Accelerating — Week 31 progress & other stuff

My weigh-in on Thursday was 225 lbs, but Friday was about 225½ lbs. My Birthday was on on Thursday, so I over indulged a little. :)

That was a 5 lbs loss for less than a week. That's the most I've ever lost in a single week. The cycling to work and home no doubt made the difference. I did it three days last week and I plan on doing it again this week if the weather cooperates.

Last week my bike started making a weird grinding sound when I was pedalling, but only when I started pedalling — putting more force on the pedals. I figured it was either coming from the crankset or the rear axel. Perhaps a broken bearing? I made an unsuccessful attempt to disassemble the crankset yesterday, but I gave it another go this afternoon and was successful. The bearings were fine. I cleaned it all out, greased it up and reassembled it. Unfortunately, the gridinging continued when I took it for a test ride.

I then decided that it had to be the rear axel. I took it apart, cleaned it, greased it, and reassembled it. One of the bearing casings was inside the hyperglide and I couldn't remove it. I hoped that poking enough grease into it would suffice.

I took my bike for another test ride and the grinding continued.

I was stumped.

Knowing that it wasn't the crankset or the rear axel, I felt confident enough that I could at least continue to ride my bike without too much fear of someting going wrong. I put away all my tools and decided to take it out for a longer test ride.

About 20 minutes into the ride, the grinding stopped. I decided to continue riding. In fact, I rode just over 46 kms. 2 hrs and 20 minutes later I was back home and my bike was still silent.

I don't know what the problem was, but it seems to be gone, at least for now.

I am long overdue for a new bike, but I'm having difficulty finding a 22" XL frame. A 21" frame may do, if the seat post can go high enough, but I have yet to find one that feels right. I'd really like a bike with front shocks, since my current ride has no shocks. My bike is about 18 years old. :)

Here's my dusty ride after this afternoon's outing.

BTW... the geek in me did in fact record the ride to work one day last week, but it's a pretty shaky video. I'm not sure if I'll post it or not.

Bumpy — Week 29 and 30 progress

I didn't post an update on my weight loss progress last week. It was a good one too.

That makes this Week 29 and 30 progress. :)

Last week I weight in at 229.2 lbs. My new lowest-to-date.

This week wasn't so good. I gained a little back, putting me at 230 lbs.

That's what happens when I skip a few workouts.

Cycling to work

Postponed

I had planned... hoped... that maybe, I could cycle to work tomorrow.

Those plans are on hold, for at least a day or two.

First of all, my newly chosen route needs to be re-evaluated. It seems I had picked every damned "Closed for construction" road between home and work. So, yeh, I need to look at that again.

That alone wouldn't necessarily stop me, but upon arriving home after cycling 42kms, I was greeted by a whole bunch of my neighbours standing around a massive puddle at the bottom of our parking lot. They then decided to start cheering me on, to ride through this massive puddle. A water main broke and the water was seeping up through the cracks in the pavement.

How could I say no? :) The water must have been about 5 or 6 inches deep.

Luckily a sink hole hadn't started. After the water main was shut off, and the water drained, all that was left was sandy mud. Despite warnings, a few cars actually drove over the area.

It's 9:45pm and they're just starting to dig to repair it. With the possibility of still not having water tomorrow after work, I'm not going to chance coming home all sweaty and gross.

Things I learned

I learned a few things during my ride today

Ogilvie Road between Montreal Road and Jasmine Crescent is an absolute nightmare to cycle on. I'd even go as far as to say it's dangerous. That stretch of Ogilvie Road is pretty bad for cars, and the edge of the road where cycling happens is probably worse.

Since Laurier was blocked off for running races today, I had to divert to taking the Mackenzie King Bridge over the the Rideau Canal. The first thing i learned is that it has a bicycle lane, on the inside lane. This is awesome. I then learned that Albert and Slater are probably better streets to ride on than Laurier. Since they are both 1-way streets, the bike lane is also on the left side of the street, away from heavier traffic like buses. More awesomeness.

