Starting Week 5

Today's Weight: 130.5 lbs
Lost so far: 5.5 lbs

On Saturday, I attended my second Curves Weight Management meeting. It marked the completion of Phases 1 & 2 of the diet. I am now supposed to move on to Phase 3, which is 2-4 weeks of metabolic recovery. The goal is to eat around 2000 calories a day. If my weight creeps up a bit, that is ok, as long as I don't go past 3 lbs of weight gain. Here's how it works:

My "low" weight (or current weight): 130 lbs
My "high" weight (low weight + 3): 133 lbs

Let's say I eat 2000 cal/day on Phase 3, and after 1 week I'm up to 133 lbs. I immediately have to switch back to 1200 cal/day (Phase 1) until I go back down to 130 lbs. Then I switch back to Phase 3. This time, it should take longer to go back up to 133 lbs (if it happens at all). Let's say I reach my high weight again after 2 weeks on Phase 3. I will switch to Phase 1 until I lose it. This cycle continues until I can maintain my weight at 130 lbs for two weeks on Phase 3. Essentially, I will have reset my metabolism to 2000 calories a day, which is ideal for long term weight management. When I reach my goal weight at some point in the future, I will be on Phase 3 forever so that I never gain back the weight I lost.

It is a little scary knowing that I might gain back half of what I've worked so hard to lose this last month. But, I do see the benefit of resetting my metabolism to burn 2000 cal/day. Other diets require that you keep restricting calories every time you hit a plateau in your weight loss. So by the time you've reached your goal weight, you are barely eating anything! If you want to maintain at that point, you can never increase your calorie intake, because your metabolism is set too low. You will gain lbs the second you start eating more. The Curves diet is short term sacrifice for long term success.

Breakfast:
1/4 cup oatmeal = 1
1/4 cup 1% milk = 1
1/4 cup granola cereal = 2
Sub-total: 4

Lunch:
2 fried eggs = 4
3 slices deli ham = 1
1 English muffin = 2
Sub-total: 7

Snack:
1 cup grapes = 1
1 chocolate power bar = 4
Sub-total: 5

Dinner:
1 cup spaghetti noodles = 4
~1/2 cup pork marinara sauce = 5
6 tortilla chips = 2
1/4 cup taco salad dip = 3
Sub-total: 14

Exercise:
45 min Power Flex strength training = -2

Snack:
3 cups microwave popcorn = 3

TOTAL: 33 - 2 = 31