Since 2007, when it started mattering, I’ve been through various weight-loss successes and failures. From that, I have gleaned the following aspects of a successful weight-loss program for myself:

• Calorie limitation is all that matters; exercise has no particular effect on weight.
• Minimum plan-length is a single day, but longer is better.
• Food in my possession will get eaten; generally a whole packet at a time.
• My cooking skills are quite limited; the only three recipe options are “put it in the oven”, “put it in the sandwich press at work”, or “mix it together and put it all in the slow-cooker”. I might buy a fry-pan to add a fourth option, but cooking oil adds a complication here I’m hoping to avoid.
• The food rules must be flexible; if they are too specific, supply-chain issues will tank the diet, and I will flail around for emergency substitutes poorly.
• Weigh-ins, measurement, and goal-setting are counter-productive; when I’m this far from my desired weight, every measurement is depressing, even if the trend is good.

Based on the above, and on a previous weight-maintenance regime I used, I get:

Project 7000 Rules

• Calorie intake of 7000kj per day, on average. (Yes, I recognise that I’m measuring “calorie intake” in kilojoules.)
• Average is maintained by shopping days: For every 7000kj of food bought, the next food shop is a day later.
  • The rough target is a week’s food at a time, but this isn’t a fixed rule.
  • If I don’t get through all the bought food, I may delay the shopping, but this isn’t a requirement.
• An external meal with a calorie count, or other intrusive calorie count, pushes back the next shopping trip as if it was part of the last shop.
  • A meal with no measurement, is counted as 5000kj, because I have no self-control sense of scale. This also covers social drinks, which are either with unmeasured nibbles, or end up with a HSP afterwards, because I have no self-control.
• Not measured: Sugar-free energy drinks and similar. I need the caffeine and hydration more than I need to think about this extra 200kj. And they’re bulky, so cannot reasonably be bought in the same shopping cycle as the rest of the project anyway.

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