Maintenance update 1 week

Today marks 1 week in Maintenance Mode

 scince I reached my goal weight (150 lbs is my goal) of 149.8 lbs   on Feb 17, 2013



             Feb 17, 2013 149.8 lbs  4 miles per day walked  aprox 34 bites per day avg.  2/18: 2 min Heavyhands & 3 lb weights with walks
1 week: Feb 24, 2013 146.2 lbs 4 miles per day walked aprox 32 bites per day avg2/24: 4 min heavyhands & 3 lb weights with walks

End of Week 1 Evaluation: Below 5 lb Maintenance Range

As you can see I lost weight, 3.6 pounds this past week

 my 5 lb Maintenance Range is 147.5 to 152.5...
unless I decide I want it to be lower,  but I want a reasonable weight I can stay at long term, not something where I am fighting to stay so skinny! I believe my goal of 150 and a BMI of  24.2 is reasonable for ME! Someone else might have a lower BMI goal and that is fine, everyone is different, ;)

Ive been doing research on the Science of Wieght Maintenance (maybe another blog post ;)) and they say to add food slowly after you reach your goal. I don't want to have a rebound effect and add a bunch of bites all of a sudden, so slow and steady is the way for me!  So I have added 5 bites per day this week. 

Bite plan for this week

35 bites/day Monday-Friday (up 5 from last week)

45 bites/day Sat-Sunday (up 5 from last week)



Monday through Friday Meal Plan This week

Meal 1: 12-12:15 PM  9 bites

Meal 2: 3-3:15 PM  6 bites

Meal 3: 6-6:15 or when  family eats: 20 bites

total 35 bites

Setting Meal times for my meals

This is not necessary for being successful with bite counting, its just something I recently started putting on my Stickk.com maintenance contracts each week. I really like eating at the same time everyday three solid meals a day....it helps the habit concept! I know I cant my 2nd meal until 3 PM, so I don't need to argue with myself about when I should or shouldn't eat. I do make exceptions, ect if I am going to be gone to someone elses house, ect, but I love the structure and habit of just doing the same thing day after day, day in and day out.  This concept of meal timing may not work for some people, just something I really like for myself that I recently started...


Capital S days/meals....


I am also incorporating 4-6 days a year into No-Counting Days"  (also called Capital S days from the No-S diet) (maybe another blog post to explain this concept more later).....  This coming Saturday will be my first No-Count day in Maintenance Mode!  I am excited about it, because a few days a year when I don't track bite will be nice.

A few days a year....Christmas, my birthday, Thanksgiving, Anniversary, ect would take up most of my Capital S days. By planning ahead, and having PLANNED days like this, I believe will help me to stick to this Long term...

Once a Month, I plan to have  1 " No-Count" meal with Dear Husband on our Date Night. I call these  Capital S Meals (again came from  No-S) That means I don't have to count anything, bites, minutes ect.... It  will be fun to look forward to these meals and yet I think it will help keep me on track for long term, like I mentioned above...

Capital S days and Capital S meals  means I don't have to count anything, bites, minutes ect....


This is not something I did when I was losing, and I am trying it out, knowing that I can change it if I need to, and if it doesn't work well for me ect...




Maitenance Plan....

In Re-Cap , My Maintenance Plan looks like this right now...

I will change if I need/want to according to how my weight trend stays in the 5 lb Maintenance Range and according to how my Maintenance Plan works for me!

You can see my Wieght Trend chart here....https://trendweight.com/dashboard/

N days (counting bites and 3 meals a day) mon-Friday
S days (still counting bites but more bites allowed 3-4 meals a day) Saturday-Sunday
Capital S meals (no counting anything just a meal/time to eat) 1-2 times a month
Capital S days (no counting anything) 4 days per year


I have liked the No-S concept of 3 meals a day and that really works well for me, and having a little more on weekends is another No-S concept, I just incorporate that into my bite counting!







 

Where do I start?

Alot of people want to know where to start with bite counting, I decided to make a post that included links and just a general "getting started" information that would be easy to read/understand/and do!


Where do I start?

1.Read about counting bites....A good place to start is by reading information about bite counting as a way to lose wieght and keep the weight off,

 the original article about Dr. Black's bite counting system, is really the best place to start...

