edited On 4.4.09 to add: Since I wrote the little diatribe below I have done even more research. And by that I mean I finally got my hands on a copy of Dr. Simeons’ POUNDS & INCHES. First I BOUGHT it from Amazon then found a freebie on the ‘net. Damn. What I found is I was thoroughly off base on my assumptions. Yeah, I know never ASSUME anything because it makes an ass of u and me. Not only have I found out WHY this protocol works but I’ve found hundreds of people online who have done this and done it with great success. I’m putting the free version on my site and if you want to read it, just click here: Pounds & Inches Read the document and make up your own mind. I was wrong. As usual.
Here’s my original (wrongheaded) post:
One of our “nieces who are nurses” has been gently prodding me about some diet developed back in the 70’s by some idiot doctor. Basically you get small amounts of a pregnancy hormone and, get this, are limited to 500 calories a day with NO FAT allowed.
I have been trying to come up with some sort of justification for this idiocy but so far can’t think of a single reason why ANYone would do this to themselves.
Here’s my list.
1. If you only have 10 pounds to lose and can’t seem to get it to come off, maybe this would be a way to do it.
2. If you weigh over 100 pounds more than you should and are contemplating by-pass surgery, maybe this would be a healthier way to get some of the weight off.
Well, my “con” list for both of those would be … you don’t learn how to eat properly and will just gain it back and then you’re right back where you started.
Why does everything in our culture demand instant gratification? Why is a quick fix preferred over long standing adjustments and course corrections? I blame tv.
Back to the HCG diet. I finally remembered about 12-15 years ago one of the MD’s in our town was giving “injections” and women were losing weight like mad. I knew one of them who dropped about 20 pounds practically overnight. She had a high school reunion to attend. She looked great. And 6 months later was back to her old weight. Which she still weighs, btw. She didn’t learn anything about proper nutrition, eating healthy etc. But she looked good for 5 minutes.
Over on one of the low carb forums I found a 2 year old thread about this diet. The first page was FULL of the same arguments against it that I was thinking. then the naysayers left the HCG dieters to their own devices. Guess what. 2 years later they’re still trying to make it work.
See, I am an anorexic. It took me years to admit that I have an eating disorder. When I was in my 20’s and early 30’s I stayed thin by … NOT EATING. Literally. Before my weight began to spiral up and out of control I lived on 750 calories a day. I got down to 135 pounds. I’m 5′9.5″ tall. Think Charlize Theron only not nearly as gorgeous. And a lot older. I was thinner than she is now (according to the latest beach bodies photoessay in the National Enquirer) and I had to STARVE myself to get that way. Or so I thought.
But several surgeries with all the attendant toxic drugs, bad eating habits, massive amounts of stress all conspired to throw my body completely out of whack. My liver stopped functioning as well as it was supposed to and the result was (many years later) a kilo’s worth of fibroid tumors in my uterus which resulted in a total hysterectomy AFTER I HAD GONE THROUGH MENOPAUSE. Now that’s ironic with a capital “I.”
It took the N.D. to show me that fixing my liver was the first step to fixing my weight problem. Rest for my exhausted adrenals is helping too.
But the thought, the very THOUGHT, of starving myself on 500 calories a day again? Dear god. That’s like offering an alcoholic just “one” drink a day to cure them of their alocholism.
See there’s a part of me that still wants to be scary skinny. I know it’s wrong. I know it’s insane. But that part is still there. Fortunately she doesn’t get to drive.
As to those poor, confused women who think that taking a pregnancy hormone and starving on 500 calories a day will make them thin, rich, and beautiful … realty’s a bitch. And she’s gonna kick you in the butt.
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