CycleOps Fluid 2 Video, tire comparisons.

I wanted to get a compare video up between the Michelin Country Rock tire that my wife bought when she picked up the fluid trainer and the Bontrager SR1 that I replaced it with, I had a chance to set the camera up this morning when I rode so I thought I would pop the video up. The Michelin tire was just too loud for my purposes so it had to be replaced and the difference between that and the slick SR1 is incredible and it allows me to ride while my daughter takes her mid morning nap.

Now you know that you are diggin' on my blue light in the first trainer spot, and you can now see just how loud that Michelin was, I am sure that it would make a great road tire for a mountain bike but for trainer duty it will have to be saved as a back up tire. This trainer is working out good for me, when weather or the baby stop me from getting out for a real ride out comes the trainer and I can get a ride into my day, gotta love it. Here is a shot of the K2 in Trainer gear, it does not differ much from road duty when it wears WTB Graffiti SF 2.2 tires, it loses the bag on the top tube and gains a powerade bottle in the cage.

I hope you enjoyed the video, come spring I am sure that I will be posting up some ride videos as I do bring my Kodak ZX3 camera out with me on most rides. Over all I am on the right path and am hoping to hit my goal of being 305Lbs or less by May 25th, this trainer will certainly help me get there bu I can't wait for the weather to get a little better and days longer so that I can hit the rail trails again.

Soon enough it shall be so...

That's all I got for today.

As Ever
Me

Weigh in, and nada else.

The day got away from me and I literally just walked in the door 20 minutes ago but since I don't want to be called a liar on posting the weigh in here it is. This morning the scale said that I was up by .8 pounds, 364.8 pounds, it is what it is and it ain't no thang, next week shall be a loss.

That is all, hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

As Ever
Me

Another week gone another pound ... gained?

Tomorrow I will weigh in for the blog again, I am predicting a gain for the week which is kind of discouraging but it is what it is and since I am still trying to beat this cold or whatever it is I am not all that worried about a small gain. I was 364.0 last Friday and if I break even I will be happy because as of this morning I am up from that number by more than a pound which is a tad puzzling but at the same time, should it be? Losing weight is not a perfect thing, sometimes we lose sometimes we gain and sometimes it remains even no matter how diligent we are with our food intake or exercise. Making the right choices is how I roll these days, and I know that even with a gain I am doing what I need to do for my health, eating clean is somehow rewarding for me, knowing that I am fueling my body with the right stuff forces me to feel good, That concept keeps me going some days when I feel myself about to peek in the fridge for no reason.

I haven't ridden my trainer for a few days and this bothers me but my head is still clogged up and the first 10 minutes is literally torture because of it not to mention that 30 minutes afterwards the stuffy head is double what it was before I started. All of that sounds like an excuse to me! so after I hit publish I am setting up the trainer and going for a ride.

I don't have anything spectacular to write today other than I am feeling a tad bit discouraged because of the up while at the same time I understand these things happen. I have not worked on a bike in a while because a couple of nights ago I was installing fenders on a bikethat I was setting up for wet weather riding and I slipped trying to tighten a bolt... When I slipped a tily little washer that was in my hand somehow ended up slipping under my index finger nail and literally went in so deep that half of the washer was under my nail. The tip of my right index finger has been throbbing for two days, I am more bothered by the fact that the weekend is coming and I really wanted to do some work on the old Motobecane and I am unsure if this thumping finger will allow it.

Over all things are good, I am eating right, feeling awesome and for the most part am happy with how things are going here.

That's all I got.

As Ever
Me

Nothing mind blowing just an am post for those interested.

Keeping my calories within range is increasingly easier as the days tick by, I am back into a groove with the intake and now its time to get the exercise back up to par. Riding on my trainer has been sketchy at best as I have had a cold for about 2 weeks, actually its two colds with a 2 day break in between them and riding the trainer is not fun with a stuffed up head so I have been passing on it lately. We got about 5 inches of snow on Sunday and we did make it out for a walk with the kids which was nice and at least it was movement vs hanging out in the house for the day and I'll take that any day of the week!

