and former Mr. USA 2008 & 2010, Dr. Rusilko graduated from the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2010 and is now the National Media Expert on Diet, Exercise and Sports Nutrition for the American Osteopathic Association (AOA).
In addition to health and wellness, Dr. Rusilko has a variety of interests and activities including event coordination, photography, writing, and politics. Dr. Rusilko is a member of the George W. Bush Center’s Leadership Circle, the Ronald Reagan Foundation’s Legacy Council, and named as a Vice Chair of the Reagan Centennial Committee.
For more information please visit Dr Rusilko’s business website, personal website and Facebook Site.
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