The Desperate Housewives of HCG

Desperation can be a good thing . . .



  My own sexylicious wife (that's how you start a blog when you post a picture like the one above), who admittedly has a sweet tooth ,was told about a little concoction that has basically elevated her to a "nutritional euphoria" over the weekend.  If you remember back, I took credit for coining the phrase "nutritional nirvana"(see Thursday, April 14th entry), and now I add another term with "nutritional euphoria."  There is a distinct difference between the two, whereas nirvana is a more permanent state of contentment, but euphoria is a shorter, yet much more dynamic rush.  I know, I know - on with the what you really want - the recipe.  Alright, alright, already:

Ingredients:
Tablespoon of Cocoa Powder
Table Spoon of Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
3-5 drops of Sweet Leaf Stevia Sweetner (English Toffee or Chocolate) OR 1 Packet of Sweet Leaf Powder Sweetner (these are sold at Sprouts)
Handful of slivered almonds (optional) - only on Week Three of Maintenance

Directions:
Melt the coconut oil in the microwave
Add the the cocoa powder and sweetner and mix together

Desperate Housewives Chocolate

Stacy has been playing with the recipe and suggest that using the Powder Packets is better than the drops and you can also put a few almond slices in the chocolate as well if that is "the way you roll."  I can certainly see taking your strawberries for a dip in this as well.  I call this creation "Desperate Housewives Chocolate" because there are so many ladies in our little community out in Melissa who are doing the HCG diet and have been "desperate for sweets."  They were all giddy and heated up just talking about this.  You would have thought they discovered a recipe for Matthew McConaughey.



Just add Sand and Water (I am a Equal Opportunity blogger when it comes to Eye Candy)

Remember now,  Desperate Housewives Chocolate is only for folks on Phase 3 - Maintenance.  You Phase 2 folks "step away from the coconut oil an put down the cocoa powder very slow and easy - nobody has to get hurt here."  Be strong and know this is waiting for you down the road.     

Let's talk about Phase 3.  The maintenance phase is the most vague, yet most important part of the whole diet protocol.  Sure, the drop phase is quite dynamic with the rapid weight loss, but we all want to keep the weight off.  The only way that you can keep that abnormal fat off for good, is to reset metabolism to a rate that maintains your weight.  That is sole purpose of the maintenance phase and being successful on this phase will allow you to do this.  Unfortunately, the directions or guidelines for the maintenance phase are much more general and vague than Phase 2.  By the time we have completed the drops and low calorie diet, we are accustomed to its restrictive nature and it kinda throws us for loop when we are told to simply increase y calorie intake to 1500-1800 and eat what you want except sugars and starches  I have found that many dieters are very confused and hesitant about what to eat on this phase and that is why I began putting all of my maintenance meals on the this blog daily when I started my second round of maintenance. Go back to the Tuesday, April 12th entry and you can go day-by-day and see what I ate.  Here are some common mistakes folks struggle with on maintenance:

1 - don't eat enough - that's right.  Many people find it difficult to eat 1500-1800 calories after being on a 500 calorie diet for so long.  I know I felt like I was eating way too much and too often.  But that is actually the key to developing a healthy and speedy metabolism - eating frequently with the right foods.   Make sure you eat three full meals a day and snacks between each meal as well.  It is recommended that women eat 1500 calories and men eat 1800 calories a day on maintenance.  Also, if you start working out or being more active, you will have to increase your intake as well.  So if you are a girly girl like Mrs. Hatcher up there, and start going to the gym when you start maintenance, then you may well have to go up to 1650 or 1700 calories to maintain your weight.  You will just have to play with the caloric intake based on your weigh ins each morning. 

2 - want to lose weight - it is not good to keep losing weight during this phase because you are trying to stabilize your weight and your set your metabolism according to this stabilized weight.  If you continue losing, you cannot do this.  It is just as harmful to lose weight during maintenance as it is to gain.  If you lose more than two pounds, then up your calorie count. 

