Sustainable & Maintainable?

Q:  This doesn't all seem sustainable or maintainable in the long term. What happens when you come off the diet? Doesn't the weight just flood back on like with every other diet?

A:  Ah, the age old question for every diet. See, the thing is, you're misusing the word 'diet', as are most people. We've perverted the original word from what you eat day in day out to something like, "A shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch and a sensible meal."  Or, "I have to fit into clothing X for event Y on date Z, so I will only eat alfalfa sprouts while standing on my head until every 37 minutes."

Once you flip over onto your feet at 12 minutes past the hour and eat, oh, I don't know, a chicken breast, poof, you can't wear clothing X again.

Well, that's the thing.  This isn't that kind of diet. At least not for me. Yes, you can be more extreme and official about it, but you can also bend it to be less extreme and fit your life better.  You still get results, but not as fast.  You can also maintain results, though you may not be able to recover from indiscretions as quickly.

Tim Ferriss lives the Slow Carb Diet, and he's in insane shape.  He could 'stop dieting' and 'eat normally', but this is normal to him.  He is healthy. Very healthy.  He's fit. Very fit. He also eats out a ton (he says, I believe, 2/3 of all meals are eaten out).

As for me, I plan to stay fairly strict through to the 1 year mark (July 1) for my journey (though only about half of that time is following the SCD as I didn't know about it until January), and then move into a somewhat less strict version.  I'm working out the details of that now, and what works for me may not work for you or someone else because it's about adaptations to my lifestyle and tastes (both taste of food and preferences in life).  Some basic things I plan to follow (color coded w/ 'still' in blue, and 'stop' in red to help make the point - most things are permanent changes, and I'm really happy to do that):

• Still get lots of protein, including 30g or more w/in 30 minutes - I love how this makes me feel each day, and don't want to lose that. This is much better than when I used to eat a bowl of cereal in the morning, which tasted great, but sat funny and left me hungry an hour later despite loading me with calories and sugar.
• Still eat lots of greens, and probably still use a powdered green supplement in my eggs (as well as some fresh spinach) each morning because it's damn good for you, and I was horrible at eating enough of them before. I'm into not getting cancer, and cruciferous veggies are a fabulous way to help that not happen.
• Still have a restricted amount of refined / fast carbs and sugar. It's just not good for you, and it's a wasteful way to fuel yourself because you waste much of it (or store it in a slow-to-use form), and could have gotten a longer-lasting, slower carb that keeps you satisfied and fueled.
• Still avoid most dairy.  I'm lactose intolerant, so this isn't a big shift for me, but I definitely ate cheese and yogurt and drank kefir regularly (really good stuff, by the way).  I don't plan to go crazy with the stuff, but I might put some cheese in my eggs occasionally (I do on cheat day now), have kefir a couple of times a week, and the same for yogurt. I don't plan to eat ice cream, fro-yo or drink milk.
• Still use some tricks, like cinnamon, a shot of espresso or a glass of grapefruit juice to help burn fat / stop sugar absorption.
• Stop avoiding fruit entirely. I won't go nuts, but I do plan to have an orange or grapefruit now and then, or perhaps have a bite of my son's apple when he doesn't want anymore.
• Stop avoiding whole wheat bread entirely. Lunch is a tricky meal, whereas I find breakfast and dinner easy to comply with. I plan to have mostly salads at lunch, as I have been, but now and then (maybe 2x / week) have an open-faced sandwich on a multi-grain bread.  Something like chicken breast or turkey breast with lettuce or spinach and some mustard. No mayo.
• Stop doing a cheat day. Instead, I'll use the rule bending I've mentioned above to even it out over the week, and allow myself to have something like brown rice or whole wheat pasta on occasion (e.g. when out for dinner or lunch).

How about you? How do you think you can keep this up so life changes stick in a sustainable way to make your new body maintainable?  I'm really not concerned or worried at all.  I love a lot of what I've learned, and don't plan to give most of it up. It's easy to follow, and it really is just better for your body.

Remember, I'm a dad, and don't want my son to either have poor health habits or be a paranoid and anxious person who is too worried about what he is and isn't eating.  It's about being healthy while knowing what is and isn't healthy so you can create balance and offset breaks in that balance from time to time.