How is everyone doing?

[jatewj1]

I was wondering how everyone was doing with their diets.

[iaintnobody]

I have only used Figwee one day. I can't seem to get motivated to
move. How about you?

[Josie]

I had one day where I 'fell off the diet wagon'.
It was 'the big game' - college football and my fiance's team the
Buckeyes were playing so we ended up having pizza and beer at a local
bar to watch some of it.
Of course I ate pizza, and felt I needed to eat almost my whole half
(old habits die hard...I'm a child of the 'eat everything on your
plate before you leave the dinner table' generation).
However, besides that...all in all, I'm very happy with my progress
and my level of self motivation.
It's like a light went on that was also a question, "what are you
waiting for ?".
I have found Fit TV, which, let me tell you - is the greatest thing
ever. How can I make an excuse? I'm at home, doing what I'm normally
doing after work - sitting on the couch...why not flip the channel to
1164 (time warner cable) and watch a workout. From there I realized,
"this is easy, I could do this." So I did.
I now get up early in the morning to do Fit TV workouts because I look
forward to how good I feel about myself afterwards - like I
accomplished something, and what better way to start your day than to
do something nice for yourself.
I have an office job so it's also hard for me to not eat out for lunch
out of convenience, and I've put into my routine to take at least one
exercise break. I just walk up and down a flight of stairs for 10
minutes. Aftewards, I feel energized instead of tired...and I'm
noticing that I'm able to do a little bit more, without as much heavy
breathing, every day.
I totally recommend reading The YOU Diet book (because it should be
more of a decision to live with 'awareness' of what you are doing,
instead of robotic automations that you've been taught by association
over time...ie., McDonalds culture)
I did weight watchers last year, so I found out that writing down what
you eat really, really does put a halt on what you are eating, or how
much of it. Tracking calories online works best for me...though I
haven't been dilligent every single day yet...I'm getting a better
grasp on exactly what I'm taking in, and the effect that it will have,
instead of just eating because i'm hungry and it smells/tastes good.
If it's not good FOR you then what's the purpose than to satisfy
something else...like a crutch. To satisfy your body you need to know
what it needs, and what it needs is nutrients and as much organic food
as you can afford.

[jeff....@gmail.com]

Hi,

Here is my weight history since I began using Figwee:

9/24/2007 262
10/1/2007 255.2 6.8
10/08/2007 253.6 1.6
10/15/2007 252.8 0.8
10/22/2007 249.0 3.8
10/29/2007 251.5 (2.5)
11/05/2007 245.8 5.7
11/12/2007 244.0 1.8
11/19/2007 242.4 1.6
11/26/2007 237.5 4.9
12/03/2007 236.4 1.1
12/10/2007 236.6 (0.2)
12/17/2007 231.4 5.2
12/24/2007 228.4 3
12/31/2007 229.2 (0.8)
01/07/2008 228.2 1

I set my weight loss goal to be 2 lbs a week. (I'll be reducing it to
1 lb a week as I get closer to my target weight). As you can see,
even though I'm pretty consistent with my program, the weight comes
off in spurts. My understanding is that this is attributed to the body
holding on to, and then finally releasing, water. However, the numbers
average out to 2.24 lbs a week, pretty close to my target pace. My
starting body fat percentage was 35%; I am now down to about 28.5%.

The 6.8 weight loss the first week is really high, so some of that
must have been water weight lost. (I must have been a water retaining
sea cow prior to starting the program; used to eat a LOT of salt).

Cheers,

-Jeff

[jeff....@gmail.com]

Hi Folks,

If there is ever a time when you "fall off the wagon", there is one
feature in Figwee that can help you get back on track: Skip a Day.
There is actually a "food" named "Skip a Day" that allows you to take
a guess at the total number of calories for an entire day and make
only one single entry for that day. The Skip a Day food item actually
has nutritional values that are the average of our entire database of
foods. By using this feature, you can quickly account for days when
you did not keep track of what you ate (e.g. on vacation). It allows
you to keep from having gaps in the charts such as Net Calories Last
30 Days. Sure, you have to take a guess at the total number of
calories, but you do so and move on, guilt free.

Hope this helps,

-Jeff

On Jan 9, 3:40 pm, Josie <Josie.M.Br...@gmail.com> wrote:

[lovinearth]

Great weight loss and goal achievement, Jeff!

I'm losing about the same per week, but have only been doing this
since Dec 31st. Not the big first week weight loss for me, but I was
hangin' on to some holiday habits for a few days. I am journaling
type, and want to know if there is an easy way in the results section
to have a journal entry page where we can just take quick notes about
our day (why we exercised at 1:00 am that night/morning, whether we
had a cold that day, etc...I sometimes like to use my own words and I
like to look back and see changes in those journaling patterns as
well. Have I missed a feature that's already here, or is this
something planned?

