Update

As often happens, the diet did not go to plan. Well, I stuck with it, but I just wasn't losing weight. In the past, I have lost weight using the whole 'just cutting back of everything' method (with increased protein), and it has worked, so maybe I should go back to that method instead of increasing my fat intake. I know that I can fiddle with the carbohydrates and fat intake, I'll just let the protein stay at about 60g.

My weight loss has been stagnant, there just isn't the motivation for it. Because of that, I want to get losing weight, the idea is to give away money when I have a 'wasted day' of my weight loss. That's when I'm losing, then I gain again, every day after that increase is a 'wasted day' until I get back to where I was previously. I want to give $2 to someone who I can be accountable to for each wasted day.

I'll ask them when I see them next in a week and see what they think about it.

I have come to the conclusion that having a weight loss blog really doesn't improve your weight loss efforts. That's because of the 20 weight loss blogs I'm tracking, the average weight loss for July was just over 1g. That compares with 475g for June, making an average of about 238g per month. That's really bad, basically people are stagnant in their weight loss. It just seems that half go up and half go down, the next month each person swaps sides.

I have to admit that I'm not a competitive person. That's my nature. But here's a chance to win. I'm tracking 20 weight loss blogs (including this one), maybe I should see if I can beat some people to goal. At the start of June, I was in 20th position, start of July I was in 19th and now I am in 20th position again. I want to see how many people I can pass as I move nearer to reaching goal (position is based on kg's from goal weight).

I haven't calibrated my scales yet, but I'm about 88kg.

My weight

Ever since I developed a health problem, 14 years ago (at the age of 29) I've had weight problems. My body has simply lost the ability to maintain a constant weight, a feature that many people have but some (myself included) don't realise it's working until it stops working.

This blog is a record of my weight loss, with all its successes and failures. I want to lose about 23kg, the exact amount I'm not sure because I need to calibrate my scales. That will happen in a few weeks, so any weights are uncalibrated, when I calibrate I'll change any values here.

In terms of eating, I want to a) eat at least 60g of protein a day b) no more than 60g of carbohydrates a day. This is would be considered a medium carbohydrate diet.

Also, I'll record my food spending because that is important to me as well, being on a low income. It's a shame but it actually costs more to be on a diet (usually because of the cost of protein).

I typically weigh in once a day, but I'm not so sure how often I'll post, probably between 2-3 times a week and 2-3 times a month.

In terms of a time frame, having been burned in terms of date/weight goals in the past, I've decided to not have any, but I shall give estimates and comparisons to when I successfully lost weight in 2000 (and speeded up at the end as well!).

There is a high school reunion in Easter next year, I'd like to be finished by then, also I'll probably be getting married about the same time, I really need to know that my partner is ok with my being slim, ideally before we get married. Yes, it sounds a bit unusual, it's a bit of an issue between us.

Now, I'd like to have a little talk about my theory about motivation.

Why do some people lose weight, and others fail? Why is the average weight loss for the 20-odd weight loss blogs I read about 105g a week? My theory on motivation is simple: good health and being slim is not enough motivation for most people. If it was, we wouldn't put on weight in the first place. There has to be another motivation - something that will make someone motivated to lose the weight.

My motivation is a new camera. The day I reach 66kg is the day I go to the camera shop and buy a new digital camera. However, it is quite expensive and so I'm saving up, which brings up another issue. No money for camera, no weight loss. There just is no motivation there. The two go hand in hand. The day I reach 66kg is the day I get the camera. The day I reach $630 is the day I achieve 66kg. No 66kg, no camera. No $630, no 66kg.

I'm fortunate in that the price will probably drop in the 6+ months before I buy the camera, so that's good news.

Currently I have the following 'saved':
Birthday money owed by partner $20
Won a bet with partner $5
Christmas money owed by father $25

In addition, the following amounts of money will come along:
Christmas (father and partner) about $50
Birthday in Feb (father and partner again) about $50
Partner pays me $5/kg weight loss (I pay her the same) $100

This makes a grand total of $250 out of $630, leaving $390 to save (in about 30 weeks). That's doable.

In an attempt to both save and spend less, $2 goes into the jar when I buy any food worth $2 or more.

So, from yesterday (the day when I started this system) I bought
Coffee and slice $7.70
Cookie $2.00
Chocolate bar $2.60

Total $12.30 and $6 into the jar (when I have it - I'm really short of money at the moment).