I got fat so I designed the solution.

“Twelve sprints, shifting scope, fixed budget. Balanced UX ambition with technical reality every step of the way. Product still shipped clean, clear, and on-message.”

Building Software That Outlasts Its Creator

In 2009, I had a problem. Fifty pounds overweight and tired of having to unbutton my pants after a meal.

Most weight loss software calculates what you "should" eat based on formulas... age, weight, activity level, goal weight. Spit out a number, follow the plan, hope it works. But I'd learned something different from my nutritionist: track what you actually eat first, then figure out how much fuel your tank really holds.

This wasn't about following someone else's diet. This was about understanding my own eating patterns.

I'd been logging food in spreadsheets for two years, lost 50 pounds, and realized I had something that actually worked. But spreadsheets don't scale, and I'd seen too many software companies die when teams disbanded and products went dark.

I wanted to design software that could live for decades without constant maintenance.

Funded twelve development sprints, hired a developer and system administrator. I did all the design work and product strategy. The goal was simple: create a food tracking tool that teaches people their own eating patterns instead of imposing generic diet rules.

If this worked for me and dozens of people I'd consulted with, it could work for thousands more.

Flipping Diet Culture on Its Head

User research revealed what I already knew... people hate being told what to eat.

"Every diet app makes me feel like I'm failing before I even start," said Lisa, a working mom from Portland. "I just want to understand why I can't lose weight and keep it off."

That phrase captured everything: "I just want to understand why."

Traditional diet apps were backwards. They started with restriction and rules. Work Food Out started with curiosity and observation. Track what you eat right now, exactly as it is. No judgment, no immediate changes. Just data about your actual habits.

[IMAGE: Work Food Out interface showing food logging and pattern analysis]

The breakthrough insight came from my own experience: slow reduction creates permanent change. Find your baseline, then slowly reduce intake until you settle just below what your body actually burns. Pounds fall off naturally because you're working with your metabolism, not against it.

I was designing behavioral change, not diet compliance.

But here's what made this different... weekly weigh-ins at the same time, same uniform, same conditions. Not to obsess over the number, but to see how your body responded to last week's eating. The entire process creates a paradigm shift where unhealthy foods naturally lose their appeal.

People stopped fighting for foods that weren't offering value anymore.

Your personal dashboard shows stats and remembers all the foods you regularly eat.

Building Products That Survive

The real test wasn't just weight loss... it was building software that could run for fifteen years without constant updates.

I designed the architecture to be bulletproof and low-maintenance. Simple database structure, minimal dependencies, stable hosting setup. The product had to work even if I disappeared tomorrow.

The Results Were Undeniable:

• Software ran successfully for 15 years with minimal intervention

• Helped hundreds of people lose collective thousands of pounds

• Users developed sustainable eating habits, not temporary diet compliance

• Product survived longer than most venture-funded health apps

George Costanza me and me me.

Perforated business cards … tear and share with someone important to you.

The approach worked because it taught people to become their own nutritionists. Instead of following external rules, they learned to read their own body's responses and make informed decisions.

This wasn't just software design. This was behavior design that lasted decades.

Working on the next generation as a course on Stan Store, but the core insight remains the same: teach people to understand their patterns, and sustainable change follows naturally.

What I Learned About Designing for Lasting Change

Most health apps focus on short-term compliance and quick results. But real transformation happens when people understand their own patterns and can course-correct independently.

This project taught me how to design products that create permanent behavioral change.

The software lived for fifteen years because it solved a real problem with a sustainable approach. No gimmicks, no quick fixes, just honest tracking that led to genuine understanding.

That's not just good product design. That's life-changing design.

Design Philosophy: The best products teach users to solve their own problems instead of creating dependency. If I can design software that changes lives for fifteen years, I can create lasting impact with any product.