The only 2 maintenance programs that work are dead animals and vegetables, Monday through Friday, take the weekend off – or 500 calories every other day. If you try to maintain your weight by exercise or by portion control or by just eating less, the big bet is it won’t work. If you eat too much carbohydrate at a feeding, your body will store too much fat. Freely feeding on the American diet, our average carbohydrate portion is too big, so there’s too much fat storage – and that’s our obesity epidemic. The advantage of dead animals and vegetables throughout the week, is that you won’t be hungry and you’ll feel good until the weekend, when you eat carbohydrates. The advantage of 500 calories every other day, is that you can eat almost anything you want on your off days (keep sugar down to a dull roar), and still maintain. Most patients do veggies only or very low calorie protein (canned tuna or chicken) on their 500 calorie days.