Re: Have adrenal/thyroid problems but finally lost 46 lbs

October 21, 2008

& wrote:

> I agree with you here. I know it sounds like a crazy diet that you are

> only eating 500 calories. But the thing is, you are using your FAT

> STORES in your body, which is around 2000 calories a day – and it’s all

> from fat! The hCG itself mobilizes those fat stores for your body to

> use as fuel, so you don’t have to take in as many calories. Besides

> that, you CAN eat more than 500 calories a day if it’s too little for

> you. You may not lose as much weight, but you can eat more. I did

> towards the end and I still lost.

I disagree that HCG has anything to do with mobilizing fat stores; that

is a direct result of lowering your fasting insulin levels, a direct

result of eating this low of a calorie diet with less than 50 grams of

carbs (closer to 25 grams). It takes a couple of days on the diet to

get past the hunger stage as the blood insulin level gradually drops

over those first few days, then one isn't hungry much any more. Again,

HCG has nothing to do with this. The diet works without HCG. Heck, if

one were to stop eating anything and drink only water, hunger would go

away after a few days and fat would be getting pumped out of storage for

use until you ran low on fat. Until then, Growth Hormone is increased

in the blood to limit protein from being broken down for energy.

> The thing that bothers me is this. People are dismissing this without

> research.

I've done the research, read the material, and evaluated the medical

results available on the MedLine medical database. I found zero benefit

to adding HCG injections to an insulin reducing diet in order to get the

FULL benefits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luteinizing_hormone/choriogonadotropin_receptor

Luteinizing hormone/choriogonadotropin receptors stimulated by LH/HCG

have been found in Ovaries, testes, uterus, sperm, seminal vesicles,

prostate, skin, breast, adrenals, thyroid, neural retina, neuroendocrine

cells and possibility brain cells.

I find no actual effects on insulin metabolism, glucose control, fat

mobilization, etc.

If one were to eat a 1000 calorie diet with all protein and fat, one

would lose a lot of weight. If one were to eat a 1000 calorie diet with

mostly carbs, even low glycemic carbs, one would not lose anywhere near

as much weight as insulin is not lowered anywhere near as much when

compared to an all fat/protein diet.

Steve

--

Steve - dudescholar4@...

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October 21, 2008

venizia1948 wrote:

> Steve,

>

> My doctors is saying using the HCg protocol will reset the

> hypothalomus so it makes ones metabolism work properly. Any thoughts?

>

> Venizia

I told my doctor that I didn't find any compelling evidence that HCG is

beneficial for weight loss.

I cannot find anything in the medical literature on HCG and

hypothalamus. I'm guessing the assertion is that it " resets " the body

weight set point. Trudeau indicates in his " book " that once the weight

is lost one can go back to eating normally and they won't gain back the

weight because this " set point " has been changed to a lower value.

There's no evidence of this that I can find. If one returns to their

regular diet, they will regain the weight almost 100% of the time.

Now, don't get me wrong, one will lose weight on this 500 calorie per

day diet, but HCG will have not one iota to do with that weight loss so

don't waste your $100s and sometimes $1000s of dollars being treated by

any clinic/doctor with these injections. I'm fairly open minded when it

comes to alternative medical treatment options and take 60+ supplements

a day and have tried EDTA IV chelation therapy and other things. I even

take HCG injections twice a week as an adjunct to my TRT (testosterone

replacement therapy) because it replaces the LH receptor activation

effect that gets suppressed by TRT.

Here is some research from MedLine. One can scan to the bottom of each

abstract to the conclusion(s).

----------------

Human chorionic gonadotrophin and weight loss. A double-blind,

placebo-controlled trial.

Bosch B, Venter I, RI, Bertram SR.

Department of Medical Physiology and Biochemistry, University of

Stellenbosch, Parowvallei, CP.

Low-dose human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) combined with a severe diet

remains a popular treatment for obesity, despite equivocal evidence of

its effectiveness. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, the

effects of HCG on weight loss were compared with placebo injections.

