I hit the 100 lb weight loss marker Oct. 2014, officially conceding to "goal" 5 months later, at 110 lbs lost. I struggled, trying to find my niche and ended up losing up to the total of 129 lbs off during the process. Took me about a year to fully realize that JUDDD is not only the BEST diet for for weight loss but also the BEST woe for maintenance.
How does maintenance look for this JUDDDer? Almost always I use the up / dn pattern (no 5:2 or 4:3 as I can eat more when I stick with ADF). Currently, I'm doing two 500 calorie DDs followed by twice my TDEE (3400 calories) on UDs. It works nicely.
I think of my calorie consumption something like a savings account. Save here, save there, so I can spend it on Friday night! Yesssss! I sure do love my diet! Who woulda thought it could happen to me?! If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. I really believe that. The keys are the same for maintenance as they are for weight loss:
Calorie cycling
100-170 g protein on UDs
Mostly protein on DDs (500-1000 calories)
Spiking (aka Controlled Cheating)
Is this "Easy"? Put it this way, maintaining is FAR easier than losing. The thing each of us needs to do is to find the EXACT key to unlock maintenance for our OWN body. ADF allows more calories than any other woe does. With each successive tweak, fine tuning the key, I am becoming more comfortable with the fact that I will be able to keep this weight off. It is not easy, takes a lot of time, but if you're going to succeed, it's necessary. I have done a great deal of research into maintenance. I have a couple of books that describe others who've gotten to maintenance, along with statistics, etc. (These are of little value to me.) In the end, each of us need to carve out our own path with this journey. Some days I feel as though I'm re-inventing the wheel. No one else can do this for me. Not enough research has gone into maintenance in general, other than to be told to continue on with what you were already doing when you got to goal. I want more than that because the basic JUDDD (alone) is not enough for me at this stage! I also am forever wanting to boost my metabolism. Because, truth be told, it is all about the food. 😀
June 7, 2012, age 50, my weight loss journey began unintentionally after dramatically increasing my protein intake (for anxiety). My sister, who'd had the gastric sleeve, encouraged me to increase my protein to 100 grams/day, telling me that's what WLS patients are told to eat. She encouraged me that I'd probably lose weight in the process. It worked! ALLLLL I did at first was to make sure to eat 100 g protein per day, and I began to lose weight.
Six weeks in, I stumbled upon the idea of every other day eating (aka JUDDD [Dr. Johnson's "Alternate Day Diet" Alternate Day Diet]) while visiting lowcarbfriends. The protein and JUDDD together paved the way for me to go on and to eventually lose 129 lbs in total.
Since that time, I've had a greater appreciation for the advice my sister gave me, which changed my life. Russell Branjord of "Spike Diet", formerly morbidly obese, in maintenance 13 years, has this to say about protein:
"How much protein do you need? Personally, I got my best results when I ate one gram of protein multiplied by my body weight. For example, I weigh 215 lbs so I eat about 215 grams of protein a day, which I find to be sufficient for my recovery. The general rule is the more intense the weight training, the more protein you need.
"Simply multiply your weight in pounds by one of the following:
Sedentary adult: 0.4 gram per pound
Active adult: 0.4-0.6 gram per pound
Athletes and building strength: 0.6-0.9 gram per pound
Living the Spike Life: 0.6-1 gram per pound
"These are all estimates for healthy adults and may not be appropriate for people with chronic kidney disease, liver disease, or diabetes." For me, 100-150 is within reason. If my protein level goes too low, I notice that my metabolism suffers and my ability to stick with the plan becomes more difficult. I eat normal food, the Mediterranean style diet. When necessary to supplement to get my protein count up I will use whey protein powder / bars and beef gelatin, my protein staples are:
Cottage cheese
Fish
Poultry
Eggs
Milk
Greek yogurt
For down days I don't get in this much protein, but my food is usually pretty much mostly protein in general. i.e. Greek yogurt is a common food, which does have a few carbs.
I'd started trying diets by age 8, obese by age 11. I dieted off and on for 20 years, frustrated because I didn't lose weight like normal people. In my late 20's, I started Optifast. One week the scale didn't show a loss. My doctor yelled me, stating that I HAD to have cheated. I'd previously explained to him my inability to lose weight like a "normal" person and that my body has an uncanny ability to lower its metabolic rate when eating lower calories. He ridiculed me, "I expected more out of you, for someone your age." I gave up on diets that very day, terribly discouraged. Shortly afterward, I was diagnosed with PCOS, which can definitely contribute to problems with weight.
