Today I weigh 200lbs. for a loss this week of 4 pounds. The second best week on this second-round of The Diet since the first! I couldn’t be more happy with this result. I’ve been very good on my diet this week and – due to a little snow – got a few extra “workouts” in the form of shoveling. Hey, I count everything and every little bit helps.

I feel great. Dropping 20 pounds in 35 days makes me feel like I have actually put a 20 pound weight down and simply continued on with my day. Especially on the basketball court. I play basketball for about 4 hours every Monday night. Even when I was at my heaviest I did this. However, when I was over 220 pounds I would be able to give “OK” energy for the first 2 hours and then it went downhill from there. But now, even only half way to my goal, I am able to be at high-energy nearly the entire time. Last night I think only my last two games my legs felt like they were finished for the evening.

I do not expect the next 20 pounds to come off as “easily” as these first 20 pounds have. So I’m going to be doing three P90X routines per week to help increase my cardio and my calorie burn. Oh, and I secretly hope for a bit of snow so that I can shovel and burn even more.

Don’t forget to check in to see how the other dieters did.

The results for this week are very, very good. The first pounds of any diet are the “easiest” to lose – in my experience. It isn’t that it is easy to turn away temptations of food and beer the entire week, or the temptation to sit back on the couch and snack, or to just continually raid the fridge from the time I get up until I go to sleep. However, the first week is generally always a decent amount of weight loss. In 2006 I lost 7 pounds in the first week. So, how much did I lose this time?

I’m happy to report that I’ve lost 10 pounds in the first week on The Diet. I now weigh exactly 210lbs. This is extremely motivating but also I take this weigh in with a small grain of salt. Weight fluctuates and the first week is always a good week if you do well on your diet – so I expect next week’s weigh in to not be nearly as dramatic.

My goal for this week is to be down 3.3lbs or to weigh in at 207 pounds next week. During this first week I did very little exercise (2 sessions of playing basketball and one 3-mile walk in the freezing cold with Eliza). I’m going to try to work out at least 3 times this week, in addition to my normal basketball schedule, and to jog at least 3 miles. I’ll try to bring all of these numbers up each week going forward.

How does this week’s weight loss work into my goal? My goal was to lose 40 pounds in 12 weeks. This week I had the goal of only losing 3.3lbs (which is a good, solid week of weight loss on any diet) but I’ve managed to drop 10lbs. Since it took me 16 weeks to lose 40 pounds the last time I dieted I figure I just dropped 2 weeks off of that number in the first week. So, I’m on track to beat the 16 weeks. Can I make 12?

Love playing in old beat-up gyms. Love seeing Chris get blocked even more.

Yes! The Philadelphia 76ers, my favorite basketball team for better or worse, is going back to their old logo.

I will be purchasing new apparel soon.

Today I weighed in at 189 lbs. which is down three pounds since I weighed in 15 days ago. I was hoping I’d be 188 or even 187 (which would have meant that I’d have finally beaten Pat Dryburgh in our little challenge) but I’m willing to wait for next week for that to happen. And it will happen.

Overall I had two fairly good weeks full of activity, a decent food diet, and no major setbacks. Even though I missed basketball last week I still managed to run over 9 miles that week and 6 the last week with basketball on that Monday. I’m currently working on bringing my 5K (or a 3.1 mile run) time down. My current goal is 28 minutes. I’m hoping to hit that this week.

Today Chris Fehnel and I did the Plyometrics portion of P90X, an exercise routine that he’s been doing since we re-started the diet, and it was intense. Fun. But intense. It is definitely a much harder workout than I would ever put together for myself. I’m considering doing this workout either every-now-and-then or even each week. We’ll see.

Next week will, more than likely, end the competition between Pat and I but I’m not going to stop there. I’ve decided to make other goals, besides actual weight, for myself. My 5K in under 28 minutes is my first goal, and perhaps “bringing it” to an entire PlyoX routine would be my second (since while I managed to make it through the routine I definitely didn’t “bring it”).

I know that Eliza, Chris, and I are doing great on our diets. How about all of you?

It has been a great week. I ate very well this week. I don’t remember missing a single meal, I ate enough calories every day, and most of the food I ate per-day was well balanced. And this showed in my weigh in, and also in the results I’ve seen in my workout routines.

My exercise this week went very, very well. I played, as per usual, about 4 hours of basketball on Monday, jogged on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday and did three core workout routines. For me this is a fair amount of exercise, but I plan on doing even better this week. Longer jogs, same amount of basketball, and more workouts.

This morning I weighed in at 192 pounds, that is a loss of two pounds this week. I’m feeling great, my clothes are fitting better, and I’m excited to come down the home stretch towards my goal. Losing 15 pounds in 6 weeks is fantastic. Five pounds until I beat Dryburgh, seven pounds to reach my initial goal of 185 and reassess where I am at – and make new goals.

