It’s always a good idea to learn as much about HCG diet plans as possible before you get started. You will probably read or hear a lot of conflicting information.  As long as you understand what HCG is and how it works with Dr. Simeons’ protocols to produce dramatic weight loss results, you will be more comfortable with the HCG diet.  Therefore, you will be more likely to stick with it.

Hormones: The HCG Effect

There are dozens of different hormones in the human body, each of which has its own function. In essence, however, they are all chemical messengers that allow the various physiological systems to communicate with one another. Specifically, hormones deliver messages to the cells, which then carry out the instructions encoded in those biochemical messages.

HCG, or Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, is one such chemical messenger. Its primary tasks are carried out during the initial stages of pregnancy. It is actually excreted by the fetus. The biochemical message to the mother is essentially “back off.” Without HCG, it is possible that the mother’s system could leech nutrients away from the fetus. Her immune system might also detect the father’s DNA and attack the fetus as if it were a foreign pathogen.

HCG prevents these things from happening.

HCG is a Hormone Therapy

As people age, production of certain hormones begins to taper off. HCG production ceases toward the end of pregnancy, though babies are born with quite a lot of it still in their systems. During childhood, HCG tends to regulate the metabolism, but because of various factors, the natural supply of HCG gets used up. It is virtually depleted by the time a person reaches adulthood.

At the same time, many people tend to collect excess fat as the age. It is different with each individual, and the reasons are varied. According to Dr. A.T.W. Simeons, who pioneered the use of HCG in the treatment of obesity, fat accumulation is a combination of genetics, modern eating patterns, dietary choices and culture.

Regardless of the causes, the particular form of fat that gets stored is one that is not particularly accessible. This is a major reason that most “traditional” diets fail. When a person reduces their caloric intake, the first thing that happens is that the hypothalamus slows down the metabolism. Next, the body starts feeding off of muscle tissue and structural fat that protects the internal organs.

By the time this has been used and the body turns to these adipose deposits, the dieter is tired and discouraged and usually gives up.

The HCG Difference

Adipose – the excess fat that we all try to rid ourselves of – is a form of fat that needs to be broken down in order to be useful. This is what HCG does: it breaks up these fat molecules so that when one is one a Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD), calories from fat are available to make up the deficit.

At the same time, HCG insures that the hypothalamus gland doesn’t turn down the thermostat while you’re following Dr. Simeons’ protocols, which is what leads to the dramatic weight loss results that people have enjoyed on the HCG program.

HCG diet plans are based on principles that were developed sixty years ago as the result of research, treatments and study of obese patients in India. These patients suffered from thyroid disorders that had caused them to become morbidly obese. In the course of this research, Dr. A.T.W. Simeons came up with very interesting, and even startling conclusions about the nature of obesity and its treatment.

What Is HCG

The “Human Chorionic Gonadotropin” hormone is a byproduct of the gestation process. During pregnancy, it protects the fetus and helps to create a viable environment in which fetal development can take place.

While humans retain a large amount of this hormone in childhood, it is generally depleted by the time adulthood is reached.

During the early and mid-twentieth century, Dr. Simeons worked in India and had an opportunity to observe patients with thyroid conditions that had caused them to become morbidly obese. He treated these patients with small doses of HCG and discovered that the treatment actually caused these patients to drop pounds when nothing else worked.

In 1954, Dr. Simeons published his findings in a paper entitled Pounds and Inches. According to his research, obesity is not a natural condition at all, but rather an abnormality that is due to a number of different factors both genetic and environmental. For reasons that are not altogether clear, some people are predisposed to fat accumulation regardless of how little they eat, while others can eat as much as they please and never gain a pound.

How HCG Restores Balance

If obesity is primarily the result of imbalance, the HCG diet can restore the balance. Used according to Dr. Simeons’ protocols and a Very Low Calorie diet, HCG restores proper balance by first making these excess fat deposits available as an energy source. Then refocusing the hypothalamus gland (that part of the brain responsible for the control of metabolic processes) toward utilizing this energy source.

Thus, when you reduce your caloric intake to 25% of the amount required to sustain normal metabolic levels, your hypothalamus is forced to make up the deficit from fat.

Learn More

Elsewhere on this site and in many earlier blog posts, you will find several pieces dealing with the fascinating history of HCG and Dr. Simeon’s story. Just use the search function here at HCG Diet Direct and enter keywords relating to any HCG topic you want to learn about.