Like Brandice recently wrote, everyone seems to know better, but you should never allow that to detract from your goals. Sure, if you’re doing well on your diet people are going to compare your old-self to your new-self and that will probably be a fairly dramatic difference. I recently dropped 20 pounds in 35 days. People instantly think I’m “skinny” but in reality I’m simply “thinner than I was a month ago”, especially in the face which is where I seem to lose it first.

Stick to your goals and take the commentary as compliments on your progress so far.

A few steps backward, a few steps forward. The last two weeks have been pretty much a wash – but I’m glad that I’m back on track and headed in the right direction – down.

This week I weighed in, again, at 200lbs. The same as I did on January 18th. So I’ve lost the 2 pounds that I had gained. However, this week is Super Bowl week (and my favorite team the Pittsburgh Steelers are in it). So while my expectations for weight loss this week are low my motivation is high to have a good week (besides Sunday). I’m also traveling to Florida for MagicRuby but I’m a veteran of traveling while on a diet and should do just fine.

Oh, and just for posterity I’m not doing very well on the exercise front at all. I have all of these aspirations to be doing more in that area and I’m simply not. I have a few excuses like time and weather but really, when it comes down to it, I just need to find the motivation to start – as that is the hardest part.

What really matters is the long term goal. Having a week setback can really mess with people’s heads. I’ve seen it tons of times. Someone gains weight during their diets, even only a few pounds, and they panic. There is no need to panic. You will have a bad week here and there during what should be a long process of losing weight and maintaining your goal weight. The way to dig out of it is to focus on the long term goal and on your successes. Here’s how.

I gained 2lbs. this week and so now I weigh 202lbs. However, I’m down a total of 18 pounds since I started (6 of those pounds were lost in January alone). I’m feeling great. And I’m back on track to be down 3 pounds this week and could weigh under 200 pounds for the first time since May 2009 next Tuesday. I’m really excited about that.

See, focus on the long term goal and the successes you’ve had. Then, when things are in perspective, you can truly evaluate your progress. Overall I’m doing really, really well and this 2 pound weight gain for the week is almost meaningless in the scheme of things.

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.

However, that is no excuse for not working out. So, with me being a little more lax on the number of calories I took in, drinking a few beers, and burning a lot less calories – I ended up only losing 1 pound this week. I now weigh in at 204lbs.

I’m not completely upset. A loss is a loss. But I really didn’t want to have “a bad week” on this round of the diet but here it is. I hope this is my worst week as I want to make up for this past week during this next one. My goal remains 3lbs. per week and, on average, I’m still above that at just above 4+lbs. per week so far. But that could quickly fade away.

So, no more resting. I’m planning to have my best week of exercise yet and plan on being down 3lbs. next week. Maybe I’ll even get to 200? We’ll see.

Don’t forget to check in with everyone else on The Diet!

My exercise routine was very thin this week. I need to make it a goal to do something active for at least 30 minutes every single day. I can’t always count on the weather cooperating, especially in the winter, with me wanting to get outside. The only exercise I got this week was 1 session of basketball and 1 session of P90X. My goal for this week is to fill in the gaps of my week with a little something active each day.

I’ve lost 2lbs. this week which means I now weigh 208lbs. I’m happy with this number. I’m not happy I missed my goal but last week I said I wanted to be 207 and I’m 208 – no reason to cry over a pound or to get discouraged. Instead, I’ll make a plan of attack for this week to reach my goal of losing 3.3lbs per week.

You see, each pound I lose represents about 3,500 calories burned or simply not consumed during the course of the week. That is, if my metabolism is working correctly. Right now my body is reacting to the fact that I’m eating less and on a schedule. When my weight began to drop my body through up an alarm tell it to store some fat because obviously food isn’t coming by as easily as it had before. So, my metabolism is slower this week than it was last week (in theory I’m no doctor).

So what is my plan? Besides the 30 minutes (at least) per day of something active I need to jump start my metabolism again. For the first few weeks on this diet I’ve been eating at a regular schedule – 8am, 12pm, and 5pm. This week I’m going to double the amount of times I eat (but eat only small amounts). This will make my body think that I have a ready supply of food and that there is no need to store fat. I hope.

A few other tactics that I’m going to try is to increase my water intake. By drinking the right amount of water every day you actually burn more calories. I think it has something to do with your cells being able to take in energy and getting rid of energy easier if they have the right amount of water. Also, getting enough sleep can help you to lose weight. My sleep schedule this week wasn’t great. I’m going to see if I can get 8hrs. a night this week.

