Trying the 80:20 method

[KD]

80:20 method. Sounds to me a bit like some natural contraceptive method Don't know why that keeps popping into my head when I say 80:20

Right, so the last 2 weeks I've been trying the approx 80:20 method. Okay, so not exactly 80:20 in mathematically terms. Neither is it the official 80:20 method!

I thought I'd see if I could maintain by cutting back in the week and eating without any restrictions from Saturday afternoon to midnight Sunday.

The Good News I have managed to maintain my weight using this method. Each Monday morning, I have been about 5lbs heavier, but by Saturday morning it's been gone. I've really enjoyed eating anything I fancy without guilt. Just be able to pick up and eat without question. To fill up (okay...to more than full) without worrying. To indulge and enjoy a load of rubbish It's been great to serve up 2nd helpings of puddin' and not have to think about the consequences.

I have found cutting back during the week has been relatively easy. I thought that I would be very hungry after stretching my stomach over the weekend, but this hasn't been the case. I think my brain is beginning to stop registering hunger Reckon it's decided that I've ignored it so many times in the past...hey, what's the point

I couldn't give up my daily curly wurly and since I had no plans to go into ketosis, I found I could still eat one a day during the week.

Knowing that I can eat over the weekend has helped keep me motivated to stay on track.

The Bad News. Ummm, well, yes. Nothing is perfect is it I have noted, that I still have little control when I'm allowed to pick freely knowing that the weight gain is only temporary. Much that I tried to be sensible....I'm just not Any element of control was quickly followed by my reasoning that the idea of this way of eating, was that I didn't have to control it.

During all my maintainence post CD, I've allowed myself some indulgences each day, but these have been controlled, and I haven't had a problem. This all went out of the window during the weekend with this method, and boy...can't I still pack it away

I found I had to really cut down during the week. This wasn't difficult, but I did find it annoying that I had to cut out a lot of healthy foods to balance the estimated calories that I had indulged in! Not sure that I ended up eating 80% healthy 20% unhealthy. Hard to tell really.

Psychologically, it's a bit of a downer. Basically, I'm having to diet during the week. I estimate that I'm having to cut down to approx 1,000 cals a day.

When I came off of CD, I promised myself that I wouldn't diet again. This I've managed until I tried this method. I'm not totally sure that I want to restrict my calories this much every week. I'm also not sure how healthy it is for my body to have mad eating sessions and then cutting back quite drastically on a regular basis (like for the rest of my life).

Just because I am maintaining, doesn't mean that it's healthy.

Monday mornings I am huge BTW. Look about 9 months pregnant. Yes, it does come off by Friday, but it's a tad annoying that I spend half the week with my bigger stomach.

Conclusion Not sure what to do now. I know I need to cut back to about 1,000 cals this week to make up for the weekends damage. It's certainly been fun to just indulge at the weekends, and if I go back to what I was eating before, I won't be able to do that.

I think that if I continue using this method, I would have to practise some element of control over the weekend for health reasons really.

I'm thinking that to get a little more balance and control, that maybe I need to do a box of goodies for the weekend. Something very generous, but still putting some limits on what I'm eating.

Right...so this has just been an experiment. I think I would need to do it for longer to see whether I can control my pacman tendencies at the weekend. Undecided about whether I want to......

Of course, I could just do this way of eating some weeks, and my original method the others. This could be a little difficult for me as I would have to cut right back during the week, knowing that I couldn't over indulge that weekend. Oooh, the workings of my mind. Clunk, click, explode, analyse the exploded parts.

 

[Karen1972]

Hi Karion

I so know where you're coming from, it's so easier to pile loads of weight on but so easy to get it off again!! I've been doing this yoyoing for ages now and it is v annoying!! My problem is that my upper weight keeps going up and up and up....

It's so difficult and we just have to come to terms that we will never be normal eaters and that we will have to diet for the rest of our lives in order to maintain... You have done so brilliantly to maintain your weight for over a year, and i think the 80/20 rule is quite a good idea, maybe after a few weeks you will lose the novelty factor of being able to eat whatever you want and will stabilise again???

The whole thing is a minefield darling! But you really are doing exceptionally well, don't ever forget that!!

Luv,

 

[Mini]

Great experiment Karion and I read with interest how you get on...

