Starting Point

I started on March 17th, at a weight of 245 pounds. I’ve weighed more at a few points in the past, but this was pretty close to those maxima (250). I’ve been on three yo-yo diets in recent years, with a low point of 205, but most of the time I hover around 218. On the BMI scale, that puts me solidly in the overweight category, and my high points are at the lower end of obesity.

Incentives

I decided to maximize my chances of success with as many methods as I could find:

• Money: Fortunately for me, my high point coincided with the weigh-in for a company sponsored weight loss initiative, offering to pay $10 per pound lost by February 2011. Given that my financial conscience is a LOT stronger than my dieting conscience, this has definitely made an impact.
• Peer Pressure: I recruited my best friend, Josh, as a workout partner. Even though we’ve missed a few days together, I think the partnership has been a strong positive factor in getting us both off the couch.
• Lots of Feedback: I weigh in every morning and chart the data by a number of different criteria. This has proved invaluable for keeping me on track, and now I actually get anxious when I can’t weigh in.
• Lots of Exercise: Exercise is usually relatively important in any diet, but doubly so for me because it keeps my mood up. I tend to eat as a mood stabilizer, and having a replacement for that has been critical.
• Progressive Rewards: I’m allowed one day a week where I can screw up - both to keep my sanity and to keep my metabolism up. I also get a major screw up once every ten pounds I lose. This helped a lot more in the beginning, since I could still eat the foods I was craving, but now I’m to the point where I usually (but not always) skip the rewards to get to my goal a little bit faster.

Hurdles

• Bipolar: The biggest contributor to my weight problems is my bipolar disorder. As I get stressed or depressed, my weight goes up. It’s no coincidence that every time I’ve been over 240 has been at the end of a particularly long bout of depression.
• Free Food: As stated above, my financial conscience is a lot stronger than my diet conscience. Anytime there is free food available, I’m almost certain to eat it. Mostly this is leftover catering at work, or when the boss brings in donuts, or my RPG game nights (when we share the dinner role). I’ve been getting better at eating less and occasionally abstaining entirely, but it’s still an issue.

The Routine

• 04:00 - Daily Calisthenics: I’ve been using the “Ladder” from the Hacker’s Diet, minus the running in place. The current rung gets listed as part of my statistics, and I haven’t missed a single day since I started.
• 04:15 - Daily Cardio: I run on a treadmill every morning for at least 15 minutes (up to 35 currently). I’ve missed a few days, but mostly because either A) I didn’t have a treadmill or other machine available, or B) I took a rest day to avoid injury.
• 05:15 - Breakfast: Oatmeal - 1/2c oatmeal, 1c water, 1/2tbsp honey, 1/4c applesauce. 230 calories, $0.20.
• 05:45 - Walk to Work: It’s a little over a mile, adding a little more cardio to the routine.
• 09:00 - Snack: A bag of trail mix (see previous post) - 240 calories, $0.34.
• 13:00 - Lunch: Varies - I cook 1-2 big meals on Sundays, separate them into single serving tupperware, and freeze them for later use. Roughly 500-750 calories. Lately, though, I’ve just been substituting a bag of trail mix.
• 15:30 - Snack: Another bag of trail mix or a yogurt (only if I’m hungry)
• 16:30 - Weightlifting: Tuesday/Thursday (and Saturday morning), I meet up with Josh for an hour-long full body workout.
• 17:30 - Dinner: Unless I’m starving, I try to skip dinner. Other than splurges, I haven’t had dinner in almost two months.

While it’s certainly not the most healthy diet, there are some days where I manage just oatmeal and a bag or two of trail mix - 500-750 calories and less than a dollar a day.

Results

I’ve lost an average of 2-4 pounds a week every week since I started - leaving me at 192 currently. My target weight is 175, which I should hit sometime in late July or early August (assuming I can keep up my pace.) Even if I don’t lose another pound, I’m still the same weight I was my freshman year of college.

Of course, the biggest challenge will be staying there, instead of letting the rollercoaster slide back up. I’m hopeful that the combination of Josh’s watchful eye, the long term financial incentive (I don’t get paid if I don’t keep it off until February), and continued vigilance at my feedback statistics will keep me at the target level indefinitely.

Walmart sells a bag of trail mix similar to mine for $4.98, yielding a cost per serving of about $0.20. It’s mostly raisins, peanuts, and M&Ms, with a smattering of other nuts.

My ingredients:

• Peanut M&Ms - $6.98
• Pretzel M&Ms - $6.98
• Unsalted Dry Roasted Peanuts - $4.56
• California Raisins - $4.96
• Smoked Almonds - $8.96
• Total - 32.44

It takes me about 30 minutes to fully mix everything and bag each serving individually in snack baggies.

Aside: Putting the trail mix into individual bags is a HUGE benefit for me. If I leave the mix unseparated, I tend to eat significantly larger portion sizes, and go through it in a few days to a week. By splitting them into bags, I eat no more than 3 bags a day, making the mix last almost 3 months.

