In moving to the Mac, some of my software has had to change since the publishers of the Windows software have not seen the light and seen fit to release Mac versions (shame on them). So, over the next few days I will be doing some mini-reviews comparing:

1. ThinkingRock vs iGTD for GTD empowered to-do list tracking (TR is Mac enabled, but being Java, I needed to look for alternatives)
2. MS Money vs MoneyDance (what was that about Java?)
3. QuickSilver vs AutoHotkey’s 320mph script.

There is now only one piece of software that I use regularly that I haven’t a Mac version of, and that is not enough for me to invest in Windows emulation or dual-booting the Mac. Unfortunately that is my old favourite DietPower.

Over the past three weeks I have not been recording my weight or counting calories. Most days I have been eating the same as I have been, but a couple of days per week I have lapsed – without using DietPower to remind me of what I should be doing, I think I would be starting down the slippery slope to a yo-yo weight gain.

So, as of today, it’s back to the strict calorie counting and ensuring that I don’t balloon up in weight again.

One thing I have noticed is that increasing calorie intake by around 500 cals/day, which is the amount I should be able to eat to maintain my weight rather than lose it, seems to lead to an overnight weight increase of about 1.5lb. Is this the extra “waste”, or water retention, or something else? As a consequence, I am now a couple of pounds over my target weight, and have to work at getting it back off again – which shouldn’t be that hard.

I’m really glad that this news wasn’t going around 6 months ago, since I would have almost certainly used it as an excuse for being overweight and stopped attempting to lose it.

It is interesting to note that they are only claiming that about 7lb of the amount someone is overweight could be attributed to this gene, and I’m sure that most obese people will be far more overweight than that.

By the BMI calculation I am still about 14lb overweight, but with a 32” waist I am not worried.

Now I have achieved my goal, I’ve got to not let it go and turn back into a mountain of lard. For me, this means that I have to carry on using DietPower for the foreseeable future, but configured into maintenance mode rather than weight loss mode.

So, I still get a calorie budget to stay within, which moves downward if my weight creeps upward (or vice versa).

The first weekend I had a massive upward swing in weight of 3lb, partially due to water retention in my sore muscles after my Swimathon and partly because of my celebratory Chinese meal (which, fitted in my calorie allowance but has lots of mono-sodium glutamate). A few days later it settled back to my target weight, but I had another upswing of 2lb a few days after that! It looks likely that the maintenance diet will be like this, and it’s something else to get used to.

I have managed to keep up the exercise with regular runs and swims. On Sunday I managed a personal best distance run of 5 miles, and I have been swimming a regular 2km swim several times per week. This helps greatly with my calorie budget. Sadly, my weight lifting has proven more difficult to maintain and I haven’t visited a gym since before the Swimathon. I believe muscle maintenance has been a critical part of my success, so this has got to change.

I have achieved my target weight of 12 stone 7lb four days ahead of schedule.

The Diet Power approach to monitoring your weight, calorie intake and exercise and using that to get a constantly revised daily calorie budget that tracks your progress and your metabolic rate has enabled me to hit my target weight within a week of my target date.

I am going to carry on using it to maintain my weight at it’s current level. It should notice if I am starting to gain weight and cut back my budget, and likewise it will allow me more food if I carry on losing weight.

Thanks to my long suffering wife for weighing all my food and keeping all the packaging for me to analyse for the last six months, also many thanks need to go to the Diet power forum members, especially in the monthly challenge section who have helped greatly over these months.

I can’t recommend enough this method of losing weight, it has not been arduous at all – in fact it has been a very pleasant process.

I’m only 1 pound away from my target weight and I have 1 week left on my original 6 month plan. I am amazed how Diet Power has kept me right on track all the way through the 6 months. Week after week the weight loss has followed the plan within a pound all the way down. By every measure possible this is the best diet I have followed. Definitely recommended.

Here are some stats….

Of course, the end of the diet isn’t really in sight — as the main thing that I’ve learned is that I must continue the diet indefinitely. It will just be a weight maintenance plan instead of a weight loss plan.

I have been dieting now for 5 months, and am in the final month of my plan.

This has been the most satistfying diet plan that I have ever followed. I have consistantly hit my targets, month after month after month and am now in sight of my goal. That goal was 12st7lb with no significant reduction in lean mass, I wanted to lose 3st of fat – and I have (except 3lb to lose this month).

The main factors in this success have been…

1. Weighing myself everyday and entering the data into an analysis tool such as DietPower.
2. Adjusting the daily calorie allowance in line with actual weight loss.
3. Cardiovascular exercise to improve overall fitness and give a greater calorie allowance each day.
4. Weight lifting to build or maintain muscle which improves metabolic rate and makes the weight loss healthier than losing a mix of fat and muscle.

Now I am considering where to go from here. My goal weight wasn’t overly ambitious. In fact, I still have a BMI of around 27, but on the other hand my body fat percentage is around 17%, which is slap bang in the centre of the healthy range for my age.

I have changed my mind several times. I am trying to decide whether to aim to stick at 12st7lb, or go for 12st0lb.

DietPower 4.4 has finally come out. I will be giving it a run through over the next few days, and write up my views on it then.

At the beginning of February I re-planned my diet to be losing only 1lb per week. The idea being to gradually sneak up on my target weight so that I don’t have big, sudden changes in my diet to accommodate.

That was the idea, and it meant 500 calories per day being added to my calorie budget. After eating around 1300 calories per day for 4 months, it has been quite a challenge to get those extra calories and I have been averaging a shortfall of 150 calories per day!

Also, the weight kept falling off – by the end of the first week I had lost three more pounds in weight – so the amount I needed to lose per week had dropped to 0.7lb and my calorie budget had increased accordingly (about another 120). Since then, though, my weight has bounced back a little. I am still about 2lb ahead of target. I am pleased that the weight loss rate is now down to approximately 1 pound per week.

Hurrah!

As I was unable to fit around the swimming pool timetable today, I had a mad idea instead. I thought I would go out for a 5km run. I have only just switched over to a more cardio orientated training schedule to prepare for this, but the training was seeming so easy that I just had to have a go at the real thing.

Some people say that running outside is easier on the treadmill, and now I must agree! It used to be that cold air or other external elements would trigger my asthma and outside running was harder than the treadmill, which itself was hard enough due to exercise induced asthma. My newish asthma medication has totally eliminated the exercise induced asthma, and despite the fact it was only about 5°C, the cold air wasn’t a problem either.

I did 3.2 miles in 29m38s, which means the 5km was about 28m56s, and only walked for about a minute overall – I’m really pleased!