The Football Fan’s Diet

By Matt DeReno
On The FFD

PITTSBURGH – Well, I had a few beers yesterday and went over the my DGO for the day. It was almost like a spontaneous New Year’s Eve Celebration materialized a day BEFORE New Year’s Eve. Don’t you just hate when that happens? Well, I had some uncommonly good news to celebrate, which I will save for a later date. The point is, so far as the new Season IV is concerned, I lost my first day in a big way.

I put my beer rule into effect. I didn’t want to, but I did and tallied the damage this morning. I’ll save the exact amount for the end of the week lest I publicly embarrass myself as to how many so-called “field goals” I surrendered for imbibing as I did yesterday. Nonetheless, I plan to be painfully honest about my scores.

Once again I was tempted to say, you know, “It is New Year’s, who cares about this diet?” After all, I could start tomorrow on January 1 like millions of others. But, I can’t keep doing that. I made a commitment this time and aim to stick to it come Harry’s Big and Tall or slim jeans. Does this sound like you time and again? If so, I can surely empathize.

Well, today, I am obviously going to take an “R & R” day being the holiday. For a guy my size, to maintain my weight, I can shovel about 3,000 calories down the pie hole. Well, I weigh 268. Still, something tells me this limit is NOT necessarily safe today. Well see.

Now it is New Year’s Eve. So as much as you can be healthy and see if you can put up a Touchdown or two. If not, no big deal. There is always tomorrow to get right back on track. Good luck and Happy New Year’s to you. I’ll check back in tomorrow. Remind me about that good news down the road sometime.

By Matt DeReno
On The FFD

How are you doing today? Have you made your resolutions to loose weight yet? If not, what are you waiting for – a heart attack? If you are new hear, this is the diet for guys that you have dreamed about. After all, isn’t that ultimately what lies down the road if we don’t get healthy America. So guys out there that love football, this is the diet for you. This diet is simple, sort of like a “Weight Watchers” for real men. Instead of calculating points for food, you get Touchdowns and Field goals for doing good things that are healthy.

Here is how I did yesterday.

I was bit more hungry than usual, but I did it. I posted a shutout against my Inner Fat Slob. I took my daughter to see the movie Avatar. Good movie. Bad food choices as always at the movie theater. I looked up before hand how many calories are in a tub of buttered movie popcorn—over 1600! Ouch. I ordered for my daughter a small with no butter. I had maybe a quarter of it. I hit the YMCA and stayed under my DGO for the third consecutive day.

I know there will be trouble to come. New Year’s Eve is tomorrow. I plan to test that new so-called “R & R” day, whereby one day a week I shoot to maintain a caloric equilibrium that if I stay under, will result in no weight gain and no weight loss. This is an effort to maintain what I have accomplished during the week.

It is sort of release valve strategy so I don’t build up the pressure of a sense of deprivation. The idea is not to give myself a break. The idea it to prevent a late week deprivation sort of feeding frenzy as I recall many times last year, where after 6 days, I felt really, really hungry, to the point I could probably eat a real football.

Already, I am pissed about my proclamation that each beer is a FG this year. That is rather harsh. In fact, one danger of that, which is why I gave up that rule last year, was that it may lead to completely giving up in a week, where I had one bad day and, for argument’s sake, drank, oh, I dunno, 10 beers? As if someone like me could actually drink 10 beers. I know. That is silly. But, if somehow I did, that would be 30 points to my Inner Fat Slob with this new stricter rule in mind. On the old rules, that would only be a FG as it would be immaterial whether one drank 1 or 10 beers it was all the same. The 10 beers would come into play calorie wise and would no doubt bust out a DGO for the day unless there was some serious exercise involved.

So the trick is to create a rule that releases the pressure of mounting deprivation but yet if somehow violated is punishment indeed, but does not send me feeling that I should give up on the whole week, which would be really bad. The beauty of the Football Fan’s Diet is that each day is a new day to be healthy and have fun being healthy.

