FAQ's

These are a few FAQ's that I received from my doctor's office (dramybrenner.com):

What is hCG and where do I get it?
hCG is a natural substance that is produced in the human body during pregnancy. Pharmaceutical companies extract this substance from the urine of pregnant women.  It is purified and made into pharmaceutical grade hCG. Although it is a natural substance, it is classified as a drug and available by prescription only. You must get hCG from a medical doctor with a prescription. The FDA has not approved hCG to be used in weight loss treatment but it is not illegal. According to the FDA, it is in fact, legal for doctors in America to prescribe medications for purposes that are not
approved by the FDA. You will be prescribed hCG in prefilled, disposable syringes of hCG, which are easy to use and painless.

What if I just did the diet without the hCG injections?
Many double-blind studies have been conducted that give the answer to this question.  If you just do the diet without the hCG injections, you will, in fact lose weight. The problem is, during the diet you will be losing muscle and structural fat; you will not lose any of the abnormal fat deposits in the problem areas. Your body will not be reshaped and re-sculpted. When you finish the diet your metabolism will be lower than before and your hunger higher than before. You will not have achieved the results you want.

What does the FDA say about hCG?
They state that HCG has no known effect on fat mobilization, reducing appetite or sense of hunger, or body fat distribution. They further state HCG has not been demonstrated to be an effective adjunct therapy in the treatment of obesity and does not increase fat losses beyond that resulting from caloric restriction. Just as there have been no trials to prove the effectiveness of hCG in weight reduction, there is no documentation or substantiations backing up and proving that these negative statements are true. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence to support claims that hCG is effective when used with this protocol. Dr. Simeons was very clear that if the protocol was not followed exactly as described, the results would not be achieved. The truth is that in all properly conducted studies, people on the diet with HCG have, in fact, lost both weight and inches. These dieters have seen a dramatic reshaping and re-sculpting of their bodies. They have lost fat in the problem areas.

Is it true that 500 calories a day is too low to be safe?
No. As was recently reported in the New York Times, research now confirms that eating very low calorie diets actually increase overall health, have anti-aging effects, and increase lifespan. More important, is when you are doing the diet combined with the hCG injections, Dr. Simeons reports that your body is being flooded with over 2,000 calories of nutrition from the releasing of the abnormal fat reserves. This is one of the reasons that during the diet, consisting of the diet and hCG injections, you are not overly hungry and generally have an increase in energy levels.

Will I gain the weight back?
If you go back to eating fast food, restaurant food, and food containing trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, highly refined food, artificial sweeteners, meat, poultry, and dairy with growth hormone and antibiotics etc. You will in fact mess up your hypothalamus again and regain the weight. This is a palate changing protocol. Rather than craving greasy carbs, you will hunger for eggs, nuts and cheese.

Getting Started

So, last Thursday I went to the group consultation at my doctors office.  There were 15 other women there, 3 of which had previously done the drops and were very successful with it.  It was VERY informative and really made me realize how much junk I've been putting into my body for so long. 

I gave myself my first injection on Saturday morning.  That was an experience in itself!  It took me almost 20 minutes before I got up enough courage to actually give myself the shot! Sunday was much better.....I was able to do it right away.  Saturday and Sunday were my load days as well.  Lauren, my wellness coach, said we should gain 3-5 pounds over those 2 days.  I actually lost 1 lb by Sunday and gained 1 pound by Monday. 

Today is day 3 of injections, and day 1 for the VLCD (very low calorie diet).  So far, it's going really well!  I am a little bit hungry, but no where near the "OMG, I'm about to eat my arm off" phase.  I haven't really had much water yet today, so I think that is part of the problem as well. 

Menu for today:
Breakfast: Hot tea
Lunch: 1/2 C low fat cottage cheese and 1 tomato
Snack: Apple
Dinner: 3.5oz grilled chicken with 6.5oz broccoli
Snack: Naval orange

I have had a bit of backlash from some people about doing this diet.  My next post will be some background information and explanation of how the diet works.


XOXO

Tiff

New Beginnings!

I heard about HCG  2 weeks ago.  I've been scouring the internet ever since reading positive and negative information about this method of weight loss treatment.  After "weighing" the pro's and con's, I decided I had nothing to lose......but a ton of weight I've been carrying around for a while. 

I am excited, nervous and scared about beginning this journey, but I know I HAVE to do this!  Tomorrow is the big day!  I will meet the doctor and nutritionist I will be working with through this 40+ day journey! 


XOXO,

Tiff