Eating and Riding and and and...

A flawless weekend where my intake was concerned and got out for a 20 mile ride on Saturday, my weight is down a good amount and things are feeling "normal" again. My normal once upon a three years ago was completely different than what I consider my normal now so getting back to it is definitely a good thing! Almost as if a light switch was clicked into the up position I am back to weighing and measuring things that go into my body, I decided that I need to focus on what I need to do in order to get my health in line and the rest will hopefully follow suit.

Just Ed and his new Jamis Exile 1.

My riding has gotten easier the last few weeks as well, I ride the same 20 mile section of trail each week sometimes changing it up a bit but its mostly the same area. The last three weeks after our weekend ride I feel like I can do another 10 miles with ease.. ok maybe not with ease but I know that I could do it and its not been the case until about 3 rides ago. The way I see it is that if my weight keeps coming down back to where it was and beyond that the rides will just get easier and that is a good thing! Getting stronger while getting lighter is a formula for better rides so that's what I am going to do as last year I was riding easier than this year and I would like to get back to that level. I have mentioned that I have a riding buddy now and we snapped a couple few photos during one of our stops this Saturday but the images of me came out blurry, I suspect that sweaty Ed touched the lens of the camera so all ya get is the shot of him and his new Jamis this time around.

Aiming for 1700 calories per day is where I am at but on "bike ride" days I allow myself an extra 200 calories for the Zone bar that I eat at the half way point of my rides. I have been doing good with the intake with lots of fruits going in which is very easy this time of year as everything is in season! Yesterdays fruits included 2 plums, an apricot, a peach and a banana which were all very good and sweet, then trying to keep the carby stuff for the earlier part of the day is part of the plan as well so over all I am doing well on the intake.

Focusing on me again is trying, its hard to focus on something that does not take up most of your thinking time but I have to do it because like I said, without my health everything else will surely fall apart that much faster.

Until next time...

As Ever
Me

My wife asked me to start using protection...

So, the little animal... er baby has fallen blissfully to sleep and I had a moment so I thought it was a good time to pop a post up here, yes yes, I could be exercising instead and that I did! I did a push up routine along with some stretches and for now that's what its going to be. Life lately has not been peaches and cream but that doesn't mean that there aren't high points! and with that thought lets us focus on my bicycling for a moment.

A quick stop from last Sundays ride I took a shot of ye olde steed leaning on a rock with her new handlebars/grips installed.

Last year I was riding a just under 20 mile section of a local rail trail and not feeling it besides for the immediate hour after the ride and that stamina deteriorated over a long winter. I started riding again more regular like when the weather warmed up but couldn't really get back to that pre winter oooomph that I had, that is until the last two weeks in the saddle. The week before last we went out for our Sunday ride and by the end of the ride I felt like I could have kept going, it would appear that the stamina has returned? after one week? nope not gonna believe it. This past Sunday we left on the same ride, same bat time same bat channel and waddya know? same deal, felt awesome after the ride so if this weeks ride goes as well I am going to declare that I am back stamina wise on the bike.

In other news wify asked me to start wearing protection a while back...no no pervert get your mind out of the gutter she meant a helmet, and though I wasn't against the idea it just wasn't on the top of the list for me. I happened into a local Eastern mountain sports a couple weeks ago and meandered on over to the helmet section where I saw more than a couple brands and designs to consider so I popped a few onto my bald melon to see how fitment was. Now the fella that I ride with on the weekend has a Giro branded helmet, it seems nice and he said that it worked for what it was suppose to all while being fairly comfy so onto Giro brand brain buckets I went. Finding a Giro Xar on the shelf I placed it onto my cranium and it felt like I was wearing a ball cap, maybe even less bothersome than a ball cap but the price was $130 and I was meh on that. I tried on a couple few more but kept coming back to the Xar because if I am buying a helmet its gotta be comfy or I will just strap it to my back pack and not wear it, I left the store.

My new brain protection unit, I give to you the Giro Xar.

I was extremely surprised when my wife asked me to start using protection after so long as you can see in my expression.