With all of these small adjustments combined: eat more often but the same number of calories, do something active for at least 30 minutes per day, drink the right amount of water, and get a good night’s rest – I know I’ll meet or beat my goal for next week. That is, to be at 205lbs.

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?

Lets get this out of the way; I’m currently 220 pounds. The last time I did The Diet in 2006 I was able to get to my goal weight in 16 weeks. After going through my weigh-ins I realized that I didn’t lose any weight a few of those weeks due to bad behavior. So my goal for this time around is to get to my goal weight in less than 16 weeks. My actual goal is 12 weeks but we’ll see how it goes. With that goal in mind it means I’d need to lose 3.3 pounds per week. That means burning or simply not taking in about 10,000 calories per week. Not impossible but not that easy with a desk job either. I’ll need to be super good.

So my goal for next week is to be at 216.something pounds.

I think it is interesting to look back at my mental state in 2006 and compare it to my mental state right now. An example of this would be my anxiety about running. In 2006 it took me three months, or 12 weeks into The Diet, before I could run 1 mile. This time around I can run a mile without even thinking about it. In fact, I’m going to begin my running routine at 3 and 6 mile runs a few times a week. In 2006 it was all my mental state holding me back. I had been fat for about 6 years at that point and didn’t think I could run. Now I know that even if you are a little bit overweight running isn’t all that hard to do. In fact, it is easy.

So I’m looking forward to this round on The Diet for many reasons and one of them is that I’m in a much better mental state to take this challenge on and chances are I’ll be able to meet or beat my goals with ease. And that will be very motivating.

As always with The Diet I’m inviting others to join me. So if you want to participate simply weigh in every Tuesday in some way – Twitter, Facebook, your blog. You don’t have to tell the world your actual weight if you’re sensitive about that (though I recommend it) but it would be nice to share how much you’ve lost or gained to keep yourself accountable to the group.

Ben Davis got inspired to lose weight. So he pretty much owned running for a year and dropped 120 pounds. Reminds me of my better days of owning running and dieting.

Kudos Ben. I see you’re getting some attention from all of this. And you should. Hard work pays off. Enjoy it.

This is what I said were my goals for the week were last week.

“My goals for this week, besides being under 203 pounds, are that I eat much better, drink only 1 night, jog at least 10 miles total for the week, and doing one other active thing this week.”

How did I do? I’m a little under the weather today so I won’t be weighing in today (illness notoriously forces your body to hold water, weighing in may not be accurate). So I’ll find out next week how I really did, but my guess is that I made my goal for this week’s weigh in. I ate a lot better (more often, less calories). I drank two nights instead of one but that is better than four. I jogged just over 9 miles for the week so I was one shy of my goal, however I said I wanted to do “one other active thing this week” but I managed to do four (two P90X routines, basketball, furniture moving).

Overall a fantastic week regardless of how much I actually weigh. Weight isn’t everything.

So, goals for next week: 201 pounds (though I’d love to be under 200), jog 12 miles (an extra 5K), two P90X routines, drink only 1 beer total, less sweets (as I eat a brownie), and basketball.

I did well with beginning my exercise routine again though. I ran on Tuesday, Friday, and played football on Sunday. I ran two 5Ks, or 6.2 miles, and had “ok” times for both runs. I have no idea how much exercise I got playing football but I’d be willing to guess it was a much better workout than simply jogging. It was a lot more fun too.

My current weight is, as my goal was, 205 pounds for a loss of two pounds this week. Next week I’d like to be 203 or below. My goal, per week, will continue to be 2 pounds or more (but not much more).

My goals for this week, besides being under 203 pounds, are that I eat much better, drink only 1 night, jog at least 10 miles total for the week, and doing one other active thing this week.

Today I weight exactly the same amount as I did last week; 207lbs. Next week, I won’t.

The Diet has been a huge success for me personally and not just on the scale. I don’t know what my general health would be like today if it wasn’t for the support I received. I know more about dieting than I ever have. I have seen many people lose weight and get healthy. And I’ve been able to share a lot of what I’ve learned with others both through this site and in conversation.

But it has also been an immense challenge for me and I have been unable to keep the weight off for more than a few weeks or a month at a time. I’ve never been as heavy as I was at the first weigh in but I have fluctuated between being about the weight I’d like to be and being a lot heavier than I’d like to be.

