Phase 3 is the secret of how to have your cake and eat it. This is about eating as much as you can get away with, without putting on weight. It will take a bit of trial and error, but, once you’ve got it, you’ll never look back.
Move onto Phase 3 when you are at what we call your ‘natural weight’. This is the weight that you can maintain easily – going above it takes some overeating and going below it only happens when you are ill or under stress. Some people call this their ‘fighting weight’ – it’s what you feel good at, but can also stay at without too much effort.
Phase 3 takes the principles of Phase 2 and adds in all that you need to know to ‘cheat’. ‘Cheating’ then lets you enjoy literally any food, or drink, while maintaining weight.
The key thing is to make sure that you don’t start putting weight back on and here is how you do this:
1) Don’t ‘cheat’ too much;
2) Don’t ‘cheat’ too often;
3) Be alert and stay in control.
Any of the diet books (Stop Counting Calories; Why do you overeat? The Harcombe Diet for Men) will give you the advanced top tips for cheating, so that you can become a master at going ‘off-piste’ and staying on track.
I am amazed that the government has not adopted the Harcombe principles and got the message out there. What they are doing with the sugar tax will not change anything. It needs a complete educational programme for parents and children to get them to start eating real food.