After a year-and-a-half of blogging out of the comfort of my apartment, I was out of shape and overweight. I’m 5’11″ and I weighed 220 lbs. Pants weren’t fitting. I learned that buttons popping off pants didn’t just happen in the cartoons. My family noticed my doublechins, my dad worried I had diabetes.
Something had to be done, and I was going to use what made me fat, computers and the internet, to help me do it.
I decided to put all my diet and workouts online to make me feel publicly accountable. I also figured that the idea that I was doing an internet project makes it seem less of a chore.
I figured it would make a good Consumerist post because there’s no better way to cut down on future health care costs, and never have to do battle with the insurance company in the first place, than if you are fit and healthy. Not to mention, considering how bombarded we are with ads and marketing for weight loss programs, pills, videos, bizzare equipment, etc, it’s nice to know the path to loosing fat can be simple and inexpensive.
METHODS
Cameraphone & Flickr
I took pictures of what I ate, when I worked out, and my weight scale results and uploaded them to Flickr, a free photo sharing site.
Traineo.com
I entered my weight and workouts into Traineo, a free diet and fitness social networking site. Check out my profile here.
Shangri-la Diet
I implemented the principles of the Shangri-la Diet, which mainly involves supplementing your diet with oil and sugar water. Reduced appetite is the result.
Gym
I began working out every other day, tracking my results on a sheet of paper I brought with me.
TOOLS
Gym membership
Flickr.com
Traineo.com
Stopwatch
Scale (the Tanita BF679W Duo Scale Plus Body Fat Monitor with Body Water)
Canola oil
Sugar
Water
Tablespoon
Internet
computer
Cameraphone
Pen
Paper
Soccerball
Gym shorts
New tshirts
SCHEDULE
Drink 1 tablespoon of canola oil around 11am
Drink 4-6 glasses of water with 1 tablespoon of dissolved pure sugar
Throw in some playing with the soccerball on in-between days
Eat meals as normal
Workout every other day. My workout includes 20 min stationary cycle, walking to and from the gym, and the following weight machines (3 sets of 10 reps each):
- dual action chest press
- seated leg curl
- rotary calf
- fly
- abs
- arm curl
- leg extension
- triceps
- prone leg curl
- leg press
- glutes
RESULTS
In two months, I went from 218 lbs to 205.4 lbs, and from 25.5% to 20% body fat.
The Shangri la Diet (SLD) actually does reduce my appetite. I used to always clean my plate. Now I have leftovers and doggie bags. I will always have the ability to be a great eater, to scarf everything down, but now I feel full a lot earlier. The key is to listen to my stomach and stop eating. SLD takes care of the physiology, some of it is still up to me and my brain.
The taking and uploading of photos helps keep me honest. I know that if I fall behind, I have to announce it. Not many people are watching it but just seeing a few views here and there helps reinforce the idea that I’m being monitored. Uploading has an additional benefit: by looking at my “sent” cellphone messages I can see when I last ate and what.
Traineo is pretty and user friendly and provides good ways to track progress. I’m not really using the social aspect of it at this point. Frankly, watching strangers try to lose weight is kind of an odd idea to me, even though I’m putting myself on display so that others might do the same. Guess you’ve got your exhibitionists and your voyeurs.
LITTLE THINGS THAT HELP MAKE IT WORK FOR ME
- I mentioned the workout program and website addresses in emails and IMs with friends and family to help gather a few supporters.
- Save your Flickr upload email address (located under account/upload by email) as the first contact in your cellphone. Preface its name with @ symbols (or any symbol) to make it show up first. Not having to scroll through contacts makes doing the cameraphone thing a lot easier.
- I take a picture during my workout, but only upload it after I leave the gym. This gives me something to look forward to and amplifies the sense of completion.
- My gym has a bowl of candy by the front door. I eat one peppermint hard candy on the way in, and one on the way out, as a little reward.
- Don’t pose your food or pose with it. Just whip out the cam and snap a quick shot and upload it. Otherwise it ends up being a pain in the ass and will undermine your will to keep taking pictures.
- I take a photo of the weight scale right after I get out of the shower after a workout. Keeping the “feedback reward” as close to the completion of the task help motivate me.
- For the same reason, I enter the data for the workout right after I get out of the shower and get dressed.
