Week 6 – What’s next

I still have 2 and a half weeks util I’ve finished my straight 60, but the question as to what follows has been on my mind pretty much since the first week. I’ve got it down to 3 main choices. 1. Continue the diet. 2. Continue the diet but not so strict, allowing myself some grains/sugar once in a while, but in moderation. 3. Go crazy and eat all of the foods I’ve been denying myself for the last 60 days.

I’ll admit, I think about option 3 a lot more than the others, but I realize it would not end well, and I’d be pretty unhappy with myself too. As tempting as this option looks, I doubt I’ll be doing this. If I do, I think I’ll restrict it to one day, maybe just one meal.

I’m not too excited about the thought of option 1. I know it would probably be the best choice for my weight loss to continue, and my pursuit of health. It’s somewhat odd though, why don’t I want to continue? I’m not hungry ever, I’m enjoying the food I’ve been eating, and I’m getting healthier in the process. For some reason though, a big part of me doesn’t want to keep going.

Option 2 seems like it would be the obvious best choice. To my understanding this is the point of the 60 day turnaround. Its not a life-long diet, but it does two things during those 60 days. The first, is that you get healthy, loose weight, feel great, and heal those leptin and insulin receptors. The other thing that is happening is that you are being trained to eat differently. So that when the diets over, you don’t just go back to the same eating habits, you really limit sugar and wheat(which you’ve learned how to do and realize its not that bad or hard). They become a treat for once in a while, not the main portion of your diet. This sounds great, right? I’ll stay healthy, keep loosing weight, and get to have that pizza once in a while.

The problem I’m facing, is that I don’t know if I trust myself enough for option 2 yet. I’ve actually tried option 2 in the past (granted it wasn’t after doing the straight 60) and it didn’t really last very long before I went back to eating the same ol’ breads and sugary foods all the time. In my mind, option 2 takes much more discipline than option 1. Discipline is something I’ve obviously lacked when it comes to my diet for a long time. Can 60 days create that disciple? For me it just seems easier to eliminate sugar and wheat completely as opposed to allowing it in small quantities, spread out.  That seems like it would leave the door open for more mistakes or moments of weakness to lead to bad decisions.

So, what to do. I don’t really know what I’ll be doing yet. To make this decision even more difficult, my straight 60 ends the day we’ll be leaving for vacation. There’s a strong desire to eat “normal” on vacation. I do know this, I have a mini-goal of under 200 lbs. I haven’t seen that for almost a decade now, so I will not even consider stopping the diet until I hit that. So if that doesn’t happen before the 60 days, then I’ll have my answer. I still have 2 and a half weeks until then, I’m pretty confident I will drop below 200 by the end though.

In case you were wondering, I plan on continuing doing Crossfit, that is now a part of my everyday life, and will not be stopped at the end of the diet.

After 6 weeks on the straight 60, I’m down to 211 lbs., which is a loss of around 20 lbs. I’m pretty happy about that. I get more excited as I get closer to 200. As I mentioned above, under 200 is a mini-goal, because I should be well below that too. So I still have a lot of work ahead of me. Thanks for reading.

-Dr. Mark

Ahhh, so naive.  It won’t be Marks choice.  I write his paychecks right now, so we know we can motivate.  The best bet, will be when his family and mine are in Hilton Head for Fall Break, we’ll cheat.  Some.  Minimally.  But then the 22nd rolls around, and everyone is coming in to join us on the Straight 60, so how could we NOT be on it still?  Oh yes, the “slightly interrupted Straightish 120”.

See all of you here on the 22nd at 7pm.

– Dr. E