Phase 2 tips for success - Part 2

Losing Pounds AND Inches

Please take a picture of yourself at the start of your round. One from the front and one from the side. You will be so encouraged to see how much your body will change each round even IF you don't lose a lot the inches lost are amazing. That also means you MUST measure yourself at the beginning of your first round post load. Measure every body part that you look forward to seeing shrink. :-) Some day soon I'll post my inch losses and you will see how exciting it is!

Make sure that you try on your "skinny" clothes often. I missed wearing many of my in-between sizes because I didn't try on clothes often enough. I have donated 10 bags of clothes between the sizes of 20 & 12 throughout my journey so far. While you are shrinking if your closet does not accommodate your shrinking self I would recommend that you visit thrift stores like St. Vincent, Good Will, and other local second hand shops. At the end of round 2 I went shopping, spend about $130 on a completely new wardrobe, shoes included. I'm talking 3 pairs jeans, 4 pairs dress slacks, multiple tops, sweaters, casual and dressy blouses, skirts, suits, and dresses. I have more clothes now than I EVER have and I got them very cheaply. I could not justify spending lots of money on clothes I knew I'd only wear for about 4 months. Some clothes I've bought along the way have already been re-donated. Since I only spent about $2 on each item, the most was $8 and that is usually for a brand new clothing item with the original store tags still on, I don't mind re-donating them.

Weighing Daily

In Dr. Simeons day he was seeing his patients daily for weigh in and injections. He closely monitored their daily losses so he could confront any cheating, inadvertent exposure to oils, or other issues. In my opinion, weighing daily throughout the first week is VERY important. The VLCD is so restrictive that it is very easy to feel sorry for yourself. BUT then you get on the scale and see the weight melting off!!! That makes every 100 g portion of meat over plain lettuce so much more worth it!

Now, if you are a VERY slow loser, some are, you might do better not weighing daily. For many of us losing weight is just as much a mental battles as it is a battle of the bulge. Throughout your weight loss journey you will have days that you do not lose, we call them mini-stalls or stalls, you will have days you have very small gains, and some days of very small losses. This can be hard for some people to handle emotionally. I recommend that if you KNOW you are not cheating, if you KNOW you are drinking your water, if you KNOW you are not exposing yourself to nutritional oils, if you head is fully in the gain then don't weigh daily. By weighing weekly after week 1 you will almost ALWAYS see a loss. There are some that experience long stalls that last 2 weeks or more, Dr. Simeons explains why in the protocol and I will talk more about stalls below. So, if you are totally into the phase 2 mode then go ahead and don't weigh yourself every day.

Stalls, Plateaus, and Gains

Guess what... EVERYONE experiences stalls, EVERYONE usually has tiny gains, and EVERYONE will reach a point where they think they have plateaued. People usually head into this protocol thinking... "I'm going to lose 1 pound a day EVERY day" because of how the homeopathic websites promote the protocol. For most that is NOT true. Most of us experience all the above at one time or another. Remember, Dr. Simeons tells us that men can average 1 pound a day loss and women usually average .5 a day. The problem is most of us lose at least 1 pound a day during the first week and we expect it to continue. BUT Dr. Simeons says that if you are averaging 1 pound a day most hit a stall. It is like the body has to catch up to the quick losses.

I tell people to expect to lose a lot the first week, then EXPECT it to slow down. EXPECT to have slight gains, and EXPECT to have stalls.

Why do gains and stalls happen?? Sometimes they just DO. Sometimes you have done absolutely NOTHING wrong. So why then? Hormone fluctuations, time of month, ovulation, water retention due to exercise, sunburn or not drinking enough water, stress, lack of sleep, etc. These are some of the things that can cause slight gains or stalls.

Bottom line... RELAX, when it happens, just move on and know the scale will start moving downward when your body is ready for it to. There are NO correction days for gains in phase 2. You can do an apple day if your stall lasts longer than 5 days BUT many find that apple days do not work.

Cheating

First allow me to define what cheating is on this protocol. Cheating is taking one bite, lick, nibble or pinch of any food that is NOT on the food list or eating MORE than is allowed on the food list. Cheating is Cheating. There is no way to correct a cheat other than forgiving yourself and committing to doing the protocol right from now on. You MUST NOT allow a cheat to cause you to spiral into a binge. WALK AWAY FROM THE FOOD! Go to your computer and read, re-read and focus on the protocol. Go to some hcg yahoo group and look at before and after picture. Determine in your heart and mind that cheating again is SO not and option for you. Then MOVE ON!

When you cheat you may GAIN 2 pounds or more over one bite of macaroni and cheese, one cheese stick, and extra apple, an extra melba, etc. AND it might take you 3-7 days to lose it then start losing more. So, is it worth it???? Some cheat and are lucky, they don't gain.... right away. My son is a cheater. Some days when he cheats he will still lose BUT after several days of cheating in a row he will eventually gain and stall.

This protocol is strict,YES! BUT it is only 40 days... common... you can do anything for 40 days..... especially if it leads to you shrinking right?! DO NOT CHEAT!

Make up, Bath & Body Products, Lip Balm

In Dr. Simeons day body products and make up were made from real food items. Today the majority of our bath and body products are made from chemicals. You can use any product that do NOT have nutritional oils or food items as one of the ingredients. That means if you see coconut oil, almond oil, crushed almonds, sesame oil, Shea butter, honey, sugar, etc. listed as an ingredient then you may not use it. Most of what you have in your house will be fine. Mineral oil is not an edible oil so it is fine to use. Most oil free make up's and lotions are fine but so are many others.

For now I think this post and the other cover many of the most frequently asked questions that folks have about the phase 2 portion of the protocol. If I did not answer a question that you have please post it below and I'd be happy to.