Sunday, November 22, 2009

HCG: Week Three

We are now halfway through this diet. Thank goodness. Hate the diet...love the results!
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In 21 days I have lost 22.4 lbs and Sarah has lost 20.2 lbs.
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I'm still off the third hypertension med, and my latest readings were 120/76 and 125/76. Plus I'm in the process of cutting back the doubled medication to its original dosage.

A lot of people wonder what you eat on a 500-calorie diet. Here is my typical day in menus:
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Breakfast: .35 cc of hCG under my tongue and iced tea made from decaffeinated green tea. I sip it all day long.
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Herbal teas are also allowed, hot or cold. The only sweetener allowed is Stevia. (English Toffee-flavored Stevia drops are heavenly in tea!)
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Mid-Morning Snack: Melba toast and an orange, the biggest orange I can find!
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Lunch: A vegetable and 100 grams of protein, just slightly more than 3.5 oz. It makes the cutest little hamburger patties you've ever seen!
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At left is a typical lunch. Notice the size of the burger compared to the regular-sized radishes.
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I usually have a ground beef, chicken, or turkey patty, or sometimes 6-7 medium shrimp.
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Mid-Afternoon Snack: More Melba toast and a sugar-free Jello cup.
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Dinner: Another vegetable (different from the lunch choice) and 100 grams of a different protein.
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We usually have a teeny-tiny strip of steak or chicken breast. White fish, like tilapia, is also allowed, but not fatty fish like tuna or salmon.
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This steak-and-cabbage stew was dinner a few nights ago. Quite tasty!
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Dessert: The biggest apple I can get my hands on: Granny Smith, gala, golden delicious, etc. Once Sarah and I splurged on a cupful each of fresh strawberries for dessert, but that's a luxury now that berries are out of season.
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There are also 2 more .35 cc doses of hCG spread out through the day. I was told to take the drops 10 minutes before eating, but I now take it at various times of the day. I don't see any difference in the rate of weight loss.

Fruits and Vegetables: 2 fruits and 2 vegetables are allowed per day. The fruits and the Melba toast may be eaten with lunch and dinner, but I prefer to spread them out as snacks to keep my blood sugar stable.
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Allowed fruits are oranges, apples, strawberries, or half of a grapefruit. They must be eaten separately and you shouldn't eat the same fruit twice in one day. 

You may also use the juice of one lemon per day, if you wish.  We haven't found any need to do so, though some folks might like it in their tea or on their fish.
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The same rules apply to vegetables: choose 2 different vegetables in a day, and never mix them at the same meal. Some modern versions of the diet allow combining of vegetables, but I'm following Dr. Simeons's original protocal.
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Allowed vegetables: lettuce, spinach, cabbage, tomato, cucumber, radishes, celery, asparagus, onion (any kind), beet greens, chard, or fennel. Healthy, but not exactly nutrient-dense. Sarah and I usually have a small, sliced tomato; or half a diced cucumber in vinegar; or steamed, seasoned cabbage.
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Serving sizes for the vegetables aren't specific. It just states that you can have a "large handful." Any seasonings are allowable as long as they contain no fats.

Proteins, though, are strictly measured. The 100 grams is pre-cooked weight, so I find it simpler to spend a couple of hours cutting the meat into correct portions and sealing them in snack bags. For the next 2 weeks we just pull them out of the freezer as needed.
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At right are my cute little freezer-ready bags of tilapia, shrimp, steak, chicken breast, 93% lean ground beef, and ground chicken and turkey.
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I've stated before that I don't believe fat-free or extreme low-fat diets are healthy. I've also said I don't approve of rigidly restricted-calorie diets. I still don't, at least for the long term.
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However, according to Dr. Simeons, while hCG is releasing abnormal fat deposits into the bloodstream it is necessary to limit the amount of fat in the diet so it doesn't overload the system. And supposedly all the nutrients we need are stored in those fat deposits.

