Mayor Rob Ford has quit his public diet three weeks before the scheduled end of his high-profile weight loss campaign.

The weigh-ins were part of the “Cut the Waist Challenge” the mayor himself launched with great fanfare in January. The challenge, which was supposed to end on June 18, has its own logo and website. A banner promoting it (“Join!!! Mayor Ford’s Cut the Waist Challenge!”) hangs on the front window of the mayor’s City Hall office, near the industrial scale Ford had placed in the hallway near the door.

Ford drew praise and support from across the political spectrum, and from nutrition experts and medical professionals, for risking his pride to embark on a public effort to get healthier — though skeptics suggested the campaign was a calculated effort to both soften his bulldozer image and reinforce his political brand as a waste-reducer.

The weekly weigh-ins drew intense media interest, in part because they were the only regular opportunity reporters had to ask Ford questions. They also prompted residents to scrutinize Ford’s every public meal. In April, someone filmed and mocked him as he entered a KFC outlet; on Saturday night, others posted Twitter messages about his visit to McDonald’s.

“Aren’t you supposed to be losing weight lol I’m not understanding this,” one McDonald’s patron tweeted.

Ford originally framed the campaign as a charity fundraising initiative, and he invited residents to pledge per-pound-lost donations to charities of their choice. He didn’t mention the charity component of the campaign on Sunday.

Ford began the campaign at 330 pounds, saying he wanted to lose 50 by June 18. He shed 22 in a month, exercising frequently and “eating like a rabbit,” then plateaued and began gaining. He weighed 314 pounds, up four from the week prior, when he last weighed in on May 8.

Registered dietitian Mary Bamford said Ford’s effort shouldn’t be seen as a failure but simply “part of the process.” Like smokers, Bamford said, overweight people often need to make multiple attempts to dramatically change their habits.

“It’s an unhelpful cultural belief that it takes one attempt,” she said.