Week 4 progress

To be honest there isn't a lot of progress this week.  I seem to be on a little plateau as my weight stood at 437 yesterday. Now don't get me wrong, I am ecstatic that I have lost 21 lbs. since I challenged myself, but I was hoping that I might have lost a bit more this week.  I was spoiled by the losses so far and was hoping that they would continue apace. No worries, though as I know that if I do the right thing with my diet I will lose weight.  I am planning on adding a bit more exercise as well just to bump up the losses.

I was bummed last night when I got home and looked at my FitBit page to see my total for the day.  It stood at just 44 steps.  It seems I left it sitting on the bed yesterday morning when I got dressed so all of yesterday's steps went uncounted. It was surprising how upsetting that little faux pas was.  Anyway, today I have it with me and I am back to accumulating steps and distance.

Speaking of accumulating distance, I did get an email from FitBit congratulating me on earning the Japan badge for walking more than 1869 miles.  While that seems like a fair distance, I think it has taken quite a while to get there.  I think my next lifetime distance badge comes at 1997 miles and hopefully that won't take too long to achieve.

So, the focus this week is to avoid salty foods and stay within my goals and hopefully next week there will be significant progress to report.

Progress

It's been eight days since I restarted my weight loss journey and I'm happy to see my dedication paying off on the scale. Eight days ago my weight was 458 lbs. This morning the scale read 450 lbs. That is a loss of 8 lbs. in 8 days. It shows that my clean eating, following the Paleo diet and resisting all of the temptations of the weekend is worth it.

I'm sure that actual exercise, like getting back on my bike for a couple of short rides, hasn't hurt either. Sure, I've been tracking my steps and getting in a low number but its been usually many short little trips and no longer walks. Usually I would walk maybe 100-200 steps at a time and no more.  Sure I would do this many times a day, but I don't think it is as effective as a longer walk to get the same number of steps.

As a means of testing my theory, I set out to walk about 2,000 steps in one, single go.  Now, I wasn't going to leave the house to accomplish this.  You see, if I walk from the sliding door to the front door and back it is about 50 steps.  OK, depending on my stride and which foot I pivot on it is between 47 and 50.  Anyway, I determined to walk this 40 times in a row. Now that may not sound like much to a lot of people, but remember, The longest I have been walking is from my car to my desk at work, maybe 750 steps.

I do have to say that there is a difference.  I could definitely feel it in my legs and my back as I got past 20 trips.  I persevered and made it to 40, though.  When I looked at my FitBit once i was done, I saw that I had actually logged 1946 steps during the 15 minutes or so it took me to complete this.  I certainly felt it.  I was breathing harder than normal and there was a bit of burn in my legs.  Now, in the past if I had accomplished the same roughly 2000 steps, it would have been in at least 10 separate little walks and I would not have felt it like I did, so obviously intensity and duration are key.

OK, I know there are some people who are like 'DUH!', but this is something I had to once again experience for my self to get it more than intellectually.  Truthfully I knew this, but had forgotten it.  The interesting thing is that since I never left the house yesterday, I didn't hit my step target but I feel I got better exercise than if I had with all of the short trips.

So, it's a new week, or at least a new work week, and I am happy with my progress so far.

What to write

I have written very little on here of late because not a lot has been happening. At least not in the losing weight and getting fit department. My weight has been fluctuating a few pounds up  and down over the last 3 weeks.  Part of that is a change in medication from my doctor and my body deciding it needed to take a few days to adjust. It wasn't a major adjustment but he was a little concerned about some blood work results that were just outside of normal levels.

I have been getting in some steps with my Fitbit and I must say I have added steps that I wouldn't have taken just because it is in my pocket. Now my weekly totals look small compared to some people's daily totals, but the fact that I'm getting up and moving more is a good thing.  Its just so hard sometimes when your job puts you at a desk, in front of a computer 8 to 10 hours a day.

Unfortunately I have not been riding my bike and so have no stories there.  I have no good reason to not ride, right now. I guess its just laziness. Not to mention the fact that I'm busy, but not that busy. That will be changing as the National Bike Challenge NationalBikeChallenge.orgis coming up starting May 1. I hope to match last year's performance but might not make it every single day as there are a few travel days in there when I won't have access to a bike.  I'm shooting to pass my point total for the entire challenge, though.

