Sorry I've been MIA. Haven't been on the laptop much at home and just haven't made the time to update my final week. It was defininitely not an "explosive" week as far as weight loss is concerned. I did follow the plan, but this week seemed to throw a lot of curves that kept me from following it completely. Thankfully was able to pretty much keep the weight in check, it just wasn't a week of losing. This chapter made it sound like it was going to be a grand change in the days eating plans, but really there was not much of a difference. Maybe a few additions, but overall it just felt the same as most of the other weeks. Honestly I think the only weeks that actually felt different were weeks 3 and 5 and those were my best weeks on this diet.
I have decided not to continue this plan going forward, but I have not completely ruled it out forever. Right now my next plan is to follow Lyn-Genet Recitas's book The Plan.. This is not meant to be a "diet" but is really about figuring out what foods react negatively to your body chemistry and cause you to gain weight. I truly believe this theory has validity. I have already figured out on my own a few foods that tend to cause my weight to blow up with just a small amount, as well as foods that according to common nutritionist that say eating them will cause me to gain and I will still see a loss on the scale the next day. So for me I think this will be eye opening. If the book is true to what it says, once you figure out your reactive foods, you can avoid them for a few months and test them again and they will either be less reactive or not at all. So, it is not causing you to have to completely give up those favorite foods, but just to give them up for awhile.
It is a very specific plan that does not allow much if any deviation from it, but the main plan is only 20 days so I'm ok with it. It does take more than 20 days b/c you are truly only "testing" for 8-12 of those days and you only test 1 food on those days, so there will be many more days of testing. Each day that adds a new "friendly food," as Lyn calls them, into your repertoire just makes the rest of your life that much easier because you now know more foods your body digests easily and quickly.
So, I thought I would do a comparison of my first day to the final day to see the full effects.
January 3, 2013 February 18, 2013
Bust: 36 1/2 Bust: 36 1/4 in = -1/4 in
Ribs: 30 1/2 in Ribs: 29 3/4 in = -3/4 in
Abdomen: 32 in Abdomen: 29 in = -3 in
Hips: 41 in Hips: 40 in = - 1 in
Thighs: 27 in Thighs: 26 1/2 in = - 1/2 in
Calves 17 in Calves 16 1/4 in = -3/4 in
Arms: 13 1/4 in Arms: 13 in = -1/4 in
Weight 170.8 Weight 165.8 = - 5 lbs
So a total of 6 1/2 inches and 5 lbs lost. Definitely not a bad run. If I can keep up an average of 1 lb a week in weight loss the rest of the year/ until I reach my goal. I would still be at my goal by the end of the year. If The Plan works out well for me and I am in fact able to pin point the foods that cause me weight gain/ do not allow me to lose, maintaining that average will not be hard.
I was planning to start The Plan on Monday, but there are some supplements she likes you to take for the 20 days and my LuckyVitamin.com order did not get delivered on Friday. So, I'll probably start mid week. Hopefully the 3 day cleanse at the beginning doesn't throw me off at work.
I know I won't be able to follow the plan exactly for the 20 days b/c I have a friend coming into town for a long weekend and I have a business trip that is going to make it hard to follow at all. However, I'm so sick of eating what are considered healthy foods and seeing the scale go up and then days when I've "cheated" and the scale will go down. Therefore, I'm going to start it and follow it 100 % for as long as I can and I'm going to try to stick to it even in the difficult times as much as possible. If I'm having good enough success and don't see a huge reaction on my days I can't follow it, I'll just assume any foods I haven't had to that point are officially "friendly" foods. If I have reactions then I'll just have to nix any/all "new" foods and test them individually going forward. It's the best I can do, since i don't want to wait until April. Life has a way of showing up even when there are no initial plans when we start a specific eating plan
