HCG P3 Tips – How To Stabilize in P3
Congratulations! You’re nearly done with your round of HCG, but you’ve heard so many stabilization woes on the forum that you’re terrified. Relax. It’s not hard if you follow these HCG P3 tips, and you need to remember that what we see on the forum are mostly problems because those who are sailing along have no need of advice. But the majority or people enter P3 and settle at their new weight without a problem. Here are few tips to make sure you’re one of them.
First, make sure you have been on HCG long enough. In general, it’s easier to maintain your weight loss if you go at least 30 days. Make sure you have been on HCG at least 23 days. That’s 23 days actually on the HCG. It doesn’t mean the 48 to 72 hours after you stop. So on a prescription HCG round, it’s actually 26 days including those 72 hours. There are way too many clinics and homeopathic sellers who give wrong information about this, and it’s a very important point. Pounds and Inches says your hypothalamus needs this long to rest before it gears up to work properly. So there is no getting around this very important fact. You really must stay on long enough unless you want to run the risk of having to redo the round.
For homeopathic HCG, you wait 48 hours after your last dose of HCG before starting P3. For prescription HCG, you wait 72 hours. It’s easiest if you take your last dose in the morning so you can start P3 with breakfast. Go into P3 gently and don’t add everything at once. The base cause of much of our weight problems can be hidden food sensitivities. Most likely culprits are soy, dairy, wheat and eggs. So look for salad dressings in the refrigerated section that contain canola oil and not soybean oil. Add only one item at a time. If you’ve missed eggs the most, have an omelet for breakfast. However, don’t add eggs and dairy on the same day. Eat one of them for 3 days in a row and watch the scale. If you don’t experience any gains then add the next item. Repeat this process adding a new item every 3 days. I would never add back in soy. It affects your thyroid and can mess up your hormone balance. Hellmann’s makes a canola mayo too.
Your body is also craving good fats. Add back in fatty fish like salmon or tuna. Add in coconut oil and olive oil. At least double your protein because you have been skating near protein deficiency. Many people gain on protein drinks so eat real food not highly processed stuff. I usually recommend limiting fruit the first week as well until your weight has a chance to settle. If you notice a big jump in weight, examine what you’ve been eating because a large jump indicates inflammation and is a good sign of a food intolerance. Keep drinking plenty of water. Don’t make the mistake of eating too little either. Pounds and Inches talks about this issue. Too little food will cause your metabolism to lower and you may gain from that too. Don’t be afraid to eat when you are hungry. Eating a large breakfast with plenty of protein will go far in helping set your metabolism too.
If you gain more than 2 pounds above what you weighed the last day you took HCG, do the prescribed steak day. Don’t do a high protein day, yogurt day, egg day or any of the other myriad of alternate days. They don’t work nearly as often as the steak day prescribed in Pounds and Inches. If you have a dairy or egg sensitivity, they can even compound the problem. I actually love steak days. I can just feel my body detoxing from not eating. Steak days are not to be feared. They can help you in a lot of ways. A steak day is going all day with no food, only fluids like water, coffee and tea. Then for dinner eat a large steak plus an apple or a tomato. Most people lose about 3 pounds on a steak day.
A steak day is maintenance forever. It’s not just for P3. How wonderful that the good doctor gave us a tool to maintain our weight for a lifetime!
If you find that in spite of these precautions that you are steadily gaining, it is generally due to a hormone imbalance. Get yourself to the doctor and ask for a complete workup including a thyroid panel that includes free T3 and free T4. Your ranges should be in the upper quartile. Don’t let the doctor tell you “it’s normal.” Demand to see the blood tests for yourself and look to see if they are in the upper quartile. Also get your steroid hormones looked at: estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. There are some good books out that detail what the levels should be. Dr. Uzzie Reiss’ book Hormone Balance for Women is a good one. For thyroid issues check out www.StopTheThyroidMadness.com as well. It’s a really wake up call for how under-treated most of us are.
You can maintain your weight loss easily if your hormones are in order. Good luck!
Colleen is an author of more than 40 novels and novellas. When she isn’t busy adjusting HCG doses and advising about the protocol, she is busy with her other passion–writing romantic mysteries. She is a strong proponent of the paleo diet as well and loves to help people get healthy. Visit her website at www.colleencoble.com
