The Loud Talker

Why is there a page about weight loss in my political blog? Because I’ve had great success recently and want people to know how I did it.

I’ve always been heavy but the past years I’ve put too much weight on even for me. My wife suffered the same fate and took the initiative to try the hCG diet under the guidance of a doctor. After seeing her success I decided to join her when she started a second round of the plan. Together we have lost 100 pounds so far and we plan on doing another round in a couple of months. Lots of my friends and coworkers have asked how the diet works, so I’ve decided to write this article so that others can give it a try.

The Nutshell

In a nutshell, the hCG Diet is a 500 calorie per day Adkins-like diet that also includes supplements and hCG. It is also known as the “pounds and inches” diet because you truly lose fat weight and inches. hCG stands for human Chorionic Gonadotropin which is a glycoprotein hormone produced during pregnancy initially by the developing embryo and later by part of the placenta. hCG is also produced in the pituitary gland of males and females of all ages.

Wait a minute. Five hundred calories per day? That’s it? Yes, that’s it. hCG prevents you from being hungry and helps control the urge to cheat. At least it did for the two of us.

History

The hCG diet was developed by Dr. Albert T. W. Simeons around 1950. After working on other disorders for 20 years in India (including discovers that led to the elimination of Malaria that earned him the Red Cross Medal of Honor), he moved to Rome to focus solely on his hCG dietary work. (You can download a PDF version of Dr. Simeons’ book here.)

Most people familiar with the diet hear about getting regular shots of the hormone. We used homeopathic drops twice daily instead of getting shots. I don’t want to start a religious war about whether or not homeopathic medicine works or not, but I can confidently say that it has worked in our family for more than ten years. Don’t get me started on the arrogance and closed-mindedness of the traditional allopathic medicine industry. I will just say that its one-size fits all mentality is silly and that there is much to be learned from the many alternative medical options that exist. When you see a baby go from suffering to calm after administration of a homeopathic remedy, you see the idea that “its all in your head/placebo effect” go right out the window. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

So, we took a half-dropper full of hCG drops once in the morning after waking up, and once before bed. With homeopathy it is important that you do not eat for at least 30 minutes before or after taking any remedy. We followed this rule strictly. Then we began our day and ate the meals and snacks as instructed.

Carbs?

The diet is similar to an Adkins diet in that you have hardly any carbs. The big difference is that you also remove all fats and oils from your diet. No butter, no olive oil, no mayonaise, etc. The hardest part for me was no bread since I’m a carb addict. There are also restrictions as to which spices and seasonings you can use. So many products include chemicals and additives that decrease the effectiveness of the diet.

The Kit and Supplements

The kit we used is produced by NuMedica and can be found on Amazon at the price of $299. There are three flavors, berry, chocolate and strawberry-kiwi. The flavors are for the Power Greens drink mix that you take once a day. I went with the berry. The kit includes:

• 40-day supply of the hc3 drops
• Dual-Tox DPO capsules
• MineralPlex capsules
• Methyl B-12 lozenges
• Power Greens (a powdered fruit drink)
• A program guide, progress chart and Ketone test strips

In addition to the included supplements the doctor recommended the following supplements

• Nutri-West Core Level Liver tablets
• Biotics Research ADB5-Plus (multi-vitamin)
• Designs for Health Neurolink (B6)

All in all I was taking 17 pills throughout the day, spread out during breakfast, lunch, dinner and before bed. You can probably take them twice daily, I will try that during the next round. The main point of the vitamins is to keep your body properly nourished, since you are only eating 500 calories each day. But remember, you will not be hungry.

The Food

Now the food part. I recommend buying all of your meat at the beginning of the cycle, preparing it and then freezing it. We bought lean beef, chicken, salmon, orange ruffy, shrimp and lobster. You have to remove as much fat as possible (you are trying to burn fat, not add it). Cut all meat into 3.5 ounce portions and wrap each individually for freezing. It is also a good idea to buy a George Foreman style grill to cook your food. It is super easy and takes no time at all. Most of the time the food was ready after 2-3 minutes. Serve the meat with a handful of spinach lettuce or other leafy vegetable of your choice, squeeze some lemon or lime juice on and you are good to go. You can also add a side vegetable like asparagus or cucumbers.

