Day 28: What's that?

Mass: 95.8 Kg 
Mass-Loss to date: 7.2 Kg 
Mass-Loss Remaining: 9.8 Kg 
Phase: Cruise

Progress has been up-and-down. You can see on last week's chart that whilst I am definitely trending down, it's not very even, and plenty of times I go up. Still, I'm happy with progress.

 
One pattern I've noticed, which I can't explain, is that I spike down each Tuesday (NB, the chart shows the spikes are on Mondays, but that is because when I enter the result on Tuesday it is still Monday in the US). Aside from my Tuesday results, the curve is quite smooth, but the downward spikes are anomalous. There must be some connection to my weekly routine, but I can't quite work it out.

I have another(very minor) blow today. I sent an email to the coaching staff (which I generally find to be much better than the daily generated comments) about Maltitol, a sweetener I am seeing in all my favorite lollies (candies) these days. They responded by saying that Maltitol is fine, but the I shouldn't be eating candy.

That was a bit of a blow to me; having no sugar should surely make them safe to eat? Apparently, as they are not explicitly on the list of allowed foods, the coaches won't 'allow' them (as if they can stop me.

I've been eating a fair few of these lollies already, and I've still had pleasing results. I sent another email asking why they're not allowed but diet soft-drink and jelly are. I suspect the coaches are just blindly sticking to the list, ignoring the merits of individual foods that aren't on it. The Dukan diet is pretty good, but in order to keep it simple, they cut out the chance to explore for yourself. On the other hand, the Atkins diet simply tells you what should be in your food, rather than which foods to eat. You can figure out what is allowed for yourself. The Atkins would allow these lollies!

I see that it is a matter of ease of access: Dukan diet doesn't require you to understand the science so much, just follow the list. Simplicity can certainly be effective. Atkins allows you to explore to see what foods there are out there that fit the criteria. A bit more thinking, but more freedom, too. There are merits to both, but it's frustrating when I want to stretch out a bit, so to speak. I eagerly await the coach's response to my query!