So during the 90 days, did you eat nothing but potatoes? Or did you do it for 3-5 days and then have a day or two off?
Also - how did you generally prepare the potatoes?
I haven't even hit the 90 days yet. But for the first 10 days, it was nothing but potatoes and salt and pepper, black coffee and water. 3 days in, and all food cravings went away and was never hungry, even though I was only eating about 800-1000 calories/day. I dreaded eating potatoes by the end of the week. Then for the next 3 weeks or so, I added in onions, garlic and green, leafy vegetables to the potatoes: Kale, spinach and some broccoli and cabbage. I needed to get some variety in my diet, and even though my energy levels were through the roof, I worried about such a huge calorie deficit. Made a big difference in just being happy, but didn't slow down the results, at all.
After that first month, I was reading where you could add any kind of condiments you wanted,
as long as there was no added fat. So, no ranch dressing or mayo, but salsa, ketchup, sriracha are good. This bit of reasoning came via dr. John McDougall, from one of his mentors, Dr. Walter Kempner at Duke Univeristy, who devised the first diet to treat malignant hypertension in the U.S. He fed his patients a diet of white rice and fruit juices, supplemented with
table sugar, to get them to lose weight and keep their hypertension in check. That blew my mind, and really turned a lot of what I used to think I knew about nutrition on its head. I added in 2-3 pieces of fresh fruit per day- which tasted like the greatest thing in the world after nothing but potatoes for over a month and started using a ton of salsa and sriracha- even started making my own ketchup without HFCS. Just made sure that my fat intake was below 10% of total calories and calories still were down (1200-1400, even on the biggest eating days). After a week of that is when I had my doctor's appointment and got my results for 5 weeks on the diet.
sorry, this is running away from me, because I am really excited and have a lot to say about this... Don't mean to ramble. Anyway, after I got my results from the doctor, I knew that I was adopting the
McDougall diet for a sustainable change for life. Instead of doing strictly potatoes, I switched to vegan/starch-based/no oil added, with 80% of calories from starchy plant foods (potatoes, rice, millet, barley, quinoa, wheat, oats) 20% from vegetables and fruits. No added fats. I think that's basically the secret to the potato hack- that ratio of keeping fat% under 10, and getting 80% from starchy plants, which have a really high satiety factor, with little caloric density. So, I'm basically doing the starch hack now, with a much more varied diet that doesn't feel restrictive. I just started doing the potato hack hardcore again on work days (12 hour shifts Su, Tu, Thu) and just do the McDougall's diet the other days of the week, with Saturday's as an almost cheat day, with stuff like vegan cookies, vegan ice cream or pizza. I bought a book on making vegan cheese, because a lot of vegan substitute foods taste like they were fermented in the trousers of an indigent. Trying this out from Tim Steele's book, the Potato Hack, that Maurile recommended up thread.
for cooking potatoes- I might not be the best person to ask, because I still get a little queasy thinking about all of the cold, boiled potatoes I choked down, just to put something in my stomach. I boiled a lot of them. Made mashed potatoes with no butter or milk added, substituted vegetable stock. Baked them. Made potato curries out of them. Made rosti and hash browns and potato pancakes. I have gotten pretty good at frying stuff with no oil added. Made potato chips in the microwave- surprisingly good. Made a really good potato soup with leeks and celery and mushrooms. I like to cook, and I'll share recipes if there's an interest or a place for it.
Interesting. Can you link me to this? I may have to give it a try...
Otis, if your personality IRL is even 75% of your online persona, this is the diet for you. There's all sorts of links and information out there, but here's the gist of it. When you are hungry, eat a potato.
Are ice cream sandwiches allowed? No. Eat a potato.
how many coronitas can I drink? None. Eat a potato.
How many potatoes can I eat? Trick question. You can eat as many as you want, but you will get full and not crave anything to eat way faster than you ever thought you would.
seriously, it's Taco Tuesday. I'm having a bucket of Coronitas. Put the mini beer down, oven mitts, and grab a frosty potato.
Commit to a timeframe to do this diet, at least a week, and follow it hardcore with no cheating, and you'll keep going. You'll see amazing results and you will lose food cravings and not be hungry, with a huge spike in energy level. Potatoes are like, the perfect food. No supplements, no shakes, no handfuls of almonds, just potatoes. You don't need to think about it, you can shut that part of your brain off that thinks about food. Plus, it's as extreme as full-Bale, but way more interesting and better for you. Plus, I
guarantee you can finally beat Woz in that bet that's taken 100 years and finally get that embarrassing albatross off your neck. I mean, what kind of super-heroic comeback story would that be, if you rose from the dietary dead, Jon Snow like, and absolutely crushed it? An Otis comeback story, that's what. You got this.
Links: check out the McDougall's website above, search for the MWL (Maximum Weight Loss program) and Mary's Mini diet. Also, get your hands on The Potato Hack, by Tim Steele. All the info you'd need is in that book.
Potato Hack blog
Mark's Daily Apple forums
Spud fit videos this is an Australian guy who committed to doing the potato diet for a year. Check out his results and how much weight he loses so fast. This is what inspired me to do it.
Paleo blog on the potato hack
tl;dr eat potatoes. It works
If I am spending this much I better have a personal cheerleader in a Raiderette outfit who gives me a happy ending at the end for putting in a good effort in the work out.