Snacks for me were usually an apple or about eight strawberries between lunch and dinner. As a late night snack I might eat 5-6 melba toast rounds with some picante sauce on them (be careful, quite addictive). I’m a fan of the Old London brand of crackers.

Water

Another key component of the diet is tons of water. To figure out how much to drink each day divide your current body weight in half, then drink that number of ounces of water per day. For example: If you weigh 256 pounds, divide that by two to get 128. Convert that to ounces: 128 ounces equals one gallon of water per day.

The Schedule

There are three phases to the diet, they are described in the booklet you get with the kit linked above (I can’t find my booklet at the moment). The first phase is what I call the “bulk up” phase. For ten days you intentionally eat fatty foods to shock your system. Fried foods are good! For most people this just means continuing your normal bad food choices. I gained about four pounds during this phase.

The second phase is the kicker, it is the 40-day 500 calorie phase. For me the first few days were really tough because I love eating, chewing, swallowing and just enjoying food. Dropping to smaller portions was downright depressing. If not for my wife’s encouragement (and previous success) I would have failed miserably. When it got tough I would drink lots of water and wait it out for 10-15 minutes to let the hunger and frustration pass. After a few days the hCG kicked in and I did not suffer the same stress. Once you get into a groove and prepare your lunches to take to work, etc. it starts getting easier. I lost 39 pounds in this phase, 15 in the first week. If not for some of my business travel I think I could have lost another 5-8 pounds during this 40-day window.

The third phase is the maintenance phase where you increase your intake to 1500 calories per day and stick with a mainly Adkins-style diet. The goal is to maintain your new weight for four or six weeks. You want to create a new set point or plateau for your body to adjust to. This is where I am as I write this article, I plan on doing another round of the three phases after this maintenance phase is over. I’ve lost a few more pounds since entering this phase.

Cheating

It’s going to happen. I travel a lot for work and found myself in Boston, Minneapolis and Los Angeles during my 500-calorie phase. Reality check: all you can do in these situations is make the best choices possible, eat smaller portions, and tough it out. When in Boston I had a lobster dinner with all the trimmings plus a beer, and I actually stayed the same weight. On my trip to Minneapolis I lost two pounds in three days. I can live with that!

Plateaus

Dr. Simeons writes in his book about these.

A plateau lasts 4-6 days and frequently occurs during the second half of a full course, particularly in patients that have been doing well and whose overall average of nearly a pound per effective injection has been maintained. Those who are losing more than the average all have a plateau sooner or later. A plateau always corrects itself, but many patients who have become accustomed to a regular daily loss get unnecessarily worried. No amount of explanation convinces them that a plateau does not mean that they are no longer responding normally to treatment…

Former Weight Levels

Dr. Simeons says:

[Another] type of interruption in the regular loss of weight may last much longer – ten days to two weeks. Fortunately, it is rare and only occurs in very advanced cases, and then hardly ever during the first course of treatment. It is seen only in those patients who during some period of their lives have maintained a certain fixed degree of obesity for ten years or more and have then at some time rapidly increased beyond that weight. When then in the course of treatment the former level is reached, it may take two weeks of no loss, in spite of HCG and diet, before further reduction is normally resumed.

Exercise

Since caloric intake is so low, vigorous exercise is actually discouraged. You want your body to burn the fat, but you still need some calories left over to properly function. No running, weight lifting, etc. If you get restless, go for a walk or a casual bike ride.

Summary

1. The diet is 500 calories per day plus supplements and hCG drops taken twice daily.
2. Drink roughly a gallon of water every day (see above for actual formula)
3. Meat is eaten in 3.5 ounce portions along with vegetables.
4. Two snacks are allowed per day.
5. No oils, fats, butter, or carbs other than the snacks described in the kit booklet.
6. Avoid rigorous exercise.
7. Try to do the diet with someone else for support.

Critics and Skeptics