Uh oh....

So, the worst thing that could happen did happen:  my drops bottle took a dive.  When I say that I seriously contemplated getting on the floor and licking up those sweet little red drops of nectar, don't read in laugh tracks, ok?

I rushed to my source and begged for some more, but there was no way I was going to be able to get ahold of another bottle before what few drops I had ran out.  So I looked up how to go forward.  What I found is essentially this:  double up on the food plan and pick up where you left off when you get your stuff again.  And that's what I've done.  At this moment, my HCG is under the control of U.S. Customs in New York (shout out to AllDayChemists.com, btw).

But of course, even in this time of enlightened planning, a million questions are swirling:  how will this impact my process?  Will I pick up, or will the interruption in the process also terminally interrupt any chemical / hormonal/ physiological phenomenons happening in my body now?  Will this impact that whole becoming immune thing that reportedly happens when one is on HCG too long?  Will my body "unlearn" anything and make this whole thing longer and harder for me? 

And what about the psychological process?  Once I'm "free" can I go back to crab and crackers?  There is real tension between wanting to look and feel a certain way and wanting that damn white chocolate cookie.  There's fodder here for some real thinking on how I will survive after the plan if I am struggling in between stages.

All of these questions go to the heart of not just my weightloss, but my weight loss "study."  What will a break mean for my results?  Yes, I'm terrified that I'll lose momentum in my mind AND in my body.  But I also fear that I've undercut the credibility of my review.  I have the inner strength to suit up, boot up, and keep it movin.'  But only time will tell if it will keep movin' for me.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know the state of affairs with HCG and me.  Wish me luck!

Got Calipers?

A few days ago, I posted that I seemed to drop about two pounds every three or four days. In between, however, my weight loss was not unlike the "loss you would expect without the HCG."  That is, I was seeing my actual loss mirror my projected loss, which I got from subtracting my caloric intake from my daily caloric need - basic 'man on the street' dieting.  I was looking at these trends to help answer my overarching question: does HCG work?  Put differently, I have been driving my entire analysis on the premise that it was the pounds that would ultimately tell the story.

That is, until Christian Walker of http://officialhcgdietx.com left me this post:
You mention that you lost the weight you'd expect to lose on a 500 calorie a day diet without hCG. HCG Does not boost weight loss. It is the 500 calorie a day diet that causes weight loss. hCG's roll in this is to redirect the hypothalamus to use your body fat as the fuel source to make up the calorie deficit. The real question you should be asking is not "Does hCG make me lose more weight?" but "Is my primary weight loss due to fat loss and not lean muscle tissue." The problem with very low calorie diets has never been the weight loss, it has been what kind of tissue has been lost. Without hCG you should experience considerable loss of lean muscle tissue and show signs of malnutrition. Including fatigue, dizziness, weakness in the long muscles of the legs, lack of concentration, and general malaise. With hCG you should not experience any of these issues because your weight loss should be primarily from fat. So do not use the rate of weight loss as a benchmark when determining the effectiveness of the hCG diet. Instead use calipers and calculate your lean bodymass to body fat ratio and repeat this every week to determine the effectiveness of the hCG diet. One last note. Since lean muscle tissue is 4 times as dense as fat. You will lose weight faster on just a 500 calorie a day diet than you will on a 500 calorie a day diet with hCG since you will be losing a lot more lean muscle tissue. I would also like to caution anyone who experiences any of the symptoms I have mentioned, no matter what diet they are on, to discontinue what they are doing since such symptoms may indicate that they are doing damage to vital organs such as their heart. 
Wait wait WEIGHT!  It was the calories that caused the loss?  Not the HCG?  My whole understanding of this nourish/nutrient debate was that Side 1 said it was the HCG and Side 2 said it was the calories.  Was this a Side 1 defection?  But Chris seemed like a pretty knowledgeable dude, if his web page was any indicator of what he had going on.

So I read it again.  And that's when I think I finally heard him (and I take full responsibility if I misinterpreted Chris's comments):  on a 500/day CU diet, one can expect to lose with or without HCG.  With HCG, a body looks to fat to make up the caloric deficit; without HCG, it looks to muscle tissue.  Thus, pure scale numbers aren't enough to answer The Big Question one way or the other.  To do that, one needs to know WHAT is lost, not just THAT a loss occurred.  More simply put:  whether I lose a lot or a little, for the data to be useful in any conclusion-forming way, I have to know the composition of that loss, be it fat, muscle, or both.

