No Correction Day Needed on Phase 3
Becky's Basic Stats
- Height: 5ft 4in.
- Weight Loss on P2: 30 lbs
- Weight Loss on P3: 2 lbs
- Inches Lost on P2: 28 inches
- Inches Lost on P3: 3 - 4 inches
- Becky used hCG injections with b12
Show Notes
- Epic Bars - Becky's P3 snack
- Yeti Cups - Great for making your smoothies last longer.
- Read Robin Woodall’s book Weight Loss Apocalypse
- Rayzel’s Phase 2 Workbook - Becky recommends journaling throughout your hCG journey
BECKY'S EXPERIENCE WITH:
THE P3TOLIFE PROGRAM DURING PHASE 3 OF THE HCG PROTOCOL
What were your biggest concerns when contemplating going into P3?
Gaining weight back quickly was my biggest concern. I read how quickly your body can gain after going off HCG if you are not careful that I didn't want to go off of it. I was also concerned with going back to my old eating habits. I'm an all or nothing girl. I will go all in on a diet and hardly eat anything or say the heck with it and eat everything thinking I can never have it again.
If you were to explain to an hCGer in just a few sentences why the P3 program has been valuable to you, what would you tell them?
P3tolife was not just valuable but invaluable. I never thought about adding macros back slowly and gradually after losing weight before so your metabolism can adjust but it is genius and it works. I also never knew that you could eat so much food with so much taste and still keep the calories/macros low.
What did the P3 program provide to you that you feel like you didn't have before without it in past Phase 3s?
Well, this was my first time ever going on HCG so it's my first P3. But I've been on plenty of diets and never transitioned from diet to lifelong eating. Here is what this P3 program provided that I wouldn't have done on my own:
- Eat to hunger
- I never ate fat before not even to saute vegetables
- I found knew spices I never knew I liked
- Learned how to cook better and discovered I enjoy cooking
- Had a lot of variety in the past I would have just kept trying to eat plain chicken and steamed broccoli until I would get sick of it then cave into temptations
Did you have to do any correction days during P3 this time and if so, what do you think was the cause and how did your correction day(s) go?
I am still in shock that I did NOT do one correction day on my entire 3 weeks on P3!!!! I would literally close my eyes and take a deep breath every morning thinking my weight would be higher especially when I went into weeks 2 and 3 and to my surprise, it pretty much stayed exactly the same.
I lost 2 pounds during Week 1 and that's where my weight stayed 2 pounds less than my LIW. It never even got back to my LIW.
After completing the 3 week P3 I went on vacation out of state and came back weighing my LIW which was 2 pounds more than I had maintained during P3. So I had gained 2 pounds on vacation. I decided to go back to week 1 recipes and within 4 days I had lost the 2 pounds.
I planned out what I was going to eat on vacation and used the food suggestions on the vacationing video (epic bars, macadamia nuts, salads or bunless burgers at restaurants ) and felt like that went well.
However, I did drink alcohol and I learned that I was not ready for that yet. I overdid it on our last night and then made bad food choices. I think all of my 2 pounds came due to the alcohol so I have decided for now that it is not worth it. I may have a glass of wine now and then but I can't drink hard liquor anymore.
I think knowing that I could always do a steak day and had even planned on doing one on P3 gave me a piece of mind but I never had to actually do it. I even prepared by watching your video. The one thing that really stuck out is when you explained that gaining a few pounds in a few days isn't all fat just like doing a steak day and losing a few pounds isn't losing all fat. For some reason that made a lot of sense and helped ease my all or nothing mentality that I used to have.
I almost didn't weigh myself the next day after getting back from vacation but I'm glad I did. For me when I do not weigh myself I start telling lies to myself then bad habits begin creeping in again. It's just one cookie, or one handful of goldfish, etc. I wasn't planning on losing the 2 pounds so quickly either which took the pressure off as well. I was gone a week and thought it would take an entire week to lose but to my surprise, it came off quickly.
Can you share your tangible results from following the P3tolife program? - how your weight has been, while following the P3 program?
