NOTE: This post originated as a 22 Sep 2006 email that I sent to a few friends who requested information on my approach to weight loss.  I have adjusted the date on this blog post to match the original email date and made some minor edits.

The figure shown below is my “EatWatch” log from this timeframe which was shared with many of the email recipients.  The blue data points are daily weight measurements.  The blue line is the smoothed or filtered weight value.  The red line is my calorie budget.  The green data points are my daily calorie intake and the green line is a smoothed or filtered calorie value.

SAE EatWatch log from fall 2006 [click on chart for a higher resolution version].

Folks,
You have expressed an interest in my approach to weight loss. I really don’t like it when people proselytize on this very personal subject, and I don’t want to appear to do that myself. However, since you asked I will tell you a little about the method I’m following.

The Hacker’s Diet

The approach to weight loss presented in this book really resonated with me. The author, John Walker, has made it freely available (HTML for online use and Adobe PDF for download) on his website.

Following are some aspects of his approach that are important to me:

simple logical engineering treatment of the subject

His explanation of the weight control problem really made sense to me. He reduces the human food processing system to a simple model and demystifies the whole complex field of nutrition. Basically, he uses physics (which I like and understand) instead of chemistry (which has always confused me) to tackle weight loss and control. In John’s simple model all calories are equal and 3500 calories equals one pound of fat. If you want to lose a pound per week than you need to eat 500 fewer calories per day than you burn.
(3500 cal/wk) / (7 day/wk) = 500 cal/day

use of moving averages to process daily weight measurements

Feedback from daily weight measurements is a very important part of this method; however, daily weight measurements have HUGE variability. John explains the cause of this variability and introduces a method based on moving averages to pull useful information from this noisy data.

realization that exercise alone is very unlikely to result in weight loss

I NEVER thought I would count calories. My plan was always to “eat sensibly” and exercise a bit more. John strongly encourages exercise but he convincingly demonstrates that it is unrealistic to rely on exercise alone for weight loss. I am now convinced that counting calories is the only realistic way for ME to lose weight.

realization that dieting isn’t forever

This is so idiot simple that I’m almost embarrassed to mention it. However, John’s simplified method enabled me to realize that the diet didn’t have to go on forever. You run the calorie deficit to reach your weight loss goal, but once there you can add those calories back to your diet. In fact, you must add them back to stabilize at your target weight. The key is to continuously monitor your weight and caloric intake to maintain your target, but you don’t have to keep starving yourself.

my experience to date

I started this project on April 20 planning to lose 1.25 lbs/wk. This required a daily deficit of 625 cal. Using various formulas I estimated that I was burning about 2300 cal/day. This gave me a daily calorie budget of 1675 cal.
1.25 lbs/wk * 3500 cal/lb = 4375 cal/wk
(4375 cal /wk) / (7 day/wk) = 625 cal/day
2300 cal/day – 625 cal/day = 1675 cal/day

I’ve been on the diet for 22 weeks now and have lost a little more than 35 lbs. This translates into about 1.6 lbs/wk which is a bit higher rate than I was targeting. I was intentionally conservative in estimating my daily burn rate (i.e. 2300 cal/day) and I try to stay a bit under the 1675 cal/day budget. I have not adjusted the budget because I’m very happy with the higher burn rate.

I have not significantly changed my diet. I just eat smaller portions to stay within my budget. I choose not to eat some high calorie foods (e.g. french fries) because I prefer to save those calories for stuff I really want. I routinely eat pizza, ice cream and fast food. Just not as much as before and I am much more selective about my menu choices.

Measuring portions is key for me. I measure my cereal in the morning. I make sure I know the volume of my OJ glass. I count out chips, peanuts, grapes, etc. You gotta know how much you ate to keep track of the calories, and I was completely amazed to realize just how much I was eating before.

1.6 lbs/wk equates to a daily calorie deficit of 800 cal. I have found this pretty manageable. I get frustrated and a little cranky when I have to cut myself off when others (e.g. my kids) are still chowing down; however, I don’t feel that I am starving and I haven’t experienced major cravings or urges.

If I do blow the budget on a given day, I don’t sweat it too much. You simply can’t eat enough in a single day to wreck your diet. All it will do is slow down your rate of loss a bit. Just get back on track the next day and keep moving forward.

I’ve found that counting calories isn’t very hard. This is particularly true because I tend to eat the same or similar meals from week to week. Once you figure out how many calories are in a particular item you can reuse that information. I believe that counting calories and measuring portions is key at least for the first few months. John claims that one eventually develops a really refined ability to estimate calories. I’m not there yet.

The Tools I Use

John Walker’s EatWatch software

This is a weight log with exponentially smoothed moving average filters to help you extract useful data from the very noisy daily weight measurements. I have found this trend information very helpful during the times when the daily measurements were not going my way. I expect the tool to be even more useful when I get to the weight maintenance phase. This tool is available as a Palm app and as MS Excel spreadsheets.

calorie/nutrition references

These are essential. John’s book has a pretty extensive calorie table. I also use a freely-available Palm nutrition reference from the USDA. Finally, I have found nutrition data online for most fast food restaurants and carry these PDF files with me. That is a big help when the family goes out for fast food.

calorie counting software

I use a little Palm freeware app called Fitness Record to count calories. It provides you with a running total for the day and if you enter you budget or target it will show you how many calories you can still eat. The coolest thing about this app is that it remembers your entries for the last 90 days. So if you had a Whopper Jr. a few weeks ago it will pop that info up when you start typing “whop”. Makes counting calories pretty painless.

Hope some of this proves useful for you. No more preaching – I promise!
Shawn