Wow.  When I finally connected, it was like learning that man really didn't evolve from lower forms of hominids (I know, I know, I'm asking for it).  While the scale numbers have value, the real marker has to be our change in body composition.  If I'm not collecting that - and I'm not - I can report back with a zillion pound loss.  However, unless I can point to the source of that loss, the loss alone proves or disproves zilch.

Way deep, dude.  Mariana Trench deep.  Love that; many thanks, sir.

At the end of my post, I casually noted that I would get my body fat measured.  However, message received:  from now on, that won't be a casual gauge, it will be among THE critical variables I use to measure effect.  My new calipers, measuring tape, and body fat scale all arrive next week. 

State of the Union - Tues., October 4, 2011

[NOTE:  sorry about the repost!  Added new comment functionality, and only way I could figure out how to import existing comments and replies was to recreate the page and paste over the comments.  Thanks for your patience!]

I've been on the HCG diet for 13 days now.   While that's not enough to form a conclusion in either direction, I've seen a few interesting trends I'd like to share.  Please comment, especially if you see something that strikes you differently, or that I may have missed all together.

Overall Observations.
  • Hunger.  It took me about a full week to stop fantasizing about chewing off my arm - not a bad thing when you consider all the fat I could get after just one chomp. My hunger decreased by nudges daily.  Now, I'm only hungry after I go more than four or five hours without food, which is probably normal.  Of note:  I was least hungry in the first three days, when I was taking both Phentermine and Fluoxetine. 
  • Loss.  I seem to drop about 2lbs every 3rd or 4th day.  In between, my weight loss is "normal" (i.e., loss you would expect without the HCG). 
Observations that suggest HCG may be driving my weight loss.
  • I'm losing an average of a pound or more a day.  I've lost 18.2 pounds to date -  including load "gain" - and 14.6 pounds to date - excluding the same.  That averages to a 1.4 and 1.1 pound loss per day, respectively.
Observations that suggest my CALORIC DEFICIT may be driving my weight loss. Excluding loading and my week of dieting data (which seems fair to do since that's the honeymoon week):
  • Many of my day-to-day trends mirror the loss I would expect on a 500 calorie-a-day diet with no HCG.  On three of last six days, I lost my projected weight amount or less.  In otherwords, if my BMR/activity formula projected I should have lost .4 of a pound, I lost anywhere between .2 and .6 of a pound.
Going Forward.  There are two variables that I am not collecting that may help interpret this data.   
  • Bodyfat Percentages.  What I am losing is key.  Five of six days that I ate less than 400 calories, I also lost average of 2.3lbs.  I need to collect my body fat percentage to see if I am losing fat or muscle. 
  • Body Measurements.  Whether I am shrinking on "slow loss days" is as important as whether I am losing:  I need collect my body measurements in key areas (arms, chest, waist, hips, thighs, calves). 
Anyway, as I said, I'm just reporting on the state of things.  I'd love to hear your thoughts, either way!  

To Spin or Not To Spin - You Decide

I encountered some pretty strange rules while reading up on the do's and don'ts of HCG dieting.  Some are just plain weird: no cosmetics that contain oil?  Isn't that, like, all of them?  Others were the equivalent of giving the establishment the bird:  no exercise, at all, while on the HCG diet? Uh....ooookay, if you say so.

I started to wonder.  Were these genuine, time tested "rules," critical to the success/failure of the diet, or just some dressed up form of web-hazing? Foundation-less and ashy for six weeks?  I mean, can scaring small children and starting foot fires be that important?  I had to know.

So, I decided to research six HCG-related rules and theories, one for each of my six weeks on the plan.  I looked to research and web chatter (or, as I've affectionately coined it, "witerature" - web literature) to help me identify and understand them.  In the end, I decided to focus on these:
  • WK1 - NO EXERCISE:  To Spin or Not to Spin - You Decide
  • WK2 - NO OIL-BASED LOTION or MAKEUP:  What's Up with the Crust-or-Bust Rule? 
  • WK3 - NO VITAMINS:  Uhhhhh Why?
  • WK4 - NO SPLENDA:  It Has NO Calories!  How on God's Green Earth is This A Problem????
  • WK5 - 42 DAYS MAX:  Is 42 Days of HCG per Round A Real Limit?
  • WK6 - PEE ON A STICK:  Keto Sticks and Pregnancy Tests:  Two Tests That Have Both HCG and Your Urine In Common
On the assumption that these rules stem from Dr. A.T.W. Simeon's original HCG study, I will start each article with his official position, quoted directly from his original manuscript.  For the fact-checker in you, I will link directly to scanned copy of Dr. Simeon's original - not viral - manuscript.  From there, I will break down the web theory, citing via weblinks* any source I quote or paraphrase.** I end it with "Stump the Chump," which is the one place I will share my observations, mostly in the form of questions to you.

