If HCG takes away hunger, why was I starving when pregnant?

[buttah]

I've been meaning to ask this for ages. Surely it's come up before?

If HCG keeps one from getting hungry on 500 calories a day, why are pregnant women typically hungrier than before they were pregnant? Is it a much smaller amount? Just doesn't seem logical to me.

[cocoapeanut]

I have no detailed definitive answer, but I would guess that it has something to do with the amount of hCG circulating in the body. Pregnant women have a LOT more of it, which likely creates different hormonal circumstances. I think Dr. S had to do a lot of testing before he arrived at the magical number of 125 IU.

[HappyChick]

If I understand it correctly- the action of hCG is not one of appetite suppression. hCG in a pregnant woman's body is at it's highest level in the first trimester, often before a woman even knows she's pregnant; the body's way of releasing energy to the developing embryo/fetus, no matter what the mothers' nutritional profile at the time.

I'm pretty sure the ravenous hunger in pregnancy comes when we're REALLY very preggo...lol!

Make sense?

Originally Posted by buttah

I've been meaning to ask this for ages. Surely it's come up before?

If HCG keeps one from getting hungry on 500 calories a day, why are pregnant women typically hungrier than before they were pregnant? Is it a much smaller amount? Just doesn't seem logical to me.

[buttah]

Well, having been pregnant, I can tell you than ravenous hunger begins fairly early. And whether or not HCG directly or indirectly (via Leptin, per the theories by Robin Woodall in her book WLA) tampers hunger on the HCG diet, that is in fact the claim the diet makes - that without HCG it would be impossible to reduce your calories to 500 a day, continuously, without having immense hunger. This is the reason many say that they need to adjust their dose - to get the hunger to go away.

Just to be clear: I'm not questioning the claim. Too many people have sworn they are not physically hungry on this diet (they may well be emotionally or craving hungry, but that's another matter). I'm just trying to wrap my head around how that works.

[shelbyla]

I am not now nor have I ever been pregnant ( ), but maybe this has something to do with the fact that there is so very MUCH hCG in our systems when pregnant??? I know that when hCG doses are too high on the protocol, the usual recommendation is to decrease the dose to reduce the resulting hunger. Maybe the vast quantities of hCG produced by a pregnant woman signal the body to BOTH use abnormal fat stores AND eat more to nourish the fetus? Just a thought, anyway...

[Fat Eddie]

Originally Posted by shelbyla

I am not now nor have I ever been pregnant ( ), but maybe this has something to do with the fact that there is so very MUCH hCG in our systems when pregnant??? I know that when hCG doses are too high on the protocol, the usual recommendation is to decrease the dose to reduce the resulting hunger. Maybe the vast quantities of hCG produced by a pregnant woman signal the body to BOTH use abnormal fat stores AND eat more to nourish the fetus? Just a thought, anyway...

Me neither

Fat Eddie

[manders]

Originally Posted by Fat Eddie

Me neither

Fat Eddie

I'll third that!

[HappyChick]

hmmm.. interesting topic.

I think the missing quotient here is that even though you're only [I]eating[I] 500 cals on protocol, you are releasing 1500+ calories into your system- so, no need to be hungry. If that's suppression, then- maybe so. I usually think of appetite suppressants as the stimulant variety... (I'm innocent, I tell you..lol)

I only gained 17 pounds my entire pregnancy- and my son was 8.9oz of that weight, the rest was was probably placenta. I only recall being hungry in my 6th month- and never went for that "you're eating for two" rationale. Luckily, I never had a single bout of morning sickness either..thank God!!

Originally Posted by buttah

Well, having been pregnant, I can tell you than ravenous hunger begins fairly early. And whether or not HCG directly or indirectly (via Leptin, per the theories by Robin Woodall in her book WLA) tampers hunger on the HCG diet, that is in fact the claim the diet makes - that without HCG it would be impossible to reduce your calories to 500 a day, continuously, without having immense hunger. This is the reason many say that they need to adjust their dose - to get the hunger to go away.