Over the weekend I did something that I had always wanted to do but I never took the time to do it. I entered all of my weigh in data into a spreadsheet so that I could track my weight over time. This enabled me to create a chart of all 50+ weigh ins that I’ve done on this site. Here is what it looks like.

Here are some of the things I’ve learned by really drilling down into the data found in this chart.

I lose weight pretty consistently when I want to. If you look at the beginning 25% of that chart (from left to right) you will see that I lost a consistent amount of weight over a fairly long period of time. I did it again towards the middle of the chart and then again nearer to the end. So, I’m able to focus on losing weight for a period but I somehow lose focus and gain some back.

Another thing I’ve learned is that I only lose weight when I’m writing about it each and every week. Weighing in, for me, is obviously paramount to my losing weight on a consistent basis. Any big jumps in weight over the last three years has been due to the fact that I didn’t take the time to weigh in each week. The three biggest spikes in the chart are the result of a lapse of time between public updates on my weight. In late fall 2006 I began to let my weigh ins slide. One or two a month rather than 4 or 5 a month. Then, in mid-Winter 2007 I attacked my weight again bringing it down to reasonable levels before Spring hit. I managed to keep it at a reasonable level through all of Summer 2007 and then BAM!, in Winter 2008 I completely forgot what I was doing and only weighed in once!

I made a huge mistake in 2008 by only weighing in a twice.

Earlier this year I got back up on the horse and began to focus on running rather than only weight. I lost twenty pounds in less than three months. And, for much of the Spring and Summer months, I kept that weight because I was running so much. Then I forgot how much I was enjoying running.

Now it is Fall. And I’m very disappointed to report that I’m back to where I was so many times before. I’m 207 pounds again. I was 207 pounds in March 2009, June 2008, and in July 2006. Each time I’ve been at this weight it has taken me about three months to get near where I want to be. So, today marks day one of that three month period. My goal, as of now, is to get to 180 pounds. This means I want to lose 27 pounds in three months.

My next goal will be to somehow figure out the ultimate solution to keeping the weight off forever. FOREVER. And if that means weighing in each week here on my blog, so be it.

So, as I have said so many times before, see you next week when I’ll be 205 pounds or less. I hope.

Made Fit TV‘s Jennifer DiDonato is an expert in the field of fitness. She recently a no-brainer video and blog post about losing a single pound in a week, rather than promising to lose 10 pounds or something ridiculous. I love seeing level-headed people that are willing to give out some of the best advice you will ever see, for free.

“Last night Chris and I went for a run, and while he had no trouble with the effort at all, I had absolutely no desire to run the entire mile. My lungs didn’t burn, my legs didn’t give out, nor did my heart ache – rather I simply gave up. Call it a lack of motivation.

…

So I’ve decided to set the goal of being able to run (read: jog) an entire mile without letup before my 7th wedding anniversary (August 27th). Where I’ll go from there, who knows.”

A very important lesson lies within this post. The act of giving up due to lack of motivation is probably the main culprit to my challenge with weight and stamina. Keeping yourself motivated and constantly thinking “yes I can” instead of “no I can’t” will eventually allow you to achieve any goal. I believe that as much as I believe anything, especially now.

Well, my anniversary came that year and guess what? I did it. I ran an entire mile nonstop for the first time in my life (outside of High School) on August 27th 2006.

Since then I haven’t really tried to improve my running until this year. I ran now and then both outside and at the gym. I would always run about a mile or just a bit further. I remember running at the gym for a mile (12 laps on the indoor track) and I felt like there was nothing worse than that run. I play enough basketball to keep my cardio-abilities in fair shape. This year, however, I really wanted to start getting better at running longer distances.

Running an entire mile almost three years ago was a great goal. But I’ve come a long way since then and I needed new goals. My first goal was to get back into jogging at least a few miles. There is a trail near our apartment that runs about 1.5 miles. I did that a few times a week to get myself comfortable. But, I was getting into a rut. The run was a little too easy and deep down I knew it wasn’t challenging me anymore after a few weeks. So, one morning I woke up and decided to attempt a 5K (which is 3.1 miles). I didn’t do so great but I tried really hard. I had the exact same problem I did back in 2006. About 2.5 miles into the run I’d simply give up and start walking. My legs would feel okay, my lungs okay, but I just decided I didn’t want to run anymore. I have no idea why I’d stop.

