The last tavern at the end of the world. Every soul here is chasing a white whale.
At the edge of the known world
The Spirit of a Bowheader
A Bowheader is not someone who never falls. A Bowheader is someone who comes back: through silence, through bad nights, through years of ice, and breaks through with whatever they have left.
The symbol above the gate
The bowhead lives over two hundred years. It doesn't sprint. It endures.
It moves through Arctic ice slowly, steadily, for an absurdly long time. When the ice closes in, it does not panic. It does not give up. It uses its massive skull to break through ice up to two feet thick, making a breathing hole so it can keep going.
That is the whole idea. Your life is not ruined. It is frozen. The harbor, the roads, the halls, the life: all of it is still there underneath. Nothing about you has to be built from rubble. It has to be thawed.
The Creed
Seven things a Bowheader knows.
I
We return.
Absence is not failure. It is weather. No campaign is ended by silence, and no one has to earn their way back through the gate.
II
We tell the truth, and only the truth that's needed.
Held. Bent. Broke. Recovered. Still in it. An honest word about the day is worth more than a perfect ledger of every bite.
III
We are not broken. We are frozen.
Years of neglect lock things under ice. They do not destroy them. The capacity is still there. The work is thawing, not starting over.
IV
Bent is not broken.
A bad lunch is not a lost day. A lost day is not a lost week. The move is always the next one: one clean meal, no second spiral.
V
We know the distance.
Nobody lies to us about how long the road is. Thirty pounds in a five-hundred-pound body is real, and it is not the end. We plan for the whole winter.
VI
The results still matter.
This is not a comforting diary. The scale, the movement, the protein, the dry days: they are the real campaign. The world only reflects it.
VII
We break ice with our heads.
Not with speed. Not with heroics. With stubborn, repeated, unglamorous pressure: the same place, again, until it gives.
The one question
Will you come back tomorrow, after an imperfect day? That is the only test a Bowheader has to pass.
Hard hope
Not comfort. Not despair.
Hard hope means no one lies to you, the distance is named out loud, restoration is slow and earned, and the fire stays lit anyway.
What we refuse
The broken streak and the empty red square.
Reconstructing the crime scene of a bad week.
The mortality lecture that makes comfort the only sane choice.
Promises that a small number unlocks a big life.
"You've got this."
What we keep
The scale, read honestly, over a long enough trend to mean something.
One stabilizing act on a night that is going sideways.
A record of every return, not every slip.
Being treated like an adult, never a suspect.
The long view. The thaw line advancing mile by mile.
Your crew
Nobody sails alone.
Five hands keep the ship. Each one owns a part of the voyage, and each one speaks where you'll need them.
What a return looks like
Your worst nights become part of the story, not the end of it.
Three days of silence. A frayed evening. One decent dinner, and no second order. In most apps, that is a broken streak. Here, Wynn the Chronicler writes it down as what it really was.
WYNN, THE CHRONICLERDAY 34
Three days of silence broke at dusk. The Keeper returned. Frayed but present. One clean meal recovered the evening. The stores hold. The west harbor wall remains lit.
THE CAMPAIGN CONTINUES.
You are not starting over. You are returning.
You do not have to reconstruct your failure to come back.
The ice will break. Be Bowheaded.
Deckhand
0doubloons
0nights held · last 30
Night 1
Fresh water
Off the chart
Ate something that wasn't on the plan? Write it down. An honest log is how the voyage works; it costs no doubloons.
Grog ration
One drink is a 3 oz pour, measured. At or under the ration pays 10; a dry night pays 20.
Doubloons today0
WYNN, THE CHRONICLER
Weekly sounding
The chart
Standing in the tavern
Every tavern on the route knows you by your rank, and rank comes from doubloons. Some ranks bring a visitor to your table. Each rank and each tavern also carries a real-world bounty: write your own or take the suggestion, and claim it when you get there.
Wall of Fame
Seals
Ranks, taverns and visitors
Days at sea
The Chronicle
Wynn writes every day. Days of silence aren't listed; the return that ends them is.
