Success! and of course, a rant...:)

weight yesterday morning (forgot to post it yesterday):  168.8 lbs
weigh in:  166.4 lbs
loss of: 2.4 pounds

1 pound above lowest weight!  Yay!  Egg Day was a success and it wasn't altogether difficult at all! :)

Okay, now on to the real business of finally writing this post.  Thank you Seattle Runner Girl for the comment to finally get me to post the following (I also, want to be clear... I took no offense and really appreciate your comment).  I sincerely, was excited to have more of a confrontational comment, because I know there may be some followers out there who read my blog and really think HCG is a load of crap... but won't say anything (which I appreciate in some regards, but I also do want people to feel free to voice their opinions).  So, this post is going to highlight some of the arguments I believe in as a defense for not only the HCG diet in general, but also specifically homeopathic HCG.   


I was wondering if the segment you watched was hosted by Dr. Oz?  I watched it not too long ago and was both annoyed and surprised.  I was not only annoyed, obviously with the good ol' dietitian and doctor who ardently bashed HCG without really any basis, but also I was annoyed with some of the HCG advocates.  They made it sound easy and simple, and furthermore they made none of the really great arguments against the experts freaking out about 500 CALORIES.  For those of you who actually have put in the time and effort you know the HCG diet takes extreme discipline and dedication.  HCG is not a miracle and it is most definitely not for everyone-not only for various medical reasons, but also it just merely may not be a fit.  Just want to be clear that I am not one of those "it is my way or the highway" people.  I put extreme value on the eat less (or better) and exercise more premises of weight loss.


I would like to point out the arguments that should have been brought up in defense of HCG. 

1. You CANNOT lose weight safely and effectively by merely eating 500 calories a day.  If you were to do this you would look like a Survivor contestant by the end.  Skin would hang off your body and you would look like you were starving, which those people on Survivor are!  Now I have posted and posted pictures of myself before, during and after and in NO WAY do I look like I am starving.  Read the following explanation: 
   

"In the human body we can distinguish three kinds of fat. The first is the structural fat which fills the gaps between various organs, a sort of packing material. Structural fat also performs such important functions as bedding the kidneys in soft elastic tissue, protecting the coronary arteries and keeping the skin smooth and taut. It also provides the springy cushion of hard fat under the bones of the feet, without which we would be unable to walk. The second type of fat is a normal reserve of fuel upon which the body can freely draw when the nutritional income from the intestinal tract is insufficient to meet the demand. Such normal reserves are localized all over the body. Fat is a substance which packs the highest caloric value into the smallest space so that normal reserves of fuel for muscular activity and the maintenance of body temperature can be most economically stored in this form. Both these types of fat, structural and reserve, are normal, and even if the body stocks them to capacity this can never be called obesity.

But there is a third type of fat which is entirely abnormal. It is the accumulation of such fat, and of such fat only, from which the overweight patient suffers. This abnormal fat is also a potential reserve of fuel, but unlike the normal reserves it is not available to the body in a nutritional emergency. It is, so to speak, locked away in a fixed deposit and is not kept in a current account, as are the normal reserves. When an obese patient tries to reduce by starving himself, he will first lose his normal fat reserves. When these are exhausted he begins to burn up structural fat, and only as a last resort will the body yield its abnormal reserves, though by that time the patient usually feels so weak and hungry that the diet is abandoned. It is just for this reason that obese patients complain that when they diet they lose the wrong fat. They feel famished and tired and their face becomes drawn and haggard, but their belly, hips, thighs and upper arms show little improvement. The fat they have come to detest stays on and the fat they need to cover their bones gets less and less."  (Dr. Simeons Manuscript, 4) 

But, perhaps I should back track a little bit.  Dr. Simeons was not some voodoo doctor or quack, etc...  he was a well distinguished physician who studied the problem of obesity for over 40 years!  I guess I get so frustrated when conventional medicine deems everything outside of Western Medicinal Science (even though this weight loss solution is not technically outside of it) as false, stupid or even go so far as to say what helps a person in this category could only possibly be a "placebo." 


The work of Dr. Simeons is obviously not crazy or weird.  He sincerely cared about finding the cause of obesity and fought for years to find one.  I know, I for one have experienced this frustration.  As a young girl I was extremely active.  I played basketball, ran and jumped in track, rode horses, worked hard outdoors at our home (a small farm- I guess you could say)... I was so ridiculously physical and yet I was "chubby."  I worked so hard.  I ate well.  I exercised to the point of exhaustion and yet I still looked nothing like I thought I should.  Granted I was not fat, but I was not slim either and being in high school this drove me mad!  Well, I was starting to reserve myself to the fact that this is just how it is going to be- NOT ANYMORE and I owe that all to HCG!  

Anyway, I digress... here is a quotation stating the above- that Dr. Simeons scientifically, diligently and passionately attacked the problem of obesity:  

"This book discusses a new interpretation of the nature of obesity, and while it does not advocate yet another fancy slimming diet it does describe a method of treatment which has  grown out of theoretical considerations based on clinical observation. What I have to say is, in essence, the views distilled out of forty years of grappling with the fundamental problems of obesity, its causes, its symptoms, and its very nature. In these many years of specialized work, thousands of cases have passed through my hands and were carefully studied. Every new theory, every new method, every promising lead was considered, experimentally screened and critically evaluated as soon as it became known. But invariably the results were disappointing and lacking in uniformity. I felt that we were merely nibbling at the fringe of a great problem, as, indeed, do most serious students of overweight.

We have grown pretty sure that the tendency to accumulate abnormal fat is a very definite metabolic disorder, much as is, for instance, diabetes. Yet the localization and the nature of this disorder remained a mystery. Every new approach seemed to lead into a blind alley, and though patients were told that they are fat because they eat too much, we believed that this is neither the whole truth nor the last word in the matter. Refusing to be side-tracked by an all too facile interpretation of obesity, I have always held that overeating is the result of the disorder, not its cause, and that we can make little headway until we can build for ourselves some sort of theoretical structure with which to explain the condition. Whether such a structure represents the truth is not important at this moment. What it must do is to give us an intellectually satisfying  interpretation of what is happening in the obese body. It must also be able to withstand the onslaught of all hitherto known clinical facts and furnish a hard background against which the results of treatment can be accurately assessed. " (1)

Now onto the subject of homeopathic HCG vs. injectable.  I really have no idea what Dr. Simeons would think about homeopathic HCG.  I would assume he would ardently express his dismay at people doing it on their own, and I actually agree with this point.  It would be absolutely preferable to be observed and cared for by a practicing physician.  This is not really an option for me.  So, this would be my hope- that Dr. Simeons may have studied homeopathic HCG for himself and not immediately write it off and jump on the bandwagon of saying homeopathy is completely worthless and a "placebo" at best.  If he would not actively study the issue if he was given the opportunity, then so be it.  

I really don't care, because I know it works and there is no possible way I would survive and last 23 days + with only my mind to convince me this is working.  NO WAY!  Furthermore, why does homeopathic HCG register on a pregnancy test if there are only trace amounts at best?  I know from experience, those tests need a lot of the hormone to test positive.  I have to be at least 9 weeks pregnant to test positive.    

Homeopathy is an interesting and overly downplayed "medicine," for lack of a better word.  I of course, am a huge supporter of not only HCG but also homeopathy.  I believe that much in HCG... and I have proven its effectiveness for me. 

Here is a little funny... I think it is hilarious how Homer gets all sorts of passionate about protecting a big pile of sugar as if it is a stand against all that is wrong in the world.  So, yes I can laugh at myself in regard to my love for HCG. :)