Day Eight - Weigh-in & Why?

Another questions from THE NEW ME:

what made you decide to do the warrior diet if you were having success with the way you were eating prior to it?

I have a bit of stubborn fat around my midsection that doesn't want to go away. When I try to increase my cardio workouts or reduce my calories, or both, it seems to effect my performance lifting weights. The Warrior Diet purports to target the stubborn fat. The undereating phase forces the body to burn stored fat. It seemed like a great way to get everything I need to keep muscles healthy while losing that fat around the midsection.

Here's the results of one week of being on the Warrior Diet:

Weight: From: 178.2 To: 172.8
Body Fat %: From: 18.1% To: 17.0% (morning reading, always high, afternoon reading is like 15.5%, but I do it in the morning to be consistent)
Waist (1" above navel): From: 32.50" To: 31.50"
Waist (1" below navel): From: 34.50" To: 33.75"
Hips: From: 38.25" To: 37.75"
Bicep: From: 13.25" / 15.75" To: I measured this incorrectly in the beginning and I'm not going to measure it anymore. It was really 14.75" flexed and they still are.
Chest: From: 41.50" To: 41.50"
Thigh: From: 22.00" To: 21.75"

I have some theories. First and forements, I've read a lot about people retaining water with high carb diets and then losing a ton of weight when they switch to low carb. Perhaps the same can be said of eating consistently throughout the day, that the body holds onto a lot of water when you're eating all the time. I know during the day when I'm not eating, I drink a helluva lot more water than I normally do. Could be because my body isn't holding onto a lot of it. That could account for much of the weightloss. Take the measurements with a grain of salt, I never exactly know where to measure or do it consistently or pull with equal pressure. There definitely was change though, that's all I'd be willing to vouch for.

Lest you think I'm making this up David seems to be having similar results after one week of the Warrior Diet, very similar.

Question

THE NEW ME asks:

"what kind of diet did you before you started the warrior diet?"

The main change to my diet that allowed me to lose the weight, I believe, was learning and exercising portion control. I can eat a great amount of food. My appetizers used to be a bag of doritos and a can of cheese dip. I would often drink half a case of beer in a day along with a half a pizza. When I started journaling my calories (tracking calories is what I did, set a limit, and keep under it), it really hit home how many calories/bad fats/sugar was in the food and how small real portions were. I like trail mix and would often eat 1 or 2 cups worth. I figured that wasn't a problem, it's trail mix after all, healthy stuff. But a 1/4 cup of that stuff had 225 calories. If I eat two cups, I've got nearly my calories for the entire day. Not a good thing to snack on in front of the TV. My diet now isn't much different although I've made a point to cut out garbage sugars like corn syrup while on this diet. They seem to effect you more during the fast, making you crash hard. But I don't believe in cutting out foods you enjoy, learn how to enjoy them in moderation. When I first lost the weight, my macro-nutrient breakdown was something like 45% Carbs, 30% Fats, 25% proteins. It's been a lot like that this week. The only difference is that most of the carbs are fruits and veggies over grains and the fats are up a bit because of all the nuts/seeds I'm eating. Both are positive changes in my opinion. Like I said before, I don't have any great secrets to give about changing diet to lose weight. Figure out how many calories you need a day, keep under that and workout.