Fatblogging has been very, very good to me. I'm down to a range of 188 to 191 pounds over the past three weeks and that included a week in Barcelona/France eating a lot of great food.

When i bought the treadmill doing a 10 minute mile was a very painful. Since that time, and since last years 207 record fatness, I've been able to do under 10 minute miles without too much pain.

Then I started doing HIIT training and that included 60 second sprints at 8-10 MPH--or a pace of up to a 6 minute mile for 60 seconds. Those sprints killed me, like jello legs the next day killed me. Last week I decided to go for it and go up to 11MPH--a sub six minute mile. When I was 18-25 years old I could run a sub-six minute mile. In fact I think I got down to almost a 5 minute mile. That's 12 MPH--basically a flat out sprint.

This got my mind to thinking.... "hmmmm, I wonder if I could get down to a six minute mile." Of course, once you start thinking about a six minute mile your mind goes to the next logical step... a five minute mile. What if I could run my fastest pace at 36 years old. That would be a major accomplishment considering the fact that when I ran the marathon I was 162/165 pounds, and last year I tipped the scale at 207--a 40 pound swing.

Today I started the program: I did an 8 minute mile. My right knee and left shin had some pain, and after four minute I got cramps across my still very fat gut. Still, eight minutes is a nice pace and I'm sure I could have done it faster if I pushed myself. I figure if i can cut 30 seconds a month off my mile I'll be in the six minute range in the fall.

I've got all summer to work on it. :-)

How are my other FatBloggers doing?!?! I hear Jaffe is at 195 and closing in on Calacanis!

Last night I broke down and had a calzone. I love calzone... gosh, I live for calzone. However, calzone has to be the worst thing you could ever eat if you're trying to get fit. It's bread and cheese--a ton of bread and cheese.

I woke up guilty... was feeling like a bum for doing it. So, I figured I had to fight Brooklyn with Brooklyn. I busted out the Billy Joel and rocked out (yes, I'm a loser) on the treadmill doing a three mile run in 26 minutes and 26 seconds--a record of late. Of course, I used to do three miles in 22 minutes when I was a kid so it's not really that impressive I know. But, for a fat bastard like myself pounding out two 8:30 miles after a 9:30 mile to start is a great thing. If I can get to 24 minutes I'd be very, very happy.

This fatblogging thing we're all doing isn't easy... it takes daily focus and a lot of resiliency. You have to forgive yourself for the mistakes and really focus on the good thing you're doing. If you have a calzone moment don't get depressed--take some action. That's what I've learned. That calzone cost me an extra 300-400 calories yesterday I'm sure, but I took it out on the treadmill not my mind. I'm not depressed at all about it anymore... in fact, I feel great that I weathered the calzone storm.

Anyway, that's the lesson of the day... If you have a calzone moment don't be depressed, be inspired to take action.

(Photo above found in Google Images... link to site didn't work)

A couple of the diet sites have pinged me about trying to get the Fatblogging(tm) movement to join their services. Some of these services record your process and others are competitive.

FatBlogging is not associated with any services--it's a blogging movement where you post about your diet/exercise on your blog and tag it fatblogging. That's it. We ask that you do it daily, but that is a goal not required.

Fablogging is *not* a competition, it's a lifestyle.

While weight loss competitions might draw some folks for the short term, it will hurt in the long term because a) many folks don't like competitions and b) when the competition ends so does the motivation for those who signed up for it. You then need to replace that competitive motivation with something--and that's a big risk.

In terms of psychology, competition is also a very low level--immature in fact--motivation. I don't recommend it for deep change like is needed for weight loss. In other words, the motivation needs to come from within you and that motivation is best supported by a community of like-minded people. NOT COMPETITION... we're all in this together.

You're better off joining fatblogging than a competition because with fatblogging you get support, empathy, insights, tips, and conversation--and you might even make some friends.

Wow... got the scale today and it said 189.8 and I had to take a double take. I moved the scale around the room and weighed myself three or four more times and it came up at 190.4 each time.

