weight loss – TechCommGeekMom

What was TechCommGeekMom’s 2015 Top of the Pops?

Posted on January 1, 2016 by TechCommGeekMom

Florence and The Machine think that TechCommGeekMom's Top of the Pops 2015 is smashing. (Source: telegraph.co.uk) — Florence and The Machine think that TechCommGeekMom’s Top of the Pops 2015 is smashing. (Source: telegraph.co.uk)

I always find it interesting to see what stories people end up gravitating to each year on TechCommGeekMom, and along with other year-end summaries, I like to figure out what were the most popular blog posts for a given year. Sometimes, it’s something that’s archived from an earlier year. That’s good, because I try to write or post things that will have long-term relevance as often as possible. However, I’m usually interested in what was written THIS year that came out to be the most popular of all original information posted that wasn’t an archived post or a curated topic posted.

So, this year’s “Top of the Pops” for 2015 are:

What’s interesting to observe from a statistical perspective is that the top three almost tied for first place–#1 has one more view than the next two, which are tied.

I’m also pleased to see that most of my most popular posts this year were ones that came from the heart, based on personal experiences or observations. I’ve often argued that social media is a medium in which people discussed things and could more closely relate to each other because there is the ability to have more personal experiences and have the opportunity to connect and respond. The fact that many of these top blog posts relating to my job woes, trying to provide DIY training for myself, and trying to take positive steps towards the continual advancing of my career are relatable topics–that I’m not the only one going through these feelings and experiences. I almost always try to open up conversations with my blogs–for better or worse–and the reflection of the top original posts for 2015 reflect that.

The last one I listed was something personal that I wanted to include. This showed a big part of my weight loss and self-improvement journey I’m on right now. I’m still on that journey, having made a bold move in the last few weeks (something that I may write about soon, but not yet). I was glad to see that truly personal topics matters, and that even when relating it to something in technical communications, people responded positively towards it. My weight loss journey is a deeply personal one, and something that I don’t have to share, but I do, simply because I think all of us can relate to a non-tech comm struggle like that easily.

What will 2016 bring? Stay tuned…plans, resolutions, and predictions coming soon!

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Weight Loss is like Content Strategy, Part 2: It needs to be Agile

Posted on April 16, 2015April 16, 2015 by TechCommGeekMom

As a follow-up to my blog post from a while back comparing weight loss to a content strategy, I thought I’d provide you with an analytical progress report of sorts.

April2014-2015_wtloss — Yes, this is really me.

I had posted this set of photos about a week ago on social media, and didn’t share it here! The foundation of my weight loss strategy has been sound, but there have been bumps along the way. I found that I couldn’t always follow a “waterfall” process because of holidays, stress, weather (can’t get outside to do my walking in cold weather with my asthma), work–lots of things that have gotten in the way. So, I had to employ an Agile plan of sorts. Eat less when I couldn’t exercise, still eat those brownies but account for them in my food tracking, and just walk at the mall when I had an opportunity. So, my plan slowed down, but the proof here is that it didn’t stop–the process continued. Even after several trips to various fast food restaurants and chocolate treats, I account for it, and get right back on track.

I am still far from done losing weight. I’ve lost about 56 pounds so far, and it’s been about 10 months in the making to get where I am now. I still have about 30 more pounds to go, and it gets harder as I continue. There are some things that will get easier to do during this summer that will help, like warmer weather to get outside to walk and bike more, and more fresh fruits and veggies to eat for variety (less calories), and hot weather makes it easier for me to want to drink those 8 glasses of water each day. But the process continues, and these photos of “before” and “after” (yes, these are me–nothing has been altered in Photoshop except brightness in the second one so you could see it is actually me) are my analytical report for now.

I thought I’d provide everyone with an update to show that as long as you have a sound foundation and can be agile as you move along, it can get done, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. It just has to be well-organized, and have room to make mistakes and recover quickly from those mistakes.

I’d also like to thank those who have supported me so far. There are several technical communicators I know who are in the same battle, and have been a great source of inspiration and support–crowdsourcing at its best!

Wish me luck on the next 30 pounds!

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Weight Loss is all about content strategy. No, really.

Posted on August 25, 2014 by TechCommGeekMom

Fear not, TechCommGeekMom readers, I am still here!

I have had an incredibly busy summer. While some places might have a slow-down during the summer, my summer cranked up instead! I’ve been so mentally exhausted by the end of the day that writing or even curating content has been just out of the question. The good news about that work-related mental exhaustion is that most of what I’ve had to do this summer was truly dig into some content strategy with several clients at work, so at least it’s been productive. I’ve now found a free moment while on vacation to see if I can catch up a little bit here.

One of the things I’ve been working on this summer is myself. I’ve been really unhappy with my health, more specifically, my weight. Anyone who has met me knows that I’m a “fluffy mama”, as my son says. It’s been finally time to do something about it, so I’ve been really concentrating on that. I’m fortunate that among those who support my weight loss efforts of eating better and exercising are several of my STC/tech comm friends, which makes it that much easier to bear. At this writing, I’ve lost over twenty pounds this summer (although it doesn’t look like I’ve lost an ounce), and I’m eating very differently (a lot less!) and exercising by walking long distances and by using my stair-elliptical machine like a crazy woman.

One of the things I figured out early on in this change in my lifestyle was that it really is all about content strategy. Yes, weight loss and getting healthy really is all about content strategy. No, really, it is. Let me explain.

The first thing that makes me align weight loss with content strategy is counting calories. Counting calories is like doing an inventory assessment of your content. You have to look at how much food you are eating, and see if you are eating too much, or eating too little. In my case, I was eating too much. I had to learn to cut back, and start doing word counts–I mean, count calories. Part of that assessment also involves figuring out what content can stay, and what needs to go. I figured out that having Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy Ice Cream had to go, but small amounts of chocolate frozen yogurt could stay. Choosing the right content is part of the process. Yes, I can still have chocolate, but I have to make different choices of which food items would fit into my eating plan. Counting calories is also like keeping within a budget. One is allotted a certain number of calories, and if you go over the allotment, then you have to answer for it. You can balance that budget with cost-cutting measures like exercise, which gives you an opportunity to show what works with your content and what doesn’t work. What foods are providing energy and which ones aren’t? Which ones enhance your calories counts, and which ones don’t? What is providing positive results or negative results? Which tactics are helping you reach your weight loss goal, and which ones are making the process more difficult?

Every single day for the last few months has been a daily task of doing an inventory assessment, keeping within a budget, figuring out the right content that should go into my body, and what would be the best content to make my weight loss work. Managing this content will need to be done on a continual basis until I reach my weight goal (about 65 pounds from now) and proper maintenance of this balance content will always have to be adjusted even once I reach my weight goal, to make sure that the content will help support whatever status my system needs in the future.

Doesn’t it all sound familiar?

Even if you aren’t watching your weight, look at your own health as a content strategy project. You’ll find the similarities in the process amazingly similar. You’ll also find that the content you put in and edit will improve, just like it does when you are writing and editing content.

(For those who are curious, I’m using FitBit and the My Fitness Pal apps to help me assess my daily stats. Call them my personal Google Analytics. If you want to follow my progress or support each other in health goals, let me now and we can connect!)

What do you think?