We returned from Costa Rica on Tuesday.  After two months without a controlled eating plan of any kind, I gained 6 pounds.  As I mentioned before, I’m not very upset about that.  It means my body still has a higher set point than my current weight, but the weight gain is only an average of 3 pounds per month with no eating plan at all… just eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.

Weight loss on the various eating plans that have changed weekly has averaged about 10 pounds per month… so it really looks like maintenance will be rather simple when the time comes to level off.

In the mean-time, it’s time to go on planned eating changing weekly again.   This week (starting two days ago on Saturday), I’m doing a lemonade fast to get started.  This time, I’m sweetening the lemonade (or limeade) with stevia.  It’s not the ideal use for stevia.  The initial taste isn’t all that sweet, but as it hits the back of my tongue, it does taste sweet.  I prefer stevia in things like camomile tea, but it works for lemonade.  I’m also taking cayenne pepper in capsules… about nine capsules per day spread out throughout the day.

We’re talking about breaking the fast with a vegan diet.  I’ve generally been against a vegan diet because of my great results on a high meat eating plan, but it’s probably time to start gathering data on vegan eating as well.

Overall, I have found that just about every eating plan has actually shown weight loss.  Some more; some less.  There are some notable exceptions (like the low calorie, low fat diet recommended by the U.S.D.A., the F.D.A. and various other governmental agencies… which flat out causes weight gain for me).

The very act of changing eating plans weekly seems to be the overall greatest success factor though.  If you think about it, any eating plan has some kind of restrictions… or it isn’t an eating plan at all.   Any time you say that you are going to have some kind of restriction for the rest of your life… I think you are doomed to fail (unless you pick okra for that restriction and really hate okra anyway and would never eat it even if it was allowed on your eating plan).

By saying “just for a week”, just about any restriction becomes both possible and non-overwhelming… even fasting.

-James D. Brausch