Just to be clear: I'm not questioning the claim. Too many people have sworn they are not physically hungry on this diet (they may well be emotionally or craving hungry, but that's another matter). I'm just trying to wrap my head around how that works.

[buttah]

Well, of course I understand the "releasing" thing from stored fat - that's how HCG supposedly works.

My point is simply this: pregnant women are NOT typically satisfied with 500 calories a day; nor would they likely be satiated knowing their bodies are using or can use stored fat instead of food calories. See what I mean?

[shelbyla]

Originally Posted by shelbyla

I am not now nor have I ever been pregnant ( ), but maybe this has something to do with the fact that there is so very MUCH hCG in our systems when pregnant??? I know that when hCG doses are too high on the protocol, the usual recommendation is to decrease the dose to reduce the resulting hunger. Maybe the vast quantities of hCG produced by a pregnant woman signal the body to BOTH use abnormal fat stores AND eat more to nourish the fetus? Just a thought, anyway...

buttah - what do you think about the theory above?

[buttah]

I think it's the best theory we've got! I'm a bit nervous that my clinic advises and typically gives 150iu's, not 125iu, although they've offered to mix it either way. Will have to ask if they'll charge me to lower the dose/remix if I haven't used all the week's syringes. But they claim to have had the best luck on 150iu's.

[Gracie514]

Originally Posted by buttah

Well, of course I understand the "releasing" thing from stored fat - that's how HCG supposedly works.

My point is simply this: pregnant women are NOT typically satisfied with 500 calories a day; nor would they likely be satiated knowing their bodies are using or can use stored fat instead of food calories. See what I mean?

I agree with Shelby. Having being pregnant three times and being ravenously hungry - hcg does not act as an appetite suppressant in large quantities. I had my hcg tested very early in pregnancy because I had a scare. Within the first 10 days my hcg level was way over 10,000 units. On the hcg protocol we are only on 125-150 iu/day, which is WAY less. I believe it reaches in the hundreds of thousands in the first trimester and then levels off. It's produced to build the placenta and nourish the baby. So, it makes sense that if you trick your body that you are pregnant with that tiny bit of hcg - it will release the extra calories to nourish the fake placenta. Hence, we are not hungry. Hope this makes sense.

ETA ~ Also, when we are really pregnant, our bodies are building a placenta which is hard work and makes us hungry (or nauseous!!!)

[debkeversole]

and the BABY is using those fat stores being released when you are pregnant not you! in non pregnant people YOU have that energy available to YOU

[Kiley2801]

You can add me to the "never been pregnant" camp. But as a few others have alluded to, I dont think you can discount the "having a living, growing being inside you" factor whilst pregnant vs. not having one!

Also, not everyone is not hungry on hcg! I did Rx injections through a clinic and was still very hungry my first week! After that it subsided somewhat, but I still experienced mild hunger through my 40 day round. There were still "white knuckle" moments throughout though for sure!

Now that being said ... I still felt really good! I had ALOT of energy and slept soooo good on hcg. I went onto lose 20 lbs and 2 dress sizes too , which was a pretty sweet payoff for any discomfort I endured.

[Arctic_Mama]

Yes, it is the quantity. I noted this very distinctly, in trying to stay in P2 through early pregnancy to finish out my round. Right about 16DPO, when my hCG was doubling every two days and I was surpassing the concentrations I'd been dosing with the rest of the protocol, I went from completely content to beginning to get more and more hungry.

This is very normal and in line with both observation of hCG's effects and the few studies on hCG and leptin stimulation. I still tend to not have a ravenous appetite when pregnant, of I'm not eating junk, but my hunger noticeably kicked up even though I was still 100% on protocol. The only change was my blood serum hCG was being raised by a pregnancy and the levels quickly and far surpassed the low dose I was using therapeutically before that.