Forty obese women (body mass index greater than 30 kg/m2) were placed on

the same diet supplying 5,000 kJ per day and received daily

intramuscular injections of saline or HCG, 6 days a week for 6 weeks. A

psychological profile, hunger level, body circumferences, a fasting

blood sample and food records were obtained at the start and end of the

study, while body weight was measured weekly. Subjects receiving HCG

injections showed no advantages over those on placebo in respect of any

of the variables recorded. Furthermore, weight loss on our diet was

similar to that on severely restricted intake. We conclude that there is

no rationale for the use of HCG injections in the treatment of obesity.

PMID: 2405506

-----------

Ineffectiveness of human chorionic gonadotropin in weight reduction: a

double-blind study.

Stein MR, Julis RE, Peck CC, Hinshaw W, Sawicki JE, Deller JJ Jr.

Our investigation was designed to retest the hypothesis of the efficacy

of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) on weight reduction in obese women

in a clinic setting. We sought to duplicate the Asher-Harper study

(1973) which had found that the combination of 500 cal diet and HCG had

a statistically significant benefit over the diet and placebo

combination as evidenced by greater weight loss and decrease in hunger.

Fifty-one women between the ages of 18 and 60 participated in our 32-day

prospective, randomized, double-blind comparison of HCG versus placebo.

Each patient was given the same diet (the one prescribed in the

Asher-Harper study), was weighed daily Monday through Saturday and was

counselled by one of the investigators who administered the injections.

Laboratory studies were performed at the time of initial physical

examinations and at the end of the study. Twenty of 25 in the HCG and 21

of 26 patients in the placebo groups completed 28 injections. There was

no statistically significant difference in the means of the two groups

in number of injections received, weight loss, percent of weight loss,

hip and waist circumference, weight loss per injections, or in hunger

ratings. HCG does not appear to enhance the effectiveness of a rigidly

imposed regimen for weight reduction.

PMID: 786001

-------------------------

Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in the treatment of obesity: a

critical assessment of the Simeons method.

Greenway FL, Bray GA.

Injections of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) have been claimed to

aid in weight reduction by reducing hunger, and affecting mood as well

as aiding in localized (spot) reduction. We have tested these claims in

a double-blind randomized trial using injections of HCG or placebo.

Weight loss was identical between the two groups, and there was no

evidence for differential effects on hunger, mood or localized body

measurements. Placebo injections, therefore, appear to be as effective

as HCG in the treatment of obesity.

PMID: 595585

-------------------------

[Risk-benefit analysis of a hCG-500 kcal reducing diet (cura romana) in

females]

[Article in German]

Rabe T, Richter S, Kiesel L, Runnebaum B.

The British physician A.T.W. Simeons described in 1954 a new method for

dieting. He combined a reduction diet (500 kcal per day) with daily

injections of the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)

(125 IU i.m.). According to Simeons the patient should not lose more

weight during a 4-to-6 weeks' diet than without hCG, but the injections

should facilitate to maintain the diet and to lose body weight at

specific parts of the body (e.g. hip, belly, thigh). After the first

publication various studies conducted with male and female patients

analysed the efficacy of the " Cura romana " . 10 of these studies showed

positive and another 10 studies negative results with regard to

hCG-related weight reduction. Two of these studies with positive results

were double-blind studies (hCG vs. placebo). Most of them were reports

on therapeutical experiences and were not controlled studies. According

to these reports the body proportions normalized and the feeling of

hunger was tolerable. Four out of 10 studies with negative results were

controlled studies (hCG vs. control without hCG), whereas 6 were

double-blind studies. These studies showed a significant weight

reduction during dieting, but no differences between treatment groups in

respect of body weight, body proportions and feeling of hunger. One of

them is the only German study conducted by Rabe et al. in 1981 in which

82 randomised premenopausal volunteers had been dieting either with hCG

or without hCG injections. In recent publications describing mostly

well-documented double-blind studies authors largely reject hCG

administration in dieting. Supporters of the hCG diet must prove the

efficacy of this method in controlled studies according to the German

Drug Law. Until then the opinion of the German steroid toxicology panel

is still valid, that hCG is ineffective in dieting and should not be

used (Bolt 1982 a, 1982 .

PMID: 3609673

--------------------------

Chorionic gonadotropin in weight control. A double-blind crossover study.