This went on for a few more runs. Finally I decided to ask my friend Sam to run with me. Sam is a machine. I have no idea where his motivation comes from but it is a much deeper place than my motivation does. Time and time again he has surprised me with his stamina. He’s also doing great on the diet. Anyway – that 5K was the best 5K ever. Since then I’ve been able to run 5K without even thinking about stopping. I even find them satisfying to run. In my mind the 5K distance is the runners stroll. Some people walk next to a lake or river to calm down. Runners take an easy jog for 5K next to a lake or river to calm down. Perhaps my perception will change, but that is how I feel now.

My 5K time wasn’t so hot when I compared it to the abilities of others (something I know I shouldn’t do but I can’t help it). I asked Jeff, someone who has ran the New York Marathon, what I should do to help improve my time. He suggested running a bit further will help shorter run results. The next day, Sam and I ran 6 miles, double that of my previous distance record. We both felt incredible (our feet didn’t though). I couldn’t believe that I had jogged 6 miles without stopping. Looking back at the challenge it was to push my body to 1 mile made me think of how many other people go through the same breakthroughs. The same challenges. The same mental fights. If you’re one of those people – stick with it and know that time and effort are needed to break down those mental barriers. There is no silver bullet solution. Just wake up every-other morning and jog as far as you can – oh, and bring a friend because it helps a lot.

This morning we pushed a little harder. Sam knew of a nice spot to run on a trail in our area that wouldn’t hurt our feet as much as the asphalt did. Chris decided he’d join us. Turns out the distance for that run this morning was 9 miles! Tacking on another 3 miles onto my furthest distance ever run without stopping. Running for nine miles was both mentally and physically challenging for me. By the end I didn’t want to give up in my head, but my body didn’t want to run anymore. So I think my limit for the time being is running 9 miles. I think I’m going to bring my distance down to something manageable (like 5 miles) and just stay consistent until I feel I’m able to push the distance again. By year’s end I’d like to run a half marathon (or 13+ miles). Where I’ll go from there, who knows.

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?

Random 60: Watch those calories! | Favorite on Viddler.

Whether you are dieting or not it is always good practice to make sure you watch what you’re taking in. Calories can creep up on you. There are more calories in everyday food than most people would guess. In today’s Random 60 I use the extreme example of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to make a point – that there is a crap load of calories in most food you’d pick up off of the shelf and whoof down before even looking at the nutrition information.

Here are some sites that will either help you track what you’re eating, or generally enlighten you as to how many calories are in some everyday foods.

• If you have an iPhone, try Lose It. It is an application that can help you track your food intake day-to-day.
• If you’re hungry, do not click this link. This Is Why You’re Fat is a Web site that shows you delicious food (read: not food that is generally a good idea to look at if you’re trying to lose weight).
• SugarStacks is a Web site that shows you the number of sugar cubes found in every day foods. Neat idea.

Have you ever been surprised by the number of calories in food compared to the number of calories you thought was in that food? And, do you know any good resources to add to this list?

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!

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.

The interview is very laid back and provides some enlightening information about the show, what happens after the show is over, and some really great information about keeping yourself motivated to keep your weight and health maintained even after you’ve lost the weight.

Excellent job Jennifer & Co.

I hope he took it.

This week I’m going to try very hard to make the entire week one of a balanced diet. It seems that each week I’ve either done well at the beginning of the week and struggled toward the end, or vice-versa. I’m hoping to buck that trend this week.

Just to be clear, I’m still 196 pounds for a loss and gain of 0 pounds. I fully attribute this to eating too much. I didn’t eat anything I’d be ashamed to admit. I didn’t drink much of any alcohol (a glass or two of wine for the entire week). I didn’t snack. I didn’t eat very late. So I just ate too much and maintained my weight. Not the worst thing in the world.

Looking forward to owning it this week though. My goal is to lose three pounds.

This adversely affected my weigh in. The good news is that I had a really great week and so did many people on The Diet this week. I played basketball once, ran three times (all very good runs) and generally ate very well and stayed away from junk food of any sort.

Since I had to head to Viddler HQ yesterday I forgot to weigh in. Today I weighed in at 196 lbs. for a loss of three pounds this week. I’m very satisfied with this number although I know it could have been a little better if I didn’t overeat two meals on the weekend. This brings me to 11 pounds lost in three weeks. A great accomplishment to be sure.

My goals for this week, which I wrote about last week, were to watch my carbs more. I didn’t do this again. Maybe I just don’t have it in me to really watch the specifics of what I eat. This week my goal remains simple: lose two more pounds. I’m also going to do a little more to build some muscle this week instead of just running. Lets see how it all pans out.

