This week I weigh-in at 183.8 for a total loss of 11 lbs. That’s (on average) just under -2 lbs a week. On one hand, that’s alot better than where I’d have been by now if I hadn’t started the-diet. On the other hand, I could have done much better.

I’m glad to be -11, but I’ve decided to up the ante as I know that number could have been even more impressive if I’d stuck to a plan better. I cheated alot over the past several weeks – not out of lack of will so much as lack of time/energy … I failed to plan things out ahead of time and ended up “winging it” at restaurants for lunch and having to guess at how many calories I had left for dinner (something I’m not all that great at).

So this week, I’m trying something new. I’m actually going to be using one of those prepared meal services this week. At first, I didn’t know if I’d like the idea, but Doug tried it and had good success with it – and it actually looked like really good food. I also have to admit that letting someone else worry about shopping/cooking/planning is appealing. Meanwhile the average cost per meal is less than I usually spend otherwise, so it may actually save me money in the long run. It seems a win-win-win. I may do a fuller review of the service later.

With four months left before Vlogger Camp I’m going to use that date as a deadline so to speak and set some aggressive goals. Hopefully the meal plan I’m starting will help a great deal.

So with the addition of this new meal plan (which starts tonight at dinner), and the start of a new month tomorrow … this kinda feels like a new start for me.

I’ll be posting this at the same time as I post week 6, so be sure to read week 6 for recaps/thoughts/etc.

In my defense, I had a week of semi-mandatory business lunch outings which really threw me off.

Having squeaked by this week without a gain, I’m going to try to get really serious about this again this week.

Doug had a good week. I’m going to have to look into the nutrition plan he’s doing.

I’m stupid-crazy-busy this week so I’ll have to cut this post short.

Although being a bit more strict about ‘the rules’ as far as eating seems to have paid off, I still felt like I was slacking off too much. I didn’t really exercise at all … that will come back to haunt me.

Anyway, you may have noticed that I’ve renumbered the weeks to start with zero rather than one 1. This way “week X” numbers are reporting the results for that week, rather than the starting numbers for that week … this just makes more sense to me.

So here are the results for week 2:

I learned in Week 1 that as far as “The-Diet” is concerned, weekends are really hard for me. I undid alot of progress I made over the week once the weekend hit. Without the routine of a work day I tend to snack more and get off schedule … which leads to even more snacking. It’s clear that I have to be much more diligent about the weekends from now on.

I also learned that my “plan” had a little too much “faith” mixed in. So this week, I’m going to try and shore up some more ‘rules’ about how the eating and exercise is supposed to go throughout the week (and especially on the weekends).

My numbers moved in the right direction this week, but I can’t help wonder how awesome they would have been if I hadn’t messed up the weekend so fully. Hopefully I can make even better progress in Week 2.

I’m glad to see that some folks listed on Colin’s Diet page are still going and I’m following them via their RSS feeds. I don’t think the list of participants there is up to date, however, so if you’re just starting be sure to check out Technorait and the flickr pool / discussion group for possible new and continuing participants. Cheryl has signed on in her quest to make healthy changes in her life through yoga, and Doug has signed on in his goal to “become less repulsive“.

Ok enough stalling … here’s the numbers at the end of week 1:

Update: I’ve renumbered the weeks to start with zero rather than one 1. This way “week X” numbers are reporting the results for that week, rather than the starting numbers for that week … this just makes more sense to me.

Some of you video bloggers out there may know, or know of, Colin Devroe from viddler. If you follow his blog, you may also know that he some time ago started “The Diet” which was really just a goal to start eating and living healthy along with an agreement between friends to blog their progress and be held accountable.

As it turns out, his idea really took off and people from all over started to join in with him and his friends in this self-organized blog-roll-oriented support group.

People all over started posting their weekly updates, tagging them appropriately, subscribing to each others feeds, joining the flickr group, etc etc etc.

As I surfed through this distributed group and saw the results these folks were seeing, I found it all really inspiring and I loved the way a group had formed up a sort of distributed social network using blogs, tags, technorati, rss feeds, flickr, etc to document/support/inspire/accomplish their mutual goals.

Through all the times I’ve tried to come up with some way to keep motivated and be accountable, I’ve always stopped short of publishing such efforts to my blog. I’m not sure why I was so reluctant to do so … I mean I post videos of myself here – it’s not like I’m fooling anyone. Maybe what I’ve needed was this sort of public accountability and public support … possible humiliation.

Now I’m not real excited about the idea of publishing for the world in cold hard numbers just how out of shape I am (and don’t expect any official before pictures) but I am eager to get back in shape, and I’m willing to risk publishing my missteps if it means someone out there is going to call me on it.

So if you are interested why not come along for the ride? Pick a goal or a series of goals, publish your updates on your blog or in the flickr group, and we’ll all follow along with each others progress to stay inspired and offer support.

Regardless as to if you participate yourself – if you plan on reading the content here please feel free to call me out if you notice I’m slacking in this in anyway … that’s why I’m doing this so publicly on the website. Of course also feel free to offer whatever support or encouraging words you feel inspired to provide as well.

I’ll be posting weekly updates, and may create a special page/view here at DavidMeade.com for the topic. So without further ado here are the horrible depressing and gut wrenching starting numbers:

Update: I’ve renumbered the weeks to start with zero rather than one 1. This way “week X” numbers are reporting the results for that week, rather than the starting numbers for that week … this just makes more sense to me.