Stage 2 - Maintenance

Today is my second day being in Stage 2 called the maintenance stage of the HCG diet.  I'm allowed to now eat whenever hungry and can add more foods to my diet.  The only things I'm not allowed to eat are starchy foods and sugars (this includes veggies like corn, peas, carrots, potatoes and beans as well as all grains).  I can now eat dairy, eggs, most veggies, fats, nuts and low sugar fruits.  I feel like I'm back on the Atkins diet, and since I've been on that plenty of times before (it having worked well for me and my body type in the past), I feel like I'm in familiar territory which is a nice place to be.  It's funny - I had heard one's appetite would take a while to get back up to full-speed and usually one cannot finish a whole meal after coming off the vlcd* stage of the diet.  I, however, have not had that problem.  Apparently my body is extremely happy to be eating more normally once again and has taken to enjoying three meals a day with a mid-afternoon snack.  Though I can't eat big meals, I can eat a typical adult serving of protein and veggies no problem.  The goal in this stage is always to stay within two pounds of your final weight (the weight you were on the last day of taking the HCG drops).  To go above that two pounds results in a "steak and apple day" which helps retrain your body so it doesn't over-react to the food intake or types of food by which it gained weight.  A "steak and apple day" is essentially skipping all meals until dinner at which point one eats a big steak with one apple (or tomato) and that's it.  This should then be enough to lose that extra weight by the next morning and have your body trained to not gain weight again with that certain kind of food.  I see the maintenance stage as a training stage, a very important step in the process towards helping one's body to accept foods with which it would normally gain weight.

It is critical that you follow this phase as faithfully as you did the injection phase, because *now* is when your hypothalamus will reset, clearing off all the 'bad old days' of yo-yo dieting and poor eating habits.
When you start the 3 week maintenance/stabilization process, *definitely* increase your calories to at least 1500. Don't try to continue the 500 calorie diet after the hCG is out of your system, because you will become weak and tired, and your body will begin to go into 'shutdown' mode where it doesn't burn calories. This will completely ruin your Phase 2, and you'll have to start all over. Don't worry, your weight will go up and down a bit the first week or two; this is normal. Do a steak day if you need to. Your weight will eventually stabilize. This is your body settling into the new process. Watch the starch and sugar religiously during the 3 weeks. I'm going to say this again: ***NO STARCH OR SUGAR*** Read labels. Eat whatever you want, without starch or sugar, during the maintenance phase. Make sure you are eating enough, many people think they need to keep eating like they're on a diet, DON'T DO THIS. Use healthy fats and dairy products to up your calorie intake if necessary. Drink enough water.1

"It takes about 3 weeks before the weight reached at the end of the treatment becomes stable, i.e. does not show violent fluctuations after an occasional excess. During this period patients must realize that the so-called carbohydrates, that is sugar, rice, bread, potatoes, pastries etc, are by far the most dangerous. If no carbohydrates whatsoever are eaten, fats can be indulged in somewhat more liberally and even small quantities of alcohol, such as a glass of wine with meals, does no harm, but as soon as fats and starch are combined things are very liable to get out of hand. This has to be observed very carefully during the first 3 weeks after the treatment is ended otherwise disappointments are almost sure to occur."2

So can I eat the home-baked bread I make every week or the coffee cake sitting on my counter? No.  But I'm very happy with eating beef again, combining my veggies (Yay for salads!) and enjoying a more normal diet overall.

* very low calorie diet
1. From HCGloss.com
2. From Pounds & Inches