How it works
Bowheader turns a long weight-loss voyage into a game you can keep playing on your worst days. You keep a few duties each day, weigh in once a week, and sail toward your goal weight, your white whale. For the why behind it, read the Bowheaded! tab.
Each day: Today's Log
Tap each duty as you do it. Every duty pays doubloons (+5 to +15). The default eight follow the Phase 1 plan; change them any time in ⚙ Ship's articles.
Log your drinks if the grog ration is on. At or under the ration pays 10; a dry night pays 20.
Fill your water bottles as you finish them. Hitting your daily goal pays 10.
Ate off the plan? Log it under Off the chart: what you ate, which meal it replaced, and rough calories if you know them. It costs nothing, and Wynn writes it into the day. Check a meal's duty only if you followed Zara's eating-out rules.
Keep every duty and hold the ration for a clean day: +25 bonus.
The day turns at 4am, so a 2am drink counts toward the day before. Use the arrows or the calendar in the Chronicle to fix any past day.
A day is "held" when the galley is locked and the ration held. The top of the log counts held days in the last 30. There are no streaks to break.
Coming back
A return is logging again after days of silence. A recovery is holding course the day after a rough one. Both are counted, and neither costs you anything you've earned.
Wynn writes one line for every day in the Chronicle. Sorren appears only on return and rough days.
Each week: the sounding
Weigh once a week, same morning, before coffee, and log it at the bottom of Today's Log (+25). The graph shows the trend; judge it over weeks, never one weigh-in. Your first sounding sets your home port.
The Voyage
Every day ends in a tavern. You start in the Last Tavern at the end of the world; by day you hunt the local waters, and every pound you lose wears the whale down and carries you along the chart to the next tavern. The top of The Voyage shows where you're drinking tonight, the latest word on the whale, and how much open water lies before the next port. Ports stay blurred until you reach them, and each carries a real-world bounty you choose.
Standing in the tavern is your rank, earned with doubloons, from Deckhand to Whale-Rider, then a Legend mark every 5,000. Some ranks bring a visitor to your table; they unveil the moment you arrive.
The Chronicle
The Wall of Fame holds your totals, your seals (lifetime merits with tiers that only ever go up), the ranks you've held, the taverns you've reached and the visitors you've met. Below it are the days-at-sea calendar and Wynn's entry for every day you logged.
The phases
Phase 1: your first three weeks (days 1–20). Hold the ration at your baseline and measure every pour. The food design stays frozen: change seasoning, not the plan.
Phase 2: from day 21. Whenever you've held the ration on 10 of the last 14 nights, the log offers a cut. Cuts only go down. Talk to your doctor before the first one if you drink heavily.
The rest of Chart the Course
Rules is the eating plan. Provisions is your shopping list: add, remove, check off, and export by store. Sunday prep, Recipes, Variations, Snacks and Eating out are the kitchen, each run by a member of the crew.
Settings and account
The ⚙ in the top bar opens Ship's articles: name, who catches your eye, pounds or kilograms, starting and goal weight, day one, your duties and the ration. The Account tab signs you in by email (type the code on an iPhone home-screen app), imports a log from the old app, and exports a backup.
Rules
Phase 1 means your first three weeks; see How it works. The rescue cup is ¾ cup of 2% cottage cheese (salt, pepper or hot sauce is fine), only if you're truly hungry after the last meal.
Eat the template. 2,700 calories (drinks included) is the daily
maximum, not a target: never eat unused calories just because they're
there. The one planned exception is Phase 1's gin ration (below), which
puts you over it until the ration comes down. Minimums: 160g protein,
30g fiber.
