I am doing daily scrutiny of the weight. It is helping.

I definitely am losing weight. I am resnapping my hopeful projection. I don’t want to make the mistake of projecting too far out. I want to get out of the 280s quickly now. I want to spend March in 270s.

We are on a Formula 1 race!

Let’s review the GP system. What works well, what doesn’t, etc.

[G] Goals

• The quarterly goal is awesome. I should keep that.
• I need more sub-goals. This will help me gamify stuff. Kind of like a monthly or weekly cadence.
• Goals need to be quantifiable.
• Some goals should be easy, some hard.
• Also, feel free to use Strava etc to figure out the goals.
• Maybe also add weight lifting goals.

[P] Plan

• This part seems fine.
• Dials for calories, miles, etc.
• DAILY WEIGHT LOGGING SCRUTINY

[T] Try

• Eh, this is more like a extra credit thing? Not sure if this is needed.

[W] Weekly Updates

• Yea, this is critical.
• Need DAILY WEIGHT SCRUTINY
• The weekly updates need to happen here.
• Expect to have 12 updates.

You have a function f(x) which represents “healthy living”. You can’t just invoke it once in a while. It, instead, needs to be called regularly. It needs to be integrated over time.

Initially, calling f(x) consistency is hard. Your body and your habits will make you not want to do f(x), at least initially. But, you have to choose.

Sacrifice

To be consistently healthy, at least in the first few years of a healthy life, you have to be willing to sacrifice. You will have to give up on the old habits and behavior patterns. The new habits and behavior patterns will solidify themselves. And you will be able to see it directly:

• I was able to eat 5 to 6 slices in the past. I can barely eat 2 now.
• I feel the urge to go running often now
• I hate the feeling of drunkenness. I live sobriety.
• My body is also adjusted: Sleep is better, resting heart rate is changing (-12%), VO2 max is changing.

20 pounds lost over 1 year. That’s okay. I can double it this year.

Motivation

Initially, the motivation has to be forced. Kind of like confidence. But eventually, the motivation becomes implicit. Endogenous. When that happens, excuses vanish.

• Sickness is no longer an excuse.
• Cold, bad weather, etc is no longer an excuse.
• Mood is not an excuse. In fact, the mood elevates when doing stuff. It really is a good feeling to have.
• Other people’s schedules and desires have no influence. They are no excuse.

Help yourself to be consistent

• Surround yourself with diet foods.
• Keep your workout gear ready so that you can go for a run whenever
• Keep the morning biking schedule. Just 10 mins.
• Manage social expectations. Stay clean and sleep early. After a few years, it becomes the new default.

I had a few sips of a cocktail today. It is valentines day so took something on the date. But I hated the taste. So done with alcohol for now. It’s been 25 days.

I am insanely motivated right now. I am seeing results. I have the confidence that I can get this done. And the body is in the right mode.

A lot of the sub processes and things (like calorie control, exercise, sleep, lack of alcohol, etc) are flowing together. It’s like this euphoric combination of everything. It was HARD to get it rolling. But I am there now.

Man, I am scared about losing this motivation and having to restart.

you know what people say? It’s easier to keep going rather than start again

In quantitative finance, alpha is a complicated thing. It’s a collection of a lot of smaller signals which combine together to produce something that is bigger than the whole. Things have to work together to make an effective alpha.

Similar to that, weight loss seems to be a collection of things that have to come together to transition the body into a fat burning mode. I have written about this before, but yea. I think that is something.

Also, remember the hidden calories. Diet soda vs. normal soda. It’s amazing. Simple changes can change everything.

There is no silver bullet. There is just a collection of stuff that works together.

Aggression

Obesity is a disease. So, you want to get rid of it as soon as possible, no? Shock the body and lose the fat quickly. Be aggressive.

Aggression with high scrutiny.

Well, it was the superbowl yesterday. While I ran the race, I did “loosen up” a bit. I ate +800 calories based on my log (although the week total was still below target). Well, today, I am up to 286! Holy hell, right? That’s 6 pounds in 24 hours.

I ate shitty stuff, sure. The BEC was off. And then I ate some superbowl shit at the bar. And I kept it at heineken 0.

Definitely didnt drink much water.

So I am hoping most of this is just water weight.

It didn’t feel like a cheat day. But I guess it was. Hydration was a bit issue.

Back on the wagon we go today. I don’t care about others. I am focussed on myself. I want to aggressively focus on one day at a time.

Don’t want to write too much about this. But just wanted to point it out a bit.

Last sip was Jan 20th. Since then, I have definitely not missed it. And I have even gone out and managed well with Heineken 0.0. As I write this right now, I have zero desire for it. Do not miss the fucked up sleep, waking up late, etc.

I went through a period of insane stress over the last month. And my first instinct was not to drink more; but rather, cut it out completely. I needed the full faculty of my brain at all times.

People have said that I am more intense these days. I don’t think that’s because of the lack of alcohol. Rather, I think that is because of the stress.

I started to channel my stresses into running. I fucking enjoy running. Knock on wood I am able to do it regularly. I don’t think I would be able to keep a good running schedule and loose the little bit of weight I have lost easily if I was drinking a lot.

Fuck, I can’t even imagine drinking right now. The hangovers, the loss of control. Fuck all that shit.

There is so much that needs to be accomplished in this life. And this life is short. I cannot get distracted. Health, woman, family, and being in the room where it happens (at work). And then, establish myself as a member of the faith community and also politics.

But, at the end of the day, you need to focus one day at a time.

I love streaks. I love completing goals.

The running app is exciting. I am completing the days right now. And it is definitely helping.

Like F1

Good stuff. Nice race. My pace is okay, could be better.

My paces: 15.42, 14:33, 14:31

It’s all about pacing next.