Friends and co-workers will support weight loss

Two Guys Lose Weight: Tell your friends your goals

By Tony Pierce, Los Angeles Times

Jan. 26, 2011 7:24 AM PT

One of the nice parts of my job is I get to interact with a large number of people in the building. And although I have written hundreds of items for The Times, this series has gotten the best reaction among my co-workers and friends than anything else I’ve done.

People who hadn’t any reason to do more than say hi are now passing by saying, “Lookin’ good, Slim” or “I love what you’re writing.”

It’s hilarious and very supportive, and you can see that they’re genuinely rooting for Jimmy and me.

None of which would have happened if I didn’t have a big mouth and announced my plans, which I recommend to you.

Add a little pressure to your goal.

Tell your friends, “I want to do this this year.” Maybe they’ll join you.

If you have a blog, tell your readers. If you tweet, tweet it up.

If you don’t have a blog, try a Tumblr blog. They’re free, cute and have a great community. I’ve never seen an easier way to blog.

If you don’t have many Twitter followers, add me, @busblog and I will follow you back.You’ll have at least one person checking your progress, but I recommend telling more than one.

The system designed by my boss Sean Gallagher and the Health editor Tami Dennis is perfect: weigh in once a week, write every day to as large an audience as you can about what you’re eating, be smart about what you eat and how you exercise, and see what happens for six weeks.

If you’re lucky you’ll end up with a buddy. I got lucky to get Jimmy.

Yesterday we had a fun Standards and Practices meeting, and the Readers Rep editor brought the most beautiful-looking cupcakes. An hour later one of the Entertainment producers e-mailed me about something regarding sorbet that was melting. The former apologized for tempting me; the other insisted on getting me to try some.

I just took a picture of the cupcakes. It wasn’t a big deal. The conversation quickly moved to a recent Times article about how pies are the new cupcakes. That conversation wasn’t a big deal either.

This past weekend wasn’t a big deal. Last night wasn’t a big deal. The ride has been smooth, I believe, because a lot of eyes are on me, and in pressure situations who wants to crumble?

It’s your chance to soar. Call your shot, point at the bleachers and hit it there.

We may not have control over much, but we do have some control over what we put in our pie holes, and how often we shake our moneymakers.

Invite your friends to watch you.

It will help.

Diet: Granola bar and water for breakfast. Chicken and tofu salad for lunch with an apple juice. Quarter chicken with garlic paste, hummus and 3/4 of a pita for dinner with a Diet Pepsi.

Exercise: Half-hour on the treadmill watching a rebroadcast of the State of the Union, half-hour of weights.