After last week I now have that pregnant tummy and I hate it as it looks out of place...I do so like my flattish tummy when it is there....looks nicer in clothes

I feel like a balloon this morning that the air is beginning to go down on...

My psoriases is at me for the first time in a while...back scratching...

Good enough reason for me to stay on the straight and narrow.

High carbs really do blow you up, don't they

Love Mini xxx

 

[Gill-cdthing]

im sort of scared to get to the maintaining bit, i love knowing exactly what im eating that day and i make sure i have it worked out when im having each thing,
hope you get your head around it

 

[nadhak]

Hi Karion
gosh you are so brave - I would love to try the 80/20 but I just fear the old me creeping back !
I am maintaining through fear atv the moment - but also setting myself tests along the way - I try things and if they trigger me I pull back big style!
For example - last week I tried my old habit - Jelly babies - well I could not stop - I felt quite sick at the end of the bag but that sweet chewy jelly just triggered me big style - so now I will not touch them as I realise they encourage me to lose control!
So my conclusion is that if I tried to be free at the week-end I would spiral downwards big time as I would have no control annd would be unable to STOP - so my preferred method is sensible eating 99% of the time alowing myself a glass of wine on FRiday, Saturday & Sunday and the occasional meal out!
The goodie box sounds like my special tin - it has healthy ish snacks in it that I have with my cuppa tea and Greens organic chocolate - 4 pieces maximum at any one time!!!!

Good luck with your 1000 calories a day this week!

 

[KD]

Yes, it was definitely an experiment...not a plan to move over to this way of eating permanently

I did like what I was doing previously. I was never hungry, manage to fit in some treats each day, and rarely craved unhealthy food. Guess I longed for the bad days again, even if they were only for 1.5 days a week

At least this has taught me one thing. I will be able to indulge on Christmas and Boxing day and still probably get it off by the end of the week if I cut right back. Putting on even 7lbs, will right itself if I get it off really quick. It's when you let it lie there for a while that it seems to take longer.

Gill. You know....it's okay, this maintaining lark. I think you need to be very committed (certainly for the first year), then never losing sight of what can go wrong, but it's cool otherwise

Some people just seem able to do it without throwing tantrums here and there. For me, it wasn't so easy. Okay, I never throw tantrums in view of anyone in my offline world, but sometimes online and often in my head Perhaps it's because I have enough 'disorders' to keep a psychiatrist in business for the whole of his/her natural career

It's fun to experiment and try out new ways. Keeps it interesting

So my conclusion is that if I tried to be free at the week-end I would spiral downwards big time as I would have no control annd would be unable to STOP - so my preferred method is sensible eating 99% of the time alowing myself a glass of wine on FRiday, Saturday & Sunday and the occasional meal out!
The goodie box sounds like my special tin - it has healthy ish snacks in it that I have with my cuppa tea and Greens organic chocolate - 4 pieces maximum at any one time!!!!

That's similar to what I have been doing this last 12+ months. It's a good way I believe. Fun to try something new, but I couldn't do it until I had really gained some confidence in myself and my ability to get back on track. That took time.

 

[htpink]

Thanks for this thread - i found it very interesting. It sounds like the way to maintain is to pay attention at all times - think this is where i have gone wrong always - have always come off the diet and gone for it! I'll have to think of maintenance as a diet but with more food!

 

[icemoose]

Absolutely! Never take your eyes off the prize, never just eat badly for the sheer hell of it and always keep weighing yourself.

M.

 

[Barb]

Interesting reply Mike, how is the maintaining going for you? Are you finding it easier or harder than you expected. How do you balance your intake?

love

 

[htpink]

Weighing is the first thing that goes when i'm overeating!!

 

[Gill-cdthing]

Gill. You know....it's okay, this maintaining lark. I think you need to be very committed (certainly for the first year), then never losing sight of what can go wrong, but it's cool otherwise

, I never throw tantrums in view of anyone in my offline world, but sometimes online and often in my head Perhaps it's because I have enough 'disorders' to keep a psychiatrist in business for the whole of his/her natural career


.

im hoping i will never lose sight of what i have acheived, 4 months ago it was an impossible idea to lose this weight and i still sometimes think sh&t i did it, but the other thing i think i will never lose sight of is the memory of me big, so now even though there are moments when i could kill a cream cake,(and it happens less and less) i know its a choice, and its upto me to make the choice between fat and slim, and im slowly getting used to buying clothes in normal shops when at first i was too scared to go into a changng room cos i kept thinking `who are you kidding fat ass you wont fit them ` and then they did fit and i had to stop myself from crying,

loved the bit about tantrums sounded like me lol

 

[icemoose]

I tend to be an angel Monday to Friday and then tend to leave the nicer things for the weekend, this not only allows me to maintain my weight but also fits in with my lifestyle when I am snowed under during the week and haven't really got time to eat but like to enjoy meals out etc at the weekend.

