On September 20, I went for a follow-up DEXA scan to see what what my real progress was, primarily because of my mistrust for the erratic data the scale has been providing me.  The results were a bit disappointing.

The good news: Since my last DEXA scan on March 15, I’ve lost just under 9 lbs. of pure measurable fat mass. That’s a reduction of almost 12%.

The bad news: I’ve also lost nearly 5 lbs. of muscle. This means that my overall body fat percentage has only decreased by about 2%, but my lean mass has decreased by 4%.

Going back over the numbers, it turns out that I’ve only been eating around 1,400 calories per day.  The last time I had my RMR (resting metabolic rate) measured, it was around 1900. Taking into account the fact that I’ve been doing 3-4 hours of cardio per week in addition to two days of weight training, the problem is clear: I’m losing muscle mass because I’m not eating enough.

Low-carb diets are notorious for loss of muscle mass, and the only way to prevent this loss is to couple strength training with enough fat and protein to keep the calorie count sufficient.  You could easily characterize my mistake as an obvious one.

In order to respond to this development, I’ve decided to increase my calorie count by consuming a protein shake every evening before bed (post-workout) with flax oil.  This will add another 300 calories or so to my daily intake.  If I need to, I will also consider adding a mid-day shake to increase the calories further.

While the results of the latest scan were definitely discouraging, I maintain the perspective that a metrics-based approach to weight loss is best.  Had I not known that halfway through my program I was losing muscle mass, I might have done more damage by continuing to leave things exactly the same.  I intend to correct my course and push forward.

See you next week (on-time this time, hopefully)!

Things seen to have started moving again in week 5, which is a welcome relief.  As you may recall from my week 4 recap, I decided to do a carb-up day to break through my plateau, based on research that shows that a 24-hour carb binge might increase leptin levels.

From Monday night, September 5, through Tuesday night, September 6, I had my carb-up, which consisted of the following deliciousness:

• One medium pizza, with sliced jalapeños and ranch dressing for dipping
• A giant warm brownie with Ben and Jerry’s Boston Cream Pie on top
• Two bowls of Peanut Butter Puffins cereal with milk
• A roasted chicken sandwich on ciabatta bread with garlic fries
• Butternut squash ravioli with marinara sauce
• A custard tart with fresh fruit on top

I felt like total crap throughout the entire day.  Having not consumed many carbs in the past few months, eating all of that bad stuff caused me to feel bloated, tired, and disoriented.  The only thing that made me feel better was going to the gym.

As you can see from the graph, I gained almost 4 pounds overnight (mostly water weight, of course).  Once I went back to eating low-carb, the weight dropped rapidly and by the end of the week I reached 179 for the first time in ages.

I’m back on my program full-time, and will continue to monitor my progress for the remaining 6 weeks, and I might choose to introduce another carb-up day here and there in order to keep things moving.

See you in week 6!

I’ve done quite a bit of reading about plateaus and techniques that seem to work for busting them, and the most common advice I see is:

1. Exercise more.  I considered this, but I’m already in the gym for an hour per day, 5 days per week. I’ve finally reached the point where I’ve made peace with my gym time (and I actually have been enjoying it) so I don’t want to push that further unless I absolutely have to.
2. Cut carbs further.  Considering that my Ketostix show that I’ve been in dark-purple ketosis for around 5 weeks, cutting carbs further doesn’t seem to be a realistic solution for me.
3. Do a brief carb-up.  The science behind this is that after a certain amount of time of burning fat, your body’s leptin levels decrease, and that causes fat loss to stop as the body tries to preserve the status quo.  My gut (no pun intended) tells me that this is the issue I’m facing, so I’m going to experiment with this route.

My plateau-busting experiment will go like this:

• I’ll do a 24-hour high-calorie carb-up consisting of items like pizza, pasta, sandwiches, maybe a brownie or two… you know, pure torture.
• After 24 hours (which will end tonight), I will immediately switch back to my low-carb program.
• My exercise plan will remain the same during this experiment.

Based on my research, I expect to see my weight begin to drop again.  16 hours or so into my the carb-up, I’m remembering what it’s like to feel bloated from carbs and sugar, and I can’t wait to get back to eating more reasonably.  It’s great validation to me that I can notice the difference between eating low-carb and high-carb, and how much better I feel on my regular program.

If my plateau-bust is successful, I will consider doing one of these carb-ups every few weeks (or even every week if all goes well). If not, I’ll come back to this issue with more information and decide what to try next.

