Summer Experiment 2017

As part of my long-term Maintenance of a large weight-loss (currently 12+ years ), I do a lot of personal experimenting with various dieting issues. 

My experiment this summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day was to see how my own body’s weight results compared with the Body Weight Planner’s (BWP) projected calculations;

... while making a consistent and hard-core effort to drop my current weight lower in my Maintenance Weight Range (back below the 25 BMI border between “normal” and “overweight”).

The Overview pictured above shows my personal data input and the program’s projections for weight-loss. I’m age 72, going on 73, so I listed my age as 73.  I used the lowest percentage that the program will allow for my Physical Activity Level.

Based on my personal numbers, the program gave me an 1151 maintenance calorie burn. It projected that if I ate 900 calories per day for the 98 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day, I would lose from 133.2 pounds down to 126.0 pounds.  This would be a loss of 7.2 pounds over a 14 week period, averaging about ½ pound loss per week.

Note that the  program projects that at the end of the 98 days, in order to maintain a 126.0 pound weight, my calorie burn would be 1121, which is an ongoing 30 calorie reduction. 

This Simulation Graph shows that Increasing my calories from 900 for weight-loss to 1121 for maintenance would cause a weight UpBounce of 1.5 pounds over a 6 day period (98 days of dieting, + 6 days of maintenance = 104 days). 

Therefore my projected final ongoing weight result would be 127.5, which would bring me back just inside my “normal” BMI range.


Many years of keeping ongoing records of my weights and calorie counts have taught me that my personal metabolism burn is Lower than the Average rate predicted by Metabolic Formulas, so my personal diet plan for this experiment was to work to keep my daily calorie intake below 700 calories.

I chose to work toward a <700 calorie number because:

An 1150 calorie burn minus a food intake of 900 calories creates a 250 calorie deficit.

If my actual calorie burn was 900 instead of 1150, then a 250 calorie deficit would be 650 calories.
Also in my previous dieting experience, food intake of around 700 calories has been about the lowest calorie level that I’ve been able to sustain on diets lasting longer than 2 or 3 consecutive weeks.

I’ve had extensive experience with a great many different diets and ways-of-eating, and this has taught me that I tend to do best on a food plan that restricts the total daily AMOUNT of food that I eat (has a maximum daily calorie number), but does not restrict the KINDS of food eaten, nor restrict the FREQUENCY of eating.  Therefore, my food plan for this experiment allowed me to eat small amounts of whatever food I desired, whenever I choose to do so, as long as I stayed under my daily calorie maximum. 

My 5-bite dieting friends will understand when I say that 700 calories per day is the caloric equivalent of about 2 ½ Snickers or Protein bars. 

For an understanding of the kinds and amounts of food I normally ate during this experiment, look at the photos of meals I’ve recorded in RESOURCES, Photo Gallery section, under the heading Petite Meals.

I expect to soon post a discussion of the RESULTS of my Summer 2017 experiment in a separate article, entitled “Status Update - September 2017”. 

For more information on the Body Weight Planner (BWP)  see Body Weight Calculator - Timeline Projections.