Either way, I set a record today. I guess it was in part due to the FatBlogging episode of CalacanisCast Beta we did yesterday. I can't wait until Tyler gets that out to you guys... it was really great.

Since setting that record I figured I would get on the treadmill and try to break my two mile run record of 17 minutes and 15 seconds.

I crushed it.

2 miles in 16 minutes and five seconds. The first mile was 8:10, so that means I did a 7:55M for the second one--that's very respectable I think considering I'm still 15 pounds overweight.

Changing up the running schedule has really helped. Some days I walk, some days I do a walk/job, some days I do HIIT, and some days I just say "run as fast as you can for two miles." The good thing is that my 16 minute work out burned 301 calories--that's amazingly efficient in terms of time to cals burned. Walking uphill it would take double the time to do the same number of calories.

March will the month I get back to the 180s, even if it is just 189 I'm gonna do it.

Another thing that is really helping is that I'm eating a PowerBar Protein bar in the afternoon at like 4PM. For 300 calories it really holds me over and keeps me from having an insane dinner. It seems that dinner is when I stray the most.

How's everyone else doing? Any tips to share? Anyone falling off the wagon? Anyone else set any records?!

Back at my desk in Santa Monica. Had a very productive trip and got to hang out with a lot of old friends, and made a couple of new ones.

I was 192.5, so that felt good after seeing 194 again. I've been eating well, and I think I'm going to start keeping track of the diet the same way I'm tracking of the working out.

I'll do my 10 minute minimum walk tonight and see how that goes. Right now I'm burnt... but in a good way.

Have a funny story for you guys about meeting the CEO of Vibrant Media who I killed on this very blog a year or two ago. Not sure if I should tell it. :-)

Wasn't able to workout the last three days due to travel and a lack of sleep. However, I was faced with either catching two hours of sleep or going to the gym at the hotel today and I figured I'd do a quick 15-20 minutes and at least get something under my belt.

Well, as is often the case I did much more then I expected because I felt so good 20 minutes in. Now, I only walked because I've been feeling a little soar (traveling does that to me for some reason), but I impressed myself with 60 minutes of walking for 3.4 miles and 426 calories.

That's the big lesson for me: JUST START.

If you get off the treadmill or bike after 10-20 minute because you're not into it that's fine, but at least get on for 10-20 minute and see how you feel. I can't think of one time that i started a workout that I didn't do more than I thought I would.

So, I have a new rule: 10 minutes no matter what.

I'll do 10 minutes no matter how busy or tired I am. If I can't do more fine, but I suspect I'll always do at least a little more. I'm back in LA tomorrow after a very productive trip and that should help my progress a lot.

I'm still beatup from the HIIT workout Sunday. In fact, I'm hurting more today than I did yesterday.... so, I'll just warn everyone once more to be careful with this high-intensity stuff. I think you need about 30-40 walks/runs under your belt if you're gonna do this kind of thing. Of course, you could also do it a little less intense I guess. Either way you should probably talk to a trainer/doctor about your workouts if you don't want to hurt yourself--not me. I just a dude talking about what I'm doing. This blog isn't a health plan that you should follow... this is one dude talking about his life. Be smart about your health and your body.

OK, enough disclaimers.... I'm 191.6 today and the month is coming to a close. I didn't make it under 190, but I look a lot different in the mirror. I'm fairly certain that the 18 workouts I've done this month have built some muscle, burned some fat, and changed my body. It's also helped my mind. When I was 207 I would hurt for days after even a simple treadmill workout. If I get on the treadmill today it will be eight days in a row--and three of those days were hardcore workouts.

Working out in the AM is a my big secret at this point. If you get it overwith in the AM you've got a much be chance of actually working out. As the day goes on you get busy, you get tired, and you say "screw it, I'll workout tomorrow." If you start your day with a workout you're gonna burn more calories all day (right?), feel more energy, and sleep better at night.

