…cutting corners since 1978

One thing that helped me to feel a bit better about myself is the fact that apparently, there are some physical manifestations in the formation of a person’s body when they have an inherited disposition to obesity.

I now feel that while yes, I’m the one who put every single calorie of food into my mouth, I’ve been built that way. Yes, much of this food addiction is psychological, but at the same time, my body was tuned to behave that way.

From the book:

As a basis for our discussion we postulate that obesity in all its many forms is due to an abnormal functioning of some part of the body and that every ounce of abnormally accumulated fat is always the result of the same disorder of certain regulatory mechanisms. Persons suffering from this particular disorder will get fat regardless of whether they eat excessively, normally or less than normal. A person who is free of the disorder will never get fat, even if he frequently overeats.

Those in whom the disorder is severe will accumulate fat very rapidly, those in whom it is moderate will gradually increase in weight and those in whom it is mild may be able to keep their excess weight stationary for long periods. In all these cases a loss of weight brought about by dieting, treatments with thyroid, appetite-reducing drugs, laxatives, violent exercise, massage, or baths is only temporary and will be rapidly regained as soon as the reducing regimen is relaxed. The reason is simply that none of these measures corrects the basic disorder.

Before I get to the physical aspects, I want to first go over the three types of fat that we carry:

1. Visceral fat—the fat that surrounds the organs in the body.
2. Intramuscular and subcutaneous fat—a fat that is stored to be drawn out when needed.
3. Abnormal fat—these are the large amounts of fat that obese people accumulate and while there is potential for it to be used as fuel, it doesn’t happen because of the way it is stored.

When obese people try to diet in order to drop weight, they rid themselves of the first two types of fat, while the third one remains in place. Of the relatively small amount of people who do manage to drop it, most of them will regain it back because the true cause of the obesity hasn’t been resolved.

Dr. Simeon lists several physical characteristics of an obese person carrying the genetic predispositions. These are all signs that are present before puberty and weight-gain:

• A disproportionately large size of the upper-two front teeth.
• A dimple on both sides of the sacral bone, just above the buttocks.
• When the arms are outstretched with the palms facing up, the forearms appear sharply angled outward.
• The same applies to the legs, so the person is essentially knock-kneed.

As puberty sets in and weight starts to accumulate:

• It begins to accumulate at the nape of the neck.
• A triangular fatty bulge in front of the arm pit when the arms are held at their sides.
• Stretch marks
• A fat pad on the inside of the knees–a place where normal fat is never stored.

Clinical symptoms (though many other conditions can also cause them) include:

• Frequent headaches
• Rheumatic pains without any detectable bony abnormality.
• A feeling of laziness and lethargy –both physical and mental.
• Insomnia
• Feeling of being hungry sometimes only 2 or 3 hours after a heavy meal.
• Strong yearning for sugary or starchy foods.
• Constipation and spastic or irritable bowels.
• Menstrual disorders.

Save for the menstrual disorders, I have/had every single one of those signs. Interestingly, as far as my daughters go, it’s my older one (the slender one) seems to have inherited those traits while my younger, slightly pudgier daughter, has not. It will be interesting to see how they grow up in the future.

Returning once more to our sylphlike lady, we can say that a combination of some of these symptoms with a few of
the typical bodily signs is sufficient evidence to take her case seriously. A human figure, male or female, can only be
judged in the nude; any opinion based on the dressed appearance can be quite fantastically wide off the mark, and I
feel myself driven to the conclusion that apart from frankly psychotic patients such as cases of anorexia nervosa; a
morbid weight fixation does not exist. I have yet to see a patient who continues to complain after the figure has been
rendered normal by adequate treatment.

Also:

Obese patients only feel physically well as long as they are stationary or gaining weight. They may feel guilty, owing to the lethargy and indolence always associated with obesity. They may feel ashamed of what they have been led to believe is a lack of control. They may feel horrified by the appearance of their nude body and the tightness of their clothes. But they have a primitive feeling of animal content which turns to misery and suffering as soon as they make a resolute attempt to reduce. For this there are sound reasons.