Time
Meal
Cal
Protein
Fiber
10:30am
Black coffee, water
0
0g
0g
2pm
Galley lunch: Red Chili, White Chili or Galley Stew (prepped)
~530
60–70g
11–18g
2–10pm
One fruit: apple, orange, pear, or 1–2 cups berries
100
0g
4g
6:30pm
Captain's Bowl (prepped beef, crisped potatoes)
780
65g
9g
10pm
Northern Ice (Creami pint)
120–170
16g
2–3g
By 1am
Last Watch Scramble: egg white & bean (hot)
410
57g
8g
Anytime
Psyllium husk in water
20
0g
5g
After last meal
One rescue cup (¾ cup 2% cottage cheese), only if truly hungry
135
18g
0g
Food total
~2,170
~220g
~44g
The grog ration
One drink is a 3 oz pour of gin, measured with a jigger. For wine,
one drink is a 10 oz pour (the same alcohol).
Ration
Gin
~Drink cal
~Day total with food
When
4 (baseline)
12 oz
770
2,950
Phase 1: measure every pour, no cuts
3
9 oz
580
2,760
First cut
2
6 oz
385
2,570
Second cut: now under the ceiling
1 or dry
3 oz or none
195 or 0
2,375 or less
The goal
Phase 1 (through Oct 17): hold ration 4. The job is
measuring, not cutting.
From Oct 18: cut one step whenever you've held the
current ration on 10 of the last 14 nights. Cuts only go down.
Tell your doctor before the first cut. 12 oz of gin
is 8 standard drinks a night, and cutting back from that level can cause
withdrawal that needs medical oversight.
Psyllium: plain, unflavored psyllium husk. Start
with 1 tsp in 8–10 oz water once a day and drink it right away. Increase
gradually as tolerated: 1 tsp, then 2 tsp, then 1 tbsp, always with
plenty of fluid. If you're already regular at your current dose, you
don't need the full tablespoon. Take it 2 hours apart from any pills or
supplements. If you feel bloated, go back to 1 tsp.
Kitchen closes after the last meal. Drinking or
not, no food after it except the rescue cup.
Sit down with a plate. Never eat from a package or
standing at the fridge.
Hunger gets fed with food. Cravings don't get fed from a
bag.
Measure oil, cheese, sauces and every pour.
Everything else in the recipes is already portioned.
Label-check once. On the first Sunday, calculate
each recipe from the labels on the products you actually bought, write
the numbers on the recipe, and never recalculate them.
Weigh once a week, same morning, before coffee.
Judge the trend across weeks, never a single weigh-in.
After 3 weekly weigh-ins, audit before cutting. If
the trend isn't clearly down, first check pours, oils, sauces,
restaurant meals, grazing and portion creep. Only then cut 200–250
calories. Never switch diets. Zepbound changes go through your
prescriber.
The food design is frozen until Oct 18. No new
creators, macro targets or diet theories. The only allowed changes are
seasoning variations that make the food taste better.
Phase 2 starts Sunday, Oct 18: the grog ration
starts stepping down, one earned cut at a time.
Provisions
Costco covers almost everything; Aldi fills the gaps or backs up
anything Costco is out of; a regular grocery store or Amazon covers the
rest. Warehouse stock varies, so treat brands as the target, not a
requirement.
Add to the list
Tap × to take an item off the list. Export sends what's still unchecked, grouped by store, to your phone's share sheet (Notes, Messages, email) or copies it on a computer.
Sunday prep
About 90 minutes, mostly hands-off. Potatoes boil and beef roasts while this week's lunch pot simmers. Only the scramble, dessert and the final potato crisp happen day-of.
Northern Ice first. Blend 4 pints of the base and freeze them. They need 24 hours.
Potatoes on to boil. 1.6 kg (about 3½ lb) of whole baby potatoes in well-salted cold water; bring to a boil and cook 12–15 min, until a knife goes in with a little resistance. Drain, spread on a sheet pan to steam dry and cool, then refrigerate. That's four days' worth; Wednesday you boil the rest.
Oven to 425°F for the beef.
Beef alongside. Spread the 4 lb pack in a roasting pan, season with salt, garlic powder and onion powder, and roast about 20 min, breaking it up once at 10. Weigh the cooked total, divide by 8, and portion. The 8th is a spare for a hot late meal.
Lunch pot on the stove while the oven works: this week's Red Chili, White Chili or Galley Stew (see Recipes). Divide into 7 containers.
