YOUR LOOK fitness By Dr. Harvey Jenkins 20 lbs. in 20 Days Through the use of the common female hormone, hCG, quicker weight loss can be achieved when combined with the proper diet and exercise routines ome of us are able to maintain our body weight and shape with very little effort year round, while some of us are not. The majority of us experience some degree of decline during the pageant off-season. Typically, the younger we are, the more able we are to be able to pull things back together easily. The older we get, sadly, the hard- er it is to accomplish this feat. One of the most common laments that we hear at the BodyTrends Physique Factory among our clientele is: “20 days until competition and 20 lbs. away from my goal.” We recognize that it is not just the contestants in Oklahoma and the surrounding states that we see that face problems like this, but all over America. Truthfully, rapid weight loss of this magnitude is not a big deal. A person can lose 20 lbs. in 20 days and under certain conditions even more. People do it all the time. The better question is: can it be done safely? The answer to that question is yes. More and more, on the pageant and modeling scene, we are seeing the emergence of the hCG Diet as a safe and effective way to lose a significant amount of weight in a short period of time. S WHAT IS THE HCG DIET? The hCG Diet is a medically-supervised, physician-adminis- tered diet which is seeing a resurgence in popularity nationally. “hCG” stands for “Human Chorionic Gonadotropin.” It has been used to facilitate rapid weight loss when administered with a Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD). Weight loss results of 40 lbs. in about 40 days (about one pound per day) are not uncommon. This program is probably the fastest way to safely lose a large amount of weight. In the hCG Diet Protocol, a hormone is administered in a se- ries of virtually-painless daily injections, four days a week, for up 122 PAGEANTRY to six weeks, depending on the amount of weight loss that is nec- essary. The injections are combined with a strict, but easy to follow low-fat, low-carbohydrate, very low calorie diet, as formulated by Dr. A. T. W. Simeons, the originator of the hCG diet protocol. The hCG diet protocol can result in dramatic weight losses, typ- ically between 30-40 lbs. over 45 days. Some people using the hCG diet do not experience as great a weight loss in pounds, yet realize a dramatic loss in inches due to a significant loss of fat, in concert with gains in muscle tissue which is denser and heavier. Obviously, the actual weight loss results will vary with the individual. THE HCG STORY hCG is actually a hormone in the glycoprotein (part-protein core with carbohydrate accents or modifications) family. Most people are aware of its critical role in pregnancy. It is produced during pregnancy and functions by inducing a structure in the ovary (the corpus luteum) of pregnant women to produce another hormone called progesterone. Progesterone maintains the thick- ness of the uterus during the course of the pregnancy. hCG was found to be the likely agent responsible for allowing starving and underweight third-world pregnant women to consistently give birth to normal birth-weight infants. Clearly, something in the mother’s physiology during pregnan- cy, believed to be hCG, was responsible for the proficient scaveng-