Congratulations to everyone that lost weight this week. Lets keep it going!

• Installing a new habit and breaking an old one – an essay by Dr. Stephanie A. Burns
• 18 tricks to make new habits stick – A simple list of good reminders

For my diet I am hoping to rid myself of several eating habits: eating late, over-eating at any meal, not eating breakfast, and forgetting to drink enough water. I’d like to create new habits of: jogging regularly, drinking more water, adding a few exercises to my daily routine (like push-ups, core workouts, sit-ups, etc.), and keeping track of things like carbs, proteins, and fats.

These won’t all come at once. I’m hoping to tackle one at a time during the course of this diet sprint until I get them all. This week, as I said, is mainly diet and carb counting.

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.

But that isn’t the case with everyone. Some people thrive on competition, being told that they can’t do it, being challenged by their peers. Some don’t. Personally, I thrive on the energy created around a competition. The desire to win isn’t what motivates me, its the desire to participate in a competition with others. Again, this probably isn’t the case with everyone.

This week Pat Dryburgh, the guy I’m in direct competition with on this round of The Diet, posted that he gained one pound. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal to me and I’d just keep moving forward with my diet, try to give Pat some tips via IM or something, and see how he progresses next week. But it was the language that Pat used in his weigh-in that really struck me and has made me think that we need to make a change in how we’re approaching The Diet this time.

“I don’t have to tell you that this is disappointing. I really thought I had been doing well. I know I shouldn’t be giving up, but it this has been a long, hard struggle over the last year, and I really just want it to be over with. I’m tired of it all.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve felt this way. And, since I do a relatively good job of keeping tabs on everyone else that has done The Diet over the years, almost everyone experiences these feelings at one time or another.

If Pat wanted to give up because of a one pound weight gain, normally I’d just give him a punch on the shoulder, telling him that his expectations are set far too high and that sometimes your body simply doesn’t react as well as you’d like it to. But this isn’t about one pound for Pat. This is about the entire process. About finishing what he started. About winning the battle, not with me but, with his weight.

Then he said this.

“So, not only have I gained a pound, but Colin has now lost 4 pounds. I feel more discouraged than ever. He has 16 pounds to go, and I now have 21.”

“I feel more discouraged than ever.” This is the direct opposite effect that The Diet has set out to create. If he had said “Now I’m more motivated than ever to get to the gym, do some running, and stay strict on my diet.” that’d have made me smile. But discouragement is not what anyone on the diet, including me, wants to see anyone go through.

So as of today the challenge between Pat and I is off. I forfeit. I will gladly find something under 20 dollars and send it to you Pat. Your encouragement, motivation, and health are worth far more to me and to you than 20 dollars.

So what is the new challenge? Of course we’re all still going to do The Diet in hopes of losing as much weight as we all set out to lose from the beginning. I think the new goal should now be to help motivate those who need it the most. If you are on The Diet your goals should be to help find more people to join us, to motivate those who have bad weeks, and to use the group as your primary means to stay motivated to accomplish your goals. The Diet is no longer a weight loss competition, it is a challenge to all that are on it to get healthy and help as many people as you can along the way.

How to turn weight gain into weight loss

I’m not a trainer, dietitian, or any other type of health expert so I can only go on my own experiences over the years with losing weight and trying to stay motivated. In week two of the first round of The Diet I gained 3 pounds.

I said “This week, I’m unhappy to report that I gained three pounds. I am now back up to 221.8lbs. However, this makes me more determined to stay on my diet, and get more exercise to make up for the set back.”

The weight gain motivated me to hop right back on and try to lose weight the next week. Why? Why did I get motivated and Pat got discouraged? It is all about identifying what went wrong the week before and not blaming yourself.

I have never gone to the gym with Pat so I have no idea about the intensity or process of Pat’s workout but to me going to the gym 4 times in a week is a great, great accomplishment. So what did Pat do wrong this week? Pat mentioned that he went over his calories by 1,000 calories on one of the days. He also weighed in while he was at the gym in the evening while his initial weigh in was earlier in the day. I believe these are factors in Pat’s weight gain this week and not Pat himself.

Our weight fluctuates during the day. A lot. If I weigh in when I wake up at 7:00am I will be at least 3-5lbs. lighter than when I went to sleep. If Pat weighs 5 pounds more at night than he does in the morning, he would have weighed in with a 4 pound weight loss instead of a 1 pound weight gain! It is that simple.

