I love the armchair experts who always trot out the same old 'authorities' on what's safe and what isn't. Experience is what counts, not a party line from some mouthpiece for a vested interest at the Mayo Clinic or the FDA (who both work for the interests of pharma). Unless, of course, you're a baby and don't want to learn for yourself.
Perhaps Professor J could explain what hCG is meant for? Have you read Simeons' papers or did you borrow your opinion from someone else?
There certainly are loads of scam artists associated with the hCG diet. There are scam artists associated with anything that involves money but that doesn't reflect on the hCG diet especially. Should we all stop buying houses because of real estate fraud?
I'm on an hCG diet now. I'm injecting myself. I know nothing about the use of drops and even less about homeopathy.
It's day 36 and I've lost 36 pounds which makes the calculations fairly simple. The loss was steepest at the outset but has been a steady 0.75 lb per day for the past 25 days and shows no sign of leveling off at the moment. For me, this is the selling point of hCG: by avoiding use of structural fat, I'm not sendng my body into starvation mode whereby it will utilize protein for calories and try to lower my metabolic rate to conserve energy. I'm male, fairly heavily muscled and 52 years old. I would expect to lose faster than a woman of my age and build but slower than a younger male, for example. This has been achieved with no exercise, which I don't promote - I have just finished physio for achilles tendonitis and started back on my Wii Fit 3 days ago.
With reference to starvation and its effects, I can offer some information. Last year I fasted, water and vitamins only, for about 6 weeks. My weight loss was slightly quicker than on hCG, about 1 pound per day, but I hit a wall after the 6 weeks and felt like crap as well as losing no weight. I have no doubt I was consuming muscle too as my breath stank and my pee smelled strong. The latter is due to the high urea content brought about due to excretion of the amine part of amino acids where the rest is used as an energy source.
I'm not experiencing any of these unpleasant effects on hCG. My ex and my daughter are also doing the diet and have lost 100 lbs and 80 lbs respectively. Both were obese at the outset.
In summary, my experience with hCG is a positive one and I will continue. I'm afraid that experience has taught me that if the FDA or Mayo Clinic or any one of a host of 'authorities' tells you not to do something it's because their sponsors can't make money out of it. The reverse is also true; for example, the FDA licensed aspartame despite contrary science.
That doesn't mean that there's not quackery out there but I'd suggest that listening to others with experience might be the best way to determine what's likely to be safe and workable. The overweight and obese population represent a great source of income for the diet industry. It's in their interest for you to fail and keep buying. The same is not true of individual human beings who share your problem.
