An Engineer's Guide To Weight Loss

Start smoking, eat more ice cream, drink lots of coffee... Hm... Seems to be the old fashioned type of engineer.

Lame article. First of all, that system (I've tried it) sucks. It requires constant attention and effort. I'd be surprised to meet anyone who's male and can be bothered to count their calories every day for more than 1 or 2 weeks (though some girls seem to manage, but they really care). You won't lose much weight in 1-2 weeks, so this system will only result in making you feel bad for yet again failing to lose any significant weight.

As I propose in my article here: http://www.inter-sections.net/2008/01/02/feedback/ - you need a good, timely, but also effortless system of feedback. Something that requires you to carry a notepad and add up numbers every day is a still-born failure.

The system that worked extremely well for me was much simpler: weigh yourself every day (including body fat %). Plot that on a grid, and that'll provide you motivation enough to keep your calorie intake down.

As an engineer, you should be aware that there's a few key vital behaviours that, if you implement them, typically make all the difference. According to various food associations, there's 3 vital behaviours for losing weight:

- Weigh yourself every day

- Eat breakfast every day

- Have a way to exercise at home

Since I lost 10kg in 3 months by doing just 2 out of those 3 (but going heavy on the "weigh yourself" bit by actually charting my weight and BF%), I can say that it certainly seemed to work for me.

The real engineer's guide to weight loss:

"The Hacker's Diet"

http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/

Written by John Walker, author of Autocad. He claimed to have solved every problem he had except weight loss, so he just treated it as another engineering problem. Very interesting read for those with scientifically oriented minds. The Palm software is cool, too.

"Dieting and exercising suck. This is possibly the most miserable thing you can do to yourself. You are not going to have fun."

Bzzzt! Wrong attitude. If you hate the exercise you are doing, find another one, there are more sports than anyone can count. If you hate healthy food, learn to cook, I guarantee that anyone who knows what they are doing can prepare a healthy meal that tastes better than pizza or a burger.

Setting out to make yourself miserable is setting out to fail.

I am in the top 5% of fitness of those above 30. My weight has been consistent for more than 12 years. I have more muscle today than I did 12 years ago.

Frankly, I have never followed any diet. I simply limit my carbohydrates to a level that matches my physical activity. I eat about 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight and limit fats. I lift weight three times and try to run about 2 times and it works.

All those micro-managed diet programs have never worked for me. The main thing is to enjoy your workout and to enjoy the fitness lifestyle.