Potatoes: once cool, portion into 4 containers of about 400g each (raw weight; boiled weight is nearly the same). Cut and crisp them day-of.
Bean cups: 7 cups of ½ cup black beans for the Last Watch Scramble.
Store: 4 lunches and 4 beef portions in the fridge, 3 of each in the freezer. Boiled potatoes keep 4 days in the fridge; don't freeze them.
Wednesday night: boil the other 1.2 kg of potatoes (3 portions), move the frozen lunches and beef to the fridge, and blend and freeze 3 more Northern Ice pints.
Hacks
Boil whole, cut later. Whole potatoes boil evenly and don't get waterlogged. Cold, they cut cleanly and crisp better.
Brown the beef in the oven. Hands-off, next to the potatoes.
Shred the White Chili chicken in a stand mixer. Paddle attachment, low speed, 30 seconds.
Rotate the lunch pot weekly: Red Chili, White Chili, Galley Stew, then around again.
Weigh into the bowl. Set the bowl on the scale, tare, and add. No measuring cups to wash.
Label lids by day and keep today's containers at the front of the fridge.
Put the psyllium jar next to the coffee maker, the jigger next to the bottle, and the water bottle where you'll trip over it.
The rotisserie chicken is your safety net. A missed prep day means rotisserie chicken, not takeout.
Recipes
Lunch rotates weekly between three pots: Red Chili, White Chili and Galley Stew. Dinner, the late meal and dessert stay fixed. Weigh proteins and potatoes raw. Numbers are close; confirm from your own labels once.
Galley Chili: Red (lunch, makes 7)
~550 cal · 65g protein · 18g fiber per bowl
3 lb 99% lean ground turkey (or 96% lean beef, about +40 cal a bowl)
2 cans black beans and 2 cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans (28 oz) crushed tomatoes, 1 cup water or broth
2 onions and 2 bell peppers, diced; 4 garlic cloves
5 oz baby spinach or chopped kale; juice of 1 lemon
In a big pot, soften the onion, carrot and celery in the oil, 6 minutes. Add the garlic and spices for 1 minute.
Add everything else except the spinach and lemon. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered 30 minutes, until the lentils and potatoes are tender. (Instant Pot: 12 minutes at high pressure, quick release.)
Stir in the spinach until it wilts, then the lemon. Season, fish out the bay leaves, and divide into 7 containers.
To eat: microwave 2½ minutes. Hot sauce, extra lemon and black pepper are free.
The Captain's Bowl (dinner, makes 1)
~780 cal · 65g protein · 9g fiber
1 portion boiled baby potatoes (400g raw weight)
1 tsp olive oil or spray, ½ tsp each salt, garlic powder, smoked paprika
1 portion prepped beef (8 oz raw)
100g 2% cottage cheese
30g pickled jalapeños plus a splash of brine
Cut the cold boiled potatoes in halves or quarters. Toss with the oil and seasoning and air fry at 400°F for 12–15 minutes, shaking once, until browned and crisp.
For the last 3 minutes, re-sear the beef in a ripping-hot dry skillet with 1 tbsp taco seasoning and 2 tbsp water, or a variation's seasoning.
Build: potatoes, beef, cold cottage cheese, jalapeños and brine.
The Last Watch Scramble: egg white & bean (last meal, makes 1)
~410 cal · 57g protein · 8g fiber
1½ cups liquid egg whites (Costco) or Egg Beaters
½ cup black beans, rinsed (pre-portioned Sunday)
100g 2% cottage cheese
¼ cup salsa, 15g pickled jalapeños, pinch of salt
Warm the beans in a sprayed nonstick pan, about 90 seconds.
Pour in the egg whites and stir on low until just set, about 3
min.
Off the heat, fold in the cottage cheese. Top with salsa and
jalapeños.
