I was very bad over New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and the weekend. Weight is up significantly. On the one hand, it’s good to know that I can’t really cheat on the Atkins diet without gaining weight. On the other, it’s frustrating to understand how some cheating affects my body. I have gained almost ten pounds from the hot chocolate at Burdick’s on Saturday, and the chocolate on Sunday, and the pastry-thingie on new year’s day, and the cookies at New Year’s Eve at the Haven. The advantage that I have is that I know how to shed the weight, and with any luck, it will go away as fast as the weight I gained at Christmas — I lost nearly all the weight by New Year’s that I had gained at Christmas. So I’ve had two weeks of fun, and now I can go back to my standard Atkins died, and lose the weight again in January.

My low weight for December, and for the year, was 248. Ideally, I’d like to be back to that within the next two weeks or so. I think I can do it with minimum stress, and then be on my way to 240 by the end of February, 230 by the end of March, 220 by the end of April, 210 by May, and 200 by the end of June. One hundred pounds lost in a year, that’s the goal. I think it’s achieveable and sustainable.

Over the course of this winter and Spring, I’m going to need to learn how to maintain the weight that I want to be. I know I need to put at least some more carbs back into my diet, and learn to manage food a little better. I also know I’ll need to stay at 200 pounds or so, or within ten pounds of that, for at least a year, and maybe more like two years, to help my metabolism adjust to that as my new weight. This is going to be rough at times. On the other hand, I’ll look and feel better, and I might just wind up adding five to ten years to my life and ability to live well. Having just seen how cruddy my grandmother is at 94 years of age, with emphysema and a variety of illnesses and complaints, I’m hoping to live long and prosper. Living long in a state of illness ain’t no fun at all.

Liked it? Take a second to support Andrew on Patreon!