You can find and read that here   

 http://countyourbites.blogspot.com/2013/11/count-bites-not-calories-doctors-new.html

Other good links and books to read are in these links here:

Dr. Lewis Why Weight Around book: (based on 5 bites twice a day)

http://www.amazon.com/Why-Weight-Around-Changing-Strategy/dp/0615148077/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421554284&sr=8-1&keywords=Why+weight+around

The history of Bite Counting
http://countyourbites.blogspot.com/2015/02/history-of-bite-counting.html


http://countyourbites.blogspot.com/2014/04/review-of-mouthful-diet.html

  http://countyourbites.blogspot.com/2013/11/more-information-about-bite-counting.html

http://countyourbites.blogspot.com/2014/04/interesting-article-about-counting-bites.html

 http://countyourbites.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-world-is-waking-up-to-bite-counting.html

 http://countyourbites.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-bite-diet-by-rob-moon.html

 http://countyourbites.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-ultimate-21st-century-diet-25-bites.html

http://80bites.themethodpilates.com/






2. Join the 5 bite / bite counting facebook groups, and other social support sites.
you can find more info along with links for those groups in this blogpost here

http://countyourbites.blogspot.com/2015/01/online-social-support-helps-you-stick.html



3.If you wish, join us on the TwoGrand app.  There is a small community of 5 biters/ bite counters on the Two Grand app, it can help with accountability and motivation. You can find the information about the Two Grand app in this blog post here

http://countyourbites.blogspot.com/2015/01/accountability-and-motivation-join-me.html





4.Decide and obtain what you want to use to count bites with.  Read this blog post here about all the different things  you can use to count bites with.


Read this blog post here about different options to count your bites


http://countyourbites.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-do-i-use-to-count-bites-with.html


I use the Eating Slower Pro app, which has a few perks, including helping to eat slower and keeps track of 90 days worth of bites... Other options can be free, one lady even used a piece of paper and pencil. This wouldnt be very convienent., and you want to make sure whatever you choose to use is something that is easy to do, something that you are more likely to be able to stick with, something that will be easily available whenever you eat. A simple free tally counter app for your phone is a good cheap way to start out!

There is another app that counts bites that is Free for iphone called Next Bite. Next bite has a smaller counter at the top of the screen and you can set how many seconds between bites. (eating slower is another blog post you can read about later)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/next-bite/id461203587?mt=8

When I first started dabbling with Bite counting, I didnt have an iPhone, so I bought a golf tally counter off of amazon, and it worked well!

http://www.amazon.com/Champion-Sports-TC-Tally-Counter/dp/B000A7NWKS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392587210&sr=8-1&keywords=golf+counter


 5  How big is a bite?

This blog post explains all about bite size
http://countyourbites.blogspot.com/2015/01/5-bite-diet-tips-part-4-how-big-is-bite.html

6 Start Counting bites

There is more than one option

1.You can establish your Baseline by counting how many you are consuming now over a 1 week period, and then decrease gradually  each week or month, ect as needed to keep losing

This app here establishes a baseline number of bites specifically for you, 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bites-alternative-to-calorie/id883012774?mt=8

http://countyourbites.blogspot.com/2014/06/maintenance-plan-for-week-20-and-new.html

 OR

2. You can jump right into Dr. Lewis' 5 bite diet plan and eat 5 bites Twice a day. The rules to Dr. Lewis plan are here, but buying the book and reading it is recommended.

5 Rules to the 5 Bite Diet

• Drink as much of anything as you want as long as it doesn’t contain calories.
• Take 5 bites of any food at lunch.
• Take 5 bites of anything at dinner.
• Take one multi-vitamin every day.
• Get a bit of protein a day “on average”.

 OR

3. You can just pick a goal number of bites and start counting . Some choose 10 (5 bite diet) 15, 30, 40 or even 80.  I started with 80 and decreased to 70, then 60, then 50 and so on and so on! Being reasonable and something you can stick with is a good idea.

     *** IF you choose  a higher bite count to start with, try to keep your meals to 18-25 bites OR less each  is a good goal


Others get along great just jumping right into the 5 bite diet. If you are one of those, then jump right in. :) The weight will melt off! :)

 Another video here
https://YouTube/watch?v=ACZudjDrjTg



7. Document your weight I like to do this daily on Happy Scale
 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/happy-scale-weight-loss-tracker/id532430574?mt=8

and Trend Weight
https://trendweight.com/u/cd1f67ad57c04c/ 


Both of them are free, and they help you not get discouraged. You can choose to only wiegh once a week, but keep in mind that clinical studies show that poeple who weigh daily lose more wieght and keep it off better...