I ended up with 96 servings - yielding a cost of $0.34 per serving. If I include approximate labor costs, it jumps to almost $0.44 per serving - double that of the store bought. (Of course, the labor can easily be done while watching TV, and I’d also have to bag the store-bought, so I usually don’t count it)

Given that my mix isn’t any more healthy (and probably less so), there isn’t a compelling reason to keep making my own, other than the fact that I like it better. I’ll admit I was hoping I was making some substantial savings. I may have to look into more bulk-food options - I may be able to shave my costs a little.

This is stupid. Here’s why:

• Market Regulation by the government should only occur when there is a definite market failure.
• ISP services, like many other utilities (power, water, gas) is a perfect example of a natural monopoly. It is generally inefficient to run multiple networks when a single one is all that will be utilized.
• A natural monopoly is a type of monopoly, which is a type of market failure.
• Ergo - regulation is a viable option to correct the market failure. Q.E.D.

The same is not true in the case of search engines. There is absolutely nothing preventing me from utilizing any of the many search engines available on the web - Google, Bing, Yahoo, Dogpile, Altavista, etc. There is nothing preventing a new player from entering the market and upsetting the status quo - a feat Google itself accomplished not so long ago. Compare that to the de facto monopolies and duopolies throughout the country in the ISP market.

Admittedly, Google may one day step over the anti-trust line by bundling its various services too tightly (ala Microsoft and Windows + Internet Explorer) but that’s a totally different ball of wax.

Maybe it’s just me (or not), but: Pot? Kettle?

The main reason I haven’t broken down and bought an iPhone or iTouch is because I’m morally opposed to Apple’s walled garden of technophilia. If you really want to be “open” - open up your APIs and let people actually use their gadgets. I shouldn’t have to rely on the brilliant internet hackers to jail-break my device just so I can some software on it. Or I can content myself with just the software that the great overlords of the central planning office have deigned to bestow upon me - which means I get access to 5,000 stupid fart apps, but I can’t get something truly useful like Google Voice. (Because heaven forbid that the Almighty Steve not maintain his stranglehold on the market)

Maybe I’m just naive, but I’ve seen this particular series of events play out before. Apple is making a bold play to grab the entire market - and right now it looks like they’re succeeding. Of course, they have to succeed and be perfect in their success, or they might once again end up on the losing end as more “open” competitors offer what they cannot - freedom.

Capitalism has produced the highest standard of living in history, and yet markets are hard to appreciate? Mr. Becker explains: “People tend to impute good motives to government. And if you assume that government officials are well meaning, then you also tend to assume that government officials always act on behalf of the greater good. People understand that entrepreneurs and investors by contrast just try to make money, not act on behalf of the greater good. And they have trouble seeing how this pursuit of profits can lift the general standard of living. The idea is too counterintuitive. So we’re always up against a kind of in-built suspicion of markets. There’s always a temptation to believe that markets succeed by looting the unfortunate.”

Every time I defend capitalism to some liberal, this is the #1 argument they give in opposition. Maybe I’m just weird, but I assume that government officials by their nature are just as corrupt and self-serving as your average citizen - if not more so. As such, government action tends to reflect that corruption. Capitalism, by its nature, is designed to give the best possible result even if all the actors involved are completely corrupt and self-serving - making it the superior choice for almost every situation.

• Alice hires Bob to build a house and they agree to a payment of $100,000 for the service. Bob completes his work, receives his payment, and goes on his way. Fifteen years later, however, Bob decides that he deserves more money. He asks for another $100,000 - the law forces Alice to pay up. Bob keeps coming back, every few years, and extorts a new sum.
• Alice wants a house. Bob is a house builder. They hire Charlie, a lawyer, to put together a fair contract so that Bob can build a house for Alice. They eventually settle on the details, and Bob will be paid $100,000 for his services. After the house is finished, just before Alice moves in, Bob decides he deserves more money. He gets together with Charlie and rewrites the contract, extorting an additional $100,000 from Alice. Reluctantly, Alice eventually scrapes together the funds, and pays the new fee. Unfortunately, just before she takes up residence, Bob gets together with Charlie again to rewrite the contract. This time, the contract states that Bob gets the house, and Alice has to pay $10,000 per year for the next 20 years to have any chance of ever taking up residence. Frustrated but without any recourse, Alice waits patiently for the term to expire, during which time, Bob dies. Bob’s daughter DeeDee decides that she likes the house too much, so she gets together with Charlie and revises the contract yet again, tacking on an additional 40-year term to the previous contract.
• Alice hires Bob to build a house. They both hire Charlie to negotiate a fair contract. Being short of cash, Alice agrees to supply the land, while Bob supplies the parts and labor to build the actual house. In exchange, Bob gets to live in the house (or rent it out, or do whatever) for fourteen years, after which Alice takes possession. They both agree to the terms, Bob builds the house and moves in for a few years, then rents the place out for a few more, recovering his expenses. The fourteen year term is about to expire, so he asks Charlie for an extension - and gets another 14 years to live in the house. Alice is a little perturbed, but figures she’ll still get to move in eventually. Of course, Bob asks for extension after extension, and after he dies, his descendants keep getting extensions, and Alice never gets to move in.

