Geering up for Phase 3 Part 2

These are some of the most frequently asked questions folks ask me about Phase 3.

"How do I know how much to eat daily while in phase 3?"

There is no set answer for that question. Everyone's needs are different. Our family does not count calories. We focus on healthy nourishing fats, proteins, veggies, dairy, and limited fruits. We eat until satisfied, not stuffed. I do find that if I do not eat enough foods, especially from the fat and protein categories, I gain.

Some people prefer to count calories. If you want to count calories find 2-3 online calculators that will figure what your calories needs are based on your current height, weight, and activity level. Average out these three results then shoot for about 200 calories LESS than what is recommended. Or if the recommendation is 1800-2000, shoot for 1800 and see if that is a good place for your body. You also need to consider that you will most likely need 60-65% of those calories to come from FAT, 30-35% to come from PROTEIN, and 5-10% to come from CARBOHYDRATES. These carbs will come from your vegetables, berries, and dairy while in phase 3.


What does a daily menu look like for phase 3?

Breakfast: 2-3 eggs fried or scrambled in a couple tablespoons of butter. 2-3 pieces of bacon. Whipping Cream in your coffee.

Snack: ONLY if you are hungry: ½ cup of yogurt and a couple tablespoons of fresh or frozen berries.

Lunch: Large serving of protein cooked in fat. Vegetables, if steamed add 1-2 TBSP of butter, if fresh slather with olive oil dressings.

Snack: ONLY if hungry: protein: like hard boiled egg, leftover chicken or beef, or 1 oz of cheese, etc.

Dinner: Same as lunch.

Snack: ONLY if you are hungry. ½ cup berries fresh or frozen with ¼ cup whipping cream and sweetener.

Here is a starter list of foods to consider. It is not inclusive of EVERY food that is good for phase 3 but hopefully it will help you to think through which foods might work well in phase 3. Each person can be slightly different so make sure to listen to your body. If you experience stomach distress, or don't feel right after eating a particular food you MIGHT be sensitive to that food. So leave it out for a while then add it back in again and see if you react.

Fat: butter, coconut oil, and lard for cooking. Olive oil and no sugar mayonnaise for your salad dressings. Once again, make your own dressings because most store bought dressings have sugar/high fructose corn(hfc) syrup in them. Avocado is a fabulous source of fat! 

Protein: eggs, bacon, sausage (no sugar), all forms of beef, chicken with the skin on, fatty fish or lean fish swimming in butter, all forms of pork.Do not buy precooked, seasoned meats or lunch meats unless you are very careful about reading labels. Many of these meats like: beef jerky, lunch meats, ham, rotisserie chicken, etc are injected with sugar and starch, not to mention they usually have a LOT of salt which can cause water retention. 

Vegetables: greens, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, basically any vegetable that is not high in sugar or starch. Avoid carrots, peas, potatoes, and winter squash until Phase 4.

Dairy: whipping cream (in coffee or whipped up over fresh/frozen berries), butter, full fat sour cream, full fat yogurt, full fat Greek yogurt, or full fat cheese. Do not drink milk during this phase, milk has too much natural sugar in the form of lactose. You must make sure that any dairy you do use does not have ANY ADDED sugar. All dairy has some naturally occurring carbs/sugar. So read the ingredient list, if no sugar/hfc is added then you can TRY it!

Fruit: start with berries while continuing with all your phase 2 fruits, then add in other lower glycemic fruits. Avoid melons, grapes, banana's, tropical fruits, and other high sugar fruits until Phase 4.There are many lists online of the glycemic index of fruits, choose the ones that are lower in sugars. If you choose those in the medium range just have smaller portions and see how you do with them. 

Nuts: use cautiously and in moderation. Like no more than 1 oz a day.  Make sure to measure, not just crack open a bag and EAT. Many find that nuts can be almost as hard to control as potato chips were pre-hcg. So be cautious. I prefer to choose nuts like macadamia, pecan, walnuts, and almonds. Some nuts work better than others for different people, so you'll have to try a little of those you prefer and see how they work for you. I do not recommend peanuts nor peanut butter early on in phase 3 b/c of their higher starch content. So if you add it in, do so in small amounts and very cautiously to see how your body will respond.

What are the good foods that I might have to use with caution?

This list is not inclusive of all the phase 3 questionable foods but it will be a start for you. These foods should be used with caution and in small amounts until you learn what your body can handle and maintain well.

Nuts: start with no more than 1 ounce a day
Fruit -- berries are usually fine but other fruits can be problematic.
Cheese -- start with no more than 1 ounce a day, then gradually increase.
Milk -- usually the high sugar content causes gains so it is best to use very little or avoid all together until phase 4.


Why can't I lose weight in Phase 3?

Dr. Simeons says that if we lose weight in phase 3 it is normal fat, NOT abnormal fat. You must not drop below -2 of your LDW. If you do, add in a piece of fruit. If you add in fruit and continue to drop then see where you will land. Some do settle into a weight that is within -5 of their LDW, just like some settle into a weight that it +5 of their LDW. BUT don't drop too much or you will be losing NORMAL fat that your organs and muscles need to be healthy. It is important especially in phase 3 to maintain your weight within that 4 pound window to finalize the resetting of the hypothalamus.

