That is an excellent question, one that is surrounded with more drama than you would think! Some feel that if you do not strictly stabilize in the 2 lb window DURING the first 3 weeks of P3, that your metabolism won’t reset, and that you will gain weight easily after that. I do not believe this.
I will share my viewpoint based on what I’ve actually seen take place with many ladies now.
In short, YES, it’s okay to lose weight in P3.
I’ve interviewed a lot of ladies enrolled in the P3tolife program who lost weight. The main point I believe is it’s not necessary when you choose to stabilize, but that once you decide to do so, you must follow the same rules for stabilization as you would at the beginning of P3. To stabilize your weight loss, what you need is that same low-carb, calorie-controlled environment for your body to then become “comfy” where it’s at so that it doesn’t move easily from that small weight range.
I think where some of the hysteria over this 2 lb rule comes from maybe that if a person does keep losing in P3, then they move to Phase 4 and start having lots of wine and grain and regular carbs again, and their weight goes wild. And yes, if handled that way, I would totally expect that to happen.
So basically if you want to lose weight in P3, you just have to be willing to be in the “P3 zone” for a longer period of time- long enough to both lose weight for however long you do, and then say in it another 2-3 weeks while you see your weight stabilize- THEN and only then, would you want to try to start incorporating some Phase 4 foods. Does that make sense?
In our P3toLife program, quite a few ladies actually lose weight during the first 2 weeks of the program (which means that the calories are below their maintenance level, so they are still in a calorie deficit, just not as big when on P2), then they typically see their weight naturally start to stabilize out in week 3 and beyond.
If you are on P3tolife and want to know what to do if you would like to intentionally lose a little more weight during this time, here are some tips (but remember this no guarantee of weight loss at all because everyone has a different metabolism).
Tip 1: What I’d do is follow weeks 1 and 2 of the meal plan as is, and then in week 3, possibly do week 2 again instead (which is a lower calorie level) or try eating smaller portions of the week 3 meals – you will find as most women do in general that the meals are so filling that they become full before they have finished their serving.
Tip 2: Even in weeks 1 and 2 you might be full before you finish a serving, and that is another good way to purposefully try to lose, by not eating all of the P3tolife serving if you are feeling satiated- stop at that point.
Tip 3: You can also make use of the P3tolife dessert smoothies more because they are very filling and yet extremely low calories, so you could fill in with these when you are feeling hungry but want something to eat. I actually have an entire section for dessert smoothies on the P3tolife program.
I hope that helps!