Eating properly should be the number one goal when someone is trying to lose the last few pounds (or even 20 or 30) on a diet. I believe the saying goes; abs aren’t made in the gym, abs are made in the kitchen. Something like that. Chris Fehnel and Mike Stickel do a workout called P90X. It is a rigorous daily workout that lasts a little over an hour a day for 90 days. That is a lot more than I work out. Still, they’d both agree that they key to making P90X work is to stay on the diet plan that they give you. A certain number of proteins, carbs, etc. are scheduled out per day. If you don’t follow the diet plan you will, no doubt, lose weight. But you will not see the results you would have otherwise.

Pat, you need to get your eating in check. Eat more often and hit your daily allotted calories before 7pm at night. Turn your body into a calorie burning machine by feeding it regularly. Weigh yourself at the exact same time of day each week, instead of at different times. If you are going to go over your calories for the day try to work in a short run to keep your body burning fat. Do not give up. Ever. This battle is far to worth the win to give up because of one pound. Especially when there are clear reasons why you weighed in one pound heavier. We’re all with you and we’re all here to help. I bet you will lose weight this week.

I hope everyone on The Diet stays motivated, keeps tabs on the others that are dieting and motivates them when they need it, and even tells new people that could really use the encouragement to get on The Diet and get healthy. We’re in this together and we’re all going to accomplish our goals if we help each other.

Last week I weighed in at 207 pounds. I was able to play basketball twice, do some light jogging once, walking twice, and a little “yard work” once. As far as eating is concerned I did good with temporary lapses in judgement on Saturday and Sunday night (I had beer). But overall I think I did great this week.

As of this morning I weigh 203 pounds for a loss of four pounds this week. Since my goal is an average of two pounds per week this is obviously better than expected.

My goals for this week are 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.

How did you do? And what are your goals for this week?

This approach, it would seem, usually escapes new dieters (which Pat is not). Many people approach a diet by “not eating”. This is horrible. Pat’s approach to only eliminate the amount of calories per day that help him to reach his goal in a healthy way – is the perfect approach to dieting.

Guess who’s back? Back again! The Diet is back, tell some friends!

You read that right. The Diet is back. And, like a Phoenix, it is back in a whole new way once again. Sort of like last time, what started out as a friendly challenge between a few ended up becoming something much larger, so too has The Diet this time. Last week I got an email from a guy name Pat Dryburgh who wanted to get on The Diet. We setup a challenge to see who could lose 20 pounds in the shortest amount of time. I asked him to write a little something for us here on the blog.

“There’s this guy who hangs around these parts that goes by the name of “Colin.” “Colin” invited me to check out his blog after seeing how über awesome I am over on my own blog. As I was poking around, I came across a cobweb-infested page simply titled “The Diet.” It was refreshing to see someone who spends their life behind a computer screen who had taken an interest in getting active. A year or so ago, I weighed about 270 lb., and today weigh in around 225 lb. However, I’ve been at this weight for the past few months. I was looking for encouragement, for direction, for guidance. With excitement filling my heart I scrolled down to see Colin’s most recent weigh-in…

June. 2008. 207 lb.

I realized then and there that something needed to be done. Colin has clearly neglected the Pudge 2.0 that’s formed between himself and his Mac for too long, and it was time to take action. So I wrote to Colin “hey, Colin. I know we don’t really know each other. In fact, we’ve barely made it through two emails back and forth. But seriously, we have a problem. You and me, we’ve got belly’s. And they ain’t pretty.

This is an intervention.

Think of your wife.

Think of your children.

We need to do this now.”

And so, with that the challenge was made. First one to lose 20 pounds wins. Loser buys the winner an online gift worth $21 USD (which is about $70 Canadian dollars).

Colin’s an American. He basically gets McDonalds delivered to his door every morning. Starbucks is part of his daily medication. I, on the other hand, was born with a hockey stick in my hands.

This will be a cake walk.

(Especially if I can convince Colin cake is part of a balanced breakfast).

Colin, it’s on like donkey kong.”

It is definitely on!  However, since we exchanged emails others had expressed interest in doing some dieting as well. Since most of them are my friends here in the local area – you can say I have my own support group – and I’m looking forward to following their journeys of weight loss.  I’ll let them tell their story in the comments.

My weigh-in for today, March 23, 2009: So we’re going to weigh-in every Monday. If you want to make your weight public, that’s cool, if you don’t that is fine too. My current weight is 207lbs.

