The One Rule Diet
By: Justin Kubeck
I am proud to say that over the last two years or so I have managed to lose seventy-six pounds, and my BMI is below 30 for the first time in my adult life. It wasn’t an accident either, in fact I’ve lost this weight before and I kept it off for the better part of ten years. I have had quite a few people ask me how I made the change, and I have alluded to some of those changes in earlier blog posts. So, what’s my secret?
It isn’t a weight loss pill or a magical shake, it’s just one rule. Which sounds too simple, like there’s a catch, and you’d be correct to assume that. The catch is, the closer that you adhere to this rule the better your results will be. I should also take this time to say this one rule diet isn’t for everyone. There are too many dietary restrictions and sensitivities, and I am not a professional nutritionist. This is just my experience and what has worked for me,
This diet came to me around ten years ago. I had always been heavy throughout childhood. Growing wide before growing tall. When I was in fifth grade I remember weighing around 180 pounds. By high school I was 225, and by the time I graduated I was 275. I had always told myself if I ever hit 300 pounds that is when I would get serious about my weight. Well, it didn’t take long to approach that number. It was time for a change.
I was working in the food industry at the time and learning to cook. The restaurant that I worked in focused heavily on fresh ingredients and had a highly customizable menu. My creativity found a way to shine through my cooking, and soon enough I had my own secret menu. If I wasn’t eating food from work, I typically found myself in a drive through or stopping at my favorite convenience store. Cooking didn’t happen at home and as a result the only groceries I kept around were soda and snacks. This was a recipe for disaster if I didn’t do something about it.
I didn’t want to try a fad diet or pills and shakes. I wanted to establish a new way of life, so to speak. Something that I could stick with to varying degrees. I wanted to reconnect with the food that I am putting in my body and wanted to have more control over the ingredients in that food. I wanted to focus on getting back to natural ingredients and to do away with as many artificial dyes, sweeteners, and preservatives as possible.
So, what is the one rule? Easy, if I don’t make it, I don’t eat it. You can have whatever food you want as long as you make it yourself. Ice cream? Better learn how to churn. Potato chips? Sure, bust out that mandolin and heat up some oil. The food we eat is often filled with unnecessary ingredients and unhealthy additives. You can hardly buy a jar of Marinara without heaps of sugar in it. Simply by limiting the ingredients in our food we can see a positive change.
Justin, do you mean to tell me I can make a cake everyday and lose weight? No, probably not. That’s where that catch that I mentioned comes into play. A diet with so few rules allows self-sabotage. The trick to making this diet work is self-discipline. If you make a cake every day and eat it, are you adhering to the one rule? Yes, but you know as well as I do that it wouldn’t be healthy to eat cake every day. There is a certain amount of common sense required here, and if you aren’t sure, ask. There are loads of resources to figure out what foods are healthy.
Where to start? My recommendation would be to pick a staple breakfast. Something well rounded, that’s low effort, and bonus points if it is something you enjoy eating. For me it was oolong tea and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on dakota bread from Great Harvest Bread Company. Shout out to the Elm Grove location, you all are the best!
Hold up! Sound the alarm! Justin, you said that the one rule was to only eat food that you made. Why are you buying bread? I’ll also admit I buy premade pasta too. It’s for a few reasons actually, first of all I live in an apartment with a very tiny kitchen. I don’t exactly have the space to roll out dough. Secondly, you don’t have to adhere to the one rule 100%. The first time I did this diet, I was a lot stricter with myself, rather than making my own bread and pasta I simply didn’t eat bread or pasta. This time around I wasn’t concerned with how fast I lost the wight, as long as I was doing it in a healthy manner.
Next up I have brunch, this is always easy, a protein shake and sometimes a banana during my commute to work. I’d also like to add that I have spent hours and have talked to multiple people trying to find a protein powder that I liked. And truth be told, even the one I use today doesn’t meet all my wants in a protein powder. I use Podium HWPO. I chose this protein powder because of its ingredients list. No artificial flavors or dyes, my only complaint is sucralose.
For lunch, I typically have crackers with cheese and salami, either some carrots and broccoli or a small salad, and some Greek yogurt with home made granola. Again, my focus was low effort, simple ingredients, and a focus on making it at home. It doesn’t have to be this mundane either. If you can’t eat the same thing every day that’s fine, it just takes more effort typically.
Dinner is probably going to make the least amount of sense out of all of this. For dinner I often make some sort of pasta dish, be it stroganoff, alfredo, or spaghetti. If not that, it’s things like meatloaf and mashed potatoes or pulled pork. To make this work focus on the ingredients you use. Make your own sauces to avoid excess sugar and unnecessary ingredients. Also, it will be important to watch your portion control. Eat if you’re hungry, but if you are thinking about going back for seconds give it ten minutes. You might find that you are fuller than you thought.
One thing that this diet has taught me is how to be better at grocery shopping, and by limiting my diet in such a way I am wasting less food. But getting into the habit of shopping differently was difficult. It took me a few tries, but I finally found a way to shift my thinking and change the way I was shopping. The next time you go to the grocery store do your best to only buy ingredients. Things that require some sort of processing at home. By doing this you will force yourself to plan more meals and cook more often.
What if I don’t know how to cook? Then this diet is going to be challenging. Choose dishes that are within your ability but don’t be afraid to try something new. The first step towards getting good at a new skill is being willing to do it poorly in the beginning. My wife will attest that even I have a blunder in the kitchen from time to time. We are all learning, all the time.
Notice I didn’t tell you to count calories or weigh your portions. This diet is for people that have excess weight to lose. Getting into macros and micros and true calorie counting will only be necessary if you don’t have much weight to lose, or if you find yourself plateauing. With that said, if you enjoy that part, then who am I to tell you not to weigh your food or count your calories.
One last tip, awareness is key. Don’t hyper obsess over the number on the scale but don’t ignore it either. Being aware of where you are on your weight loss journey will be imperative to sticking to it. When I started this diet, the second time, I went out and bought my first scale. I bought a Withings body+ scale that gives a rough estimate of body composition as well as a multitude of other stats. I must give credit where credit is due, and this scale has really helped with keeping me motivated and on track. For quite a few weeks the number stopped going down. It was disheartening at first but when I investigated it more, I could see that I was gaining muscle at the same rate that I was losing body fat. My weight wasn’t changing but I could see that I was going in the right direction and that kept me motivated.
Losing weight doesn’t have to be complicated but that doesn’t mean that it’ll be easy. It’s going to take self-discipline, determination, and commitment to yourself. Don’t worry if you fall off the horse, it happens to the best of us. It’s happened to me plenty, what is important is dusting yourself off and climbing back into the saddle. You haven’t failed when you realize you gained 10 pounds while on vacation. You have only failed if you’ve given up. And one day you’ll look back and thank the younger version of yourself for taking care of it now.
