The Hacker's Diet

The Hacker's Diet
My weight has been an irritation to me for some time. I've been meaning to lose some for quite a while. I read Covert Bailey's Fit or Fat long before he became a late night shill for a torture machine, and thought that was the Way. Indeed, I lost a fair amount of weight using that regime several times, 20 years ago, 15 years ago, but could never get below about 180 or so.

Times change. Marriage, a kid, and injuiries that kept me from exercising, and somehow my weight had pressed above 200. Compared to my peers, I felt svelte, because most of them were fatter still, but I knew I was verging on Obese on those weight charts at the doctor's office. But it wasn't until I stepped on the scale at a restaurant in Seattle on a work trip that the awful truth became clear - 220. I didn't need to lose 20 pounds, I needed to lose 40 pounds.

I made changes, but it wasn't until I read John Walker's The Hackers Diet that I started making progress. What I've learned thusfar:
* Feedback is important - standing on the scale every day, and charting the trends is a powerful motivator.
* Make No Small Plans - a fairly severe cut in calories works for me. I'm not sure less would have worked AT ALL.
* Don't expect to be happy about it - my blood sugar is pretty close to the edge all the time, and I can be positively pre-menstrual in my emotional responses.

I've lost about 5 lbs in 2 weeks, and that seems sustainable. Good thing, because I aim to get to about 175, if not lower, in the next 6-8 months.