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This might sound lame but for me it's Twitter. I'm back on Weight Watchers try to drop the 20 pounds I put over the holidays and new year, so I'm tweeting my w

This might sound lame but for me it's Twitter. I'm back on Weight Watchers try to drop the 20 pounds I put over the holidays and new year, so I'm tweeting my weigh ins every Friday. I slipped up a little yesterday; everybody at work brought in their superbowl leftovers. But you can bet that I'm back on today, because I'd really like to have something positive to tweet about Friday, and "the whole world" is watching :-) I'm doing the same thing with one of my side projects (or trying to anyway). I'm tweeting about little updates, every step closer to a closed beta, and I plan on continuing to tweet about the ups and downs as they come. I have enough followers who I greatly respect that I'd feel pretty silly if I didn't follow through.

Tichy 17y ago
Doesn't sound lame at all. I've actually tried Twitter, too. But I have created a separate account to tweet about my progress in programming - what I have learned today, what I am currently working on, stuff like that. Unfortunately I let that slide, too, but I want to take it up again. Of course with the separate account I don't have the social pressure, which might be essential.
Sukotto 17y ago
Yeah... me to (sans the Twitter) Set up joes goals [1] with a positive "I weighed myself today" and a negative "I broke my No S diet [2] today" (can have multiple ticks against that last one). The little chart that joesgoals makes for me is oddly compelling. [1] http://joesgoals.com/ http://joesgoals.com/ [2] http://www.nosdiet.com/ http://www.nosdiet.com/
- PebblesRox 17y ago
  I liked this part: "Is there any scientific evidence that this diet works? Absolutely none. But I'm not aware that I have any competition in this regard. It is more or less how billions of thin people around the world have eaten for millenia, if that counts for anything."
illumin8 17y ago
If you really want to understand why it's difficult to lose weight, and "hack" your body like you hack on computers, I highly recommend a book called Ultrametabolism by Dr. Mark Hyman. In the last 3 months I've lost 20 pounds, just by doing mainly these 3 things: 1. Eat breakfast every day, and make sure it has protein. 2. Eat only whole grains and no refined flour, pasta, and avoid simple carbs. 3. Eat plenty of fats, including nuts, avocadoes, olive oil, and other healthy fats. I've done all of this while eating filling breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along with snacks in between meals and even dessert like chocolate brownies, dark chocolate, etc. Not only have I lost 20 pounds, I can eat this diet for the rest of my life and be completely healthy. This is the diet that humans evolved on, whole grains, fresh vegetables, fruits, and lean meats. The diet is very similar to Mediterranean or Asian diets. Some other benefits, since I switched to this diet, I have more energy, my cholesterol is perfect, and my blood sugar levels don't spike. The entire secret to this diet is that by eating whole grains and avoiding simple carbs, you avoid foods that turn into sugar in the blood and cause your blood sugar to spike. These foods like breads/pastas/etc give you quick energy, but then cause a crash later, causing you to eat even more food. Also, your body can't deal with that much sugar in the blood so it stores it as fat. By eating whole grains, your body takes longer to digest them, releasing blood sugar at a slow, even rate. Thus, you have energy all day and don't crash, or get hungry between meals. edit: I also want to point out that the author of the book has done considerable scientific medical research, and his diet is based on empirical research, not pseudo-science like many diets.
- PStamatiou 17y ago
  I am also trying to lose a few pounds. I started calorie counting stringently over the last weeks. I keep track of everything I eat in excel. I started at 167 and I'm now at 161 3 weeks later (I'm 23 & 5' 9"). I've started taking flaxseed oil, a regular one-a-day vitamin pill and some extra vitamin C and D (1000 IU), acai with antioxidants and some fiber with psyllium husks (helps control hunger at times... expands like 40x its size in your stomach). I have whey protein shakes everyday or every otherday (esp if I'm going to run or the gym). Meals have much less bread and less dairy than I would usually eat. In general I eat less meals more. Like around 300 calories for a small meal. I eat lots of egg beaters (much less calories and fat than real egg - 70 cal/4.5g fat per real egg including yolk), salads with light balsamic vinaigrette (watch out - lots of them are fatty and have lots of calories. I found one with 40 cal/2tablespoon). Other small meals include fresh sliced turkey (25 cal/slice) and a slice of bread. I've replaced everything I might drink - like milk, orange juice or sodas - with water. I have not done much working out yet - all my weight loss thus far is just from diet change. I am somewhat active taking my dog on 2 mile walks but I now have access to a gym and have been planning out workouts - dips, crunches, pushups and lots of running (for now). While I used to eat probably 2150 calories/day (according to a calorie calculator), I now eat 1500 or less per day, usually 1200. The first two weeks are the hardest and you're always hungry, grumpy, tired but then you get used to it. I of course eat more calories when I am active, go on runs and so on, but for coding days I'm just fine with low calories and proper vitamins and protein. I also drink a cup or two of green or black tea each night. I cut my alcohol intake down a ton, rarely eat out and haven't had red meat since I started this diet. Do not take this as a suggested diet. I am not a doctor.

