Original email for context: I’ve done the protocol 3 time and have been pretty successful. This time around I’m having the hardest time with P3. I’ve done 3 steak days my last was yesterday and I completely screwed it up. I so believe in the HCG protocol it’s the first time I’ve really been successful at losing weight and keeping most of it off that I don’t want to mess this up. I’m having a major problem with snacking this time on P3, PLEASE HELP ME! I’ve gained a little over 2 pounds from my LDW. I can’t seem to stop snacking on “Healthy Chips and Organic Popcorn” yea right! Any suggestions?
First of all, I can totally relate to the little lies we tell ourselves about what’s technically “healthy” so it must be okay to eat, or to eat a lot of it. I have done that myself many a time!
I do have a post that might help you:
What to Do When You’ve Messed up P3
In your case, at the moment since you’re only 2 lbs above your LDW or so, you definitely have room to really switch your mind over and make things work for you and keep all your weight loss off still.
My best suggestions:
- If you have the choice, don’t buy to begin with the healthy chips and organic popcorn or whatever if is that’s calling your name at the grocery store. It has been proven that willpower is a muscle that fatigues, so if you have the items in your home, even if you tell yourself you aren’t going to eat them, or you will only eat a little, that’s your willpower muscle having to workout- and eventually as it gets tired you will be more prone to give in.
- If you can’t avoid having some items like that in the home because of hubby and kids (I am same boat!) then in this case you my suggestion is not only to make a pact NOT to have little tastes (as little tastes lead to eating a bunch of it), but also have something you CAN have to replace it with, that you can be snacking on while they’re snacking too. In our P3toLife program we have dessert smoothies EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. It sounds like you might be more of a salty type girl so things like pickles (keep in mind this can cause water retention which can also raise the scale but it’s not the same thing as fat gain so it’s okay!) But basically, have some simple P3 snacks you can have in it’s place. Then it’s not so much about denying yourself but choosing what thing you get to eat while still promoting your maintenance.
- If you are really struggling with continual cravings that the main cause making it hard to stick to proper P3 eating, trying doing a higher fat day with even less carbs than usual. I found when I was initially going through sugar detox, that it took this technique to actually stop the cravings initially. So whenever you crave something, have some bacon instead. That sort of thing- usually if you do this for 2-3 days, like mostly just fat and protein, the cravings will go away and after that you can typically go back to a regular P3 style way of eating (you may need to keep fruit out of the picture if you find they continue to make cravings arise).
