Weighthacker: weight-loss for geeks

Former Boing Boing guestblogger and all-round* happy mutant Craig Engler sez,

Weighthacker.com is a new site for geeks who want to lose weight and get fit. It takes the latest science and research about nutrition and weight loss and translates it into practical, daily advice that geeks can incorporate into their existing lifestyles.
Things like playing games, a love of gadgets and surfing the Web are often seen as contributing to a sedentary, unhealthy existence. But with Weighthacker, those geeky passions can be used as the foundation of a healthy life. Weighthacks aren’t short cuts, they’re smart cuts. They’re the smartest, most optimal things people can do to lose weight.
I’m also crowdfunding a how-to book called “Weight Hacking: A Guide For Geeks Who Want To Lose Weight And Get Fit.” The book will be a complete operating system for nerds who want to lose weight and get healthier. It will include stories of celebrity geeks who’ve lost weight, like beloved author Neil Gaiman and BoingBoing editor Cory Doctorow. And Bonnie Burton, who wrote the Star Wars Craft Book, will be creating new healthy “Food Crafts” for Weight Hacking.

Weighthacker

*Actually, a lot less round, these days

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Book • Food • happy mutants • health • kickstarter • nutrition • obesity • quantified self

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http://www.facebook.com/KBENBENEK Kurt Benbenek

I read and collect a lot of used books and the fascinating thing is to behold the myriad number of “lose weight fast” books on bookstore shelves. There seems to be an un-ending number of diet books targeted at almost every social niche. I’m not sure that Engler’s “Weighthacks” would help me lose weight – the proof of course would be in the pudding (oops, I mean the low-fat pudding) – here’s to losing weight via any program!
Thomas Valley

Someone appears to have Weighthacked their database.
user1234567

Too bad it doesn’t have a full text RSS feed :(
Karl J. Smith

Add http://www.weighthacker.com/feed/ into Google Reader and you can read it all…
eraserhead666

In REAMDE, Stephenson’s hacker almost dies from obesity, is saved when the hero slaps him on a treadmill-laptop. I would assume that’s the most important tip and will recommend to my local bookstore that REAMDE be moved to the health section of the store.
paulleader

Reminds me of John Walker’s classic The Hacker’s Diet which helped me lose weight.

http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/hackdiet.html
- bibulb
  
  I just started using a Fitbit, and its calorie tracker puts you on a diet plan not entirely dissimilar from this – albeit without the trend graphs, which are admittedly kind of a primary diagnostic.
  
  Very well put together, though.
- http://www.facebook.com/tonifowlie Toni Fowlie
  
  I dropped 60lb on the Hacker’s Diet
  
  Math rules
  
  Toni
  - paulleader
    
    Yeah, learning how to track your weight properly over time using rolling averages was a big part of it for me, not stressing over short term changes.
    –
    Paul Leader
http://www.facebook.com/craig.engler Craig Engler

eraserhead666 I use a treadmill desk! It’s awesome.
- http://twitter.com/unexplodedscot Scott Rose
  
  Amen. Day two on my desk. Definitely feel a lot better. The only weirdness, is I feel kind of dizzy for about 5 seconds after stopping. Think that might just be some compensatory effect after you’ve gotten used to viewing a screen while in motion?
http://www.facebook.com/craig.engler Craig Engler

Kurt, I hear you.Weight Hacking is definitely not a “lose weight fast” book. It’s more of a “lose weight slow” book and actually points out why “fast” and “fad” diets don’t work. It’s also not a diet book at all. What it does do is explain the reasons why you’re overweight (assuming you are) and the things you can do within your current lifestyle to change that.
- http://www.facebook.com/KBENBENEK Kurt Benbenek
  
  Craig, I can sense your obvious thoughtfulness in this venture. Losing weight is the best thing to improve one’s health, thinking and relationships. Most people I know DO want to lose weight, but they’re totally against the idea of making any effort towards that goal. I lost 60 pounds a few years ago by eating better (and less) and by walking long distances every day. Walking gives me a chance to listen to music and see the world. I still am working on the “eating less” part.
  
  An “eat well” book for Geeks and level-headed tech-oriented people is certainly a clever idea (or gimmick, depending on one’s viewpoint) – personally, for me eating less and moving around more is the ultimate in weight loss. It works 97.5% of the time. Best of luck. Hope you reach your fund-raising goal. People do need to lose weight in safe ways, geeks included.
http://twitter.com/mr_shiny Shiny

“Error establishing a database connection. Please try again later.”

I guess I’ll go do my five-mile run and check out the site when I re… OH!! Well played, Weighthacker. Well played…
http://bannedsorcery.com/ Bryce Anderson

Looks like their server equipment needs to be a bit… ahem… beefier.
sockdoll

Is this the SyFy Channel’s Craig Engler? If so, congratulations to him – I really enjoy his web presence. I used to see him post sometimes on an online science fiction forum where I spent time, as well as here on BoingBoing. He seems like a nice guy and a class act.
- http://www.facebook.com/craig.engler Craig Engler
  
  Yep, same guy :) And, thanks for the kind words!
oasisob1

Fitocracy works nicely. If you use it.
Zora

Have lost forty pounds using Lose It! combined with Hacker’s Diet. A program that merged both would be ideal.
Culturedropout

The only way a book or a computer is going to help me lose weight is if a very large, very mean man stands in front of the kitchen and beats me about the head and shoulders with it whenever I approach. Now if someone would start a weight-loss program where they send an attractive person to your house to cavort naked with you whenever you were bored or lonely or depressed, that might just work…
- http://www.facebook.com/KBENBENEK Kurt Benbenek
  
  Contact the US Secret Service. They know all about naked, cavorting people
Jonathan_Harford

Until the hacks in 0wnz0red are available, I guess this will have to do.
Jonathan_Harford

Oh jeez. That story is almost ten years old! Why has it still not yet come true?
http://twitter.com/MoFro13 Mostafa Alattar

Also be sure to check out http://www.nerdfitness.com – an excellent resource for nerds looking to get in shape.
Cowicide

Eat less. Exercise more.
crockeronline

Yeah, +1 for NerdFitness as an additional resource. In fact, I lost 35 lbs over the last year precisely due to diversifying the blogs and databases that I used. DailyBurn, MarksDailyApple, and NerdFitness were cornerstones. I’m excited to look at the information on WeightHacker as well. A community of support is essential.