The Healthywage app and losing weight

I was a skinny kid all the way up to my mid-30's when my metabolism slowed down. Whenever people would ask me what my secret was for being so skinny, I would say, "I eat as much as I can as often as I can," and that was the truth. When my metabolism slowed down, I kept up this habit. Whenever I sat down to a meal, especially if it was a good meal, I didn't feel satisfied until I was about to pop. If I didn't feel like I needed to be rolled out of there, it would make me feel like I was wasting food or wasting the opportunity to enjoy good food. Consequently, I got fat.

Through most of my 20's and early 30's, I weighed somewhere around 155 lbs. Then in my late thirties, when I got tired of being fat and out of shape, I decided to start losing weight and eating healthy. I bought a scale and was shocked to find that I weighed 186 lbs. A few months after I started lifting weights and eating healthy, I started doing triathlons. My weight got down to 170 lbs before I quit due to knee problems and frustration, and my weight gradually creeped back up.

Over the last two years (I'm 45 now), things got out of hand. I got fat, and my health started getting worse (see, for example, my post on GERD). I tried intermittent fasting, and cutting out soft drinks, and I lost weight pretty effortlessly, but it would taper off, and I'd start drinking soft drinks again.

One day, I was in the car with my daughter, and I said, "You know, losing weight would be so much easier if I had some incentive, like if somebody gave me a dare or something." Then she told me about this app you can get for your iPhone called Healthywage. With Healthywage, you can make a bet to lose a certain amount of weight in a given time. The incentive is that if you don't lose the weight, you lose your money, but if you do lose the weight, you get your money back with some extra. I don't know how my skinny daughter knew about such a thing, but I was glad she did because that was exactly the sort of incentive I needed.

I downloaded Healthywage and did one of their challenges for three months for a one time payment of $60. I did my first weigh in, and I was at 208 lbs. I'm pretty sure that's the fattest I've ever been. I had to lose 6% of my weight within 3 months. When I succeeded, I got about $80 back. That extra $20 was enough to get a pizza, but instead, I decided to do another challenge. This time, I did a challenge for $100 to lose another 6% in three months. This one didn't go as smoothly in the beginning. The first one was so easy, I didn't really put in any effort into the second one until the time started getting short and I began to worry I wouldn't pull it off. But I buckled down, and now it looks like I'm going to be able to meet my goal. My goal this time around is 184.6 lbs. You're probably thinking the math doesn't work out, but that's only because after my first challenge, I gained a few pound before starting the second challenge. Anyway, I'm now down to 183 lbs with a week and a half left to go. I'm going to do my final weigh in this Wednesday, though, so I can start eating the candy I've been socking away for Halloween.

That's my story. Now, I want to tell you specifically how I've been losing weight and why I think it's been pretty easy. I also want to tell you more about how Healthywage works.

First, let's talk about Healthywage. Healthywage will give you mutltiple challenges you can sign up for. Most of them involve paying $60 to lose 6% of your weight within three months, but there are other challenges. When you join one of these challenges, other people join it, too. All of their money is pooled together into a pot. At the end of the challenge, that pot is divided between everybody who met the challenge. Any extra you get is due to those who did not meet the challenge. Of course Healthwage also gets their cut from the pot. I don't remember the percentage, but if you meet the challenge, you are guaranteed to at least get your money back. If everybody meets the challenge (which they never do), then Healthywage will refund everybody's money and take no profit for themselves.

You can also do personalized challenges where you're not in a pool with other people. You agree to pay a certain amount of money every month, and you decide how many months you want the challenge to last and how much weight you want to lose. They calculate what your reward will be at the end of it if you meet your challenge.

I should warn you that Healthywage is not entirely honest. They're very misleading in their ads. They'll say that so and so won $10,000. What that actually means is that they contributed $950 a month for ten to twelves months, and they got anywhere from $0 to $500 back. There's a calculator where you can play with the numbers, and it'll estimate how much you'll get if you meet your goal. So just be aware. From what I've seen, the most profit you can make per challenge is around $50. Still, that's enough for a pizza party.

You can maximize your winnings by joining more than one challenge at a time. I think you can do as many as ten challenges at a time.

There are two official weigh-ins you have to do--one at the beginning and one at the end. To do the weigh in, you have to record a video clip of yourself doing the weigh-in and showing the scale and everything. There are instructions on the app and the web page explaining how to do the video. It's not hard. During the challenge, you can do unofficial weigh-ins if you want. I always do mine once a week. This helps you keep track of your progress and determine whether you're on schedule or not. You can also compare your standing with other people.