CONCLUSIONS
The single best way to reduce future health care costs is to be fit, healthy, and not overweight. Using a mix of calorie control, increased exercise, and a few tools on the internet, you lose weight, get fit, have fun and not starve.
By diligently identifying and amplifying the little things that motivate, and identifying and mitigating or eliminating the things that demotivate, it’s possible for to significantly alter one’s behavior in a new, positive direction.
My Profile Pages
Traineo or follow with RSS
Flickr or follow with RSS
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In regards of suppressing the appetite. Will you always ingest the canola oil and sugar water or will you stop? If you stop do you feel your eating habits will return to normal and then gain back the wait?
Nicely done, one of my friends dropped 75+ pounds in a years time and kept it off.
Myself, I’m starting to notice a little plumping…So I’ve got to start working out. Actually, I wanna try WiiFit and see if that helps. Should keep me motivated…
@jamesdenver: Really, daily cardio is necessary? Hello, catabolism! Especially on a hypocaloric diet. I lost 57 pounds with minimal cardio.
Shouldn’t the headline be “How We Lost 14.6 lbs”?
Seriously, Ben, congrats. I thought you looked good in that awesome “Heroes” photo.
@Scuba Steve: 5’10″ is average for an American male…
@Antediluvian: LOL, all Gawker blogs do make eggregious use of the journalistic We.
Congratulations, Ben! And never mind the haters. I’d be interested in reading a follow-up post in 6 months to see how maintenance went.
@Antediluvian: Seriously! It’s always “WE” around here but then when it comes to something important like “OUR” health, Ben hangs us out to dry and flies solo!
A Garmin Forerunner 205 (or similar device) can really target people’s desire to stay healthy while indulging a data fetish that is so prevalent out there on the internets.
Addressing the first few comments — while I’m struggling to see how this fits into the consumerist mission, people need to lay off. No one is putting a gun to your head to read anything.
I HAD the same exact build as you, 5’11″ 220lbs. I started something similar to the South Beach Diet and 1 month later I’m still 5’11″ but now I weight 195lbs. I can eat carbs (low) but I’m not depriving myself of them like that other diet. It’s easy to do and I occasionally cram 3 slices of Pizza Hut pizza… I work with a couple of guys from http://www.slowcarbliving.com and they’ve lost between 70-100 lbs each so I had to see it work for myself. Yes, I’m at a computer EVERY DAY 8+ hours. I do play softball in the evenings and chase the kids around the house.
My wife also joined me and she’s lost 20+ lbs too!
good job! i believe that at your height you still need to lose a few more pounds to get to that magic point, but looks like you are on the right track.
i’m trying south beach right now. it’s interesting to change your entire way of eating. makes it….somewhat fun.
Way to go, Ben! If it takes playing into your gadget obsession to get healthy, I say go for it. I’m a guilty of gadget overload when it comes to fitness, myself.
Having gadgets makes it easier to track metrics, and that makes everything you’re doing seem more tangible since it can be measured. Food scale, HRM, Tanita body fat scale, food logs… Mmmmm. Gadgety.
I don’t know about that canola oil and sugar water business, though. You can keep that.
I have been on low carb for a 3 months. I haven’t been very active, other than exercises to strengthen my lower back / hip area (I feel like an old man), though I’m feeling better.
I’ve lost about 10 pounds or so (235 to 225, I’m 6’2″), though I’m not sure whether it’s because I’m in ketosis or whether I’m just not snacking. I think once I get back into exercising, I’ll boost the weight loss by quite a bit (I plateaued and gained weight back up to close to my starting weight for a frustrating period of time).
Great job Ben!
Canola oil?
Please only use extra virgin olive oil if you’re going to consume oil like that.
I think the sugar water is junk. Olive oil and cider vinegar will be much better for you.
This is why I hate blogs. I don’t care about random internet person’s workout routine. Your life is not that interesting, sorry.
I decided to put all my diet and workouts online to make me feel publicly accountable. I also figured that the idea that I was doing an internet project makes it seem less of a chore.
I was thinking about doing the same thing but the comments give me pause. Last thing I want to hear while I’m actually losing weight is a bunch of whining about how I’m doing it the way someone else thinks I should.
@Rectilinear Propagation: I’m referring to the whining about using the Internet, btw, not the concerns about the oil and sugar.