When do I correct with a steak day or other correction day?

On the day of your last dose you will take your hcg in the morning only and weigh. That weight is called your Last Dose Weight (LDW) or Last Injection Weight (LIW). This weight is REALLY important during phase 3, phase 4, and for lifetime maintenance.

If your LDW is 155. You are in the "zone" if your weight is between 153 & 157. If you wake up and weigh and you are 157.2 you do a correction day. If you wake up and your weight is 152.8 you add a piece of fruit. Do not stress if your weight bounces around in that 4 pound window. Dr. Simeons tells us this will happen, it is completely normal and is why we eat no sugar or starch for 3 weeks. A high fat, protein, veggie, diet allows the weight to stabilize easier. Throw in sugar and starch and you will be a mess!

The only correction days mentioned by Dr. S are what we call the Steak Day, or the High Protein day. Here is a copy of what Dr. Simeons says about them in Pounds & Inches:

Skipping a Meal
As long as their weight stays within two pounds of the weight reached on the day of the last injection, patients should take no notice of any increase but the moment the scale goes beyond two pounds, even if this is only a few ounces, they must on that same day entirely skip breakfast and lunch but take plenty to drink. In the evening they must eat a huge steak with only an apple or a raw tomato. Of course this rule applies only to the morning weight. Ex-obese patients should never check their weight during the day, as there may be wide fluctuations and these are merely alarming and confusing.
It is of utmost importance that the meal is skipped on the same day as the scale registers an increase of more than two pounds and that missing the meals is not postponed until the following day. If a meal is skipped on the day in which a gain is registered in the morning this brings about an immediate drop of often over a pound. But if the skipping of the meal - and skipping means literally skipping not just having a light meal - is postponed the phenomenon clues not occur and several days of strict dieting may be necessary to correct the situation.

Most patients hardly ever need to skip a meal. If they have eaten a heavy lunch they feel no desire to eat their dinner, and in this case no increase takes place. If they keep their weight at the point reached at the end of the treatment, even a heavy dinner does not bring about an increase of two pounds on the next morning and does not therefore call for any special measures. Most patients are surprised bow small their appetite has become and yet how much they can eat without gaining weight. They no longer suffer from an abnormal appetite and feel satisfied with much less food than before. In fact, they are usually disappointed that they cannot manage their first normal meal, which they have been planning for weeks.

Protein deficiency
Here too, the explanation is quite simple. During treatment the patient has been only just above the verge of protein deficiency and has had the advantage of protein being fed back
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into his system from the breakdown of fatty tissue. Once the treatment is over there is no more HCG in the body and this process no longer takes place. Unless an adequate amount of protein is eaten as soon as the treatment is over, protein deficiency is bound to develop, and this inevitably causes the marked retention of water known as hunger-edema.
The treatment is very simple. The patient is told to eat two eggs for breakfast and a huge steak for lunch and dinner followed by a large helping of cheese and to phone through the weight the next morning. When these instructions are followed a stunned voice is heard to report that two lbs. have vanished overnight, that the ankles are normal but that sleep was disturbed, owing to an extraordinary need to pass large quantities of water. The patient having learned this lesson usually has no further trouble.

Me talking here, if you end up needing to do a CD RIGHT after starting Phase 3. I would highly recommend that you do the protein deficiency correction day as described above with the eggs, meat and cheese.

There are also many correction days that users of hcg through the year have developed. I purchased a Corrections Day e-book from:

http://www.thehcgshop.com/shop?page=shop.product_details&category_id=36&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=88

This corrections day book is very detailed and is well worth the purchase. If you don't want to invest in the book you can get a list of alternate CD's with very brief descriptions from this yahoo group:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/HcgDieters

Go to their files section and you will find a list of Alternate Correction Days there.

My favorite CD's are: Greek Yogurt, Over Easy, Protein Shake, Egg, and Chicken. My least favorite is the Steak, though it works fine usually.

Do I start introducing these foods slowly or just charge into the phase 3 diet?

You have been consuming very few foods and calories, virtually no fat for months now. Yes, you have been burning fat, but no digesting fat. Most people when they start to eat the high fat diet that phase 3 requires end up with digestive distress. It is wise to have on hand a good digestive enzyme designed to help with the digestion of fats, it should have lipase in it. You will want to take these for the first few days or as needed while your body adjusts to the phase 3 diet.

Coconut oil is the easiest oil for the gallbladder to process. I recommend starting with small amounts of this oil added to your eggs at breakfast as well as your lunch and dinner meats. As time goes on increase the amount of oil and butter you are using daily. If you do not increase fast enough you will gain. That is why the digestive enzyme is really nice because it allows your body to process the fats you need to maintain well.

So, are you ready to start phase 3 now? Please add any questions you may have that I have not answered to the comments. I'll do my best to answer them and my even add them to this post for future viewers.