Fact or Fiction?

I think by now you know how I feel about what it takes to lose weight. Repeat it with me if you want to:

It's a simple math problem. You have to take in less calories than you burn. If you do the right things, often enough, good things happen. And, last but not least, you have to want to do it and make up your mind to do it. Your brain is the hardest muscle to train and your body won't follow if your head doesn't lead.

So when I started on my journey, I decided to get healthy first, and counted on the weight loss to follow, knowing that it came on slowly over time and that it would come off the same way. I also knew that I had to change my relationship with food and exercise and that this new way to live would have to be just that ... a new way to LIVE forever. I had to make sustainable changes.

So this week when I talked to a friend who is on the hCG diet, I had some mixed feelings.

In a nutshell, the hCG diet is where you take a fertility shot every day and go on a very strict 500-calorie-per-day diet for 30 days. Then you ease your body back to a more normal calorie intake.

The proponents say the diet "fools" your body into thinking you're pregnant which causes your body to metabolize the fat stored in places your body doesn't need to keep a fetus growing ... butt, arms, stomach ... while also having the side effect of no hunger.

Here's an article from the New York Times that explains it better than me: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/nyregion/08hcg.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

My friend looked fantastic. She is under medical care and lost a nice little bit of weight in a very small time frame. She's thrilled with the results and now her husband is trying the same thing with success.

I can't argue with that.

But I am not sure I can condone it either. I mean, who wouldn't lose weight on a 500-calorie-a-day diet? That's what an anorexic person consumes in a day! And when your relationship with food is off kilter to start with, I worry about that switch in your head flipping to a dangerous channel that will be hard to change later.

And let's be honest, if I only ate when I was hungry, I'd be a lot thinner than I am now. So I'm not sure the promise of fewer hunger pains would make a hill of beans difference ... FOR ME.

The second part of this is easing back into eating. Moving from 500 calories to 1000 to 1500. Again, the average woman needs 1800-2200 calories a day to stay weight neutral ... that's what your body needs to sleep, wake up, go about your normal day. So at 1000 and 1500, you're still on the deficit end of the math problem and losing weight, though slowly.

I know there are lots of paths to weighing less. I know that everyone has to pick the one that works best for them. I know that I am in no position to pass judgement on anyone's choices.

But I also know this: 


I had to learn HOW to eat. And I had to PRACTICE eating in this new way. I had to EXPERIMENT with my intake and output to see what worked best for me ... did carbs early or late in the day matter ... was a cookie a week ok ... did fat grams matter more or less than protein grams? I had to see how I felt, how the scale responded and most importantly what I could really execute day in and day out for the rest of my life. 

I also know I'm leery of any "magic" answers. If losing weight was as easy as taking a pill or snapping your fingers, no one would be big.

I am happy for my friend. I am also happy for me.

I hope you find happy, too, and that your happy includes HEALTHY because that's more important than skinny any day of the week.