Dereliction of duties

I need to apologize for my lack of posts over the last couple of weeks.  It seems that With the move and then the trip back to Michigan, there has been little of note for me to write about in terms of the target content of this blog.  I have been doing very little over the last 2 weeks of note in terms of weight loss and fitness.  I haven't ridden my bike, I haven't had weight loss, I am basically stagnant.

My weight, as of Saturday, is 402 lbs.  I realize that is up a pound from my last reading but there are likely contributing factors, including a bit too much salt on restaurant food the day before (those sweet potato fries at Red Robin are great).  I realized this morning that my excuses are just that - excuses.  I will get my butt back on my bike and moving forward both literally and figuratively in terms  of fitness and weight loss.

There is an upcoming ride - the 2016 Honor Ride, that I am thinking about doing and I talked to my grandson before he left for the summer and he said he might like to do it as well.  this ride is scheduled for Saturday November 12 - Veteran's Day weekend.  There are 3 options 20, 40 and 60 mile routes and I am planning on the 20 mile route.  That means I have 2 1/2 months to get my butt in better shape to get out there and do the ride.  I could likely suffer through the 20 miles at the moment but I want to enjoy the ride so I need to get in much better cycling shape.

My riding partner will be home tomorrow and I think we can get ourselves into shape for the ride in the time we have.

Week 25 update

It is amazing what 5 days of moving boxes and other items from one house to another will do for one's activity level. A few weeks ago I averaged 4496 steps per day.  Last week my average was 7046 steps per day - a definite increase in activity to say the least.  As a result the scale was favorable - 404 lbs for a total loss of 54 lbs. for the challenge. I am very happy with that after last week's number.

I had planned on riding my bike at least once over the weekend, but with moving and all the associated work, I just didn't feel like doing it.  I was and am still, tired.  I hope to get out soon and explore the new neighborhood and nearby parks, but it hasn't happened yet.  It likely won't happen this week,either as it is a short week followed by time away.  We will see, though.

Week 24

The scale was a little disappointing this morning - 409 lbs.  I was expecting it, though with the heat and increased liquid consumption along with the salty foods over the weekend.  I haven't gone crazy on the food front so I know that the increase is likely retained water and not an indication of eating gone wild.  Speaking of heat, we have been at 110+ for the last 4 days and are forecasting another 5 days in that range, with a 115 on Thursday.  Of course it will be the hottest day of the year on Thursday as that is the day we are moving.

We can't even put out there that it's a dry heat, since relatively speaking, the humidity levels are increasing all week leading to some likely thunderstorms this weekend.  I was hoping to be able to get a ride or two in at the new house, once we get settled, but it may wait another few days withthe heat and humidity.

Not much else going on with fitness for me at the moment.  I am hoping that a change in residence will help spur a resurgence in activity for me.  We will wait and see.

Week 23

Another week and down another pound.  I know I will not make the 80 pounds by 8/6 but I'm OK with that.  I will likely have lost 60+ pounds and that is significant.  Also my change in mindset about what I eat will be much better for me long term.  I will still struggle with temptation and wanting to eat much more than I need to, but I believe this is a struggle I can win on a daily basis.

Our move is less than 2 weeks away and I am greatly hoping that the move will help with my riding motivation.  I rode much more when the roads in my area were flatter and I think there will be flatter roads near the new house as well as less traffic on the roads.  Its time to let this new house e a new beginning on our journey to more active, fit lives.

Week 18 Update

My weight seems to be holding steady at the moment.  The scale said 415 again yesterday.  That motivated me to get my butt out of bed this morning and go for a ride.  It wasn't very far or very long at just 3.5 miles in just under 18 minutes, but it was a ride and got me moving more than I have been. I felt pretty good out there.

As for my eating, it hasn't been horrible, I've been staying away from the sugars and the grains and flour, etc. but I have been over my target number of daily calories.  I am going to be much more vigilant this week and that combined with riding every day should reap some results and get my weight once again moving in the right direction. I need to get serious if I'm going to hitmy goal of 378 in a mere 8 weeks from now.

Week 11 Report

Ok, I'm late with this week's report.  I apologize.  You see I'm just not motivated to write it this week since it seems my consumption of salty foods has led to a small and temporary reversal on the scales.  This is also why I didn't put the word 'progress' in the title of this post.  The fact of the matter is that according to the scale there is no progress to report this week.  Rather it shows I gained 3 lbs.  I know it is temporary and that I can recover from this little bump, but it still makes me loathe to post about it.