Regardless of the road bumps, I know that my clothes are fitting better and that people are starting to notice the difference and commenting on it. I need to remember that this 12-week challenge is an experiment, and feel comfortable adjusting my course as I go along in order to keep making progress.

See you in week 5!

This was a difficult week.  As thrilled as I was to see 181 on Sunday, I woke up Monday morning to a weight of 185.  The scale is an absolute nightmare.

When the numbers are going down like they’re supposed to, I feel good.  When the numbers jump around like they have been, it messes up my resolve.  It makes me feel like I’m not sure if I’m making progress, and it’s really demotivating.  To top things off, as silly as this may sound, someone took a photo of me at a party on Sunday night that I think makes me look exceptionally fat.  Quite the downer.

I’ve researched the issue I’ve been having with my weight jumping around, and confirmed that it’s most likely water weight.  The issue I’m having is that the fluctuations make if a lot harder to track whether I’m making progress.  I’ve tried to keep my water intake high because that should keep me from retaining water, but the fluctuations continue.  Doing this in a way where I can track metrics easily is very important to me, but the erratic measurements are getting me down.

The other variable that is complicating things is the prospect of muscle gain.  When I was frustrated with a potential plateau earlier this year, I discovered between my two DEXA scans that I had gained around 8 pounds of muscle and lost an equal amount of fat, even though the scale wasn’t moving.  That was without doing any weight training at all.  I’m doing more resistance training now than I’ve done in years, so it stands to reason that it may be affecting my body composition in ways that are harder for me to measure.

My clothes are fitting better, and I can tell from my trips to the gym that I’m getting stronger, so I need to continue to have faith that I’m doing the right thing and that staying persistent will ultimately allow me to get the results I’m looking for.

The good news is that after 21 days (the amount of time experts say it takes to form a habit) my eating and gym habits have become second nature.  Although some days I’m tired and don’t feel like going to the gym, it’s not a struggle to do it in spite of those feelings.  This is the basis for a changed life, and I should be proud of that, regardless of a few stupid weight fluctuations.

I’m proud of the changes I’m making. And for now, that’s good enough for me.

Week 2, By the Numbers

I was thrilled to see 181 this week for the first time in years!  You’ll notice that I’m seeing an overall declining trend in both weight and fat mass, which is great, considering I’m only 2 weeks into the challenge.

I’ve changed the way that I’m reporting my weight from Monday-Monday to Sunday-Sunday.  The reason for this is that my weight seems to usually be the at the lowest point of the week on Sunday morning, but by Monday it usually climbs a few pounds again.  I suspect that has something to do with my fluid balance (extra water weight), but I haven’t pinpointed the exact cause yet.  Since Saturday night is usually my one weekly drinking night, it’s possible that the dehydration caused by drinking is the reason for my lower Sunday weight.

I’ve decided to base my personal assessment of how I’m doing on my lowest weight for any given week, since it’s virtually impossible to see an accurate representation of changes from day to day.

What Went Well This Week

• Again, I made it to the gym all 5 days.  I’m really starting to value the gym time instead of dreading it, because it gives me time to myself every night.  On cardio days, I read motivational books on my Kindle while I use the elliptical machine, and while I’m doing my weight training exercises, I listen to audio books.
• My water intake has increased significantly this week.  I credit the fact that I’ve become more comfortable with working at home where I have access to bottled water more easily.  I went through about 12 1L bottles of Smart Water over the course of the week.
• I had a few of my first big social challenges this week.  On Wednesday, I met for drinks with a friend, and I managed to stay content only drinking Diet Coke.  On Saturday, I went to a birthday party where I avoided cupcakes and drinking too much (I stuck to my 3-drink limit).  Temptation doesn’t really seem to be an issue for me now that I’ve adjusted to my new lifestyle.

What I Can Improve On Next Week

• I’ve got to make sure I’m eating breakfast every day.  This is hugely important.  Some days when I stay up late working, I don’t wake up until after 10am, and by the time I get ready, it’s almost lunchtime.  Because of that, I end up missing a meal, which I know can be detrimental to my success.
• I need to cut back on my caffeine intake.  A sale on 5-Hour Energy this week at Walgreens led to a bit of over-caffeination.  I’m dropping that habit pronto.
• I’m still not taking my daily picture on a regular basis.  I’m going to keep pushing myself to do it, even though I hate taking unflattering shirtless pictures.  I just have to keep reminding myself that the end result will show my progress in a way that I won’t be able to notice on my own.

Today marks the beginning of week 2 in my 12-Week 30-Pound Challenge, so it’s time for the first recap!