A FitBit is powerful

Psychologically, at least. Yesterday sowed me just how powerful a FitBit is.  I had unfortunately forgotten my FitBit Ultra at home, having left it in my shorts I wore the night before.  I meant to grab it when I was getting dressed, and honestly thought I had.  When I got to work, I was doing a few extra trips around, to get some extra steps in when I went for coffee, or to use the restroom. you know, I wanted to increase my total for the day.

At lunchtime I decided to see where my total was for the day. I reached into my pocket to retrieve it and lo and behold it wasn't there.  After a momentary panic that I had lost it, I realized that it must still be in my shorts at home. At that point I lost all motivation to do any extra steps.  My mind said, "what's the point, they won't be recorded and so don't count."

That mentality lasted all of about 10 minutes.  Just until I got back to my desk with my Atkins meal for lunch and I read a couple of posts on Facebook from FitBit users who were posting their Transformation Tuesday pictures.  I realized that while the steps didn't count towards my FitBit step total for the week, they did count as far as my health was concerned.  So I still did the extra steps whenever I got up from my desk, but my total for the week won't reflect that.

I think the extra motivation from having that little piece of technology is invaluable as it is a tangible result, showing what I have accomplished.  I don't have to wait to see any results on the scale or in my body, its almost immediate satisfaction showing that I am doing something.

If you are on the fence about getting a FitBit, I heartily endorse doing so as it will help motivate you to do more than you normally would.  Not to mention there is a great community of other FitBit users out there who support and and encourage each other on a daily basis.

My FitBit is back online

I have been waiting to buy a new FitBit Charge HR since it was announced in December. Unfortunately they STILL do not have it available in size XL. So I finally decided that I needed to bite the bullet and buy a charger/dock for my FitBit Ultra.  I have had it for 3 years, but its been down the last 7 months or so because the base, which allows it to Synh with the computer and charges it up, broke. To be honest, I've felt a bit lost without its prodding to do a little more, more a little more, get some more steps/floors/active minutes.

So I ordered a new one for $19.95 from FitBit and it arrived in the mail today.  I just finihsed charging up my Ultra and already have measured over 100 steps just letting the dogs out and in.  Tomorrow I hope to put a good deal of steps in. Grocery shopping in the morning and Arena Football at the Thomas and Mack in the evening.

Time to get some steps and start pushing my getting healthy and losing weight.

Miss my FitBit

As I've written before I own a FitBit Ultra which served me faithfully for almost 2 years before I ran into issues where I could no longer charge/synch it because the docking station/receiver that plugs into my computer broke.  This wasn't a poor design, rather an unfortunately accident.  I have been without its daily prodding to achieve more for over 6 months now.

I miss my FitBit.

Now I have been looking at the new models of FitBit that you wear on your wrist, the Surge, The Charge HR and the Charge, but I'm reluctant to pull the trigger on one.

I preferred carrying the FitBit on my belt or in my pocket and that worked very well for me.  Sure these new ones introduce additional features like Heart Rate monitoring (The Surge and the Charge HR) and even GPS (The Surge) but Something about wearing it on my wrist 24/7 just bothers me for some reason.  Since they've discontinued my Ultra over a year ago, I need to get one of these newer models but still, I miss my Ultra.

Looking at the three models above, I am leaning towards either the Charge HR or the Surge.  I think the heart rate tracking would be helpful and I like the idea of the GPS, thus being able to replace my Garmin, but there are a few issues that FitBit needs to address.  The major one is that it doesn't seem to have a specific Cycling mode for the GPS.  Second, I wonder about compatibility with sites like Strava and Map My Ride.

Until I see some updates to the Surge, I am really leaning towards the Charge HR.  It tracks activity (steps, floors, active/ very active minutes), heart rate and sleep.  This will give me a better understanding of how much I am burning on a daily basis and more importantly I hope, motivate me to do more and increase my numbers across the board.  I know the Ultra did that.

So, the only thing left to do is work on my budget to free up the funds to pick on up for myself. Of course there appears to be no hurry as the FitBit site says if I order now (Charge HR - Size XL) its a preorder and will ship in 8-10 weeks.  Gives me time to free up the needed funds. :)

In the meantime I need to work on my goals for the year by getting out of my recliner and getting in some walks and rides or I'll never meet my goals.

