Lost 20 lbs with an MMM inspired "undiet"

[Moustachienne]

Sharing this badassity here because I'm VERY happy about it and maybe something in my approach might inspire someone else.

tl;dr  Over the past 18 months or so I've lost about a pound per month by dialing down face punch worthy calorie expenditures and dialing up delicious food/quality.  Exactly the MMM approach to money, frugality, and life.  Spend your money, time, calories where they give you most satisfaction.  Enjoy your life right now and not just when you reach a far off money or weight goal.  But be prepared to change your habits and make some initially uncomfortable choices.  Details below if you're interested.  Tailor your own plan!

And for background - How to Be Slim
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/19/how-to-be-slim/

Details:

Here's what I'm doing as a new 'lifestyle", not a time limited diet:

- eating a North American middle class diet similar to what I was brought up on (but better tasting because I'm a better cook than my mom who wouldn't use butter or spices (!) and delicious recipes from world cuisines are at our fingertips)

- 3 meals a day and sometimes small snacks of nuts, fruit, crackers, or cheese, mid morning and/or mid afternoon
- smaller portions and no second helpings at meals
- cookies, desserts (other than fruit), or other sweets very rarely (as a treat not a habit)
- a few arrowroot cookies or frosted miniwheats if I really crave a sweet snack
- no soda or processed/packaged foods (except Kraft Dinner every once in awhile and tonic in the rare G&T :) )
- wine or other alcohol rarely (once a week?) and always measured (e.g. 4 oz wine is one unit, sometimes I up it to 5 oz.) and never more than one drink except for rare special celebrations (make it a treat not a habit)

- no lo-cal, no-fat or other "diet" foods
- no calorie counting, no fat gram counting or any "diet" behaviour
- eat delicious food in moderate amounts
- never feel hungry

And that's really it.  Sounds simple, right?   Ha!  The biggest shifts for me were reducing portion sizes, eliminating second helpings, and greatly reducing between meal snacking.  All of those had really crept up as bad habits.  Everything is a slippery slope...

I have a wicked sweet tooth but the less I eat sugar, the less I crave it.  I love eating a really nice dessert in a restaurant or baked at home.  What I avoid is having Oreos or suchlike in the house.  Kryptonite for me!  My goal is to make sweets a luxurious treat, not a mindless low quality habit. Stay out of the mall to avoid impulse shopping; stay out of the Oreo package/chip bag to avoid impulse eating.

I knew I'd have to "sneak up" on myself and make such easy, minor changes that my inner Rebel wouldn't kick in and sabotage me.  My motivation was initially helped by a pre-diabetic level blood sugar test result and I'm very thankful for that wake up. (Blood sugar returned to normal but has climbed again; I slacked off on consistent daily exercise ... diet is only part of the equation.)

Personal stats:  I started this life revamping when I was 59; I weighed 158-160; I had gained a pound or two a year for 15-20 years and thought it would just keep creeping up;  I retired at 60, I'm now 61;  I now weigh 140-142;  I'm 5'7".

[OtherJen]

I put on 15 lbs in the last 5 years by not watching what I ate (this doesn't sound like a lot of weight, but at a height of 5'1" even 5 lbs is a visible difference). Once I decided that I didn't want to buy yet another set of larger clothing, I calculated the calories needed to maintain a weight loss of 15 lbs with light activity. Now I measure and record all foods to make sure I stay within that limit. I'm down 6 lbs already, which at my height is more than a full BMI point. A few articles of clothing fit slightly better, but the most noticeable change is the loss of puffiness in my face.

I grew up watching my parents do fad and deprivation diets and experience weight cycling after giving up and going back to their normal food habits. Before my celiac disease diagnosis, I was always underweight or very low-normal weight, despite eating whatever I could stomach (nutrient malabsorption will do that). I'd never really been exposed to portion control. This has been quite an education. It's interesting that I don't feel deprived at all, as I eat pretty much what I want in reasonable portions. I find that I mostly want high-quality, nutrient-dense foods but don't feel guilty about measuring out and enjoying a single serving of chips or having a glass of wine or an ounce of vodka with club soda in the evening. Lunch today was a grilled bratwurst, a big pile of sauteed veggies, a small dish of beet/apple/ginger slaw, and fresh mango for dessert for a total of fewer than 500 calories. An ounce of good cheddar cheese is a favorite 100-calorie snack.