My LIW was 135 after week P3 week 1 it went down to 133 and stayed there during pretty much the entire P3 program. It would sometimes go down to 132 for a day or two then back to 133 or 134 but mostly stuck at 133.
I did lose more inches during the P3 program as well. My clothes fit better now than they did at my LIW. In fact I wish I would have waited to buy new pants after finishing P3.
How did you feel about the portion sizes & taste of the P3 meals? Did the portions and taste of the food make any difference in how you felt about eating/relationship with food while on p3? If you still felt hungry, how did you adapt it to add calories?
First, the eating/relationship with food was huge for me on P3. I would never have thought that I could eat as much food as I did with fat, salt, etc.
I used to be a grazer and tried to eat something small every 2-3 hours but never any real meals. This used to work for me in the past but obviously wasn't working anymore. It was so nice to eat with my family and not just be a bystander. I would only worry about the needs of my family but not my own. I know I shared this before but my daughter even stated one night that I was eating with the family and not just watching. This was a huge moment for me because I grew up with a mom who did the same thing and I didn't realize that I was continuing her habits and that my daughter was picking up on the unhealthy habit as well.
I would modify the dinners I made for myself for my family by adding your P4 suggestions or adding in a potato, bread, fruit, a different veggie, etc. but it felt good to eat what my family was eating and to eat with them.
My husband said that his coworker was salivating over some of the leftover lunches he would bring to work. Too funny, if they only knew that they were healthy too.
Regarding the portion sizes and taste, I actually kept notes in my cookbook on mistakes I made, something but family didn't like but I did or if I did something wrong. For example on week 1's bacony egg cups I used 8 extra large eggs instead of medium ones and it made so much extra. Then I saw the * about egg size. I made a lot of mistakes during week 1 and learned to read through all the directions before beginning to put the recipe together.
The portion sizes were very filling. Sometimes I would have to listen to my body and not finish the entire meal. It was also helpful to sometimes eat half of my dinner's protein around 3:30/4:00 if I was going to have a late dinner.
I honestly never felt tempted either with treats. I teach and did P3 the last 3 weeks of school which is a time of a lot of birthday celebrations. I think one day I had 5 students from the school bring me a birthday treat. I knew that I didn't want that sugar taste in my mouth or my addiction would rise. I also knew that I was having a dessert smoothie later that evening so I REALLY wasn't tempted.
The P3 meals are amazing. I can't pick a number favorite meal they are all that good. I never used salt in recipes before and can't believe how much that adds to the taste of dishes. Nor have I cooked with many of the spices.
Curry for one I thought I hated and almost didn't make the recipes that had them in. Now it is one of my favorites. I also think the taste of the meals helped in me not feeling tempted. I didn't want to grab a convenient store snack or dinner when I had these delicious foods to come home too that were made with love.
Can you share a little about your personal life- ie work full time/part time, kids or hubby or school? Would love to hear how you made the logistics work of cooking the program with whatever time constraints you deal with. How did you manage to fit in preparing the meals with your schedule each week?
I am a full time teacher and did the P3 program the last few weeks of school before going on summer break.
I have 3 kids who are involved in sports so my weekday schedule was leaving at 7:30 in the morning, getting home around 4:30/5:00 and having a half hour before having to go to baseball. We had games 4 nights a week and even on some weekends. We would get home for the night around 8/8:30. My husband works 6 days a week and doesn't get home from work until 6, 7 and sometimes 8:00. So I pretty much do all the cooking and running the kids around. He was a coach so he would make it to the games but has never been able to help out much with the cooking. We have a deal that I cook and he cleans up.
I realized after week 1 that the modified meal plan is better for me at this busy time. I used both modified plans for week 2 and week 3. I did not get tired of eating the same lunch 4 days in a row at all. I felt it as a relief that my lunch was already cooked and I didn't have to go to a fast food place or not eat. I did most of my cooking on Sunday and if I didn't cook all of the food I made sure to cut up the veggies, put all the spices for the meal in a baggie and label, marinate the protein or put spices on the protein so all I would have to do when I got home from work was the cooking no prep. Doing the prep work ahead of time helped tremendously. I love the instant pot and never knew about it until your video. I now look forward to going back and cooking the meals that I didn't make on P3 now in P4. I don't think I'll ever get tired of them.