Can anyone honestly say that Alice isn’t being screwed in these stories?

Substitute the American Public for Alice, Intellectual Property owners for Bob and his descendants, and Congress for Charlie, and you’ve got a pretty accurate picture of US Copyright since 1910. Every single copyright extension has been a massive theft of value from the American public. It’s time we started getting angry about it.

• 40% ($103 million) - reserved for the tax man’s inevitable visit in a savings account. Any surplus after the visit gets dumped into the next category
• 30% ($103 million) - held until I can determine the best means of investment. With a smaller sum, it would likely start in a savings account, and then invested in index funds over the course of 6-12 months (to take advantage of dollar-cost averaging). With something this size, I’m not really sure where to begin, and would likely retain the services of a professional financial planner, at least until I have a better grasp on the magnitude of my holdings. In this specific case, I’d consider building some sort of education endowment or scholarship fund or contributing , without touching the principal.
• 10% ($26 million) - donated to a worthy charity. Specifically, I’d probably give to the Children’s Scholarship Fund, though I’d probably also consider breaking it up into smaller pieces and donating to multiple charities.
• 5% ($13 million) - invested for the long term using my current plans. In my case that means beefing up my Roth IRA and index fund portfolio
• 1% ($2.6 million) - spent on friends and family - in order, paying off any outstanding debts, financing education, providing for basic necessities, start-up capital for a small business. Specifically, right now I’d first finance my brother’s nursing education, then help my sister and her husband pay off their mortgage, then invest whatever remains in a home-automation start-up my friends and I have been working on.
• 1% ($2.6 million) - to be spent more or less on whatever want. Right now with this level of funds, I’d buy a Mini Cooper ($30k), some land in the mountains, start designing/building my dream home (a super-green 1500-2000 sq ft underground house). I’d almost certainly have plenty leftover, which would probably end up dumped into investments.

In the case of smaller windfalls (<$1000) I’d probably roll up all of the non-tax items into a single investment item.

Text messages are limited to 160 characters. Assuming a standard ASCII encoding, it takes only 1 byte to store each character - so a message is approximately 160 bytes in length. At the prices quoted above:

• $0.20 per message / 160 bytes per message = $0.00125 per byte = $1.28 per kilobyte = $1,310 per megabyte = $1,342,177 per gigabyte
• $0.01 per message / 160 bytes per message = $0.0000625 per byte = $0.06 per kilobyte = $65 per megabyte = $67,109 per gigabyte

Now let’s compare that to another great monopoly offender - Comcast. They recently announced a bandwidth cap of 250 gigabytes on their “unlimited” monthly service, which in my case costs about $50 per month. Doing the math, we get a cost of $0.20 per gigabyte. If Comcast decided to charge the text-messaging bulk rate for their service, it would cost a staggering $16 million per month!!! If Verizon et al. charged the Comcast data rate, then you could send an equally staggering 53.7 million messages for a single penny!!!

The only reason the phone companies manage to get away with this outright robbery is because few people actually take the time to figure out how exorbitant these fees really are.

Currently, there are two proposed projects on the agenda:

• Create a unified standard GAME file - this file contains all the game-relevant information. By creating a unified standard, we should be able to facilitate updating all the various card templates with the latest game information as quickly as possible after release. It will also hopefully minimize duplication of effort, since each designer need only design their templates to match the standard, and won’t have to manually enter all the game information.
• Create a program that can read the D&D Insider Character Builder’s XML output files. That information can then be used to create a customized character sheet based on any of a variety of user-designed PDF templates. The data is also used to create a custom set of printable cards using the Magic Set Editor cards.

To help track the project, I’m creating some pages on the wiki and forum.

Anyone who wants to help contribute - feel free to register or drop me an email.

In discussing a couple of the initiatives at work, my colleagues were somewhat impressed by my knowledge of the various initiatives and when I asked if they would appreciate a more thorough rundown, they all agreed it would be helpful. My basic plan is to post one issue each day, with Pros, Cons, My Bias, and My Verdict sections as best as I can present them. I will do my absolute best to make the Pro and Con sections as free from bias (mine or otherwise) as possible.

My General Biases

• Politically, I’m closest to a libertarian. That makes me socially liberal and fiscally conservative.
  • Fiscal Conservative - The government should be as small as possible to ensure the common good - i.e. low government spending, and as a result, low taxes. I tend to favor a “free market economy” and oppose governmental regulation of business unless it is necessary to correct a market failure or imbalance.
  • Socially Liberal - The government should interfere as little as possible with the private lives of its citizens. So long as something does no direct harm to a citizen, the government has no business sticking their nose in. As such, I’m strongly opposed to most “morality” based legislation which seeks to impose a tyranny of the majority.
• I tend to oppose special interest groups. The benefits allocated to special interests usually result in an increase in taxes and the size of government.
• When in doubt, I prefer the status quo. Unless there is a compelling reason to change the law, I prefer to err on the side of not changing it until such a clear reason becomes available.
• I have no affiliation with any of the groups behind the initiatives.

I’m very interested in hearing any comments anyone might be able to provide - discussion could very well reveal flaws in my logic and might change my opinion.