Me, sometime early fall of 2008, somewhere above 240 lbs.

by Glen A.

With this being the last full week on the Smart for Life diet that I intend to do, I paid  a little more attention to eating mostly what was allowed for dinners, while eating cookies for the other meals. One variation I did make was to eat the dinner meal for lunch, since I had tried variations of that throughout, with pretty good success. Figuring that I would actually burn off more calories throughout the day than I would just sleeping it off, I went ahead and ate some turkey with spinach greens three times this week. It also gave me an excuse to not eat the higher calorie dinner meal Angela prepared for everyone else.

Considering that the weight loss for Week 20 amounted to a dismal 6.4 ozs., I’m happy to report that this week’s loss was much improved. Total loss for the week, which started on Thursday, was 2.8 lbs. That brought me down to the all time low weight of 196.4. I think I can confidently say that I dropped 45 lbs., all told.

Not the 195 pounds I had intended to stop the diet at, but definitely within shouting range.

So, where do I go from here?

As I outlined in the last week’s post, I’m going to try watching the caloric intake while eating normal foods to see where that takes me. I still would like to lose more weight, but for the mean time, I’m going to be happy with maintaining under 200 until my mornings are freed up. That will happen as early as Monday, June 1. Then, I intend to incorporate a Bowflex routine along with the treadmill to see if I can’t burn some calories, while watching the intake at the same time.

As promised, I’ve posted a before photo, and an after photo. The before was taken with me over 240 lbs, and the other with me under 200. I think that should be fairly representative of where I’m at, and what the Smart for Life diet was able to accomplish over the course of the 21 weeks.

So, would I recommend it? I think I need to break down things first.

Ease of use

On a scale of 1-5, I would give it a 5. Eating a prepackaged cookie, or adding water for a soup or shake are virtual no-brainers. If you work from home or in an office where you have a stove or microwave available, I’d say you’re set. I ate roughly every two hours from 8 am to 6 pm (with variations to that depending on my schedule). I did not eat all seven meals because I was never hungry enough for the last one after eating the dinner meal. There were plenty of days when I had a big lunch that I didn’t eat anything after that because I felt full.

Hunger

I’d give it a 3.5. As the Smart for Life folks and some testimonials I’ve read suggest, after the first two weeks, hunger does go down. Some days were better than others, however, and if I went more than two hours between feedings, I did feel hungry. Not all of the time, but most of the time I would. That meant adhering to a fairly regular eating routine.

Taste

I can’t honestly give it much more than a 2. I don’t think you go into this diet thinking it’s going to be tasty. I don’t think that’s what the Smart for Life folks intended for you to think, either. I really liked the chocolate chip cookies, and I actually did like the soups, but the other cookies and all the shakes did leave something to be desired. I’ve never been one to eat so much salad, which is what dark leafy greens amount to, so that was another adjustment. Nor have I gone so long without fruit or some amount of milk.

I do have to say, though, in defense of all of this, that there are a lot of things, like sauces and fatty foods, that taste great, but not only increase weight, but they just plain make you feel bad. Bloated, drowsy, drained, whatever. So, the trade off for me became having something that wasn’t so tasty but made feel better consistently, or eat something that I really liked, but made me feel terrible afterward.

Me, again, at the end of 21 weeks on Smart for Life, at south of 200 lbs.

Energy

4.5. I don’t think I’ve had so much energy for years. No, that doesn’t mean I’m doing handsprings and cartwheels, but I’ve consistently felt like I could accomplish the tasks set before me throughout the day, instead of putting something off until tomorrow morning after a good night’s rest. I’m sure my early to bed and early to rise routine has had something to do with this, but before this diet I would get to five o’clock and be done. Sometimes, it would be earlier than that.

With Smart for Life, I consistently had energy up to the 8 pm range when I was naturally getting tired, anyway (it being my approximate bedtime). I attribute it to the bursts of energy derived from the smaller, but more frequent meals. Also, losing the weight undoubtedly translated into more energy, too.

Weight loss

3.5.  I don’t have a whole lot to compare it to. As mentioned in one of the earliest posts, I did try something called Body for Life several years ago. I saw some significant results there after 6 weeks, but there was a full-blown weight training regimen included, and I was considerably younger. Given the fact that I generally didn’t have more than the treadmill once a week with the Smart for Life, I can’t say exercise was much of a factor. It was all about caloric and waste management, though I did see some of my biggest drops on Saturday mornings after the treadmill. Still, I also have contradictory data during the week of Spring Break when I ran the treadmill all week and didn’t see any spectacularly greater weight loss.

The thing about this weight loss, too, is will I be able to keep it off while actually enjoying what I’m now eating and feeling full? That, I’m afraid, only time will tell. Not sure if I’ll know whether or not to blame the diet if the pounds come rushing back. I do feel because I took weight off slowly, over the period of 21 weeks, rather than, say, in half the time, I have a better chance of keeping it off. Again, it’s just not something I’m going to be able to predict.

I think people need to look through the categories as I’ve outlined, the ratings I’ve given each, and then try to determine whether or not this diet will work for them. I don’t think it’s the universal weight loss answer. I think it will work for people in certain situations, but I don’t think it will work for everyone.

Probably the most significant proof I have of this is Angela. She’s never fully gone on it, which is half the battle, and then she hasn’t lost more than a couple of pounds total, in the process. She would be okay when she was at home, but not able to maintain it when she was out and about for most of the day. She’d end up not eating instead, and then being really hungry and snacking and eating larger dinner portions to make up. Doesn’t quite work that way.

I can honestly say that it was worth trying. Would I do it again? Maybe, but I certainly don’t want to do it for the rest of my life. I’m hoping that I’ve changed my eating habits sufficient enough to make a lifelong change, rather than having to go back to Smart for Life or some other diet.

Being healthy and within a proper body weight is something that needs to be done for the long haul, not just when you get too big. Maintaining weight, I think, can be done by watching what you eat and throwing in some exercise. Most of us lead far more sedentary lives than our ancestors did, which means we need to take time to move around. However, the main thing is being aware of the calories you’re taking in, and knowing roughly what your body is supposed to be burning, then compensating accordingly.

That’s the theory, anyway. While this is the end of the Smart for Life weekly updates, I do intend to post perodic summaries of where I’m at with the interim experiment, and then go into regular postings as far as the workout goes.