Get on your bikes and ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its my FitBit's Fault!

At least that is what people are claiming when they say they are gaining weight after buying a fitness tracker like the FitBit or Jawbone UP or Nike Fuel.  This is what I read in an article published online at Today.com. The article is here.

   

Basically what the article is saying is that some people are experiencing a weight gain after buying one of these trackers and  following the caloric advice on their site.  Essentially they are claiming that by tracking their activity, it is causing them to gain weight.

I'm sorry, I don't agree.  That would be like saying that because I started tracking my driving and how much fuel I'm putting in my car my mileage has decreased.  One has nothing to do with the other.

I think the problem is that people are not viewing what the fitness bands are for correctly.  The true power and purpose of the bands is to help to motivate an individual to move more.  Period.  Now they also try to help by estimating an average calorie burn for said movement, but it is based on statistical averages for "normal" people.  I hate to break it to most significantly overweight people but their bodies and metabolisms are not "normal."  There is a reason they are significantly overweight.

In order for the sites to give any type of estimated calorie burn, they have to go off of what an average burn would be for a person of x height and y weight. Does everyone burn calories at the same rate?  No way.  That would be like saying I have a 4 door mid-sized car so I should get so many MPG without taking into account the size of the engine, type of fuel, style and speed of driving, etc.It just doesn't work.

In the weight loss battle there are many things that can affect your ability to lose weight.  Types of calories you are eating, how "intense" or strenuous your work outs are, are you frequently in stressful situations, do you have a metabolic deficiency of some sort.  All of these will affect your weight loss.

Going back to the car analogy.  Even if I had 2 identical cars that traveled the identical distance, but one started slowly and smoothly, gradually easing up to the speed limit and coasting to a stop when needed.  While the other floored it from every stop, kept the speeds 10 mph over the speed limit and slammed on the brakes for each stop.  Which one would burn more fuel?  The one driving in a more intense manner.

So, by all means use these fitness bands as motivational tools to help you become more active, but don't take their estimated calories burned as gospel, nor necessarily follow their recommended consumption. This would be a place to start, but if you find it ins't helping you to lose weight, then start reducing the calories and increasing the intensity of your activity.

and don't forget - have fun and get on your bikes and ride!

Weight loss and dieting

So, since the first of the year I have been mainly trying to count my calories and basically eat healthier than I had been.  I've been trying to also increase my weekly step count which means an increase in my daily physical activity. I've been using MyFitnessPal (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/) to track my food intake and my FitBit (http://www.fitbit.com/) to track my daily steps.  This combination has been working as I have gone from 470 lbs on January 1st to 429 lbs on 2/28. Now the majority of this loss was the fluids from when I was in the hospital.

Unfortunately as I got into March, I wasn't quite as disciplined as I should be and the Biggest Winner competition, part of the Corporate Challenge 2014 appeared.  Because I wanted to do my best in the competition, I was a bit liberal with the food and drink leading up to the initial weigh in on March 4th. My starting weight per the official scale was 440 lbs as detailed here. Since then I've lost some weight, but the results have not been as good as I would like seeing as this is a competition.

With that in mind, I have changed my eating.  Instead of simply limiting my caloric intake to 2000 calories per day, I have changed my diet back to a low carb one.  I started this only 4 days ago and I am already seeing very nice results.  I made this decision because this is a weight loss competition.  Am I going to eat like this for the long term, probably not.  I enjoy too many fruits and vegetables which are high in carbohydrates.

This is a short term adjustment to push for rapid weight loss. I know this is not a permanent change and once the competition is over, I will go back to a slow and steady, sustainable eating plan, but for now I am doing what I can in order to lose weight quickly.

Saturday is the track and field competition and I hope to do well in the softball throw and shot put but we will have to see.

The other thing I really need to do is to get on my bike and ride!!!!

A visit to the doctor

OK, I have to come clean.  I don't like going to the doctor.  Pretty much I figure if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but that attitude only works so far.  There are things that could be broke and you won't know about it until its too late. So with this in mind, I am now working with a doctor to get and stay healthy.

