Well, I know it’s tempting. Sometimes you’re a little hungry? Sometimes just miss regular food, craving bread, sweets, anything and it’s just so tempting to think “Just this once” or “a few won’t hurt me” WRONG! This is one diet on the planet where you absolutely cannot or should not cheat. Now I know there are people out there blogging or posting about how to cheat successfully (shame on them) but the fact is a single peanut taking while on the low calorie HCG phase can totally mess up your weight loss, cause you to balloon up 3-5 pounds, or throw off your stabilizing on P3 (eating sugar and starch) So I’m putting together a few suggestions on how to avoid cheating on the HCG diet. Try these HCG Diet Don’t Cheat Strategies and maximize your weight loss success!
1. Space out your meals and have a snack ready (Your fruit, some raw celery sticks etc). Try saving that second fruit serving for the evening if you get the munchies late at night. If you crave sweets, try a little milk chocolate stevia on your strawberries or make my “Caramel Apple Pie” A recipe from my cookbook www.hcgrecipes.com Totally tasty.
2. Drink extra water. Add some squeezed lemon and a little stevia. So good for you.
3. Journal all the reasons why you want to lose weight. Remembering why you chose to lose the weight in the first place can really help you. For your family? Your kids?, your health? Looking good? Buying gorgeous clothes? REMEMBER!
4. Think about the end result. Visualize yourself at your goal weight, playing with your kids, buying that bikini. Finding a reason to stick it out is critical to making it happen.
5. Make some hot tea. A nice cup of herbal tea, oolong, or yerba mate with some stevia for sweetness or lemon can really take the edge off.
6. Take a walk. A brisk walk around the block will help you clear your head and redirect your thoughts back on to the program.
7. Get your family and friends on board. Many times people cheat because they are confronted with temptation by family and friends. Try to get your family and friends to be supportive and ask them kindly not to wave donuts under your nose or try to sabotage your diet efforts.
8. Join a support group. Having people to support you on the journey and who are going through what you are going through can really help you hold to your resolve.
9. Most of all, remember that this is a temporary diet and the results are long lasting. You will not be on this diet forever. You will eat normal food and calories again. Focus on the delayed gratification right now and think about how healthy and attractive you will be, the smaller clothes you will buy later, and stick with the plan. I promise you it will all be worth it.
Hi Tammy;
Just received your cookbook, and made 2 recipes this am, after reading the whole book last night! I’m in my 2nd week of VLCD and getting bored with plain simple food, but it got me in the habit of calculating everything. I use fatsecret.com to track everything and I LOVE it! BUT, inputting recipes can be time-consuming. Do you by any chance post already-calculated recipes there or anywhere else?
Also, I was concerned that several recipes use so much onion in addition to veggie; isn’t that mixing?
Thanks so much!!
Hi Patty,
So glad you like the book! I actually just got published in print form and I’m planning on going back several months to give people who purchased the e-book the print book. The print book does have the calculations for calories, protein, and fat in it to help people stay under the 500 calories. For the new P3 cookbook (not yet released but getting there) I’m actually not planning to put the calorie or fat counts in there. The reason being…. The P3 cookbook is far from fat free and I want to help people get away from the idea of dieting and that “low fat” is the way to go. WRONG. Fat isn’t the problem, it is the white bread and sugars that cause people to gain weight. I know and believe that this is a real solution to permanent weight loss. Hope that answers your question and I’m thrilled to hear from you. All the best with your diet!
Tammy
P.S. I do use some onion in the recipes as a spice. I haven’t had heard of any issues or it affecting weight loss from dieters but feel free to omit them or use smaller amounts if you wish.
I am at my ideal weight on p2 of the protocol and I have two weeks left. I am told to increase my calories to 800 per day. What would the new breakdown look like? Do I increase all areas protein–veg–fruit-melba?
Hi Bob,
Congrats!!!! Thrilled for you. You are on track by increasing your calories to 800 just to finish out a cycle and just add an extra vegetable or two, an extra fruit, and one to two extra servings of protein. The extra protein servings will be more filling particularly if you are experiencing immunity symptoms. Best of luck to you!
Tammy
Hi Tammy,
I have been on the HCG for a couple of weeks now and i have lost 16 lbs. But now I am at a stand still. I havent lost for a several days. Do you have any suggestions on how to get losing again?