Compliance

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week. -George S. Patton

This quote brings to mind why ‘diet’ selection is so important: Can you continue to comply over time, and not fall off the wagon and derail your progress?  Is the Slow-carb method the most effective or efficient way for me to have lost weight?  No.  But I’ve stuck with it for a full 5 months now, and am very, very close to my initial goal of 185lbs.  There will be a post of epic joyousness when I get there, but for now I’ll just say “I’m close”.  The results (from above, with dates) since Halloween look something like this:

I haven’t been lifting as much as I’d like, but for this phase the real plan was just to get a comfortable buffer between the size of my ass and the Army height-weight standard.  I did manage to maintain my top-line deadlift numbers, though squats, press, and bench all fell off (mostly because I wasn’t doing them often enough).  Once I hit the bodyweight goal, the plan is to shift from gradual, continual weight loss to gradual, continual weight gain by (re)executing the Starting Strength beginner linear progression protocol.  Since I’ll have a 15lb buffer, I should be able to rock the program for 2-3 months without worrying too much about being over my allowable weight, and should be well within the tape-test standards.