I hope everyone else had a great week. Lets keep going!

This is where we play basketball on Mondays. Much nicer court, IMO, than the other two regular courts that we play at.

I know, I play basketball a lot. But it is the sport that I could play every single day and not tire of it.

I had one ‘bad day’ on Saturday (for reasons I’ll leave out for now, but suffice to say the day consisted of not very good food, although it tasted great, and a lot of couch time). I’m going to try to avoid this type of day this week.

This morning I weighed in at 194.something pounds. My scale consists of a rotating dial with small numbers that are hard to read from 6′ 1″ above it. That is a loss of 2 pounds for this week. I’m feeling very good, fitting into clothes better, and ready to have an active summer. This brings me down 13 pounds in 1 month and 1 week. I’m looking forward to shedding this last 7 pounds, to beat Pat, before mid-May.

I’m playing really well tonight too. Must be the Playoffs.

My goals, as stated last week, were: “… to cut down on carbs, eat more fruits and vegetables as snacks, go completely beer and wine free for the week, and lose two more pounds.” I did pretty well with trying to stick to these goals but I was far from perfect. While I didn’t drink any beer this week I did have some homemade pear wine last night that was given to us. I didn’t do very well on trying to cut down on the number of carbs I’ve had for the week. In fact, I didn’t measure the number of carbs I had at all. I didn’t play any basketball and only ran twice. I did, however, eat more fruit and vegetables as snacks and did well with not eating too much.

One of the things I find most challenging during the second week is getting over the “make it a habit hump.” It is said that you have to do something 7 times (I think?) in order to make it a habit. I don’t know how this philosophy fits in with the complexities surrounding diets, but I know that for me to truly change my eating and exercising habits I need to get through the second week. If you look at the arc of my dieting last time, you can see that from the second week on it was a landslide towards the finish. I was totally committed to my diet, did really well with exercising on a regular basis, and kept up with my weekly goals. I’m hoping the same is true this time around.

I’m glad to have this second week over with and to have a decent weight loss. Now I’m ready to really ratchet up my commitment to the diet until I get to my goal.

My goals for this week include: drinking more water, trying to measure the number of carbs I eat, playing basketball twice, running three times, and having only one glass of wine. (I don’t want to cut out wine completely but I’ll probably have it earlier in the week this time.) Also, I’d like to lose two pounds this week.

I hope everyone else on the diet had as good or better a second week as I had and that we all continue on to reach our goals.

Random 60: Doing what you love, not what you’re good at. | Favorite on Viddler.

Please consider sharing this on Twitter. Thanks.

I often find myself doing things that I really like to do, even if I’m not particularly good at them. Art, for me, is a great example. I like dabbling with watercolors, pastels, pencil sketches, and even digital art like Flip. Basketball is also another example. I love playing basketball but I don’t think anyone on earth would consider me very good at it.

What do you love to do even if you’re not particularly good at it?

Side note: Thanks for all of the excellent feedback I’ve been getting from the Random 60 videos. These have been truly fun to make and I plan on continuing.

I know what you might be thinking, especially if you follow me on Twitter.  How can he play so much basketball and still need to get back on his diet?  It is because I like food and booze too much.  It isn’t due to lack of exercise really, because I get a fair amount of that considering that my day job is in front of a computer.

Today I weighed in at 207 pounds.  My goal for next week is 205.  Pretty simple.

I’m going to be trying to achieve this goal by watching what I eat, cutting down on alcohol consumption to only 2 ounces (or a beer and a glass of wine) per week, and keeping my same routine for sports and exercise.

Recently, and I’m not sure exactly when, John updated the logo graphic on his site. Something he doesn’t do all that often. This time John shows his loyalty to the Boston Celtics by saying “Beat L.A.”.  Something he doesn’t do all that often either.

When the Celtics won the Eastern Conference Finals they, nearly immediately, began chanting “Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!” and so now even the crowd gets into it at home games during the NBA Finals.

Doing a search of his site for Celtics only turns up a few mentions of the Boston-based team.

1. In a quote about NBA Historical Footage – December 10, 2005
2. When Red Auerbach, a man I met once, died. – October 29, 2006

I’m not sure that John is a Celtics fan full time, or even a basketball fan in general, or if he just doesn’t like the Los Angeles Lakers enough to chant through his logo.  Maybe he’ll write about it some day.
 

Where I sometimes shoot the rock. It doesn’t look like much, but it is always available, free, and never crowded.