On a different note, the national Bike Challenge starts on Sunday.  It runs from May 1 through September 30.  I made it my goal in 2014 to ride every single day during the challenge and I did.  Last year I didn't ride but a handful of times.  This year I hope to equal the frequency of ride that I accomplished in 2014, but I already know there will be some missed days as there is some travel planned in June and August which will preclude riding.  Those days aside, I will endeavor to surpass at least my mileage total for the 2014 challenge.

The experts seem to be correct

I've been reading about weight loss and fitness for several years now. I have been, like many people, looking for the secret, the magic bullet as it were of weight loss. I was seriously hoping there was some small change that would let the weight melt away while letting  me eat what and as much as I want. Well, the is no such thing. So then I thought that maybe if I just exercised more, maybe that would do it.  I then worked out that I don't have the 5 or 6 hours each day to make up for poor diet. So that means that I just need to eat right.

Now, the question is what does that mean, 'I just need to eat right'?  What does eating right entail?  Is it merely watching a total caloric intake number and making sure I stay within it?  Does it mean I have to only eat certain foods?  For me, it seems that it means to set a fairly aggressive calorie target fr each day and to follow, what amounts to, a sensible diet.  Now for me, and I certainly can't speak for ANYONE else, that means I am targeting to eat 1800 calories per day.  Those calories are coming from mostly natural foods like fruits and vegetables and meats with very little dairy and no refined grains or sugars.

I have also been taking an EGCG supplement and an enzyme supplement every morning.  I don't know if these are making much, if any difference, since I started the clean eating of the paleo diet at the same time.  What I do know if that over the last 2 weeks, since I started my latest round of weight loss, I have lost 15 lbs.   I am astounded.  This is working better than it ever has.  The exciting thing is that I'm not really hungry and craving foods, like I have in the past when I've been on diets.  I really haven't increased my daily activity, either.   Sure I've gotten on my bike a few times, bu it's nothing consistent.

I am extremely happy with the progress I've made so far and I am excited that I will make my 80 lb. goal by August.  I am well on my way, for sure.

One other thing I want to note is that I will be captaining my organizations team for the Biggest winner competition in the Corporate Challenge.   The initial weigh in is on March second.  We then have until  May 9th to lose as much weight as we can.  Last year I lost 28 lbs.  As a team we lost 81 lbs. which got us the bronze medal.  I am excited that we may actually have a chance at the gold.  

This is the new beginning

Its hard to believe I've been posting on here for as long as I have - since April of 2010 and I really have not posted a selfie.  As I am reading through many different blogs, books and other information on making life changes, I've come across the idea that you can't map out a course to where you want to be unless you know where you are starting from. This idea, which should be obvious, has struck me as an 'AHA' type moment.  With that in mind I have taken a couple of pictures of myself to post here as before pictures.

Now these are not the usual, shirt off, wearing shorts, before pictures - I'm reserving those shot for a true before and after comparison, but these are shots showing where I am at right now. I didn't intentionally have the flash obscure me, but what the heck - it seems like a cool effect:

 

This is my starting point and I hope the last time I will ever be this big.

On a different note, it looks like I am going to get pretty decent at climbing on my bike.  It seems that the new area of the valley I moved to is not flat.  At all.  I was driving around the last few days noticing that there is literally no road within 3 or 4 miles that is not on a grade of 2% to 8%. Time to make sure the bike is shifting correctly and get out and use those gears!  Watch for some more posts showing the new riding area.

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.

My 200th Post

I realized this morning as I was looking at the blog that I had written 199 posts since I started the blog almost 4 years ago.  For some 200 posts is no big deal, but I actually find it a bit amazing that I've found enough things to write about that I've written that many posts.  I like to try and keep things interesting here by not posting the same things over and over again.  Sure I could post daily about what I ate, how many steps I've taken, how far I've ridden and daily weigh ins, but I want this blog to be more than that.

I want to highlight the more human side of what I'm doing and since I have a relatively quiet life and have periods where very little exciting is happening, I tend to not write for a while.  Today, though I'd like to reflect on what I've done and been through over the last 199 posts.