Week 1, By the Numbers

On Wednesday, when I hit 184.9, I was really excited.  As you can see, by the end of the week, I was back to 186.3.  If I was going by the weight numbers alone, I’d be pretty discouraged.  But as you can see from the fluctuations, if the fat mass numbers are to be believed, I’m down 4.5lbs. in terms of fat.  That’s not bad!

The lesson here is that fluctuations are really common when measuring weight, and even more common when trying to measure body fat using electrical impedance (the technique used by the scale that sends a weak electrical current through your body).  Had I not weighed myself every day, I wouldn’t have seen the low point, and would have probably felt worse thinking that my week of hard work only equated to 0.3lbs. of progress.

In order to help me track my progress more accurately, I’ve decided to measure the circumference of my waist around my belly button (at rest, not sucking it in!) on a weekly basis.  I took my first measurement today: 43 1/8″. I’ll post progress weekly.

What Went Well This Week

• I made it to the gym all five weekdays! That’s the first time in 6 years or so that I can recall successfully keeping up that habit.  I also did a 6-mile hike around Stanford, which kicked my ass, but it was great.
• I cooked at home a lot, and discovered that coconut oil is excellent for frying eggs and sausage.  I’m not sure why they taste so much better, but they do.  Also, pouches of Starkist albacore tuna are a convenient godsend for lunch.
• Eating and staying low-carb were both fairly easy this week, and my ketosis tests prove it.  I stayed in the dark-purple range most of the week.

What I Can Improve On Next Week

• I’m still not drinking as much water as I’d like to.  I bought some large bottles of Smart Water to hopefully make that easier.
• My gym time has been later in the evening, usually around 9:30pm.  I think that may be interfering with my sleep, so I’m going to try to go after lunch this week instead.
• Although I took the front and profile pictures I committed to capture most days, I missed a day or two.  I’m going to try to be more diligent about getting those done, because I’d like to make a time-lapse movie at the end of 12 weeks, and more frames will make it better.

See you at the beginning of week 3!

A month later, I still haven’t perfected that routine, because having an open-ended schedule without clear goals or deadlines can make it hard to make progress. Forming new habits requires constant attention, and I’ve always had more success under the pressure of a deadline.

In the Spring of 2005, I lost around 30 pounds and was down to my healthiest weight ever, but in the past 6 years and several over-feeding tech companies later, it’s pretty much all come back.

Now that I’ve got the time, and no excuses, I’ve decided to start a personal challenge: to lose 30 pounds in 12 weeks (from August 8 until October 31, 2011).

Past Weight Loss, And Where I Am Today

Weight Loss, Feb. 2010 to Aug. 2011

My first weigh-in with my Withings wireless scale was on February 24, 2010. I weighed 210.4 lbs. with 59.8 lbs. of fat mass.

Today, I’m at 186.8 lbs. with a fat mass of 43.2 lbs.  That’s about a 16.6 lb. fat loss in about a year and a half.  While any decrease in those numbers is great, I achieved that loss without a ton of effort. I stopped eating grains for a month or two, to which I can attribute the biggest amount of weight loss during that period.

Earlier this year, inspired by Tim Ferriss’s bestselling book, The 4-Hour Body, I decided to start a slow-carb eating plan.  I also two DEXA body scans (one in January, and one a few weeks later in March) done at the Body Composition Center in Redwood City to check accuracy of the body fat calculations done by my scale. I was in for a shock.

While I’m not ready to post my “before” pictures just yet, I have no problem sharing my “creepy x-ray blob” photos below:

DEXA Scans, January and March 2011

The good news is that I made some good progress from January to March. In fact, I even put on a few pounds of lean mass, muscle, which I didn’t expect. The bad news is that while my scale had been reporting overall body fat calculations in the high 27% range in January, this more accurate scan shows that more than 40% of me is made of fat. Yuck.

Since then, I haven’t had another body scan, but I’ve been focused on trying to eat a low-carb diet on a daily basis, thanks to the science presented by the fascinating book by Gary Taubes, Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It (if you don’t want to read the book, watch the talk he gave at Google in May).

As you can see from the graph, I’ve continued to slowly drop weight, even though admittedly, I haven’t participated in very much physical activity. I’ve done some walking here and there, but I haven’t really been going to the gym on a regular basis.

I’ve decided it’s time to step it up, which brings us to today.

