FOR WHEN YOU’RE SCARED IT COMES BACK
Educational only, not a decision made for you. Getting weight off is the part everyone talks about. Keeping it off is the part nobody prepares you for. Neil spent two years doing it the hard way and three years living the maintenance side. This page is about the bit that comes after, whichever route you took.
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Living the Maintenance System
Lost as of August 2026 (70 lb)
Four things, in this order. Each one props up the next.
Fix the wake time first. Poor sleep raises the hormones that drive hunger and flattens your willpower before you’re out of bed. While things are going well you may not notice it. Once they’re not, you will.
Protein first, every meal. Eat too little, and too little of it protein, and you lose muscle alongside fat. You come out the other side needing fewer calories than when you started. That’s the trap, and it’s why so many people regain more than they lost.
Twice a week, twenty minutes. Not cardio, resistance work. It’s the main thing that limits muscle loss during rapid weight loss. Body weight counts. Bands count. Tins of beans count.
Decide before you need to. When hunger returns properly it doesn’t feel like biology, it feels like failure. Write down now what you’ll do in that first week, because the moment itself is a terrible time to decide anything.
The period while something is working for you isn’t just a period of losing weight. It’s the easiest window you’ll ever get to build habits, because the thing that normally makes them hard is temporarily turned down.
Most people spend that window watching the scales. That’s the mistake, and it’s completely understandable, because nobody tells you the window is there or that it closes.
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Educational content only, not medical advice. Never stop or change medication without your GP’s supervision. Neil stopped his own medications in February 2024 on his own initiative and told his GP afterwards — that’s not the approach recommended here. Speak to your GP before changing your fasting pattern, diet, or medication.