One of my main concerns that I knew needed to be addressed is my blood pressure.  I have very high blood pressure, it seems based upon the readings at the doctors on Friday.  I have also been retaining fluids in my legs and so we are starting with 2 medications at this time.  One is to address the blood pressure and the other is to address the fluid retention.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I started the year at an almost all time high weight of 470.4.  I knew a portion of that was retained fluids from the trip to the hospital and so I am happy to report that after 4 days on the medication I am down to 457.6.  That's not an unheard of amount of loss considering the vast majority of it has been fluids.

My goal is to keep up this loss and steadily reduce my weight through the rest of the year.  I have been eating healthier and less and know I can do this.  I think a reasonable number of pounds to lose in the year would be 100.  That means that on January 1, 2015 my goal is to weigh 370 lbs. Will this be easy?  No, it won't it will take focus and dedication, but I know I can do it.  I have to do it as my health requires it.

With this thought in mind, I am adding a ticker to the right side indicating my current weight and I will be updating it about once a week so I can monitor my progress towards my goal.

One Year Later

A year ago I found a weight loss challenge group on the FitBit site that was a challenge to lose 50 lbs.  The first several people to do so were to win prizes.  Since I was getting back on the fitness bandwagon I decided to join the group and the challenge.  I have to say its been quite a ride and I am thankful I made that decision.  I have gained several friends who have helped to push me and keep me at least engaged f not entirely motivated over the last year.

By far one of the biggest stars of the group is Lee DiGeorge.  He and i actually tied losing 50 lbs by the same week, but he has been far more successful than I as he has gone well beyond that 50 and made a complete lifestyle change.  I've been backsliding a bit, but that is changing here again with the one year anniversary.  I am rededicating myself to this journey.

Lee isn't the only star of the group though.  Melissa and Michelle and Cala and Christine and Christina and Maria and John and Tom and Mary and Glynna and Act Out and Rachel and Nancy and Kelly and Debra and Kelly and Barbara have all helped me on my journey.  All are inspirations by far.  Whether its their impressive numbers of steps in a week, their progress on the scale or their sheer determination and never give up attitude.  All are winners!

Little did I know, when I so flippantly joined the group a year ago, how much these individuals would touch and inspire me.  Thank you group!

It takes balance

Most everything in life takes balance.  Whether its riding a bike, work, family, walking - everything is more enjoyable and works out much better if its in balance.

Weight loss and getting healthy takes balance as well.  I'm guilty of trying to make a single change and hoping that it will balance things out, but I know it won't.

For the last few months I've quit focusing on what I've been eating and focused almost exclusively on riding my bike. While this is certainly enjoyable, and it has led to increased fitness on the bike, it has not led to any significant weight loss.  Eating just as many (if not more calories) than one burns in a day will at best maintain your current weight and at worst allow you to gain weight.

Fortunately for me I haven't gained any more weight over the last few months, but I certainly haven't lost either.  I know I have to work on the other side of the equation and reduce my caloric intake in order to see my weight reduced.  Its time to do just that again.

I'm starting to log my food into MyFitnessPal again.  I'm still using my FitBit to track my daily activity as well.  With the longer rides I've been doing in the mornings its easier for me to hit basic goals of 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day.  now I just need to limit my calories to 2,200 or so and I should start to see a loss of 2 to 3 lbs per week.

Balance.  Life is so much better with it than without it.

Eat Better.

Get on your bikes and ride!

It truly is an adventure...

When I decided to start this blog over 3 years ago, I was trying to decide what to call it.  I knew that a lot of what I would write about was riding my bike as I had fallen in love with riding again after many, many years.  I also knew that this blog would be more than that.  In order to ride more and enjoy it more I needed to lose weight and get healthier than I was.  There just was no 2 ways about it.  In order to ride more, and as a side effect of riding more, I knew that my weight had to change.  It has, but not nearly as much as it should.

Its truly been an adventure over these last 3 1/2 years in that I've had my ups and downs in both achievements and in my weight and fitness levels.

Unfortunately I've been on a bit of a down lately.  I haven't been watching what I eat as I should.  I haven't been riding and being as active as I should and my current weight shows it.  I have not been on a scale since I completed the Biggest Winner challenge back in May, but I know my weight has gone up by how my clothes are fitting, by how I look in the mirror and how I can feel the extra weight walking up the stairs.

