This morning I weighed in at 20lbs lost in the first 3 weeks of my experiment, bringing me to 240.2. My goals are for 20 for the first month (I made it with one week left for extra credit) and then 10 pounds per month for the next three month. I have been slowly increasing exercise intensity as well.

Last night I used a training system called Escalating Training Density. In this protocol you take 15 minutes and do two non-competing or antagonistic exercises in alternating fashion, attempting to complete as many total combined reps of the two exercises as possible. The next time out you exercise you simply try to beat the score from last time, putting huge effort and attention into making sure your form does decrease in quality. It forces your muscles to do more work each time (progressive overload), which makes them grow. And it puts huge anabolic stress on your body, which increases Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC), which in turn causes increases in metabolism. I used pushups and a hammer curl and press. It is brutal.
Wish me luck...

The Hierarchy of Fat Lossby Alwyn Cosgrove

The science of the metabolic effect of exercise

Escalating Density training

247

247.0, managed to loose another half pound. Thursday through Sunday were a wash through eating for social reasons. I am aiming to loose 7 pounds in the next 2 weeks, bringing me to 20 flat for the first month of the contract. I then hope to loose 2.5 per week for the remaining 12 weeks for a round 50 at the end of four months. That would require losing 2.5 lbs of fat per week over the last 90 days, This amounts to a deficit of roughly 1200 k/cal a day.
I have a basal metabolic rate (how many calories my body uses for basic regulation, or how many I owuld burn lying in bed all day) of roughly 2400. http://health.discovery.com/tools/calculators/basal/basal.html
This means I should aim to eat 1500, and burn an additional 300 through exercise and post metabolic exercise increase through EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) and the metabolic cost of repairing muscle micro-torn during resistance.
The key now is consistency. Finding a way to make this socially and emotionally sustainable. I have to get used to the steady progress of averaging .3 to .4 lbs lost per day. The days of 10 lb weeks are behind us.
Keeping stable at the goal weight of 200 once I get there feels much easier, because I will have roughly 700 extra calories a day to work with. Similar to the finical ease you feel after paying off debt. The loathsome fat on my stomach is like a debt to myself, bought during those Memphis post-lying betrayal cheese and sugar binges with a high interest line of metabolic credit.
Brian

247.4 pounds of love

247.4... stable for last 2 days.

The Slide Continues!... 247.2!

247.2The slide continues, and bear analysts keep their eyes focused on 245 flat for Saturday morning. That would bring them half way to their break even point of 30lbs a mere 14 days into their 4 month contract.
Colin remains bearish. Fortunately Jesse owns a copy of Fooled by Randomness, because Colin will not be able to afford one after Brian looses 50lbs.
The Bears fully anticipate a stall in this downward trend in coming weeks, as Brian's body adjusts to this diet/exercise regime. At this point shifts in the exercises routine will be required. Planning (science reading) is currently in progress to generate ideas to break through these plateaus when they arise.

Momentum traders alert! 248 even.

248.0, the value of Brian's Tummy continues to fall this morning, this time tied to virtually all other world markets. The loss of .4lbs yesterday was especially impressive given that Brian ate out with a friend, normally a strong indicator for the bulls. However, Brian convinced his friend to eat at an old hippie restaurant and got steamed vegetables with brown rice and a tahini sauce. Moreover, stunning bull annalists, he ordered a half portion, and then kept to his policy of no food after 9pm. If Brian can sustain healthful eating outside of the home then things look good for the bears in months to come. Look for a mild slowdown in weightloss over the next two days, as Brian moves into heavy resistance training and his body works to pack on more passive calorie burning lean muscle. Go bulls!

Sub 1/8th ton (248.4)

248.4... Bears are rallying on news of Brian dipping below the 1/8th or a ton mark for the first time in over 15 months of trading. Look for reliance on green vegetables and silly sprinting in the corner in coming week, with the bears hoping to get down to 245 by Saturday morning. In other news, Brian is getting notably stronger from his lifting and sprinting, and that muscle will be earning him passive income the rest of the season. Go Bears 

250.8 lb uptick

The bulls begin a saturday morning rally in after hours eating, initiated by a less than controlled attack of seafood paella late last night. A telling slip, given the tummy is vegan and would otherwise not have attempted to eat seafood in a non-diet situation. Meditation retreat this weekend, most likely with no excercise and hippy food. This analyst predicts a monday markets of 252, with resistant at 255. 