My current pair of basketball sneakers. Review: Great ankle support. Outside of sneakers holding up really well. Inside of sneaker is beginning to bunch up. I’ll update this post to say how old they are when I figure that out.

2-1. I managed to record both the first win and first loss.

Importing Game 1 of a few friend’s league games. Makes me wanna go to and record Game 3. And yes, that is the Cocoon and Cocoon The Return DVD set.

There was a fairly long stretch from about 19 years old until 25 that I actually didn’t play as often as I now wish I had. Maybe it was discovering the world of programming that stopped me from getting onto the court. Maybe it was getting married at an early age, and dealing with the responsibilities that brought, that gave me the excuses I needed not to take the time to play. Or, perhaps as I gained more and more weight I just didn’t feel up to it.

But I’ve come to realize something I consider very important. After gaining, then losing, gaining a little, and now on my way to getting back to my goal weight again – I’ve learned that basketball is an essential part of my healthy lifestyle.

When I play basketball regularly I’m able to stay in pretty good shape. I feel good. I’ve got energy. My outlook on my own health, and my goals for good health, remains high. When I do not play basketball very regularly, I keep my same eating habits, and end up gaining weight. Put simply, basketball is one of the very few forms of exercise that I truly enjoy doing.

I suppose that ultimate frisbee could also be a supplemental form of exercise for me, but I don’t get the chance to play that nearly as often, and I’ve only just started playing it a few summers ago. Ultimate, as it is often called, is a really fun sport and a great way to get cardio exercise – if you haven’t tried it, I recommend it. You can see how frisbee helped me during my diet. While you’re at it, you might as well see how basketball helped me on my diet too.

Now, at 27 years old, I’m playing basketball at least a few times a week when I’m in my normal routine. I’m loving it. Sometimes I really do not feel like playing but I always feel so much better after I’ve done so. I’m looking forward to losing a few more pounds, maybe gaining a few centimeters on my vertical jump, and playing some of the best basketball of my life.

Do you have a sport you love?

I believe it is time to quit making excuses about scheduling problems and start doing things on my own. I’m going to start running, by myself, starting tomorrow. As for the gym I’ll have to create my own schedule (most likely Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday). I’d love to go in the mornings but that just doesn’t seem possible – I am not a morning workout person.

This week I weighed in within a few ounces of last week’s weigh in. Which is fine because I fully expect to be around 185 pounds for the rest of my life – so being 187 works just as well.

I hope everyone else had a great week on their diets.

Even though I only got to play a little basketball and managed to hit the gym only once this week, I did what I think was a great job in the “food intake” department.

This week I weighed in at 186.4 pounds which is a loss of 2 pounds since last week. I’m hoping to reach my goal of 185.0 by the time the full one-year mark rolls around and I’d love to maintain that weight for the foreseeable future.

My trips to the gym have obviously caused me to gain a few pounds in muscle and if I can continue that trend hopefully I’ll stay around the same weight while only gaining weight from muscle and losing fat. I know that to pull this off I’ll have to change the foods that I eat pretty dramatically – which is something that I’d love to do but feel might be one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced on my diet yet.

To gain muscle, and subsequently strength, I have to start eating a lot more protein and just generally healthier foods and leave the junk food and carbohydrates behind. Being that my current food diet is not even close to what it should be in this regard, I think it will be a big thing if I can pull this off. It begins with the food I actually have in the house – so shopping with the mindset that I want to only have good food in the house is probably the first step.

Can any recommend a shopping list for someone in my situation?

Update: I just wanted to thank everyone that sent me suggestions – especially James who wrote a great comment on this post with his suggestions and insight. James is definitely a great resource and friend to have – be sure to check out his site to monitor his progress which has been inspirational for me and my diet thus far.

I hope everyone is doing just as well on their diets as I’ve been able to do lately. Obviously I’ve had my bumps in the road but overall I could not be more happy with the results of deciding to diet. As this first year passes me by I look forward to continuing this new lifestyle for the rest of my life.

[tags]diet, the-diet, weigh-in, basketball, food, muscle, protein[/tags]

While in California for six days I actually ate pretty well. And by well I mean a decent amount of food. When I went to Texas on business it seemed that I was skipping meals because I was far too busy. However, having the entire Viddler team in California made my job much, much easier so I was able to relax a little and eat normally.

Since I’ve been back I’ve been pretty active. I’ve been playing frisbee and basketball quite a bit over the last few days and it feels great to finally be outside again. Winter here in northeastern Pennsylvania is simply far too long.

This week I weighed in at 188.4 pounds, for a loss of exactly 1 pound from two weeks ago. I’m looking forward to getting back to the gym starting tonight, since I’ve missed the last week or so being away. I’m not sure my muscles are looking forward to it, but they’ll just have to live with it.

