Almost Like Magic

I wholeheartedly believe one tactic to help a floundering diet is “mixing it up” a bit. If you’re stuck in a rut and can’t seem to get the needle moving down again, it’s probably time to try something different — even if for a short while.

For those of you just tuning in, let me summarize my last thirteen months:

• I dropped twenty pounds in two months.
• I survived the holidays–barely.
• I got stuck at 212 pounds for what felt like a decade.
• I went up to 224 halfway through the summer.
• I finally got back to 212, which was good in that it was less than 224, but bad in that it was right back to that point where I was stuck for what felt like a decade.

Not to spoil the ending, but if you look at the bottom of this post, you’ll see I’m miraculously back down to 210. It’s been six months since I’ve been that low. So what did I do this week to give myself a boost? I mixed it up! Let’s take a look:

• Monday. Had four bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast; one half of a deep dish pepperoni pizza for lunch; and McDonald’s for dinner.
• Tuesday. Pancakes and sausage for breakfast; eight Long John Silver’s chicken planks for lunch; spaghetti & meatballs with garlic bread for dinner.
• Wednesday. Four bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and pancakes and sausage for breakfast; just a Diet Coke for lunch; and three chili dogs for dinner.
• Thursday. Egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam; spam bacon sausage and spam; spam egg spam spam bacon and spam; spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam.
• Friday. An entire box of Cookie Crisp cereal, pancakes, sausage, spam and pizza for breakfast; one deep dish pizza, topped with pepperoni, crumbled Big Macs, and chopped up Long John Silver’s chicken planks for lunch; two quarts of Ben & Jerry’s Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream and an entire sleeve of Thin Mints for dinner.

See how I mixed it up? I had a Diet Coke on Wednesday. I’m positive that’s what caused me to get back down to 210 this week.

Okay, okay. For those who still believe I stumbled upon some junk food miracle diet, I have to fess up. I didn’t eat any of that this week. What I did — for once — was stick to the stupid plan. You see, once one gets a couple of months into a diet, it’s very easy to let “just this one bite” turn into “just this one serving” which then turns into “just this one quart of Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream.” Calories, hidden or blatant, add up. This week, I decided to double my watch and things worked out well. Even Saturday and Sunday went well, and that almost never happens.

My advice to you this week: write down what you’re eating each day. I use The Daily Plate. It has it’s quirks, but overall it’s done remarkably well for me. And if you’re already writing it all down, go back and look at your data. It’s easy to write it down then never look back. Never forget that the reason you’re writing it down in the first place is to go back and use the data to your advantage later.

I forgot that for a while myself.

Onederland Update

I’m pretty happy with this week’s results. I mean, I know my target is supposed to be the standard “1-2 pounds per week” but after nine weeks, that’s gets to be a bit difficult to sustain. And the best part? I’m right on the edge of another weight ‘decade’. Nothing like changing the first two numbers of your weight to keep you going.