Saying that I don't sole source Monday to Friday and binge at the weekends as that wouldn't be a sensible way forward.

So basically in the week I would have something like porridge for breakfast, a tuna salad/sushi etc for lunch and then something like stir fry or meat and veg for my tea. I aim to hit around 1750 calories a day in the week so don't eat sawdust but at the same point I rarely eat anything highly carb, high in fact or high calorifically.

Then at weekends I tend to have a few drinks if I want or have a meal out without becoming too wound up.

All I ever think is that skinny people eat rubbish as well but they have a natural thing that stops them eating too much of it. It is that natural stop sign that I am still trying to find.

M.

 

[KD]

I I aim to hit around 1750 calories a day in the week so don't eat sawdust but at the same point I rarely eat anything highly carb, high in fact or high calorifically.

That's about the same as my maintenance calories. 1759 to be exact....7 days a week. Life isn't fair I have definitely put my order in to come back as a man next time

All I ever think is that skinny people eat rubbish as well but they have a natural thing that stops them eating too much of it. It is that natural stop sign that I am still trying to find.

That's so true. They really do seem to have an stop button. It looks like they are overeating...and at times they do, but I watch my family, and they subconsciously make up for it in the following days.

I am pleased I tried this way of eating. I've decided that for the time being, it's not for me. I could give it a few more weeks to see if I can control my eating with time. I know I can control it in the week...so whats the difference? It's just that I enjoy what I was eating 7 days of the week, and miss all the bits I allowed myself.

Maybe an another time.

I think that it's good to try different ways. What I've been doing the last year has served me well, but you never know, this could have worked even better.

It's time to return to what I was doing before. I might just try something else again after a few weeks.

The great thing is that I really have learnt so much about my body and my mind this last year+ In doing so, I've given myself so much more confidence to be able to try different things. I really do recommend with sticking with one plan for a long time to really get used to it.

 

[nadhak]

Hi Karion
and without people like you trying and reporting back to us, we could easily revert to type!
I am 5 months into management and still very scared of returning to fatdom - and although this fear keeps me safe I fear how long the fear will last!!!!!
You are so strong to experiment - I hope that I have your confidence soon

 

[KD]

You will Nadine. As long as you are aware of the pitfalls and keep an eye out.

I sort of had some problems in a couple of stages of the stabilisation bit, but when I got to do my own plan, I didn't have too many problems sticking to it. Okay...there were the odd binging attacks, but they didn't take over my life and I was straight back on track a little bit more knowledgeable

My biggest blow was reaching my year at goal anniversary. For some reason that just knocked me for 6. I was worried about keeping the weight off, but seemed to get into the swing. When I got to a year, it just seemed so overwhelming I got quite panicky (sure that's the wrong spelling!)

You know it's going to be forever...but somehow I found I sort of had this goal of getting to a year. It was like climbing a hill, just to find a mountain on the other side.

In hindsight, I think it was good I went through that. Guess I do a whole lot of thinking, but sometimes thoughts come on in hurricane form and knock me over.

 

[Flopster]

This has been very interesting reading Karion, so thank you for that.

I was out at the weekend with "naturally thin" people and was talking to them about their eating habits and they were saying that they eat what they want at the weekends - meals out, drinks and so on but they eat sensibly during the week, that isn't starvation but it is cutting back - so they were eating crisps and chocolates and hotdogs and so on at the party but during the week, they will have porridge for breakfast cottage cheese and crackers for lunch, or tuna salad with a regular meat and two veg dinner in the evenings - maybe with a piece or two of chocolate but maybe not.

I think to be truly successful at weight management then you need to have an element of allowing yourself what you want at weekends and balancing it out during the week.

