Haylie Pomroy Phase 3 Explained

Eat fat to lose fat

It might seem counter-intuitive, but the healthy dietary fats from raw nuts, avocados, olive oil, and raw seeds are the trigger that tells your body to burn not just dietary fat, but stored fat. But your body can only do this because of all the prep work you did in Phases 1 and 2.

All week, you’ve kept your fat intake very low, while at the same time flooded your body with nutrients from whole grains, alkalizing vegetables and efficient proteins. Since you haven’t been eating fats, your body has been burning stored fat for energy. But now your body is getting suspicious — and this is the failing of so many low-fat, low-carb diets. While you lose weight at first, your body starts to catch on, and with no dietary fat coming in, it starts storing fat again instead of burning it.

The Fast Metabolism Diet, however, avoids that pattern by introducing specific healthy fats in Phase 3. Your body is now satisfied, with plenty of dietary fats coming it. It burns right through those dietary fats you are eating, but just keeps right on burning all that newly released stored fat as well. It’s a win-win.

Other benefits of dietary fat

Healthy fats do lots more than just help you burn stored fat on the Fast Metabolism Diet.

Eating plenty of nuts, seeds, healthy oils and avocados is also immensely satisfying, helping satiate the body and relieve stress. And what happens when stress levels are low? Cortisol (the belly fat hormone) is kept in check, avoiding stress-based weight gain. To enhance that effect, Phase 3 also emphasizes stress-reducing exercise and activities like yoga, sauna and massage. These help further lower stress and promote the release and elimination of toxins.

The foods on Phase 3 are also rich in inositol and choline, cofactors that metabolize fat and keep it from getting blocked in the liver. You’ll find these nutrients in egg yolks, raw nuts and seeds — they block those newly released fat molecules from being reabsorbed.

Phase 3 also feeds your brain and your libido too

Fatty fish, like salmon, helps promote healthy hormone balance in your thyroid and adrenal glands. And other nutrients in healthy fats slow gastric emptying — they help you feel full longer, stimulating the hypothalamus and pituitary glands in the brain to release feel-good hormones, allowing your body to feel full and satisfied.

My clients also tell me that Phase 3 is great for their sex drive. With the body feeling happy and releasing those feel-good hormones, it’s natural to want to share the love — triggering the release of even more pleasure hormones.

Try this Creamy Guacamole recipe while on Phase 3!

Phase 3 | Serves 1 | Prep time: 5 minutes | Total time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 teaspoon safflower mayonnaise
1/2 avocado
1 teaspoon cilantro
1 teaspoon lime juice
1/8 teaspoon cracked red pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup sliced cucumber or jicama

Directions

Mash first 6 ingredients together and serve with sliced cucumber or jicama.

Phase 3 is strategically low glycemic

Phase 3 isn’t just Phase 1 plus healthy fats. We consume few whole grains and fruit on Phase 3 for a very good reason. It’s a lot more work for your body to process fats. Carbohydrates, on the other hand, are very easy for the body to break down. So given the choice, your body will burn through the carbs first. That’s not we want in Phase 3: We want you to process fats like crazy. So grains and fruits are deliberately kept low.

You’ll also notice that the carbs in Phase 3 are low glycemic. We want to give the body enough carbs to keep your energy up, but we don’t want to give it so much sugar that it neglects fat-burning in favor of processing sugars. That’s why we stick to quinoa, oatmeal and wild rice for grains, and to berries for fruit.

When Phase 3 is a challenge

While Phase 3 is meant to be a major fat-burning phase, some people actually experience no weight loss, or even a little weight gain on Phase 3. In my clinics, I see this most often in my chronic dieters, especially those who have tried lots of low-fat, low-carb dieting in the past. I also see it those who are hormonally challenged, such as those struggling with thyroid issues, or whose labs measure their metabolism as unusually slow.

It took a long time for your metabolism to get into this state of disrepair, so it may take longer to fix. I have a whole video on this.

If you find yourself gaining a little on Phase 3, consider:

• Try using starchy vegetables instead grains. Substitute sweet potato, beans or winter squash at dinner instead of rice or quinoa.
• Add lots of fresh herbs and spices, which support the gallbladder and help emulsify fat.
• Skip the grain at dinner at least one of the three days
• Extend Phase 2. Do this ONLY after you’ve completed a full round of the 28-day diet. For one or two weeks, do two days of Phase 1, three days of Phase 2, and two days of Phase 3.

If you’re really having a hard time, partner with your doctor to have your hormones checked. If you are on thyroid medication, ask your doctor to re-check your dosages. In my clinics, I often find that as my clients get healthier and lose weight, their dosages need to be adjusted.