Just read a very creepy weight loss book..

I just read the creepiest book about weight loss.  I don't know if we are supposed to list the author & name of the book if we are saying something negative, so I'll just tell you all what it was about.

It was about the "cure" for weight loss being this hormone called HCG that is found in the urine of pregnant women.  According to the guy who wrote this book, if you inject yourself daily with this hormone, then eat 500 calories a day for a while, you will be cured of obesity.  He claims it is 100% effective.  Apparently, this hormone is the one that allows fat stores to be released during pregnancy to nourish the fetus if the mother cannot get enough food.   When taken at the same time as dieting, you are able to release your fat stores as well.

I don't know why exactly, but reading this kind of bummed me out.  This guy says no amount of diet or exercise can ever release the stored fat in your body.  Who wants to hear that?  The FDA does not support use of this hormone for weight loss.  

I have been really excited about losing weight the right way.  Moderately lowering calories, moderate exercise, slow permanent weight loss.  It is scary that professionals are suggesting such radical methods for losing weight.  I have no intention of trying such a thing.  Just wondered if anyone else has read about this HCG stuff, and what you all think. 

 

that's terrifying.

Haven't read or heard of it but .....blech. Human urine. No thanks

I've never heard of that!!!! But the thought of injecting myself with a hormone just to lose weight seems like a bad idea. I don't believe for a second that you can't lose stored fat....well maybe not every single ounce of fat on your body but then we'd all be skeletons and that's not a good look. Shouldn't we all have SOME stored fat on our bodies?

I say keep doing it the RIGHT way and you'll see results.

Original Post by henrywayne:

It is scary that professionals are suggesting such radical methods for losing weight. 

I have a feeling that this guy isn't a "professional" anything except scammer. Even if it said that he is a doctor, that could mean a lot of things, not just medical doctor. Even if he is a medical doctor, that doesn't mean he isn't just trying to scare people into buying his books and products. Not every doctor is a saint.

Just ignore this as yet another quick fix scheme that people use to sell books - if it was as easy as getting a shot, there would be no obesity.

I bet the never release stored fat was because as you lose weight you still have the same number of fat cells....They just get smaller....and ummmm hcg dosent start in peoples urine.....

I think it's possibly true that HCG does do this for pregnant women. But injecting myself with a hormone that I'm not naturally making to induce something that happens when I'm pregnant, just to lose weight?

No thanks, I'd rather do it naturally, and when I hit 100 pounds lost be able to say I did it MYSELF, without any help from hormones or pills or fad diets. 

This guy says no amount of diet or exercise can ever release the stored fat in your body.

 With this comment, he lost all credibility with me.  Injecting urine, that's just bizarre and gross.

Well, if you eat 500 calories a day long enough you will lose weight... it's called starvation.

Sounds weird to me!

and how does he account for people who HAVE lost fat? Like, you can just look at some before and after pictures and see it!

I think I know the guy and book you're talking about, and if it's the same guy I'm thinking of, be aware that he's a convicted felon for fraud.  Not to mention that it's been demonstrated in repeated trials that there's no significant effect on weight loss due to the injection of HCG.

Any person, doctor or not, that says their way is the "only" way to weight loss, and that proven, reasonable, methods like healthy eating and exercise don't, is selling something.

Good for you for not buying into quick fix quackery!

the guy sounds flat out dumB to me.

Hooray, just what the world needs, more snake oil ><  The whole idea of injecting something that came out of someone else's urine is too disgusting for words.

Original Post by santonacci:

I think I know the guy and book you're talking about, and if it's the same guy I'm thinking of, be aware that he's a convicted felon for fraud.

 I'm not at all surprised.  He actually admitted in this book that the FDA was against this use of HCG.  He also said if your doctor would not give it to you, find a new doctor.  That is the point that I stopped reading.  Up until that point, I was reading out of morbid curiosity.

This isn't new.  I heard of this about 25 or 30 yrs ago.  How could I forget anything like that.

There was one person who did lose a LOT of weight and went from heavy to average by getting the urine shots. 

This person kept the weight off but sadly, a couple of yrs ago died from cancer.

I know alot about HCG because I take it to regulate my menstral cycle. This book has driven up the price of HCG at many pharmacies because there is currently a shortage of it. No supply means now I pay nearly double what I was paying for HCG before this book. I've been on HCG for four years and obvioulsy, I'm hear like the rest of us, trying to loose weight.

The book claims people are loosing weight because of the HCG. People are loosing the weight because they are starving themselves! A 500 calorie diet is rediculous for anyone. Your body simply cannot tolerate that level of starvation and starts dropping weight because of if. You all know that.

HCG has nothing to do with it. As you all know, there is no magic pill, hormone etc. It all comes down to determination and will power to get your butt to the gym and eat healthy.

 

This guy is crazy. Listen, there is a reason the FDA hasn't approved this method of treatment...

I can't believe all the crazy ways out there to lose weight...When will people realize that the only way take it off and keep it off is to eat healthy and exercise?

We are such a lazy nation!!!!! Always looking for a quick and easy fix that requires minimum effort. 

Kevin Trudeau is a fraud and he is making millions off helplessly fooled people.  It's bull. 

p_fagan, you sound very conscientious and altho I agree the guy sounds like a fraud...you have to admit that most of those people would rather be fooled than be proactive.

there is a very vulnerable group of people in our cultural (older folks and less fortunate/less educated) that are preyed on by charletons...does this (writing a book for sale at a store) really fall into that category...

it would be a fun world if everything we read was thoughtfully packaged and presented w/everyone's best interest in mind but most of what we read is 'garbage'...theories that don't hold water. And this stuff is great for discussion...

The real fun in life is having to have to sort through all that garbage on your own to determine what works for you and what doesn't. I pity the fool that doesn't take the time in this hectic world to put his own thoughts together...but in our free market economy, it's really his own fault...

OMG. I swear my friend and her sister did this. She didn't say it was urine, but they had to inject themselves with some form of meds for 30 days, and live on a 500 calorie diet for like 10 days.  It totally creeped me out that they did that, and I tried talking her out of it. But she did it, and lost 15 lbs in one month, and her sister did it twice, lost 15 the first time and 10 the next. They told them that the weight stays off, but it didn't really. the sister gained most of it back, and my friend stayed about the same but still has had to change here eating habits.  Please, don't do this procedure and plan. It doesn't last forever, it seems just like all the dieting things out there. Well, if this is the same thing(which it sounds exactly)

oh I just found this too! http://skepdic.com/trudeau.html

Original Post by crna2010:

I know alot about HCG because I take it to regulate my menstral cycle. This book has driven up the price of HCG at many pharmacies because there is currently a shortage of it. No supply means now I pay nearly double what I was paying for HCG before this book. I've been on HCG for four years and obvioulsy, I'm hear like the rest of us, trying to loose weight.

The book claims people are loosing weight because of the HCG. People are loosing the weight because they are starving themselves! A 500 calorie diet is rediculous for anyone. Your body simply cannot tolerate that level of starvation and starts dropping weight because of if. You all know that.

HCG has nothing to do with it. As you all know, there is no magic pill, hormone etc. It all comes down to determination and will power to get your butt to the gym and eat healthy.

 

I'm sorry to say, it's probably not the book that drove the price up, but the fact that HCG is used by a lot of men trying to increase testosterone production or those using anabolic supplements, which I think is really weird, but that's my opinion. Of course, I'm not defending the guy...though his ideas actually have some validity...they're really weird and sound kind of dangerous.