Everyone has a ‘risk muscle.’ You keep it in shape by trying new things. If you don’t, it atrophies. Make a point of using it at least once a day. ~ Roger Von Oech

Way back when in early 2007 there was a man that decided to try something new.  In essence, it wasn’t really “new”, but it was a new way of looking at an old thing.  He took a risk.  This man was Kevin Trudeau.  Now before you all go way off on a tangent about this guy, let me explain why I am mentioning him.

Kevin Trudeau took a risk, in fact, he has taken many risks over the years, but this one in particular brought back to life the miracle that is The hCG Protocol.

Way back when in April of 2007, he released the book The Weight Loss Cure “They” Don’t Want You to Know About.  In this book, he announced to the world that there was a fast, easy, natural, almost effortless way to drop weight that was designed decades ago by Dr. A.T.W. Simeons.

I don’t know how long this prize of a “diet” would have been kept under wraps had he not taken this information and distributed it world wide.  I am thankful he did.

However…

His path was substantially different than the original Pounds and Inches manuscript, which is fine, because even if different, it still worked, and worked well.  Shoot, we are way different people as a whole than we were way back 50-60 years ago, so doing different is A-OK.

What is probably most remarkable, is that even though most people doing The hCG Protocol don’t follow Kevin’s way, we as a community have adopted a lot of his terms.  For example, did you know that he was responsible for coining the 4 phases of The hCG Protocol.  Dr. Simeons didn’t call them phases, in fact, he didn’t call them anything at all.  I say the following with as much love as I can muster:  Kevin came up with phases to make money.

I assume his reasoning’s were altruistic.  I hope it was.  But the facts may say something different.  First, let’s break the phases down, according to Kevin’s book:

• Phase 1:  Detox or cleansing phase
• Phase 2:  VLCD (very low calorie diet)
• Phase 3:  3 weeks of no sugars/no starches
• Phase 4:  Lifetime (or until the next course of treatment)

It’s interesting to note that Phase 1 includes using products that were available on his site.  In his book he explains why it’s absolutely necessary to get your body into a state where the hCG Protocol could work its magic.

I don’t think that is true.  I don’t see how it could hurt, but it’s not absolutely necessary.  And it can add up to a big hunk of money.  The kind of money I usually don’t have around.  And plus?  I think The hCG Protocol is a cleanse and detox all on it’s own.  Don’t need all those other things, but that is my opinion.

ANYHOO, I digress, this article is about what is considered a course of treatment, which is what Dr. Simeons called it.  We call it a round.  Where we got that, I have no earthly idea.

Let’s go to the master, Dr. Simeons in his Pounds and Inches manuscript under Plan of a Normal Course (I editorialize in italics*):

• 125 I.U. of HCG daily (except during menstruation) until 40 injections have been given.  Stopping during menstruation is a topic for another article as I don’t feel it’s necessary.  Also, follow below for my thoughts on 40 days being a requirement.
  
• Until 3rd injection forced feeding.  My thoughts on loading.
• After 3rd injection, 500 calorie diet to be continued until 72 hours after the last injection.  My thoughts on the 72 hours we call Limbo.
• For the following 3 weeks, all foods allowed except starch and sugar in any form (careful with very sweet fruit).
• After 3 weeks, very gradually add starch in small quantities, always controlled by morning weighing.

*I am the first to admit that I have fiddled with The hCG Protocol, just like Kevin, but my fiddling doesn’t cost you a whole lot of money!  ::giggle::

Let’s talk a little bit about this whole until 40 injections have been given thing.  While it is true that this amount of time is optimal, it’s not necessary.  Look at what it says here under the topic of Duration of Treatment:

“We never give a treatment lasting less than 26 days, even in patients needing to lose only 5 pounds. It seems that even in the mildest cases of obesity the diencephalon requires about three weeks rest from the maximal exertion to which it has been previously subjected in order to regain fully its normal fat-banking capacity. Clinically this expresses itself in the fact that when in these mild cases treatment is stopped as soon as the weight is normal, which may be achieved in a week, it is much more easily regained than after a full course of 23 injections.”

Look at that, he calls even a 26 day round a full course.  So it stands to reason that you can do a SHORT course as per his instructions with NO issues.

With The Biz Buzz method (yeah, I am going to start calling it that) you can choose either a long course or a short course with no issues.  In fact, my cycling theory deals with doing short courses with short breaks, and even though I have written an article about it, that article is sadly outdated and needs to be rehashed with new information.

So to answer the question that titles this article, what is a course of treatment in The hCG Protocol?  I start clients making a commitment of 26 days:

• 2 days of eating normally with hCG in their system (after the first round)
• 1 day VLCD non-effective dose (definition of “non-effective” found here)
• 20 days VLCD effective doses (definition of “effective” found here)
• 3 days of limbo

Then it’s up to them whether or not to continue, choosing each and every day if they want to stop or not.

Lather, rinse, repeat.  ::giggle::

Is that as clear as mud?  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comment section.