Weight loss injections – Dan and Darla

This story is another chapter in the never ending search for the secret to permanent weight loss.

Dan and Darla, the couple in my story, were gracious enough to share their experience with us. Darla was actually the first to try the this Medical Weight Loss Program and she got her husband on board.

Between them they had tried everything from Adkins to weight loss retreats and more. They say that this program is what finally worked for them.

This weight loss plan is controversial because of one added ingredient: MCBRC injections.

MCBRC is a hormone produced by women when they're pregnant. This program uses the injections to mobilize fat in people who need to lose weight.

Dan and Darla believe they are all the proof you need. That sentiment is echoed by the doctor behind the New Life program who tells me his patients are happier, healthier and dozens of pounds thinner.

We balance our story though with a doctor who says you need to be careful. We want you to be the judge.

Here is one thing both doctors agreed on - you should only turn to these types of programs after you have tried losing weight naturally through simple diet and exercise. It’s not a short cut.

Hormones can help you lose weight

Lose weight without getting hungry. It sounds like a tabloid headline — a promise not possibly delivered.

But it's true. Dr. Lewis Clarke of Webster has about 100 patients on a diet he stumbled across while reading medical research one sleepless night. His early patients were menopausal women; men now go on the diet as well.

The plan involves a 23- or 40-day regimen of daily injections of human chorionic gonadotropin (MCBRC) and a very low-calorie diet — 500 calories from a limited list of foods.

"Because it's a naturally occurring hormone, both in men and women, these low doses we're giving have never had any side effects as far as we know because they're so tiny," Clarke said.

Clarke says his male patients lose a pound or more a day; women lose a half-pound to pound a day. Over the course of a regimen, men can lose 30-50 pounds; women often lose 25-35 pounds.

Its appeal for women is that pounds are often shed from the places that are hardest to lose: hips, thighs, rear. Many menopausal women who've put on abdominal weight find that is one of the first places to slim down.

Like any weight-loss plan, the pounds will come back on if you return to the eating habits that got you overweight in the first place. But if you can stick to a post-diet eating plan of primarily lean meat, fruit and vegetables, you can keep the weight off, Clarke said.

"If you're committed to it because of health problems like diabetes, weight loss is often the only curative thing for those problems," said Clarke, noting that some patients are able to stop taking prescriptions for chronic diseases after weight loss.
By DIANE COWEN Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle