Involved vs. Committed

I'm a nerd. Actually- I'm a geek who also likes nerd things, and there is a distinction that I appreciate but won't go in to right now (lest I start a nerd fight- and there's the slapping, whingeing and strange wheezing noises that you get when out of shape nerds try to get physical).

Background:

I have been "big" all my life. This sucks. Kids are cruel. Adults are cruel. Most girls (and women) don't like guys with shitty self-esteem who are also fat. I was both of these things and- boy howdy!

I lost a bit of weight, got a lot of confidence that comes with age and wisdom and things have been generally OK for about 10 years or so now.

Currently:

Damn am I not now almost 40? I've been in various states of fat from "Very" to "Wow! Have you been working out?". At my highest weight I was 287. At my lowest adult weight I was 220 (after personal training, diet, exercise and the requisite monetary commitment that goes with that).

Two things have worked for me in my life, and these are:

Diet:

The low-carb (F)Atkins diet took me from 287 to 235. I did this for about four years. My bloodwork was stellar, my cholesterol was fantastic, I felt great. I found, however, that it wasn't totally sustainable for me. I had to either eat NO Carbs or I ate ALL the carbs. Moderation with food isn't something I'm good at. If the algorithm is Boolean (go/no go?) Fine- I'm solid!

If the objective is moderation, well, I'm not good at that. "Only have a little bit of X"? No chance of success.

Exercise:

Cycling (and then personal training 2x week) worked well for me. It got me down to below 220 for the first time in my adult life. It was a really hard habit to form and I was getting good at it. Then work exploded four years ago, stress kicked in- and my healthy habits were the first thing to go. followed quickly by my personal organization (but that, as they say, is another blog).

I fell off of the diet and exercise wagon and it's not pretty. Neither am I.

As of the beginning of this Malia and Jonathan Lose weight adventure I am 244lbs. I would really, really like this number to shrink by 20%.

In the course of human events, it comes time to go on a diet. Geek that I am, I am going to look to my friends and see which things they are doing that work for them. I don't have the bandwidth to do the bone-crushing exercise that I did for a year and I have the common sense to not ride my bicycle to (and from) work through the streets of the San Fernando Valley.

The Tim Ferriss' 4-Hour body seems to be a good place to start. I like it because it introduces a few key points that incorporate (oddly enough) parts of my work life (as a process engineer) in to my personal life.

Mainly: "If you don't measure it, you can't manage it." and "Be responsible to someone other than yourself for this."

I don't think I'll be using SPC, Six-Sigma control charts with my weight and body fat (thought I may, and that seems COOL!), but I am in this with Malia, to the bitter, bloody, skinny end!

I have decided to be committed to this process. This way of eating, this way of exercising. Not involved, but committed. You know what the difference is right?

"The difference between being involved and committed is a bacon and egg breakfast. The chicken was involved, the pig was committed."

Blogging about this will help. There will be a lot of mundane posts about my adjustment to the diet and my eventual transition in to his exercise regimen. There will be suggestions. There will even be some recipes. I am going to post my measurements (taken every Saturday morning before our "cheat day" and my weight every time we measure.

I am taking a picture of everything I eat and sending it to my sweety, and she is doing the thing.

Let the Fat-loosing begin!