Something I definitely need to work on is being consistent with workouts even while away. Finding a few minutes for a jog or time in the weight room of a hotel shouldn’t be too difficult and the only thing holding me back from that is laziness. I’m always excited to get back into my routine though, and now that the weather is actually enjoyable – I don’t think I’ll have much trouble sticking to an active routine for the next few months.

[tags]diet, weigh-in, the-diet, california, texas, exercise, basketball, frisbee, ultimate, weather, gym, pennsylvania, viddler[/tags]

I was able to get to the gym when I wanted to this week – besides last night which is typically basketball night. However, not being able to breathe properly would have probably made playing impossible. I hate when I miss basketball.

The outdoor activities have been at right about nil this week. The current temperature outside is hovering in the mid-30s. Not exactly the type of weather that makes you want to go outside.

I am not sure if I’ll get to the gym tonight, it will depend on how I feel later – but I would certainly like to. No running, just hittin’ the weights.

Overall, a good week.

[tags]weigh-in, diet, the-diet, gym, basketball, sick[/tags]

So instead of just covering the amount of gain/loss each week I’ll also toss in some of my other goals that I am working on at the gym, on the court, or on the field. However, just to keep up-to-date I weighed in at 189.2 pounds for a loss of .8 pounds from last week. The amount of weight that I lost does not reflect well to how good of a week I had on the diet.

At the gym

I was able to cover a few goals that I had for myself at the gym for this week. The first was actually timing out a sub-10 minute mile. Although I had never timed myself running prior to this week, I already knew going in that I should be able to accomplish this. So, this I accomplished pretty easily (and by easy I mean sweating like a pig).

My next goal was to be able to run 2-miles, since that was something I had not tried to do before. For those of you that do not know, running and I do not get along, in fact – I loathe it. But, I have goals and I am going to make them. So I ran two miles but I added the goal of making it in less than 20-minutes which I just barely made it. I actually had the opportunity to do this twice this week and the second time I came in at 19:20. I’m looking forward to giving this another try and coming in under 19 minutes before moving onto my next goal.

In my I ran one mile post I said: “So, what is my next goal? I’m going to run a mile in the seven-minute range.” Well, that is kinda what I am working on right now. I’m slowly building up my stamina for longer distances while simultaneously going a little bit faster each time. My new goal is 1 mile in 8-minutes and 2 miles in 18 minutes. I’ll let you know how this goal goes.

In the field and on the court

A small group of us went to the park this weekend to play frisbee, a little tennis (I am absolutely horrible at tennis, and I do mean horrible), and basketball. The weather was great (though we’re expecting bad weather this weekend, ugh).

Andrew and I playing frisbee – March 2007 – Photo credit: Eliza Devroe

It was nice to play at least a little frisbee again for the first time this season. One of my goals is to be able to play competitive ultimate this year sometime. I may have to find a local team or something since I don’t know enough people that would like to do this to create my own team. If anyone knows the best way to do this, hook me up.

Tennis seems like a pile of fun but I’m just horrible at it. Obviously it is because I’ve only played like 30-minutes worth of tennis in my entire life – but maybe I could try to play with Andrew a little this year.

The first game of basketball was a game of 21 with Andrew, Paul, and I. And I was shooting really, really well. Then, when we hopped into a larger game – my shot went into outer space for some reason. I was having trouble getting any type of rhythm back and I was starting to get frustrated – which is the worst thing to do. But I had a great time and it was good exercise. I love basketball.

That was my week of activity. Running, working out, some sports, and a fairly decent diet. The change in weather definitely helps me to keep on top of things and I’m looking forward to making and setting new goals on the scale, at the gym, in the field, and on the court.

[tags]weigh-in, diet, the-diet, andrew nelson, paul kozlansky, running, 2-miles, gym, ultimate frisbee, basketball, tennis, goals[/tags]

This week I weighed in at 190.0 pounds which is down 2.2 pounds from last week. Being active is definitely the key to the success of my diet. I was regular at the gym this week, and able to play basketball once (though it was supposed to be twice) – and now with the weather finally breaking, my activity level is bound to rise once again.

Winter was definitely hard on me and I hope to find ways to avoid these “down times” during the next winter. Any suggestions for this would help.

Oh, and for reasons that many of you reading this already know – and for reasons that I will be disclosing in a near future post – I’m almost entirely off of coffee and diet soda. So we’ll see how this affects my diet, I’m hoping in a positive way.

[tags]diet, the-diet, weigh in, gym, basketball[/tags]

This week was a fairly good diet and exercise week. I wish I had done a little better in the “eating department” since I did have a few onion rings and mozzarella sticks the other night. Hey, when you buy a new deep fryer what else are you supposed to do? But I managed to get to the gym on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday (just played some basketball), and last night I played basketball for about four hours. There is no doubt that without exercise I would never have lost any weight over the last forty weeks.