Here is how you do it:

a) Layout your workout clothes by your bed when you get up.
b) When you get up just put them on--don't even debate if you're gonna work out.
c) Buy a bunch of workout clothes so you are never faced with the "I've got nothing to wear" argument
d) If you're really not motivated set yourself up with some ubersimple goal. Like tell yourself that you're going to do at least 50 or 100 calories/10 minutes on the treadmill. When you hit that goal chances are you'll do more.
e) Set up small goals of consecutive days for yourself. For example,I did a bunch of 2 or 3 days in a row segments this month and I finally turned a corner last week and now I'm on day eight--in a row! If you get two days in a row try for three. After that why note five? If you don't do it no problem, now you've got another chance to get it done.
f) Go Starbucks Style: If you really can't get up for your work out walk to Starbucks--or two starbucjs away from your place if you're in a city (that's about 8 blocks :-)--and walk back. At least you'll get a mile under your belt.

So.... if you're reading this and it's 9am on the west coast and you haven't worked out let's get to work people!

I'm going to try and add some core exercises to my fatblogging.com (TM) routine this week... I was reading on FitSugar about some movie doing something called the Russian Twist so I Google/YouTubed it and found a bunch of videos.... this looks hard!

After kicking my butt with the HITT training yesterday I did a short 32 minute walk today. I've done 18 runs/walks this month and with the exception of the two mile 17 minute run I did on the 22nd nothing has come close to beating me up like the HIIT workout yesterday.

My legs feel like jello, and I couldn't even consider running today--let alone doing another HIIT workout. So, I think I learned my lesson: I'm not ready to do 60 sprints at 8/9MPH over and over again. If I do another HIIT workout tomorrow or the next day I think I'll extend the recovery period to 1 minute 20 seconds, and cut the sprint down to 40 seconds--or something like that.

I could have hurt myself real bad with the HIIT training, so if you're reading the FatBlogging.com(tm) stuff and thinking you should do what Jason did, don't. This HIIT stuff is not for play, and you could bust up your joints real quick and be off your feet for a while.
OK, I'm off to work... don't stop believing (insert motivational stuff here), don't eat any bread/pasta, eat some veggies/etc. Happy fatblogging everyone! :-)

	type	cals	miles	minutes
2/2/2007	walk	285	2.14	40
2/5/2007	run	347	2.11	31
2/7/2007	walk	200	1.3	20
2/8/2007	walk	522	3.5	65
2/9/2007	walk	503	3.06	50
2/11/2007	walk	580	3.36	55
2/13/2007	walk/run	522	3.6	60
2/14/2007	run	251	1.53	20
2/15/2007	run	323	2	22
2/17/2007	walk	400	1.5	45
2/18/2007	walk	200	1	20
2/20/2007	walk	400	2.34	40
2/21/2007	run	465	3	28
2/22/2007	run	307	2	17
2/23/2007	walk	652	4	60
2/24/2007	walk	491	2.83	50
2/25/2007	HIIT	247	1.87	25
2/26/2007	walk	221	1.57	32
Feb Total	18	6916	42.71	680
average		384.22	2.37	37.78

Looks like the fatblogging dragnet has caught two big fish over the past two days.

First we got Hugh, and yesterday we landed uber-advertising guru Joseph Jaffe. Now, Jaffe is truly fat as you could see in CalacanisCast 11. By landing him we landed like 30 pounds of pure fat.... this is big. The more fat we land the more we can lose. :-)

What does it mean to be part of the movement? Very simple:

1. Blog your weight/thoughts about weight loss each day (you don't have to put the number in the subject line if you don't want... but I think that's fun).
2. Search for Fatbloggers daily (i.e. on Technorati or Google Blog Search)
3. Link to and comment on blog posts by other fatbloggers. Share your ups, downs, and tips.

Basically it's an online support and education group. I've learned so much from the tips in my comments, and by searching for the fatblogging tag/keyword. I've started using the Polar heart monitor and the BMI scale thanks to comments, and I've jumped into the whole walking vs. running debate.