Work

I have decided that I work to live and I no longer have any desire to live to work.  I am happy that my work is something I enjoy and does not (at least directly) contribute to the decline of the world, but I don't have a need to do it.  I work so I can do other things.

I feel better now.

November? Seriously?

According to my usual timeliness measure, it is about time to post again.  Not much has changed with my weight. At least not for the good.  Still mostly bouncing back and forth between 210 and 215 with occasional bounces higher.

In other news, my prized bike, my Soma Double Cross broke yesterday. The right rear dropout broke right where it enters the chainstay. Sigh.  I don't know whether I want to fix it or not.  Part of me says yes it is worth it.  Part of me wonders if I could trust it.  Logically, I know I should, but I can allow my non-logical side some say in this I suppose. 

June weigh in

It was a good news/bad news kind of day.  Weighed in at 210 and 24.9% body fat.  So, down three pounds but a bit up on the body fat percentage.  I now need to lose 11lbs in 18 days (which is not likely) to meet my goal.

On the plus side, earlier this week a colleague noticed that I had been losing weight. Since she did not know me at my heaviest, I take it that the latest drop is showing up.  Woot!

New Goal

Shooting for 199 by June 19.  Under 200 by 45.  I think I can. I think I can.

New day, new scale, new baseline

Picked up a new scale last night.  New baselines

Weight-213.6
Body fat %-24.2

By my calculations, that gives me 51.7 lbs of fat and 161.9 lbs of lean.  I am resisting the urge to compare that to past readings since this is a new scale and a new baseline.

Scale Woes

I think the scale woes continue.  Within 10 minutes I weighed in at 213.2 and 28% body fat followed by 211 and 27% body fat.  I checked in with my daughter and she has noticed continuing fluctuations as well.  So, it is time for a new scale.

I do not know for sure that I have lost weight but I know that my relatively newly purchased 36" waist jeans are getting looser so something has changed.  I find it hard to believe that my waist could shrink while my body fat % goes up.  Also, I have been working out so weight gain should be represented by a decrease in body fat.  Anyway, a new scale today and a reset of weight and body fat tomorrow.

For the record

I don't normally weigh in more than once a month, much less, two days in a row.  But, given the fluctuations yesterday, I bought new batteries last night and weighed in again this morning.  I showed 211 and 26% BF about 4 times in a row before I decided that the batteries fixed it.  A 1 pound fluctuation is not really much to jump up and down about but I am going to use that as my comparison for next month.

April 1 weigh in

Slow and steady may when the race for the tortoise, but it is not as inspiring when it comes to weight loss.  I am fairly certain my scale needs new batteries in that it first showed 177 and 18% body fat.  It then went up to 216, back down to 209 before settling on 212 and 26% for several in a row and a set of "new" batteries. I must admit that the "new" batteries were batteries found in drawers with no way of telling whether they are fresh or not.

So, I am going with 212 and 26%.  That has me at 55 lbs of fat and 157 lbs of lean weight. I am down 2.5 lbs fat and up about a half pound of lean weight.  At this rate, I will be 6 more months getting to 200.  April will be an improvement.

March 1 weigh in

I can't say I am surprised but I also can't say that I am excited.  I was prepared for the number to go up but it actually went down-just not much.  I was 214.4 this morning with the same percent body fat-27%.

By my calculations I am now 57.89 pounds of fat and 156.51 pounds of lean. When not rounding off, that means I dropped about .5 lbs of fat in February and about a pound of lean weight.  I will take it though I hope to do better.  Considering the trip to Vegas and the backing off of both resistance and cardio, it makes sense.  Between a sore shoulder, a sore knee at the beginning of the month and general tiredness that pervaded the entire house this month (the girls missed several days of school with general aches, pains and tiredness so I think we may have been experiencing a mild bug) it ain't too bad. 

For March, a re-commitment.  I am starting the month with a bicycle commute.  I also finished February with a commute.  Here we go.  210 and 25% by April 1?  I think I can.

Hmmm....

February has not been as good of a month as I would have liked for health.  I started the month with a work trip to Vegas and I definitely did not eat as well or exercise as much as I should have.  And, I have been a bit tired so I backed off a bit of the cardio and resistance.  Overall I am happy with things and I am curious what the scale will tell on the first.

First weigh in

I weighed in this morning and I now weigh 216.  That is only a drop of 4 lbs but the cool part is that that my body fat percent dropped from 29% to 27%.  That means that I went from about 64 lbs of fat to about 58 lbs of fat.  I will take a drop of 6 lbs of fat and a muscle gain of about 2 lbs.  It seems to bode well for the next weigh in as I continue to do the resistance exercises.

