Plateau's and why they suck.

 It's early in the month for an update, but I'm stuck in a plateau and wanted to vent a little bit.  Yes, I'm eating a little more than I mean to, but we have company, he's a remarkable chef, and despite that I'm staying pretty close to my diet plan.  I'm also working harder on the Echelon than ever before and despite this my weight doesn't want to budge below 260.   Shit, I weigh more than I did at the end of May.   Yes, I'm getting more fit.  I see that in the results on the bike.   I've been hitting PB's or close to PB's in most classes lately and I am consistently getting higher on the leaderboard.   Yeah yeah yeah, I know muscle weighs more than fat, and finally, I know it's not easy to undo years of being a lazy slug, but it's frustrating to work hard and not see the results you expect.   I know it gets harder the leaner you go, but I still have 25-30 pounds to go, so it's not like I'm upset over 5 pounds....

That's all....   Just wanted to complain a bit.  I'll check back in later and hopefully have better results then.

June Already.

 Happy June!   It's hard to believe June is here, this year seems to be flying by.   May was another month of mixed results, but I'm satisfied with the month and keeping a positive outlook.   The weight loss seems to be slowing down, which is frustrating, but my performance on the Echelon is definitely improving, my waist seems to be shrinking, I look better in the mirror, and my blood pressure has come down substantially.   Merinda was away for almost the entire month and that makes it a little harder to stay on top of everything.   With that said, here were my May goals:

• Weigh 255 or less
• Ride 300 miles
• Walk 20 miles
• Perfect Month in apple
• 4 75 minute Sunday fusion classes

How did I do:

• Starting Weight: 271.98
• Ending Weight: 261.22
• Net Loss: (10.76)
• Total Loss: (63.78)

Exercise info:

• Number of rides: 83
• Time on rides: 1:02:20:55
• Distance on rides: 455.53
• Number of walks: 1
• Time walking: 54m
• Distance walking: 2.77

Results:

Let's start with the good.   I crushed my cycling goal.  I joined a challenge on Strava to ride 600km and blew it away, in fact I beat every cycling challenge on Strava I joined for the month.   I had a perfect month in Apple and I should have had 4 sunday fusion classes.   I couldn't join one Sunday because of the Internet so I subbed some other classes in and had somethign "equivalent".   I'll take a C on that goal.

Now for the bad:   

I missed my weight goal.  I can't make any excuses for that.  I felt like I did a good job staying on my diet plan, but the weight loss seems to be slowing down.  I don't think it's feasible to eat less so maybe losing 15 pounds a month isn't realistic.   I did lose 10 pounds this month and I look much better, but it's more than a little frustrating to not see the results on the scale.   What's worse is my weight goes up, up up then DOWN, then up, up up then DOWN.   Regardless, I'll keep plugging away and try to hit my goals.   I do need to eat a little more salad and fruit this coming month and less "other" food.   Having Merinda and Tyler here doesn't help, and having company really doesn't help but that's just something I need to deal with.

I completely missed my walking goal.   I got focused on the cycling goals and kind of skipped walking.   I know cross training is important, and have nu excuses, so I'll focus on that more.   

June Goals:

• Weigh 250 or less
• Ride 400 miles
• Walk 20 miles
• Perfect Month in apple

Final Thoughts:

A couple things.   I've increased my monthly mileage on the bike to reflect my overall better fitness.  Yes it means more time on the bike, but so be it.  I can't get results if I don't reflect progress in goals.  I need to work on getting better at rest days.   There were a few days last month where I felt just wiped out and still forced myself on the bike.   Those are the days I need to go for a walk and get some rest.   Obviously closing "rings" on apple makes that harder, but walking should be ok.   I set a 10 pound weight goal this month because 15 seems unattainable.   That doesn't mean I'd prefer to weigh 245, which ironically, was my original target weight, but it's a little demoralizing to see my weight and know I'm going to miss that goal with a week or so left in the month.   I'll shoot for 245, but consider 250 to be a win.   I also dropped the Sunday ride goal.   Yes, I'm going to make best effort to join those weekly because I enjoy them, I even hit a PB this past Sunday, but having Internet issues cause me to miss a goal is frustrating and occasionally I might need to do something different on Sunday morning.  I'll still do something substantial, or catch it on-demand, but setting a goal on something that I might miss by no fault of mine seems silly.   

Overall I'm pleased with my progress.   I've had to get rid of clothes which no longer fit, which is a nice feeling, and as I mentioned earlier my blood pressure is much better, today it was 115/67 and my resting heart rate is in the mid/low 60's and even went to 55.   These are real results and might result in lowering or removing some meds which would be awesome.   One of my long-term goals is to maintain activity once I get to my target weight.  Maybe I'll talk about my targets this month.   Anyeay, have a great month and look for more updates.

April showers bring May flowers

 So....   Here's my April update and it has both good and bad outcomes.   I'll start with the bad because it's important to explain why my month went sideways at the end.   I stay away from personal stuff here because I want to talk about other things, but my Father-in-law has been having some health issues, and he passed away four days after my mid-month update, and as such I missed a week of bike.   This caused me to miss  a few goals.  Obviously, I'm not goign to get down on myself over that, family always comes first, and I did my best to stay active while away.

April Goals:

• Weigh 265 or less
• Ride 270 miles
• Walk 25 miles
• Complete 4 live 75 minute Sunday fusion workouts
• Perfect month in Apple health
• Have one swimming workout

How did I do?

