Emerge Inc. Blog

During the past few blog posts, I have discussed technology that has helped me during my Weight Loss/Get Healthy Journey. Some of the technology was created with weight loss in mind, but some was not. Today, I’ll discuss another example of a technology that was not created with weight loss in mind, but helps me with my journey. This technology is Google Docs.

Fat vs. Muscle

There’s a game I play with my 2 year old nephew where I put a dime and a nickel on the table and ask him which one he would prefer. Most times, as 2 years olds will do, he will pick the nickle because it’s bigger. Under this premise, if I put five pounds of muscle and five pounds of fat in front of him, which one would he pick? I assume he would pick the bigger one, which would be five pounds of fat. Five pounds of fat is 3 times the volume of five pounds of muscle. [1]

Over the past few months, my weight has fluctuated +/- five pounds. While these aren’t the results I would like to see on the scale, I have not become discouraged. I know that, while five pounds of fat weighs the same as five pounds of muscle, it’s all about volume. [2]

Google Docs Spreadsheet

During my journey, I have been keeping track of my measurements. I take 12 measurements of my body, including what doctors tell me is one of the most important measurements, the belly. [3] My measurements started with 300 inches across my body. To keep track of these statistics, I created a Google Docs Spreadsheet. I take the measurements about once a month and document them on the spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet automatically saves the updates as I make them and calculates if I have had a successful month or a bad month. I can even graph the results to give myself a picture of my journey.

Since starting my journey, I have loss 19 inches (28 pounds). My chart also tells me I have lost 4 inches of belly fat, which lets me know I am on the right track. If I didn’t use Google Docs, I would get discouraged being in the plateau on the scale during the past few months. Instead, I have been able to see that I am on the right track by tracking the inches I have lost on my Google Docs Spreadsheet.

Sources:

1. – http://www.phentermine.com/forum/my-experience-phentermine/7630-1-lb-fat-vs-1-lb-muscle-picture.html

2. – http://www.onemorebite-weightloss.com/muscle-to-fat.html

3. – http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/belly-fat/MC00054

Image – http://showupfitness.com/2011/11/cardio-vs-weight-training/

Today I will show you how to setup a generic browsing proxy called SOCKS 5. The main reason why I use this is to get around firewalls and gain access to services that aren’t exposed to the public side.  If you are on Linux or Mac OS X you should be able to do this with ease, as SSH has this built-in.  You need a computer that is on the internal network and you can SSH into.

In this example I will be using a hostname of example.com

What you need to do is SSH into that server with a set of arguments in SSH command:

-D PORT

stands for the dynamic port on the local machine (e.g. the client computer you are issuing the SSH command from).

-C

is for compression, it is always a good idea to use this.

To see what this looks like altogether view below:

ssh -D 8080 -C silas@example.com

This will login you into your SSH server and you should be at a prompt.  The only thing left to do is configure the proxy settings on your local browser.

In Firefox you can do this by changing the network settings and where it says SOCKS Host insert localhost and for Port insert 8080.

After clicking “OK” you can now browse any site on the inside (and the outside) of the firewall that your SSH server is in.

Another tip is to remove the “No Proxy for:” settings like in the above image.  Removing this will allow you to access services on the SSH server, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to.

After that you can do http://localhost:9292 and access an application that you are running on your SSH server at port 9292.

Mixed Bell Peppers prepared by me

My last few blog posts have been about my use of websites and technologies which were not designed for weight loss.  This week I will discuss websites which were designed for weight loss and explain how I use them for healthy eating ideas and tips to help me throughout my journey.

Getting Healthy?  Start with the CDC

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has an entire section dedicated to getting to and maintaining a healthy weight.  The site includes BMI calculators, recipes, videos and a getting started guide.

MayoClinic

If you have special dietary needs or are looking for recipes ideas, one site to use is the MayoClinic.  The site has recipes listed by meal, course,  ingredient, and even the number of servings needed. Each recipe includes the nutritional analysis, which includes the number of calories per serving (great for adding the meal to your LoseIt.com app).

Food Network

When it comes to food, there’s a full television network dedicated to the subject.  The Food Network has a website which also includes a full section dedicated to Healthy Eating.

Improving your life one meal at a time

In order to lose weight and get healthy, I need to learn to eat better.  Two additional sites I use for recipes and articles are cleaneatingmag.com and eatingwell.com/nutrition_health. Both of these sites include meals that can be prepared quickly, including a section dedicated to 5 ingredient meals and meals that can be prepared in 20 minutes. They also include articles about getting healthy and what to eat and what not to eat.

How To: Video Jug

During my journey, I also discovered a website, which not only helped me with cooking, but also includes information for additional parts of life (and well plain entertainment).  Videojug.com includes over 60,000 professionally done “how to” videos ranging from “How to Make Mushroom Risotto,” “How to get better at Remembering,” to “How to stay fit and well.”  The cooking videos include step by step instructions of what to do and when.

As you can see, there are many websites out there that are designed to help with weight loss.  These sources have helped me to stay on track and be successful in my weight loss journey.

As the adage goes, “It takes a village to raise a child.” I believe weight loss/getting healthy isn’t a one person job. It takes a virtual village and a lot of motivators.

If you follow me on Twitter or are my friend on Facebook, you have seen some of these motivators at work. As discussed in a previous post, I use Foursquare to keep track of when I check-in at the gym. I sometimes post these check-ins. LoseIt.com also includes motivators, which post my work-outs and weight gain/loss to Facebook and Twitter.

The motivation I receive from these postings is from my friends who write comments and “Like” my posts. These comments and “likes” keep me going by showing me the support of my friends during my journey.

This past summer I had an injury that prevented me from working out, which resulted in no work-out postings on Facebook and Twitter. A Facebook friend messaged me and asked why I stopped working out and stopped posting. Someone noticed, and I know now I can’t stop without explaining why. Again, it takes a virtual village, and the support from my friends during my journey keeps me going. My postings keep them informed, which keeps the pressure on me.

I have also received comments from friends offering advice from their experiences losing weight and getting healthy. Advice from those who are actually striving for the same goal is extremely beneficial to me and adds to my motivation. If they have been successful, I can/will too.

As you can see, even though Facebook and Twitter were not designed specifically for helping people get healthy, they are helping me.

Thanks go out to all my friends (and a few strangers) who comment/like and provide support and motivation during this journey. Please keep the pressure on me and continue offering advice and support.

Image Source: http://dominickmondi.wordpress.com/you/