Want to join us?

Like last time, this is an open invitation for anyone that would like to lose weight, get healthy, and have some support doing it. It can be hard to lose weight on your own. Hard to get motivated. Hard to stay on track. This is why we do this diet. We’re here to help each other.

So, whether you have 1 pound or 100 pounds to lose – please leave a comment below and let us know you’re in this for the long hall. Pat and I are going to race to 20, but then we’re going to be sticking around to keep each other and everyone else motivated to lose the weight and keep it off.  Third time’s a charm?

Reminder note: All photos, blog posts, AND Twitter messages should be tagged with ‘the-diet’ so that we can keep track of this thing. (For Twitter/Facebook, you can write #the-diet in your post.)

Here are a few videos that I have seen on Viddler recently to help those of us that work at an office, or at least at our desks, and would like to do something to help ourselves during the day.

The office workout

Jennifer DiDonato, whom I interviewed on the Viddler blog several months ago about her Brides Made Fit show, has an excellent episode of Made Fit TV that relates to this very problem. The office workout, as she calls it, involves a few exercises that you can do without leaving your desk and – even better – without the need of special equipment.

Fat loss tips with Marc Lebert

Even though Viddler Adam Toohey calls this a Fat Loss Tips video I think these are more just great exercises you can do with or without The Equalizer. I use chairs to do these exercises (until I can afford an Equalizer because I think it looks like a really simple and great piece of workout equipment).

However, Marc makes a great point in the video that I think many people are really, really confused about that try to lose weight. Eating. Your metabolism is the #1 weapon against weight gain and your #1 solution for losing weight. It is, in a sense, the silver bullet for dieters. Anything you can do to restore your metabolism and to keep your metabolism working at a high rate will both help you lose weight and help you keep it off. (More on this in a future post.)

So there are two quick videos that I think will help all of you office workers. Like me.

Source: This is why you’re fat.
Via: Justin Blanton.

Oh, and I’m back on the diet. I’ll be posting screenshots of my own progress once I get at least 14 days worth of data recorded into Weightbot. At which time I’ll be sharing my method for weight-loss this time around as well.

If you have an iPhone and want to track your weight; get Weightbot.

Source: Weightbot by Tapbots.
Additional resources: How to calculate your own BMI.

Jesse, a copyrighter from Chicago, has been doing really great on his diet for over a year and a half. For those wondering he’s doing Weight Watchers Online while I tend to do my own thing.  But as we’ve all said before on the diet, it doesn’t matter what diet you choose just that you start doing one.

Jesse’s statistics from the last 18-months have been very impressive.  He mentions in his blog post that he lost “1 Colin Devroe” because he lost 197.2lbs in those 18-months.  This just so happened to be the amount I weighed on Week Ten of my diet ((Which was 2 years ago.)).

Congratulations Jesse. Thanks for the inspiration to stick with it!

Source: What I’ve Lost: 18 Months On Weight Watchers.

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?

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?

There are a ton of people joining the fat blogging movement, even Kevin Smith (who started his diet thing just before Jason did).

So I thought to myself, why not. Why not join Jason, or just as well have him join all of us, in the diet or fat blogging. The more the merrier I say.

So here we are Jason. Here to help encourage you, and other “fat bloggers”, to help you all achieve your goals as we have done for each other over the last thirty eight weeks. I bring with me nearly 50 others. Hopefully some of the stories we’ve already written will help to inspire those that are just starting out – and the recent new comer’s spirit will help to reinvigorate the rest of us that started so long ago.

We’ve got a page dedicated to our diet and a flickr group (for photos and those who do not have a blog). You’re more than welcome to join either of those if you’d like.

A note to all dieters: Check out Jason’s blog and those of whom are joining his fat blogging movement. Lets see if we can help to encourage those that are putting forth the effort as we did when we were first starting out.

[tags]fat blogging, the-diet, jason calacanis, dieting, kevin smith[/tags]
[slug]fat-blogging-diet[/slug]

It took me about 20 weeks to get close to my goal. I never actually reached the numerical goal I had set (180 pounds), but I was happy to have gotten where I did (185 pounds). Then we moved which made my dieting posts screech to a halt.

Since then I have gotten settled into our new home and dealing with everything that brings. On November 1st I joined the gym for the first time in my life. Eliza and I got 1-year memberships and since then we have been getting to the gym on a regular basis (except this week since I’ve been sick).

