Feb/Mar HCG Buddies

**natshea** · May 6th, 2015, 07:44 AM

Hi everyone!

I missed a lot!!! I tried to go back and reread the older posts. It sounds like some ups and downs. I must try oil pulling! That's why I love this forum. I get all types of good info.

Sorry, I fell off. I was traveling and finishing my school semester (I'm in grad school) so I was super duper busy! I'm so happy that I have a 2 week break before the summer semester starts up again.

Well, a quick update. I'm done with P3 and just started P4 on Sunday. So far so good. I didn't have to do any steak days. But I sorta stuck to the same type of foods - baked chicken, steak, grilled fish (a lot of fish when I was traveling), nuts, and veggies. I'm in love with coconut flour banana bread and the yonanas "banana ice cream" maker! Since P4 started, I've only tried to introduce popcorn and it was fine, no weight gain. I'm not in a rush to intro rice and bread. For some reason, I am not craving it. I'm ok with coconut flour and almond flour substitutes. Not that same but very close. If you haven't tried it yet, I highly recommend it.

It was TOM and final exams right in the middle of P3 so I was almost a nut case but I remembered someone on the forum was like make cocoa crack and try coconut bread. Those 2 things saved my big time!!!!! I had a big craving for pizza so I tried the cauliflower crust. I didn't hate or love it but it satisfied the craving so I just that was good.

I am slightly worried because I have a trip to Cabo coming up! We are staying at an all-inclusive...I'm not too worried about food per se because I heard the seafood is amazing and I love LOVE seafood. But I do like adult beverages!! I did drink wine and beer during P3 a few times and it was fine. But 9 days of "included" drinking could be a problem. Any advice??

I hope everyone has a good hump day!!
-N

**Leez** · May 6th, 2015, 08:36 AM

P3D18: Up a bit to 134 but still in my window. I tried having a proper dinner last night instead of a protein smoothie, and all came out well this morning (so to speak), so thats progress.

Congrats, natshea, on getting through P3 without any correction days. Pretty impressive as well, that you accomplished that while under a lot of stress with finishing up grad school.

**joannec1978** · May 6th, 2015, 08:55 AM

Congrats Nat! that is awesome

I lost the same amount as my last steak day. 2.6 I even ate a bigger steak this time. Let's see what happens tomorrow though. Last time I gained 1.3 back the very next day. If that keeps happening I may just give up steak days and try something else.

**Candlecomforts** · May 6th, 2015, 10:29 AM

Today is P4D3 & I'm exactly at my LDW. I did have a "gain" this morning but it brought me right to my LDW.

Has anyone used Coconut Palm Sugar? I've read some info that says it's extremely low on the glycemic index and is a great alternative.

I hope everyone is doing well. I leave for NJ in seven weeks. A friend loaned me a workout dvd "30 Day Shred with Jillian Michaels". I'm going to *attempt* it. I've not been an 'exercise' type of person so I'm not sure what will happen. I'm also not sure if/how I should modify what I'm eating when I start working out.

**Leez** · May 6th, 2015, 10:35 AM

Glad to hear you are doing so well, Candle

I love coconut palm sugar. It has a kind of caramelly taste but different than brown sugar. From what I've read about it, the jury is still out on whether it is actually low glycemic or not. Apparently, there is only one study on it, and that was done by the main company in the Phillipines that produces it. So no corroborating studies yet. I think until there is, I would use it like honey. A natural sugar that has some other nutritive benefits to it.

You might get a little hungrier when you add exercise, depending on how strenuous it is. Probably just adding a protein snack after your workout would be enough of an adjustment and help your muscles recover.

**grammy1952** · May 6th, 2015, 02:42 PM

I love coconut sugar too but I'm super cautious with it. You'll just have to see how it does with your weight.

**joannec1978** · May 7th, 2015, 07:00 AM

Ate clean the day after my steak and I'm back up 2.2 pounds!! What do I do when steak days don't work. I ate dinner later than I should have last but I had to work late. I'm really upset. I'm 4 pounds over LIW. I do great in my rounds but always have such a hard time after. Only my first round was I able to stabilize. So frustrating.

