The Football Fan’s Diet

Hello friend. I welcome you to my blog “The Football Fan’s Diet.” I am Matt DeReno, a writer living in Pittsburgh, Pa. and this blog is my sad attempt to use humor to lose weight. The real humor is that I am actually trying again and again and again. The end result of past experiences is that I have become a defacto expert on a lot of the popular fad diets like Atkins, South Beach, Carbohydrate Addict’s, The Zone. You name it. I tried it.

Yes, I had some success, but I finally said why not take some of the things I liked from most and make my own diet up, something that I might actually have fun doing. That sort of convoluted thinking led me to The Football Fan’s Diet.

So what is The Football Fan’s Diet?

For starters, The Football Fan’s Diet (The FFD) is a fun method of becoming “healthier” by following a weight loss approach loosely based on the model of a full NFL Season.

In some ways, you can say The FFD is a combination of fantasy football and a dieting plan, as weird as that may sound.

The FFD is especially well suited for football lovers but can be done by just about anyone that wants to try a different approach to losing weight.

More specifically, The FDD includes 5 weeks of preseason, 16 weeks of the regular season, potentially 3 weeks of playoffs (wildcard week, first round, conference championship) and then 2 weeks for The Super Bowl.

A little math tells us that The FFD can then last up to 26 weeks. I say “can” because you might not make the post-season (more on that later).

The idea is to set daily “health” goals for which you score touchdowns (7 points) and field goals (3 Points) if those “health” goals are attained. Conversely, if you do something “unhealthy” you must give a field goal (3 points) or touchdown (7 points) to your opponent, in this case your inner fat slob or whatever you want to call “unhealthy” you.

At the end of the week you add up your score. If you have more points than your inner fat slob, then you get a “W” for the week. If not, you get an “L”.

So what do you get touchdowns and field goals for? That is up to you.
You determine what “healthier” is and what is worth giving yourself a TD and FG for during one day on The FFD.

Maybe you get a touchdown if you run 5 miles one day or don’t eat certain foods but it can be anything that makes you “healthier.” For example, you could get a TD for eating under 2,000 calories? You could get a FG when you successfully avoided fried food at work or abstained from carbs.

In my case, I am setting a daily caloric level upon which if obtained, I get a touchdown for my efforts. I will also give myself a field goal if I exercise that day. So, I have the potential to score 10 points in a day. On the other hand, my inner fat slob gets a field goal if I drink beer on any particular day. My inner fat slob gets a touchdown if I go over my predefined caloric level.

Keep this in mind, however. Just like real football you have to at least have a winning record to get into the playoffs. So if you are not 9-7 or better after the regular season, then The FFD is over for you.

No worries. You can start over on the next season right away.

However, The FFD does show some mercy. The first 5 weeks of Preseason are intended to gradually get your ready for the regular season, when it counts. Therefore in Preseason it is suggested you relax your goals with the idea you can make them harder in the regular season.

After all, no matter what your record is after Preseason, even 0 – 5, you go right into the regular season, where it is suggested you toughen up your goals a bit you have defined to be a TD and FG.
If you reach a point where a winning record is impossible, then it is over for you. You can quit at that point and start over but a real man might finish out the season as best he can. The playoffs are even more demanding: loose one week and your season is over.

But make no mistake about it. The FFD will not be easy. Not if you were honest with yourself and set realistic yet challenging and demanding goals for your scoring system and stick to it. If you are not motivated to win on The FFD, then just like in the NFL, you will get your ass handed to you – only it will mostly likely be even bigger than it was when you started.

I encourage to you read up and comment on my progress by visiting The FFD blog regularly. I also want you to start The FFD too, on your own. That is the whole point of The FFD.
I should ad that this blog represents my third try on The FFD.

I got knocked out mid season on both of my earlier efforts but this time I am going out on a limb and posting my progress on this blog for all the world to see. Maybe just like a prima donna receiver in the NFL, who only shines when the spotlight is on him, I will have that break out season and finally be able to get back to that weight I was when I was playing football for real – in high school that is – 1990 to be exact.

On that note, please spread the word about The FFD. And remember, The FFD is the only diet that comes with a guarantee: lose the weight or twice the fat back!