My posts are not about offering tips and tricks on how to follow the HCG diet.  Neither do I take a position on whether to adhere to or ignore any of the above doctrines.  My goal instead is to focus on why certain rules exist in the first place.  Where do they come from?  Have they morphed over time?  Can we really get away with six weeks on the couch?  To follow, To Spin or Not To Spin, is the first in the series.  Enjoy!

To Spin or Not to Spin - You Decide

Much of the "witerature" (like that?  web + literature?  made that up, just now) around the HCG diet and exercise holds that exercise during HCG loss phase is off limits, will stall your process, and thus should not be done until HCGers are "off phase."  Others believe the prohibition against exercising is a myth, advanced because of a lack of understanding about the whole starvation phenomenon.

This is what Dr. Simeon advises in his manuscript:
We encourage swimming and sun-bathing during treatment.  ... Finally, the weight can temporarily increase - paradoxical though this may sound - after an exceptional physical exertion of long duration leading to a feeling of exhaustion.  A game of tennis, a vigorous swim, a run, a ride on horeseback or a round of golf do not have this effect; but a long trek, a day of skiing, rowing or cycling or dancing into the small hours usually results in a gain of weight on the following day, unless the patient is in perfect training.  In patients coming from abroad, where they always use their cars, we often see this effect after a strenuous day of shopping on foot, sightseeing and visits to galleries and museums.  Though the extra muscular effort involved does consume some additional Calories (sic), this appears to be offset by the retention of water which the tired circulation cannot at once eliminate.
Simeon, A.T.W., Pounds and Inches, 7th ed. (1971) at 78.  There are two divergent  interpretations of this theory.  I affectionately refer to them as Camp Couch Potato and School Scshwarzenegger.

CAMP COUCH POTATO: You'll go into starvation mode, and your body will protect fat and catibilize - that is, eat your muscle. HCG tricks the brain into specifically demanding fat, not muscle, because you "told" it you were pregnant and had a kid to nourish.  But if you exercise while eating only 500 CUs a day, it will think you are starving, contradict HCG orders, and go into "starvation mode."  Starvation mode marching start order are (1) hoard our fat until we're safe (i.e., eating again) and (2) go after muscle for fuel.  Thus, exercising during the protocol is a 'no no' and you should wait until the party is over.  More along these lines:
SCHOOL SCHWARZENEGGER:  Exercising during HCG dieting only helps; "starvation mode" is misunderstood and misapplied.  First, starvation "mode" or response is only relevant with true starving - like starving to death - not dieting.  The mass-endowed cannot thwart "physics and thermodynamics:" a body's metabolism will never slow down enough to offset the 50%+ caloric deficit during HCGing (me--> otherwise, how would anyone ever become emaciated and then die?).  And, when one's metabolism does slow down, only lean folks' bodies turn on them: chunk-a-munks' physics are on our side - our muscles are safe.  Thus, exercise and the HCG are not diametrically opposed.  Exercise increases the deficit and therefore increases the weight loss.  More:
STUMP THE CHUMP 

Huh?  Dr. Simeon doesn't seem to prohibit exercise in his plan.  My read is that, (1), he says exercise can lead to water retention not immediately overcome; but, (2), limits this phenomenon to exercise of "exceptional exertion of long duration."  How did we go from that to NO exercise at all?  Other questions:
  1. Won't drinking more water than your body requires prompt voiding?
  2. Assuming muscle loss really isn't an issue, if your metabolism does slow because of a 50%+ CU deficit, do you still lose more weight than you would if you ate enough to keep it from slowing down?  
  3. Any stories out there from folks who exercised anyway?
What do YOU think?  I'd love to hear thought on this.  'Till next week!


___________________________________

*Not to put too fine a point on it, but you're on your own with how valid the link data is.  First, quite naturally, I don't vouch for anything you are pointed to from here.  This is simply an organized collection of other people's stuff with a range of perspectives for some of my most pressing HCG questions. Next, I haven't found a page yet that doesn't contain lots of ads.  Comes with the territory.

**I cannot as of yet take you to the point on a page that discussion what a link purports it to discuss.  You'll have to read the page to find the explanatory stuff.