I came across this today (http://www.nosdiet.com) and found it to be entertaining if nothing else.  The premise is No Snacks, No Sweets, No Seconds. (get it – No “S”…).  Admittedly I thought of something else when I saw the title that involved a four letter word – which after reading more, I think still fits.

For the most part, this is what I have been doing since the beginning of the month (June, 2010).  I plan to read more from the site – I found the authors candor to be very refreshing.

My favorite quote from his page so far:

Is there any scientific evidence that this diet works?

Absolutely none. But I’m not aware that I have any competition in this regard.

Posted from Phoenix, Arizona, United States.

I’ve been losing weight recently (last week weeks) but for the most part – I have considered it water weight.  This morning – for the first time in over 5 years (maybe much longer) I weighed in at less than 280 lbs.  I know I still have a very very long road ahead of me, but still I’m happy with todays weigh in.

When I started IQA – I thought the blog would give me the extra motivation I needed to lose weight – it didn’t.  Before IQA – I tried cycling – I rode my bike three times a week when my commute to work was just under 20 miles each way!  I did that for months even in the Phoenix 110 degrees everyday for months summer and In 2007, I even completed a 735 mile ride from here to Texas, taking 11 days.  I titled the ride “D-Tour” (thanks goes to Aaron Delong for the title).  Still, I never got below 280 lbs.

What’s changed?  I don’t know… I don’t know that anything has changed… I don’t know if this is short term… I don’t know if I will quit again.  Regardless – this morning I looked at the scale and it read 279.6 lbs.  And I haven’t been under 280 lbs in a very very long time.

Posted from Phoenix, Arizona, United States.

I’ve been focusing on my health for the last couple of weeks – and I’ve seen some progress but today I noticed something has changed.  I wish I could say it was that my pants were loose or my belt was too big – or something great like that but its something different than an external change.  Something internal is happening here.

I had a vendor meeting over lunch today – which happens a few times a month in my field.  Most of the time, its at a restaurant where there are always healthly options (for me to ignore) – but today it was an in-house lunch meeting and the vendor brought pizza.  Ugghhh… I can’t eat pizza and I know it but even that fact and my recognition of that fact isn’t the change I’m talking about.

I went downstairs and purchased a salad from the cafe – that’s right I paid for food when free food was available -But even that isn’t what caused me to write a post.  What surprised me was my reaction to the pizza.  Before, I would have either A) eaten the pizza and felt guilty later OR B) Gotten a salad from downstairs while I wished I was eating pizza.

You may think – ok, Dale – you picked B.  But that is not the case.  I saw the pizza – and was immediately put off.  Almost like one of those skinny health nuts that turn their nose up at junk food – I smelled the pizza and thought – ugghh, there is no way I’m eating THAT!

My tastes seem to have changed – if only for this single meal.  I’m going to take it as a win – if only for this single meal.

Posted from Phoenix, Arizona, United States.

I have been filming daily video journal entries concerning my most recent weightloss effort – and I plan to share them all here, however I’m still looking for an easy way to do that without also having to maintain a youtube channel.  ANY SUGGESTIONS?

Posted from Phoenix, Arizona, United States.

Testing my Evo

Yes, that’s right – I’m already on my way to the store by the time your email told you I had a new post – I’m picking up my Sprint HTC Evo today!

I know its an extra $10 a month Evo Tax imposed by Sprint and I know I will have to pay $30 in addition if I want to use the phone as a hotspot legally… but I don’t care.  This isn’t just a phone – its a blog enabler, a kid cuteness capturing device, a geocaching GPS, a navigation system, an email reader, an mp3 player, a radio (yes, it plays the radio!), a video conference enabler, and a swiss army knife!

Anyway – I wanted you to know, I may already have it in my hands by the time you read this!!!

A group of four year olds were each put in a room alone with a single marshmallow with the instructions to not eat the marshmallow.  They were told if they succeeded in not eating the marshmallow after 15 mins, they would be given 2 marshmallows.  Some of the children were able to refuse the marshmallow in front of them for the promise of two later and some were not.  I’m in the latter category.

