Food plans. There are tons of them and they are mostly all effective in dropping a few pounds. Some of them are effective in dropping a lot of pounds. Fewer of them are effective for keeping the lost pounds off. In most cases it comes down to motivation and lifestyle changes. We can all get motivated to deprive ourselves of our normal habits for the short term, but if our normal habits are driven by something deeper than desire then the underlying issue must also be dealt with or the weight will come back on. Sometimes quickly, sometimes over a longer time frame.
To lose significant weight and keep it off for the long term then lifestyle choices come into play. Like most women (everyone?), my body through me for a loop when I turned 40. My children had started school, I was chasing them around less, I was spending more time in my chair, and my hormones were starting to flip. I chose to walk. Every day. I got up at 6:00, strapped on my sneakers, hit the path and got home by 7:15. I'd then wake up the rest of the family and we'd begin our day. I didn't knowingly make any changes to my diet but I still managed to lose 3 lbs/month each month for a year. Problem solved. At 41 or 42 years old I was back at my high school weight for the first time since high school.
But, no. That was a solution for me at 40 with time on my hands and energy to give, but it didn't last when I took on the "project from hell" that had me working 20/7 and worrying that I was forgetting something the other 4 hours/day. That went on for two years and my eating/exercise habits were non-existent. I had no "habit" to speak of. I put back on about 18 of the lbs that I'd previously lost. I went to a doctor about a different issue and she asked me how long I'd had high blood pressure. Huh? Never. She told me to lose 10 lbs and see if that fixed it. It did.
That's when I started 8MM and the food plan that went with it. The exercise component is pure genius and I still use it. The food plan was effective but not something I could do life long. As in many plans it paid lip service to maintenance once I'd reached my goal, saying something along the lines of "keep up the good work". pfffft. While doing 8MM I connected with a couple other Chicago-based ladies who were also doing it. We still keep in touch (ASM, a lurking member here and rare poster, was who I met last week at the Arboretum) and H, a former Chicagolander who now lives in the DC area.
Last spring H sent us an email asking if we'd heard about a new plan (no). She'd seen a couple ladies walking in her neighborhood who looked fantastic, told her they'd never felt better and that she had to read the book and give it a try. H knows that I read diet and nutrition books like most people read novels so she asked me to check it out and, if willing, to do it with her. I researched it, bought the book, read it and said, "No FRUIT?!?!?!? All summer?!?!?!?! I don't think so...." and went back to my wallowing.
About 3 weeks ago I was getting to the end of my wallowing depths and decided that I'd need a food plan to kick start my recovery. I knew that I could do 8MM's plan successfully, but I also knew that I'd regained those lost pounds. "Keep on keeping on" at the end simply didn't cut it. I remembered H's plan suggestion and her request to do it with her. I reread the book, decided I could try anything for 5 days to see how it went, and bought up a bunch of FF yogurt, fish, shrimp, surimi, lean chicken/beef/pork, sent H and ASM an email, and dove in.
What I'd been turned off by in May (no fruit during Phases I and II) turned out to be no big deal in Phase I and something I need small amounts of anyway to stabilize my blood sugar in Phase II. The beauty of this plan though, for me, isn't that I'm losing weight by eating lean protein and non-starchy vegetables - it's the way it's laid out.
Phase I - lean protein only, # of days determined by answering a questionnaire online (2-7 in most cases, mine was 5), 1.5T oat bran daily (hey! That's the very stuff I want to take forever instead of a statin), 1.5 qts clear liquids, 1 multi-vitamin daily, 20 min walk daily.
Phase II - alternating days of protein only/protein-vegetables, increase oat bran to 2T and increase walk to 30 mins daily, continue water and vitamin. Continue until you reach your target weight (not your high school cheerleader weight but a reasonable weight determined on a number of factors as part of the questionnaire. Mine is 173 (bmi=23.5 on a standard bmi calculation) and is right in line with my adult weight for most of my mid-20s through my 30s. That's 23 lbs from where I was on the day I started and 30 lbs from my lifetime high last winter. It should take me 5-6 weeks total to get there. It also allows for the flexibility of switching p/pv days around based on life interests. I met up with a friend yesterday for lunch on a protein only day. I didn't see anything I wanted so I instantly turned it into a pv day and will do 2 p only days today and tomorrow. You can switch things around so long as the number of p/pv days are in balance over a 20-day period. 1/1 is the recommended split, but 5/5 is where he started with his early patients.
Then the beautiful part of this plan kicks in.
Phase III
Slowly reintroduce starchy vegetables, legumes, grains, fruits and fats. It's done on a schedule (one servicing of rice/potatoes/pasta per week to begin with, increasing to two servings about half way through this phase; two slices of bread and one serving of fruit daily; etc.), 2 days of protein only per week (down from 3 or 4 in Phase II), increase the oat bran to 3T/day daily, cut back the walk to 25mins, if desired. Also, one celebration meal per week of whatever you feel like eating with a single restriction - no second servings of something you've already eaten. Have a glass of wine (not 2), a dessert (not 2), an order of greasy fries (not 2) --- whatever it is that floats your boat in a single meal. This is the beginning of a maintenance mode that's designed to allow you to get back into casual eating without plunging back into the abyss with the mandate of "keep up the good work". It lasts for five days per pound lost.
Now, the author states that only 50% of the people who reach their target weight will go on to do Phases III and IV. I can see that happening, but with the focus on protein, I can see myself as one of the successful half. He also says that 85% of those who complete Phase III will successfully maintain their target weight for life via Phase IV. I can see that too. It's brilliant. Just like the exercise component of 8MM was brilliant, the genius of this plan is AFTER you've successfully reached your target.
Phase IV
unrestricted diet 6 days/week
3T oat bran daily
1.5 qts clear liquids daily
25 min walk daily
1 multivitamin daily
pick a day (same day every week) for a protein only day.
The protein only days act as a flush/detox day every week. He recommends Thursday because it leads into a weekend. I've picked Tuesday because it follows all of our Monday holidays in the US and doesn't conflict with Thanksgiving every year.
So, that's the description and how/why I chose it. What I didn't know is that it's become the latest fad diet in Europe, particularly the UK, since it's rumored that Kate Middleton and her mother both lost significant weight on it prior to the royal wedding.
I was somewhat saddened when I saw thousands of young people going onto the website wanting to look like Kate and get a 15" waist, or whatever ridiculous size her waist is. Fad diets don't work. Good plans that become fads tend to change their focus. South Beach was a great diet for cardiac patients until it became a fad and the next thing you saw was salt-laden processed foods with the SB logo all over them. The thousands of kids who are looking for a quick loss without thinking about what it is they're trying to accomplish will end up changing the current 50% of successful people who don't continue on into a much higher number. With that disclaimer aside,
Here's the book/plan, a fairly thorough
review, and
Let the hype begin.
In today's news, I reached the half-way point in my 23 lb goal - 11.5/11.5 and one lb from a normal bmi. I've got a chiro appt this morning, after which I should be able to reduce my appointments done to once per month. My back is liking the combination of walking/8MM/cycling/soaking/yoga. H went shopping yesterday and is planning on starting Phase I today or tomorrow.
Way too much going on, have been rushing around putting out fires. I did get a lot of walking done in one section though, and did enough biking yesterday that my butt is sore today. So I won't be too hard on myself. 
and extremely humid, probably a side effect of tropical storm Lee, but I did get into the gym at 7:00 am after dropping off Jane at school, and I am glad I did as I was comatose like a vegetable during the day. I can't take that heat and humidity, we're not used to such severe weather conditions out here.