I've ridden in various bicycle related events from the Viva Bike Vegas to the Tour De Cure to the Bike:MS Vegas Challenge and even a Corporate Challenge race.  Heck, I've even completed the Pumpkinman Sprint Triathlon.  Beyond that I've eaten right and lost weight only to fall off the wagon and gain it all back several times.  I've explored various tools for watching and tracking both my weight and calories, I have a Strava account as well as post all my rides to Daily Mile.

I have found friends through this medium of the Weblog and I appreciate all of you.  Thank all of you for reading, it does mean a lot to me to know you are out there even if you aren't commenting!

I am planning on continuing to share my adventures and I may give a bit more of the mundane details as I successfully conquer my weight and make a permanent lifestyle change.

Get on you bikes and RIDE!!!!!

And the weight is coming off

Its not amazing, but it is remarkable.  The basic, simple truth is that if you eat less calories than your body burns in a 24 hour period, you tend to end up losing weight.  I can prove it by looking at what has been happening with me over the last 6 weeks or so.  I started the year at 470 lbs. and I am down to 429 lbs.

Now that is an impressive 41 lbs lost, but I have to be honest.  Not all of it was fat. In fact there was a significant amount of fluid weight that has been lost.  I was very swollen at the beginning if the year after my hospital stay.  That was slowly correcting itself, but my doctor prescribed a twice a day diuretic which has helped immensely.  Realistically, I would say that I have lost about 11  lbs. of actual fat and 30 lbs. of fluid.

Now its time ti increase my exercise so that I am getting a larger daily deficit which will aid in the weight loss.  It will also help me to increase my endurance and achieve better muscle strength.  My plan is to visit the gym 3 to 4 times a week for a little cardio and more strength training.  Then on the weekends I'm going to be riding my bike to get in additional cardio work, not to mention get into shape for my upcoming rides and ultimately Pumpkinman come fall.

Speaking of upcoming rides, I am once again participating in the Tour De Cure ride which is coming up on May 3rd.  Please donate what you can to help those afflicted with diabetes, like my mom and my Aunts.  Thank you.

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.

Reflections on my 51st birthday...

Its been over 3 years that I've been posting to this blog and honestly, I've not made much progress towards my title's goal of losing weight and getting healthy.  In the last 3 years I have done some thing I never would have imagined.

I've completed a very challenging triathlon, I've ridden more miles than I can count, I've completed several group rides including Last year's Viva Bike Vegas, a metric century for Fatty's 100 MON 2013 and The previous year's Corporate challenge bike race.

Over the last 3+ years I've lost and regained over 200 lbs.  I've restarted my efforts numerous times and am restarting again.  Today.

More importantly I've figured out a few thing about myself and made a few friends through this wonderful medium of technology.

I've ridden along with so many other riders who have accomplished significant, awe inspiring things.  I've also re-ignited my love of cycling fro when I was a kid.

As I reflect back on the these things, I also have to look forward and start to shape my future plans.

This Saturday I'm looking forward to an awesome ride with my dad in the Viva Bike Vegas.

Beyond that I'm doing the Bike MS Vegas Challenge in November, the Tour De Cure Las Vegas next April and I hope to complete Fatty's 100 MON next year as well with a true Century.

While those are personal goals, I have others as well. I want to encourage my grandchildren to ride more and take them on longer and longer rides.  I am going to look into adding a different form of riding to my repertoire - Mountain Biking.  As I become at least a little proficient in that, I'm going to look into the local MTB scene and possibly look at starting some type of MTB team in the local schools.

There is so much more I want to accomplish and I recognizer that I need to be healthy for many years to do it.  Riding is just not enough.  I need to tackle the food demon that has me constantly eating more than I should.  I need to keep away from those foods I know that are bad for me and focus on the good.  I need to also focus on portion control and impulse control.  I can and will conquer this.

Funny, but it seems easier to me to ride 100 miles than to constantly focus on what I'm eating.  I guess the reason is that when you are riding there is a set distance and a beginning and an end and the progress is very real and self evident.  In the eating arena and losing weight, there really is no end to the eating right and the progress is so much slower that it is easily doubted.

I am using this occasion to get back on track and into the groove  My goal is that on my 52nd birthday I will be at least 100 lbs lighter than I am right now.

As fizzhog so eloquently puts it.

Eat better.

Ride your bike.

