I ended up doing a 4-day hack instead of 5-day. The reason was unexpected. I received a 3-day pass to a gym with a lot of nice equipment, a sauna, and a steam room. So although I was planning to hold off lifting weights until Monday, I had to take advantage of the pass as it was going to expire on Sunday. After a hard workout Saturday morning, I decided to end the potato hack to make it easier to get more calories for recovery.
This was by far the easiest Potato Hack I’ve done. Unlike prior Potato Hacks, where Day 2 was challenging, this time required almost no willpower. I believe the reason for this is that going without flavor for meals or days is no longer novel. The journey is no longer unchartered. Plus I had just completed a 4-day Potato Hack in early June, so my Potato Hacking muscles have recently been worked out.
I lost 2 pounds and 1/4 inch off my widest point. I took the measurements both the morning after the end of the hack and 2 days later after resuming normal eating. Both were the same.
Some might be thinking that 2 pounds weren’t a lot, but I had just lost 22 pounds since March. For me, the easy weight is already lost. I had been weight stable at 199-200 for a few weeks prior to the Potato Hack. So I consider this Potato Hack to be successful. Plus I saved money and further practiced the skill of choosing not to eat flavorful food. That skill is useful to have post-Potato Hack.
During my 4-day hack, outside of this blog, I didn’t inspire a single person to Potato Hack or even to consider going a single meal eating a single meal of boiled potatoes. However, I did come up with an idea of a Potato Hack variation that I think would be acceptable to others and also be effective. I’ll talk about my idea in the next post.
Photo by Mike Mozart
John
Aug 21, 2017 — 10:29 am
I didn’t participate. You did get me thinking about it though. I also have a 10lbs bag of potatos on my counter now… So maybe I start my own soon.
I have a horrible question to ask that you probably will want to avoid. Or it will be so involved that you wouldn’t know where to start. Anyway, you often mention how much money you save. I wonder how important that is. I mean the money you have access to right now is important to protect, and this is a way to decrease expenses (and toughen yourself up a bit and even lose some weight). But what about the doom and gloom of the market? People worrying about the crash. Does saving money on meals remain important if people’s nest eggs are possibly on the line? Care to give any thoughts?
MAS
Aug 21, 2017 — 11:29 am
@john – I will provide a greater explanation when I do my next post related to the power of story and dieting, but the short version is I strongly dislike the elitism I see in health blogs. The Whole Foods – Whole Paycheck approach to nutrition is discouraging to a large section of our population. I’m inspired by the Peasant Diet approach, which I first mentioned here:
https://criticalmas.org/2016/11/designing-modern-peasant-diet/
norlee
Aug 21, 2017 — 4:26 pm
I made it one day on cold unseasoned potatoes plus two more on potatoes only. I will definitely be trying this again soon! Next time I will under-cook the potatoes a bit – I think I would have lasted longer with a firmer texture.
I loved your “peasant diet” post – one of my all time favs. It really resonated with me!
MAS
Aug 21, 2017 — 4:32 pm
@Norlee – Excellent. I have a lot more to say on the Peasant Diet. Soon I will be connecting the dots on how I changed my Peasant approach back in March.
Scott
Aug 21, 2017 — 6:36 pm
You got me thinking about trying the potato hack diet, as well. I am traveling this week but plan on giving it a try after the Labor Day holiday. I like your post on the Peasant Diet too. I’m looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts on the subject. Thanks for coming back and posting.
Tim Steele
Aug 22, 2017 — 8:49 am
I can’t wait to see your new variation. So many possibilities! Having heard from hundreds and hundreds of people who read my book and tried different things over the past couple years, I almost wish I had just called the book “Potatoes by Day” as this seems to be the most popular variation, the easiest to comply with, and results in really good longer-term weight loss.