Northern Ice (Creami dessert, makes 1
pint)
~120 cal chocolate · ~170 cal with a Fiber One bar · 16g
protein
1¼ cups Fairlife fat-free milk
45–50g monkfruit sweetener
2g xanthan gum (weigh it; it's about ½ tsp)
1 tsp vanilla, ⅛ tsp salt
Flavor: 10g cocoa powder blended into the base for chocolate, or 1
Fiber One 70-calorie bar as a mix-in
Blend the base, including the cocoa for chocolate, and pour it into
a Creami pint. Freeze level for 24 hours.
Spin on Lite Ice Cream. If it's powdery, add 1 tbsp milk and
re-spin.
For the Fiber One version: dig a well down the center, crumble in
the bar, and run Mix-In.
Variations
Change the seasoning and toppings, never the base: the same beef,
potatoes and portions, so the calories stay within about 50.
Captain's Bowl variations
Bowl
Season the beef with
Top with
Cal change
The Classic Captain
1 tbsp taco seasoning
Cottage cheese, jalapeños
0
Cheeseburger
Salt, onion powder, 1 tsp mustard
Diced pickles, shredded lettuce, burger sauce instead of cottage
cheese
~ −60
Greek
Oregano, lemon zest, garlic
Tzatziki instead of cottage cheese, cucumber, red onion
Greek yogurt works as a sour-cream stand-in in any of these sauces. Swapping the cottage cheese for a yogurt sauce drops about 10g protein.
That's fine once or twice a week.
Chili and scramble variations
Chili potato (lunch): chili over a spare boiled potato, split open. (~ +150 cal)
Chili mac (lunch): stir in 40g dry Banza chickpea pasta, cooked. (~ +140 cal, +8g protein)
Green white chili: blend a handful of cilantro and a jalapeño into the lime juice. (free)
Smoky red chili: 1 chipotle in adobo, chopped, into the pot. (free)
Western scramble: add ½ cup diced peppers and onion, and skip the beans on nights you're over on carbs. (~ −60 cal)
Chickpea scramble: swap the black beans for chickpeas, crisped in the pan first. (about the same)
Hot late-meal swap, rotisserie plate: 6 oz skinless rotisserie chicken, ½ cup black beans and salsa, microwaved for 2 minutes. (~420 cal, 52g protein)
Low-calorie sauces
Sauce
Recipe
Cal per serving
Burger sauce
¼ cup Greek yogurt, 1 tsp mustard, 1 tsp sugar-free ketchup, splash
of pickle brine, pinch of smoked paprika
~40
Tzatziki
¼ cup Greek yogurt, grated cucumber, lemon, garlic, dill
~40
Chipotle crema
¼ cup Greek yogurt, 1 tsp adobo sauce, lime
~45
Buffalo ranch
¼ cup Greek yogurt, 2 tbsp Frank's RedHot, ½ tsp dry ranch
seasoning
One snack a day, protein first. It replaces the rescue cup, or comes
out of your drink budget on nights you drink less.
Snack
Cal
Protein
Fairlife Nutrition Plan shake
150
30g
150g 2% cottage cheese with everything-bagel seasoning or hot sauce
135
18g
150g 2% cottage cheese + ½ cup berries
150
17g
4 oz deli turkey rolled around pickle spears
120
20g
2 hard-boiled eggs + mustard or hot sauce
140
12g
Beef jerky, 1 oz, or a Chomps stick
80–100
10–12g
Part-skim string cheese + an apple
175
7g
3 cups air-popped popcorn, paired with a jerky stick or string
cheese (calories shown are popcorn only)
95
3g
Free anytime: pickles, cucumbers, celery, bell
pepper strips, sugar-free Jell-O, a mug of broth, seltzer, diet soda,
black coffee, tea.
Not snacks in Phase 1 (your first three weeks): chips, crackers, nuts from
the bag, trail mix, granola, and most "protein bars." Many are candy
bars at 200–300 calories.
Add only the snacks you'll actually use to Sunday's list. Two or
three options are plenty.
Eating out
Dining out
Order protein + vegetable + one starch, and keep the meal to about
1,000 calories. Restaurant numbers are rules of thumb: make the
structurally right order and log a conservative estimate. It replaces
that day's Captain's Bowl; everything else in the day stays the same.
