Ad Lib April {Final: May 1st}
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Initial weight: 164.8
Week 1 weight (April 8): 166.4
Week 2 weight (April 15): 165.4
Week 3 weight (April 22): 166.6
Week 4 weight (May 1): 165.8
Total Gain: +1lb
Measurements increased this week as well. Which could just be pre-cycle water retention, or not.
Takeaway:
If I don't snack between meals or after supper, then I can maintain without tracking anything but carbs. However, if I want to lose weight, then calories must be tracked and restricted. So I learned something at least.
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4/1: 219
4/8: (Didn't officially weigh, think it was around 218)
4/15: 216.6
4/22: 216.2
5/1: 219.2
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+ .2 lbs
Sabotaged myself for the final weigh in after throwing keto-cares to the wind over the weekend. During the course of this challenge I hit a new low of 214.6 late last week, then water-weighted my way back up through 3 days of carbage indulgence with a houseful of guests who are most definitely NOT low carb eaters...not that that is any excuse. Kept calories in line, but with all the wrong food. CICO my *kitten*. ;-) Party is over, guests and remaining food are out of the house, yesterday was first day back on my WOE 100%, and I'm ready for a go at May's challenge.
April's "pay no mind to calories" challenge confirmed for me that I'm on the right track by keeping carbs at or below 20, and eating to hunger. My trend for the month was going splendidly and I anticipate if I keep to the plan and follow my body's cues that the remainder of my weight loss should proceed pretty predictably.
Off to spend my paycheck on a cow now... ;-)0 -
Initial starting weight of 156.2. Ending weight 155.4 so a decrease of .8 lbs. for the month. in addition I hit a new low last Friday of 154.8 So I am very happy. I am quite content with doing no tracking. I find tracking very stressful and can do well without that. I am mindful of the carbs and with just eating fresh veggies, a little cheese and HWC naturally stay under 50 - usually way under. Maybe the weight loss would be better with lower carbs but I don't see the need to stress over it as I feel great and am confident it will come off and not return as I plan to stay the course0
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Starting weight: 154.6 lbs
Weight this morning: 152.2 lbs
Tracking during the month, I was all over the place. Often gaining and losing the same pound, which of course means nothing on a day-to-day basis but I was starting to question the method. Really, my problem has continued to be that I eat during socially-accepted meal times, rather than waiting until I know I'm hungry. I could have eaten much smaller meals, as well. Still, being down 2.4 pounds at the end of it is a win in my book.
I will be following along with Meativore May, though tomorrow I know I will make a couple deviations (ruled.me coffee cake and deviled eggs made with avocado at my birthday party). I have been winding down my vegetable intake for the past couple of weeks, so it's not going to be a huge shift.
I will also be partaking in the Dairy-Free challenge M-F this week. I attempted a couple days this past week until I forgot not to put cream in my Starbucks coffee on Wednesday evening. I was pleasantly surprised to find I could drink my coffee without cream, which I thought would be the biggest part of the challenge.0 -
I was going to weigh myself at the gym for a final weight, but it doesn't really matter.
The take-home message for me was that I can successfully be in maintenance without ANY tracking!
I didn't track calories or carbs, and both were all over the map, but it didn't seem to matter much. One confounding variable for me was that I was exercising a bit more than usual because of training for an upcoming 8K, but that also meant I ate more.
A sub-lesson for me was that the logging I did prior to this experiment was crucial. It trained me pretty well in terms of being mindful of what I eat, which foods are more calorie dense, appropriate portion size, etc.
So I think logging for the first few months is excellent training, but then it's OK to take the training wheels off.
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4/1 weight: 250.2
4/8 weight: 248.0 (-2.2)
4/15 weight: 247.6 (-2.6 total, -0.4 last week)
4/22 weight: 246.4 (-3.8 total, -1.2 last week)
5/1 weight: 248.0 (-2.2 total, +1.6 last week)
Down overall on the month but the last week was a bit rough. I expected it to be, I ended up with a grand total of 9 appointments during the week, one of which was to have my mom at the hospital for a minor surgery Tuesday by 5am. Sleep was way off all week as I tried to fit in work when I could. Anyway, things will be back to normal this weekend and I expect by Monday my weight will be back in the 247.x if not 246.x range.
I'm one of the ones that already wasn't logging, so that was really no different for me, but I hadn't lost much weight this year so far so participating in this gave me a chance to re-focus a bit. I would have liked to have seen another loss in the final week and seen 245.x somewhere and have it last, but I'm happy with the results nonetheless.
I won't be participating in May's challenge, but I wish those that are luck and will be reading along!0 -
Have there been any overall conclusions drawn from this Challenge, or was it just a one-person/one-result thing? Which I presume is what the 'n=1' thing is that I've seen everywhere but don't know the origins or meaning of
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It was a bit anti-climatic, wasn't it? N is the traditional count (number) variable. A valid study has a large N. An individual study would be N=1.0
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It was always an n=1 thing. Encouraging people to try it out for themselves and see how it works for them.0
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I discovered that I can eat, including 2 birthday celebrations and a holiday where I didn't have access to my normal foods and still lose weight. I didn't log ANYTHING. I listened to my hunger cues and it still worked. Eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm not.
Not logging shifted my focus from thinking about and obsessing over food. I just got on with life, ate low carb for the vast majority of the time and ate when I was hungry. I proved that I can do it. I'm much more relaxed about food and eating.0 -
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I discovered that I can eat, including 2 birthday celebrations and a holiday where I didn't have access to my normal foods and still lose weight. I didn't log ANYTHING. I listened to my hunger cues and it still worked. Eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm not.
Not logging shifted my focus from thinking about and obsessing over food. I just got on with life, ate low carb for the vast majority of the time and ate when I was hungry. I proved that I can do it. I'm much more relaxed about food and eating.
what an awesome success!!
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For me, I discovered that berries, even in super small quantities, are a kryptonite to me. Any time I ate more than 1-2 blueberries or less than a full blackberry or strawberry - I wanted ALL THE BERRIES!!! I got to the point where at least I was pairing them with HWC, but I had far more desserty things during the month than I wanted so as not to let things go bad. I had counted on my fiance to help me, but unless I made him cobbler or some crap I really didn't feel like making, he wasn't overly concerned with eating them. He did eat some strawberry shortcakes (leaded), but I learned my lesson. Trying to avoid life's sweeter things for a time to get back on track.
Not joining Meaty-May or dairy-free challenge.0 -
Thank you guys.
That was a big step for me. After decades of not knowing how to eat for my body and every diet requiring you to be militant over every mouthful it's a huge relief. Not counting anything is so liberating.0
