hCG

In the spirit of beginning a new round of hCG today, I am going to repost a post I made on Facebook. So, if you've read it, cool. If not, give it a shot.


I'm still upset about what that damn Urgent Care doctor told me

by Amy Gurley on Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at 9:23pm


        Okay look, I'm not a doctor, I'm not a nurse. Hell, I'm not even an MA. But what I do do, is a lot of research, and a lot of reading, and I DID take health classes back in 2006. And I read Dr. Simeon's Pounds and Inches all the way through.

        What that doctor told me about the fact that "they've done studies" (okay, where? Why can't I find them on the internet?) and that hCG does absolutely NOTHING in the body and only the 500 calories a day is what's making people lose weight...

        Okay, I'm trying to organize my thoughts. He told me two important things. 1. the hCG does nothing to help promote the weight loss. 2. I could be taking a placebo even though I bought it freeze-dried from a pharmacy. My hCG quantitative was at 1.3, which suggests that #2 might be true. But then again, it can range (in non-pregnant females) from 0-10. The fact that it's not 0 means something, I think. I may be grasping at straws, but hear me out. I can't really do the math because I don't know what IU's are, but for a 15 day supply, it's 5000 IUs. That's 333 IU's daily, and only 166.5 IU's in a .5 ml dose of B12. Having no idea how long that would stay in the body for (although Dr. Simeons suggests that you skip a day each week so that you do not become immune to it, so it must build up over time) it's a small enough amount to never register on a pregnancy test. For all I know, 1.3 is a perfectly reasonable number for the fact that I took 166.5 IU's of it a couple hours before my blood draw that morning.

       But anyway, I'm off on a tangent here. What I really wanted to hash out (in my head, mainly... I like to write this stuff down for my own sake), is #1. The hCG does nothing to promote the weight loss. As I stated in my status update a couple days ago, when the doctor told me about the studies, and I asked if the patients were hungry, he nodded his head vigorously yes. I would argue that, that's a damn strong placebo affect I must have if this is all a crock. Granted, I'd heard some pretty amazing stories about the mind and how powerful it can be. A man was trapped in a room, and he thought he was in a freezer. He was convinced he was going to freeze to death. And he did. But he was never in a freezer to begin with. But I don't know about this. The body is built for survival. It will not allow you to starve to death. (Okay, yes, I know people have anorexia. But that is a disease. A sickness. I think it can be classified under something else.) You can not convince your mind that you are not hungry on 500 calories a day. I don't see it happening. Hunger is not induced by the stomach, but by your brain demanding nutrients. If your brain is fulfilled, hunger doesn't occur. Obviously, your brain's first line of defense is demanding that you eat. If then, that need isn't met, your brain will being devouring muscle. Why? Because it's protein. Packed with vital nutrients - much more dense than fat. It seems to me, that within a span of 42 days, I would be unable to walk, let alone work and exercise if this was happening to me. And, there's ketone sticks. Ketones are a byproduct of the destruction of fat cells in the body, and are deposited in the urine. You can pee on ketone sticks to see if you're in ketosis. It's an actual thing - not something made up by some hCG enthusiasts.

         This is one reason I was so skeptical of homeopathic hCG... as ketosis does not register on the stick. But, when you take the real deal, it does. If your body is truly in "starvation mode", you would be consuming muscle, not fat. This is why starving yourself does not work, and you would not be in ketosis. This is also why the atkins diet was so popular and worked - because eating all that protein and avoiding the carbs throws your body into ketosis. And yes, this diet requires 200g of protein a day and absolutely no carbs whatsoever, except what little there is in fruits and veggies (and no, carrots and potatoes are not approved on the list). Also, I've read that your brain would basically be unable to function if you were ingesting only 500 calories a day. I seem to be functioning just fine. I'm doing my job, carrying conversations, paying bills, arguing with my husband etc. This functionality has not changed. Not to mention that my random blood glucose level was at 93, which is damn high for someone not eating. As Diabetics are aware, glucose is a finicky pony, which can fluctuate depending on the food ingested. (Had I not eaten those 2 slices of apple before my appointment, that would have been a fasting test, but oh well). And the less you eat, the more your glucose can drop, until you faint - like I did - except my glucose level was fine.

         Also, there's that damn wacky list of Dr. Simeons that throws dieters for a loop. There are only about 12 veggies approved on the list, and only about 6 proteins, and about 5 fruits. Here's the argument. If I was only ingesting 500 calories a day, does it matter what makes up those 500 calories? That's drastic. Normal weight loss, with a moderate level of activity, can occur at eating 1800 or so calories a day. I'm only eating 500. I would say that, no matter what it was, I should lose weight regardless. But, as I've been smacked in the face over and over again for varying the diet, so is not the case when on hCG. I have even exercised - EXERCISED! - and gained weight the next day. Somebody explain THAT one to me. Hell, if the hCG was doing nothing, and it was the 500 calories alone, I should be able to up the ante to 600, 700, even 1000, and still conceivably lose weight without any problems. Yet why is it, however, that when I try, it affects me negatively? Can the doctor explain that to me? Is my body "freaking out" because I'm eating more calories than usual? I mean, come on. And explain the makeup and lotion thing. My hands are so dry right now I would give almost anything (except weight gain) to rub some lotion into them. If I was eating only 500 calories a day, and that's the only reason I was dropping weight... then tell me why wearing makeup and using lotion stops this process. It has stalled me before, believe it or not. I was using cortisone cream at one point, and I stalled for about a week as I used it... and I was frustrated to hell, and then I realized - duh Amy! It's your cream! The day after I stopped using it, the weight started coming off again. It's freaky I know. Dr. Simeons explains it as that the blood is saturated with carrying fat to be burned, and it can not handle an overload. As creams and makeup have a lot of fat in them, and soaks into the skin, it can disrupt this balance, and your body ends up making more red blood cells to compensate, which in turn shows as a negative weight loss, or even a slight weight gain. Is this true? I haven't a clue, but I know I can't use lotion. If it was only 500 calories... yeah.

         So, in the end, I don't really know what to believe. But, as I've learned from Mystery Diagnosis, not every doctor knows what they're talking about. After all, he also told me to use q-tips to clean out my ears.