Chitosan Weight Loss Experiment Update

My second chitosan weight loss experiment shows that humans really can achieve the same spectacular weight loss results as the animal chitosan studies! But what would Sun Tzu (author of "The Art Of War") think about using this radical weight loss method to win the war against obesity?

Contents

Page 1
Background weight loss information.
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Page 2
The extended chitosan weight loss experiment.
Calculating the energy deficit.
Page 3
Closing remarks.

Quality chitosan & vitamin C is available at very competitive prices at WebVitamins:

Natrol Chitosan: 360 capsules (500 mg).

Twinlab C-1000: 250 capsules (1000 mg).

The Extended Chitosan Weight Loss Experiment

The appetite suppression that I described in my Chitosan Versus Xenical post seems to persist, although it may decrease a bit with continued use. Still, this is VERY good news because all the other appetite suppressants completely stop working after a short while. So in addition to lowering your energy intake by blocking fat, the chitosan/vitamin C combination is also, in my opinion, the best long-term appetite suppressant.

It is important to note that this weight loss method is only effective if you take rather large amounts of chitosan and vitamin C as described in my Chitosan Versus Xenical post. With low fat meals, I pretty much stuck with the "high dose" (2 gm vitamin C and 6 gm chitosan); however, if I felt especially hungry or if I was going to eat a meal with a lot of fat in it, I increased the dose to 3 gm vitamin C and 9 gm chitosan.

That's a pretty big dose and I found that side effects (diarrhea) can occur if you increase the dose too quickly. Fortunately, this only happened a couple of times, first thing in the morning. In fact, by increasing the dose slowly, I found that I could even take 4 gm vitamin C and 12 gm chitosan before each meal without any problems. By the way, this super high dose really whacks your appetite. Big time! Or should I say Ana time?

High doses of chitosan/vitamin C are amazingly effective. Despite eating a respectable amount of pizza and never allowing myself to go hungry, I lost 37 pounds during this experiment. Of course, I continued to take thermogenics (see my Thermogenic FAQ) to normalize my fat burning and prevent my metabolism from adapting to the lower caloric level.

Warning: the doses of chitosan that I discuss exceed the recommendations of most supplement manufacturers. See our Terms of Service for more information.

Sun Tzu
"The Art of War"

Calculating The Energy Deficit

Although fat blocking and appetite suppression account for most of the weight loss effect, there is another possible mechanism involved. Let's review the mode of action: the chitosan/vitamin C is dissolved by gastric acid (HCL) in the stomach resulting in an emulsion of chitosan, vitamin C, and gastric acid. This mixture gels in the small intestine, entrapping the fat droplets and preventing their digestion. However, this gel must make it through the intestines without breaking or leaking the enveloped fat.

As discussed in my Chitosan Versus Xenical post, this gel also envelopes calcium and other minerals, protein, etc. Perhaps Kanauchi et al. gave us an important clue about the size of the energy deficit created by high doses of the chitosan/vitamin C combination:

"We consider that this difference (3.4g/g compared to 6.3g/g) in oil-holding capacity between the in vivo and in vitro experiments depended on the existence of other nutrients (e.g., casein and sucrose)" [protein and carbohydrates] (1).

So, in a test tube, each gram of chitosan envelopes 6.3 grams of fat, but after a mixed meal, it gels and envelopes 3.4 grams of fat and about 2.9 grams (6.3 - 3.4 = 2.9) of whatever else is floating around. (This amount is really just a guess, given the limited data.) At any rate, a significant amount of protein and (probably) carbohydrate is enveloped (trapped) in the chitosan gel. I use the word probably because I'm speculating a bit beyond the research on the possibility of carbohydrate blocking. However, since the research clearly shows that chitosan reduces protein digestibility (3, 4), it is not too great a stretch.

Of course, this is not meant to be anything more than a quick and dirty estimate of the total caloric deficit, but lets take a look at a typical day during my extended experiment:

Let's say I took 6 grams of chitosan (plus 2 grams of vitamin C) before breakfast, a protein shake for lunch, and 9 grams of chitosan (plus 3 grams of vitamin C) before dinner because I was on the run and grabbed pizza or something. That comes to a total of 15 grams of chitosan for the day. When you look at the numbers, the amazing results that I obtained start to make sense.

Fat Blocked
15 g chitosan multiplied by 3.4 = 51 grams of fat blocked.
51 x 9 (kcal per gram of fat) = 459 kcal deficit.

Protein/Carbohydrate Blocked
15 g chitosan multiplied by 2.9 = 43.5 grams of carbs/protein blocked.
43.5 x 4 (kcal per gram of carb/protein) = 174 kcal deficit.

Appetite Suppression
(Estimated at 500 kcal per day)

Total
459 + 174 + 500 = 1133 kcal deficit per day.

So at this dose, the chitosan/vitamin C combination is reducing energy intake by about 1133 kcal per day! (And ECA prevents your metabolism from slowing down.) All conventional methods of creating anywhere near this kind of energy deficit would leave you extremely hungry and miserable. But the chitosan/vitamin C combination accomplishes this with no effort and little or no discomfort.

By all means, if you want to build character, stick with conventional weight loss methods. However, if you want to win the war against obesity, think long and hard about Sun Tzu's classic military advice on how to achieve victory:

"Anciently those called skilled in war conquered an enemy easily conquered. And therefore the victories won by a master of war gain him neither reputation for wisdom nor merit for valor. For he wins his victories without erring. Without erring means that whatever he does insures his victory; he conquers an enemy already defeated . . . Those skilled in war cultivate the Tao and preserve the laws and are therefore able to formulate victorious policies . . . Thus a victorious army is as a hundredweight balanced against a grain; a defeated army as a grain balanced against a hundredweight." -- Sun Tzu "The Art of War"

Can you see why we have been losing the war against obesity? Appetite is tightly regulated by genetic/biochemical factors. Trying to go hungry the rest of your life is unquestionably an excellent example of fighting a losing battle -- like "a grain balanced against a hundredweight." Sun Tzu would laugh at our incompetence. On the other hand, chitosan/vitamin C effortlessly achieves the same effect as dieting. Weight loss with thermogenics is also effortless -- thermogenics work on the energy expenditure side of the equation by normalizing fat burning.

At long last, we are finally able to adjust BOTH sides of the energy balance equation -- without unsustainable deprivation and marathon exercise sessions. As Sun Tzu might say, we are finally "able to formulate victorious policies."

Many people say weight loss supplements and drugs are a crutch and should only be used in extreme cases as a last resort. But if you understand Sun Tzu and the art of war, you will realize that this is little more than ignorance and prejudice. Perhaps this attitude is fueled by the misguided belief that ALL obese people make horrible lifestyle choices. But that is simply not true. Obesity is a real disease.

Perhaps these people need to be reminded of an important fact: if your leg is broken you NEED a "crutch." So when people say "What are you going to do, take diet pills for the rest of your life?" I say, most emphatically, YES! People with high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and countless other conditions take medicine for the rest of their lives. What kind of prejudiced nut case would expect us to fight the war against obesity without any weapons?

Chitosan Weight Loss Experiment Update

The Extended Chitosan Weight Loss Experiment

Calculating The Energy Deficit

References