3 - adding danger foods too early - don't just throw everything at your system the first week of maintenance.  There are some foods that are allowed on maintenance but are labeled caution foods that I will detail later.  Slowly add new foods selections to your diet.  For instance, I added eggs and pork the first week.  The second week, it was cheese and dairy, and finally I added good ol' bacon the last week of maintenance.

The following is a weekly plan that I think is good for maintenance:
Week 1 - no "caution" foods
Week 2 - one to two "caution foods" added if, only if, you have been stable in Week 1, that is you did not have to do a Steak Day.
Week 3 - two to three "caution" foods added.  Again only add these "caution" foods if you are remaining stable.  Your goal is to gradually add caution foods and stabilize while doing so.  That is what will allow you to eat basically everything in moderation in the Life Phase and not gain weight.

Ok, so know your asking about those "caution" foods.  Here is a list "caution" foods for the maintenance phase:

Caution Meats:                  Caution Nuts:                         Caution Dairy
Bacon                                   Almonds                                   Cheese
Canadian Bacon                    Hazel                                        Cottage Cheese
Hot Dogs                              Macadamia                               Cream
Jerky                                    Peanuts                                      Cream Cheese
Sausage                                Peanut Butter (sugar free)          Half/Half
Deli Lunch Meats                 Pecans                                       Milk (Skim or 2%)
                                            Walnuts                                     Yogurt (1/2 cup plain only)

Caution Condiments (check for sugar in ingredients and use sparingly)
BBQ Sauce
Ketchup
Mayonnaise (1TBSP Light)
Salad Dressings
Steak Sauce (1 TBSP)
Tartar Sauce (1TBSP)

Caution Fats/Oils
Bacon Grease
Butter
Cooking Spray
Margarine (1 TBSP)

One thing that you will notice is that there is no caution fruits, which is really great.  You can start enjoying more fruits and they can really help go along way in helping you reach your calorie count.  For example, pineapples and bananas are pretty high in calories and can help you get your intake up if you eat these between meals. 

Here is an excerpt from Kevin Trudeau's book on the Maintenance Phase:
"Phase 3 last three weeks. . . This phase is designed to resest the hypothalamus and bodyweight set point.  This is an important phase that keeps off the weight permanently.  Successful execution and completion of this phase resets  your metabolism higher, resets your hunger lower, and resets your hypothalamus so that in the future it does not store fat in teh abnormal problem area secure fat reserves.  This phase helps guarantee that your body is corrected from the abnormal condition which caused the obesity" (75).

Other important things about Phase 3:

• weigh yourself every morning
• it takes approximately 3 weeks to stabilize your weight (so don't let fluctuations frustrate you)
• if your weight goes beyond two pounds heavier than your weight at the end of phase 2, you must do a steak day that very day

Steak Day - the same day you notice the increase, you must entirely skip all food until 6pm.  During this time, ou should drink as much water, up to one gallon, as you can.  You must drink a minimum of half a gallon of pure water.  In the evening, at 6pm, eat the biggest steak you can from grass fed organic beef.  The steak can be grilled or fried with oil and seasoned with pepper and herbs, but not salt.  You may have either a large oganic raw tomato or large organic raw apple. 

I hope all of this was helpful.  For those of you on maintenance, or about to begin.  I have several PDF's that contain some good info and charts for the phase.  Shoot me an email or text and I will send them to you to print out.  I would really like to get more of you posting comments so we can all network and share information.  I encourage you followers of this blog to get an account (it's free) and post your questions or comments on here.  I am looking at getting into Twitter as well and perhaps tweeting a HCG tip each day - how many of you follow Twitter?  Let me know, so I can determine if that would be worth it.  I'm also going to create a Facebook page dedicated to HCG when I have time and who knows when that will be.  As special shout out to all of those customers who have referred others to me.  I really appreciate it and it is exciting and rewarding to have so many people experiencing the great results this diet can bring about.  Everyone have a great week and stay strong and dedicated to the diet.  Keep those updates and questions coming and look for the next blog on Wednesday.   "Not Overweight and Out!"