Verb's hcg Adventure, Phase 3

verb in CA · **Posted:** Sun Aug 21, 2011 8:19 am

Ahhh....steak for breakfast, and all is right with the world!

This morning I began the second part of my adventure, the oddly named "Phase 3" (which leaves everyone to wonder what, exactly, was Phase 1? The answer is that according to a modern-day follower of Dr. S, Kevin Trudeau, there is a Phase 1 that involved preparing the body for the diet phase, including a colon cleanse. Ick. I did not do that. So my, and most other people's, hcg diet started with Phase 2.)

If you'd like to read about my Phase 2, in which I lost 20.6 pounds, please see: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=39535&start=15

My account of my hcg journey begins on the second page of that thread.

Today is my first day of the stabilizing portion of the diet, in which one eats basically an Atkins early phase diet--meats, fats, low carb dairy and veggies, but no sugar or starches. You are supposed to eat low glycemic fruits, so I will try to ease into that. I never really eat fruits with Atkins.

For breakfast today, I had a steak! With butter! My first fat in six weeks, and my tummy is HAPPY! I'm a little afraid of regaining, but I'm going to try to do what the good doctor advised and see how it goes.

My LDW, or last dosage weight, is 174.2, and I am supposed to immediately "correct" if I get more than 2 pounds away from that.

Today I weighed in at 174.8, most likely due to the fact that I weighed more than two hours earlier than usual.

And now, off to church!

verb in CA · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2011 10:33 am

Good morning--Day 2 of my stabilization adventure. Weight: 175

I am easily within my two pound window (which is 174.2-176.2), but this gradual inching up by the tenth of a pound business is a little worrisome to me. It is normal--the weight fluctuates every day, and no one's weight is static day after day. It occurred to me that never in my life have I tried to intentionally maintain the same weight. Always, I've either been in total denial, actively avoiding weighing myself and probably actively gaining weight, or on some diet or other, or on some diet and cheating on it but being in denial about it. This is totally new, and scary, ground for me.

During hcg Phase 3, you are supposed to eat to your BMR, adjusted for activity. Internet wisdom has it that if you don't eat enough, you will gain weight. My adjust BMR is around 2000 calories a day, which seems like a TON. I figured it didn't make sense to immediately jump from 500 to 2000 overnight, so yesterday I ate around 1400 calories. Today I will shoot for 1600, and tomorrow, 1800. I definitely had an appetite yesterday, and enjoyed the heck out of my food, but was pretty full with the 1400, and was not wanting anything else. That makes sense--it's quite an adjustment for my digestive tract, I am sure.

Today I added a tablespoon of coconut oil to my coffee. It's said to be a metabolism stimulator, beyond having antimicrobial properties and being good for the skin. But it's also a great way to plug in 100 more calories and keep my diet high in fat. I also added half an apple to my breakfast of bacon and coffee. As I mentioned, I'm nervous about this fruit thing, but determined to do it according to the protocol. I figure early in the day is probably the best time to get that fruit in, and if I have it with fatty bacon and coconut oil, it isn't like to impact my blood sugar.

I'm anxious to see if I have a return to my normal potty habits. On hcg, I was down to about once a week from the *poo fairy,* which is crazy! But not really--there was so little food moving through my system. So that'll be interesting. Well--interesting to ME--not to anyone else.

That's it for this morning. Will check back in tomorrow!

ETA: OK, gotta laugh. Five minutes after I posted this, the...er...earth moved and all is right with my soul. Or at least with my guts.

allemrackie · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2011 3:54 am

Jessica, it seems your body is doing what it's supposed to. You are really learning a lot about yourself, what works and what doesn't. And, it's nice to have a little more to eat. I really admire the fact that you were able to stay so low calorie for as long as you did.

verb in CA · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2011 11:26 am

I shot up nearly 2 pounds today, and have to do a so-called "correction day." It's really inexplicable--I haven't even added cheese or dairy, much less iffy stuff like nuts. Arrrghhhhhh!

verb in CA · **Posted:** Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:25 pm

Happy to report that the correction day did its job. Back to 175 this morning, well in my window. Man, I just HOPE this isn't some terrible pattern where I have to do a correction every other day. I hope I'm just still "settling in."

allemrackie · **Posted:** Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:31 pm

Hi Jessica, it sounds like your body is just getting used to the new program. It obviously is working if the correction day did the trick however frustrating our bodies are!!

verb in CA · **Posted:** Fri Aug 26, 2011 10:00 am

Going to continue posting here as long as this board remains functional, since my "history" of this plan is here.

Yesterday I bounced back up to 176, but today I was 174.8. I like that! Maybe I'm finally going to get stable at this weight? I think the main thing was that I ate all meals at home. Eating out really sends the weight up, I've noticed. Gotta bunch of meals out planned for the weekend, so I'm going to have to be careful, careful, careful!

allemrackie · **Posted:** Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:25 pm

Restaurant meals are usually loaded with sodium sending our weight up just a bit but it's temporary. Glad you went back down so quickly, I think you are starting to stabilize. I will still keep up with you here as long as the board is working. Otherwise, we'll have to make a thread on the new board.

gooch · **Joined:** Wed Oct 01, 2003 4:58 pm **Posts:** 3710

You could copy and paste it onto the new board. I know ... a lot of work, but I don't know how long Jim and I are going to continue cleaning up this board.

verb in CA · **Posted:** Fri Aug 26, 2011 11:13 pm

Yeah, Linda, I was thinking about that. It wouldn't be THAT hard. Many posts are short, so I could condense them quite a bit.

verb in CA · **Posted:** Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:47 am

Just dropping in to say that I began Round 2 of this plan a week ago (so that means back to the very low calorie part.)

It's going well, and my weight is down to 170.4--only 5 and a half pounds from goal. I would LOVE to make it there in this round, and then live happily on Atkins at the higher rungs for the rest of my days!!

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Verb's hcg Adventure, Phase 3

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