Chris Powell's Choose More, Lose More for Life (13 page)

Let’s do this!

Carb cycling really worked for Michael: He lost sixty-two pounds in three months! The key to his success, and his advice to other carb cyclers?
Don’t quit
. No big mystery, right?

Michael started gaining weight when he left the navy. As a serviceman he’d been a trim 200 pounds, but as a civilian he blew up to 252. Working all the time, he
didn’t pay attention
to what he was eating or how much he ate, and he didn’t exercise at all. But even though he knew his lifestyle was unhealthy, he never expected to get so big! When he did, it hit his self-image—hard. He had a tough time climbing the stairs, and he’d get winded when he played with his son. This was not the Michael he knew. This was not the Michael he wanted to be.

It took some time and some soul-searching before Michael decided to do something about his weight. He’d never tried to slim down—he had picky eating habits and thought that going on a diet meant he’d have to eat foods he didn’t enjoy. But he started thinking about the “before,” where he was, 252 pounds, and the “after,” where he wanted to be, back down to 200 pounds. He wasn’t sure he could do it, but his wife gave him tons of encouragement to go for it. She believed in him and knew he could lose the weight.

Then Michael discovered carb cycling and found out he could eat all kinds of foods and still lose weight. Holy cow! He could still
eat his favorite foods
—even pizza, his biggest weakness—on cheat days. “This looks pretty painless,” he thought. “I can handle it!” He started out making small commitments to himself—preparing his food in advance, including lots of different veggies—and found that he could keep them! He got so confident that he decided right off the bat to do the Turbo Cycle, which is pretty demanding but would get him to his goal faster.

Every morning when he got up, Michael broke down his carb-cycle menu for the day. He kept his meal plans really
simple
but made sure they
weren’t boring
, by including a lot of different foods that he liked. He stayed on top of his portion sizes and drank lots of water so he’d feel full between meals. Soon, Michael found that he was able to stick with carb cycling without feeling deprived, and his body and mind began to feel better.

But Michael faced challenges, too. His wife wasn’t eating the same food on the same schedule, so it was difficult to sit down and share a meal together. But
he didn’t quit
. Michael’s wife kept cheering him on, and he lost thirty pounds in thirty days! His commitment skyrocketed.

One at a time, Michael continued to make small transformation promises to himself, and consistently kept them. His journey got easier as he started seeing results, and his belief in himself got stronger and stronger. Even after those first thirty days, when his progress slowed down, he hung in there. He was able to
break through his plateau
by using the slingshot technique, and dropped right back into the turbo cycle. Finally, after three months of carb cycling, Michael not only hit his target weight, but lost an extra ten pounds to boot. He didn’t want junk food anymore—in
fact, it made him feel sick—and he was bursting with energy. Michael was back!

You’re committed to carb cycling. You’ve pledged to lose weight. You’ve resolved to transform your life. You’re dedicated to keeping your promises to yourself. But it can be hard to be faithful to
you
, so start out by making little contracts with yourself. Fulfilling each tiny commitment—even just one—is a victory that will make you stronger. With each small victory, you’ll be able to keep more and more and bigger and bigger promises to yourself. Your self-confidence and self-belief will grow and grow, and before you know it, you’ll transform your life!