My weight is doing something odd, what I mean is that I am up in weight from Friday which I can't understand, I mean I know there is fluctuation but there is no reason for it. I am eating perfectly, exercise is lacking but that has been the case since about Christmas with me riding the trainer only a handful of times and I had been dropping since then. I am not too worried about it as I have been here before while losing weight but that doesn't make it any less frustrating to see a plus on the scale in the morning, it is what it is I suppose. Friday will let me know how I did for the week as I don;t usually dwell on the number that I se eon the scale, I try and focus on the over all results because I do have a long way to go and letting fluctuations bother me would prove a losing battle and ultimately hurt the forward momentum.

On bike related news, The hardware for the Pletscher rack that I am going to put on that Motobecane that I am working on came in the mail yesterday so I will do a test fit later tonight with the rack. I did get down stairs for about 30 minutes worth of polishing on the crankset on that bike but its far from done so I didn't take any pictures of what I did for now.

Over all everything is on track and moving right along and I can't ask for more than that, the weather will be warm soon and back out on that trail I will go...... can't wait.

That's all I got for today kids.

I cross posted this post at Two Wheels and a Fat Guy for anybody interested.

New content on the fat fella, check it out here!

A good weekend was had, there was snow, working on that old bike, riding the trainer and a walk with the kiddos through said snow, all things that at my highest weight of 534 would not have been possible. Living this way now feels natural to me, my stumble with the stress and weight gain was such an off balance feeling and its not something that I noticed as much before I got my shit back together and I believe this may be part of the reason so many people struggle with weight. I enjoy eating the meals that I make that are healthy, they taste good, are not hard to prepare and the bonus of feeling awesome because of them is well... awesome!

A shot over the barely frozen lake now covered in snow.

Last night I had my wife take a picture of me in shorts and no shirt, I did this back when I started this blog as a reference for myself to see where I was and where I have gone, it was very effective in keeping me on track. I would take 2 images per month, one on the first and one some time on the middle of the month and I have a folder with all of these images dated and photoshopped together with the image from Jan 6 2008 so that I can see my progress. I will probably never share these images with anyone but my wife which is likely a better choice so that I don't scare the population or anyone that may stumble upon the images on the net but anyone that is trying to lose weight I would recommend doing this.

The Moto's new aluminum bars all nice and shiny.

Something else I would recommend to people trying to lose weight is finding something to be passionate about that is health related, you know, like bicycles! I think that my obsession... er I mean addiction... um still not right.. hobby, yes that's it Hobby, is a huge factor in keeping me interested in healthy living because its kind of hard to blast down a rail trail when you weigh 400 pounds. Bicycles have become very interesting to me once again, more so than when I was 10 years old riding around on my Huffy Santa fe' or when I was 14 with my Schwinn Super le tour, there is something about them that just speaks to me, I like riding them, I like fixing up the old broken ones and I have too many right now! The spring can't get here soon enough so that I can get my weekend rides back on the menu and I am planning on being back down to my fighting weight by then so I have a lot to look forward to with the spring coming around again.

Over all everything is on track, I am making time for myself even to tha point that I can post pretty regularly on this blog again! I even started a more cycling related blog not too long ago and there are more details on my bike projects there so anyone interested in that sort of thing please check it out at TWO WHEELS AND A FAT GUY, I would love to know that some of you followed me over there. The other blog is health/weight loss related but it is centered more on the cycling side of it because I wanted a place to post up my bike projects so that I would not bore the skin off of anyone that reads this blog for the weight loss side of it so again please check it out!

For today, that's all I got! everything is happening the way that I want it to and not by chance, I decided that beat the path into the ground where my feet will fall.

As Ever
Me

Weighing in on weighing in... again.

This week has been good, I have stayed within my calorie range, ridden the trainer, drank plenty of green tea and I got to finally start in on that ole Motobecane that I had laying around. My weight has been coming down for a couple weeks now and last week was an exceptionally awesome week in that respect with a 6.2 pound loss, this week we have a loss too. I am down 2.4 pounds this week from last which is a great week as far as I am concerned because the way I am approaching this is that a loss, any loss! is a good thing. Now I haven't posted my actual weight for a while on here but have made it so that if someone was paying attention you could easily figure out roughly where I am but I figured why not just post the stupid weight? so that's what I shall do.

I am not happy to report that as of this morning I am currently 364.0 pounds, don't mistake that last little thing that I said about "not happy" for how I am feeling, I am feeling awesome the last month or so, its just that I am not happy that I weigh 59 pounds more than my lowest weight since starting down this road. Re-losing weight... again... is not a good feeling but on the other side of that is feeling good because of the foods that I am eating again, now that feels good. Thinking about having to lose 59 more pounds just to get where I was is a tad aggravating but that's only if I allow it to aggravate me, I choose to look at as a learning process and the 59 pounds is the penalty that I must pay for letting things get that far off of where it needed to be in order to promote a healthy lifestyle, time to pay the piper and all that.