Most drivers in Ottawa aren't assholes and they actually give you space to cycle at the side of the road. Some even change lanes. I had to dodge a lot of potholes and large puddles, and most people left plenty of room for me to do that. BIG thanks to everyone who does that for cyclists.

As for those who insist on practically clipping your elbow with their side mirror... fuck you.

 

The roller coaster ride continues — Week 28 progress

Since January, and interesting weight pattern has developed. It's like a roller coaster ride. Three weeks of loss, followed by one or two of increase, then loss, then increase.

This is my weight chart, captured from my LiveStrong.com page.

I'm not sure why it's happening. Is my body going through some kind of cycle on its own?  Or am I slacking off on my calorie counting every 3 or 4 weeks, and following up with an increased workout?

There are no charting abilities for calorie intake on LiveStrong.com, but I was able to export the data and create a half-assed chart to see if there was a similiar trend on my calorie intake. It does go up and down, but it doesn't mach the weight trend pattern.

Soooo... as you can see on that chart, my weight for this past Friday was indeed up. I guess (I hope) I can expect the next three weeks will be losses, which means I will finally break the 230 lb mark!

The weather this weekend has been pretty shitty, so I haven't been out cycling and it's not looking like I will today.

I have a new mini-goal for this week. That goal is to cycle to work at least one day. If the weather cooperates — and it looks like it will, based on the forecast — that day will be tomorrow. If all goes well, I may do it more than one day. I'd really like to see what kind of impact it'll have on my weight loss.

Better late than never — Week 27 progress

I'm late for posting my weight loss progress.

No big strides this last week. I was down about ½ a pound on Friday's weigh-in. I'm anxiously waiting for the day I get below the 230 lb mark. After this past weekend of... somewhat uncontrolled summer indulgence, that may be another week or two away. :)

 

Lowest to date — Week 26 progress

Friday's weigh-in: 231lbs.

My lowest to date, in over 25 years.

I went a little overboard this weekend though, so I expect a rough catch up week. My daughter had a Birthday party and it was also my wedding anniversary, so I did indulge in lots of good food.  I tried to make up for it today by going for a long bike ride. Hopefully it made a difference.

 

I'll fit in this one day...

I love T-shirts. I love free promo T-shirts. Give me a free promo T-shirt and I'll wear it. Guaranteed. (within reason, of course...)

What I've always hated is that more often than not that free promo T-shirt is either an XL or an L size. Being an XXL free promo T-shirt lover sucks.

In many cases — if I really liked the T-shirt — I'd tuck it away in my drawer for "I'll fit in this one day..."

That day has finally arrived.

This morning, while looking for something to wear, I came across a few of those T-shirts. I picked one out and tried it on.

It fit! It's not tight or even snug, it's a comfortable fit! I think it's an XL. I don't want to take it off to check for fear that I'll wake up from a dream. :)  But I can say that this particular one never fit me and I've had it for about 2 years.

I was half-tempted to try some others on, but I decided to wait and leave them for another day so I can be just as surprised.

It's little things like this that keep me motivated to continue my weight loss. I've got about 30lbs still to go. My friends and family tell me that I'll be too skinny at 200 lbs. I can't rememeber if I looked too skinny when I was that weight in my late teens/early 20s (I was the same height).  All I remember is that I've been self-concious about my weight nearly all my life, except for a short time when I was in the military and lost most of it, and I've never been told I was too skinny.

My doc says I should be 190 lbs. 200 lbs is the goal, but I'm pretty sure that I'll be happy at 210 lbs, but I won't know for sure until I get there.

I can't believe that I'm actually half-way to the goal. Go me go. :)

Back on track... deja vue — Week 25 progress

I'm back on it and made more headway. I credit two salad lunches and a ~30 km bike ride on Sunday. I'm down to 233.2 lbs — my lowest recorded weight to date in the last 25 years. :)

We bought our son a new bicycle on Sunday and after I topped up the tires with air and adjusted his seat, I decided to do a little maintenance on my own bike. Of course, I then had to take it out for a spin. I didn't plan on out for more than an hour, max, but as I rode I kept wanting to go further. I ended up at Petrie Island about 15kms away. I was happy to see that almost the entire bike path is now paved too. The last time I rode there two years ago it was all gravel. My weight loss and overall fitness improvements are definitely paying off; I wasn't early as tired after the ride like I usually am after the first long ride of the year. I'm tempted to work my way up to another ride out to Rockland like I did about 5 years ago.

