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.

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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.
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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.
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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:

www.hcgdiettips.com/drsimeonsbio.html

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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 discovering a 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.

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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.
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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.

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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.
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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.)

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

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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!

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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.

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