Its important that you be able to somehow keep tabs on your wieght to so you can re-evluate your wieght vs. your bite count once a week.

The happy Scale and trend wieght both keep a running average of your weight and a trend line. There are other free websites that do this also, just google Weight Hacker's Diet trend wieght and/or Running Average!


8. Document your bites...
 Journal your bites, how many you ate for each meal/day.  This is important,so you can review it later in several days....

Jot down your bites in a journal/tablet/piece of paper with a pen or pencil.  OR keep track of it on your phone. I use the Daily Tracker app on my iphone, and it keeps track of 2 years of information how many bites per day I ate, ect, I can also keep track of each meal if I wish to. 

The Eat Slower Pro app keeps track of your bites per meal and Per day for 90 days, so this is nice, its already built in!

This only takes 30-60 sseconds a day!  




9 (Optional). Once a Week, Evaluate your Weight and Bite count over the past week and adjust...

 At the end of Each week, look over your bite count on your phone/journal/paper and your wieght that you jotted down

ask yourself these questions...

Am I losing wieght, gaining, or maintaining my wieght?

Then Adjust your bite count/goals  for the next week:

If you are gaining, decrease your bites. 
If you want to lose faster, decrease your bites. 
If you are losing at the pace you are happy with, keep your bites the same
If you are losing faster than you want to, increase your bites just a bit 
ect, ect...

Some poeple are happy with 1/4-1 lb loss a week, each person is different. What matters is that you reach YOUR personal wieght loss goals, and that YOU lose wieght at the rate YOU want! You can personalize the number of bites just for your situation!


10. (Optional) Make a Commitment: 
This is optional, you dont have to make a commitment to lose wieght, but it really helps one to stick to the plan even when  a few  days into your bite plan, you have a temptation to go off track!!!
 
This has been one of the sole reasons I have been able to stick with it. I started out making commitments on http://www.stickk.com/ I put 18  dollars on almost every commitment per week, and I dont pay a penny unless  I dont keep my commitment.  It has made me stick through it  day in and day out. I have done around  60-70 commitments scince 4 months or so ago and only lost 5 or less of them. It really works!   Other websites that you can make commitments on include  https://www.beeminder.com/     
http://habitforge.com/  and others!! 

Just for an example when I made a commitment around the time I started losing wieght on this journey October 14,2013 I made a commitment for 4 weeks, because I knew that would get me past the point of  where i would start seeing results ect...and it worked!!! I lost close to 24 lbs in the first 4 weeks, and I KNOW that if I would not have made a commitment, I probably would not have stuck with it! I would have given into temptation once again and probably not be at my goal wieght today!!

Here is what my commitment looked like for the first 4 weeks of my journey....just as an example word for word....

 Eat certain amount of bites"
I commit to:
Week one: 80 bites or less daily
Week two: 70 bites or less daily
Week three: 60 bites or less daily
Week Four:50 bites or less daily

Sundays are always 80 bites or less

I may make 2 mistakes per week of up to 5 bites per mistake.

It was a custom commitment on Stickk.com for 4  weeks

11. (Optional) Limit your eating occasions/meals to 3-4 times a day 
I didnt do this right away, but within a week or two I started limiting my eating occasions to about 4 times a day, then worked my way to 3 times a day. This really helps to not be snacking constantly. It is one of the main principles of the NO S diet, and I think eating 3 times a day and not snacking all the time, really helps wieght loss, it helps one not to be so obssesed about food. I know I can eat when my next scheduled meal is and I CAN wait until then!

The No S book is here if you are interested in learning more about the 3 meal a day strategy 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Diet-Strikingly-Weight-Loss-DietersRaving--/dp/0399534040/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392826023&sr=8-1&keywords=no+s+diet 


The No S website and Forum is here

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewforum.php?f=3 

80bites founders (another bite counting program)  also recomends that you only eat 4 times a day!

It is hepful to have a BITE GOAL for each "meal"

For example my bite goals right now (30 bites total per day)

are MEAL 1:  7 bites

     MEAL 2:  5 bites

    MEAL 3:  18 bites

I saved more bites so I could eat a nice home cooked meal with my family!


