Today’s Weight: 396.2 lb
(Meh.)
Yesterday’s Water: 172 oz.
Feeling ok. The weight trend is definitely downward overall, so that’s good. I’m feeling a bit better than I have lately (prior to the diet). I assume the primary cause is the large amounts of water I’m consuming daily – I am not great about drinking water normally, so I’m getting the benefits of being well hydrated.
I have a secondary reason for doing this blog, beyond just the obvious weight loss goal, weigh loss being by far the most important goal to me. It is also meant to be a learning experience. I’m trying to learn several new skills at once – WordPress (the blogging platform this runs on), Google Analytics (Google’s platform for understanding website visitor’s activity), Search Engine Optimization (such that this site is easily found via certain keywords on Google), Google Adsense (setting up advertisements on a site that are automatically related to the topic of the site), and the Amazon Affiliate Program (linking relevant products on Amazon).
I’m still working on getting all those pieces working (beyond WordPress, which I more or less understand at this point). I’ve not really done much with these technologies before, and I have several projects in the works that are intended for public consumption that will use some or all of these various tools. So this is my test-bed for all that stuff. A place to experiment, with low risk. The results of my experiments will help in my other upcoming projects – including: a redesign of Alice’s business website (Fabric Ninja), Stitchy (the big web project I’m working on), and two other blog ideas that are less personal and more interesting to the general public.
The thing is, I’ve really only shared the link to this site to friends and family via my Facebook account at this point – I have nearly zero visibility via Google at this point. And I suspect that’s unlikely to change, as weight loss is a popular topic on Google, with thousands of websites. Which is part of the challenge, actually – to see if I can manage to rank on Google for the topic of weight loss. In any case, I’m NOT trying to market to you, friends and family. It’s literally just an experiment and learning experience. Yes, if you click any ads on the site, I get the proceeds from the advertisement, and yes, if you click any Amazon links on the site (for example, I’ll be adding an Amazon link to the book I referenced in yesterday’s daily update), I’d earn a few percent of the transaction. But to be clear, I’m not asking you to do either of those things! I won’t be mad if someone does, but it is literally not the point – understanding how to use those tools is the reason I’m doing it. Just to clarify.
And on a semi-related side note, if you regularly buy things from Amazon, consider setting up Amazon Smile – it works much like their affiliate program, but instead of benefiting the person who puts up their affiliate link, it will benefit the charity of your choice (there are many to choose from). The main catch is you need to remember to complete your purchases at smile.amazon.com instead of on the main Amazon site. More details at smile.amazon.com if you are interested in learning more.