The Ground Rules

For twelve weeks, from August 8 to October 31, I’m going to follow these rules:

1. I will be following the Duke University “No Sugar, No Starch” Diet, which is a fairly standard low-carb diet, consisting of mostly protein and fat, and very few carbohydrates.
2. I will perform some kind of physical activity a minimum of 5 days per week. I prefer cardio, so I’ll do 3 days of cardio and 2 days of strength training.
3. I will limit any drinking to 1 day per week, with a maximum of 3 lower-carb drinks (diet soda/vodka, wine, etc.).
4. I will drink at least 1L of water per day (but more would be better).
5. I will weigh myself daily and post the weight to the Internet via my Withings scale.
6. I will update my progress here at least once per week.
7. I will take a front-facing and profile photo every day, and at the end of this challenge I will post a time-lapse video of the result.
8. The week of November 1, I will undergo another body scan to measure my body composition and assess my progress.

The goal is 30 pounds lost, putting my final weight at 156.8 pounds.

Let’s do this!

Instead, I wake up every morning in my furnished studio in what used to be a mental hospital in Palo Alto with the whole day in front of me.

My time now belongs to me, and only me. This is the story of how I ended up here.

July 29 will mark the 6-year anniversary of my move to Silicon Valley. In July 2005, when Yahoo! relocated me to be one of the founding members of the YUI team, I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was happy to move to California (I had never even visited) and I was thrilled to be working for one of the most recognizable names on the Internet. I figured I’d stay there for a few years, build some really cool stuff, and drink a lot of free coffee.

Then in December 2006 I got a call from IMVU. I wasn’t looking to make a move at the time, but I know to never turn down a free lunch, so I decided to meet with the team to see what they were up to. What I found was a small team of really smart people that were working on building a 3D chat and dress-up social network that was pretty terrible at the time, but the market validation was there. People were paying for this thing even though there was so much work left to do.

At IMVU, I met visual designer/cofounders that were also writing PHP. I met a CEO and CTO who were still regularly committing code. I met engineers that stayed in the office until 8pm every night and sometimes went drinking together after work just because they liked to hang out with other smart people. And, they were working as fast as they could to build a product that a bunch of people already liked. I realized that this was what people meant by “startup”. A few conversations later, I was in.

This was before “lean startup” and “continuous deployment” were hot buzz-phrases, so I had no idea what I was getting into. Having worked in really traditional engineering organizations at companies like MetLife and Yahoo!, I nearly did a spit-take when my new coworkers explained to me that any code I committed would end up out in production in a few minutes.

“Shouldn’t we at least have a staging server?” I asked. They smirked.

I spent the next four and a half years working in the most continuously evolving, fast-paced, living, breathing engineering group that I’ve ever had the pleasure of being a part of. I watched as IMVU went from having one tiny BuildBot slave running a handful of automated tests to a gigantic cluster of machines running thousands of tests. I got to see IMVU’s first attempt at a push health monitoring system that would roll a deployment back if something appeared to be wrong. I got to witness first-hand the pain that happens when you try to scale an engineering organization from 15 to 100 and expect that you’ll still be able to have everyone committing and pushing within a matter of minutes. And I watched as the smart people I worked with smashed through every barrier in order to preserve these values and processes, undeterred. It was awesome.

I also got to do quite a bit of product management, which is rare for an engineer, but IMVU has the philosophy of letting people do what they’re good at. The management’s attention to identifying employees’ individual strengths allowed me to explore areas of product development that I never thought I would get to learn about, making me into a stronger engineer and a better product designer.

So, why leave all that behind?

In the early days, one of the guiding principles that then-CTO Eric Ries would constantly repeat in our weekly engineering meetings was the philosophy that every person should be working on what they believe is most important, regardless of what anyone tells them to do—they just need to be prepared to justify their actions and explain their reasoning.

For the past 3 years, I’ve been working on a side project called Routesy, an iOS app which has turned out to be one of the most successful public transit apps in the Bay Area. It doesn’t make enough to pay all the bills (yet) but it has a lot of passionate users who tell me on a regular basis that it makes their lives easier. Just like the early days of IMVU where I was convinced to join because the market had validated something that wasn’t nearly ready, I feel like I haven’t fully realized what I’m capable of creating, or how I might be able to change the world, because there are only so many hours in the day.

Focusing on building my own business and finding my own path is the next natural step for me. I’ve finally reached the point where I know that it’s time to begin investing my time in my own vision.

As Eric Stromberg of Hunch said, “Working at a startup allows you to observe how one startup is run, and help shape a concrete vision of how you would want to run your company.” My time at IMVU has helped me to learn and develop that vision.

I haven’t decided definitely how I’ll be spending all my time, but I can promise one thing: It’s going to be a fun ride.