12. (Optional)Allow yourself more bites for Weekends or Special Occasions  This also helped me to stay on track. I alot of times allowed myself 1 1/2 times to double the amount of total bites for a day on Saturday and Sunday! At least I allowed more bites usually. Now if you do this too often, you wont lose, but I started out allowing myself 80 bites for Sundays and then gradually went to a moderately increased amount of bites for both Saturday and Sundays.  When we went out to eat, sometimes (once a week or less) I would also allow myself up to 18-25 bites just for that meal. That would help me not to feel deprived even though I was still just eating a small amount on regular days.  This basic priniciple helps to keep you from binging.

If you say, I am only going to eat 20 bites even on Christmas, thats not even reasonable! Alot better to say I will eat 80 bites (or more) on Christmas, and stick to your plan, instead of end of binging and eating way more than that! 

Read this blog post here for more details
http://countyourbites.blogspot.com/2013/11/shift-your-bites.html 

The Principle of having more on Weekends also comes from No S diet. Reinhard Engels called these days "S DAYS" and that helps keep you on track during the week!

13. (Optional) Eat Slower  This has been a major helper in helping me feel satisfied with a small amount of food..  One minute between each bite going into your mouth  You can read about it here

http://countyourbites.blogspot.com/2013/12/eating-slowly-little-secret-with-big.html 



You can just start with Number one on this list and work your way down the line Gradually, OR you can do all at once.  I recomend doing it somewhat Gradually, adding in a new concept every week or two OR month OR when YOU feel comfortable doing so.  The optional things listed above are not Mandatory to lose weight counting bites, but you will find them to make it much easier if you consider  adopting  some  or all  of them! 



 

18 week update: GOAL wieght reached today!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today has been 18 weeks scince I started counting bites October 14th, 2013

Started October 14, 2013 218.2 lbs

1 week October 21st, 2013 208.4 lbs 78 bites per day average 9.8 lb loss
2 week October 28, 2013 205.4 lbs 71 bites per day average 3 lb loss
3 wks November 4, 2013 200 lbs 60 bites per day average 5.4 lb loss
4 wks November 11, 2013 194.4 lbs 40 bites per day average 5.6 lb loss
5 wks November 18, 2013 192.2 lbs 36 bites per day average 2.2 lb loss
6 wks November 25, 2013 191.8 lbs 34 bites per day average .4 lb loss
7 wks December 2, 2013 185.4 lbs 33 bites per day average 6.4 lb loss
8 wks December 9, 2013 182.2 lbs 23 bites per day average 3.2 lbs loss
9 wks December 16, 2013 176.8 lbs 17 bites per day average 5.4 lbs loss
10 wks December 23, 2013 172.8 lbs 18 bites per day average 4 lbs lost 2.5 miles per day average
11 wks December 30, 2013 171.2 lbs 21 bites per day average 1.6 lbs lost 3.2 miles per day average
12 wks January 6, 2014 167.2 lbs 18 bites per day average 4 lbs lost 4 miles per day average 1.1 bite of fruit/veg per day average
13 wks January 13, 2014 163.2 lbs 16 bites per day average 4 lbs lost 4 miles per day average 1 bite fruit/veg per day average. Added one pound weights to a lot of walks this week
14 wks January 20, 2014 160.6 lbs 20 bites per day average 2.6 lbs lost 3.7 miles per day average .5 fruit/veg per day average
15 wks January 27, 2014 157.4 lbs  22 bites per day average 3.2 lbs lost 4 miles per day average  .4 bites fruit/veg per day average. Added close to 2 lbs weights in each hand alot of walking time this week!
16 wks February 3, 2014  157.8  4 miles per day gained .4 lb
17 wks February 10,2014 152 lbs  4 miles per day walked  5.8 lbs lost 
18 wks February 17, 2014 149.8 lbs 4 miles per day walked  aprox 34 bites per day average

68.4 lbs  lbs lost in 18 weeks! My goal was 150 lbs, so I have reached my goal wieght today!

I plan to gradually increase my bites, and I keep upping the intensity of my exercise, so hopefully that means more bites for maintenance! I already did my stickk.com contract for this week how many bites I would eat, so I will have to do a new maintenance one for next week!