Refocusing my energy onto me has been the key from the beginning, I need to keep in mind that without putting me at the front of the line the rest may as well not be there because I cannot be the person that I need to be without that.

My life, My weight problem, My solution... because nobody else can do it for me and if I let things get in the way of my health then I am letting myself and my family down.

That's all I got.

As Ever
Me

Pre weigh in prediction and a project.

Tomorrow I weigh in again, last week I had a really good drop and from my peek at the scale this morning it would appear that I have a loss for tomorrow again, this makes me a happy fella. Last week I had a 6.2 pound loss and I do not exect to match that loss I am looking for a number that will keep me on track to get back down to that 305 pound mark that I was at in May of 2010, somehow the thought of getting that back is really driving me right now as I feel unstoppable. My time on the Cycleops fluid 2 is helping me stay focused and I am eating like I use to although I am eating more calories than I was last year when I was on point. My food choices are awesome right now and I am almost completely back to whole foods again, salads are my favorite dinner and carrots are sweet again to me.

A shot of the front brake after I disassembled, polished and reassembled it.

I've decided that I need a bicycle related winter project and since my New Trek is all blinged out now with some fancy new blue bits and the K2 has been assigned to trainer duty I figured it was time to work on an old Motobecane road bike that I picked up last year. I started pulling parts off of it so that I can disassemble, polish and the reassemble into a nice clean, functioning part again and I started with the brakes so look for some updates on that little project in the future too!

Though it wouldn't be difficult for someone that reads this blog to figure out what my current weight is I am going to post it in tomorrows post along with the loss for the week. Posting some of the changes that I made to my intake/calories etc is also in the future as I am finding this go around a bit easier and I want to share a discovery that I made about myself concerning what and when I eat so that should be fun! Putting myself first is so pinnacle in my success that it is actually crazy to me how much it matters in my results but having a family which includes a brandy new baby in it does not allow me to be in the forefront of my priorities all of the time, all the while it must be that way so a balancing act it is for sure.

This week has been good, I am looking forward to tomorrow mornings posting because I have a feeling that it will be a pretty decent drop this week which makes me a happy blogger.

Until then, eat well, exercise much and remember who holds the fork.

As Ever
Me

Weigh in and its a BIG drop!

Friday is upon us and I have been weighing myself daily for about 3 weeks now, I figured I would pop in with this weeks loss and its a good one! Since last Friday I weigh 6.2 pounds less and feel pretty good about that number. Keeping my calories in check has been very easy, I would hate to jinx myself by saying that but its the truth, I am just not hungry... ever! incorporating more and more whole foods into my daily intake I am sure is playing a hand in those full and satisfied feelings so the plan is to get back to where I was about a year and a half ago and become that pain in the ass who has very specific dietary requirements, I liked that guy.

The brown truck came yesterday with some goodies!

I blame the good loss this week on getting back into riding on a semi regular basis again, no no, I am not riding outside so much but this trainer is really hitting the spot giving me a no excuse environment to live in. Now I am missing the out doors rides a lot more than I let on but at the same time with a baby in the house I can't really do anything until almost 6pm once the wife lady gets home and this time of year its pretty dark by then not to mention cold. Now I am not some pussy that is afraid to get cold on a ride, in fact I like riding in any weather, even rain! but with the extra weight, being sedentary for a short while and the fact that my knees have been bugging me since it got cold out I am erring on the side of caution and riding the trainer for a bit until I get my legs back. I did buy a set of Castelli knee warmers so that riding in the colder weather is less of a pain in the ass.... um I mean Knees but again, I am going the ease on into the harder workouts route so its the trainer for me... for now.

Focusing on my food has obviously been working for me, throw in the rides on the trainer and I give myself about 2 weeks before I am hitting that trainer for all its worth. This blog has been a huge help to me in the past and I intend on trying to get on here and posting as much as possible so that I have a documented account of what I am doing and what's working, its also good to look back at it when I need a kick in the ass not to mention all of the support from you.

With that you have a Friday post with a weigh in and all! so until next we meet, keep on keepin on and all that jazz.

