Something like an introduction - Terror Diet

As I said, I've set up this blog to track my progress with my terror diet. My terror diet has nothing to do with what I eat, or what exercises I do. I truly do believe, and have seen in those time periods where I've stayed faithful to a diet, that diet/exercise is the way to go. I do intend to start running more, walking more, being more active, and reducing my caloric intake. I'll probably try P90x at some point.

The problem I, and many folks, have had with this diet is motivation to stick with it. It's so easy for a bad day to derail the whole thing. I recently participated in a weight loss competition at work, where the person who lost the highest weight % won a pot of $800 ($50 buy-in per person). One would think $800 would be a good motivator, and at first it was. However, my 30th birthday kicked me out of my diet, and I never really got back to it.

I've also thought about setting some sort of a goal to work towards. A new car when I reach X weight, a vacation when I reach Y weight. Even something as seemingly motivating as not allowing myself to get back into the dating game until I reach a certain weight. The problem with this type of motivation is that it's all mental.

So I considered the opposite angle. I thought about the Walk-a-thon type sponsorship approach. There again though, you've solicited money up front. If you don't finish, hey, nice effort.

My biggest need was a "stick" motivator with teeth. Obviously the "carrot" of $800, or a new car, etc isn't enough to get me serious, and keep me there. It goes without saying that overall concerns my health, while compelling, just aren't enough for me on a day to day basis.

So I got to thinking about a way that I could impose a real motivator with teeth. A "stick" motivator. Something that I absolutely want to avoid enough so that I'll keep motivated, exercise when I don't feel like it, eat a salad when I want a pizza, etc. Something that would allow me to set a realistic weight loss goal, a time frame for that loss, and the impetus to see it through.

This is where the terror aspect comes into the diet. Humans are social creatures, and we hate to be humiliated. We also really like to be true to our word. Society also makes us very money conscious.

So here's my terror diet:

I will lose 50 pounds by August 1st, or I will give every one of my Facebook friends $20. Any friend who "likes" my post describing this diet, I'll up it to $40. I currently have 100 Facebook friends, so I'm now putting myself on the hook for possibly $4000 if I don't get to my goal.

You may be saying, "Yeah, but you'll just back out." Not if I go into this diet very emphatically. No one wants to look like a weasel and I sure don't either. So again, I WILL pay this money if I fail in my goal. Many of my friends I haven't seen in years, so it'll be wildly inconvenient, not just expensive. Again, I WILL do this, IF I don't lose the weight.

So now I've either got to:

Lose 50 pounds by August 1st
Pay out $4000
Welch on my commitment and completely embarrass myself in front of all of my friends.

Terror.

Something like an introduction - Prologue

So I've set up this blog to track my progress with my terror diet. I don't imagine many folks will read this, but you never know in this connected age.

Anyway, the idea for this diet sprung from a question of motivation. The new year came, which of course lead to another "get in shape" resolution. This is not a new thing, it's become the norm for me over the past several years. I've pretty much always been heavy. I can remember my father teasing about the "husky" clothing I had to wear as a child.

In college I played a ton of intramural sports and generally was quite active. I was just dragging around an extra 20-30 pounds. Once I graduated from college in May 2002, my weight soon peaked at something close to 220 pounds, which is obviously heavy for a 5'7" man just getting out of college. After being horrified by pictures from a baseball road trip that summer, I decided to shed the weight.

I committed to the Atkins diet as well as a gym-going routine. I very often would take weekends off to drink beer and eat pizza while visiting friends, but was obsessive about getting back on the diet come Monday. Over the course of about 9 months I spoiled myself on steak, but was also able to bring my weight all the way down to 162 pounds.

Around this time I met the girl who I would end up marrying. When you're young and naive like I was, not to mention inexperienced, young love can be quite exhilarating. My gym routine was sacrificed in the name of spending more time with her, and of course courtship involves dinners out, and takeout order in. She was also a professionally trained chef and a foodie, so we both enjoyed the finer things. By the time our wedding started to approach a year and a half later, I had ballooned back up to 200 pounds.

Another determined stretch of the Atkins diet got me back down to 180 pounds, and barely into the swim trunks she'd bought for our honeymoon. After that it was a slow reappearance of the pounds. In April of 2007 I came to Mobile, AL for what was supposed to be 6 months and left her up north. Left to fend for myself in a land of good fried food, I packed on the pounds quickly, from 225 all the way to 247.

A "Fat Elvis" drivers license photo sparked another serious diet that got me back to around 220 pounds. In the time since, I've stayed in Mobile as my job assignment was extended. The wife and I divorced, as absence did not make the heart grow fonder. I've dieted off and on, but have pretty much oscillated between 220 and 230 pounds since then. So that's the past.