…have I weighed less.
The diet we’ve been on since September (REAL South Beach, meaning you-cook-it) is wonderful.
As Jane says, dessert every evening lets us go to a birthday party and resist cake, by telling ourselves, “we get dessert this evening, and if we have that, we can’t.”
Mostly veggies means, yes, sometimes I have to run to the grocery for fresh, and I always have to cook, but I’ve got most recipes down to 10-20 minutes, and pre-cooking 10 lbs of chicken means—diced chicken is always there to be used.
We miss some foods, BUT, because this diet doesn’t rely on ketosis, it means we can set ourselves a date on which we will have our favorites (often creme pie, pizza, chili with spaghetti, and Champagne) and then go immediately back on strict dieting to burn it off. It’s not yo-yo dieting because we don’t really ‘gain’ the weight, ie, it doesn’t stay long enough. It’ll just take a couple of weeks to convince our bodies to drop some more, because it’s stored a bit. But then we do go on losing.
Plateaus, old set-points, on the way down, are interesting. I even have wardrobe for these set-points…weight levels at which a diet stalls for a while, because that’s an old maintenance level. It may take two months to work past an old set-point. But work past it you do. I have about five I’ve worked past, since 2000. But I am within 3 lbs of my original target weight. When I saw the diet was working, I reset my goal ten more pounds down, so I will stall again at the target weight—and keep dieting until I like the result.
Pretty darned good for going-on-four-months.
Well done – and just in time for Christmas.
And the promised Christmas binge! I’ve promised Jane Grandma Van’s Cake for Christmas, [I’ll post the recipe] and then we’re good for at least most of a week, and then we do cream pie and Champagne for New Years! The double-event is diet-murder.
Then it’s several months of serious being good before we can justify another.
I think I would need to stop eating for about six weeks before the christmas binge to have any hope of not turning into the human potato by the end of the day.
congratulations to you both! i know from reading the blog y’all have really struggled with this and worked hard to loose the weight and get it to keep diminishing and to stay off while still enjoying food and goodies once in a while…
D
I have been pondering the notion of Metabolic Flexibility VS Yo Yo dieting.
The Four Hour Work Week dude has a new book out, which I am reading. He is also pondering the utility of the occasionally (exactly weekly in his case) eating more than usual to keep the body from getting into a rut they way it does on long term calorie restriction.
I don’t know where I stand on it, I’ve been operating on the principle that could be helpful for the last year or so, but I’ve not applying it scientifically.
Your success sounds absolutely terrific, way to go! Enjoy that cream pie!
Thanks!