Thread: how do you deal with gaining from eating one or two dangerous foods?

The way I look at it, I can't go back to eating like a "normal" person...that is, eating high-glycemic carbs and junk food, because I know if I go back to eating what I did before, I'll end up looking like I did before. I don't see this as a diet, but a lifestyle change. I know if I eat certain types of carbs it will trigger a binge, so there are foods I just can't eat. I'm essentially a low-carber for life, but I've learned to make all kinds of low-carb goodies that keep me from feeling deprived. I know everybody's different and some can tolerate more carbs than others without a problem. You just have to learn what your limit is. May I suggest that for your upcoming loading days, you consume a lot of your calories in protein and fat, and limit the sugar and junk food. You'll gain less weight and have an easier transition into the VLCD. Good luck!

Sorry but I am a big crap eatter. I would rather eat a bag of Doritos then a ribeye LOL. I just know I can't do that and not gain again. I don't know the answer to your question because I am asking the same thing. Will I ever be able to eat like a normal person again. I don't mean to make a meal of chips and ice cream but will I be able to someday have a few chips or a scoop of ice cream. Lots of people can eat a piece of pizza without gainning 5 pounds, I am not one of them. I guess I will just eat P3 for life and if I do have a slice of pizza then do a steak day the next day. I guess that's the way to go from now on.

I'm wondering the same thing. I ate carbs (cookies, pasta) in small amounts on Christmas and New Years. I gained 10 lbs and weeks after it's not going down despite steak days, fage days, high protein, and total P3 eating. I don't want to have to do another round after a few cookies! I'm sort of disenchanted with hcg after that. I'm committed to a lifestyle change but don't think one bowl of pasta once a year is unreasonable or that some of my grandma's christmas cookies should be passed up.

Anyway, that's my rant. Sucks!!

So glad to find this thread! I am in the same boat! I stabilized great for 2 months in p4 (pretty much eating what I wanted) and then Christmas came and I went way overboard with the sweets, gained 6 lbs and have not been able to get it off. Same situation with the correction days, I'll do a FFF and lose 4lbs, then gain most of it back the next day. Granted, after I do a correction day, I do go carb crazy which is stupid I know. I was told on another thread to just eat "lean and green" after a correction day as if you are on p2 but larger quantities. The problem with that was that I didn't know what to eat for breakfast (since you can't have eggs) so I would skip breakfast and literally be ravenous by lunch and then just eat whatever I can get my hands on. Ugh. So I did a FFF day today in hopes of losing a few tomorrow and then I am vowing to not go crazy eating tomorrow. I'm also looking at starting the leptin reset Monday or Tuesday. From what I read it does work, I just wish I wasn't in this situation. I even considered going on a 3rd round to get the weight off. But I'll just do as much as I can to get this weight off. I've gotten really sick of the FFF b/c I've had to do so many correction days, but I found an awesome way to prepare the Fage. I mixed the FFF with a hand full of blueberries and z sweet in the food processor and then poured it into an ice cream maker. SO GOOD!!! Creamiest ice cream ever! Highly recommend preparing it that way. Well, glad to find this thread and hopefully we can all get these extra lbs off together! Take care!

Originally Posted by watercress

i have one more week left of phase 4. it's been so frustrating.
the first couple days were fine (added in a tiny bowl of pasta w/o gain), but then came my TOM...and yeah. i gained .2-.8 every day. then i couldn't stabilize at all, even after my TOM was over. it's been really rough. i've done two steak days. the first one took off four pounds (so lucky). i don't know how much the second one took off, but it brought me back down to my LDW. i don't know how much i lost because i didn't look at my weight that morning because i felt absolutely awful about a mini carb binge the day before.

but the day after my steak day—today—i'm up 2.4. it's always one step forward and two steps back, and it's killing me.

i feel terrible about the fact i can't have a few chips or oatmeal or pasta or bread without packing on the pounds. i don't want to do steak days every few days. and won't they eventually stop working?

also, i gain SOOO quickly that i'm afraid of gaining 10-15 pounds on my two gorge days for round two...

some people say that hcg just makes you MORE aware of what you gain when you eat things like that. but...i seriously could not have been gaining this much before. and if it's just water weight, then what's the big deal? why is it so important to have a steak day? won't you lose the water weight a few days later as long as you keep drinking adequate amounts? (sorry for my ignorance.)

this post is long and rant-like, but...what do you do when you keep gaining weight? how do you ever eat like a normal person?

I hope this doesn't offend you, nor do want to make any assumptions. I'd like to make some suggestions that I hope you take to heart. See a doctor and get tested for food allergies; You may have been sensetive to some foods all along but were unaware. Have your thyroid, cortisol and leptin levels checked;if your hormones are out of wack, you will always struggle with your weight. Is exersice part of your lifestyle? If you eat the pasta, are you willing to put in the exta time at the gym to burn it off? If not don't eat the pasta. From the very start of this process I knew I'd never be able to eat the way I did before and keep the weight off. It doesn't mean I can never have pizza, but it does mean I need to eat low carb pizza. I can't eat regular ice cream; I'll have to eat frozen yogurt. At first it takes a little more effort to find reasonable subsitutes but it is possible. I realize this is fustrating. I consider the protocol an opportunity to loose weight and find out what foods if any cause problems for my body. I plan to add on food at a time back to my diet to see how my body reacts. This may mean I may never again be able to eat certain foods. I have diabetes; I hope the protocol will reverse that issue. However if it doesn't I know sugar is the enemy. I'd rather have my eye sight than a piece of cake, or a bag of M&M's. I'd rather have use of my legs than a bowl of pasta. You have to put things in perspective.

m2nd---Amen! Well-said! I don't have diabetes yet, but I once had a doctor tell me I had a 6X greater than average chance of getting it, due to my family history and the fact that I had gestational diabetes. So I'm hopeful that losing this weight and maintaining a low-carb lifestyle will keep me from getting it. It really is worth giving up some foods to feel good, look good, and avoid a world of health problems down the road. And there are so many things you can make that are low-carb and delicious, there's no need to feel deprived!