[Audrehbun]

So last year I got really sick and lost 30 pounds by accident. I kept it off for about a year, and then this summer I had a period of time where I was food-rewarding myself. Gained back 20 pounds! Yikes.

So now I'm trying a new way to lose weight other than getting really ill

Researchers out of australia found that dieting for two weeks (restricting calories) and then eating normally (maintenance calories for the new weight) for two weeks actually helped obese participants lose more weight and keep it off for more than six months after the diet-on-diet-off cycle ended.

The idea is that two weeks on two weeks off doesn't let your body slow down your metabolism (which decreases your calorie burn by 15-20 calories for each pound you lose, making it much easier for you to put the weight back on after you've lost it... basically, lose 20 pounds? now you need 350-400 calories LESS than the standard maintenance calorie intake per day for your new weight).

My goal weight is 140. I'm fairly sedentary, so I'm eating 10 calories for every pound instead of 14 for every pound if I was more active. I may kick this up a bit of I start exercising regularly, but I want to get my weight down 10 pound first.

Start date: Nov 1, 2017
Start weight: 200 lbs, naked in the morning before eating, after doing bathroom business.

I'm going to log my recipes here, and my weight as I go.

I've come up with some "meal plans" that I can make real quick that are inexpensive and very tasty.

Salad w/ home made dressing
88 calories
- 1 small-med vine tomato (27 cal)
- 1 cup baby spinach (4 cal)
- 1 cup red butter lettuce (11 cal)
- 2 tbsp homemade dressing (50 cal) (1 tbsp mayo, 1 tbsp white vinegar, pinch of salt, pinch of sugar, pinch of pepper. Whisk it in a small bowl. Makes 2 servings for side salads, or 1 serving for big *** salad like this.)

Low-cal multigrain bread with boiled eggs.
336 calories
- 2 slices bread (90 cal ea.), toasted
- 2 boiled eggs (78 cal ea.), bring small pot of water to boil, lower eggs in and boil for 8 minutes. Submerge in ice-water after for 5 minutes, peel and smash on toasted bread.
Opt. 2 tsp. butter (70 cal)

Quick snacks
- Nature Valley granola cup w/ almond butter (170 cal for 2)
- Fruit bowl (238 cal) (2/3 cup of unsweetened apple sauce, 1 med. banana chopped, 1/3 can of unsweetened peach slices in water)

[Audrehbun]

So I've been on this diet for three days and so far I've noticed a few things:

- The later in the day I start eating, the more satisfied I feel. Today I didn't eat until around 2pm (I get up between 9am and 11am), and I was very full again until around 8ish. Now it's almost 1am, I'll go to bed in another hour, and I'm still 413 calories below my daily allowance and I'm not feeling hungry at all.
- Drinking 3+ cups of green tea in a day REALLY pushes down on my hunger pains, and also gives me the comfort of "something warm" in my belly.
- Fruit works for me as a dessert and a sweet treat. Also, the nature valley cups feel like a thumbprint cookie especially when eaten with a nice cup of tea to drink.
- I'm taking waaaaay more time to eat, and really chew my food and enjoy it and also not multi-task.
- I am also trying to reduce my food spending. So far today on around 1000 calories consumed I've spent $7.3 feeding myself, but some of the food I've eaten was purchased for me by my mom during a recent costco run (thanks mom!!!!) or given to me by friends (green tea sachets), so it doesn't accurately represent how much I'd be spending if I hadn't had a few recent generous gifts. Food here in Canada is a heck of a lot more money than in the US... so the food budgets I see for Americans ($100/person per month for food + household grocery items like toothpaste/shampoo/toilet paper) seems crazy when eating barely 1000 calories costs $7 in a day which is $219 a month!! Maybe I'll get better at finding good deals on product as I refine my meal plans.

Today's weigh-in was 198.5lbs which is great. I feel full, I'm probably not going to eat anymore today. I just need to drink more water...

Today I ate:

Salad - 88 cals ($1.89)
Granola cups - 170
Salad (1/2 tom) - 75 ($1.65)
Bread x 2 - 180 ($.13)
Butter (2 tsp) - 70 ($.25)
Egg x 2 - 160 ($.92)
Tea x 3 - 6

Banana - 105 ($.34)
Apple sauce (2/3 cup) - 70 ($.62)
Peach slices - 63 ($1.50)

Calories: 987

[Audrehbun]

Yesterday I pulled out all my food items from the fridge and made up my meal plan for the week.

I'm only spending $18 on groceries this week while I eat up the food I have in my pantry and fridge.

Today was a feast day since it was my mom's birthday and I hit my goal weight for the month in 5 days. Whoops. I don't want my metabolism to slow down so I am jacking up my calorie count for the day so my body doesn't think that we are in the Great Famine.

[Audrehbun]

Feast day yesterday didn't slow my weight loss.

193.5 today.