I weighed in this AM and my Withings scale logged 259.7 pounds and sent it to Facebook and Twitter. Soon, I received notice from my online service, connected online to Withings, that I have unlocked my 45 pounds lost badge on Fitbit!

It has taken ten-months but here’s how I have done it: gone to the gym three-times/week; counted my calories; pretended to be an gym rat so I have eaten lots of eggs and lots of chicken and very little pasta, bread, and ice cream; and — and this is key — I have forgiven myself my trespasses because I have had binges, I have had nights of beer and merriment.

I have eaten pints of ice cream that I had bought for my mother.  And I have polished off a bottle of red wine in one sitting, more than once. But that’s OK (for the weight loss) because I did not get frustrated and give up.

I started off using the fitbit thingy and the Fitbit site back in Portland but because my fitbit got killed in the laundry and I didn’t replace it. But I used all the stuff on here to log my food and workout on LoseIt almost religiously — and I still am — and also drank way more water than I was comfortable with.

Since I fetish nice things, I have been working out much harder ever since I secured a pair of red, sexy, Mizuno running shoes, the Mizuno Wave Rider 15 Limited Edition — wearing these bright and shy shoes makes me feel self-conscious because they’re too good for me. I don’t honor them with all the miles in the world so I feel like I need to train like crazy so I can honor them with better time, a better pace, a longer time out, more mileage, and wear them out as fast as possible so I can get another pair. I had been getting lighter, less-structured, running shoes before but I am really sold on these. They’re working like crazy for me and I am now a devoted Mizuno runner, just like Haruki Murakami.

Since I am a technologist, I allowed tech and gear to excite me, including my Polar FT60 to track my heart rate at the gym. I upload the logs to Polar Personal Trainer. I do my best to log and track and I also make sure everything is share-able to social media for accountability. I also use RunKeeper as well as my Garmin Forerunner 305 when I run or bike.

My lofty goal — and goals are essential — is to get back into my delicate little carbon fiber single racing shell that I call Gerris. While it is a heavyweight boat, it isn’t rated for 305 pounds, which is where I was as recently as June 2011.

And, how do I know all this? How do I keep accountable?  Well, I splurged and bought the Withings WiFi Body Scale, which communicates wirelessly not only to the Withings.com site but also to Facebook, RunKeeper, FitBit, and Twitter — so every morning when I weigh myself, my weight gets published to my wall on Facebook and to my 4,973 friend and to my 47,382 followers on Twitter. Every day.

Now that’s accountability.

I also use FourSquare for accountability because not only does it tell my friends that I am there, but it also tells me how many checkins I have made at the gym since I have started checking in.  As of today, I have checked into XSport Fitness Express 121 times.

While I really could not afford it easily, I hired James Harris, a personal trainer at XSport Fitness Express near where I live in Arlington, Virginia. On that note, I joined the gym that was closest to where I live because I was always afraid that any travel at all would give me an excuse not to go. In general but especially when the weather wasn’t perfect.

With James, he makes me do suicides — the suicide drill. He makes me work with the TRX straps. Actually, I ended up buying a travel set of TRX straps that I throw into my suitcase so I can have it on the road. A pair of shoes and the TRX and you’re done. I have the TRX Pro Pack. The Pro Pack comes with a door anchor and it all comes in a netting bag so it easily slips into my Tumi roller bag. Good stuff.

Oh!  And this is the most important thing: the more weight you lose, the easier it is to lose weight; the more you exercise and become durable, capable, and build up your fitness and remove all that weight off your joints, the easier it will be to get out there and spend more and vigorous time — and as you see progress, you will become more encouraged and less frustrated, saying “screw it, it’ll never work, it’s hopeless.”

It is not! You can do it!

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