New Blog Vocabulary: Fatblogging

February 20th, 2007

TechnologyGetting back to the subject of inventing tech phrases (weblogisms), here’s another post that suggests some more: honeypots, sleepers, rockets, late bloomers, duds, screwdrivers, and pubs. Mr. Engtech came up with “blogamageddon” and found the two phrases “wypo” and “weblogism” in the comments at Techcrunch.

Meanwhile, Jason Calacanis has come up with one new web term that I’m sure will take off: fatblogging. Not only is it funny, it makes sense to link the desire to lose weight with computer types. I gained probably twenty pounds when I first started working in the tech industry, for several reasons:

1) Sitting in front of a glowing screen for eight hours means only moving fingers and hands.
2) Copious amounts of snacks sitting on people’s desks, so walking from cubicle to cubicle turned into “grazing”. There’s a scene in Haiku Tunnel which captures this situation perfectly.
3) Folks always going out to lunch.
4) Eating tastes of many techworkers involved cheeseburgers, burritos, and candy.
5) Fridge was stocked with free sodas.
6) Company ordered lunch out for us once a week, which was gigantic burritos or pizza.
7) Earning more money means more disposable income for food.

Anyhow, a lot of this fatblogging extravagance ended for me after Web 1.0. A few months of unemployment back then meant cutting out a lot of Twinkies. But I’d still like to lose 10 pounds. I’m currently at 172 and ideally I should be in the low 160s, based on my height and BMI. Also, sadly, I don’t get much exercise. I think the only reason why I’m not 200+ pounds is because I use mass transit (and therefore walk a fair amount).

Note: Another phrase has been coined. Another blogger doesn’t like reading about people’s weight loss efforts on their blogs and is calling such fatblogging information “fatspam“. The internet cracks me up.

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  • Yeah, I do a 15 lbs swing ever two years or so and I'm on the fatblogging side of the scale now.

    I've been thinking of writing a fatblogging how-to and an anti-fatblogging how-to based on my previous experience.

    So many ideas, so little time.

    Let's do a "You Know You're a Fatblogger When..." post!

    You know you're a fatblogger when you buy a Nintendo Wii for exercise.

    You know you're a fatblogger when you install the "One Click Pizza Delivery" plugin for Wordpress.
  • Those damned office birthday cakes are a killer too...
  • Haha. Doesn't Amazon sell groceries now? Those sound like good ideas for posts.

    I was thinking about this a bit more: looks like Kevin Smith (again, thanks to J. Calacanis) is on a diet.

    But I think the ultimate geek dude who went from serious poundage to slim is Peter Jackson.

    Dave, I forgot about all those "extra" events. I remember one VP would always be bringing in the Krispy Kremes and of course I had to eat one. Freaking hard to resist!
  • Oh, as for the post, here are some other thoughts:

    You know you're a fatblogger when you consider losing weight through "filters" i.e. eating only subway sandwchiches, only liquids, only food you can suck through a straw.

    You know you're a fatblogger when you try to figure out a diet that doesn't eliminate the geek standbys of pizza, beer, and soda.
  • I'm not fatblogging, but my current diet was inspired by Jeremy Zawodny. Counting calories really isn't just a mental thing; you need to keep track of it on paper. I think I lost 15 lbs so far but I'm not telling anyone how much I weigh ;)
  • Tamar that's helpful. Thanks for the link. I think I should make it a point to lose 10 pounds with methodical strategies like that one.

    I don't think I'll blog about it though...!
  • I'll admit that Zawodny's article also inspired me (in addition to the fact that he's a friend and former coworker).

    Instead of using his spreadsheet though, I ended up signing up with calorieking.com (he mentions it in his blog). I started counting calories last June for about 4 months and lost 15 pounds. I've since slacked off. I haven't lost any more weight, but I haven't gained anymore either.

    The approach is interesting. You basically have to train yourself to eat until you are satisfied but not full. You also learn to take a little more time before deciding to go for seconds. I found that if I eat and then take a break rather than mindlessly shoveling more food into my gullet, I do feel satisified and don't really need more food. The first month is hard though. You go from your normal ginormo portions to more reasonalbe, smaller portions. But after you've reaclimated your body, you'll find that when you go out to restaurants and stuff you'll often just eat half of what they give you and save the other half to take home.

    Either way, I heartily endorse Jeremey's diet series as well.

    Good luck with your calorie counting Tamar. And Jase, if you need add'l advice about it, I can let you know what worked for me.
  • I've been thinking about it and I should order groceries on the Internet. I had going to the grocery store, so I never have any food in the house, so I always end up eating out. It's a vicious cycle.

    The Google 15 widget is a good / simple weight to track weight.
  • Definitely, eating out is a big issue. I lost some weight by bringing lunch from home. The portions at a lot of places are huge, and sometimes I think if I pay for something at a restaurant, I feel obgligated to eat beyond when I'm full.

    I'm not as into being super detailed with the calorie counting so I think the psychological aspect of tricking myself might be a good start.

    Dang - before you know it someones going to figure out how to put the Google 15 Wdiget in their blogging sidebar and there will be a whole ton of dieters supporting each other.
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