HCG causes the release of 1500 to 4000 calories into your bloodstream per day (per Dr. Simeons' manuscript). Added to that are the 500 calories you are eating on the Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD), which comes to 2000 to 4500 calories per day your body is using for fuel. If you attempted to lose weight by only eating 500 calories it would backfire because your body was created to survive. It would make your body think that you were living in a famine and it would begin to convert incoming calories to fat to store away for fuel. But when you add HCG to the equation, the body readily burns the fat released from abnormal fat cells, which satisfies the need for more fuel and therefore eliminates hunger.