Talking to wify about the choices that I found and the fact that this Xar for $130 was perfect but I did not want to spend that much on a helmet her response was "go back in and get it, I don't care what it costs if you'll wear it its worth it" I told her I wanted to research it first. I got home and couldn't find a bad review online so I started looking around online for a better price since I now knew what size fit and that it was in fact a comfortable fit, not one of the one size fits all helmets that never seem to feel right on my head. I pull up ebay and Viola! found one for almost $40 less than at EMS so using buy it now the helmet was here 2 days later, I haven't had a chance to ride with it yet but it is all adjusted and this weekend I shall give its first test ride.

I need to start gettin down like I know how to again, not because I want to and not because of anything other than I NEED to, I worked more than extremely hard to drop the weight that I have thus far and life is not what it was at 534 pounds. I have to try my best to stay in line and Yoda once said "Do or do not, there is no try", fortunately for me Yoda is just a puppet and I do not hold his words very close to my heart. Try is all anyone can do, we will all slip and fall from time to time and we are not a single one of us perfect and all as human as the next guy or gal, the way I see it is as long as we get back up and keep going we will not have failed.

stick that in your pipe and smoke it Yoda...

That's all I got for now, keep on keepin on and all that.

As Ever
Me

No bullshit, just a post.

How do you grab control when a complete shut down of the system is whats on the plate? This is the question that plagues me as I write this sentence. Once upon a time there was a fat guy that had no clue what he weighed, he was unsure about his future because of the 534 pounds that hung from his bones like an over stuffed scarecrow and fear motivated him to do something about it. Two hundred twenty nine pounds later he was a bad ass weight loss success story and was in mind and body a changed person, nothing could stop him as he pushed mountains aside to gain access to his goals and that fella was me.

I have been dealt some fucked up cards in the past half of a year and they are taking their toll on my health as far as weight loss and physical progression goes, the scale says so and my nonchalant attitude towards planning my intake for the days agrees. In addition to those cards there is a new and wonderful little girl in my life which is taking up much of my time as a stay at home dad. This makes working out as I should harder than it has been since starting down this road and I am finding it hard to work around that. I make no excuses for my lack of attention to my health plan that has worked for me up to this point but I can admit that I am having a hard time finding the strength to execute as the plan requires me to do in order for it to be a success.

I know what I need to do, in fact I have written it all down and have a recipe book to pull from ever meal that I need to create, cook and eat so that my body is fueled correctly. I know how to workout and in fact I crave it but with my current stress levels and lack of what I would call free time to get out there and bust ass, I am as I stated struggling to get back in the game as it were. Am I still riding my bike? Absofuckinloutly! that is something that I won't stop doing as its one of the things in life where I find pure joy but I am not in fact riding enough. I haven't ridden during the week in months, My only riding takes place on the weekend with a riding buddy and that's approximately 20 to 25 miles at a go which is as I said not enough.

My exercise will fall into place, I made sure of that by buying some lights for my bike which extends the times when I can ride but the exercise is not as important as one trying to lose weight might think. I believe that diet is the crucial part of weight loss/physical gain and I am not doing my part, I know this and yet grabbing it by its throat to throw it to the ground has eluded me in the past more than a few months. My weight is up, some might say significantly some might argue that its not all that significant, its more than just a couple pounds but I am still close to 200 pounds lost as I type this as a reference point and I am going to make this post the beginning of the end, the end of this not paying attention to my intake thing that's happening right now.

I posted last on June 23rd, the way that the rest of that day which will forever be significant to me...week... month has progressed is largely to blame for my HUGE lack of focus because at the time of that post I had been on track and was down about 30 pounds. The plan is to again try to post as often as possible on my blog, finding time to post will be a tad on the rough side but this blog is a huge part of why my weight loss to date has been successful, my tenacity and raw willpower plays a big part too but honestly I find that posting for anyone to see where I am at with my success/failures helps to keep me motivated.

Thanks for the email, facebook messages and comments, they help more than you know.

This post a tad random? perhaps.... but a post none the less and it begins again...

As Ever
Me