193.2

Yeah...that was the number on the scale this morning. Less than 10 pounds away from my goal. I am pretty stoked.

However the downside to this weightloss, a couple of hard rides yesterday, and not eating as much is that during my swim class this morning I ran out of gas. I just couldn't do the work out the way it was designed to be done. We were supposed to step up our efforts over and over again during the workout and at the end I only had 2 speeds left, slow and not quite as slow.

Here was the work out:

16 25's at 45 seconds each. 1st one do nice and easy. 2nd one a bit faster. 3rd one at near full speed. 4th one at full speed. Repeat this until the 16th 25 yard length.

8 50's at 1:20 each. Same thing as above. 1st is easy, ramp it up until the 4th one is at full speed and then repeat so that there are 8 50's total.

8 100's at 2:30 each. Same as the others; 1st 100 is easy and then progressively faster until the 4th is the fastest. Repeat.

Total 1600 yards. My arms were dead after 1000 yards.

My times for the 25's went something like this:

1st 25: 30 seconds and then rest to the 45 second mark.
2nd: 27 or 28 sec., rest
3rd: 24 or 25 sec., rest
4th: 20 or 21 sec., rest
and on the same pace for the 5th thru 16th lengths.

Then on the 50's
1st 50: about 60 sec. and rest to the 1:20 mark.
2nd: 55 sec., rest
3rd: 52-53 sec., rest
4th: 50 sec., rest
and it was the same for 5th thru 8th 50's.

On the 100's I blew up.
I started at close to 2 minutes for the first 100. and then rest to 2:30
2nd lap: 1:50 then rest.
3rd lap: 1:45 then rest. I told the woman behind me that I was out of gas, so if she could go faster than what I had done she should go first. She did. I didn't.
My 4th lap was slower, close to 1:50 again. All of the other laps, 5 through 8 I did at the same pace--around 1:50 to 1:55. My arms felt like lead. But on the up side, I had little problem getting enough air. So if there is an upside that is it.

I need to eat before swimming. Or at minimum take a gel or two before I get in the pool.

What the heck? 194.6 lbs?

Somehow I woke up this morning, got on the scale, and saw that I was weighing in at 194.6 lbs. Weird. Weird because I didn't eat particularly well yesterday and I still lost a pound.

Breakfast: 2 large bowls of Wheaties

Lunch: McDonalds Big n Tasty burger with no mayo, some fries from the kids' Happy Meals. Then as I was still hungry, I went back and got myself a regular little hamburger and then a three pack of chocolate chip cookies for the boys. I wound up eating half of one of the chocolate chip cookies. Oh, and a lot of Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper.

Dinner: Homemade Chili and Cornbread. I had plenty. Not sure how much, but I thought it was a lot.

Snacks: Small bag of SmartPop popcorn. Beef Jerky. Slice of bread with peanut butter on it. Yep, this was all after dinner.

I must have pooped a bunch yesterday or something. I did have the swimming class yesterday, but... yeah, I my colon must have been retaining poop like some people retain water.


News of the Sober Variety

So today is the big corporate visit at the shop. I have heard that the new CEO of Performance maybe coming too. Meh.

There better things to worry about at the shop. Cancer. One of employees has cancer. Wow. Not sure what one can do to help. My approach is to just go on like there is nothing wrong, with the exception of an occassional, "Howz it goin'?" or "Is there anything I can do to help?" But the reality is that there is not much I can do at all. So I guess prayer is about it. Obviously, this sucks.

Weight update

This is the post where I pat myself on the back and get to express my pride in my accomplishment and think about what could be. So if this bores you, I apologize. But it is not like I can go up to everyone and tell them "Hey I have lost 9 pounds in less than 3 weeks and I am riding faster than I have since I was a teenager." I mean that is what a blog is for after all half the time--bragging talking more about oneself than would ever be proper socially.