**Zami** · May 7th, 2015, 07:49 AM

Good morning Ladies! Well, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Thank God. I gained back 10 lbs, not the full 20. Today and tomorrow I'm loading again. Looking forward to feeling better again as well. The food is yummy and fun, but I sure feel better on VLCD. I'm using the solution from when I quit ... just to see if it still works. If it doesn't, I'll mix a new one and start over. I feel like I'm loading every day anyway. lol

Is anyone else starting P2 again pretty soon? I hope so! Or maybe more new people will join us.

I started a May/June HCG Buddies under Grammy's Groupies for anyone who wants to join me there.

**Leez** · May 7th, 2015, 08:18 AM

joanne: I'm so sorry. I know your pain and how helpless you feel when that happens. But like you said, some of that could be part of your late dinner that hasn't been processed fully yet. If I were you I would do a sane day of eating today and see if it resolves a little tomorrow.

zami: Glad the damages were not as bad as you imagined. Good luck with your next round. I hope it is wildly successful. We learn a little more each time. Sometimes the HCG is already degrading after a couple weeks, for sure at 3. Maybe it would be good to pregnancy kit test it before using the old stuff again? (I don't remember how long you've been off.)

Also, I would like to respond that I will NOT be starting another round soon, nor hopefully ever!

*humbly asks forgiveness for gloating....*

P3D19: Edging up towards the top of my window a bit more today. I'm starting to wonder if I'm not eating enough, as there is no problem food to blame this creep up on. I'm going to try to be extra cautious about hunger cues today.

**joannec1978** · May 7th, 2015, 08:52 AM

Thanks Leez. Hopefully that's it. I'm been so good this time about reintroducing food so slowly. Have to keep positive. I just don't want to creep back up in the 150's ever again. I feel bad I didn't get to the 130's. I always like to have that extra cushion. Now my cushion is wearing thin lol

**Leez** · May 7th, 2015, 11:29 AM

Just a thought: When I faced that same problem with creeping gains that steak days no longer would fix last year, I was already a couple months into P4. I went into FMD and that stopped the gaining. Something about the food combining was likely a key for me. That might be something to try, or maybe THM (Trim Healthy Mama)--which is also food combining rules, but you can change up meal to meal rather than every 2 days like in FMD.

You can start anytime in P4, even right at the beginning. Here are overviews of both so you can get an idea about them:

FMD: http://www.chewfo.com/diets/the-fast...oid-food-list/

THM: http://savvyhomemaking.com/trim_heal...ew_start_here/

This next thought is a caution to everyone entering P3:
Could this be relevant to your situation?

Take a look at your last week of VLCD eating. Did you do anything extra to drop weight in those last few days? Something like a laxative, detox bath, apple day, mini steak day, omit fruits, water flush or avoid salt....anything that would have made an artificial loss? If so, look at what your LIW would have been if you didn't record that artificial loss. Sometimes, when there is a big struggle to stay in the LIW window, its because the LIW was recorded lower than it would have been without the extra measures. Then look at your P3 weight records and see if you aren't really stabilized at that somewhat higher weight.

If so, you may be fighting a battle with your body that you can't win. Your body may be going back to the loss number you would have had without the extra measures, and if you accept that, you may find that you've been perfectly stabilized all along.

No one really talks about this, but it's just something to look at if you can't seem to stay in the 4 pound window.

**Leez** · May 8th, 2015, 07:48 AM

P3D20: Back down over half a pound to 134. Thats a relief. That would be just like me to be working up to a steak day the last day of P3!

Except for my run-in with sorbitol/manitol, I've only had to do one other steak day this P3, and that was after the first week. So that seems pretty good to me. Of course, it would have been nice to sail through without any correction days, but this was one of my easier P3s.

Anyway, it won't be the last day of P3 for me, as I'll be extending P3 to now start testing my problem foods. Since I don't weigh on Sunday, I'll probably do my first test on Monday. I've seemed to have problems before with yellow cheeses, but not always white ones, so possibly the problem is a sensitivity to the annato coloring in the orange ones. To test that theory, I got a lovely organic white cheddar. So we'll see how that goes. I've lasered to death all the things I'll be testing already, but I probably will laser them again right before testing, since I don't think you can over-laser anything.

Thread: Feb/Mar HCG Buddies

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