250.2 lbs.

There seems to be support at the 250 lb barrier as the body struggles to maintain its precious fat reserves. Volatility is certainly calming down in the market as 'actual' weight loss sets in. This could be a difficult time for the bears as can be seen by the ingestion of whole wheat bread late in the evening yesterday.

The Tummy has made a large bet on the science of metabolism but may lack the strength to carry itself through the rigorous excercise regimen required for serious weight loss. There were reports of weight lifting last night by some optimistic analysts (most likely with short positions), but we have no sense as to the duration or intensity. We will know more on tuesday where the freedom of a 3 day weekend could lead to a dieting disaster. This investor is heading into the weekend long.

Another downtick!

He weighed in at 249.5 this morning. Are we sweating? 10.5 pounds in 2 days, has there been real weight loss? or did we weigh him when he was full of water?

Who knows. I doubt he's lost 10 pounds of fat already. that's 35,000 calories. no way, he's bottomed, now the real weight loss is coming...

The first weigh in!! Great Success!!

Brian: exercised until I wanted to throw up last night. Thats $1720 so far. 15lbs in the first week. start saving.

Jesse: very optimistic for a scientist.

The first weigh in!! Great Success!!

Brian: exercised until I wanted to throw up last night. Thats $1720 so far. 15lbs in the first week. start saving.

Jesse: water weight. and measured in the morning after the ritualistic elephantine bowel movement. Very optimistic for a scientist.

A glimpse into the strategy...

so over the next 4 months if I want to loose 60 lbs I have to go in debt to my body 210,000 calories (1 lb fat = 3500), roughly 1750 calories a day. At 600 calories an hour, I am not impressed with cardio, especially because it has an effect of lowering my basal metabolic rate. At roughly 1500-1800 calories a day eating, that means I need to get my total caloric expenditure up to , say, 3300 calories a day. I am betting on high intensity interval training and resistance training to have an effect on my metabolism. I am not betting on doing over 700 hours of cardio. The last three weeks or so I will have to switch to a more catabolic and extremly low calorie diet to spare down any excess muscle I have gained.here is an article that is informing my thinking, and my high stakes bet: http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1526539

Brian Weighed in - The bet is on!

Brian's initial weight, (X above), is 260 pounds measured at 8pm on Jan 13.

After speaking with him briefly this morning, he plans to use science and kale to reach his goals. Ali suggests adopting sadism as a practice.

Weight Loss Agreement 1-14-08

Weight Loss Agreement
1. There will be an initial weighing before Friday of this week. On the chosen day, Brian Toomey will be subjected to 3 weigh ins, to be separated by a minimum of 1 hour. These weigh ins are to be supervised and verified by either Jesse Poulin and Colin Walsh on a tared scale agreed upon by Jesse Poulin and Colin Walsh. After the 6th weigh in, the 6 weights will be averaged and this weight will be referred to as X.
2. There will be a final weighing in May of 2008 on the same CALENDAR date of the initial weighing in (1) above. During the final weighing, Brian Toomey will be subjected to 3 weigh ins, to be separated by a minimum of 1 hour. These weigh-ins are to be supervised and verified by either Jesse Poulin and Colin Walsh on an identical tared scale to the one chosen for the initial weighing. The 3 weights will be averaged and this resultant weight will be referred to as Y.
3. The compensation, in US dollars, to each party at the end of the agreement will correspond with the following formulas:
*Jesse: (Y-X+(X-200)/2)*100
*Colin: (Y-X+(X-200/2))*100
*Brian: (X-Y-(X-200)/2)*100*2
*All credits resulting for Jesse and Colin will be paid by Brian Toomey, debits paid to.
4. Longevity and Payment/Collection: Since the purpose of this bet is to encourage a fundamental change in diet and lifestyle and thus increase the lifespan of our friend, and not encourage haphazard or dangerous crash dieting practices, the following payment schedules apply:
Payment: 1/8th of Brian's reward will be paid out on the 15th of every month from May 2008 through Jan 2009 inclusive. This payment will follow a successful weigh-in where measured weight <= Y. If on any date after date (2) above Brian's weight is measured to be > Y, no further payments will be made and this agreement is thus terminated.
Collection: Any debit Brian incurs must be paid immediately, and in full, by noon one day after date (2) above following which, this agreement is complete.