I suppose then to make a long story short. The new ruling on beer is that if consumed during an “R & R Day” then so long as that beer is under the myh maintenance caloric level, then no harm done. That way, I can have one day where I can actually have a few beers and not go crazy. However, all other days, all beers are 3 points. This I think is a good compromise rule. I am excited to test it out tomorrow.

Fellas, I hope you adopt a Football Fan’s Diet specifically tailored to your lifestyle. Remember, you can read all about how to do this in the links at the top of the page. This is a fun way for real men who love football and need to get into shape to get healthy. And just think, if you favorite team does not advance this week in the NFL playoffs and you have no hope for hte Super Bowl, at least you still control your own destiny. I’ll see your skinny ass online later.

By Matt DeReno
On The FFD

PITTSBURGH – Will this be the year my typically failed New Year’s Resolutions actually work? The first official day on Season IV of the Football Fan’s Diet was a workmanlike effort. I exercised. I ate within my daily game day object, which is a caloric level that should, in theory, ensure I loose about 2.7 pounds per week.

For a late evening snack, I had an apple as well as an orange. Add to that, some decaffeinated coffee at Barnes and Noble and what do you know? I pitched a shut out on the first real day of this diet, healthy lifestyle change for men, eh—guys, dudes, American football fans—whatever you want to call them. I even shoveled some snow and ran the dog in our small yard. I popped in a local bar to say hello to a friend and smoked a cigar while drowning a quick diet coke. Hey, I know, a cigar is not a good thing. I agree but for now it is no calories. I don’t smoke them that so much as puff them. Still, that will surely be a future Football Fan’s Diet goal on a season down the road.

Today’s result was pleasing. Now it is time for some hard public-shaming style honesty: the scale said 258 today, well it didn’t say anything. Although bloated on my first measurement from the swelling banks of a river of holiday grub, it shall be noted for the record that a few days before when I started this diet I checked in at 268. It smiled 258 today. It is day three. Surely I didn’t loose ten pounds in a few days. Merely, I had a Christmas ham stuck in my belly for a couple days and maybe a license plate, a boot and a fisherman’s arm becuase I was a damn food shark during the holidays. Nonetheless, when it goes down it goes down.

As for more chances for my Inner Fat Slob to get the ball back and drive on me, there could easily be one later today. I may take my daughter to see the movie Avatar and hopefully it is not my personal fat avatar that attends the film, and contentedly sits there munching on high-caloric buttered popcorn and other chocolate candies. In the past I would do just that. Today, I can’t let it happen. I must play good defense.

Speaking of good defense, this Thursday our New Year’s plans are up in the air. We could attend a dance, which includes a buffet and open bar. Whoa, mule! How do you play defense against that?

I have some ideas. I could steer us toward Pittsburgh’s First Night event, which is mainly an alcohol free family friendly celebration of Pittsburgh’s New Year. It would be hard to avoid beer, but I know from last year, that beer leads to sustained drives by my Inner Fat Slob. Beer is not bad, but my Inner Fat Slob surely is. I curb beer, I curb the fat slob. It may not be that simple, but it just could be.

Lastly, I would like to offer a congratulations to the Pittsburgh Panthers for winning the Meineke Car Car Bowl Saturday. A 10-win season is still not shabby. As for my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers, they have a chance. Though it is slightly better than Jim Carey’s chance to score in Dumb in Dumber, there still is chance. There is a chance for me. There is a chance for you too. Ain’t a new year great thing?!

Time will tell. Hut. Hut. Hut. The day has begun.

By Matt DeReno
On The FFD

PITTSBURGH – I couldn’t really sleep last night. It is cold outside. The snow has arrived. We are in winter in Pittsburgh and ah, what fun. And so the struggle begins with a shutout day on the combines. I put in over an hour on the tread mill yesterday at the YMCA, watching the Steelers scratch out a victory over the Baltimore Ravens. However, it might be too little too late for the Steelers.

As for me, I am geared up. I took it too my fat slob yesterday. Not only did I exercise, I was extremely healthy. We walked around West View, Pa. for about an hour. It is one day and one day does not a winning streak make. But, darned, if I am not going to use this as a springboard for the new year. Now, if I can only get out of my driveway today, I plan to kick some tail at the gym.

