Saturday, January 25, 2014

Gambling with Fat

I like reading about other bloggers' struggles with weight and food. I can relate, it's not that enjoy watching them struggle. I discover tips and tricks and live vicariously through their triumphs over food addiction... sometimes, I'm inspired by them.

 

Inspiration

So, when Fat Cyclist posted a weight loss challenge to his readers, I perked up.

Here's how it works:
  • You create a goal at Beeminder.
  • Swear your honesty at tracking. (yeah, it seems pretty easy to cheat at this)
  • Lay some money on the line. 

I'm hoping I'll be more successful at getting back to that normal BMI (that I was only able to achieve for a fleeting moment) and ultimately, achieving better eating habits and exercise regimen.

I need to develop a cue-routine-reward habit for myself in regards to non-cycling exercise. I'm really drooling over the Fitbit... I'd be the sort of person obsessed over getting all those LEDs to light up by the end of my day. I watched Charles Duhigg on the Colbert Report recently and became so intrigued by habits and rewards and developing good habits that I borrowed a book of his from the Library.



So, much to my dismay... here's my Beeminder page. Why am I dismayed? It shows my weight. I really should have set it up to track BMI. I figure most folks can take a look at me and determine I'm on the pudgy side without the benefit of charts, graphs and numbers, so I need to stop minding so much that folks know how much I weigh.


A Reward System.

The other day, I was looking at cycling clothes. I like the idea of cycling in non-spandex clothes, but I'm not interested in returning to work in a dress riddled with sweat stains. Ewww. I found a blog that promoted the Perfect Pants, so I checked out these pants... made with Schoeller Dryskin fabric that dries quickly, repels water and does your taxes. They make tailored skirts out of this stuff too.
They're damned expensive, clothing made from this crazy, space-age Jetson's fabric... so I put them on my "I should save these as a reward." list. Looking at the sizing chart, I need the largest size they make. *sad face* Really? I'm as big as a female cyclist gets? *even sadder face*.
  • Goal: not to need the largest size they make
  • Reward: the cycling pants made from the skin of aliens.

5 comments:

  1. May I discuss making "the number" public, since you've written about it? First , nobody cares about your number, they only care about their own number. Second, putting the number out there means you're engaged on the issue and that's eminently cool.

    I have a friend that's a marathoner and he says, the way to make sure you run the marathon is to tell everybody, next May I'm running the marathon. When you make it public you can't not do it. I put my own number on every blog post.

    Did you see Terry's report on the FitBit? http://www.fatguyorangebike.com/2014/01/fitbit-review.html

    What I don't like about the Beeminder interface is it doesn't provide big-picture context. So five years ago I weighed 280. Three years ago, 230. Last August I was 255. Now I'm 218. I tell it I want to be 208. It gives me a chart of 218 to 208. I want to see a chart that shows 280, 230, 255, 218, and 208. I mean, give me some points here. I didn't just start.

    May I ask for a link to those Jetson's pants? I'd like to see them. I think I'd be buying the pair that I do fit in, because I've earned them baby, and then I'd be striving to downsize. Because: clothes. The hell with delayed gratification.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Terry's Fitbit review: yes... I've read his and others' reviews of it. I'm noting that come cyclists put the band through their shoelaces to get it to record pedal strokes as steps and record cycling as an activity... so I might be sold on getting one.

      Delete
  2. Sure! Schoeller Dryskin pants links:
    Outlier makes New Ogs for men: http://shop.outlier.cc/shop/retail/new-og.html
    However, they don't have the 'riding gusset' in the seat that their 'Women's Daily Riding' pant does.
    I'm confused on Betbrand's 'Bike-To-Work' pants: http://www.betabrand.com/collections/bike-to-work/khaki-bike-to-work-pants.html
    Everything I read as far as reviews goes tells they're made with Schoeller Dryskin fabric, but it doesn't specifically say so in the fabric description. I wonder if they stopped using the expensive fabric and switched to something cheaper.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tracking weightloss: Spreadsheets! Track that remarkable weightloss in spreadsheets! I *heart* spreadsheets.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ...and the more I think about it, I'm rather peeved that Outlier only make sizes up to a 32 inch waist. I know of many female cyclists larger than me that might buy clothes like this, but they don't make them in their sizes. *grrr*

    ReplyDelete

Red LOVES comments, make Red's day! Your comments will be posted after Red gets around to hitting that 'moderate' button.