How to Kick Butt at Phase 3 of the HCG Diet

Phase 3. Most people consider it a a 3-6 week phase in which you start stabilizing from your weight loss in Phase 2 on the HCG Diet. Having finished my last full round of HCG in March of 2013, I still consider myself in Phase 3. Im still eating the foods allowed in Phase 3, and still focusing on a low-carb lifestyle. This isnt because I havent been able to stabilize, Ive actually stayed within 10 pounds of my ending weight to date, but its because I feel my best when I eat this way.

 Having stabilized for so long, Ive gained some insight on how to kick butt in Phase 3. Ive had my ups and my downs, but most recently Ive felt extremely motivated all because of what I call an accountability challenge.

Let me explain this idea in further detail.

Post holidays I was feeling terrible about putting on a few pounds. I was considering doing another round of HCG when my mom brought up tracking calories and getting back to low carb eating. Simple enough? Sometimes we just need a reminder to get back on track...get back to kicking butt, right? So her and I decided to do it together. In our planning we made sure to include these 6 guidelines to help us stay motivated:

Accountability: The premise of a kick butt phase 3 plan is staying accountable. For my mom and I, we decided that if we went over our calorie allotment of 1300 net calories per day, wed have to give $5 to a person/organization we would NEVER want to support. For example, lets say you are an animal rights activist, if you go over your calories, you have to give $5 to Sea World. Hate Justin Bieber? Well, if you go over your calories, you have to spend $5 on his music. The best part is that you appoint an accountability manager to make sure you dont try to get out of paying your $5. My mom and I have an agreement, if we go over our calories, we let each other know, then we have to pay out. If she ever has a question about my calories, she can look at my logs... speaking of logs...

Tracking: Ive blogged about tracking progress in the past, but this time is a little different. You dont just want to track how many pounds you lose and what you eat, you also want to track how many calories you are in your meals, snacks and beverages. The world of technology has made this easier than ever with apps like MyFitnessPal and Fooducate. In the past I have used MyFitnessPal, but a friend recommended trying Fooducate instead, and I absolutely LOVE it. I can track my calories by searching or scanning foods, I can track my weight, water intake and exercise level, AND every time I enter a food into my log, Fooducate gives me a letter grade telling me how good of a choice that food was. It also tells me which foods have ingredients that are hidden or bad for my health. Its a great tool for tracking and learning about food choices. Just entering my food helps me stay motivated and make better choices.

Here are a few screen shots of my Fooducate logs. You can easily scan, browse and track foods, read helpful, healthy articles, and input exercise! Its an all in one healthy app! Available for FREE in iTunes or the Play Store. Theres also a premium version that has awesome features like carb counting, allergy information and more. 

Planning: Since youre counting calories, and since you have a daily allotment, youll want to plan your meals in advance. Each evening, I pack my breakfast and lunch in a gallon zip lock bag, I take it to work with me, and I dont eat anything thats not in the bag. I try to have all my calories planned out and tracked before I eat them. This makes it easier to stay on track because I can see how much food I actually get to eat when its in the bag, but I also can see that calorie wise, those foods are all very good for me. Then when I am tempted to cheat, I look up the food I want using the Fooducate app. I see how many calories it adds and then I see what the letter grade is. Most of the time I realize that its not worth it. If you have a day where you forget to plan your meals, apps like My Fitness Pal and Fooducate usually have the calorie counts for larger fast food chains like Chick-Fil-A, McDonalds, ect. so theres no excuse for not tracking! 

Exercise: As I mentioned before, my mom and I are tracking our net calories. This means, our total calories after adding in what we burned during exercise. So lets say I eat 800 calories while Im at work. I burn off 600 after work with some running and cycling, I only have only consumed 200 net calories. I still have 1100 calories left. So the more I exercise, the more I can eat.

Support: I mentioned having an accountability manager. This HAS to be someone who will make you pay if you mess up. It needs to be someone you talk to often and who you feel comfortable sharing your food logs with. So, I recommend doing this with a friend. That way you can both keep each other focused. If you dont have a friend who wants to do it with you, make sure you find someone you can talk to about your plans. Support is important in this sort of accountability challenge because you may have days when you dont feel like staying accountable. Thats where your support group steps in and makes you stay on track.

Incentive: Paying to stay on track is a new idea to me, it provides a new incentive. My mom and I have been doing this for about a week and Ive had to fork over $5, but that just made me so much more eager to get back on track the next day because I didnt want to fork out more money by going over my calories again! And while the threat of paying for your cheat is a big deterrent, it will also help to have some other incentives set up. If I reach my goal in the next two weeks, I get to go buy a pass to run at the nice indoor track here in town. If I dont, then I have to keep running on the treadmill in the basement. This is just one more thing I get to look forward to!


Read More Blogs On This Topic!
New to Phase 3? Check out my guide on Transitioning Into the Maintenance Phase

Looking for a Phase 3 Menu? You can find a Phase 3 sample menu here!
 

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