Progress Report: Mon, 20 July 2015

Progress Report: Mon, 20 July 2015

After standing pat at 248 lbs after our week in Greece, I managed to get back on track and dropped a total of 5 lbs this past week and weighed in this morning at 243.

I'm sure yesterday's 26-mile jaunt helped, but I also started doing Interval Training on the Adaptive Motion Trainer. I've started at 30 minutes, with 2 minutes at about 50-75% effort and 2 minutes all out as fast as I can get going. Back and forth between the two for a full 30 minutes and you're feeling pretty good afterwards.

I'm still sorting out some strength training but am playing with the possibility of doing Core Training twice a week and upper/lower body twice a week. I'm a big fan of the elastic resistance bands and they've been providing a very good workout. The best part is that I can do it all from home. More to follow when I figure out a good schedule.

On the food front, I still need to work on planning meals. This has probably been the toughest thing so far. We're eating healthier, but it’s a lot of, "What's in the freezer?" I'd like to get to the point where I know what I'm having for dinner tomorrow and the next day. I also need to get more fiber in my diet. The last two weeks have been relatively fiber free...not good.

Onward and downward...until next time...see ya. 

Date	Body Weight			Body Mass Index (BMI)
	Lbs	Kg	Stone
Mon, 1 June 2015	275	124.7	19.6	41.7
Mon, 8 June 2015	271	122.9	19.3	41
Mon, 15 June 2015	266	120.6	19	40.4
Mon, 22 June 2015	260	117.9	18.5	39.7
Mon, 29 June 2015	253	114.7	18	38.5
Mon, 6 July 2015	248	112.5	17.7	37.7
Mon, 13 July 2015	248	112.5	17.7	37.7
Mon, 20 July 2015	243	110.2	17.3	36.9

 

A Leisurely Sunday Afternoon Ride on the Ole' 2-Wheeled Pedal Bike

The bike beard!

Okay...if you care enough about me to actually read these posts, I don't want to start it with a lie. The title of this post should really be something like..."When a 21-mile, relatively flat bike ride turns into a 26-mile ride with hills that were born in hell!!"...or something similar to that.

True to my word, I set aside today to go on a 21-mile ride that I had found on a Yorkshire Biking website. The route was on roads that I've driven before and I was familiar enough with the area that I didn't really need directions. The map and compass were in my head and I figured I could do the entire route in about 2.5 hours.

I know what you're thinking...he must have got himself lost! How else does he turn 21-miles into 26? Sorry to disappoint, but I didn't get lost. The extra 5-miles were entirely self-inflicted and a product of there being geocaches along the route...or not far off the route. (If you don't know what geocaching is, visit http://www.geocaching.com).

The entire ride took about 3.5 hours, but I did stray off course to look for 5 different geocaches. I only managed to find 3 of the 5 but 2 of them were ones I had not been able to find when I looked last summer. It was good to get those off my list.

Anyway, when I first looked at doing this route I wasn't too concerned about hills. After all, the cycling site said it was relatively flat. All I have to say about that is, "Relatively flat my ass!" I can't believe I forgot that I live in YORKSHIRE...nothing is relatively flat in YORKSHIRE. According to the software I used to map my ride, conveniently located at http://www,mapmyride.com, I only had an elevation change of 264 meters (that's 866 ft for you non-metric Americans). I guess that's significant, but it felt like much more. It's not that there were massively high climbs but there were a lot of steady, lengthy climbs.

I can remember about 5 of these climbs during the ride, but there were two in particular that really pissed me off. The two I'm referring to are the last two hills on the route and both are within a mile of home. Hill number one is one I've ridden before and it's between my village, Burton Leonard, and the next village up the road, Bishop Monkton. There's an easy way out to avoid the hill and come into Burton Leonard on a "relatively" flat and narrow road that comes into the village from the north, but there was NO WAY I was taking the easy way out. That hill was mocking me and calling me weak. I had no other choice than to climb the fucking hill! (Sorry for the language, but that's exactly what the hill is...a fucking hill!). I promptly shifted into the lowest gear possible and laughed all the way up. As I got to the peak, I held my right arm high and flipped that fucking hill the bird!

All the relief and joy I felt at that moment was very short lived. As I coasted down the hill with the pain pulsating in my knees, I made a quick turn into the road leading to "home, sweet home" when all of a sudden, I'm face-to-face with the brother of the aforementioned, "fucking hill", who will now be referred to as "fuck-you hill". Once again, I shifted into the lowest gear possible (hey...no need to be macho here and claim I stood up out of the seat and sprinted to the finish).  I grunted and groaned to the top where I could see the final turn and what I can only believe is what they call Nirvana. No need to taunt the hill this time as I felt it would just be rubbing salt in the wound. I turned back and thanked FU Hill for the challenge and let him know that I'd be back for more!

In all truth, the hills probably weren't that bad, but in the 26th mile of a 26-mile ride, I just thought it was cruel and unusual punishment for what had been a pretty freakin' awesome ride. Acccording to my FitBit, I burned 1,700 calories. That's about what I average over 3 separate cardio workouts during the week.