17 week update

Today has been 17 weeks scince I started counting bites October 14th, 2013

Started October 14, 2013 218.2 lbs

1 week October 21st, 2013 208.4 lbs 78 bites per day average 9.8 lb loss
2 week October 28, 2013 205.4 lbs 71 bites per day average 3 lb loss
3 wks November 4, 2013 200 lbs 60 bites per day average 5.4 lb loss
4 wks November 11, 2013 194.4 lbs 40 bites per day average 5.6 lb loss
5 wks November 18, 2013 192.2 lbs 36 bites per day average 2.2 lb loss
6 wks November 25, 2013 191.8 lbs 34 bites per day average .4 lb loss
7 wks December 2, 2013 185.4 lbs 33 bites per day average 6.4 lb loss
8 wks December 9, 2013 182.2 lbs 23 bites per day average 3.2 lbs loss
9 wks December 16, 2013 176.8 lbs 17 bites per day average 5.4 lbs loss
10 wks December 23, 2013 172.8 lbs 18 bites per day average 4 lbs lost 2.5 miles per day average
11 wks December 30, 2013 171.2 lbs 21 bites per day average 1.6 lbs lost 3.2 miles per day average
12 wks January 6, 2014 167.2 lbs 18 bites per day average 4 lbs lost 4 miles per day average 1.1 bite of fruit/veg per day average
13 wks January 13, 2014 163.2 lbs 16 bites per day average 4 lbs lost 4 miles per day average 1 bite fruit/veg per day average. Added one pound weights to a lot of walks this week
14 wks January 20, 2014 160.6 lbs 20 bites per day average 2.6 lbs lost 3.7 miles per day average .5 fruit/veg per day average
15 wks January 27, 2014 157.4 lbs  22 bites per day average 3.2 lbs lost 4 miles per day average  .4 bites fruit/veg per day average. Added close to 2 lbs weights in each hand alot of walking time this week!
16 wks February 3, 2014  157.8  4 miles per day gained .4 lb
17 wks February 10,2014 152 lbs  4 miles per day walked  5.8 lbs lost 

66.2  lbs lost in 17 weeks!




2 lbs to my goal of 150 lbs, God Willing!!!!!!!!!!


I upped my bites to 30 bites a day this week!

Learning to push re-start

Alas, I am human! I gained about 4/10 of a lb this week! Just pushing RE-start and going on!


Today has been 16 weeks scince I started counting bites October 14th, 2013

Started October 14, 2013 218.2 lbs

1 week October 21st, 2013 208.4 lbs 78 bites per day average 9.8 lb loss
2 week October 28, 2013 205.4 lbs 71 bites per day average 3 lb loss
3 wks November 4, 2013 200 lbs 60 bites per day average 5.4 lb loss
4 wks November 11, 2013 194.4 lbs 40 bites per day average 5.6 lb loss
5 wks November 18, 2013 192.2 lbs 36 bites per day average 2.2 lb loss
6 wks November 25, 2013 191.8 lbs 34 bites per day average .4 lb loss
7 wks December 2, 2013 185.4 lbs 33 bites per day average 6.4 lb loss
8 wks December 9, 2013 182.2 lbs 23 bites per day average 3.2 lbs loss
9 wks December 16, 2013 176.8 lbs 17 bites per day average 5.4 lbs loss
10 wks December 23, 2013 172.8 lbs 18 bites per day average 4 lbs lost 2.5 miles per day average
11 wks December 30, 2013 171.2 lbs 21 bites per day average 1.6 lbs lost 3.2 miles per day average
12 wks January 6, 2014 167.2 lbs 18 bites per day average 4 lbs lost 4 miles per day average 1.1 bite of fruit/veg per day average
13 wks January 13, 2014 163.2 lbs 16 bites per day average 4 lbs lost 4 miles per day average 1 bite fruit/veg per day average. Added one pound weights to a lot of walks this week
14 wks January 20, 2014 160.6 lbs 20 bites per day average 2.6 lbs lost 3.7 miles per day average .5 fruit/veg per day average
15 wks January 27, 2014 157.4 lbs  22 bites per day average 3.2 lbs lost 4 miles per day average  .4 bites fruit/veg per day average. Added close to 2 lbs weights in each hand alot of walking time this week!
16 wks February 3, 2014  157.8  4 miles per day gained .4 lb

60.4 lbs lost in 16 weeks!




  Yes, I am still counting bites! I just had one day my S day that I didn't count bites the whole day, just part of the day, so I will start averaging my bites per day next week.

Learning to push re-start and not dwell on our little discouragments along the way is a very good thing to learn! I just have to look  how far Ive come!!