I'm looking forward to the weekend and more riding, and getting my family into it as well. I doubt they'll want to ride all the way to Petrie Island though. :)

Another fail week — Week 24 progress

Failed the weigh-in this morning by a pound and a half. They seem to happen on a regular basis, followed by a catch-up loss. When I see the graph of my loss, it's like a roller coaster ride. As long as it continues to go down overall, I don't think there's any reason to be concerned. So I'm not. :)

 

Another good week — Week 23 progress

I weighed myself on Thursday morning and was 233½ lbs or something like that. It basically put me at half way to my goal. However, as of this morning I was officially 235 (I think). I indulged a little too much in free chocolate at work. :) Still good progress for this week. The new calorie limit is working out well. As LiveStrong.com adjusts it based on my weight, I'm allowed a hair under 1600 per day now.

With the new limit, I'm finding more and more that I need to work out somedays if I'm going to be able to eat anything decent for supper. It's not like I'm going overboard for breakfast or lunch either. They workout to 400-500 calories each. That doesn't leave a lot for supper, although it should. I just happen to like a little more sometimes at supper, or have a beer to go along with it.

That's the price I gotta pay and I'm more than willing to.

 

Nearly half way — Week 22 progress

I'm down 30.6 lbs in total as of this morning. It might actually be a pound or so more, but I forget my exact weight from this morning, so I erred on the side of caution and went a little higher.

I had a little help with the weight loss this week, as I had to fast all Wednesday in prep for a... uhh... medical examination on Thursday. Not a pleasant experience, but at least I reaped some benefit from it. :) I weighed myself on Wednesday morning before fasting and I was already down a couple of pounds. Nuff said.

I calculated that I have lost 1.3 lbs per week since I started this. It's not the 2 lbs per week that I had hoped to lose, but I think that' s probably a healthier rate in the end. At this rate, it'll take another 27 weeks to reach my goal, which brings me to around mid-October. That's a little disappointing considering I had hoped to hit my goal by mid-June, but again, probably healthier in the long run.

Having said that, I'm feeling really positive about the progress. I can't remember the last time I was this weight.

Success — Week 21 progress

It was close.

I was a little worried yesterday morning when I stepped on the scale and didn't see the kind of progress that I was hoping for. But this morning, seeing 239 blinking back at me made me was a great way to start the day. :)

239 is now my lowest official weigh-in so far. I had been a pound or two lower a few weeks ago, during a mid-week check, but by the time the Friday came around I had put it back on.

Onward and... uhh... downward!

Planning? What planning?

I cut my calorie intake from ~2200 to ~1600 on Sunday. I'm only two or three days into it and I can see that my meal planning is going to take... uhhh... some actual planning. :)

Yesterday I consumed a little over 1600, but I did burn 400 in a workout so it brings it well under my limit. That was a good day. I didn't starve myself, and I got to enjoy food I like. (FYI... a Lick's hamburger patty alone has 300 calories!)

Today, which is supposed to be one of my non-workout-break days, I'm already down to just under 500 remaining for supper if I want to keep it under 1600. I guess that's not bad — it works out to almost a third of the daily total for one of three meals. But, there's talk of fajitas for supper. I may have to get in some unplanned workout time before that, just in case.

I really hope I see some good progress by Friday's weigh-in. It'll be a huge motivator to let me know that I'm back on the right track. I already told my wife that even though there's a Sen's hockey game on TV Thursday, which can mean homemade "hockey pizza" night, I'd prefer that we skip it and have pizza for Saturday's game instead.

Kickin' into overdrive... or something — Week 20 progress

UGH.

Another fail this week. Fuck.

