Diet Better

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I just heard of diet better last week and boy, am I intrigued…
The deal is, basically, you pay 25 dollars a month to either lose ten percent of your weight over six months or four percent of your weight over four weeks. At the end of each month, there are winners and losers. The winners claim a cash prize and the losers lose their 25 dollars which is put into the pot to split among the winners at the end.
I know I am a contender. I’m losing weight well. Like, very well when I really put my mind to it. I could totally win some bucks and I am not adverse to using external rewards to net such an important result. This time it is fear holding me back. Going into the holidays I want to make sure I approach it reasonably. I want to be smart about my choices but I also want to leave room to indulge. My plan is to diet and exercise my butt off, then on actual Thanksgiving and actual Christmas I can cut loose a little. Skip my run. Eat some cheeze ball. Committing to losing 8.2 pounds between now and December 15th sounds like folly, but I’m thinking a 10% goal between January and June would be totally reasonable- right around 22 pounds, by today’s numbers.
The other part of me, however, is more altruistic. While I’m joining a group that is intending to lose weight, we are all betting on ourselves, that we will be successful. And we’re also kind of hoping that the people in our group won’t be successful. If they are not, we get their money. It’s greedy and self serving and while I can turn a blind eye to the whole dark side, I’m complicit in capitalizing on someone else’s failure.
Am I too worried about this? Probably.
As of now, I’m thinking it will be my new year commitment to try it out and we’ll see if I can keep up with it.

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We started our run today by combining our extra large loop with the Finn Hill Park loop, creating a super loop. Only the super loop was just about 3.8 and I was hoping for closer to a five miler. You know, cuz I’m pushing my mileage? Anyhow, we followed that big loop up with the smallest loop and totaled a 4.6 mile run. At first I was disappointed I didn’t make five, then I realized I pushed past four miles with little issue. Pretty awesome. After that we walked a cool down mile with the kids. Gigi ran ahead like the dickens, running almost the whole distance. The trees were beautiful, my family happy and I had this moment where I marveled at my amazing life. I probably say that too much, but seriously, look at my little Cap’n America there. That’s happiness. That’s family. That’s why I’m doing all this.
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Goals:
Run between 12-15 miles this week
Be honest about what you’re eating (Halloween candy is a b*tch)