Today I weighed in at 194.1 pounds! That means I lost another 1.8 pounds from last week.

For me this is a huge success. Here’s why. I haven’t had three-consecutive good weigh-ins since September of 2006. That means that I have not lost weight for three weeks in a row in 24 weeks (which was Week Sixteen by the way)! Right after that was when Eliza and I went to Hershey Park (which kept me from losing an ounce) and then shortly thereafter moved into our new apartment. Due to my routine being completely thrown out, and the weather slowly getting colder and colder, over the course of the next 20 weeks I managed to gain back 13.4 pounds. So for me, recording three weeks of consecutive weight loss is a huge triumph and the stopping of a trend that has plagued me for far too long.

The more I examined this the more I came to realize a few things. Perhaps I’m finally “settled” in our new place. I’m comfortable enough to get into, and build, good routines rather than feeling out of place. The other realization would be that in twelve weeks we will be hitting the first anniversary of the diet. An entire year of diet and exercise. I think week forty is the perfect week to jump back on and ride it out to hit that first year mark with some good results. Results that you’d be happy with after having dieted for an entire year. For me, I’d love to hit and maintain 180 for at least an entire month before we hit the one-year mark. That’d be my success story for year one. Technically I should hit that mark in seven weeks, giving me a one week margin for error. Exciting times ahead!

If you are considering going on a diet, I suggest you take a quick look at the last forty weeks that I’ve dieted to see how a diet can go. Overall it seems like most diets are rather rocky and full of peaks and valleys that could easily discourage you (they did me, there is no doubt they will again). But I look back at my first weigh in and realize that I am really happy that for the rest of my life I will more than likely never see it on the scale under my feet again. I may see my weight rise and fall, and obviously it slowly went up for 20 weeks in a row, but I am determined to never let that happen again. Perhaps the next time I peak it will be over a 12 week period, and then the next 6 until eventually I’m able to only fluctuate a few pounds (which every healthy person on the planet does).

But please learn from everyone’s experiences that diets do not happen quickly. They never end! They are not wrapped up in a pill or a surgery (though for those who have had them they face all types of new challenges). Silver-bullet diets are not found on DVDs or on the back-page of a gossip magazine. Celebrities should not be your role models when wanting to lose weight, your peers should be. There is no perfect time to start one, so you might as well start now.

Thanks to everyone that has given me encouragement and has shared their story. I look forward to hitting the one year mark with good results to report.

[tags]diet, the-diet, weigh-in, exercise, food, gym, basketball, eliza devroe, theme parks, hershey park, pennsylvania[/tags]

However, I still managed to get to 196.2 pounds from 198.0 a week ago. I need to focus a little more on cardio this week I think. Perhaps I’ll get to play some basketball a few more times than usual. Anyone want to play?

James Mathias recently posted “One-third the Man I Used to Be” wherein he shows photos of “a guy” that he used to know – and the guy he knows now. I can sympathize with him completely. I look back at old photographs and when I see my fatter-self I hardly recognize him anymore. James’ change is dramatic, and that appears to be in both mind and spirit. Well done James.

How did y’all do this week?

[tags]diet, the-diet, weigh in, james mathias, gym, cardio, basketball[/tags]

What is this huge wake up call that I speak of? That I’m up 14 pounds from the peak of my success on the diet. I’m not discouraged, just motivated to hop back on the health-wagon and pay more attention to detail. Details like eating wings and drinking beer on the weekends (which stops now until at least summer time). I am going to make an effort to only have a single glass of wine per week (most likely our homemade wine that Eliza and I made). And I’m going back on the calorie watch.

I have a feeling that I will continue to have ebbs and flows like this for the rest of my life. Which is fine by me, so long as it keeps me from getting up to 226 pounds again, something I never want to see ever again. Weighing in is obviously the most motivating way, for me, to keep myself on track. And I’m going to make a real effort to do this every Tuesday again for the foreseeable future. Call me out on it if I miss.

I look forward to watching the numbers starting to decrease again. Will you join me?

After the recent revamp of my site, I updated the diet page and emailed pretty much everyone who I could find their email address, and comment on the blogs of those I couldn’t, to see if they’d like to remain on the diet. So if your name is on the list it is either because you are still active on the diet, or you’ve responded to me saying that you’re ready to give this thing another go. So please start weighing in again, and lets start seeing some progress and helping each other to stay motivated.

I know I need the help.