All the tools you suggest made cooking so much easier. I also loved my mini chopper (black and decker) to chop up onions, chives, cilantro, etc. quickly. Oh, and mini spatulas I would add to the must have list as well.
I didn't realize how boring I cooked so the prepping and cooking took me a long time I'm not going to lie. I am hoping the more I make the recipes the faster I will get.
I had actually purchased P3 before I even started HCG wanting to make sure that I could get one of your limited spots. I was actually going to go to a doctors clinic and try to get on HCG but luckily they didn't call me back until 2 weeks later and during that time I found your website. I know you hear this a lot but I can't thank you enough for all your information on your website.
After watching many of your videos and listening to other success stories I realized that I didn't want to rush into HCG. I feel you gave me more guidance than any clinic would have and saved me money as well. And for that I'm so grateful!
Ok back to P3. I tried some of the recipes before I received my HCG prescription and actually lost some weight. This also helped me get off my sugar addiction prior to starting the shots. I felt very mentally prepared and motivated when beginning HCG.
While on HCG I would watch the P3 videos and learned so much. I never knew I could learn anything from an ice cube tray video but a light bulb went off when watching it. I realized that my fridges automatic ice cubes were way too small to make the smoothies thick and creamy like in your video. When I got off hcg I went out and bought an old fashion simple ice cube tray and have never had a problem since.
Were there any positive results from following the plan that surprised you, that you weren't expecting? Have you learned anything new from the program?
The biggest surprise has been that I can eat regular delicious filling meals and not gain weight. Second, I was surprised that I had many misconceptions about food. You just have to listen to your body. If you're hungry at 8 at night have your dessert smoothie. I would have never ate past 6:30 in the past. Third I was surprised that I found cooking relaxing and enjoyable (when I have time for it of course). Last, the biggest surprise is that I'm using this as a lifelong way of eating and not as a diet. I will continue to mix and match all the recipes and look forward to P4 recipes to come out.
What were one or two of your favorite recipes in the plan?
Wow this is the hardest question to answer because I have more than 2. I actually wrote stars on the recipes-4 stars excellent , 3 good, etc. None of the recipes got less than 3 stars.
Top 2 would be fish tacos and both the Curry Dishes
My favorite sides were the rosemary butternut squash that went with the pork and the cauli mash that went with the steak.
Was there anything in the coaching section you found useful or that resonated with you and how so?
I found the trigger foods video hit really close to home and made a lot of sense. I never thought about my triggers that way before. I just thought I would lose will power. I have watched that video several times.
Any other closing thoughts that you want to share about your experience with the program, or that might help others considering whether or not to give it a try?
Everyone should give P3tolife a try whether they are coming off HCG or any other diet. I am still in shock that it worked and how much it has helped change my outlook on food and my relationship with it. Everything except the cooking is done for you. I think that the reason why I had never been able to maintain my weight loss when doing Weight Watchers or other diets was because I didn't know what to do when I made my goal weight or went off the diet. I only know how to diet and my metabolism didn't like that. It thought I was always going into starvation.
I would also tell everyone to make sure to watch all your videos even the ones that you don't think you need to watch. I learned something from each and everyone.
Make sure to continue to journal and weigh yourself.
What type of hCG did you use?
I used hCG injections with b12. This was my first round and I lost 30 pounds in 52 days. I could have kept going but knew I had a vacation coming up and wanted to make sure I was finished with 3 weeks of P3 and it all turned out nicely. So glad I did P3 when I did.
I would like to do another round of HCG but I need to build some muscle first.
Using your HCG workbook was a huge help.
Out of doing HCG and your P3 program I have learned so much about myself. I thought people were crazy by saying listen to your body but it's true. I also highly suggest that people plan ahead and read your program through a few times before beginning. I always looked ahead on my calendar and planned for roadblocks or busy times when I knew I would have to prepare ahead of time.