Medical Diet May Hold the Secret for Weight Loss Success

January 1, 2019

No, we aren't talking about turning off your hunger switch with a handful of diet pills or surgically installing a bariatric band around your stomach. We are talking about a medical approach to weight loss that was developed over sixty years ago by a doctor conducting obesity research. The hCG diet combines a dietary intake of 500 calories with an injection of human chorionic gonadrotropin hormone that is produced by the placenta during pregnancy. hCG hormone assures that energy is completely mobilized and available to support fetal development. The diet takes advantage of how normal fat is stored for energy and how abnormal fat ends up stored unnecessarily.

As men age, imbalances in their metabolism allow abnormal (visceral) fat to be stored around the abdominal cavity. Visceral fat causes abdominal obesity and can negatively affect internal organs such as the pancreas, liver and intestines. In women, abnormal fat stores tend to occur in the hips, buttocks, and thighs due to metabolic imbalances from any number of underlying medical conditions. Proponents of the hCG diet believe the body is less able to access abnormal fat to burn the fat stores for energy, as compared to retrieving normal fat deposits. Although the mechanics are not totally understood, an hCG injection appears to decrease hunger and makes abnormal fat stores usable to the body.

Obesity Theory: Stressors and Imbalances

A popular theory on obesity focuses on how the area of the brain that controls automatic bodily functions and how brain signals affect fat metabolism and fat storage. Listed below are stressors and imbalances that are related to unwanted weight gain and difficulty with losing weight:

• Overeating
• Sedentary Lifestyle
• Psychological Stress
• Emotional Stress
• Hormone Imbalance
• Inefficient Fat Storage
• Inefficient Fat Metabolism

Experts believe hCG acts a key to unlock access to fat stores that provide your body with the energy needed to make up for your caloric deficit on food intake. However, the hCG diet is not without controversy and criticism. Although the results of trials have been inconsistent, doctors have seen hCG injections work for selected patients.

Physician Directed Weight Loss Is Safe and Effective

At MedWell, your medical weight loss treatment plan is based on a thorough examination of your overall health and the specific needs for restoring your well-being. After all, no type of weight loss surgery comes without risks and, if you conduct an online search of prescription diet pills, you are bound to find a laundry list of possible side effects. Unfortunately, fat cells do more than store energy for a rainy day. Visceral fat cells are particularly active and produce inflammatory makers, which in turn increase your risk of metabolic syndrome. We believe in treating the patient and not the patient's symptoms, so the hCG diet is just one of the medically-managed weight loss options that our doctors can use as part of a multidisciplinary approach to reducing pain and inflammation while restoring balance to your healing body.