My initial words of wisdom in this report are that often times, in fact a great deal of times, failure to lose weight is not due to the frequently-berated involved dietary supplement but rather to the users of these agents.  (We touched upon this aspect in #2 report in this series, “if you don’t comply, don’t complain.”)  Nowhere in the above statement is there more truism than in contemplating the merits of Garcinia cambogia and its active component hydroxycitric acid (HCA).

Complying brings out a great deal of the tease provided by Garcinia mention in the last report. The tease being the wide range of results found when dealing with its effectiveness as a weight loss agent. Among reports from a plethora of studies, effectiveness and ineffectiveness seem to alternate back and forth. Suffice it to say, this is true as well for the experience of a multitude of individuals purchasing the product and trying it on his/her own.  The variations in responses are especially extremely common in the case of Garcinia.

Regarding Garcinia, one fact is extremely important — the surplus of pounds lost in the better-performing trials occurred preponderantly after the initial two weeks.  Worth reemphasizing, when dealing with Garcinia’s ability to produce weight loss, this is not usually noted during the initial couple of weeks and any appetite suppression experienced with HCA is subtle and may not initially be apparent. The decreased tendency to snack between meals and at bedtime may be too subtle and so, disregarded.  Thus, in any clinical trial using Garcinia, a significant weight loss may take place, but not in the earliest time period.  Unfortunately, the “weight-loss goal” is further lost because the involved individuals believing that nothing is really happening  become lax in maintaining the protocol.

Two reasons appear to be responsible to explain the poor scale weight loss during the initial time period —  one being better hydration and the other the replenishment of glycogen stores.  In the first case, based largely upon animal experiments, HCA has been noted to more wholly hydrate body tissues, that is, to lead to sufficient moisture amassed in the tissues.  The potential here is for better overall health, and some believe this phenomenon can create better athletic performances as well.  However, the added weight results in marked discouragement.  In the second case, it is well established that many individuals, particularly those who have accumulated too much fat over time, have diminished stores of glycogen in the liver and muscles compared to corresponding healthy lean persons.  Replenishment takes place during the initial experience with Garcinia cambogia.  While a good occurrence “health-wise,” this also strengthens the poor desired outcome “scale-wise” in the minds of the involved individuals.

So, diminished weight from fat loss is counterbalanced to begin with by the added weight from tissue hydration and increased glycogen concentrations in the liver and muscles.  Nevertheless, there are other means to determine the improvement in overall measurements of body composition.  Replacing weight loss measurement with changes in body composition, namely body fat values obtained from DEXA is one answer to provide the first signs that the HCA supplement is working. Obviously, this is realistically available only to those engaged in some clinical research studies. As a crude substitute, dress size diminishes while belt gets pulled in a notch even though the scale may not be registering any changes.  Unfortunately these alternative approaches are not commonly considered.

Concerning the preceding information, since the scale weight, more often than not, controls the progression of the desired regimen, the subject steps upon the scale, sees little or no weight loss, discouragement usually follows as does less attention to all the original goals.   The “weight loss regimen,” as commonly stated, “goes out the window.”  To sum-up by repeating the opening of this report, failure to lose weight often is not due to poor performance by the involved dietary supplement but rather to that by the users of these agents.  Regarding Garcinia as a weight-losing tool, users have to become familiar with the various foibles involved with employing this supplement before making the determination of efficacy.