It makes sense, and it seems to be working. Both Sarah and I feel fine. For me, the first week was rough, but my energy has been climbing ever since. (Still hungry, though!)
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And due to the caloric restriction, Simeons does discourage exercise during the 40 days of the diet. He allows a 20-minute daily walk for those who feel they must get in some cardio. Sarah was doing more than twice that and still felt fine.
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Lose weight without exercise? Sign me up!
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Dr. Simeons's diet actually prohibits the use of Chapstick, lotion, makeup, and cream-based products such as shampoo and conditioner in order to further limit fats being absorbed into the body, but I can't go quite that far. I'm not sure being thin would be worth looking like a dried up old prune! Besides, even with my Chapstick and lotions, I'm still losing steadily.
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I continue to study the research and anecdotal information on this diet, and it is not without its controversies. I'll go into that information next week.
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Meanwhile, I just have to say:
**********Works for me!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

HCG: Week Two

Our second week on the hCG diet was a success! In 14 days I've lost 17.6 lbs and Sarah is down 17.4 lbs.

I wish I could say I'm not hungry on 500 calories a day, but to me each day feels like Fast Sunday, only without the huge meal at the end of the day. Apparently it's something to do with the hormonal shifts of my pre-menopause. Lucky me.

Sarah, though, feels great. She's never hungry and has enough energy to walk 45 minutes per day. Her results are typical of what most people report while using hCG.

A little history on the diet: It was developed by British doctor A.T.W. Simeons during the 1950s and 60s. His full biography can be found here:

Dr. Simeons was a decorated, experienced physician whose opinion and assistance were highly sought after. He spent many years working in Africa and India due to his interest in tropical diseases. In fact, he received the Red Cross Order of Merit for developing an effective malaria treatment.
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While working with pregnant women living in poverty, Dr. Simeons was intrigued that nearly starving women delivered fat, healthy babies. Eventually the role of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in pregnancy was discovered and he began working with it to find a cure for obesity.

His theory was, if the hormone hCG releases adipose (fat) tissue to make it available to the fetus, it might also release abnormal fat in the obese.
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As we all know, fat is stored by our bodies during times of plenty in order to make nutrition available to us during lean times. Dr. Simeons found that a 500-calorie diet composed of specific, extremely low-fat foods forced the body to rely upon the fat released by the hCG.


He released his findings on the benefits of hCG in 1954 and continued working out his approach to weight loss. In the mid-60s he published his book, Pounds and Inches, outlining his "Weight Loss Cure Protocol" for both doctors and patients.


In 1969 Dr. Simeons opened a clinic in Rome, where he'd been living since 1950. For 20 years he successfully and safely treated weight issues of the wealthy and famous.

For decades, clinics and spas were the only venue available to participate in Dr. Simeons's weight cure prototocol. HCG, obtained from the urine of pregnant women, was expensive and given daily by injection, plus Dr. Simeon felt there were too many temptations in the world for the average person to stick to such a restricted diet on their own.

Today, hCG is available in various forms, including the homeopathic drops Sarah and I take under the tongue 3 times a day.

HCG is not approved by the FDA for weight loss, but it is approved for use in fertility treatments, which involve doses more than 10 times greater than that used for weight loss. I've spent many hours researching hCG, and there are simply NO concerns about the hormone itself. We all have some in our bodies naturally, including men, and pregnant women have very high amounts. (Pregnancy tests read the hCG level in urine.)

The only concerns I found relate to the restrictive 500-calorie portion of the diet, but I'll go into that next week.

For now, I'm thrilled with my progress. First, my total weight loss since New Year's Eve is 28 lbs (before starting the hCG, I had kept off some of the weight I'd lost in the spring), and as of this morning the number on the scale was one I haven't seen since 2005!

Even better, I've already achieved 2 of my 3 goals. I stopped taking the new, potentially dangerous blood pressure medication a week ago and tonight my blood pressure was exactly 120/80. Earlier in the week I had readings of 119/78 and 115/73. As for my 3rd goal, to lose at least 20 lbs, I expect to achieve that sometime this week. Ultimately I hope to be able to stop one more medication and reduce the dosage of the final one, but that's a ways down the road.