June 7, 2012, age 50, my weight loss journey began unintentionally after dramatically increasing my protein intake (for anxiety). My sister, who'd had the gastric sleeve, encouraged me to increase my protein to 100 grams/day, telling me that's what WLS patients are told to eat. She encouraged me that I'd probably lose weight in the process. I didn't believe that was possible, because of my history, but I kept at the protein increase because it helped my mood. After a couple of weeks, I dared start weighing myself. I was 293 lbs. My hips: 65" ! But the scale did start to move slowly.
Six weeks in, I stumbled upon the idea of every other day eating (aka JUDDD [Dr. Johnson's "Alternate Day Diet" Alternate Day Dieter ] while visiting lowcarbfriends. The whole concept was exciting to me, as I loved the idea of being able to eat normally every other day. I thought that could only be a dream diet.
I lost my first 100 lbs by October 2013, and by March, 2014, I'd lost 110 lbs and officially called "goal". I've since lost 19 more pounds, with a new goal of 163 lbs in mind (1 lb to go!). I occasionally throw in low calorie days to get off bits here and there but mostly working on maintaining.
I always have my eyes on the scale. To maintain, I MUST walk 3-5 times per week, 45 min., or my metabolism slows to a crawl. I usually follow a CAD / JUDDD combo. I still count calories because I have issues with leptin levels more than likely as a result of having been obese at a very young age. Counting calories is not tedious to me at all. I enjoy it, and it keeps me accountable.
WHY DID THIS DIET WORK, when others hadn't? The combination of increasing protein to 100+ g every other day PLUS eating very low carb on opposite days worked! JUDDD enters into the equation because the higher eating days rev your metabolism, while the lower days knock the weight off. By trial and error, I've found that I am able to eat more by alternating my calories from day to day, rather than eating a stable amount day after day. My journey wasn't simple, including a 3 month plateau, but even during that time, my hips were shrinking.
I'm so excited about this that I admit that I'm like one of those annoying ex-smokers. I'm passionate about this woe and helping others, if I possibly can, in the same condition because I was the bullied fat kid in the playground, the fattest kid in school all of my life, during a time when being obese wasn't as common as it is today. To be honest, childhood obesity ruined me in many ways emotionally. I'm affected by it still today, even though I'm no longer obese, but I cannot help but brag on what ADF has done for me and what I believe is the #1 answer to losing weight and keeping it off.
Above all, I thank my Lord, Jesus Christ, daily for revealing the key to a door I didn't realize even existed. In my gut, I always thought there was a tool I was somehow missing, and I was right.
Getting started on the Johnson UpDayDownDay Diet™ plan is easy... and unlike many other diets, long-term adherence is easy, too! The diet is ideal for individuals who are trying to lose weight, but it is appropriate for anyone who is looking to improve their health and prevent premature aging. Dr. James Johnson developed the diet based on studies showing that alternate-day calorie restriction decreases the risk of disease and prolongs life in virtually all organisms tested. Resveratrol is also believed to promote similar effects.
Getting Started – The UpDayDownDay Diet™ Plan
There are a few things you can do before you begin the Johnson UpDayDownDay Diet™ to help keep track of your progress and goals:
Begin keeping a journal so that you will be better able to measure your success. Include how much you weigh before you start the diet. You may also want to have your fasting cholesterol, insulin, and glucose levels checked prior to starting the diet so that you can monitor your improvement in these areas. The Johnson UpDayDownDay Diet™ has helped individuals greatly reduce the severity of asthma, allergies, arthritis, and other conditions. By listing any symptoms that you have prior to starting the diet and then tracking their improvement, you will receive extra motivation and encouragement to stay on track.
Up Days and Down Days
The Johnson UpDayDownDay Diet™ is more than just a diet. It is a lifestyle…a way to eat for the rest of your life…a way to promote optimal health and nutrition. The plan is straightforward and simple to follow: every other day you will limit your calories (Down Days), and on alternate days you will be free to eat what you would like (Up Days). After a two-week induction phase, the amount of restriction necessary on Down Days will depend upon your goals.
Larry "Fats" Goldberg, 69, New York restaurateur, food writer and author who devised a system of "controlled cheating" to lose and keep off 175 of his 325 pounds, died Monday in his native Kansas City, Mo., of complications from Alzheimer's disease.
Beginning in the 1960s, Goldberg started three restaurants in New York that he named Goldberg's Pizzerias. He created his own recipe for pizza that was rated best in the city by New York magazine. A dedicated consumer of food who considered eating "entertainment," Goldberg also wrote food columns for the New York Daily News.
But he may have gained his greatest fame for losing weight and keeping it off for more than 30 years. His friend, Calvin Trillin, wrote about the remarkable effort for the New Yorker magazine, and Goldberg described his struggle in several books and talks while repeatedly admitting that "dieting stinks."
Among his books were "The Fats Goldberg Take It Off and Keep It Off Diet Program" in 1981 and "The New Controlled Cheating Weight Loss and Fitness Program" in 1992.