@GuruSteve:
But that’s the reason to love them too. A not so close relative of mine somewhere has a blog with the details of his brain tumor treatments and operations.
My aunt is mortified that he would post such personal things – but I told her it’s great for others going through the same thing. It serves an extremely narrow audience, but in his case it’s for a good reason. To give info for others.
Star is right that Canola oil is NSG for the shangrila diet (causes poor sleep, etc…check the forums) but incorrect about the extra virgin olive oil. The better choice is extra LIGHT olive oil, as the flavor has been removed. (There’s more info on the SLD site if you need it.)
Don’t encourage more worthless posts like this by leaving so many comments.
D’oh!
A buddy of mine has set up a table in front of his treadmill where he can set his laptop and work while walking. Sounds like a great method to me.
Congrats, Ben. Now what about people who can’t afford gym memberships and the price of sending pictures over our cameraphones?
I lost 30 pounds in 3 months just by eliminating fast food and soda. I’m 5’4″ and I went from 180 to 150. I didn’t exercise, eat less or do anything else differently.
From some of the comments, I don’t think many are understanding who Ben is.
This article is posted here because Ben is the main editor of this site. If he wants to post his article here, even if it’s a little outside the typical subject matter, it’s his business.
So, you didn’t really lose any weight by sitting in front of a computer. You lost weight by eating better and exercising more.
I applaud the weight loss. However, the title is misleading and actually pretty false. True you used internet utilities and sites like Flickr to help you track the loss and give you a psychological boost, but it was the eating less and exercising bit that cut the lbs off, not the computer.
…it was the eating less and exercising bit that cut the lbs off, not the computer.
@DeeJayQueue: But would he have stuck to it without the computer?
I’d lose weight, too, if I starved myself, not by sitting in front of a computer.
What you need(ed) is a diet of simple foods and plenty of exercise.
You’re certainly not losing weight because you are consuming table sugar. Refined sugar contains what are called “empty calories”–calories without nutrition (vitamins, minerals, enzymes), and it will cause a spike of insulin, which is very bad for the heart and blood vessels, so it’s not at all good for you.
If you eat good meals and get plenty of exercise and don’t consume soft drinks and other junk food, you’ll be much better off.
Bravo Boy Wonder!
Just keep in mind that the trick isn’t just to lose the lard but to keep it off. So beware of the corporate fascists who also read this blog and will try to trip you up by sending out free samples of their “microwave popcorn,” if you know what I mean.
Don’t insult this guy, his post is informative and interesting. I am impressed and grateful as I indeed learned something from reading it. (so what if lose is misspelled? I am sure that’s just a typo)
Good for you Ben on the weight loss! That is awesome and you were so diligent with the pictures. That definitely took serious discipline. But I am surprised you didn’t go with any supplements to aid in your weight loss, stuff to increase your metabolism, etc. You might want to check out that avenue. Just a suggestion.
On another note, I am appalled at the negative feedback you have received from insensitive mongers who felt the need to be nasty. Geez, people the guy exposes his very personal journey with weight loss and you fault him for it. He is only sharing his experience to probably motivate himself some more and help motivate some others, too.
I am going through the same ordeal for the first time in my life–being fat that is. I gained 50 pounds from a medication prescribed for my depression. I finally had to come off the drug when I topped 240 even though the drug made me feel better. Fortunately, I am 6’2″ but I am still fleshed out excessively and completely self-conscious about it.
After reading your story, I went over to traineo, the site you mentioned, and I signed up to see if it will give me some additional motivation with regards to watching what I eat. I am already working out with a trainer but I found that is just helps with growing muscle, so I need to motivate myself solo for the cardio end of it. But I can’t see myself taking pictures of my food. I am definitely not that disciplined.
Keep up the good work Ben and know you motivated someone with your story.
I could get the same results in a week by playing dance dance revolution an hour ever day while on a mountain dew binge. I’ll even blog about it.
I’ve totally ditched my car for any trip that is less than 15 miles away. I spent $300 (accumulatively) on a bike, and I’ve been averaging 12 miles a day. A cyclocomputer, no matter how cheap really helps and motivates. I still eat the same amount, but I ride there and I ride back from the restaurants. I’ve lost 15lbs in three months and my legs and arms are a lot more fit. I’m 5’6″, 120 lbs, but I was 135lbs. It’s not like I was fat