In the first place, more caloric energy is required to keep a large body at a certain temperature than to heat a small body. Secondly the muscular effort of moving a heavy body is greater than in the case of a light body. The muscular effort consumes calories which must be provided by food. Thus, all other factors being equal, a fat person requires more food than a lean one. One might therefore reason that if a fat person eats only the additional food his body requires he should be able to keep his weight stationary. Yet every physician who has studied obese patients under rigorously controlled conditions knows that this is not true. Many obese patients actually gain weight on a diet which is calorically deficient for their basic needs. There must thus be some other mechanism at work.

Did you exhibit these signs as a child? How do you feel knowing that genetics may play a greater role than previously expected? You may decide that all this is pure hogwash and you’re perfectly in your right to think so, but for me, it makes perfect sense and actually answers many questions I’ve always had about myself.

If you’re looking for a possible way to lose weight and want to follow me on this journey before jumping in yourself, I once again invite you to follow this thread by rss feed (at the top) or by subscribing via email (see right).

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I admit that I have quite a lot of weight to loose. It’s been the bane of my existence for most of my life. No matter how much I tried, I was unable to take off significant weight; the only time I was really successful, I wasn’t even trying!

My attempts at weight loss began when I was 12 and weighing-in at 130lbs. My paediatrician told my mom (who also had to deal with weight issues) that I needed to loose weight. No sooner than that was said, I was enrolled into Weight Watchers alongside her.

Week after week, I’d go in, get weighed, and sleep through another meeting. I never did receive my 10-lbs-lost ribbon, so that was obviously a flop.

After high school, I went to Ecuador as an exchange student, I lost a significant amount of weight, despite their food often being fried. I came back to Canada weighing in at about 140 lbs, but started gaining it back again until I got to where I am now, at 106 kg (233 lbs).

I tried the Bernstein diet for diabetics, Atkins, and South Beach. All of them are excellent diets, but they weren’t something I was able to stick to.

A friend of mine first told me about the HCG protocol when she decided to try it. I was more than a little worried and thought she was being foolish at wanting to start such a strange ‘diet.’ What I later learned though, is that it’s not so strange and it does make sense. Rather than a diet, this is a protocol which helps your hypothalamus get re-booted.

She is completing the second round of this protocol, along with many of her family members and she looks great! She reports that she doesn’t feel hungry despite the 500 calories she’s allowed per day.

There are several pros and cons to this diet:

Pros:

1. It’s VERY effective.
2. You loose fat where you need to loose it.
3. Most people report feeling great while on the protocol.
4. It’s a quick way to loose weight if you’re willing to dedicate the 6-9 weeks you have to stick with it.
5. Once you finish this protocol, your metabolism has been rebooted and this becomes your new baseline weight, you shouldn’t regain it.

Cons:

1. You need to take a daily injection of the HCG hormone.
2. It is a VERY strict diet. If you can’t stick to it, don’t bother starting. ANY deviation will cause it to backfire.
3. Psychological starvation is often a problem. You don’t feel hungry, but you WANT to eat!
4. Depending on where you get your supplies, a round of the diet can cost anywhere from $50 to $2000.

One thing that is certain however, you should clear it with your doctor! There are clinics established all over the world with doctors willing to follow you up on this protocol, but this is usually NOT covered by insurance companies.

My plan is to begin this protocol after my next menstrual cycle (which is at the end of the month) because this factors in to how this diet works. My goal is to get under 200lbs this time, then do a second round a few months later to get below 170lbs. My goal weight is 140, but I’ll be happy with 170.

Over the next few days, I’ll explain how the creator of this protocol, Dr. Simeons designed this plan and why it works. I will keep track of my progress (or lack thereof) on this blog.

I hope to never look like this again:

I’d much rather be healthier, thank-you-very-much!

Please subscribe to my feed to stay posted on the updates!

This protocol is freely available for anyone to access, on the Pounds and Inches site. This is one of the things that sets this apart from diets: its freely available for anyone to access!

disclaimer: I take no responsibility over your actions. Any diet/or protocol you wish to try is at your own risk. I strongly suggest you first consult with a doctoc before undertaking any weight reduction program.

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