I prefer Larry's first book. The basic premise of his books are eating a low enough calorie amount for 6 days, creating a deficit, and then one day per week eat whatever you want. From accounts found on-line and within his books, it sounds like this free day is somewhere between 2200-3000.
I've incorporated CC (controlled cheating) into my lifestyle, which fits in nicely with JUDDD. The CC plan is almost identical to "The Spike Diet" except that Larry doesn't have all of the scientific data that the Spike guy does. Support group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1065476356834102/
Controlled Cheating diet summary in Stages - basic plan:
GCC = Goldberg Controlled Cheating day. Basicly means a free day of eating whatever you really **want** to eat, as much as you want... No BOZO eating. :) BOZO eating= eating ginormous amounts of food, stuffing your mouth full of things you don’t really care about eating, just for the sake of eating. Stage 1: 14 days low calories Induction, 1 GCC day Stage 2:6 days low calories 1 GCC day, repeat till 3/4 to goal weight Stage 3: When 3/4 to goal: 2 GCC days a week (2-3 days in between each GCC) other 5 days low calories Stage 4:Goal Weight 3 day plan: 2 day low calories, 1 GCC repeat indefinitely to maintain for life Stage 5: At goal Weight for 12 weeks: 7 day free GCC vacation Stage 6: After 7 day vacation: 6 down day low calories, 1 GCC , then Back to 3 day plan (Stage 4) Weight gradually returns to normal on its own)
Six months after I began JUDDD, I entered a plateau phase, which lasted 3 months. It was a horrible time for me, where I began to wonder and fret about a whole lot of things regarding my new lifestyle. What was I doing wrong? (Found out later that it is quite common to hit a plateau after 6 months with this style of eating. Didn’t know that then. Got a lot of bad advice, accused of cheating, etc. Wasn’t a fun time.)
I sought for encouragement in a lot of diet forums, chased a lot of rabbit trails, bought a LOT of books on recommendation from others on the same journey. I ended up in weight lifting forums, as they tended more toward the ADF style of dieting. I bought the “Spike Diet” book, by Russell Branjord. Shortly afterward my plateau broke and the book sat on my shelf.
Six months ago, I mentioned the book to my good friend Amanda, and we began devouring it. This also led us to finding a book by Larry Goldberg, author of “Controlled Cheating”, who sustained a 175 lb weight loss for 32+ years. I don’t know about you, but when I hear of someone maintaining their lost weight for that long, it perks up my ears BIG time. 98-99% of weight losers regain their weight within 5 years, MOST begin regaining their weight near to the time that they hit their goal, most within 1 year. These are scary statistics! Forewarned is to be forearmed!
Russell Branjord, of the “Spike Diet” has been sustaining a 100 lbs loss for 10 years (later on adding 30 more lbs) to bring him up to 130 lbs total lost. His plan goes against what is commonly thought of as a way to lose weight. I lost my weight with JUDDD, but I am now maintaining by Spiking, which is a bit of a spin on JUDDD. I’m thrilled that he has come out with an updated Spike book. http://spikediet.blogspot.com/
How does the Spike Diet fit in with JUDDD? Very easily! Instead of following the JUDDD calculator for the up day, have a much higher calorie amount, followed by 2 or 3 DDs. In the end, it is about creating a deficit, but it is also about allowing yourself to have a very large up day. The higher calorie day gives you the oomph to carry on with the lower days, both keeping your metabolism revved and filling the need to eat a decent amount, thus relieving the pressure of constant day-after-day calorie restriction. Doing this often enough, at least once per week, will give you something to look forward to. It is not just psychological. It is also hormonal and physical. Medical science has not yet caught up with how our bodies work especially in the area of weight loss.
I am burdened to reach out to people, to let them know of a lifestyle that can change your weight and change how you look at weight loss and maintenance. This is available for free, other than the price of a book you can purchase used at half.com for just a few bucks, without a special eating plan to start out with, just some basic tools.
Anyone following me in weight loss support groups knows that I can be quite wordy. Pity my poor hubby who’s listened to me ramble on excitedly sometimes literally for hours. And my poor friend Amanda. :) I am very opinionated on what worked for ME, a formerly morbidly obese middle aged woman.
I am not a professional writer by any stretch of the imagination, but I yearn to reach out to others who struggle with their weight. If I can be a blessing and encouragement, that’s my goal. There is a way to lose weight without “Zeal” or “Advocare” or “Weight Watchers” !!! A much better way, but it takes a plan.
My hubby’s been pestering me for a long time to start a blog, and I think now may be just that time. I’m a bit scatter brained, so my ramblings probably will not be very organized. :)
Now I have a place to write my thoughts without worrying about offending an admin of a group or hearing another diet expert disparage my eating style. Thank you for reading. :D