Young RL, Fuchs RJ, Woltjen MJ.

Two hundred two patients participated in a double-blind random

cross-over study of the effectiveness of human chorionic gonadotropin

(HCG) vs placebo in a wieght reduction program. Serial measurements were

made of weight, skin-fold thickness, dropout rates, reasons for dropping

out, and patient subjective response. There was no statistically

significant difference between those receiving HCG vs placebo during any

phase of this study (P greater than .1).

PMID: 792477

-----------------------

A clinical study of the use of human chorionic gonadotrophin in weight

reduction.

R, Schneiderman LJ.

Treatment of obesity with human chorionic gonadotrophin was shown to be

of no better value than saline in a double-blind crossover study of

weight reduction in obese subjects. There was also no significant

difference in mood, hunger, or missed injections, and no apparent

difference in adherence to diet when the two agents were compared. In

contrast, a significant difference was found in the ability of subjects

to lose weight in the first four weeks of the study in contrast with the

second four weeks, no matter which agent was used. Thus, the initiation

of a new therapeutic program, even using an inert agent, has a temporary

benefit--a manifestation both of placebo effect and the Hawthorne effect.

PMID: 321723

-------------------

Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) treatment of obesity.

Shetty KR, Kalkhoff RK.

After a nine-day control period, six hospitalized obese women were

placed on 500 calorie diets and were given 125 IU of human chorionic

gonadotropin (HCG) intramuscularly daily for 30 days. Another five obese

women received injections of diluent only and consumed identical diets

for the same period. Mean weight loss in the HCG-treated group was

nearly identical to that achieved by women given the placebo. Reduction

of triceps skinfold thickness or circumferential body measurements of

the chest, waist, hips, and thighs were not different. Patters of change

of a variety of plasma and urine substrates, electrolytes, and hormones

were similar in the two groups and consistent with semistarvation and

weight loss. These results indicate that HCG has no effects on chemical

and hormonal parameters measured and offers no advantage over calorie

restriction in promoting weight loss.

PMID: 836112

----------------------

The effect of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in the treatment of

obesity by means of the Simeons therapy: a criteria-based meta-analysis.

Lijesen GK, Theeuwen I, Assendelft WJ, Van Der Wal G.

Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine, Faculty of Medicine,

Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

1. A meta-analysis was conducted to assess if there is scientific ground

for the use of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) as adjunctive therapy

in the treatment of obesity. 2. Published papers relating to eight

controlled and 16 uncontrolled trials that measured the effect of HCG in

the treatment of obesity were traced by computer-aided search and

citation tracking. 3. The trials were scored for the quality of the

methods (based on four main categories: study population, interventions,

measurement of effect, and data presentation and analysis) and the main

conclusion of author(s) with regard to weight-loss, fat-redistribution,

hunger, and feeling of well-being. 4. Methodological scores ranged from

16 to 73 points (maximum score 100), suggesting that most studies were

of poor methodological quality. Of the 12 studies scoring 50 or more

points, one reported that HCG was a useful adjunct. The studies scoring

50 or more points were all controlled. 5. We conclude that there is no

scientific evidence that HCG is effective in the treatment of obesity;

it does not bring about weight-loss of fat-redistribution, nor does it

reduce hunger or induce a feeling of well-being.

PMID: 8527285

--

Steve - dudescholar4@...

Take World's Smallest Political Quiz at

http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html

" If a thousand old beliefs were ruined on our march

to truth we must still march on. " --Stopford

October 21, 2008

I remember in my 20's going on a 5oo calorie a day diet. Iyt worked. I

lost 120 pounds . No HCG.. But I did use diet pills (Phentermine) to

control aappetite the firts three months. the weight dd not all come

nback but mainly as I was on this diet for a year my stomach shrunk. I

ate less when I cam eoff it than I did to begin with. But over time the

weight crept back on and this in spite of being on lo carb diets pretty

much since. With my health issues now a 500 calorie a day diet is

dangerous and probably would be for many with weak adrenals.

--

Artistic Grooming- Hurricane WV

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormonesADRENALS/

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/RT3_T3/

October 21, 2008

I would think anyone even someone with good adrenals 500 wouldn't be any good and surely the weight would come back.