How each day is recorded
A useful progress record needs consistent conditions. I follow the same process every day, with the weigh-in by 8:00 AM Eastern and the photos and video by 10:00 PM, so changes can be compared over time.
- i
Fixed setup
The phone stands in the same place every day, at waist height, with the same lighting and enough room for my full body. I stand on the same marked spot.
- ii
Consistent clothing and stance
I wear the same plain black athletic suit every day, so the photographs compare fairly. The positions are the same every day: the wait position, facing the camera, and the inspection position, hands behind my head, for the four views.
- iii
The morning measurement
By 8:00 AM Eastern I weigh myself on a connected Withings scale. The weight and the time it was measured come from the scale's own sync; nothing is typed in. It is judged by when I stepped on the scale (the scale's own timestamp), not when the reading reached the site. A weigh-in after 8:00 AM is marked late on its own line; with no reading by then, missed.
- iv
Standardized photographs
Five photographs a day, in the same order, from the same camera position: the wait position, then front, right side, back and left side. Each is taken during the daily video, in the same frame and zoom. The copy shown on each page is framed the same way every day (my body the same share of the picture, centred) and its light and colour are levelled against the wall; nothing on my body is changed, no smoothing and no reshaping. Each links to the original, as taken.
- v
The daily video
A short video each day, by 10:00 PM, with the date, day number, weight and a code made that day on screen, so a video can't be recorded in advance or reused. The app's voice directs each position, so every video follows the same sequence.
- vi
The Fitbit
I wear a Fitbit at least 23 hours a day, midnight to midnight Eastern. Wear time is estimated from its heart-rate readings: each 15-minute stretch with at least one reading counts as worn. A day is final once the Fitbit has synced after its midnight; until then it shows as not final, and no consequence follows on its own.
- vii
On time and missed
"On time" is about the inspection alone: all five photographs and the video filed by 10:00 PM. A partial filing (the video without a photograph, or photographs without the video) is missed. The 10:00 PM cutoff closes the inspection only; the scale and Fitbit syncs, my accountability partner's review, corrections and corrective sessions are recorded later, each with its own time. A weigh-in can be late; an inspection can't: after 10:00 PM it is missed. A missed commitment means a corrective session, recorded in full and verified by my accountability partner.
- viii
Original evidence, visible corrections
Original photographs and videos are kept as recorded and linked from each day. If something is wrong, it is corrected openly, with the time and what changed.
- ix
Spending
Spending restrictions are independently monitored, with confirmed violations documented in the public record.
The purpose is to document progress consistently, including the days when the result is disappointing or the routine is incomplete.
The detailed rules (the deadlines, corrective sessions, exceptions and health) are in the agreement.
The five photographs
From day 3, Oct 20.
How to check this record
- The code. Each daily video shows the date, the weight and a four-digit code. The code is made when the inspection starts, so a video can't be recorded in advance or reused; it appears in the video, on the day's page and in the data.
- The app. Every photograph and video is taken in the record's own app at the time of filing, in a fixed sequence. None of them can come from the camera roll, and nothing can be filed after the 10:00 PM deadline: the app and the site both refuse it.
- One phone. Filings come from a single registered phone. Each request is signed with a key held in that phone's security chip, which can't be copied off it; anything not signed by that key is flagged to my accountability partner.
- The times. Each time comes from the system that made it: the weight from the scale's own measurement, the filing time from the moment the site received the files, a corrective session's start and end from the site's own clock. The YouTube upload time is a second, independent clock.
- The originals. Every photograph links to the file as taken. The copy shown on a page is framed and its light levelled the same way every day; nothing on the body is changed.
- The fingerprints. Each day's page publishes the SHA-256 of every original as it was filed: each photograph as the site received it, the video and each corrective session's recording as the phone filed it. A downloaded original with the same fingerprint is the same file; a swapped one can't match.
- The misses. Every missed requirement is in the accountability log with its violation page and its corrective session. A correction is added with its date and time; nothing is edited or removed.
- The data. The whole record, every day and every violation with all its times, is published as record.json, to compare with the pages.
My accountability partner independently administers this public record, verifies daily submissions, and documents missed requirements and corrective actions under our signed agreement. The record remains visible, including failures and subsequent corrections.