The study was a long term one attempting to see what the outcome would be for those children that were able to deny themselves for now in order to get what they wanted more in the long run.  A much larger scope than food – but I’m certain for me the two go hand in hand.  I’m an overeater and I would have eaten the marshmallow before the instructor left the room.  Maybe that is where I should start my weight loss journey over – self-denial everyday until it becomes a part of my culture.  Just a thought…

http://www.ted.com/talks/joachim_de_posada_says_don_t_eat_the_marshmallow_yet.html

So the question is – if I started to create video content – would you watch?  Personally – it was a lot of work to get you guys (those of you left) to even check out or read my blog – BUT I’m soon to have the HTC Evo phone with a 4.3 inch screen, an 8 meg camera, and the easy of uploading videos through qik or youtube right from the phone.

So – if I uploaded vlog entries – would you bother watching?  I’m not sure that I can maintain any level of content worth watching.  I am a conversationalist.  I enjoy sharing my life through short stories and entertaining those around me.  But, would it be easier for me to create a video blog entry than it is to create a short post?  Maybe.

I have thought about sharing my weight loss struggle in a video journaling fashion, but is that TOO personal?  When I write, I often labor over the right words, the best phrasing, the exact description.  I’ve even changed the wording of a post based solely on my inability to spell a word close enough for spell checker to even understand what I was trying to say.  A video removes all of that dynamic.

Well – I’m sure I will still attempt some level of word smithing.  The worst part of vlog entries is that unlike conversations, I have the ability to rewind and try again.  Seriously – this is a bad thing because it causes me to spend a lot of time scripting my post – something I never do in casual conversation.  And I think a good blog entry looks like a casual conversation.

Anyway – my question is – if I film it, will you watch it?

Wouldn’t that be great?  Something new on the horizon?  I know I would love to have some new momentum, new direction, new inspiration for losing weight.  But I don’t.  Currently I only have the same dream of 36 inch pants and medium sized shirts that I have had for the last several years.

I don’t even know that I’m closer to understanding the reason for my weight issues (emotional, genetics, thyroid gland, just plain lazy, etc).  I’m active – I work out although its not consistent.  I’ve cycled, ran, walked, even recently started a martial arts class.  I think I know the best way for me to lose weight will involve dieting (or more specifically, changing my diet).  I can work out for an hour and burn 500 – 1000 calories but in as little as 5 minutes I can consume twice that.

Anyway – there is no new ‘umph’, no new push, no new direction.  Not even the frustration is new!  I would say that I want to lose weight like I want to play the piano; Enough to dream of how great it would be, but not enough to actually put in the time and effort required to accomplish the dream… At least I can console myself with mp3′s of great piano solos and think that could be me!

This morning, I’m working from home, surfing the web, responding to work IMs, reading my email (both work and personal), tweeting my breakfast, paying my bills, and writing this post, when I came across another great reason why I’m a Sprint customer – the HTC EVO phone.

Ok, I didn’t tweet my breakfast – but the rest of its true.  As I’m looking at the HTC EVO (which isn’t out yet), I’m thinking “THAT is my next phone!”.  Then I came across the Sprint Premier members only contest allowing 10 people to WIN an HTC EVO phone AND year of service - all you have to do is give FAST FACTS regarding what I can do really fast in no LESS than 150 words!  Sounds like a blog entry to me, so why not?  But what can I do really fast?

1. I can type about 50 words a minute – but I can cut and past thousands of words in a nano second; does that count?
2. I rode my bicycle over 700 miles in 11 days; I only actually averaged around 10 mph on the bike – but I once took a plane ride from Charlotte to Phoenix in under 5 hours; does that count?
3. I have three kids all under 7 years old – but we used in vitro fertilization and I actually did my part in creating 23 embroyes in one ‘shot’; does that count?
4. I wrote this entire blog post in under ten minutes – but I stopped to play with my kids and didn’t actually hit the post button until over an hour later; does that count against me?

What does any of this have to do with my wildly popular “I Quit Again!” weight loss blog?  Nothing.  Does that count against me too?