Nosepicker

Did my first HRCC (Highlands Ranch Cycling Club) ride yesterday.  Was just four of us out there, but we couldn’t have asked for better weather.  Temperature was in the 80′s for most of the ride and it wasn’t very windy at all.  The group rode well together and they did a good job of making sure that no one got dropped.  Nice group of people to ride with, I think this will be a great group for me to continue riding with.  We ended up doing about 40 miles with a few small breaks and a few fun hills.  I was able to keep up and never felt like I was off the pace.  Despite having a flat on the bike before we even started and picking up another flat 2/3′s of the way in, it was a great ride.  Note to self, next time put sunblock on the parts of your body that you don’t think will be exposed, because odds are, they will.

Here are the ride stats from my Garmin 500.

I’ve been sticking with my plan but have become more aggressive on the weight lifting again.  Not sure if that’s a smart move for someone who’s trying to drop weight, but I’m sticking with it.  My weight is now teetering between 192 and 196.  Not terrible, but it sure would be nice to see it drop into the 180′s sometime soon.  I’m comfortably back into a 36 in waist size (34 on occasion, depending on the brand).  XL shirts are on the big size for me as well.  Most of my shirts look like smocks now, so I’ve started adding some better fitting shirts to the collection.  Right now I feel like my optimal weight is still around 180 (maybe less).  I’m definitely less concerned about the weight loss and more concerned about the long term plan of keeping the weight off.

Sold my Bianchi yesterday….

Replaced it with this titanium motherf**ker!

Last week was pretty exciting for me in my geeky way of life.  My new iPad arrived last week and I was pretty stoked to have a new toy to play with.  The first week with the device was pretty awesome as I quickly bought accessories and programs for this thing that was eating up my already short attention span.

Well, it’s do or die time for my new iPad. The marvel from my favorite consumer electronics company is starting to disappoint me very much. Despite it’s awesome screen, fast response times, and general excellence, it just takes way too long to charge and unfortunately, the only place it seems to want to charge is from the wall outlet via it’s own charging unit. No more charging when at the computer apparently. And even when I have it hooked up directly to my computer and says it’s charging, it really isn’t. I’ve watched the battery meter slowly trickle down even further when charging while doing absolutely nothing with the device. I spend a lot of time at my computer and I expect to be able to use my device when next to my machine. I’m running an experiment right now to see just how long it takes to go from a 4% charge to 100%. According to everything I’ve read, it should take about 4 hours to complete charging. This seems reasonable, but if the device is not at 100% by the end of the morning, it will end up going back to Apple.

Based on what I’ve read online, I’m not the only person having these problems. No one seems to have a clear explanation and most seem to be willing to accept the answer that they’ll have to charge from the brick instead of the USB port on their PC. Bottom line is this: if the device doesn’t charge in a reasonable amount of time, then I will have no use for it. Who needs a mobile device that spends almost as much time charging as an Android device? That’s one of the reason I left the Android platform to begin with…. oh, the apps on Android are terrible as well. Can’t forget to mention that.

So once again, if the device isn’t 100% charged in the morning, it’s going back. I’d rather repurpose the money for a new laptop instead.

… to my sweet wife.

I’ve picked up the weight loss motivation once again. Before the new year I was pretty much at an all time low in regards to fitness and weight. People who hadn’t seen me in a while were usually pretty surprised at how much weight I had put on. Walking was difficult due to my ankle surgeries and I probably didn’t realize it but I’m sure my weight was not helping my ankles either.

In December, the office decided to start up a “Biggest Loser” contest. I figured that was as good of a way to get started as any.  Also, my mom had also put herself on a weight loss journey and had done a great job getting herself back into shape.  I found her to be very inspiring.  That made the $50 buy-in a no-brainer. It’s pretty much a winner take all sort of contest. The contest would start on Jan 3, once we had all returned from our holidays. The contest is supposed to last 90 days and will end on April 3. My starting weight was 255. My target weight is 190. That’s a lot of weight to lose in 90 days and I’m not going to lose any sleep if I don’t hit that number at 90 days exactly. But you have to set a goal so you know what you’re driving for.

Changes I’ve made include getting my butt into the gym more often. Right now I’m planning on hitting the gym at least 6 days a week with Sunday as a day off. I’m going to run a balance between doing cardio and lifting free weights. My membership at 24 Hour Fitness is renewed and I should have no problems getting to the gym before work.

My diet needs to change the most. I’m frequently finding myself indulging in sweets and sugary foods. Also, my intake of high gluten foods such as breads and pasta is very high. I’m going to cut down my intake of carbs and fats and try to go with as much lean protein as possible. I’m also going to reintroduce supplements into my diet. I’ll also be changing from 3 meals per day to about 6 smaller meals.

– 45 Days In

Before and Now

Well, everything seems to be on track. I’ve been really good about hitting the gym and have only missed one day due to a snow storm. My fitness level is much better than it has been in a long time. When I first started, I pretty much just rode the stationary bike for my cardio. I’ve read that the bike is good, but honestly I felt like it wasn’t getting my blood circulating as much as it should have. So I decided to start working out on the stair climber and I have to say that machine has been kicking my butt. I’ve been getting some really good sweats going with that. From that machine I’ll go back to the bike and continue the sweat from there. I haven’t been hitting the weights as much as I’ve been doing cardio. I do some legs once per week and I’ll do upper body once per week. And some back maybe once per week. I feel much stronger than before, I can feel the muscles coming back to life and gaining strength but I don’t want to go crazy with the weights.

The diet has been the biggest challenge. I’m hungry quite often. It’s difficult not to go crazy. However, I have stayed honest to the plan and have not strayed. Since Sunday is my off day, I tend to go a bit crazy on these days. Football weekends at Steve’s place have definitely filled my belly a few times. I need to do some more research on the diet or become a bit more creative with my menu. I need to get my Body for Life cookbook back from Steve. I’m tired of chicken. Although I do have to admit that I’ve become very fond of spinach salads with balsamic vinegar.

So, I’m typing this up as we are now just over halfway through the contest and my current weight is about 222. I see the biggest difference in my face. Losing the weight is good and looking thinner is even better, but what I’m really excited about is how much more energy I have again. I’m noticing that my ankles no longer hurt as much as they used to. I’m sleeping much better. All-in-all, a very positive start. My hope is to get myself into condition to do a lot of cycling this summer. Anyway, that’s the update on that. I’m going to continue doing what I’m doing at the gym and keep up with my diet.

Maybe 190 is doable? I’ll tell you 45 days from now.