Cold ride/warm desk

I find that if I am in the mood for it, riding in the cold is not too bad.  It was about 10 this morning when I left and after the initial bite on the bridge of my nose wore off, all was fine.  As long as I can keep my ears and hands warm, I can handle most rides.  It takes a while for cold feet to do me in but cold hands and ears will stop me quickly.


Contributing to this morning's comfort were two pieces of my motorcycle gear.  My neoprene/fleece balaclava kept my ears happy and my winter rated motorcycle gloves did the job for my hands.  I have bicycle gloves but they have lost their insulation due to old age (though I seem to have added insulation due to old age, just not on my hands).  I need to replace them because those motorcycle gloves are expensive and I don't think I need carbon fiber knuckle protectors for the speeds I ride my bicycle.

(Why yes, I do have pets, why do you ask?)













As far as the warm desk goes, a friend loaned me his Led Zeppelin collection. Led Zeppelin was my first musical obsession.  I think they, more than any other band, contributed to my low level hearing loss and slight ringing in my ears.

I am listening to Physical Graffiti for the first time in years.  Between emails and the usual work stuff, the memories just keep coming back.  Each song has it's own images popping up.  Mostly though, they are just so comfortable and familiar.  And, interestingly, fresh at the same time.  Sure an 18 year old can appreciate the fact that Led Zeppelin can melt your face, but as an adult I can appreciate how difficult putting together something this great is.  Wow!

Now, on to In Through the Out Door.  Someone has to do it.

Dang!

Woke up this morning tired to the bone.  My head was awake but my body was not having any of it.  I took it as a sign and decided to skip today's workout and I rode my motorcycle to work instead of my bike.  It was definitely the right decision.  I feel much more rested than I have in a few days.  Back at it tomorrow.

Going along pretty nicely, thanks.

I have ridden my bike to work everyday this week. I have managed to stay on top of the exercise plan so far this whole month.  I even managed to do my sprint workout this morning.  Sprinting is my least favorite exercise with pushups being a close second.  I can definitely feel it in my legs right now.  They are heavy.

I have to say that I can feel a positive difference overall. I just feel stronger which makes it easier to move. I want to believe that I can see a difference.  But, I am waiting until Feb, 1st to weigh in because I would be crushed if there was not much difference.  I have been working too hard to not see a difference on the scale.

This week I have rediscovered the bane of the occasional cyclist-butt pain.  The first day is always fine, but the pain increases each day until, miraculously, it is gone.  I am about out the other side but I know there are still 1 or 2 days of soreness left. If I was a total noob it would probably discourage me but (no pun intended) I have been through this enough times to know that pain free days lie ahead.

Decision Made!

I will ride at least one century in late Spring or early Summer.  Not a competitive one.  One that I map out and ride.  My 12 year old is thinking about joining me.  That would be awesome.

A Good Start

Well, I got off to a reasonable start this week.  I exercised most mornings and I even did my sprints Thursday morning as scheduled. I only missed Saturday because I was at an Academic Team meet all day with the youngest.

More good times ahead next week.

Resolutions

So, other than the resolution to weigh 190, I have two other resolutions

I will be the laundry master at the house. Everyone appreciates it. It removes the stress of wondering when it will get done and it allows me to ponder/meditate on the abundance of my life.

I will be more kind and compassionate. In particular, to those who I am closest to. It seems that the ones I love the most get me in my most raw state. Though it is nice to know that they love me unconditionally and that they will, more than anyone else, listen to me at my worst, they deserve my kindness and compassion most.

Back without a vengeance

I want to use this to track my progress again. I started out 2011 at 250 lbs and relatively quickly got down around 220 following a low carb diet and occasional exercise. I lifted for a couple of months during the summer of 2012 and proceeded to injure my left rotator cuff. Throw in a few brief periods of cardio and bicycle commuting and I have been 220 +/-5 for the last several months.

I have decided to get on it again. My goal is to get down to 190 and around 15% body fat. I hope that will allow me to get off this blood pressure medication. I will basically follow the Primal Blueprint fitness model with around 3-5 hours of 55-75% of max heart cardio, two or three days of resistance exercise and 1 day of sprints. I already follow the nutrition recommendations so I should be good there.

So, today I started with 220 lbs. and 29% body fat according to our scale. I know that this kind of body fat measure is fairly poor but I just plan to use it to measure the general direction I am heading. Started today with 45 minutes of cardio on the elliptical and resistance training. Feels good so far.