HCG Diet P3 & P4
 

This is for those of us going from P2 (the VLCD) to P3 and P4.

In P3 we're supposed to stabilize our weight and weigh ourselves ever day and take drastic measures if we gain two pounds (steak day). Some people have said an egg day works better (just all eggs, all day). Some are saying to add foods back slowly and notice if any make your weight leap up. If they do, consider that they may be foods you have an intolerance to.

Going from P2->P3 I have heard it's wise to ramp up the calories a little slowly. It should be easy for us since it is essentially a low carb diet, right?

I'm doing it a bit differently this time, in that I am travelling without access to a consistent scale. So, I will have no idea if I leap up a pound or two or five.

But, I have done P3 twice before. And here is what I learned: my weight does leap up and then back down when I start developing a new eating routine. My first three days of P3 are typically 1-2 pound gains each day. But, then I start to go back down to where I was. And I can settled into a comfortable groove.

I have been a lifetime LC-er for a few years now. So, that part is not hard for me. And if I do have a day or two where I go completely off the reservation from food cravings (yes, I get wild cravings when I start eating again), those usually go away after a day or two of normal LC eating, too.

So, to start P3, I add back in breakfast and coffee with cream and even snacks. But after a week or two, I start cutting back out the snacks and try to get back to IF.

For some reason, I can't transition straight from P2 to IF. I get hungry, cravings, nausea, etc.

During my two "weaning off the hcg days" I do eat more than 500 cal. I tend to go to "eat to hunger" with extra protein and no fruit.

I've been trying to figure it out. Was p2 was the 500 cal? What is p3 and p4?

thanks, watching your progress, impressed!

P2 is the 500 calorie portion of the diet. It is the only part of the diet that involves hcg.

P3 is the first three weeks of NO "starches nd sugars," or, as Dr. S called them 40 years ago, "the so-called carbohydrates." Many people just follow Atkins induction for this phase.

P4 is where you can begin to introduce various carbs to the plan to see how your body responds, and develop lifetime maintenance eating. This can be much like following Atkins carb ladder, except there are really no "rules" about which order to add things in.

(P1 is a detox phase created by Kevin Trudeau, and most people don't do this phase. It is not a part of Dr. Simeon's original protocol.)

Thanks for the compliment.

I'm following your progress, Ducky! Can't wait to see how you do.

I'm starting my transition on Saturday, that's my last day of dosing. will do 500 calories that day and then increase it to 750 on Sunday by adding fat and then another 250 calories of fat the day after. I did this as a transition to my last P3 cycle and it works well (although I have trouble getting the calories up, just not hungry!) After the 3rd day I have to increase protein a bit or I start to bounce up. Like faduckeggs I tend to IF in P3 as I am not a big brekkie eater, just do coffee and coconut milk in the morning.

Looking forward to this P3 as this time there's no freaking holiday to mess with my progress!

btw, for correction days if you go to HTA and check out the store there is an ebook on correction days and it has 12 versions of correction days that have been tested and found to work.

HTA is what? Do you have a linky? Oh! Just googled HTA & HCG and found happily thinner after. That must be it.

That's it. there are a bunch of us from here in the journals section (you need 15 posts to request access) where there is a ton of support and lots of advice from more experienced hcgers, if you are interested. (btw, hta doesn't care if you 15 posts are all "Hi,this is who I am" in the intro sub forum)

faduckeggs thanks for the explanation, all this time I thought p1 must be the loading phase.

NM! found it.

I've been on P3 since December 27th, getting ready to go back to P2- loading tomorrow! Feel free to check out my journal. I eased into it, increasing protocol proteins and adding fat. After the first couple of days, I was following Atkins induction by the book. My weight was very stable until TOM came along.

I'll be following your progress. Will be in P3 by mid February.

So far I over-ate on my trip and gained four, and I'm working on bringing that back down. I did meat and eggs yesterday. Today is regular lc. Tomorrow i will do meat and eggs again if need be.

I am so enjoying coffee with hwc again.

Today was ham cheese lettuce wraps for lunch. Dinner is chopped salad, mashed cauliflower and skirt steak. Plus coffee and cream all day.

Oh man, I am so jealous of you P3ers!

LOL Nancy

You will be there before you know it..You are ahead of me and weight lost..I am just getting started..so I am Jealous