Chapter 8: The Cycle Method

The shape of this book is borrowed from the world of software. There they call it Agile — the cycle method. Rather than trying to reach a large goal in a single effort, you break it into small cycles.

I began with Agile in 2010 while doing software work in the state of Delaware, and in 2024 I earned the PMI-ACP (Agile Certified Practitioner) certificate. After that, in 2025, I learned more from Scott M. Johnson at Midlands Technical College. Between 2015 and 2018 we finished a project at my office successfully by this method. That is when a question occurred to me: if it works on hard, large work, why would it not work on the body?

Why eating plans fail

The reason is that they are built by the waterfall method. First a large plan; then carrying it out; at the very end, looking at the result. The software world gave this method up thirty years ago. The reason is simple — the things you did not know while planning only come to light while doing.

A waterfall eating plan	The cycle method
"I will lose twenty kilos in six months."	"In these thirty days I will do this."
The result is known six months later.	The result is known within a month.
The plan cannot be changed.	It may be changed in every cycle.
Miss one day and the whole plan has failed.	A day missed is data for the next cycle.
The cost of failure — six months.	The cost of failure — thirty days.

The last line is the one that matters most. The central aim of Agile is not to avoid failure; it is to reduce the cost of failure. Fail early, fail cheaply, learn from the failure.

What the words mean

Let us see how the words of the software world fit into this book.

The Agile word	In Nila Nalam
Sprint — a cycle	From one full moon to the next; about thirty days.
Backlog — the list of work	The twenty-seven methods of Chapter 6. They do not all have to be done in one cycle.
Sprint planning	The day before the full moon. What to do in this cycle, and what to leave out.
Daily standup — the daily check	Recording the weight every morning, and thinking for a minute about how yesterday went and what today holds.
Definition of done	That day's method + WWYP + no food after five in the evening. If these three happen, the day is done.
Velocity — pace	How many days in a cycle you actually followed the plan. If it is twenty days in the first cycle, that is your pace.
Retrospective — the review	Three questions at the end of the cycle. This is the heart of the whole method.
Impediment — an obstacle	Whatever will stop the plan — travel, a feast, a heavy week at work. List these out in advance.

1. The repeating approach

Every cycle is a complete unit. A beginning, a middle, an end. When a cycle finishes you know where you stand. The next one begins from that same place — not from zero.

In software, at the end of every cycle a "working thing" has to be released — not something complete, but something that genuinely runs. It is the same with health. What you should have at the end of every cycle is not a "perfect body"; it is a body slightly better than the one you had at the end of the last.

2. Flexibility and adaptation

This is the most important line in the Agile manifesto: responding to change is worth more than following a plan.

The plan is not sacred. The body is sacred. If dizziness comes on the new moon dry fast day, turn it into a water fast. If you are travelling you cannot make juice — eat only vegetables that day. If a wedding feast falls on a fast day, move that day; there is no need to cancel the whole cycle.

The plan may be bent to fit the body; the body must not be broken to fit the plan. This is the reason every method in Chapter 6 carries a line saying "why it works" — only someone who understands the reason can change it properly.

3. Continuous improvement

The first cycle will not go well. The second will go a little better. By the fifth you will know clearly which methods suit you and which do not.

The Japanese call this kaizen — continuous small improvement. A one per cent improvement looks trivial. But improve by one per cent a day and across a year it is thirty-seven times over. Worsen by one per cent and across a year it comes to almost nothing.

Completeness is not the goal; the direction is the goal.

4. Working together, and support

In Agile there is no plan for one person alone; there is always a team. It is the same in health.

Do not do it alone. Tell them at home. Take at least one person along with you. As Hyman puts it, being connected to other people is one of the raw materials health is made from. A plan carried out alone fails alone.

One person in particular is needed — whoever runs the kitchen. If they do not understand the plan, nothing will happen. No eating plan has ever succeeded while at odds with that person.

5. The review — writing down what you learned

This is the heart of the whole method. Even if everything else is missing, this alone is enough.

At the end of every cycle — on the full moon — sit down and write out three questions.

Question	What to look for
What worked well?	Which method was easy, and which one gave results. Keep those in the next cycle too.
What was difficult?	On which day you slipped, and why. Write the reason honestly — "no time" is usually not the real reason.
What will I change in the next cycle?	One or two changes only. Make five changes and nothing will happen.

Keep a notebook — food, exercise, sleep, symptoms, numbers, feelings. Hyman calls this as useful as a medicine. What is written down is measured; what is measured changes.

One caution: a review is not an occasion for blaming yourself. There is a rule in Agile — a review must begin from the assumption that everyone did the best they could with the information and the skill they had on the day. Extend the same kindness to yourself.

The full circle of the cycle

When	What
The day before the full moon	Planning. Which methods, what goal, what obstacles may come.
Days 1 – 30	Carrying it out. A one-minute check every morning.
Day 15 (new moon)	The mid-point check. A reckoning in the mind, on the day of the silent fast.
Day 30 (full moon)	The review. Three questions. The plan for the next cycle.
Day 31	Rest. Normal food. The next cycle on the next full moon day.

Failure is not the end of the cycle; it is data for the next one. Use what you learned in the next cycle — that is the essence of the whole method.