Tichy 17y ago

Doesn't sound lame at all. I've actually tried Twitter, too. But I have created a separate account to tweet about my progress in programming - what I have learned today, what I am currently working on, stuff like that. Unfortunately I let that slide, too, but I want to take it up again. Of course with the separate account I don't have the social pressure, which might be essential.

Sukotto 17y ago

Yeah... me to (sans the Twitter) Set up joes goals [1] with a positive "I weighed myself today" and a negative "I broke my No S diet [2] today" (can have multiple ticks against that last one). The little chart that joesgoals makes for me is oddly compelling. [1] http://joesgoals.com/ http://joesgoals.com/ [2] http://www.nosdiet.com/ http://www.nosdiet.com/

PebblesRox 17y ago
I liked this part: "Is there any scientific evidence that this diet works? Absolutely none. But I'm not aware that I have any competition in this regard. It is more or less how billions of thin people around the world have eaten for millenia, if that counts for anything."

illumin8 17y ago

If you really want to understand why it's difficult to lose weight, and "hack" your body like you hack on computers, I highly recommend a book called Ultrametabolism by Dr. Mark Hyman. In the last 3 months I've lost 20 pounds, just by doing mainly these 3 things: 1. Eat breakfast every day, and make sure it has protein. 2. Eat only whole grains and no refined flour, pasta, and avoid simple carbs. 3. Eat plenty of fats, including nuts, avocadoes, olive oil, and other healthy fats. I've done all of this while eating filling breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along with snacks in between meals and even dessert like chocolate brownies, dark chocolate, etc. Not only have I lost 20 pounds, I can eat this diet for the rest of my life and be completely healthy. This is the diet that humans evolved on, whole grains, fresh vegetables, fruits, and lean meats. The diet is very similar to Mediterranean or Asian diets. Some other benefits, since I switched to this diet, I have more energy, my cholesterol is perfect, and my blood sugar levels don't spike. The entire secret to this diet is that by eating whole grains and avoiding simple carbs, you avoid foods that turn into sugar in the blood and cause your blood sugar to spike. These foods like breads/pastas/etc give you quick energy, but then cause a crash later, causing you to eat even more food. Also, your body can't deal with that much sugar in the blood so it stores it as fat. By eating whole grains, your body takes longer to digest them, releasing blood sugar at a slow, even rate. Thus, you have energy all day and don't crash, or get hungry between meals. edit: I also want to point out that the author of the book has done considerable scientific medical research, and his diet is based on empirical research, not pseudo-science like many diets.

PStamatiou 17y ago
I am also trying to lose a few pounds. I started calorie counting stringently over the last weeks. I keep track of everything I eat in excel. I started at 167 and I'm now at 161 3 weeks later (I'm 23 & 5' 9"). I've started taking flaxseed oil, a regular one-a-day vitamin pill and some extra vitamin C and D (1000 IU), acai with antioxidants and some fiber with psyllium husks (helps control hunger at times... expands like 40x its size in your stomach). I have whey protein shakes everyday or every otherday (esp if I'm going to run or the gym). Meals have much less bread and less dairy than I would usually eat. In general I eat less meals more. Like around 300 calories for a small meal. I eat lots of egg beaters (much less calories and fat than real egg - 70 cal/4.5g fat per real egg including yolk), salads with light balsamic vinaigrette (watch out - lots of them are fatty and have lots of calories. I found one with 40 cal/2tablespoon). Other small meals include fresh sliced turkey (25 cal/slice) and a slice of bread. I've replaced everything I might drink - like milk, orange juice or sodas - with water. I have not done much working out yet - all my weight loss thus far is just from diet change. I am somewhat active taking my dog on 2 mile walks but I now have access to a gym and have been planning out workouts - dips, crunches, pushups and lots of running (for now). While I used to eat probably 2150 calories/day (according to a calorie calculator), I now eat 1500 or less per day, usually 1200. The first two weeks are the hardest and you're always hungry, grumpy, tired but then you get used to it. I of course eat more calories when I am active, go on runs and so on, but for coding days I'm just fine with low calories and proper vitamins and protein. I also drink a cup or two of green or black tea each night. I cut my alcohol intake down a ton, rarely eat out and haven't had red meat since I started this diet. Do not take this as a suggested diet. I am not a doctor.