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

Over the last few weeks I’ve had hundreds of ideas for how I’d write my one year weigh in. And I think the most important thing for me to do is to say thank you to all of those who’ve helped me over the course of the last year to be as successful as I have been.

Thank you Eliza for being my original inspiration for starting the diet. You’ve helped me on numerous occasions over the last year to stick to my goals. You’ve been amazingly supportive!

Thanks to Chris for pushing me during our workouts. I can always count on you to be my exercise partner which has definitely had an impact on me. Many people are not as privileged as I am to have someone to work out with consistently.

Thanks to James for showing me that this diet isn’t just about losing weight or that it isn’t a temporary action but this is a life-change and one that will last forever. You truly are an inspiration to many. (see James’ latest photo showing off his success on his diet, awesome!)

Thanks to Mike for being supportive as a friend and fellow dieter. Your unceasing schedule of getting to the gym every single morning has been inspiring. Hope you find a place in California to settle into and get that schedule back on track!

Thanks to Scott who has shown me that sometimes we need to do whatever it takes to stay on the diet even if it means doing things that we don’t like (like running or going to the gym).

Thanks to Larry who has, via our conversations, really given me great tips and inspiration for setting goals and sticking to them. I know Larry will be making his personal goals and I know how hard he is trying to do so – which inspires me to try as hard as he does.

And thanks to everyone else on the diet, those that read my weigh in entries, and those that congratulate me on my successes and pick me up when I “fail”, all of you have been a part of this last year and I can’t thank you enough for that.

Oh, I almost forgot – I weighed in at 185 again this morning which is no change from last week. For those that are unaware, I am not longer trying to lose weight but I’m trying very hard to maintain my current weight, gain muscle, and lose fat.

I can has cramp

Last week was the normal exercise and workout activities but near the end of the week Chris and I, via my good friend Larry, discovered HIIT running. The photo on your right is the result of my first HIIT session wherein I got a cramp and Chris nearly showed his lunchables. HIIT running is addictive and a little bit insane. Once you’ve done it and the pain along with the throbbing head veins subside, you crave it. You are constantly thinking about your next session and how you need to add another cycle. Like I said, insane.

This weekend we hit a few wineries, as we tend to love doing so much, and enjoyed a massive amount of great food and wine. Picnics in vineyards people! Naturally I thought I’d overdone it. Come to find out I didn’t gain an ounce over the weekend. So just like last week I’m sittin’ pretty at 185.

Yesterday was our third round of HIIT running. However, since Chris and I are insane (as mentioned before), we decided to go to the gym for biceps, triceps, and forearm workouts before heading out to play basketball for a few more hours. But boy did it feel good (at the time). This morning I’m a little sore and a few of my joints are cursing me – but overall I’m in good shape.

I’m looking forward to making this a great week to end the first of many years on the diet.

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]

Fast forward to the weekend and we went to the Philly meetups and ate and drank foods and drinks that would not be considered diet foods by any stretch of the imagination.

Last week I weighted in at 199.0 and this week I’m 198.0. My goal is two pounds per week and so losing one pound is “ok” considering the week I had. Though tonight will be my return to the gym schedule that I once held along with a new cardio program that I’m starting.

My new goal weight is 180 pounds. The last time I achieved 185 I was not working out at the gym – I was merely doing cardio (in the form of endless amounts of basketball). This time however I’m hoping to build some muscle which should help to bring down the fat percentage a bit. So that is my goal – a wiry, stronger, and healthy 180. Then I will want to attempt to stay there from one Tuesday to the next forever.

At 2 pounds per week that means my goal is to hit 180 by the weigh in on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007. I look forward to trying to beat that goal.

Why not set a goal for yourself, like Daniel Nicolas has, since he has registered for the Carlsbad 5000 and has 5.5 weeks to prepare for it. I find it ironic that the most recent post on his “food blog” is a recipe for Homemade French Fries! I’d love to see or hear more about everyone’s goals. I know Mike is currently at the gym and has been almost every morning since he switched to the Body for Life program, the same one James is using, and it seems to be working for both of them. Mike’s day 30-update showed real signs of progress and I look forward to seeing what his next 30-day update shows.

There is definitely activity. Definite progress being made. Not only am I hoping that over the next few months I’m able to contribute to this again – but I hope that others find the time to do so too.

Side note update: I accidentally sent trackbacks to the above links with the wrong URI, so if you could edit those trackbacks to reflect /diet/ instead of /notes/ that’d be killer.

[tags]weigh-in, diet, the-diet, mike stickel, james mathias, daniel nicolas, carlsbad 5000, goals, gym, cardio, workout, snow, weather, body for life[/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]

You might say: “Some diet this guy is on, he keeps going up and down, up and down!”. For me, that is the sign of a diet and exercise program that is working, not failing. I do not want to lose any more “weight” but rather a little fat. The fact that my weight is fluctuating a pound or two, yet I’m still able to eat just about everything I want, motivates me to continue my exercise program.

I’ve been getting to the gym regularly again since the break, and I’m gaining strength and appreciation for my workout. I’ve been switching up my workout program a little this week, and I’m pretty happy with the results. I switched to a strength training program where you slowly increase the weight you are using through your sets. This makes the final set much more difficult than it had been for me previously – and I think that shows a sign of it being a much better workout of my muscles.

Chris even adjusted the way I was doing a workout of my triceps and it made a huge difference. If I’d been doing that workout from the beginning I think I’d have gained much more ground on my triceps. I’ll have to make sure I keep doing it the way he showed me.

Perhaps it is nearing the time to show some photos again as visual proof of the progress, or maybe even some Viddler hosted video. Who knows.

[tags]workout, gym, exercise, weights, weigh-in, diet, the-diet, viddler, chris fehnel[/tags]

Had some family visiting – which obviously completely knocked me off my diet and exercise routine. I’m really looking forward to getting back into routine, starting today, but I’m not going to weigh in today because I don’t feel it would do too much good.

Only two results would come of weighing in after so long of being off routine. 1) I’m within a pound or so of my last weigh in. 2) I’ve gained a few pounds. Neither would surprise me. But my weigh ins of late are more for the purpose of keeping myself “on track” and not deviate from my goals – I know I deviated and I know I made little or no progress towards my goals. Weigh in = not needed this week.

So, hopefully next week – after getting back onto routine – will show that I leveled out and am back in stride to reach my overall goals on the scale as well as in the weight room and on the court.

2007 huh? Incredible.
[slug]winter06-vacation-over[/slug]
[tags]family, vacation, diet, weigh-in, the-diet, goals, gym, scale, routine[/tags]

When you are invited to a friend’s house for a party, or have one for yourself, and everyone brings “whatever” it seems that the “whatever” ends up being the worst possible stuff your body should ever consume. I think the next time we plan something, it will be a health-food energized event. Vegetable medleys, fruit salads, and water. Some party that will be! But at least I won’t feel as bad as I did on Sunday after having eaten like I did.

All of that being the way it is. The regular gym visits prevail on keeping my weight under control. I weighed in at 189.4 pounds, down 0.6 pounds from last week. These types of things really keeps me happy about joining the gym and motivated to continue to go regularly.

This week, my goal is to have a really great week on the gym front as well as my food in-take. What are your goals this week?

[tags]weigh in, diet, the-diet, gym, food, party, goals[/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]

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]