You will read lots out there about people feeling that it’s bad/wrong to lose weight during P3 and that you must stabilize and maintain rather than continue to lose weight.
LOSING IN P3 NOT A PROBLEM TO ME
This is, of course, your personal decision, but personally, I have not seen losing weight during P3 to be an issue.
You will eventually stabilize and whether that’s now or in 6 weeks, it doesn’t matter from what I’ve seen.
ONCE YOU ARE READY TO STABILIZE, EAT P3 FOR 2-3 WEEKS
Where people run into trouble is if they keep losing but then when they get to a point where it’s time to stabilize, if they don’t keep eating well, then weight gain can happen more easily- but if you are continuing to eat healthfully you can basically do your “stabilizing” period anytime, now or later. Does that make sense? Once you ARE ready to stabilize, you then need to make sure you are doing P3 style eating even if the calories are higher – it wouldn’t be the time to start eating pasta and wine every night.
Lots of ladies do end up losing during P3. Eventually, it’s good of course to raise calories gradually like P3tolife does so that you eat more without weight gain, but again that can be put off from what I’ve seen.
So ultimately, it’s a matter of how long you are comfortable putting off P4. If you REALLY want to start eating some simpler starches and more alcohol in 6 weeks, then it would be a good idea for at least 2 weeks prior to that period, to raise your calories to the point where you are not losing weight anymore so you give your body a chance to be stable under those conditions of super clean eating.
HOW TO STOP LOSING WEIGHT IN PHASE 3
If you are currently losing in P3, and want to stop, it’s really just a matter of adding more calories – you want to do this a bit gradually so you don’t overshoot, but if you keep in mind that 1 tablespoon of fat has about 120 calories, and 1 tbsp of butter has 102 calories, then you can see how easy it is to add calories to your day. If you are in the P3toLife program, I think adding fats like this to your meals is probably the best choice, as the plan is already protein heavy so more protein really isn’t necessary and it’s a little lower on the fat side, so that’s a good choice in my opinion. Other fat sources you might add to stop losing weight on P3:
- 1 tbsp oil – 120 calories
- 1 tbsp butter – 102 calories
- 1/2 cup avocado chunks – 117 calories
- 2 tbsp almond slivers – 85 calories
- 1 tbsp peanut butter – 95 calories
- 2 tbsp heavy whipping cream – 104 calories
- 3 tbsp crumbled bacon (pressing the oil out) – 90 calories
- 2 tbsp feta cheese crumbles
If you are like me, I don’t advise trying to eat only 1 tbsp of peanut butter by itself with an apple- inadvertently I end up deciding that another 1/2 cup of peanut butter is truly the right choice to finish on my apple with and then before I know it….correction day hello! Better to utilize these calorie dense foods within another recipe you are going to be eating, which makes it much easier to stick to the amount you had decided on beforehand- examples in a moment. And again, that’s just if you’re like me!
If you are in the P3toLife program, you can try adding an additional snack in the form of having a 1/2 size serving of a mug muffin or chia pudding. You can also add an additional fat source to the P3toLife dessert smoothies like avocado or 1tbsp nut butter (will make it more creamy!)
I hope this helps!