Well, yesterday's three one hour rides seem to have done the trick. I have touched the 195 pound area this morning, the scale read 195.8., and I feel great about that. Another 11 pounds and my BMI will be within the normal range for the first time in about 14 years. Bridget says that I am probably OK with losing just another 5 pounds or so. I think she thinks that getting down to 180 pounds is unnecessary. I don't know if I will go quite that low, but I would like to be under 185. My legs feel really strong though--at least early on (they felt dead last night climbing home) and frankly they are looking pretty freakin' good.

The lowest I have been in recent history was probably about a half a pound less a year and a half ago. But I am certain that I am quite a bit faster now that I was then. That was mostly weight loss caused by regulating diet--I didn't have much time to exercise because of law school.

Yesterday I climbed up Springville Road from Leif Erikson to where it meets Firelane 7 in about 8 and a half minutes. Last fall it took me about 10 minutes or more to do the same section. So perhaps I might be able to race Master B's this fall in cross. Specifically race Master B's and not embarrass myself if I keep improving. Last year I raced Master C's and was finishing in between the 60th and 75th percentile. If I can finish in the top 1/3 of Master C's I will make the jump to Master B's. The reason is that there is not tons of difference between the two classes. The top of Master C's are a bunch of sandbaggers who should be racing Master B's anyway.

Anyway, the goal today is to not gain it all back and rest up a bit.

Dropping...

Today's weight 197.4 lbs. I was 204.8 about two and a half weeks ago soon after the Vikingman. 7.4 pounds down, 12.6 lbs. to go.

Heck yeah.

I have more than made up for last weekend's fatty burgers, the Melting Pot engorgement, and the Fat Salad. Guess you don't have to be perfect to lose weight.

How to Make a Salad Unhealthy with Mostly Healthy Stuff.

I started out with a bag of salad that has about 10 calories per serving. I think there are 4 servings in the bag. I ate 3/4 of the bag: 30 Calories

Add some low fat provolone cheese: 2 slices = 100 cal. Total is 130 Calories

Add some sliced pressed smoked turkey: 2 slices = 60 calories. Total: 190 Cal.

Add 6 slices of low fat salami: 12 cal/slice = 72 cal. Total 262 Cal.

Decide that is not enough meat. Add 4 more slices of low fat salami: 48 cal. Total 310 calories.

Add salad dressing. Ken's low fat, low cal Italian (very good stuff by the way). It is a big salad so I used between 3 and 4 tablespoons of the stuff. 50 Cal/tablespoon. Total maybe 200 cal. Total 510 Calories.

Decide that this is just not quite hitting the spot. I crave SALTINESS! The friendliest of my enemies is what I go with, I bust open a bad of Hot and Spicy Pork Rinds. Each serving is 80 calories. Eat about 5 servings while eating the big salad. 400 cal. Total for my salad is 910 calories. Yikes! By the way, pork rinds are a good treat for me. The are fairly low in calories, salty (which I seem to be craving lately), and spicy (which I always like). They have no carbs, which I normally get too much of, and I don't normally need to eat more than a few to be satisfied; just not tonight for whatever reason. I could have pounded the whole bag for some reason. My stomach would have let me know about it later--which it is doing right now, by the way--but they usually act as a decent stand-in for french fries, chips or anything else that is more greasy and are the usual suspects to satisfy my craving for salty foods. Not the healthiest, but not too bad in comparison.

I had eaten about 1400 calories before that so a total of 2310 is not terrible. I did run too, which has to count for something.

I hate losing weight process, I do love the results though. My running is easier even losing the 7-8 pounds for the last couple of weeks. Yeah, losing weight is good. I usually feel guilty if I feel full after a meal. But feeling full feels sooo good.

Caloric Intake, Another Elevation Profile, and my Lapierre

This morning I wake up and weigh myself. 198.4 lbs. Not too bad. I am feeling pretty good about things. Tonight we are going out to the Melting Pot to eat. I am not sure how bad I am going to gorge myself, but it could be ugly. I haven't been there before so I am not sure what to expect. Anyway, to compensate I am trying to be pretty good today. When I am home it is hard. Too much food laying around. Other than having a cookie it has not been too bad.