May rides #7 & #8 and Weigh in

May ride #7 was a nice little 6 mile ride yesterday after the sun was up.  I started a bit after 8:00 am and it was already in the 80's. In fact our overnight low was only 80.  My objective was to get in a nice little work out and sweat out a bit more weight before my weigh in.  Mission accomplished.  I would have ridden a bit longer, but all of the parents were coming out to get their kids to school and the bus and frankly it didn't feel safe!  It really is a winder there aren't a lot more accidents at that time of the morning.

More on the weigh in in a moment.

May ride #8 was this morning and it felt really good!  I felt strong, the weather was perfect and there was little wind.  The bike performed flawlessly and I was getting back some of the confidence on the cornering.  It was a good morning to be on the bike.  I did the 22 laps I had planned on Monday and netted 10.47 miles.  My average speed was a good 14.6 mph and that was with actually taking a couple of cool down laps.  I didn't push all out, but I did push and it felt awesome.  I actually did most of rht laps staying in my highest gear.  That means I'm getting stronger and I am getting more confident in m ability to accomplish the 100 Miles of Nowhere in 2 1/2 weeks.

Now for the weigh in.  The good news is I lost an average of 1.8 lbs. per week for the last 10 weeks which makes a total of 18 lbs. for the Biggest Winner contest.  The bad news is I think my off the rails eating over the last week probably cost me 4 or 5 lbs. on the contest.  I feel bad because it feels like I let my teammates down.  But it is what it is and its time to move forward.  Now I want to concentrate on eating healthy and riding my bike and let the weight fall where it will.  I'm not under the pressure of a contest, I know what I need to do and I'm just going to do it.

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.

Update on last week's goal...

I had meant to post this sooner, but got side tracked and never actually published the update.

Last week I set myself a short term, achievable goal to simply ride 5 of 7 days.  I made my goal.  I rode Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  My total mileage for the week was just under 50 miles, which according to My Daily Mile, is the most I've ridden in one week since I completed Pumpkinman in October 2010.

When I looked back and saw that fact, I realized quickly how I had put back on some of the weight I had lost.  Its really very simple, I continued to eat too many calories and to burn too few.  I am working to change that by monitoring what I eat as well as what I burn.

For example, if I follow the calorie burns supplied by My Fitness Pal in capturing my rides, I burned an extra 4873 calories in 287 minutes of riding my bike over the same 7 days.

Obviously these are calories I would not have burned if I had not gotten out there and ridden.  For this very fact, I am planning on setting the same goal for this week - ride 5 of 7 days.

Now I actually have applied a bit greater pressure to myself this week because I didn't ride on Sunday.  I did ride this morning, though, so I have to ride 4 of the next 5 days.  My plan is simple - Get up at 4:00 am on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and Ride my 8 to 10 miles in the morning before work and then ride either Friday or Saturday, depending on the weather and the activities at home.

The good news is that with riding, my weight was down 1.4 lbs. this week to 416.  The big weigh in is on Thursday for the Biggest Winner competition.  I will have lost some weight, but not nearly as much as I had hoped for the 10 weeks of the competition.

Wednesday Weekly Update #1

This is the first in the series of weekly updates for my progress in losing weight and getting healthy.  I'm going to be playing with the formatting and the content of these updates, but the goal is to list what I've been doing and how things are progressing.

Today's Weight:  430.6 LBS
Weekly Loss:  3.4 LBS
2012 Loss:  3.4 LBS

I'm thinking about listing my highest and lowest calories consumed and calories burned each week, but I don't have the data right now.  Hopefully next week.

As this was a starting over week, it was a bit tough trying to keep within my newly reduced daily allowance of 2200 calories each day.  I was able to do it 4 out of the last 6 days.  My biggest intake was 2516 yesterday because I had a cupcake in celebration of a friend's birthday.  While this was over my target, it was still less than what My Fitness Pal tried to automatically set my daily calories to.  Their suggestion was 2587.

As for calories burned through exercise, that was zero for the week.  Hopefully I'll get good news Friday and I can change that for this coming week.  My biggest fear has been that if I were to exercise through the pain, I would be doing more harm and I didn't want to take that chance.

Overall that's a 3.4 pound loss for a week without exercise.  I am very happy about that!  I do find myself having to managing my expectations from watching the biggest loser where, through intense training they achieve miraculous results.  I don't have the hours to devote to exercise that they have.  I will be happy with 2 to 3 pounds per week as I head towards a healthier and lighter me!