Former Victoria’s Secret Angel Erin Heatherton recently opened up about the pressures of modeling for a lingerie brand, revealing the extreme lengths she went to lose weight in order to not lose her job.

Heatherton, 32, told podcast “Fallen Angel” that she sought a nutritionist to help her lose weight. Rather than providing her with a guide to a balanced diet and exercise routine, the nutritionist prescribed her a dangerous drug: HCG.

“I don't know. I was just like, ‘Let me Lance Armstrong this because I'm renovating my condo. I can't lose my job right now,’” she said in the podcast Fallen Angels. “I started injecting myself with HCG.”

HCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, is a hormone produced during pregnancy. When sold as a prescription, HCG is primarily used to treat fertility issues, according to the Mayo Clinic.

HCG became particularly popular because the daily injections are paired with severe calorie restrictions that ranged from 500 to 800 calories a day. Many of these popular HCG products claimed to “reset your metabolism,” change “abnormal eating patterns,” and shave 20 to 30 pounds in 30 to 40 days, The Food and Drug Administration noted.

"I look back at it as like emotional cutting because I was so against everything that I was doing, but I was just reluctantly doing it almost to feel the pain or feel how wrong it was," Heatherton said.

According to the FDA, there is no data to support that the products work and any weight loss while on the diet is “from severe calorie restriction. Not from the HCG.”

“These products are marketed with incredible claims, and people think that if they're losing weight, HCG must be working,” said Carolyn Becker, director of the Office of Unapproved Drugs and Labeling Compliance at the FDA.

In fact, some research has linked HCG weight-loss products to a possible increase in cancer risk. Meanwhile, the severe caloric restriction can lead to side effects like fatigue, edemas, gallstone formation, irregular heartbeat, limited intake of vitamins and minerals, an imbalance of electrolyte, among others, the Mayo Clinic reported.

“I share my story again because I don't want anyone to have an eating disorder or hate their bodies. I know what that feels like. I speak out only for people that might hear me and think, Hey, that makes sense, or maybe that might change their attitude toward how they treat themselves,” Heatherton said.

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