HCG: Week Six

Sarah and I are nearing the end of our first hCG quest.

We've been at it for 42 days now. I've lost 32.8 lbs and Sarah has lost 30.8 lbs.

It feels great to walk uphill without huffing and puffing. It's wonderful to tie my shoes without groaning, and to climb stairs without my knees aching.

I'm able to wear clothes that haven't fit me for years. In fact, some are already too large in the shoulders and will soon be passed on to Sarah.

I bought this dress more than 3 years ago. It was too snug to wear then, but I knew it would be perfect after I lost 10 lbs. Then, of course, I gained 20 lbs instead, so I never got to wear it.

Today I took it from the back of the closet and wore it to church. I received many compliments, but it's really too baggy at the top already.

(Keep in mind that I've actually lost 43 lbs total since last New Year's Eve.)

And check out the legs and shoes below. There is NO fat left below the knees. All swelling and puffiness is gone!

I bought those shoes a year ago because they were so darn cute, but heels aren't wise when you're old and fat! They've been gathering dust in the closet. Today these shoes felt great (although I'll have to retrain my ankles and feet to this tilted position).

I still have 40-50 more pounds to lose eventually, but I'm happy to hold at this weight for 6 weeks during the next phase of the diet.

And now for the promised discussion of the hCG diet controversies:

I am a big believer in research, so I went looking for studies based on Dr. Simeons's work. All I could find was a study of hCG research projects from the 1990's.

The author of this "overview" somehow located 24 studies on the effectiveness of hCG. He immediately discarded 12 of those studies because they were so poorly designed.

11 of the remaining 12 studies showed that hCG was no more effective than a placebo in causing weight loss when accompanied by a 500-calorie diet.

Hmmm.

As much as I respect research, I'm also a huge believer in anecdotal evidence. Not only are there literally thousands of people online who swear to the effectiveness of hCG, but I also had too many friends and family who've experienced it, as well as my own recent experience.

Why didn't the anecdotal evidence and these research studies line up?

I thought back to Dr. Atkins's 30-year struggle to educate people about the dangers of sugars and other empty carbs. His opponents dared him to prove his theories by research; he preferred to spend his time and money on his patients, who were his research. He saw the positive results in his clinic everyday. Today there are more than 60 studies vindicating Dr. Atkins, showing that a controlled-carb lifestyle achieves not only the best long-term weight loss, but also by far the greatest improvement in blood lipids, when compared to low-fat and low-calorie diets.

Dr. Simeons likewise did not participate in huge research studies. He did his own research by watching the results of his patients for decades and adjusting the diet and hormone until he achieved optimum success. For instance, the diet only allows a choice of 4 fruits: apples, oranges, strawberries, or half of a grapefruit. When his patients asked, "Why not a pear?" he simply replied, "Because when my patients eat pears they don't lose weight."

With this in mind, I dug a little deeper. I couldn't find any specifics about the lone study that showed hCG to be effective. But guess what I learned about the other 11? They were not modeled on Dr. Simeons's protocol. The researchers designed their own 500-calorie diets. Their research subjects complained of hunger (with hCG or the placebo) and lost insignificant amounts of weight.

Only one of the diets was similar to Dr. Simeons's, except that it called for the subjects to eat one baked potato each day. In 40 days these people lost an average of 7.5 lbs. How is that even possible? I lost 12 lbs in my first week! It's possible because Dr. Simeons allows no potatoes during the 40 days of his diet.

I then realized that these studies were only trying to test the hCG itself. They were not testing Dr. Simeons's protocol, which had already been proven decades earlier in his weight loss clinics.

So here is my own anecdotal evidence regarding the claims made about the hCG diet:

No exercise necessary: Absolutely true! I'm down nearly 33 lbs without the least bit of exercise. And I'm not weak from hunger or lack of activity.

At left, you see the hallway from the school parking lot, looking up to my classroom at the very top right. Our building (East Campus) is built on a slope. At least once everyday I have to walk downhill to the office in the West Campus, then walk back uphill across the sloped parking lot and then up this ramp-like hall.

When I began the diet, I would arrive at my classroom breathless. I'd have to stop on the flat landing midway up the hall to catch my breath.

Now I can take that long walk at a trot without a pause, feeling like I could walk another mile after reaching my classroom!

The Diet Contours the Body: This may have some truth to it. I still have plenty of fat to lose, but I do notice the areas that have lost the most are remaining remarkably firm. I had worried that losing so much weight in such a short time would leave me with hanging flab, but it hasn't. For instance, my upper arms have less wobbly flesh than they did when all the fat was still in place under the skin. We'll see if it's still true after the next cycle, when I hope to be within 20 lbs of my target weight.

Another concern with rapid weight loss is that sallow, gaunt look in the face that makes the dieter look older, but I've had none of that. I will admit that a couple of lines around my eyes seem slightly deeper, and Grandma Butler's jowls (one of her parting gifts to me) are becoming more prominent, but I'm not too unhappy with how my face is changing. Hopefully I won't end up looking like Nien Nunb of Return of the Jedi!

The Diet Changes Your Relationship with Food: We'll see about that when I get back to eating "real" food next week. I mentioned last week that I'm not craving junk food, but I do long for a variety of healthy foods. It is certainly true that on 500 calories per day you learn to take much smaller bites and chew your food longer. And I don't know if this is related, but I've suddenly stopped biting my fingernails, after years of chewing them to the quick.

I thought I'd display the rings my children have given me. The amethyst ring on the right was from Jacob for my birthday 2 years ago; Sarah gave me the pink heart ring for my birthday a year ago; and Dylan bought the big blue square ring at a gift shop last November when we were at the hospital visiting Callie. Knowing blue is my favorite color, he said he just knew he had to get me that ring. My tastes are more appreciative of smaller, delicate jewelry, but this gift came straight from his heart, so I love it!

The Diet Lowers High Blood Pressure Rapidly: For me, this is unquestionably true. In 2 weeks my blood pressure was normal and my hypertension drugs were cut in half!

HCG Increases Metabolism: I haven't turned into a dynamo of energy, but I do seem to need less sleep, I do have more stamina for housework, and I no longer need the daily after-school naps that have gotten me through the last few years. And, clearly, the pounds are burning off.

Many of this diet's naysayers claim that anyone can lose this much weight on a 500-calorie diet, even without the hCG. As one who tried low-calorie dieting back in the '90s, I have to disagree. I might lose for several days, but then it would stop cold as my body went into starvation mode and clung to its precious fat. To me, the fact that the pounds keep dropping off for the full 40 days is either a miracle or the hCG at work.

Sarah and I came up with a new dish this week: chicken fajitas! We actually made steak fajitas, too, and they were delicious.

I've always liked the flavor of onion in dishes, but I wasn't a fan of eating onions on their own. However, we both found the caramelized onions in these dishes to be yummy!

In summary, over the course of the past 6 weeks I have come to believe that Dr. Simeons's hCG diet is a safe, effective way to lose a lot of weight quickly.

Despite my initial misgivings, I also now believe that the extremely restrictive diet is safe if used in conjunction with hCG, and if used for a strictly limited time period.

In the words of Micky Dolenz: "I'm a Believer!"