I am the ghost of groovymother.com. Woooooo!

This is an old page from Rod Begbie's blog.

It only exists in an attempt to prevent linkrot. No new content will be added to this site, and links and images are liable to be broken. Check out begbie.com to find where I'm posting stuff these days.

Filed under 'weight'

January 2, 2010

MMX - XXL

13 years ago

I have never been svelte.

This much should be stated at the start. The closest I’ve come to a healthy weight was during my four years as a student. Deprived of the contents of my parents’ fridge, and not yet able to enjoy the slap-up dining that a salary would afford, I was never “skinny” or beerbellyless”.

But I am currently fatter than I’ve ever been. I’ve put on almost 30lbs in the last year. Something needs to change.

I chose January 1st for two reasons:

  1. It’s traditional to make a new year resolution. The new beginning of a new year, and all that.
  2. I could gorge during the Christmas period.

By luck, last week, Richard Wiseman posted a blog entry on how to keep your resolution. Some good solid advice in there. In particular, state and track your goal publicly, and keep it measurable.

This has worked for me in the past. I decided that my goal for 2008 was to move to San Francisco, was open about it, and by the end of March, I had a job all lined up.

So here is my official goal for 2010: Weigh 210lbs on December 31st 2010.

That’s a drop of almost 60lbs. I think I can probably shift about 5–10lbs this month (the start of a diet always sees a quick drop), then sustain losing 1lb a week for the rest of the year.

My expectation is that this will require experimentation and tweaking. So here is my plan for January:

  • Using Lose It, a free iPhone app to keep track of calories. (Hat tip to Daniel Jalkut for mentioning Lose It on Twitter). I’m doing good old-fashioned calorie counting—no complex points calculation, no rules on what can and can’t be eaten. Your standard “Burn more than you consume, and you’ll lose weight” plan. This isn’t about changing what I eat; it’s about changing the quantity I eat.
  • In the spirit of keeping it public, I purchased the Withings WiFi Body Scale, a sleek and sexy set of bathroom scales which upload your data to the web. My progress can now be tracked by anyone at @lardyarsedgit. Go on and follow it! One tweet a day, and it’ll make me feel a lot better!
  • Regarding exercise, I’m starting off easy. Not going to join a gym or buy (another) treadmill. Instead, I’m going to try to take a smattering of small steps. For the beginning, I’m going to stop riding the elevator at work (taking the stairs to and from my team area on the 6th floor), and pledge to take Bacon for a 40-minute walk three times a week. If I can’t do these little things, there’s no point throwing $$$ at a gym.

At the end of each month, I’ll adjust the plan. But right now, it all feels very achievable.

My BHAG for the year? Next January, I’ll be able to sign up for The San Francisco Marathon Training Program and be able to run the SF Marathon in July 2011.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

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January 2, 2008

Reason Magazine - Secrets of Weight Loss Revealed!

Further fuel for my belief that diets are a shitty way to lose weight, and sensible long-term life changes are the only way to do it correctly. (Not for nothing have I gained 30lbs since starting driving to work each day, instead of having to walk a mile to the T stop)

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June 28, 2006

The 'power of one' - why larger portions cause us to eat more

Yes, its obvious: When you’re presented with more food, you eat more.

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About This Site

This is an archive of groovmother.com, the old blog run by Rod Begbie — A Scottish geek who lives in San Francisco, CA.

I'm the co-founder of Sōsh, your handy-dandy guide for things to do in San Francisco this weekend.