I'm overweight. 8 years ago I used a Weight Watchers at-work program and over 8 months lost 60 pounds. That gave me a BMI under 25. I kept the weight off for 3 years. Then I moved and ended up living in a hotel room with a bored spouse for 9 weeks. At the end of the 9 weeks, I had gained 10 pounds. This was due to dining out and throwing the Weight Watchers program in the bin. I tried to restart but the local WW office held meetings at inconvenient times and was staffed by a couple scrawny old women who offered no encouragement or help. So over the next 3.5 year, I grew another 25 pounds.

On December 1, I began a Whole30 program. For those not familiar, it involves eating no dairy, no grains, no alcohol, and no added sugar or artificial sweeteners. Also legumes are off limits. There are a few exceptions; kombucha is okay despite a small amount of alcohol, green beans and sugar snap peas are more pod than seed. It's not easy but only lasts 30 days. You read every label and discover a lot of sugar and soy in everything. But I've managed. Oh, and you're not allowed on a scale until you're finished. And if you make a mistake or cheat, you have to start over.

My big mistake was to start without reading the book. It arrived at 8:00 PM the night before I planned to start so I skimmed the first 2 chapters. On the 6th evening, I passed out due to low blood sugar. That was corrected and I'm doing better. Since I was given non-compliant foods to boost my blood sugar, I started over. Since I was starting over, I weighed myself and I had lost 6.5 pounds in 6 days. That's 6.5 pounds off of 190. At this point, I'd estimate it's closer to 10+ pounds lost and I had to shift into the smaller pants in my closet, a 2" waist size difference. I still have 24 days to go before I can reintroduce the forbidden foods, but I'm far from hungry. And the hospital found nothing else to be concerned about with blood work and urinalysis (or EKG or CT scan). I miss beer. I miss bread, but I will not be adding either back in the volumes I previously consumed them. I think I can live like this.

What's your program?