By Matt DeReno
On The FFD

PITTSBURGH – As you may have guessed from the date of my previous posting, I have lost what can only be described as a pitiful season on The FFD. I failed in my effort to be healthy. I failed in my effort to maintain the weight I lost earlier in the year. Well, let us say, I blew out a knee cap or something like that. I was standing at 2-2 when I sort of quit. Well, let us also say, it is time for a new season – and for that I must be excited at the chance to finally get healthy at last. Time to build upon the success of that playoff year last year at this time. I must not fail. I must lose that weight. I must develop the healthy strategies that can get me there.

I know what many people say about starting anything on the beginning of a new year, but I did have some considerable success last year. However, I recall when the summer started, the magic was over. I limped into the playoffs and was almost waiting for a merciful exit and I got it. I was played out. I didn’t have the stamina to go the distance.

Time to do it again – only better. Only make it last this year. To do that I have to address the underlying reason I did not win the Super Bowl last year.

What are those reasons? Well, they may be—who am I kidding, they are—deeply rooted into my associations with food as a way to relax and deal with life’s daily stress. Food had become too much of a comfort association for me and I need to change that. I don’t think I ever really solved that last year. I never found that new way to deal with stress and relax.

The success I did enjoy, may hold the key to lasting success this time. I have went back and studied those entries about why it all seemed to click in early February last year when I enjoyed an unprecedented month or two of health. After which, I slowly faded back to my old ways.

Quick appraisal of Season II on the FFD

Generally, here are some quick observations upon reviewing the Season II data:
• When I blow it – I blow it big.
• I had a wonderful stretch in early Feb. last year. I had 18 consecutive winning days.
• High score for one week was 70-3.
• I scored 70 points 3 times.
• I sort off lost my drive starting around Easter.
• I struggled to be healthy when I was sick in March.
• Mediation in the morning, helped me stay focused.
• There were a couple times when I felt really hungry from so many days of limited meals, which led to blowing it.
• Low weight of the year was 216.

New Strategies

What follows are some new things I will try to reach the 185 mark:
• 2 meals a day plus a snack if needed – 1 low carb breakfast / 1 meal around 3
• Exercise in the morning – 30 minutes.
• Walk the dog at night and/or with Izabella after school – 55 minutes
• Get back into bike riding / 1 or 2 times a week when the weather gets nicer.
• 1 day a week can be a Rest and Recovery day. On these days my DGO is raised to a level of weight maintenance for one day. If met, no points are scored or lost. If exceeded, it is a loss. If under the DGO, points scored as normal. The idea behind this is that after 6 days of good exercise and eating right – we might need a little more food to stave off an eventual breakdown binge.
• 1 Beer will equal 3 points. Though I don’t admit it, this could be the rule that takes me to 185. In fact, I think it is clear I must drastically reduce beer consumption if I want to succeed. Beer always leads to lower inhibitions when it comes to food.
• Mediate every day – looking back, this seemed to coincide with doing very well. This could be a way to deal with stress.
• Rewards and Relaxation: writing, movies, video games – no calories there!
• Other out-of-the-box ideas: learn a new sport, play basketball again, walk during golf, fishing for relaxation?
• Do a run/walk event somewhere – for a good cause.
• Develop a spiritual / wellness framework to help deal with stress – use this framework to replace food.
• Develop and nurture an intellectual curiosity about underlying problems related to eating.

Moving forward with Season IV

Last year, on that Season II, I was a playoff team. That was about it. I exited in the first round. I didn’t win the Super Bowl. I tried another Season III, but I really blew it for the holidays and have now written that season off as being on an IR of sorts. This year I want to have the best year yet.
This new season presupposes that I know a thing or two about why I didn’t win the Super Bowl last year and attempts to add the necessary strategies to sustain health and weight loss. This year, I want to run the table. I want to be the 72’ Dolphins. Isn’t that the way a champion should think? Can I do that? Why not?