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The 80% Rule: Protecting Your Success

Eventually, the thrill of success on the scale wanes and you find yourself just looking to maintain your new waistline. You're not really losing any more weight when you have a string of low calorie, high activity days, and you don't really gain much if you pig out here and there. It's easy to become complacent.

Unlike many other plans, the Cheapo lifestyle does not require long gym workouts just to keep your weight in check. Workout-centered diet plans always struck me as a huge liability as it would seem that you were always just one extended nagging injury away from ruining everything.

When I was in my 20's, I was a maniacal runner, logging about 40-50 miles a week. I wasn't on a "diet" per se. I used to eat somewhat reasonably, but I just was a serious runner. That's all you needed if you wanted get in and remain in great shape. I used to love going to the gym and being the fastest runner on the treadmills while getting on before others started and finishing well after they did. It made me feel like an elite athlete, and I guess I sort of was.

My feet are pretty flat, so needless to say, I used to get plantar fasciitis and knee injuries all the time. I used to buy the most expensive running shoes I could get at the time (not very cheapo) and wear them out pretty quickly. Cheaping out on running shoes meant more pain - I learned that quickly and avoided that mistake again.

The plantar fasciitis I could stretch out and run through, but the knee aches would only get worse the more I ran. I wore knee guards and everything, but if the pain was really severe, the only way to get over it was to stop running until it healed. The first time I injured my knees, I tried to run through it, which was a big mistake, as I paid for it after my workout was over to the point that I couldn't even walk down steps. It was extremely frustrating. I remember using the elliptical as a substitute while my knees healed up and kept thinking of how big of a *wussy* (I'll keep it clean for the family-friendly blog) I must looked like using those old people machines. Yes, I was an elitist runner.

Over time, I gradually ran less and less and eventually stopped running, and my weight over the next decade ballooned to nearly 200 pounds. I thought I'd never lose all the weight because I just couldn't ever see myself ever becoming that kind of runner again. I never even considered the idea of counting calories because it sounded impossibly tedious and unsustainable, so I figured I was destined to be a fatty for the rest of my life. Also, Fitbits and activity trackers weren't even a thing back then. You could buy a pedometer (if you willing to look like a dork), but there were no unified nutrition and activity dashboards back then like there are now.

The great thing about the Cheapo way of life is that it's a very livable plan. All it requires is that you maintain your food log, keep weighing yourself every day, make sure you keep up your weekly step averages and stay within your calorie targets about 80% of the time. The last one is the most important. 5 weekdays is 71% of week, so you can bomb out about 1 day per week or weekend and maintain your weight.

Of course, once you hit your target weight, it can never hurt to try some different exercise routines just to keep things interesting and give your plan a little leeway like I did with my SEAL program, but it's strictly optional. If I get bored with it and want to try something different, it's nice to know that I can because it's just bonus exercise that I'm doing for fun.

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