I suppose the gym, and those that joined with us, have been my support system rather than the Web, and so I was not keeping up with updates. However I feel as though I might have been leaving all of you in the dark when you were just getting started on your journey, and so I’m sorry about that.

When we started the diet, it was all of you that really helped me to be successful. My wife and my friends played large roles in my losing weight, but those of you that joined the diet had a profound effect on me. A sense of not being alone in my plight nor my delight of incremental loses. Every-time I had a failure on my diet I was picked up by nice comments about how all of you have had similar hardships. Or, when I did really well I was congratulated. This was vital to my success.

So, to pick up the ball once again, I’ve decided to start cataloging the process that happens after you “reach” your goal. The process of maintenance and making sure that the same thing that happened before (to get me as fat as I was) does not happen again. And since I’ve joined the gym, I’ll throw in an update on that front too. I will start keeping a catalog of my progress of cardio, lifting weights, and general activity through the winter months.

To help keep this thing growing a little I will try to keep up my evangelical work on how the diet has succeeded for me – but for those of you still trying to lose weight I asked that you also keep everyone else involved in your progress. This ship has far more than one captain. Every single one of us has made a decision to be on the diet and as such we should all try our best to keep each other on point with that decision.

I sincerely appreciate all of you that have “called me out” on not keeping up-to-date with this. Hopefully I can do a much better job in the near, and distant future. I’ll start by updating the diet pages over the weekend with the latest information. If you have changed your URL, gotten a Flickr account, or anything else – send me an email and I’ll get it updated for you.

I really need all of you who have participated on the diet to help me out. Help me to get this thing going again and really to keep it going. If I miss a week or two (or if any of us do) let us all try to pick up the slack where we can. This diet is not something that stops just because the scale reads a certain number, this will continue for our entire lives. Thanks in advance for anything you can do.

A note about prizes since I was asked where all the prizes are. The diet pages, as I said before, are grossly out-of-date. The Diet Channel has decided to give anyone that wants a diet a diet if they will take their posts and put them on their site. So, no contest really – but they would like you to tell you story on their site. If you want more information on this let me know and I will provide it as best as I can. They also made the diet a success and we don’t want to forget about them.

Oh! Don’t forget to join the Flickr group, if you have not already. It is free, and if you don’t have a blog it is a quick way to post your progress. If you are reading about the diet for the first time, and want to join, send me an email and I will put you on the list of dieters.

[tags]the-diet, diet, gym, flickr, dieting, the diet channel[/tags]
[slug]dec06-diet-update[/slug]

Since it is very hard to compete for pounds, or percentage of body fat, etc – we’ve decided that we’re just going to try to help each other lose weight until we reach our goal weight.

Tomorrow marks day one of this venture, and I will be releasing what my current weight and goal weight are. So stay tuned to our three sites for updates.

If you’d like to join us, send me an email or comment, and we’ll add you to the list. I setup a quick page to keep track of all those that are going to join us. Tell your friends and family members, and join in.

Update – I created a page to keep track of dieters.

Also, remember that tomorrow is weigh in time so post on your respective sites your current weight and your goal weight (if you have a real goal set in mind yet). Photos are welcome (I will be doing one whether you wanna see my naked self or not), but are definitely optional.

Another update – As expected, we’re not alone and people are coming from all over to join up. We really appreciate the help. Even if you don’t join the effort for yourself, join it for us. We need all the support we can get.

If you have a blog, use it to tell your audience to join in before tomorrow. Tell your best friend to do it with you, your sibling, or your parents. For this type of thing to really work, we need to try to let others know that we’re trying – so that they can help out.

Update (wow) – Wow. This type of response is overwhelming. And I wanted to make a few things clear to those that emailed me, etc. You can sign up at any point you don’t need to start today. Also, the word “diet” doesn’t stand for weight-loss. If you need to put on a few pounds, or just generally eat healthier, this effort is for you too. I know a lot of people struggle with being too skinny, or their overall perception of themselves, and you need to know that you are not alone in that. So join up, we’re all here for you.

Oh, and about transplanting my fat to a skinny person? You’d have to pay me for this fat. I’ve worked long and hard for it. Day one weigh in people! Make sure you subscribe to every site on the list of dieters so you can track everyone’s progress, and be motivated to continue.

– If you are going to do photos with your weigh-ins, you may now post them to our very own group on Flickr.

[tags]diet, dieting, mike stickel, chris fehnel[/tags]