[tags]diet, the-diet, weigh in, food, basketball, gym[/tags]
[slug]weigh-in-week-thirty-seven[/slug]

It is always a crap shoot when buying a Frosty. One day you get a Frosty that will literally knock your socks off and on a different day, even in the same location, you find the Frosty lacking in texture, taste, color, or even the temperature isn’t quite right. I’ve actually even had Frostys that I didn’t enjoy simply because I thought the effort was poor.

Today after basketball Chris, Andrew, Eliza, and I went to Wendy’s to get a Frosty. What ended up happening may have changed our Frosty-eating lives forever!

L to R: Chris, me, and Andrew

Today we all had Frostys that could be rated 5 outta 5 fpoons (the highest rating for a Frosty using our patent-pending rating system). If you are not sure what a fpoon is, it is the only utensil to use when eating a soquid.

These Frostys were nearly perfect or as perfect as my taste buds would allow me to experience. Their color, feel, temperature, and taste all melded together to make for the best possible Frosty that we’ve all ever had. Reactions to this ranged from speechlessness to exhilaration. From eyes rolling into the back of our heads to our eyes popping out of them. A wide range of emotions washed over each one of us as we did whatever we could to preserve the feeling for as long as possible.

Frostys this good don’t come around too often. I’m just glad that I was able to experience it with my friends and with people who also understand the intricacies of the Frosty-world.

[tags]wendys, frosty, fast food, eliza devroe, chris fehnel, andrew nelson, basketball, food, dessert, chocolate[/tags]
[slug]5-fpoons[/slug]

What are the top five reasons you started to diet in the first place?
For me this is fairly easy to answer because I’ve literally cataloged every step of my journey from the very beginning. The very first time I wanted to diet was in September of 2005, right before my 25th birthday, and just after a vacation in Florida with family. What were my reasons then? To quote myself:

“I’m fat. I admit it. I’m telling you, not because you care, but I’m hoping it will motivate me to become unfat.” … “While on vacation, we’d go back to our condo and unload all of our pictures from our cameras onto our respective iBooks. Each and every time a picture of either of us with our shirts off would appear, we’d grimace in pain. Our eyes becoming watery at the unsightly bellies which have formed on the front of our abdomens.” — “The biggest loser” – September 25th, 2005.

That particular diet did not last very long (on and off for 3 weeks I believe). My attitude and reasons for doing the diet were all wrong, and I think it is one of the major reasons I did not succeed. I would say things like “I only lost roughly 2 pounds this week.”. Which would definitely effect my attitude. Little did I know at the time that losing 2 pounds per week was the best possible way to lose weight and keep it off.

My reasons for starting my second diet, and the one that worked, were the following:

• Health
• Age
• Self
• Eliza
• Sports

Although there is no particular order in the above list, I did try to list them by what I felt was most important to me at the time of starting the diet.

My first reason for sure was my health. I was sick of feeling the way I did, and being overweight can definitely have a huge effect on your health. My back hurt, my self esteem was down, etc. etc. – and I really just needed to get out of the funk. Second was age I think. I really did not want to have to diet when I was older, as I know it would get harder and harder to lose the weight the older I got. Even at 25 you can do the things you could when you were 18, and I didn’t want to be saying that when I was 35, 45, or even 55. I figured “Today is the day to start, not tomorrow because tomorrow always turns into the next day“. Third was self, and I say self because I wanted to feel better about myself. Always hating the way clothes fit, the way I feel, the way my stomach would fly out of my shirt when I bent this or that way, or the way I felt I was being perceived was getting really, really old. So to not have this on the list would be lying – I definitely wanted to look better and in turn feel better about myself. Fourth was Eliza’s success on the diet. She had started her diet before I started on mine and she was incredibly successful on it, was looking great, feeling good, and it was a huge motivation for me to do likewise. I owe much of my success to her lead. Lastly, I really wanted to do better in sports. I love basketball and frisbee and the diet has really made my “game” much more enjoyable. No more chest pain! No more chest pain!

So, those are my main five reasons.

What was your biggest failure on the diet, and how did you overcome it?
Hands down: Obstruction of routine. I had a few small set backs during my diet the first being within the first two weeks of the diet. Obstruction of routine can come in many forms. In that first example we went away for the weekend, ended up eating whatever we wanted at a restaurant, going to a few bars, etc.

One of the largest obstructions to my routine was moving. Obviously it was the reason I stopped doing the diet for almost 8 weeks. It completely knocked my eating habits, posting habits, and weigh in process that I had come to rely on.

However, the way I overcome it is to not worry about those times, get back on track and move on. You can see evidence of this between week two, three, and four of my diet. I went from gaining 3 pounds to losing almost 3 and then almost 5 pounds.

