I love to eat. I love food, especially good food, though not necessarily food that is good for you. Because I love to eat and I don’t like being too overweight I find myself going on a diet every two years.
Here’s my pattern, beginning with the start of the diet:
- I realize I’ve gained too much weight as soon as I can no longer stand to look at my self in the mirror.
- Weigh myself and try not to scream too loud.
- Write down that weight on a 3 x 5 index card
- Start that day to eat differently, much differently, for as long as it takes to get my weight down to where I want it to be, which for me is 155 pounds.
Yes, my handwriting really is that bad
So – that’s the beginning.
I’ve been successful doing this for several years now, and the particulars of the diet are less important than you might think. Any old diet will basically work for me, as long as I stick too it. It takes me anywhere between two and three months of dieting and then I go back to what I hope will be a ‘new and improved’ style of eating. So far that new and improved style of eating hasn’t been effective enough from keeping me from needing to diet again in another two years.
My current diet is what Tim Ferris called a ‘Slow Carb’ diet in his book, the 4 HOUR BODY. It’s a low carb diet with a kicker. You can eat whatever you want on one day of the week. For some reason that makes this particular diet much easier for me to deal with. If there’s something I want to eat I put in on the list for Saturday, my ‘eat whatever I want day.’ This Saturday extravaganza keeps me from feeling too deprived while I’m on the diet.
This year’s version started on August 24th when I tipped the scales at a robust (for me) 172.5 pounds. This morning I hit 159, so it’s working pretty well. At this rate I’ll be done in too months and can go back to eating better, more nutritious meals, but without the restrictions I’m currently on.
For anyone who’s curious, this is an average days eating for me:
Breakfast – A six once package of Chobani Greek Yogurt. I add nuts and flax seed to the yogurt.
Lunch & Dinner Beef, Chicken or Fish, (no buns or bread of any type) with either beans or a small salad, dressed with vinegar and oil.
I have two snacks a day. I have one handful of nuts and either some cottage cheese or a hard boiled egg.
I don’t drink anything with calories during the week.
That’s it. Then on Saturday, I can eat whatever I want. Interestingly enough, after making myself sick the first Saturday, I normally eat similar foods, but add bread, fruits, and whatever it is that I feel like I missed through the course of the previous week.
Is this diet scientifically valid? I have no idea, but it works for me. I’ve also lost weight by severely limiting fat. I expect the secret is to just pick a diet that works for you and stick with it.
It’s amazing what happens when you go a week without fried foods or sugar. First, you feel better, but second, when you eat them on Saturday you feel like crap. That’s why I normally only seriously over indulge on the first Saturday.
Then, when the diet is over, the real battle begins. Trying (again) to eat good food that’s good for me. One thing I have in my favor this time is that my wife, who never gains weight, is now seriously into healthy eating.
