Saturday's a big day. The great weigh-in. Having embarked on a lifestyle change of lower food consumption, has the first phase of weight reduction worked?The answer is an emphatic "Yes", each week since I started nearly four weeks ago:
- Three and three quarter pounds lost this last week.
- An average of 5 pounds (2.3 kg) a week over the last 26 days
In fact it's been too successful, despite eating more than my daily targets by an average of 6-7 Cs a day for the last two weeks. Weight has a habit of being put back on again, especially if it is lost too quickly.
But I'm trying to make this a permanent change in lifestyle. So is this loss too much?
STARTING THE SECOND PHASE
It is suggested to lose no more than 1-2 pounds a week, but I was 'threatened' by my doctor with an even tougher diet. So I'm not too concerned I'm overdoing it. Nonetheless I would be happy with losing 'just' 3 pounds per week.
Pending talking with my doctor (so who let him go away on holiday?), I'm changing my "stretch target" to match my average consumption over the last two weeks. That means upping my daily target from 59Cs to 66Cs.
If I still go a tad over it, my real target, I should still lose around 3 pounds this next week. But let's see how well I keep to the stretch target, given I've achieved it so often these last few days. It's a psychological thing. Will I end up relaxing and eating more? First day is on target as I finish writing this blogpost at 9pm.
HOW HAS IT BEEN?
It's been a tough target. But the way I've designed the system has made it far easier than I expected. This is fundamentally a calorie-controlled diet but with some subtle but important tweaks:
- Working in units of 100kJ, so it's small numbers. A ready meal is around 20Cs, and a light yogurt 4Cs, equivalent to a mile's walk
- Labelling food so it always reminds you
- Eating more fruit
- Walking around 3 miles a day, to earn 'extra food'. Typically a trip to the shops early on plus a sunset walk
- Setting a daily target, and counting down what's consumed like a darts match to always see how much target remains
MAKING IT SUSTAINABLE
As mentioned above, the idea is to change habits to keep weight down once it has been lost. I'm looking forward to the time I can set a higher 'maintenance level' of consumption, whilst continuing to follow these principles. Fingers crossed!
RELEVANCE TO WEIGHT GAIN
In principle there is no reason why this approach shouldn't work if someone is underweight, or perhaps suffering from an eating disorder. I appreciate these things are not necessarily simple psychologically. But if someone with my usual appetite can keep to a low Cs target, then someone could potentially keep to a high Cs target.
NEXT STEPS
Whether you want to lose weight, gain weight or just make sure you stay as you are, why not give it a go? Liaising with your doctor or advisor as appropriate.
No comments:
Post a Comment