Maintenance Phase Weight Gain: Alternative Correction Strategies

Congratulations! You’ve successfully completed phase 2 of the Hcg Diet and have maintained your losses during the 21 days of Phase 3 Stabilization.  chances are, you did one or more “steak days” to rein in any gains during those 3 weeks.  Now you face the challenge to continue on with healthy, disciplined eating to stay at your current weight.

A question often asked, is “Are steak days just for Phase 3 or can I use them going forward?” The answer is yes! You can continue to use the steak day tool to keep you in your range anytime your weight rises above your 2 pound gain window.   That is good news, and often the only tool needed for many people.

What is a steak day?

The protocol correction day is called “skipping a meal”. Most call it a steak day. It involves eating a large steak and either a raw apple or tomato for dinner and nothing else but liquids for the day. You can read everything the protocol has to say about steak days here.

The steak day is the preferred correction day for going over your 2 pound window in Phase 3, and the only one that is considered on-protocol.  There is one other correction specified for protein deficiency, also known as a high protein day.

The menu for this day is two eggs for breakfast and a huge steak for lunch and dinner followed by a large helping of cheese. This is the prescription for those that do not eat enough calories (specifically protein) at the beginning of their 21 day stabilization period, and start gaining right away.

What if I can’t do a steak day? Is there another option?

Some find that steak day doesn’t work well for them, or it stops working after a time. There are also times when you need to do a steak day, but its inconvenient either for the timing or because you aren’t prepared. This article will  provide some options you can try, collected from reports made around the HDI forums.

This is anecdotal evidence gathered through trial and error of alternate correction days that work as well or better than the steak day. The following list offers  methods that have multiple reports of success.

Linda Prinster’s High Protein Day

This high protein day is meant to be used when you are approaching your limit, but haven’t gone over it yet.  Drink lots of water throughout the day, don’t eat till lunch.  Have a whole can of tuna or chicken with mayo on lettuce or celery. Dinner is a big portion of protein with small salad and 0-1 carb dressing such as ranch. If extremely hungry in the morning, you can have 2 eggs. By following this menu, you can usually ward off a looming steak day.
Projected loss: about a pound.

 

Alternate Correction Days that work

The following alternate correction day options have been regularly reported to achieve losses of 2-4 pounds. All have enough calories to use in P3, although only the steak day and high protein day are on protocol. With all of these, drink water and other liquids during the day as well.   Be aware that if you choose a variation that contains something you are sensitive to, the correction day may not work or you could even gain.  I actually discovered one of my food sensitivities by trying the Egg Day. I gained 2 pounds.  So not a good choice for me!

Steak Day meat variation

Do the protocol steak day as otherwise written, but instead of a steak use a roast of pork, beef or lamb, short ribs, fatty ground beef, salmon, or dark meat chicken. Extra fat in the form of coconut oil, olive oil, butter and bacon can be added if you don’t feel the meat is fatty enough.

Chicken Thigh day

Bake chicken thighs with the skin on and eat till satisfied whenever hungry all day.

Chicken Day

Eat a whole 3-5 pound roasted chicken throughout the day. This is a really easy one, as you can get a cooked rotisserie chicken at most grocery stores.

FFF greek yogurt day (FFF = Full Fat Fage)

A quart of  plain greek yogurt (you can use  a non-sugar sweetener)  plus 8 oz berries eaten throughout the day can give as good a result as a steak day. If you can’t get full fat greek yogurt in your area, you can create it by adding 3/4 C. heavy cream to your quart of low or no-fat greek yogurt.  If you are sick of berries by the end of the day or have used up your quota, you can mix some coco powder into the greek yogurt instead.

Egg day

Eat up to a dozen eggs throughout the day. Boiled, fried, poached, deviled. Its all good. You can add mayonnaise, butter, cheese and sugar free relish.

Fat Fast day

Eat every two hours or so at around 200 calories, and stay above 80% fat at each mini-meal. Good choices are macadamia nuts, cream cheese bombs, lemon truffles or cocoa crack, avocado, mayo, butter, bacon, heavy cream. This is inspired by the Atkins Fat Fast which is recommended as a 3 day plan. As an HCG correction day,  you would only do this for one day,  as it is considered too low in protein to do for a longer time. Some 200 calorie meal ideas can be found in the What to Eat section of this blog page.

A variation of Fat Fast day is Nut day, which follows the same “dosing” rules, but each meal is made up of only nuts.

Apple/Cheese day

Eat 2 apples + 2 ounces of cheese at each of 3 meals for a total of 6 apples and 6 ounces cheese. Size and variety of apple does not matter. Choose any cheese you like or mix it up.  You can also divide this to 6 meals.

Hybrid Steak Day

Follow the same directions as for the protocol steak day, except you have either a protein shake or a cup of greek yogurt with 1/2 C berries for breakfast.

 

Leez’s tips for a successful correction day

Steak or animal protein correction days:

• It is fine to add cream to your coffee throughout the day. (Unless you are dairy sensitive!)  It doesn’t appear to affect losses and helps keep you satisfied while waiting to eat that big steak.
• Pick the fattiest, most highly marbled cut you can find. The fattier the better.
• Add butter, olive oil or coconut oil to your steak or protein, or make some coco-crack and have a bite or two for dessert after eating your steak.
• Don’t be afraid to sub a pot roast or some other fatty meat or even salmon for the steak. They seem to work the same.

Help your body process your correction day foods

• Get plenty of water, but don’t overdo it.  A half gallon is usually sufficient.
• Take some extra magnesium to help move waste out of your system.  If you don’t have it in supplement form, an Epsom salts bath is a good substitute.
• Do drink tea or lemon water throughout the day it helps you body release extra water your cells are holding. Dandelion tea helps your liver detox and it is also a natural diuretic.
• Do something de-stressing during the day: a refreshing walk, stretching, meditation, massage, soaking in a hot bath are all activities that will help your body release some weight.
• Get a good night’s sleep! Sleep is very important to the body’s digestive and detoxing rhythms.

Everyone’s body can react differently to these methods, so try any that sound appealing to you, but move on to another if your body doesn’t respond well.  Even if an experiment disappoints, we can always learn something from it that will get us closer to the best way to keep our weight loss results.

If you plan to order HCG, please consider using my
Diet Doc link or my NuImage link. I receive a small commission for each purchase using this link. (All HDI discounts and coupons apply.) I consider it an unexpected thank you from our site owner for the past several years I have spent volunteering my help in the HDI forums. If you have any questions about my experience with Diet Doc, please ask. I’m happy to talk with you about it. Read my full Diet Doc experience and review.