Weigh in: February 26, 2008

You may have noticed over the past several weeks I’ve been twittering my weigh in numbers on Tuesdays. This is because since the end of November I’ve been back on the diet.

Two factors spurred me to get back on the diet. The first was a trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with some friends to see a Monday-night Steelers vs. Dolphins game (you may have seen it on TV, it being perhaps, the worst Monday-night game in history). While in Pittsburgh we enjoyed going to a few restaurants where they seem to serve fries with everything. Have you ever been to Pittsburgh? Trust me on the fries thing, never order a side of fries with your meal. After a weekend of eating, drinking, and football, we all decided we need to shed a few pounds.

When I got home from Pittsburgh I jumped on the scale and I was 212.2 pounds. I weight I hadn’t read on the scale since July of 2006. So, I got right back into being on the diet by increasing my exercise and lowering my calories. The same simple plan I’ve had so much success with in the past.

Fast forward about a month. I began to slow down on the diet again, though I wasn’t gaining any weight, and my brother calls me up and we get to talking about challenging each other to get rid of the last few pounds. We chose 15 pounds, though in hindsight I should have picked a little less (more on this in a second).

So, now it is the 26th of February, have I made any progress since November 28th? Today I weighed in at 195.2 pounds, for a loss of 0.8 pounds since last week, and loss of 17 pounds overall since the trip to Pittsburgh.

My new challenge is to stay between 190-195 for 3 months. I’m going to attempt to lose another pound or two this week, and then maintain it for 3 straight months (all while building a little muscle and hopefully losing a little fat around the edges). It seems I never really have trouble losing weight, but I do have trouble keeping it off and staying focused. I’m charting new territory for myself here, I’m not sure what I need to do to stay motivated, to lose body fat (I assume I need to cut carbs a little and increase protein intake) – but I’m up for the challenge. I never want to see the scale read 200+ again.

An update on “the diet”

One of the things that continues to surprise me is the number of hits, google searches, links, and people in general that end up coming to my site to find information on the diet. A lot of times people find the BMI calculator post, or just the diet page, but there are still people picking up the reigns and beginning their weight loss journey as recently as a few days ago.

One person that comes to mind is Doug Meade, who wrote Becoming less repulsive wherein he states that he’s starting on the diet. Another one is David Meade (are these guys related?), where he’s already posted a few updates on his progress. Keep it up fellas, I can’t wait to see you two progress.

Every single week I get emails from people asking about information on the diet, or to be put on the list as participants. Over the next week or so I’ll be updating that list, but I’ll only be including people that have documented real, tangible, results. “Good examples”, if you will. By the way, this doesn’t mean you have to be losing weight to be on the diet, this just means you have to be documenting it – whether you lose or gain.

There is no time like the present to get on-board, so don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like to begin your road to health. There have been many that have benefitted from this public display of goals, reaching them, striving for them, and even failing just to get back up and try again. Particularly me. I have benefitted a lot from it, and I’m looking forward to the next three months – and trying out my new goal.

What is your goal?