As ever
Me

Who runs Bartertown?

When you learn to put yourself first and do something incredible then that incredible thing gets taken back because of a lack of focus I can tell ya its not good feeling. There was a time in my life when I struggled to walk up a flight of stairs without feeling like I was going to die before I reached the top and some time around then I decided that I had to completely change the way that I was doing things, and I did. Losing 229 pounds at my lowest weight I came in at 305 pounds, now 305 pounds may sound high and it is but at the same time I am about 6'4'' tall and built large so its not so far off where I want to be and the way 305 feels compared to where I am today is an insane difference.

I think that not having something to reference was easier on the gray matter than having been there such a short time ago and knowing exactly how it feels. On my way down from 534 pounds I had no real idea of how 305 pounds felt, I was probably a Freshman in high school the last time I was that weight and not close to being an adult. My adult life had never seen that weight before so now that I had a short visit down to see the family living in room 305 it aggravates me that I let it go, take everything else out of the equation and it boils down to the fact that I was not disciplined enough to keep what I worked so hard for. I am left with a do-over if I want to see the other side of 300, I have to re-lose about 65 pounds JUST to get where I was already and if I let myself I could get pretty annoyed at that fact but instead I am going to attempt to turn that energy into drive that will get me back down to where I need to be with my weight.

I have to take control of what goes into my body, letting stress or aggravation get the better of me has not been good for my waist line so its time to get back to the basics. I created the perfect plan for myself, for my health and was beating the pounds into submission while making my body stronger than it had ever been so I do know how and what to do. Years of practical research and application of that research into my daily life turned a 534 pound man who struggled to do the most menial physical tasks into a 300 pound man whom had the world in his grip, there is no way that I can let that go.

Where my health is the subject, I have to be the one running the show.

That's all I got

As Ever
Me

What did he say? as real as a punch in the face? yes sir...

Lets get real for just a moment, that is after all why I started this blog in the first place so that I could be accountable with my weight loss/gain. My time is at a premium these days, I have a new baby that I am taking care of, this stay at home dad gig is great until its time to get a workout in, yes yes I know plenty of stay at home parents do it every day and I am not trying to make an excuse but to say that the last year of my life has been full of turmoil would be stating it lightly. That there last sentence sounded like it could have been the beginning of an excuse and its not, I am responsible for all 65 pounds that I allowed to reattach to my bones, yes I said 65 pounds unfortunately, more so for me than you but you get the idea.

May 21st 2010 I weighed in at 305 pounds and I felt like I could take on the world and was pretty much loving every second of every day and feeling incredible. The next few months were decent but I wasn't as focused for whatever reason and then lots of distractions entered stage left, I am a stress eater through and through and its a problem that I struggle with pretty much daily. When I said turmoil lets just say it was one thing after another and the stress won the fight, I attempted to keep my shit together but it was never enough, I started gaining weight again.

It was kind of like this, "As long as I don't go above 325 I'm ok" then I would hit 330, "As long as I don't hit 340 I'm ok" so on and so fourth until well yeah... here I am today. This blog has always been about my weight loss/health so I will not get into detail of what all the stress was/is and the bottom line is that no matter what goes on around us we need to be accountable for what we do with ourselves and that includes shoving food into our mouths when we're stressed, its a bullshit card to be dealt but somewhere along the line it was in fact handed to me so its mine to play.

I have recommitted myself to my health and have taken off a couple few pounds in the last couple of weeks, this is a good thing but I do know that its just a start because I need to keep the wagon rollin on down the trail if I am going to see that 300 pound mark again. An ambitious goal is in front of me, I am aiming to be at or below that 305 pound mark again by May 25th which means that I will have to drop slightly more than 3 pounds per week until then which I believe to be an achievable goal. My calories are strict again, and more than that I am eating clean again, mostly whole foods and nothing processed, Wify bought me a fluid trainer for my bike so workouts are again covered as I can ride while the little monster sleeps.

I have to get this going again, not for you, not for my wife not because of a commercial but because I have to, for me. Without my health I can't have the life that I want, without being accountable for my decisions where food and exercise is the subject I will not have what I want so with that its on.

May 25th 305 pounds or below is where I am headed, I will post as much as I can and hopefully it gets regular again, don't be shy, let me know you read this, comments always help.

That's all I got.

As Ever
Me