The Football Fan’s Diet

By Matt DeReno
On the FFD

PITTSBURGH – So I have won again on the FFD even though I showed a slight gain in weight the past two days. How then could I be rewarded? Because I am still under my average weight for last week.

This built-in forgiveness is feature that is really nice about this new scoring system. In case you missed most of what this blog is about, The Football Fan’s Diet is sort of like a Weight Watcher’s for men.

Instead of attributing point values for certain food items, we dole out touchdowns and field goals. We compete against ourselves. We give ourselves a victory if we win a week. We track our record over a season with the idea of winning the Super Bowl of health.

Recently, I tweaked the FFD scoring system to simply reward myself for beating my weight average from the week before (though it should be noted the beauty of the FFD is that you can devise your own rules for earning touchdowns and giving them up). See our rules for more details.

So now with the new system in place, I have to beat my last week’s weight average. Yes, this means I have to weigh myself everyday but I am staying on top of my weight by doing so. I have also noticed when I weigh myself, I usually watch what I eat. It is almost like that weight number on the scale is a reminder of how much I have to loose.

What happened today is that I got a touchdown because I am still under that average from last week. Even though I could have surely ate better yesterday, there was still no junk food at night. Yes, I showed a slight gain, but today I have an opportunity to be really healthy and make up for it. To keep that average going down.

On the old system, I would have chalked up a loss for yesterday. Any slight gain is to give up points on the old system. A losing day seems to beget more losing days and then it all seems hopeless. Could a tweak in how I record my scores, result in me actually sticking with The FFD and losing weight? Or is it merely creative weight accounting? Those are legitimate questions for sure.

As tenuous as the weight loss psyche can be, I am inclined to believe that what keeps one motivated can keep one going. There is no creative weigh to record weight and be under that last week’s average. That will be the true test. And, by extension of this scoring system, it will get more and more difficult each progressive week.

Nevertheless, I won 4 days in a row now; 4 consecutive days I have been under that average. I am now inspired to hit the gym and keep it going.

The motivating factors are really in place with this system. When I think back to weeks where there were major events approaching, I was bummed out because in all likelihood it meant a loss on that day.

This system sort of means I can bust my but to keep that average going down for the week and then on the major event day, one so-called lax day of beer and grub might not even matter.

In short, the caloric transgressions of that event will simply have been mitigated across six days of ass kicking at the gym.

Now that is inspiring.

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