Thread: Preparing for P3: Clarifying the rules and approach

You'll likely find your hunger doesn't increase during the transition, because HCG will still be circulating in your system. But if you notice some hunger, you can increase protein and veggies if you like. Continue to follow the 500 calorie menu for the 72 hours. You're not in P3 until hour 73 starts.

In P3, you want to eat to your hunger and satisfaction signals. Eat as soon as you are hungry. Stop when you are satisfied---before you get to full.

Try for at least 1500 calories by the 3rd day (if you get there or beyond the first day that is fine), and then continue to add calories as your capacity increases, but always being aware to stop when satisfied. Slowing your eating will help you find that satisfaction point. If you have trouble, try taking a 10 minute break and then come back to your meal and see if you still need more.

4. Should I wait to add in dairy and nuts? I saw some comments saying to wait until week 2-3 of P3. In which case, my week 1 would just be protein, veg, healthy fats and some fruit?

If you suspect you have food sensitivities, this is a good plan. If you think you are fine with dairy and eggs, you can test one or the other right away. You don't have to delay adding anything, and many people sail through P3 without testing. My best advice is to test anything suspicious that you think may have caused bloating or weight gain in the past and enjoy the rest.

80-100 grams protein is sufficient. Add more calories with good fats.

The starch-fat combo is the one Dr. Simeons warns about. A little nut butter on your apple is fine in P3. Later, in P4, when you are adding some starches back in, it will be more important to be careful about fruit and fat. And even then, you can have any kind of berries with a fat meal and be fine.

Yes, you can keep your apple, have a banana, pineapple, whatever fruit you want. Being careful about the sweet fruits means don't eat them in giant portions. A small banana or half a big one is a good portion for a sweet fruit.

Here are some alternate steak days you can try:
Alternate Correction Days that work

So i slowly ramp up my calories in P3, with the aim of hitting at least 1500 in day 3.

Not exactly. That is a minimum just to give you a baseline requirement. Ramping up is not protocol. It is just a safer way to get to your full calorie needs than starting even lower, and staying low too long. You may be able to eat more right the beginning and if you can, that's good. Ideally, you want to be at your personal calorie requirement by day 3. The minimum guideline is just to give you an idea that you may need to eat more than you want the first couple of days. That is why making sure you are getting some fats at every meal is important...it helps get those calories up without a lot of volume, so its more comfortable.

I have observed that clinics and other HCG providers either do not understand the protocol, or they think they know better, so they've tried to mix in their own diet "wisdom" borrowed from whatever the current thinking is. After HCG, your metabolism is burning at a high level. You need to feed it enough, and quickly enough, or it will slow down. Ramping up calories tends to slow the burn rate, and then you end up stabilizing at a lower calorie requirement than you would have had you just eaten what you needed as you went through P3.

It is simpler than it seems. As you said, eat to satisfaction and keep an eye on the scale. Your body knows what it needs. The other thing I would add is don't let yourself get too hungry by delaying meals.

Just to make sure you are not doing a steak day prematurely, the steak day is required only if you are OVER your LIW. If you are just at it, hold off and see what happens tomorrow. Many times, the scale will back down from the precipice of doom and you can continue on without a steak day.

Should you continue, good luck on your correction day. Don't be afraid of apples, and don't be afraid to eat one with your fatty meat tonight. You won't lose any more by omitting it, and the fiber helps get the dense protein processed. Or have a tomato.

Alternate correction days are not protocol. They are just some strategies that have been reported to work for various people. I've had mixed results from the apple/cheese correction day. Sometimes have lost 4+ pounds, other times, closer to 1. So my takeaway from that is that its not so much what you eat on the correction day as why you needed it. If i have a 5 pound overnight gain, I tend to lose it with a correction day. If the gain has been incremental over a period of more than a few days, then I tend to lose only a pound or so.

Yes, if over your LIW its time to correct.

I have found steak days to sometimes be a welcome relief to the constant eating we have to do in P3 to keep calories up. Salmon is a fatty fish, but not super fatty. Use lots of butter!

No, you can't do 2 correction days in a row. You need 4 regular eating days in between.

Just go back to normal P3 eating. Some clean it up the day after a correction by sticking with proteins & veggies, but I've never found that to make any difference.