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Hello lovely hCGers. This interview is part of what is now a plethora of weight loss success stories with real everyday women (and men! There’s a few dude interviews in there) who have used either hCG injections or drops with the hCG diet protocol to lose between 20 and 150 lbs. You can see the current episodes available here.

JUSTINA’S BASIC STATS:

• Weight loss on Phase 2: 19 lbs
• Weight loss with P3toLife Program: 7 lbs
• Health Conditions: She had hormone issues but this was fixed with the help of her doctor before she started hCG.

Show Note Links:

• Cheating on hCG Posts
• Learn more about hormone problems here
• hCGChica’s Phase 3 to Life Program – you can enroll anytime, but I recommend at least a week BEFORE P3 starts if at all possible so you have time to familiarize yourself with the program and plan ahead.
• Rayzel’s Digital Diet Workbook
• Instant Pot 6 Qt 7-in-1
• Thrive Live Freeze Dried Foods

Justina’s Experience with:

THE P3TOLIFE PROGRAM DURING PHASE 3 OF THE HCG PROTOCOL

If you were to explain to an hCGer in just a few sentences why the P3 program has been valuable to you, what would you tell them?

It was a road map….you go from P2 being so so strict and then you are almost given too much freedom with P3…okay no sugars and starches, but what is a healthy way to eat that?

I’ve been on many many diets but none go from strict strict strict to just following two rules, and with so much diet food on the market, you can find yourself lost.  And actually sometimes making it harder on yourself.

P3 to life’s recipes were all DELICIOUS and I realized that I could have a lot of flavors (roasted tomatoes, who knew!?!)and yumminess (my whole family loved the smoothies) in my P3 and still follow protocol and actually even continue to lose and stabilize lower than my last injection weight.

What did the P3 program provide to you that you feel like you didn’t have before without in on past Phase 3s?

This was my first P3 ever, but I really hesitated even trying  HCG because I was afraid that it would destroy my metabolism. I knew I could do P2 because it’s temporary, but every other diet has caused me to gain more weight back.  My doctor kept urging me to go on this diet, and until I went through your P3, I really didn’t have the confidence that I could truly change my eating habits, but I see myself doing it.

I didn’t feel deprived in P3, and my scale was very very stable, which is what I freaked out about.  I’m a yo-yo dieter, and gaining back the weight scares me more than not losing weight.

P3tolife gave me real confidence that I can really lose this weight permanently.  And incorporate these meals into our family’s life realistically.

How did you end up following the program – did you do the original plan, the simplified, or build your own meal plan or just tweaks to one of these? Can you give a few details of how you utilized the program and tailored it to yourself and your circumstances?

I used the original program with tweaks….I cook for my family and one thing that I don’t like about dieting and what I was really afraid of with HCG was having to cook multiple meals for my family.  We also are on a tight budget because we are a one income family.

What I loved about this program was that recipes allowed me to cook and cover multiple meals. I often would double or triple the recipe to feed my entire family.

My family really loved all the recipes, and I really took pride in cooking again.

My daughter and I are also dairy and egg free.  I loved that most of the recipes were dairy or limited dairy.   I also played with recipes to make the mug bread egg free and used some of our own favorite ingredients.

My kids loved the dessert smoothies, and to make things easier for them, I would make a big batch of smoothies and then freeze them.  My kids eat them as popsicles or we blend them back up with water (for me) or some nut or coconut, goat, or cow milk for them.

Can you share your results – how your weight has been while following the P3 program?

I lost 19 lbs net during P2, and then continued to lose and keep off an additional 5-7 lbs for a total of 24-26 total.

I was able to stay between 5-7 lbs under my LIW for an entire month after I stopped injections with little difficulty as long as I followed this program.

I even ate out a few times and stayed within 2-4 lbs of my lowest weight. I easily corrected this by eating strictly on P3 for 2-3 days. I only did one steak day, and that was after I had introduced sugars and starches back in and went a little overboard.

How did you feel about the portion sizes & taste of the P3 meals? Did the portions and taste of the food make any difference in how you felt about eating/relationship with food while on p3?

I felt portions were more than adequate.  I did find that I didn’t eat as much at the beginning of P3, but by the end of the 3rd week, I was eating the full portions.  I would usually Triple the recipes for our family of 4 (I have two girls ages 5 and 9), and my husband and I usually had plenty of leftovers for two meals.

The food was DELISH!  Seriously, every single one of the recipes was yummy and not diet yummy, real food yummy.  There also was a diverse amount of recipes, so it forced me to step out of my comfort zone and try new genres of food, which I think helped a lot with my relationship with food.

For example, I rarely eat Thai and have never cooked it, but your chicken curry was yummy!  Our family tends to get in a rut and cook the same stuff, and changing it up kept food interesting and delicious.

Can you share a little about your personal life- ie work full time/part time, kids or hubby or school? Would love to hear how you made the logistics work of cooking the program with whatever time constraints you deal with. How did you manage to fit in preparing the meals with your schedule each week?

I’m mostly a stay at home mom and an owner of a small photography business.  I cook for my entire family and really try to only cook one meal for our entire family.

My girls dance 3 nights a week, so we are usually away from home during dinner on those nights. I was able to pack these dinners to eat on the go.

My instant pot saves my life, as well as Thrive Live Freeze dried foods.  These really help eat real foods and stay on program.

I even packed my meals for a birth I photographed.  I was able to pack a cooler and keep meals in my car.   The meal plans helped me precook and prepare foods so I was able to stay on plan even when I was called away to a birth.

Have you struggled on past p3’s and if so what were your struggles? Did the P3 program help address these struggles/how so?

This is my first P3, but I have struggled in the past with other diets.  I think what has been different with this program is that the food is delicious and has lots of variety.  I didn’t have time to get stuck in a rut and wish for other foods that are off plan.

A lot of these recipes tasted like some of my favorite restaurant foods but were simple to cook and didn’t have a ton of special ingredients.

I also loved being able to check in with you and listen to videos. 

You are super realistic about life and addressed many of my fears, apprehensions, and feelings about food.  Then you paired the support with a plan that is realistic to follow, so there wasn’t a lot of need to cheat.  I had emotional support along with yummy simple recipes.

Were there any positive results from following the plan that surprised you, that you weren’t expecting? Have you learned anything new from the program?

That I kept losing weight!  I was expecting to have to make corrections and do steak days, and that my P3 would have to last a lot longer, but I was super happy to be able to stabilize quickly and even lose more weight!  I’m excited that I get to start round 2 before summer time and keep up my momentum because I have a lot of weight to lose.

Rayzel note: Note everyone will lose weight on my P3tolife program. Some do, but I make no promises, and IF you are losing weight on P3tolife and don’t desire to, you can easily adjust this by adding a little more fat to the program. Some just choose to “stabilize” later which from my experience has been just fine to do.

What were one or two of your favorite recipes in the plan?

The Chili Verde was amazing!  My husband is still enjoying leftovers

And my whole family loves the Blackberry Lime Zinger smoothie.  We froze them in egg molds for Easter Sunday, and everyone loved them.  And it’s the number one request from my girls.

Any other closing thoughts that you want to share about your experience with the program or that might help others considering whether or not to give it a try?

P3 is too important to leave to uncertainty.  If you are looking for guidance and support, I highly recommend it.

I know I would have been lost and made a lot more mistakes without the support of P3tolife.

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