When I first started this diet I had 150 pounds that I needed to lose. I weighed 282 and my ideal weight for my height was 130. Well it is funny, I've lowered my weight by about 59 pounds, but I've also increased my muscle mass so that my "ideal" weight is no longer 130. So it is like I have been going lower to meet my goal, and my goal has been coming up to meet me.

How can this happen? Part of it happened by accident I think. Part of this muscle building wasn't anything in particular I was doing other than eating more protein. From Dec 2000 until May of 2002 I wasn't really losing any weight, instead I was building muscle (without knowing it). My body dimensions changed by 23.75 inches in the areas that I had measured.

Then in June I started trying to build muscle. Lifting weights etc. Well the exciting thing about this is that I figured out that I have increased my muscle mass to OVER my original goal weight. I now have at least 141 pounds of lean body mass (my body without any fat at all on it). So my goal weight has changed.

When I did these calculations I wasn't sure at first if I could believe them. Yesterday something happened that PROVED it to me. I put on and wore the skirt and top that I was married in 11 years ago. And they fit well. At that time I weighed 176 to 186, today I weigh 223 to 228. But I'm wearing a "large" not an XL or higher.

I hope this is as encouraging to all of you as it was to me. It means this diet works in two directions, lowering your body to meet your goal, and increasing your muscle mass so you don't have as much to lose!