Now, let me tell you how I've been losing weight. I started intermittent fasting a little over a year and a half ago. For me, intermittent fasting has involved skipping breakfast and sometimes delaying lunch until 1 or 2 pm. This was kind of hard in the beginning, but I've discovered that being hungry is sometimes a matter of what your body is used to and what it expects than merely a lack of food. Your body can be trained to expect food at certain times and to complain when it doesn't get it. Skipping breakfast was difficult in the beginning, but now I don't even think about it. I never get hungry in the mornings. Sometimes, I'll have a donut or a waffle if I'm hanging out with somebody else, though. One delicious breakfast snack once a blue moon doesn't throw me off.

If you find it difficult to skip breakfast, there's another strategy you can use. If instead of having a cinnamon roll, French toast, or bagel for breakfast, you instead have an egg or two, it will fill you up quicker, with less calories, and prevent you from getting hungry longer. So have eggs if you must have breakfast. Another strategy is to delay breakfast for an hour or two for a while. Then delay it longer. Keep doing this until you're not eating until noon or later.

There's a ton of information about intermittent fasting on the internet, so I won't go into the technical details about why it works. It has to do with insulin, though.

I have cut out soft drinks off and on over the years. Soft drinks--especially Dr. Pepper--are highly addictive. They're hard to quit, but if you can muscle your way through it for about two weeks, the craving will go away. I always get caffein withdrawal headaches when I quit Dr. Crack, but BC Powder is the most effective way to make that go away. Just pour a little packet of BC Powder into half a glass of water, swirl it around, and drink it. It isn't pleasant to drink, but the headache will go away within 30 minutes. That's usually all it takes for me to get over with the withdrawal.

In fact, sugar is highly addictive in any food, but if you can go a certain amount of time without sugar, the craving goes away. I've heard anything from ten days to twenty days. But it's hard to cut out sugar because it's in everything. I never knew how much sugar was in my food until I tried to cut it out. Even eating too much fruit can feed the addiction. But it's in pretty much all processed food. If you buy your food in a box, it almost certainly has sugar in it. If you limit your grocery shopping to the outer walls of the grocery store, that's where most of the healthy food is located.

Some people think if they drink a smoothy every morning that they are eating healthy because smoothies have so many fruits and vitamins. But the truth is, smoothies are very fattening and full of sugar. You should make it your policy to not drink your calories at all. Drink only water and eat your calories. If you're an athlete, you'll need to get your electrolytes somehow, so I'll cut you some slack, but for the rest of us, drink only water. If you want to have fruit, then eat solid fruit. Don't drink it. I do recommend eating apples from time to time. They're great for your digestion.

In the beginning, I lost weight quickly, but then it plateaued. My next steps was to cut out almost all sugar from my diet. This was very hard for the first few days, but then it got easy. This also helped me lose a lot of weight. At one point, I seriously cut down on my carbs. That was very hard. I've discovered through reading and experience that when you eat a lot of bread, it just makes you crave food all the more. But when you cut it out, the cravings go away.

Things got difficult when I started a new hobby of making home made pizza a few months ago. So, I just switched strategies. I gave up the habit of over eating at every meal. What I do now is eat two slices of pizza, then wait. I'll always crave a third slice, but if I wait ten or twenty minutes, I'll start feeling like I've had a full meal, and I don't need that third slice.

Ideally, I wouldn't eat pizza, but since I love making it about as much as I love eating it, I haven't cut it out. I also make baguettes sometimes. :-(

Losing weight isn't all about a life of deprivation, though. There are delicious foods you can eat and still lose weight. One strategy is to eat a diet of chicken and watermelon. Watermelon fills you up without a lot of calories. Some people even do the "watermelon diet" where watermelon is all you eat. But you need protein, so you should eat chicken, too. Protein helps you feel full and satisfied. Plus, it's necessary to live. You can eat all the vegetables you want and not worry about anything.

Let me share a few recipes that are delicious, healthy, and easy to make. First, there's pan roasted chicken. Here's a video showing three ways to cook a chicken breast, including pan roasted. Of these, pan roasting is my favourite because it creates this nice crust on the outside. Oven roasting is easier, but it doesn't produce that crust, so I prefer pan roasting. You can season it with only salt and pepper, and it'll be delicious. I usually pan roast three chicken breasts at a time. First, I'll flatten them with a mallet, which makes them cook more evenly. Then I'll season one with salt and pepper, then next with salt, pepper, garlic, and oregano, and the third with fajita seasoning. I'll eat one that day and put the rest in Tupperware for later.