Things come up. Things happen. Vacations are fun! Enjoy them. Going away for the weekend may not fit into your diet. Don’t worry about those times. If you gain a few pounds, that doesn’t mean that your diet is failing – it just means that you need to get yourself back on track to reverse those few pounds the following week or over several weeks. For me, I can still look back and say I’ve lost around 40 pounds overall – even though I had a few weeks that I gained. Routine, routine, routine.

Did blogging help or hinder your success?
For me it helped tremendously. I now have my own, personal and private, journal that I keep – which would have helped in a very similar fashion – but would have lacked the “social responsibility” I felt to keep weighing in. Being able to see my progress over time, and having people comment on my successes and failures – has helped me a lot. To give an example (and this ties in with the previous question as well and where I got my inspiration) was James Mathias saying “Continuing forward without dwelling is what makes the difference.” on one of my posts where I didn’t do so well. This really helped me to develop a similar outlook, and to continue.

What things did you do to help ensure your success?
Simple. I do what I find fun and don’t do the stuff I hate. I love playing basketball and as most of you know I played a heck of a lot of basketball during my diet. I ended up developing a love for Ultimate too, and so I also used that. If you hate walking on a treadmill (I do), then don’t do it. Get outside and walk. Walk at a mall and do some shopping. Whatever you do, get off the couch.

As for food, the same philosophy. Eliza and I really enjoy grilled chicken salads. And, they happen to be good for you! So, we’d often make them, along with other things that we enjoy. Tomato sandwiches for example.

Another note about food is to never deprive yourself of stuff you really really like, even if they are not good for you. The only thing you will do is make that longing for that food even harder on yourself and you might end up bingeing. An example of this is, in my case, Cheez-Its. I love cheez-its, and they are not very good for you. However, Eliza and I would buy 100 calorie bags of cheetos, cheez-its, and other little things – and this really helped us to combat the cravings while not going overboard and staying within our daily limits. These little bags were essential for us.

What is one recommendation you’d have for someone on Day 1 of their diet?
I have a few so I won’t be able to limit it to just one.

The first would be; have the right reasons to diet. You might be told that you need to diet, but unless you believe in the reasons for dieting you won’t actually want to do it.

The second would be; set small and large goals. I set incremental goals for myself as well as long term goals. That way I could always aim for the large goals while feeling good about hitting the small ones. And, if you miss a small one, you have time to correct your strategy to make the longer term ones. I liked having a goal of losing about 8 pounds per month, while keeping goals of 220, 215, 210, 200, and so forth, in sight as well.

The third would be; tell everyone you know that you are on a diet. Hiding the fact that you are on a diet only can lead to 1 thing – not being responsible for staying on it. The more people that know the more you’ll be motivated to live up to your word for being on a diet. Also, it will help notify those people of what to feed you, or that you may not want to be seduced by cake and ice cream all the time.

I really hope the above questions and answers can help everyone on their diets. However my perspective is definitely not the only one. I’m calling on Eliza (who has been a huge inspiration for the entire diet), Chris (who has had a ton of experience with dieting both “alone” and “socially”), James (who is the most consistent person I’ve run across and was a huge inspiration for me), and Scott (who has recently begun his journey and is making staggering progress). I hope they all answer this call, so that you might all be filled with their insight into this extremely rewarding struggle.

Update: If anyone else would like to answer these – please do so. Either email me or comment here or trackback this post with your answers – I’d love to read everyone’s perspective on this. I just singled out a few I’d really like to read – but I’d want to see whatever has to say about these five questions.

Update: James answered, Chris answered, Scott answered, and Eliza answered. Thanks everyone! If anyone else wants to answer these questions too, I’d love to read the answers.

[tags]eliza devroe, scott mcnulty, james mathias, chris fehnel, food, diet, the-diet, goals, excercise, sports, basketball, ultimate, frisbee, meme[/tags]

My plan is to get down to 185 pounds, and I’d like those 185 pounds to be as much muscle as possible without looking like I’m addicted to athletics. A few people have asked me why I joined the gym, especially after I had said that I never wanted to do so – well I realize there is a balance here. I never want to attempt to look like Arnold, simply because I think that says something about a person – rather I’m trying to get into better shape for the sports I like.

Basketball and frisbee, my two favorite sports to play at the moment, require a fair amount agility, flexibility, strength, and endurance. I’m hoping that by joining the gym, working out on a regular basis, and decreasing my body fat, I’ll pick up a few of those along the way.

In addition to my diet, I’ll start posting my body fat percentage (I’ll need something from Mike for this) along with the amount of weight I’m working with, my workouts, and my experiences at the gym. I can tell you that thus far, lifting weights is the most boring thing on the face of the planet.

How did you do this week? Post your comments here or in the Flickr group.

