As you’ve been taught, FAT TO SKINNY is not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change. As such you’ll never go back to your old way of eating. You will however enter the final phase of the FAT TO SKINNY program, maintenance.
For those of you who have reached your goal weight, congratulations! First of all I want to express how happy I am for you. Secondly I want you to say the words out loud, you worked for them and deserve them, are you ready? Repeat after me I USED TO BE FAT but I’m not any more. Felt good didn’t it! But do you believe it yet? If you’re like me and a great number of other people your body weight shed more quickly than your mind can adjust. I remember looking in the mirror and seeing this skinny guy but my mind still said I was a FAT guy. It took almost a year being thin before I actually realized I was thin. Sound weird or are you going through the same thing right now? I also found myself wondering what to do next. Here I was, like you at the end of this life long quest standing in the winners circle not knowing what tomorrow will bring. FAT TO SKINNY maintenance comes next, it’s not difficult and you will stay thin for the balance of your life by following one simple rule; FIND YOUR BASELINE AND DON’T CROSS IT.
Your baseline is simply the number of carbohydrates your body can tolerate without storing additional FAT. If you’re like most people there are certain fruits and veggies you’d like to add back into your eating plan, maybe even a few grains here and there. At this point in your journey the scale and your food journal are your friends. The scale will be your main tool in locating your baseline and your food journal will help you to avoid “carb creep”. Carb Creep is the result of becoming too complacent with food measurements, sloppy carb counting and having the “a little bit of this and a little bit of that won’t hurt me mindset”. It sneaks up on you and before you know it your eating 75 to 100 grams of carbs per day, the scale is increasing and new bad habits are forming.
To find your baseline you begin by SLOWLY increasing your daily carb intake; This will be done over the next month and you will closely watch the scale. As soon as the scale starts to rise you’ll need to cut back a bit until the scale starts to drop. Once you’ve reached the point where the scale stays the same based on your current activity level and your current carb intake you’ve found your current baseline. Notice I say current base line. Baselines change throughout the year and should be monitored closely. Baselines tend to go up in the summer months and down in the winter months. This is mainly due to our activity levels. Most of us tend to spend more time outside moving around doing things during warmer months and less time outside during winter months. It’s all pretty simple to understand, what it means to you right now is to keep an eye on your scale and change your baseline accordingly. If you gain a few pounds, cut back on your carb intake, if you lose a few pounds you have license to eat a few more. As you add carbohydrates back into your eating plan always make great choices. Refined sugar, fruit juices, cereals, pasta, cakes, cookies, candy and daily bread should all be a part of your past and avoided at all cost. Eating these foods will simply start the viscous cycle of cravings all over again which ultimately will lead to weight gain. The foods to add first are the lowest carb highest fiber fruits and vegetables you’ve missed the most. On the fruit side apples, blueberries, apricots and peaches are good choices where mango, grapes, pineapple and raisins are poor choices. On the veggie side increasing your quantity of low carb vegetables is a better choice than eating corn, potatoes or peas. Enjoying a bit of hard squash now and again is acceptable at this point. Add these foods in small controlled quantities so you don’t experience high fluctuations in blood sugar. The second foods to add gently into your program are legumes. Many people miss hard beans such as northern beans, lentils and kidney beans. Again be careful as you add these back into your eating plan and keep track of quantities. Be aware that most prepared canned beans with sauce are full of other sugars which should be avoided. The last thing you should add into your eating plan are grains. Personally I have zero tolerance for grains and I gain weight walking down the bread aisle.
I won’t lie to you though there’s nothing like a piece of crunchy San Francisco sour dough bread from Boudins Bakery down at Fisherman’s Wharf and I’ve been known to eat a piece or two when I visit the city by the bay, but this is truly the exception to the rule. Personally I have a very low baseline. I gain weight if I exceed 25 grams of net carbs per day. As you know I’m an author, a profession by which its very nature ties me to a desk much of the time. Combine that with my disdain for scheduled exercise and it’s easy to see why my baseline is so low. Yours will be different depending upon your lifestyle and activity level. The greatest part about FAT TO SKINNY maintenance is the bulk of the work is behind you and you know exactly what to do if you gain a few pounds. You’ve been taught well and you have succeeded in your quest. You USED TO BE FAT and now you’re skinny. Once again, congratulations.