I really think they key is to not go to extremes one way or the other - so yes a bad night is fine if you go out for a meal, have a few drinks, eat desert, etc but not stuffing yourself to feeling sick and then not starving yourself for days after either.

I am totally at the start of the management journey and not at all qualified in any shape or form to talk about this really but I have been spending a lot of time watching and talking to others to see what I can learn from tem.

 

[Gill-cdthing]

The great thing is that I really have learnt so much about my body and my mind this last year+ In doing so, I've given myself so much more confidence to be able to try different things. I really do recommend with sticking with one plan for a long time to really get used to it.

im hping to follow your example there

 

[KD]

I was out at the weekend with "naturally thin" people and was talking to them about their eating habits and they were saying that they eat what they want at the weekends - meals out, drinks and so on but they eat sensibly during the week, that isn't starvation but it is cutting back - so they were eating crisps and chocolates and hotdogs and so on at the party but during the week, they will have porridge for breakfast cottage cheese and crackers for lunch, or tuna salad with a regular meat and two veg dinner in the evenings - maybe with a piece or two of chocolate but maybe not.

Okay, sticking my neck out here, but I bet these 'naturally thin' people are women and I bet they're watching their weight. That doesn't really sound like 'naturally thin' to me.

My DH and sons seem to be 'naturally slim'. Okay...sons more than DH...age is catching up with him

They don't think they must cut back during the week. It doesn't occur to them. They eat what they want, when they want. If I added up their calories in a week, it would probably work out just right, because they cut back without thinking about it.

They don't care whether it's a Monday or a Sunday. They have no idea what they weigh. Their brains just tell them to stop. If I ask them why they didn't finish something they really enjoy eating, they say they have had enough

This is my ambition, which is why I'm abandoning the 80:20 method for the time being.

It seems that I am aiming for something way out of my reach. The hopes of being 'normal', but I must try.

There again, isn't this what the PMcK 'method' is all about (not that I follow that BTW) It seems that his way teaches you to get in touch with the naturally thin you, not the one that checks the calendar to see whether you can eat or not.

I wonder if he has any success in the very long term with people that have had serious weight problems and eating disorders. I guess time will tell.

In the meantime, I will strive to be perfect and this means (until I change my mind), I will eat sensibly each day and include some fun items that I enjoy, when I want them, as I have done this last year.

Hopefully, one day it will be natural. It sure feels like it many days. It's just the rebelious part of me that pops up and wants to eat for eatings sake.

It was a fun experiment...especially at the weekends

Right....what can I try now

 

[chelle_powell]

Okay, sticking my neck out here, but I bet these 'naturally thin' people are women and I bet they're watching their weight. That doesn't really sound like 'naturally thin' to me.

My DH and sons seem to be 'naturally slim'. Okay...sons more than DH...age is catching up with him

They don't think they must cut back during the week. It doesn't occur to them. They eat what they want, when they want. If I added up their calories in a week, it would probably work out just right, because they cut back without thinking about it.

They don't care whether it's a Monday or a Sunday. They have no idea what they weigh. Their brains just tell them to stop. If I ask them why they didn't finish something they really enjoy eating, they say they have had enough

Hiya!!

Brilliant thread - very interesting!
I asked my Hubby this recently after he'd left alot of his takeaway on the plate and he said he was full - he didn't even put it in the fridge to save for later he binned it - both concepts totally alien to me!
He eats what he wants when he wants, doesn't really exercise (tho he's running about all day with his job) and is super slim.
I agree naturally slim people have a cut of switch that we have to learn - but learn we will!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Would love to hear what u try next!

Much love, chelle xx

 

[Flopster]

Okay, sticking my neck out here, but I bet these 'naturally thin' people are women and I bet they're watching their weight. That doesn't really sound like 'naturally thin' to me.

Actually you are right - they probably aren't naturally thin people but they are people who have never had a weight problem and who have never gone over a size 12 in their lives. They aren't governed by food, they don't feel the need to finish their meals they are very relaxed and eat what they want but they do all say that if they make compensations and I think that is a completely natural and positive thing to do.

Lets face it - if we can achieve the balance and be able to make adjustments as we need it then we should never need to SS again, we should be able to maintain using this sort of method.

As I said, I am right at the beginning of the weight management journey and it is very early days but I really believe in everything in moderation and balance.