Am I back to my heaviest, no.  Have I gained 15 or 20 lbs?  Probably.  There has been a real lack of motivation to get up at 4:00 am and get on my bike.  I like to kid myself and say I'll do it later, but later never comes.  I've told myself every excuse in the book - I'm tired, its too hot, its too windy, I'll do it tomorrow, my back is sore, I don't feel good... on and on and on.  the reality is these are all just excuses for me to stay in bed or to stay in my chair with my feet up, watching TV or playing on my computer.

The irony is I spend a good deal of time reading about other's adventures and accomplishments on the bike or getting fit and healthy while not doing it myself.  That has to change.  not tomorrow, not next week but today.

I know from experience that huge changes all at once don't work for me and are not sustainable in the long run.  I've drastically changed my diet and it usually last 4 to 6 weeks or so and then I get bored and feel too restricts and just go back to overeating unhealthy foods.  I've started rigorous, daily exercise regimens for them to fall apart after a week or two.

My goal for the next week is to start tracking my foods again and limit my portion sizes to stay withing a 2300 calorie a day allotment.  I'm also going to wear my fitbit daily and increase my steps to at least 5000 per day for the next week.  Along the way I plan on getting more miles in on my bike, going back to my goal of at least 3 days per week and hopefully more.

I am not getting younger, nor am I getting healthier with my current routine so now its time to apply myself and do what I need to do to get it done.

Biggest Winner Week 7

Hard to believe we are already 7 weeks into this 10 week competition.  Its been a pretty good week.  I've eaten decent, gotten in some exercise so I figured I would see some progress on the scale today.  Unfortunately the scale didn't agree and showed me with a gain of .8 lbs this week.  Sure, its not a big gain, but I really was expecting a loss.

According to my FitBit report  I averaged over 4700 steps per day and had a net calorie deficit of about 7000 calories for the week.  I rode my bike 35 miles over the last week.  All of this would make me think I should have lost something on the scale. That is not the case, though.

I know I am doing the right things.  I know that the weight will come down as I get in more exercise and watch what I eat.  I just wish it would be a bit faster since I am in the competition and there are only 3 weeks left.

I am going to stay the course.  I know it works and I just have to trust the process.  This Saturday will be a big test for me - the 30 mile ride for the Tour De Cure.  Watch for a full report.

A Long Overdue Update

For anyone who does stop in to read, I must apologize for the time that has lapsed since my last post.  We all know that the best of intentions don't always end up with the best results.  Frankly there hasn't been a lot to talk about.  I haven't been riding, I have been watching my diet, through.

I joined a challenge on FitBit.com to lose 50 lbs.  The challenge is simply - whoever loses 50 lbs. first gets the first place prize, second gets second place, etc.  This challenge started on December 1st so I weighed in for the challenge the evening of November 30, after dinner of course.  I couldn't believe what the scale said: 464.4 lbs!  That's the heaviest I have been in almost 3 years - up 80 lbs from my lowest when I did Pumpkinman 2 years ago.

This was an eye opener for sure.  I was glad I had already decided it was time to get back into the process of getting healthy because this was unacceptable.

That was 2 weeks ago and I have to say that combining a bit more walking with truly watching what I'm eating and going back to the low carb diet has paid off.  As of this morning my weight is 441.8!  That is a 22.6  pound loss in only 2 weeks.  Yes I know this is not truly a sustainable trend and that a large part of the initial loss was fluids, but still it is definite progress in the right direction.  I also has me in first place for the challenge as well by a significant margin.

With this in mind over the next couple of weeks I'm going to try to stick to the every Friday updates and monitor my progress on here for even more accountability   Along the way I'll look back over the year to see what I've managed to accomplish and set the stage for new goals for 2013.

Also, here is a picture of me at the Viva Bike Vegas event back in October:

This is my before picture.  Never again will I be this size.  I am hoping to have another picture from this event in 2013 and there will be a dramatic difference between the pictures.

That said here is my FitBit data for the last week:

Steps:  22670
Miles:  11.28
Calories Eaten:  16009
Calories burned:  24612
Net:  -8603

As you can see, this is not bad, but it can be better.