UPDATE: The Potato Hack Diet by Tim Steele is now for sale on Amazon. It will answer all your questions. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in learning more about the Potato Diet.
In week 1, I lost 3 pounds and 0.5 inch. In week 2, I lost 1.5 pounds and 0.25 inch.
Losing 4.5 pounds in two weeks without hunger is pretty cool. Before I head into week 3, I revisited The Potato Diet page to see if I could pick up a tip to guide me back to a weekly 3-pound loss.
7. Skipping breakfast encouraged, eat twice a day, minimal snacking
I’m haven’t been doing Intermittent Fasting (IF) in the past two weeks. I covered in this post that I feel much better when I have carbs prior to coffee. And since I drink coffee in the morning, pure IF is not an option for me at this time.
¡Una papa en la mañana!
In week 3, I will cut back on my morning potatoes. I’ll have one prior to my first cup of coffee to combat stress hormones and prevent “the crash” I now feel when I have coffee on an empty stomach. One potato is the next best thing to zero potatoes.
I’ll keep you posted. And due to a social commitment, I moved the Week 3 Potato Diet up one day to SUNDAY, MONDAY, TUESDAY.
Photo by JaBB
Tim Steele
Dec 6, 2015 — 8:55 pm
Good job! 1.5 pounds does not sound like much, unless you’ve stared for months at a scale that will not budge. What I think you’ll see with these weekly 3 day stints is a long-term weight loss with very little personal investment, both emotionally, physically, and monetarily. I’ll bet this plan would even work with SAD eaters.
Nigel Kinbrum
Dec 7, 2015 — 8:48 am
“a tip to guide me back to a weekly 3 pound loss.”
How much do you currently weigh?
There’s a limit to how fast you can safely lose body-fat. It’s not advisable to lose more than 1% of your body-weight per week, to minimise loss of LBM.
Unless you currently weigh 300lbs (somehow, I think not!), you’re trying to lose too quickly.
MAS
Dec 7, 2015 — 11:58 am
@Nigel – I started at 220. So using your numbers, I could lose 2.2# a week. I’m at 2.5#. Close.
Thanks for the info.
Becca
Dec 7, 2015 — 12:05 pm
That’s awesome… slow and steady often wins the race 🙂
Texdot
Dec 7, 2015 — 1:28 pm
I’m thinking of doing a potato smoothie for my dinner meal during the week days, till I get happy with my weight. I am hoping it curbs my night time eating.
If you haven’t ever tried a potato in a smoothie, its great. It really thickens up milk or
almond/cashew milk. If you throw in a little honey, its to die for.
Tim Steele
Dec 7, 2015 — 2:42 pm
I agree with Nigel. I used to recommend even 14 day potato-only diets to lose weight even faster, but I’m not so sure that’s wise. 3-5 days at a time, even if done sloppy, should get you on a downward trend of 5-10 pounds a month, and that is a very healthy loss rate it would seem.
One area of concern for longer stretches…gallstones. Google “gallstones and low fat diet” and you see several cases where people on severe calorie restriction (<700/day) and almost no fat can develop gallstones in a matter of weeks. Returning to regular diet 3-4 days a week should be perfect for countering this effect.
Jim
Dec 7, 2015 — 4:43 pm
@MAS
Nice posts. I’ve tried it for two weeks now, and have seen good results. Surprisingly, though, I had an extremely difficult time sticking to just unseasoned potatoes for even three days. It even seemed harder than doing a 24-36 hour full fasts, which I have done in the past. I cheated with some spices on day two, and even a small bit of catsup on day three. Even so, I still got good results, which I’m assuming is what Tim means above about getting good results, “even if done sloppy.”
@Tim
We appreciate your helpful posts! It’s great to see you question and modify your recommended approach as you learn more about the process over time.
Tim Steele
Dec 7, 2015 — 5:20 pm
It’s fun and it works for me. If it is not fun or doesn’t work for you, don’t do it. That’s what I tell folks, anyway. I’ve seen amazing success stories from people using this hack. Your mind has to be in it, for sure. There are other tricks to lose weight painlessly, but most end up depleting glycogen stores or dehydrating you in some way, and the weight quickly comes back. I think it’s fun to see how people react to hearing about the potato hack for the first time, it’s almost like they go through the “stages of grief,” ie. denial, anger, bargaining, acceptance…
It really is the last frontier of dieting. A high carb, zero fat diet. It’s hard to emulate with any other food combination.
MAS
Dec 7, 2015 — 5:27 pm
@Tim – “Stages of Grief” is a perfect analogy.
What I find the most amusing is when the defenders of Fasting say that potatoes lack sufficient nutrition. As opposed to all the nutrition in their zero calorie strategy? 🙂
Nigel Kinbrum
Dec 9, 2015 — 7:38 am
RE Gallstone formation: See http://nigeepoo.blogspot.jp/2009/01/very-low-calorie-diets-vlcds.html
Lol at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model
Discussions with people on LCHF diets often go pear-shaped, when they learn that I’m on a diet of mostly whole, minimally-refined animal (~15%E) and vegetable (~85%E) produce tweaked to suit, with occasional treats. I have no banned foods. Oh, the glucose!
Sanjay
Dec 9, 2015 — 10:19 am
Mas –
How do you do it? Potatoes day in and day out cooked plain? I’ve only found potatoes to be delicious when covered in olive oil, butter, cream cheese (fats), veggies and salt.
Have you considered doing a legume only diet? You could get more protein and fibre with the mighty bean. Might help preserve some lean body mass.
Good luck.
-S
MAS
Dec 10, 2015 — 6:49 am
@Sanjay – Yes. Plain. See http://vegetablepharm.blogspot.jp/p/the-potato-diet_14.html
Just trying the potato diet now.
MAS
Dec 19, 2015 — 9:11 am
@All – Go to Veggie Pharm for Potato Diet info,
http://vegetablepharm.blogspot.jp/p/the-potato-diet_14.html