Check-in: 319 lbs / 145 kg
Target: 210 lbs / 95.5 kg

A 16:8 routine definitely seems to be working. Currently, weight loss is averaging just over 2lbs per week despite a few set-backs.

Today is going to be high cal / high carb day. 

I know from the last couple of weeks that this tends to end up doing a quick jump by 1-2 lbs before things start heading back in the direction I want them to go. 

I’m thinking I may alternate the order a bit. I had messed up a bit this week on two fronts. Yesterday however I did low protein and I’m almost considering the idea that maybe I should be looking at doing a low protein approach every other day type of thing. Not sure yet. 2 days a week is being enough of a challenge as it is owing to the fact that I don’t have a ton of good meal plans that are meatless. 

At the same time – the whole carb cycle thing is fairly well documented on various websites in so far as the whole L-L-M-L-L-M-H type routine. There isn’t a lot of guidance, researched or otherwise, about protein cycling.

Hopefully I’ll get this figured out over the next month. If the progress continues linearly, which it seems to be doing the last 4 weeks, then hopefully by end of July I’ll be seeing somewhere between 300 and 304 on the scale.

Keeping in mind that at this level of unfitness, it is all about the number on the scale. At least until I can get the weight down past 220 and then it will be all about body composition. Its similar to the idea that there is no point criticizing someone on their swimming technique if they are drowning. You need to learn to float first and 80% of swimming is all about floating. The other 20% is floating with style 🙂 . 

One of the hardest things to keep reminding myself of is that 5-8 lb/month is perfectly acceptable.

As I was putting weight back on from 250 (where I finished the Optifast program at) to 330 (where I ended up 15 months after completing the program) is that the weight, on average, was coming back on in approximately 5 lb increments per month. Its easy to assume that ‘oh, its only 5 lbs, I can lose that quick enough’ until too many of those little 5 lbs pile up. The thing thou is, if 5 lb/mth wasn’t stress inducing putting weight on, it shouldn’t be stress inducing taking weight off. 

To be fair, it never feels that way in the moment until after you look back and see the good you have accomplished. So its good to remind yourself that you are on track and to stop worrying. 

— Kevin