Teresa Hoffmann, RKC teaches a Kettlebell class at the PT Athletic Club

As an avid tennis player, I will be the first to tell patients about the importance of exercise for whole body health–mental, emotional, and physical. However, I think it comes as a great shock when they read Simeons’ manuscript emphasizing that exercise in fact plays little role in the body’s ability to liberate fat stores while undergoing HCG treatment. For some, great relief is clearly visible on their faces during the initial appointment. Others, though, feel a sense of disgust at the mere notion that hours a week spent at the gym will somehow not prove beneficial or play a pivotal role in weight loss.

For those who aren’t used to working out or even walking, it is best not to initiate this just prior to starting HCG and the low calorie diet. The reason is quite simple, actually. Exercise is a stress on the body and can be very inflammatory in nature. Certainly not all inflammation is bad, and it is often a necessary process when beginning most workout routines. However, the last thing you want is more inflammation and fluid retention when fat deposits are breaking down. I have seen this multiple times in patients who go on a hike in the middle of treatment or take a long walk to which they are unaccustomed.

But, once the treatment phase (injections and low calorie diet) is finished, it is important to begin some form of exercise. I personally enjoy kettlebells for a nice mix of weight bearing and aerobic exercise. For local patients, we are so fortunate to have a kettlebell gym in Port Townsend. Even those individuals who had only 10 pounds to lose now move so much easier and find exercise so much more agreeable. Imagine the difference that a 30-40 pound loss makes on your body in 7 or 8 weeks. I hope this helps clear things up a bit.

Enjoy moving in your new body!
Forrest Beck, ND

Simeons’ discusses this in his manuscript, Pounds and Inches, but it is worth reviewing here. Many of you may be familiar with the term muscle memory, but apparently for better or worse, fat has a memory as well. This occurs when for a number of months or years the body has maintained roughly the same weight.

“No amount of explanation convinces them that a plateau does not mean that they are no longer responding normally to treatment. In such cases we consider it permissible, for purely psychological reasons, to break up the plateau. This can be done in two ways. One is a so-called ‘apple day.’ An apple day begins at lunch and continues until just before lunch of the following day. The patients are given six large apples and are told to eat one whenever they feel the desire, though six apples is the maximum allowed. During an apple day no other food or liquids except plain water are allowed, and of water they may only drink just enough to quench an uncomfortable thirst if eating an apple still leaves them thirsty. Most patients feel no need for water and are quite happy with their six apples. An apple day may never be given on the day on which there is no injection. The apple day produces a gratifying loss of weight on the following day, chiefly due to the elimination of water. This water is not regained when the patients resume their normal 500-calorie diet at lunch, and on the following days they continue to lose weight satisfactorily.”

If this fails to yield the results we are looking for or another stall occurs before long, then other measures can be successfully implemented. I discuss some of these in the Patient Lounge section of this site.

To your good health,
Forrest Beck, ND

Talking to people every day, I am amazed by the variations in each person’s willingness to accept Dr. Simeons’s HCG protocol as described. Few people will embrace it completely without exception, and instead, like me they need to see if the old guy really knew what he was talking about. How in the world did he come up with these ideas anyway–an apple day, a steak day? Well the short story would be 15 or so years of research with a captive audience (inpatient hospital setting) and a full-service cafeteria at his disposal. Why I or anyone else feels they can reinvent this program in a few weeks is beyond me, but that logic hasn’t stopped even me from trying.

But here I am, filling my days and my mouth with the most delicious and luxurious cheeses, avocados, smoked salmon, coconut butter, bacon, sausages (be careful with added sugars!) and still maintaining my new weight beautifully. I feel as much excitement and exhilaration with my ability to maintain this new body as I did each day I was losing the weight. If I even think about wanting carbs or sugar, I can just go to the closet and admire my new size four wardrobe. “Be content,” I tell myself as I take another huge bite of triple cream brie. Scratch that, here’s what I really feel: “Be really happy.”