Four rules: no bread basket, sauce on the side,
drinks count toward the 2,700, and order first. Don't stack indulgences.
Pick the one thing you actually want (the drink, the starch or dessert)
and skip the rest.
Restaurant
Order
Steakhouse
Sirloin or filet (8–10 oz), plain baked potato with salsa or a
little sour cream, double green vegetable
Seafood / shoreline
Grilled or broiled fish, shrimp or scallops, a baked potato or rice,
vegetable. Skip the fried platter and the lobster roll with butter
Italian
Chicken or veal with red sauce, vegetables instead of the pasta
side. Or a pasta entrée as the whole meal, with no bread or
appetizer
Mexican
Fajitas (chicken, steak or shrimp) with 2 tortillas, salsa and
beans. Push the chip basket away
Diner
Veggie omelet with ham, one side (toast or home fries, not
both)
Pub
Burger with no fries (side salad or double vegetable), or grilled
chicken sandwich. Wings only with sauce on the side and a hard
count
Sushi
Sashimi plus 1 roll, edamame, miso soup. Skip tempura and "crunch"
rolls
Takeout
Pick an order from this table before you open the app, and don't
browse the menu. Calories are approximate.
Place
Order
~Cal
Chipotle
Bowl: double chicken, fajita veggies, black beans, tomato salsa,
lettuce, half white rice. No chips, cheese or sour cream
650
Chinese
Chicken or shrimp with broccoli or mixed vegetables, steamed, sauce
on the side; 1 cup of the rice. Skip egg rolls and anything fried or
"General Tso"
650
Pizza
2 slices thin-crust (plain or veggie) plus a side salad; eat a cup of
cottage cheese first. Never half a pie
650
Five Guys / burger
Hamburger (two patties) in a lettuce wrap with the free toppings:
grilled onions, pickles, jalapeños, mustard. No fries
500
Sub shop
Turkey or chicken, double meat, in a bowl ("sub in a tub"), mustard
and vinegar, no mayo
450
Thai
Basil chicken or chicken larb with 1 cup steamed rice. Skip pad thai
and coconut curries
700
Indian
Tandoori chicken plus chana masala or dal, 1 cup rice. Skip naan and
creamy curries (korma, tikka masala)
800
A salty takeout meal can push the scale up 2–3 lb for a day or two.
That's water, not fat, and another reason you weigh weekly.
Account
Your account
Sync isn't switched on for this copy of the tavern yet. Your log is saved on this device.
Sign in with your email to keep your log on your account, so it follows you from phone to computer. No password: you'll get an email with a link and a code.
Signed in as .
Ship's articles
Your name, who catches your eye, pounds or kilograms, day one, your daily duties and the grog ration.
Import log
Bringing your log over from the old app? Tap "Export my log" there, copy everything in the box, and paste it here. It merges with what's already logged; nothing is lost.
Take your log with you
A backup of everything you've logged, as text you can keep or paste into an import.
The day turns at 4am, so grog poured at 2am counts toward the night before. Tap any past night to fix its report.
Ship's articles
Sign on before you sail. Everything here can be changed later from the Tavern.
Already keeping a log on another device?
You areWho catches your eye in the tavernWeigh in
Starting weight: your first sounding. Change it here if it was wrong.
Goal weight: your white whale.
Cuts to the ration open on day 21.
Daily duties
Tick the ones you'll keep. Rename them to fit your own plan. Unticked duties leave the night report but keep the doubloons you already earned.
Fresh water
bottles of
Pick the bottle you actually carry. Most adults need roughly 2.5 to 3.5 liters (85 to 120 oz) a day from drinks, more if you're large, active or it's hot. If you have heart or kidney problems, ask your doctor for your number.
The grog ration
drinks a night to start. Measure honestly: this is your baseline, not a goal.
One drink is
If you drink heavily every day, talk to your doctor before cutting back. Stopping suddenly can cause withdrawal that needs medical care.