[tags]weigh in, diet, the-diet, gym, basketball, frisbee, sports[/tags]

Last week I weighed in at 190.2 pounds, and that was right after going to Olive Garden when Mike showed up. Since then we’ve eaten out a few times, gotten take out, and did some drinking.

We did however maintain some sort of exercise by playing frisbee, arm wrestling, and of course ample amounts of basketball.

After all was said and done I lost 1.8 pounds, putting me at 188.4 pounds. That is a total loss of 37.2 pounds! Perhaps next week I’ll hit the big four-oh.

I’m anxious to see how everyone else did on their diets.

[tags]diet, the diet, weigh in, frisbee, basketball, arm wrestling, olive garden, mike stickel[/tags]

Tuesday of last week, weigh in day, Eliza and I drove to New Jersey to visit with some family. We at mall food-court food, and Friendly’s Ice Cream. Then on the way back from New Jersey, out of sheer desperation, we ate McDonald’s. This was the night I became ill from eating fast food for the first time in many weeks.

Wednesday rolled around, and we decided to drive to Allentown to visit her Mother who is doing training down there. We at at a Perkins, and I got a huge breakfast and a cookie! Also, remember that I usually play basketball on Wednesdays – so I missed that and ate instead.

Thursday was semi-normal, but still no basketball. By the way, some of these days Eliza and I did go walking/jogging – training for my goal of running a mile. But I don’t burn near as many calories doing that as I do playing basketball.

Friday I did get to shoot some hoops, then we came home and played Pictionary.

Saturday we ate breakfast at a diner, then I ended up running my mile with Chris and James. After that, we played some football (1 on 1 with full time QB). Then, we went to a fair and ate fair food. We had a bloomin’ onion (oh my god I love these things), a sausage and pepper hoagie, ice cream, and some funnel cake.

Sunday was our seventh wedding anniversary. Naturally Eliza and I wanted to have a nice dinner out somewhere, and we chose to eat Japanese at a Hibachi. We ate and drank until we thought we couldn’t anymore, then went and had dessert at Krispy Kreme Donuts! Hey, when the sign says “fresh hot donuts right now”, we go.

So now you are getting the picture why I am not upset, at all, that I managed to maintain my weight this week. This week was definitely not our normal, everyday, routine that we’ve been successful with. However, now we’re back on track, our lives are slowing down a little, and we’re ready to start our routines again.

Next week, I’ll hit my original goal.

[tags]diet, the-diet, weigh in, pictionary, basketball, running, walking, jogging, exercise, fair, food, anniversary, new jersey, allentown, football[/tags]

However, food can be delicious and fun and add a lot to an experience. And a day’s worth of overeating can be easily averaged out during a week of low calories. — Brian (bovious)

An excellent point. Food is meant to be enjoyable. Yet I still believe in moderation, and I think you can still enjoy food without simply eating too much of it.

So, how did I do this week? Last week my weigh in was 206.6 pounds. This week – 202.0 pounds. As I said last week, I did increase my calories slightly, but I also played a fair amount of basketball and ultimate frisbee so I’m pretty sure my results are coming from the exercise.

The recent heat wave probably helps too. Last night we played basketball in a 102-degree gym. My sweat soaked through my shirt to the point where I looked like I had jumped in a pool with my clothes on. You know your making progress when you actually enjoy that type of exercise.

Here’s to hoping that next week my scale reads something below 200 pounds for the first time in many, many years. How did your week go?

[tags]diet, the-diet, weigh in, basketball, ultimate frisbee, weight loss[/tags]

As a brief catch-up; my starting weight was 225.6, my goal is to lose around 3 pounds per week. Since I had a minor set back on the second week, I weighed in at 221.8 pounds last week. This week I am at 219. That is nearly my goal, but what is more is that I feel like I did really well.

On Sunday I played about 3 hours of basketball outside. For someone that is ~220 pounds, this isn’t so easy. Then, last night, I played for ~4 hours as is typical for me on Mondays. Truth is, while I am indeed sore from the exercise, I have more energy and stamina to stick with it until the end. Generally I start getting pretty slow by the end of the night – while last night I remained fairly quick up until it was time to leave. I’d much rather have this type of success than just a number on a scale.

My goal for the week four weigh in is 216 or less. I hope everyone had as good of a week as I did. Remember to write your entries based on “the rules“, for your entry to be eligible for our contest this week. Also, I will have an update to our dieters list coming today, so keep an eye out for new dieters joining us.

If you are reading this for the first time, and are interested in joining the nearly 100 people that are participating in the global effort to get fit, check out the-diet, which is sponsored by The Diet Channel.

[tags]diet, the-diet, weigh-in, basketball[/tags]