Weight Loss Programs Available

Our program is slowly evolving and will continue to do so, but right now we offer three major protocols:

The Modified Simeons HCG Protocol

The Center for Medical Weight Loss Very Low Calorie Full Liquid Diet

The Center for Medical Weight Loss Low Calorie Diet

                                                                                          The Modified Simeons HCG Protocol*

This protocol is based on the original 1950's work by Dr. Simeons in Italy, modified to the life style and health conditions of Americans today.  Dr. Simeon's book, Pounds and Inches, is reproduced here for your review.  Our protocol and additional educational materials will be made available to our weight loss patients.  Basically, patients follow a specific 500 calorie/day diet, or take in three liquid meal replacements, while self administering HCG, over a 23 to 43 day period.  The basic concept is that the physiology of the chronically overweight adult resists our attempts at weight control through dieting alone.  Our theory is that Mother Nature (human physiology, the forces of evolution, the intent of our creator, or all the above) assumes that we humans have a purpose for all of our actions, and that if we overeat, there must be a good reason.  A few hundred years ago it was difficult to overeat; the struggle was to find enough food just to survive.  We didn't die of heart disease or cancer and diabetes was unheard of.  We died of trauma, infection, or just as likely, starvation.  Humans overate only when food was abundant, and then only to prepare for the famine that was to come.  Crops would fail, there could be long droughts, or pestilence would strike that animal herds.  Life was really feast or famine - in a literal sense.  The skinny people died.  The overweight survived and passed on their genes.  Evolution thus favored those of us who were good at packing on the pounds.  The ability to hold on to weight is not adaptive today, but evolution has not caught up to this new behavior of humans.  Our body feels that the weight you are carrying is protective.  She doesn't want you to starve in the next famine; thus she resists your effort to reduce.  This is why you diet long and hard, lose only a few pounds (mostly muscle) and then yo-yo back up to your pre-diet weight, and likely a little more.  The hypothalamus controls appetite and weight maintenance, and right now she is not helping you if you are chronically overweight and trying to reduce by diet alone.  The Simeons' HCG methodology is designed to give the hypothalamus a "release the fat stores" signal, mimicking the same message that HCG gives the hypothalamus during pregnancy.  During pregnancy, under the influence of HCG (you make 1,000,000 units a day when you are carrying a baby), body fat is constantly being broken down into circulating triglycerides, ensuring a constant trickle of energy to the developing baby, whether his/her Mom eats or not.  Remember, in the feast or famine world in which mankind evolved, it would not be unusual for a pregnant woman to go for several days without eating, not a problem for her, as she has fat stores (even trim people have enough fat to last them for days to weeks), but a problem for the developing baby who has no fat of his/her own.  Thus Mother Nature devised this "release the fat stores" signaling molecule that we call HCG.  The Simeons approach combines dieting with physiologic communication.  Formal study of the Simeons approach has led to mixed findings.  The 1974 Asher and Harper study demonstrated a significant benefit.  Subsequent studies questioned the validity of this methodology.  I read these papers, and of note, they did not follow Dr. Simeons' original protocol.  Dr. Simeons recommended daily use of HCG, but in the negative studies HCG was administered six days a week.  One also wonders regarding the purity of the HCG used, and the goals of the  investigators.  One good way to discourage the promulgation of a new treatment that might displace your old treatment is to conduct a bogus study to discredit it.  We have seen this before in the history of medicine and we will see this again.  If HCG is providing only a "placebo" effect, then it sure is a powerful one.  Our patients are doing will with this approach.  From the risk to benefit perspective and cost to benefit perspectives, weight loss with HCG is the best technique available in medicine today.  However, it is important in all patients, and critical in those on pharmacologic therapies, that the HCG protocol be carried out under medical supervision.  If you don't believe me, look through our case studies.  Medication requirements will plummet, and if we are not on top of this, you could suffer from hypoglycemia, low blood pressure, or dehydration.  HCG is a FDA approved pharmacologic agent, but it is not FDA approved for weight loss.  This means that the efficacy of HCG in weight loss has not been proven in a large scale study.  As HCG is now off patent, such a study will never be done.  The drug companies who are in a position to fund such studies are more interested in new molecules that can be patented.  Any investment made in proving the efficacy of HCG could not be recouped by sales of an exclusive agent.  There is nothing wrong or illegal in the use of HCG for weight loss.  We use FDA approved drugs "off label" all the time.  For example, Famotidine (Pepcid) is FDA approved to treat upper GI inflammation, but it also has been shown to be of great value in congestive heart failure (stimulation of Histamine receptors in the heart aggravates heart failure and Famotidine blocks the Histamine receptor).  Pentoxifylline, an old drug that is FDA approved to treat lower extremity vascular disease, has been shown in multiple studies to be of value in heart failure and atherosclerosis, by virtue of its ability to down regulate an over active immune response, to the strained heart and oxidized LDL, respectively.  Some of the best uses of old, low cost, off patent drugs are for their "off label" benefits.  Such is the case with HCG.