But that road will be so much easier to travel now!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

HCG: Week One

Last Sunday I committed an act of desperation. I started the hGC diet.

Let's be clear: I do not endorse this diet. I don't believe such severe calorie restrictions or extreme low-fat diets are healthy.

On the other hand, I do feel the hCG diet is a safer option than stomach stapling/re-sections, lap-bands, mouth-wirings, and tongue patches, which restrict calories much longer and include surgery and sometimes emotional trauma.

Besides all that, the hCG diet works.

This really was a choice of last resort. After the dust settled from my cardiology adventures, three things were clear: 1) I had to get off the newest of 3 blood pressure meds I was taking due to possibly dangerous side effects; 2) I had to reduce my blood pressure to accomplish #1; and 3) I needed to lose at least 20 lbs in order to accomplish #2.

I got right to work. For 5 weeks I was stellar. Not a drop of sugar, white flour, or starchy vegetables passed my lips. I focused on healthy fats, proteins, and nutrient-dense vegetables and fruits. I ate smaller meals throughout the day to keep my blood sugar stable. I tried to walk every day.
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I lost 7 lbs the first 2 weeks. Four of those pounds were water weight, of course, but I was pleased. Then it stopped cold. I persevered faithfully. I reached the point where my appetite decreased, which happens naturally with controlled-carb eating, but even with much smaller meals the scale still wouldn't budge. I bounced up and down, back and forth, in the same 2-lb. range.

I knew why I was stuck.


For several years I've been on 2 blood pressure medications that cause weight gain, but I could still lose weight by controlling my carbs. It was harder, but it worked... slowly... Now I'm on a third med that also causes weight gain, plus Dr. Memon doubled the dosage of one of my original prescriptions. He himself admitted that it will now be "almost impossible" to lose weight, though I still needed to "work at it."
 
I can maintain my weight by eating right, but to achieve my 3 goals required LOSS of weight. I was so frustrated and becoming depressed. I began to pray for an answer.

One day my cardiologist's office staff called. A nutritionist was coming to town to supervise a weight loss program involving B12 shots and 500 calories a day for 40 days. I'd lose about a pound a day.

Was I interested? I was, but they never called back. Then at church 2 weeks ago, someone told me how she had lost 36 lbs in 40 days on the hCG diet after her last baby was born.

I put 2+2 together and realized this was the same diet the nutritionist was promoting. I also remembered that my sister-in-law Dana had done this diet back around March and tried to convince Sarah and me to join her. I rejected it as unsafe, but Dana and several members of her immediate and extended families had done it and lost tons of weight. They still look great.

I spent 3 hours online researching hCG and the diet and the doctor who developed it. I realized I was just desperate enough to give it a try. It seemed my only option, though I wasn't sure I could afford $285 for the nutritionist or $40 per bottle of hCG to do it myself. I was still praying.

Later that day I had a chiropractor appointment. I told Dr. Butler what I had decided to do, and he told me both ladies in his front office had recently started the diet. Jackie had lost 6 lbs in 5 days and Sandi had lost 12 in 10 days. They were very excited and, better yet, knew where to get the hCG for just $25 per bottle. It seemed to me that the Lord had placed all these big red arrows in my path, leading me to my answer.

I made the call that same night.

Sarah and I started the diet last Sunday, November 1st. Unbelievably, in just 7 days Sarah has lost 13 lbs and I have lost 12 lbs. The change is already noticeable in our clothing.



(Note: I found this sign online and liked how simply it outlines the diet's benefits.  I do not sell hCG and I don't plan to do so any time in the future.)



For Sarah it has been smooth sailing. For me, it has been a challenge due to my arrhythmia, so I'm still working on adjusting the diet to my needs. I have spoken to my family doctor, who doesn't recommend the diet but feels I'll be okay as long as I stop at the 40-day mark. No problem. Believe me, I can't wait to get back to eating real meals!
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Meanwhile, my blood pressure is already dropping. I finally feel my goals are achievable!

Next week: More on the diet and how it works.