All in all, just a normal Sunday for a fat guy trying to lose 100 lbs in one year. I probably over did it so if you see me at work tomorrow and I'm moving a bit slower, possibly with a limp, don't worry, I'll be okay!

P.S. - Even after 26-miles, my beard and mustache still look awesome!

Good Days, Bad Days, Marathons & Sprints

One thing I've learned thus far is that every day isn't going to be a good day when it comes to losing weight. In general, most, if not all, of my days are good days. I have a great job, my kids are all healthy and happy, I have great friends, I live in a beautiful part of the world and I still get to drink great beers...albeit not as much as I use to. That said, when we're speaking about the quality of my days about 6 weeks into my one year challenge, I'd definitely say they're not all good days!

I've skipped a few workouts because I was just too tired. I've exceeded my daily calorie goal on a couple of occasions. I've sneaked a few nibbles of food that I shouldn't be eating (chips, pizza, cookies) and I've generally felt unmotivated on more than a few days.

One of the things I'm working really hard on is not letting those minor disappointments stand in the way of the progress I'm making. A saying that I keep repeating to myself...and it's very appropriate for this year-long challenge...is, "It's a marathon, not a sprint". I'm down almost 30 pounds in 6+ weeks and that's amazing. There are going to be setbacks along the way. There are going to be days that I'm going to want to devour an entire pizza myself. There are going to be times at the gym that I'm not going to want to push that extra 15 minutes...but I'm okay with that.

This past Thursday was one of the days that I would describe as a bad day. At breakfast, I over-indulged a bit by adding some Turkey Sausage to my scrambled eggs. By the time I had a glass of milk, a yoghurt and banana I was already about 40% to my caloric goal for the day. I had plenty of protein which helped curb my hunger until past lunch, but my sleep the previous night wasn't very good so I started to get really tired by about 2 pm. I was adamant to press through this and made plans to go to the gym following work. When I arrived at the gym, much to my delight, it was closed! I think I acted upset it was closed but really wasn't in the mood for a workout. I just wanted dinner and bed.

Once I got home, I had some leftover ham and steamed some corn for dinner and I also had a fruit smoothie. I sat down on the couch and was ready to pack it in for the night, but something inside (guilt?) knew I needed to get off my ass and at least do something active. Just before 7 pm, I decided I was going to go for a bike ride. I didn't know where or for how long, but I knew I needed to do something.

I'm not going to bore you with the details of my ride, but it ended up being 11 miles and although I felt exhausted afterwards, I felt awesome for ending my day on a high note. I turned a bad day into a good day!

There are bound to be bad days I can't turn into good days, but as long as I keep them to a minimum and keep focused on the long term goals, I know I'll be successful. If anyone else out there is going through anything similar, don't allow minor setbacks to derail you from your end goal. It's a marathon, not a sprint!

P.S. - Tomorrow, I'm off on a 23-mile ride! Bring on the Monday weigh-in!!

Progress Report: Mon, 13 July 2015

Progress Report: Mon, 13 July 2015

No weight loss this past week but I'm not concerned. In fact, I'm a little bit surprised that I managed to keep it to no gain. We spent the last week in Greece on a family vacation and despite walking about 25 miles in total and drinking my weight in water, we did eat out every meal and also enjoyed a Greek food tour which included a lot of food tasting. All in all, I'd say it was a successful week. I'll probably work extra hard this week as I'm starting to incorporate weight training into my workouts. I'm still looking for the right mix of cardio and weights so the next few weeks will be a bit of an experiment. I'll share my results as a go along. 

Date	Body Weight			Body Mass Index (BMI)
	Lbs	Kg	Stone
Mon, 1 June 2015	275	124.7	19.6	41.7
Mon, 8 June 2015	271	122.9	19.3	41
Mon, 15 June 2015	266	120.6	19	40.4
Mon, 22 June 2015	260	117.9	18.5	39.7
Mon, 29 June 2015	253	114.7	18	38.5
Mon, 6 July 2015	248	112.5	17.7	37.7
Mon, 13 July 2015	248	112.5	17.7	37.7

Progress Report: Mon, 6 July 2015

Progress Report: Mon, 6 July 2015

• 5 lb weight loss this week despite having a "free day" for our 4th of July BBQ
• 4 days in the gym; cardio only; 60 minute sessions; burning about 700 calories per session
• Average caloric intake was about 1500 calories per day (not counting the BBQ)
• 5 weeks into my challenge; 47 weeks to go
• Total weight loss so far: 27 lbs

Date	Body Weight			Body Mass Index (BMI)
	Lbs	Kg	Stone
Mon, 1 June 2015	275	124.7	19.6	41.7
Mon, 8 June 2015	271	122.9	19.3	41
Mon, 15 June 2015	266	120.6	19	40.4
Mon, 22 June 2015	260	117.9	18.5	39.7
Mon, 29 June 2015	253	114.7	18	38.5
Mon, 6 July 2015	248	112.5	17.7	37.7