The Center for Medical Weight Loss Full Liquid Very Low Calorie Diet

In this approach, we calculate your daily caloric needs, and provide you meal replacements (shakes, soups, and bars - which by the way taste good) at this level minus 1000 calories.  You will lose about two pounds per week in a slow but steady fashion.  We will actually predict your six week weight and we will be awfully close to your actual result.  We will need to decrease your medications, but not as rapidly as within the Simeons protocol. Cost will be a function of your caloric needs, which will be a function of your baseline weight and body composition, but some of this will be made up in reduced prescription med co-pays, and you will not be spending any money on food (many people spend more on food than they would on our meal replacements).  Over 100 practices are using the CMWL protocol.  The number is growing rapidly, as the protocol is working..  We are the only CMWL certified practice in NW Ohio and we will make the protocols work for you.

The Center for Medical Weight Loss Low Calorie Diet.

Here you take in one, 500 calorie meal per day, making up the rest of your caloric needs with the liquid meal replacements.  Cost is a little less, and this approach fits in with patients who wish to still have one meal a day with their families.  Weight loss will be slower, about one pound per week.  As patients complete the Very Low Calorie Protocol, they will be transitioned through the Low Calorie Diet, and then into a maintenance program involving dietary choice and exercise, perhaps with the use of meal replacements a few days per week.

Anorectic Drugs. 

These agents, often referred to as "appetite suppressants", have a long history of safe use in the US.  The agents available today are not addictive, and when used properly their down side potential is minimal.  Public and medical perception of these agents was tarnished by the "Phen-Fen" fiasco, where the combination of an old drug, Phentermine, with a newer drug, Fenfluramine, was associated with a statistically increased risk of cardiac valve disease.  Fenfluramine is no longer in use and valve disease is no longer being reported, but nonetheless physicians who use these agents watch their patients closely for possible side effects.  From the risk to benefit and cost to benefit approach, anything that is reasonably safe that will help chronically overweight patients lose weight is a plus.  The use of these agents as a mono-therapy for weight loss is not in keeping with our philosophy towards health care.  However, we will prescribe these agents, as required, to help with hunger in individuals working with us within the Modified Simeons hCG Protocol.  Hunger is typically a non-issue in men.  In female patients, hunger is often an issue during week one, and then it resolves.  However, some patents, particularly younger women, experience marked hunger.  When this occurs, we will prescribe an anorectic agent (if we feel that they can be taken by the patient with a low risk of side-effects).  There is no need to torture yourself.  Weight loss is critically important to your health, and our job is to help you achieve this goal.  We will follow State of Ohio Medical Board Policy regarding the use of these drugs, and so must you (and you must sign a consent form indicating that you understand the potential risks of these agents and our policy towards their use).  Thus we will prescribe anorectic agents short term (Phentermine or Sibutramine), when needed, and only when needed, to patients participating in a comprehensive program.  For individuals who have achieved weight loss and are having trouble maintaining their weight due to difficulty with appetite control, Sibutramine can be used (but will require a monthly follow-up visit).  Patients eager to receive anorectic therapy as a first line approach will not be happy with our program and we encourage them to work with other practitioners who are more skilled than I in their use. 

Please Note - It is the position of the FDA and FTC that HCG has not been demonstrated to be effective adjunctive therapy in the treatment of obesity.  There is no substantial evidence that it increases weight loss beyond that resulting from caloric restriction, that it causes more attractive or “normal” distribution of fat, or that it decrease the hunger and discomfort associated with calorie-restricted diets.