[John Gobel (Co-Founder of Figwee)]

I have been using Figwee for eight weeks. I have been eating for
about a 1.5 to 2 pound a week weight loss.
So far, I have lost 7 pounds, but I do not measure my success in terms
of weight because I resistance train
very hard. In fact, I don't weigh myself but once every couple of
weeks or so. Here is the real measures of my success:

Bicep size - gained 2"
Calf Size - gained 1.5"
Waist size - lost 3"
Chest size - same
Thigh size - gained 2 inches

Also, my blood pressure has dropped 10 %, and my resting heart rate
has dropped from 90 to 72.
I didn't take a benchmark of my blood readings, but I'm willing to bet
that they are better as well.

It is hard for me not to be losing more weight, but I can see that fat
is being replaced by muscle.
My goal is to be healthier and stronger, and everything is going
well. I may adjust my calories down just a bit to speed up the
process.

Cheers,

John

[jeff....@gmail.com]

Hi,

The journal is not yet planned, and a good idea. Let me see if we can
add this quickly.
Glad to hear that the weight loss is coming at a reasonable pace for
you. Keep up the good work.

Regards,

-Jeff

[jeff....@gmail.com]

OK, added a "Daily Journal" to the Results Log. Let me know if it
works for you.

Cheers,

-Jeff

[Lena]

Well I've only been doing this since the 1st. So I haven't weighed
myself yet. What I'm proud of is that I've tracked everything I've
ate. I've wanted to do a food journal for awhile just to get an idea
of what I was actually eating. I was just too lazy to write it down
in a journal. I seem to be doing alright except that I eat a lot of
bread. Fresh bakery bread is my Achilles heel. And I have more
access to fresh bread where I live now. But when I do buy fresh bread
it's usually whole grain, whole wheat, or parmentier (rosemary and
potato bread). The sandwich bread I get is really good too with no
added sugar, or fat. It's the equivalent of the high fiber bread.
I'm from PA orginally and I'm living near Montreal. I exercise more
here as well so that's good too.

Lena

[lovinearth]

Jeff,

Journal seems to be working fine! Put in for two different days, and
it held my edits in both places.

THANKS for the prompt listening and response!

[jeff....@gmail.com]

Hi Lena,

I agree you should be proud of tracking everything.

Good, bad, or indifferent calorie-wise, honest tracking is 90% of the
battle in my opinion. When I stop tracking is when I gain weight. I
think just the act of keeping track of what you eat over time changes
your choices for the positive. Even a modest average deficit of 100
calories a day would lead to a ten pound loss over the course of a
year, and for most people this would be virtually painless. But it is
SO easy to consume 4 or 5 thousand calories in a day if you are not
paying attention.

Anyway, thanks for the post. Await your first weigh in...may it be
painless :-)

-Jeff

[Lena]

Well I wore my tighest jeans the other day and they're not tight any
more! Yeah! i stepped on a scale today I've definitely lost some
weight, 2-3 lbs. I should buy a scale but I really don't want to have
one around lest I begin to weigh myself every day.

Lena

[jeff....@gmail.com]

Lena, great news, keep up the good work!

My SO is also losing, and her jeans are fitting loose in the butt, so
you know what that means....SHOPPING :-)

Congrats,

-Jeff

[jeff....@gmail.com]

Hi all,

Lost 3.8 lbs this week! Down to 223.6. Getting there.

I'm sure that not all of that weight was "lost" this week, as I have
been on a mini plateau for the last two weeks. But I am tracking my
Figwee target weight loss of 2 lbs a week pretty accurately when you
look at it from a long term perspective.

I don't know about anyone else, but Figwee is working for me. (good
thing ;-)

Cheers,

-Jeff

[jeff....@gmail.com]

Hi Figweers,

This morning's weigh in: 221.8 lbs, down another 1.8 lbs. According my
Figwee charts, I should have lost 2 lbs, so right on target.

Another milestone: as of today, I have lost over 40 lbs total using
Figwee since 9/24/07, an average of about 10lbs a month. Not bad.

How are the rest of you doing?

Regards,

-Jeff

[Kitt]

Hi Jeff --

Figwee is great; I'm down about 6 pounds since year's start. I'm
finding it a great new way to journal my eating.

But I wrote a message about this earlier: What happened to the chat
traffic with this group? I'm not getting any group digests sent to my
email account or anything. Have you been able to look into that at
all?

Thanks, and keep up the good work.

--Kitt

[jeff....@gmail.com]

Hi Kitt,

Great to hear that the pounds are coming off. Fantastic.

I'm sorry about the chat digest. I don't know what the issue might be.
I'm still receiving them both through email and google reader,
although post traffic has been lighter since we cut off the free beta
program (we have enough participants now). Frankly, I'm not sure how
to check into this. Is there anyway you could try "unsubscribing" then
"resubscribing"? Anyone else not getting the digest emails?

I'll try to do some poking around on Google groups to see if there is
any known issue with this.

Sorry,

-Jeff