Food so far today after lunch:

*2 bowls of Special K cereal with fat free milk: 360 calories
*Can of albacore tuna in water (175 cal), tablespoon of light mayo (40 cal), 2 Wasa light Rye crackers (60 cal): 275 calories
*Beef Jerky: about 40 calories
* Wasa Bread cracker with Laughing Cow French Onion Flavor light soft swiss cheese: 65 Calories
* 4 Townhouse Crackers: 70 Calories
* 1 Pepperidge Farm Milano cookie: 70 Calories.

Total between lunch and dinner: 880 Calories.

The thing is I am still hungry. Or at least I am hungry because I am currently obsessing about trying to lose the weight ASAP. It is weird how I had virtually no motivation before Vikingman to lose weight, but now all of a sudden I am obsessed about it. Not sure why, but I am going to go with it. My track record over the past few years since I started losing weight is similar--I lose weigh about 10 to 15 pounds at a time and then level off for a while.

***Post Ride Update***
Today I rode around 1hr 40min. Below is the elevation profile for today's ride from the Map My Ride website(I am totally a geek for this--maybe it is time to buy a Garmin).

A couple good climbs--I think a good ride for the time I had. I definitely felt the last climb and my goal was to stay out of the granny--which I did, but dang it was close a couple of times. I burned 1740 calories according to my Polar watch. This means I can relax a bit when we go out to dinner tonight. But not too relaxed, I would really like to bust below 195 by the end of the month.

Also another note, I really love my Lapierre. I ride it mainly on the road, but it handles so well, and compared to the Fuji I can really feel the road. The carbon on the Fuji mutes the road much more than the scandium Lapierre. Even though it is a cross bike it feel very racy on the road. It was a lucky pick up for me. It is my jack-of-all-trades bike. It has been off-road, road, and my commuter bike. Freaking love this bike. The only downside is the Rival shifting. The SRAM shifters just take more effort than Shimano, especially the left shifter. I am used to it now, but if I had to complain about something that is all I cam come up with.

No longer a Clyde

Again.

Morning weight: 199.4 lbs.

For awhile about a year and half ago I was hovering around the 195-198lbs area. That didn't last as soon as I began my final semester of law school (the worst for me of all) and then studying for the bar exam during the summer. Still, I consider the fact that I kept it 208 and below to be a victory during that time.

While training for the Vikingman I pretty much gave a reasonable diet the finger. (Geesh, I think I lived on the Western Bacon Cheese Burger while working at Performance--Talk about FAT, that burger has it). Otherwise, I would have lost a good amount of weight over the past few months. The fact the weight is just kind of falling off--5 pounds in a week is probably a sign that my body is anxious to shed this crap that I carry around.

Here is a typical food intake for the day:

Low Fat generic Granola and skim milk. Probably a 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup total.

Salad with turkey or ham, low fat cheese, low fat dressing.

Snack of something like jerky, cheese stick, or celery with peanut butter

Dinner is whatever Bridget has on the table just in a smaller portion if it is a high calorie dish.

Dessert is often another bowl of low fat granola or perhaps another salad. Yeah, seriously that is dessert. Basically, late at night I usually get a craving and need to satisfy it in someway--not necessarily with something sweet either.

So, onward to the first goal of 190 lbs. I expect that getting to 195 won't be too bad, but getting below that will be a struggle.

Serious about Weight Loss

I just didn't really care about trying to lose weight for the past few months. I care enough not to gain much of anything but that is about it. I stopped updating the weight sidebar on this blog when I stopped caring, but I am serious now. I got a side shot of me in the aero position on the bike and decided that was enough. My weight when I arrived back home from Vikingman the day after the race I weighed 204.8 lbs. My current weight is 201.6 and the immediate goal is 195 and the stretch goal is 180 by the end of the year.

The hard part is planning meals. For some reason it costs me more to eat healthy. I just don't do it smartly for some reason. Anyway, look for frequent fatty updates.