The Project 55 Plan

It’s time to get serious.

Over the years I have tried every diet going.  I’ve done Atkins, I’ve done South Beach, I’ve done Weight Watchers, I’ve done the Cabbage Soup diet.  Low-carb, low-fat, high-protein, good carb, good fat, meal replacements, I’ve read all the books and tried all the tricks.

And the sad thing is – they all work. If you stick to them.

One summer, tipping the scales at almost 200lbs I went on Atkins and lost 35lbs. 

Last New Years, tipping the scales at 220lbs I tried Weight Watchers and lost 30lbs.

But see, in between those two successful diets, although I dieted on and off again, I clearly gained back the weight and then some.

This morning, I stepped on the scale and am once again close to 200lbs.

200lbs!! The exact same weight I was that summer of 2002 before I went on Atkins!

8 years have passed and I’m still the same exact weight.

8 years!!

I have wasted 8 years of my life counting carbs, or calories, or points and it’s done absolutely nothing for me.

8 years!!

This morning I wasted £12.99 on the Dukan Diet book. It’s crap.  I was sucked into the hype and wasted all that money on a book that says you can burn almost 500 calories a day by sucking on ice cubes, taking a cold shower and packing away your thermal underwear.  Seriously, why have I wasted my time running miles if I could burn off the same number of calories by sucking on 10 ice cubes/mile?

So it’s time for a plan of action.

The Project 55 Plan is my own creation taken from everything that I’ve learned in the past 8 years of fruitless dieting.

The Weigh In

I will weigh myself tomorrow, Monday May 24th, and will return to my daily weigh-ins.  I find that they keep me on track much better than weekly run-ins with the scale.

The Hydration

I will get back to drinking my 10 glasses of water a day. Plus coffee in the mornings, tea in the evenings if I so desire.

The Food

I hate that most diets rule out certain foods. I like my avocados and my bananas and I’m not ready to give them up or feel like I’m cheating because I’m eating a goddamn piece of fruit! The low-carb mentality is the one that has given me the most mental issues with food and I’m tired of it. 

While I plan on cutting out white pasta, rice and bread, I’m not ruling anything in particular out.  I want to cut back on sugar, but that may still mean I’m eating a couple squares of dark chocolate of an evening.

I’m going to stick to non-fat or low-fat dairy for milk and cheese and eat lean protein in the form of eggs, poultry and meat.

I will be trying though, as Michael Pollan suggests, to eat mostly plants.

The Exercise

Oh, the dreaded exercise. I’m running a half-marathon in 5 months and I haven’t worked out in weeks. I am going to start scheduling in some time to work out, start running home from work a couple days a week and get back into the exercise groove.

The Timeline

The Project 55 plan is a plan for life, but for my own piece of mind, I’m going to track carefully for the next 5 weeks.  I can do anything for 5 weeks.

I’m tired of being this weight. It affects every aspect of my life from social to professional, it’s mental and emotional – it’s so much more than just physical.

So tomorrow is day 1 of Project 55.  This time, it’s serious.

- CJ