I think I finally figured out what I'm doing wrong, aside form enjoying weekly pizza and wings which I refuse to give up. ;)

On the LiveStrong.com site where I track my calories, the "level of activity" that I had specified is probably set to higher than it really is, therefore allowing me to consume more calories than I should. So, when I get close to my maximum for the day, I am probably over. I had it set to the second lowest because I took my workouts into account. I suspect that they're referring to your activity not including workouts. Looking back on my progress, it makes sense. When I was losing, my caloric intake was well below the max and I lost weight.

I fixed it and it reduced it by about 600 calories per day. That brings me into the same range as when I was losing.

I wish I had figured this out sooner.

Another milestone reached — Week 18 progress

This morning I weighed 240 lbs. So now I'm 27 lbs down from what I was when I started.

That's a big milestone for me. Not because I lost 3 lbs since last week (that's great too!) but because every pound I lose from here on basically puts me at a weight I haven't been in about 25 years.

I also reached the #2 spot on the Your Shape Fitness Evolved leaderboard for Canada earlier this week. :)

I really need to go buy some new jeans.

Back on track... again — Week 16 progress

I must be losing my mind.

First, I forgot to write my week 15 progress. Second, I'm sure I started writing my week 16 progress — including something for week 15 — twice now, and yet, I still have nothing posted. Ugh.

So anyway, despite the fact that I had gained about 1½ lbs for week 15, that's not why I didn't write it. I simply forgot. I think the fact that I had a cold that weekend was a contributing factor.

The good news is that for week 16 I lost the 1½ lbs I gained and a bit more, putting my weight at the lowest it's been in about 6 or 7 years. In 3½ lbs, and every pound after, it'll put me at my lowest in about 25 years.

That's going to be a major milestone for me.

Plateau? What plateau? — Week 14 progress

I not only broke through the plateau, I killed it, shedding 3½ lbs this past week.

From what I can tell, it was a combination of using my hand weights with all of the Cardio Boxing routines, instead of just the slow ones, reducing my increased water consumption a little to something more easily managed (without making my bladder want to explode), and maybe the 2-day break from working out that I took earlier in the week? I'm not entirely sure, but I won't argue.

We'll see how this week goes.

20K - Week 13 progress

I broke 20,000 calories mark in Your Shape Fitness Evolved.

This put me at 30th place on the Worldwide Leadboard and 3rd place on the Canada Leaderboard. Unfortunately, their leaderboard is buggy and it's displaying the wrong name beside the score. You can see in both pics that my score is 20315, which happens to be the 3rd place on the Canada leaderboard.

Wordwide Leaderboard:

Canada Leaderboard:

Sucks. I reported it in their forums, but like many of the bugs being reported, nothing seems to be done about it. Not even an official acknowledgement of them. Anyway, that's another story.

Back on track? — Week 12 progress

I'm not entirely sure whether eating a little more more or changing my workout fixed it, but I did manage to get back to losing this week. Not much mind you, but it's not a gain.

And then on Saturday, out of curiosity, I stepped on the scale and noticed I had lost a bit more. As of this morning, I was down to 248lbs. Keeping my fingers crossed for this week.

Plateau — Week 11 progress

A not-so-happy weigh-in this morning.

I was good with keeping the calorie intake low this week — better than in previous weeks — and yet, there was no loss this week. In fact, there was about a 1 lb gain.

That brings up two possibilities.

The first is that I have officially hit a plateau.

The second possibility that crossed my mind, one that my wife also mentioned, is that maybe I haven't eaten enough and my body is going into storage mode. It makes sense. In past weeks, I would occasionally slip and consume more than I should on a day or two, or get pretty close to my max, and despite that I was still able to lose. My max calculated intaje is supposed to be around 2100-2200. In the last seven days, I was over 1500 calories once, and the rest were in the 1200-1300 range, after subtracting workout calorie burn. Maybe there is some logic to that.

I guess I'll focus on eating a but more for this week. I'm also going to change my usual workout program in YSFE to something with a little more cardio and see how that pans out.