The next is oven roasted broccoli and/or asparagus. I put the broccoli or asparagus in a bowl, pour some olive oil in there, then some salt and pepper. I mix that up, then put it on a cookie sheet and bake it in the oven at 350 or 400ºF for around ten minutes. You could also just lay it on the cookie sheet and drizzle the olive oil over it, then sprinkle salt and pepper. You don't have to mix it up in the bowl. I do it that way because it makes it easier to get the olive oil evenly coated all over everything. When it's done cooking, you can squeeze some lemon juice over it, and it adds some flavor. This is so much easier and more delicious than steaming your vegetables, which I used to do all the time. I'm ashamed to admit that I steamed vegetables for a girlfriend, and as you can probably guess, we are no longer together.

Sometimes, I make salads instead of broccoli or asparagus. My salads are simple. I buy one of the 50/50 mix blends of greens (e.g. spinach and arugula or spring mix and baby spinach). I put a handful in a salad bowl, add some sliced cucumber, tomato, and avocado, and sometimes a little bit of sunflower seeds, shelled of course. I add a balsamic vinaigrette, mix it up, and eat it. It's delicious and easy to make.

I think that's it. Let me summarize my weight loss strategy. I only eat between the hours of noon and 8 pm. Sometimes I'll delay eating until 2 pm or later. Sometimes I'll eat a little later than 8 pm. If I snack, it'll be raw carrots. I eat (or aim to eat) roasted chicken, roasted broccoli or asparagus, salad, and watermelon (at least when I'm being good). Of course, I eat pizza, too, but I don't recommend it for weight loss. Don't over eat. Eat a small meal, and just wait ten or twenty minutes. Chances are, you'll stop being hungry. Apparently, it takes a little time for your stomach to tell your brain that you've had enough. If you don't give it that time, you'll end up eating more than you needed to be satisfied.

Some strategies for avoiding hunger include drinking black coffee, drinking lots of water, or eating eggs. Boiled eggs are best, but I frequently scramble eggs or even make omelets.

If you eat like I eat, you'll rarely get hungry. Cutting out bread, pasta, soft drinks, and candy will go a long way toward suppressing your appetite. Eating a lot of bread and pasta just makes you crave food all the time. If you can cut those things out, you'll find weight loss to be almost effortless. Again, it's hard to cut them out in the beginning, but if you just muscle your way through it for a week or two, the cravings will go away, and you'll be fine.

If you drastically change your diet in the ways I suggested, the weight will just fall off of you in the beginning, but it will slow down after a while. If you plateau at some point, and you're still fat, then you'll just have to do something more drastic. There's a ton of information on the internet, and it's hard to tell what's credible and what isn't. But let me share an article with you that is a meta-study. It's a survey of other studies on the health benefits of fasting--particularly intermittent fasting. It's called Impact of Intermittent Fasting On Health and Disease Processes by Mark P. Mattsona, Valter D. Longoc, and Michelle Harvie. I'm linking to this article because it links to multiple other articles.

I also recommend going to YouTube and searching, "insulin," "insulin resistance," "insulin fasting," "fat insulin" "glucose insulin," and related things. There's a lot of videos that explain the mechanisms of fat storage, fat burning, weight gain, weight loss, etc. It's interesting stuff.

Oh yeah, one more thing. If you're a sedentary person, all you really need to do is walk 30 minutes a day. You don't have to join a gym or do anything too hard. Here's a video of a woman explaining why walking is even better than running for weight loss. It seems counter-intuitive, but she's pretty, so she must be right. Just walking 30 minute a day will do wonders for your health. It's not just your physical health either. It's great for your emotions and your mental clarity, too.

Between cardio and weight lifting, I think weight lifting is better for weight loss. The reason is because when you lift weights, you continue to burn calories from the work out for as long as your muscles are repairing themselves. Plus, the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism will be because you need extra energy to maintain that muscle mass. If you don't want to go to a gym, and you're not a work out nut, then just do push ups. Push ups are one of the best all purpose work outs you can do. I recommend doing as many push ups as you can, resting a minute or two, then doing as many as you can again, resting a minute or two, then doing as many as you can a third time. Do that every other day or so. Burpees might be even better, but I hate doing burpees, so screw that.

Disclaimer: I have no expertise in health, fitness, biology, or anything related. This is all based on personal experience and internet browsing. Also, there's no guarantee you'll get the same results as me using the same methods. Everybody is physically and psychologically different.