[DirtDiva]

Nice work!

I lost 20-25 lb over 2 years from adding consistent exercise (daily walking and/or biking) but leveled off at 195ish at 5’11”.

Goal is more like 175, which would be a BMI of 24-25.

Sooo... I kicked the sweets habit almost 2 months ago.  So far I’ve lost about 8 lb.  Next step will be dialing down the alcohol-that’s nearly a daily thing for me.

I too had the unpleasant wake-up call of a fasting blood sugar of 123 the day after a monstrous piece of carrot cake.  And I too have a weakness for Oreos. It’s easier to say I don’t eat sweets than to have “just a little”.

[joonifloofeefloo]

Fabulous report! Hearty congrats!!!!

[Moustachienne]

Nice to hear the success stories!  I'm especially inspired by Malkynn who's kept on track for many years.  After 18  months, I'm cautiously thinking that I'm going to be able to do the same.

Here's to "stealth health"!

[startbyservingothers]

I'm got a couple simple diet ideas, but unfortunately I'm not ready to share them yet in a public manner.

Anyone interested in possibly giving one (Or two) of them a try feel free to send me a PM.

[Kapiira]

Nice work!

[mspym]

This sounds very much like the No-S diet approach (http://nosdiet.com/) which I discovered years before MMM and who has a lot of crossover with the mustachian ideas. I've been stopping snacking at work and it's just super effective.

[lizzzi]

This sounds very much like the No-S diet approach (http://nosdiet.com/) which I discovered years before MMM and who has a lot of crossover with the mustachian ideas. I've been stopping snacking at work and it's just super effective.

I had to laugh at the No-S diet. This is the way we ate at home when I was a kid in the fifties. Other than the fact that my parents treated alcohol like plutonium, and we seldom had it in the house, the rest of the "diet" is just the way we ate day-to-day, and the way my parents and mother-in-law ate their whole lives--and they never had a scrap of fat on them.

I came down with a bad pneumonia five months ago, and had the dickens of a time getting rid of it--I noticed with my poor appetite due to nauseating meds  that I was steadily losing weight--20 lbs. I realized "Eureka--Light Bulb Moment" that I was calorically eating about the same as we used to at home. As I started feeling better, I ate a more balanced diet, but kept it similar to the No-S diet--or, thinking of my mother,  what I mentally called the "Grandma" diet. It boiled down to about 1400 calories a day of nutritious food. And I continued to lose--I'm down 30 pounds now, and only 12 pounds above what my highest normal weight should be according to the charts. I have an occasional adult beverage, and sweets usually once a week or so. I don't feel like I'm dieting, I just feel like I'm eating normally, at long last. (Female, 5'4", in five months down to 157 lbs. from 189 lbs.) I do walk a lot because of my dog--I take him out four times a day.

My gut feeling is that the standard American diet these days consists of way too much food--snacking has become normalized, portions  have morphed into hugeness--and I do think there is a profit motive going on here. The food industry makes it's money by selling food--the more the better. So whether you call it the "No-S" diet, the "undiet", or the "Grandma" diet, I would say it's not a diet--it's just a return to normal eating patterns.

[mspym]

@lizzzi well he says as much in his very first post - also calls it the Grandma Diet. :)
A lot of his systems fit together in a way that suits my brain but my favourite is his exercise system Shovelglove which is 14 mins long only because that's non-schedulistically significant time.

[Moustachienne]

It is exactly like the No S Diet!  Thanks for the link.  And I think of it as the Mom diet but Grandma would work too.  No sweets, no snacks , no seconds.  Much shorter than my original post.  :)

I've told a few people about my approach when they ask but it's like frugality, only a very few really want to hear about it and make the changes.

[Inzanedrop]

Glad to hear eating healthy is going well for you!

The biggest thing and hardest thing on your list for me personally has been cutting down processed foods and unhealthy snacks with sugar.

They're always so tempting lol