• Starting weight: 279
• Ending weight: 271.98
• Net loss: (7.02)
• Total Loss: (53.02)

Exercise Info:

• Number of rides: 42
• Time on rides: 13h 52m
• Distance on rides: 244.4
• Number of walks: 20
• Time walking: 7h 12m
• Distance walking: 20.9 with an additional ~15 miles walking that wasn't logged as a "workout"

Overview:

I was having a pretty good month until the end.   I think I might have hit my weight goal, but it was the only one that was concerned about missing.  I didn't weigh myself in Ireland, but I didn't gain weight and I'm already down a bit again.  I was able to stay active while away and hit my activity goals.

May Goals:

• Weigh 255 or less
• Ride 300 miles
• Walk 20 miles
• Perfect Month in apple
• 4 75 minute Sunday fusion classes

Final Thoughts:

Yes I keep setting aggressive goals.   I got home from Ireland and immediately started working out again.  I really want to achieve my ultimate goal, and I won't get there by slacking off now, despite people saying how much better I look.  Yes, I know I look better, but to be blunt, I looked awful when i was fat so any progress is good progress.  I'm going to have some rest days, and some light days, but when I work out I'm going to hit it hard.  That's how you make progress.  On a brighter note, the trip has helped me keep getting up early so I'll continue to do that.

Have a great month and I'll be keep you all updated...

Mid Month update

 I'm a little bored today so I thought I'd put out an update with about 2 weeks left in April.   I've had a pretty good month and I feel like I'm on track even with the conference and missing almost a full week of the bike.   I was able to get up in the morning and hit the treadmill in the hotel and I walked all over Disney so I kept myself pretty active.   The food choices were good so I kept my food intake right where I wanted it.

Here are the goals I've set and where I am today:

• Weigh 265 or less
• Ride 270 miles
• Walk 25 miles
• Complete 4 live 75 minute Sunday fusion workouts
• Perfect month in Apple health
• Have one swimming workout

My weight was 271 this morning.   Six pounds in 12 days is going to be cutting it close but we'll see.   As of this morning, I've ridden 169 miles this month so I will easily hit 270.    According to Stava I've only walked 11.5 miles this month and have a ways to go.  I'm guessing it didn't catch the walking I did during the conference because that wasn't a "workout" but Apple has me walking ~16 miles while there so I believe I hit this already.   I've done 2 of the 75's, including Reed's savage class so barring an illness I'll hit that, and despite my move goal going up agian, I'm on track for another perfect month in Apple health.   The only thing I'm unsure about is swimming.   I got in the pool so maybe that counts?

Enough said, enjoy the rest of the month folks.

March Fitness stats and update

Good to be back.   I was going to post mid-month but changed my mind.   Overall, I had a good month and I'm satisfied with my progress despite a few setbacks, namely minor surgery, a new scale and a light gout flare-up. 

Here are the goals I set for March:

• Weigh 275 or less
• Ride 300 miles
• Complete a 45 minute spin class. Ideally I'd like to complete a 60 minute class but we'll see how that goes. 
• Do 100% of all standing activities in classes for the month 
• Walk 15 miles 
• Add swimming in for some cross training.  Our pool is still too cold, and the aquatic center is closed, but I might see about swimming in Clearwater

So how did I do?

March Results: 

• Starting weight: 290.2 
• Ending weight: 278.3
• Net loss: (11.9) 
• Total loss: (46.7) 

Exercise info: 

• Number of rides: 64
• Time on rides: 21h 6m
• Distance ridden: 355.4
• Number of walks:  9
• Time walking:  5h 13m
• Distance walking: 15.2

Overview:

All in all I had a good month.   I hit all my exercise goals, with the exception of adding in swimming but the doctor said I couldn't submerge my arm after the surgery, which eliminated half the month, so I'll take a pass on that one.  I've started taking regular 75 minute fusion classes, which add in weight training, which are both tough and rewarding.  I had a top 5 finish and a couple that were just outside top 10.  I'm definitely getting stronger and faster in the classes and can do things like accelerate into the 80's when I'm standing which I couldn't do before.    

I'm disappointed that I missed my weight goal but I'm sure if I had used the same scale for the rest of the month I'd have hit it.  I changed it this week and I'm already back to where I was on Sunday.  I also occasionally need to skip some standing parts of classes.   I'm not happy about it, but I think I'm 90 maybe 95% there and I'd rather finish the class than completely bonk and get a DNF on the class, which I was worried about last Sunday.   Regardless, I'm goign to continue to work on this.

April Goals:

What do I want to accomplish in April?  I'm going to set my cycling goal lower because I'm going to a work conference next week and will miss a few days on the bike.   I'll be walking daily, but missing 4-5 days on the bike, including a Sunday, will make 300 miles almost impossible if I schedule in some rest days.  I'veincreased my walking goal by 10 miles this month to accomodate for it.

• Weigh 265 or less
• Ride 270 miles
• Walk 25 miles
• Complete 4 live 75 minute Sunday fusion workouts
• Perfect month in Apple health
• Have one swimming workout

Final Thoughts:

I know I set another month of aggressive goals.   I did schedule a few days off the bike even with missing a week.  We all need rest days and I can use those for other activities like swimming and longer walks or even to catch up if need be.  Surprisingly I found that I like to get up early and work out in the morning.  That seems to set my day up nicely so I'm going to continue scheduling morning live classes.  I won't lie, I love shoutouts and got two this morning :) and it's nice to compete with people who are live too.   

Have a great weekend and if I don't post by then, Happy Easter.   

Talk soon...  Cheers!

Fitness Update

I might as well talk about this here. I doubt my facebook friends want to hear about cycling, fitness and weight loss, and neither do people on Instagram. Pictures of food, travel and bourbon are far more interesting than sweaty selfies.  Regardless, I feel like sharing and no better place than into this echo chamber, so here goes. 

 As I posted earlier, we got an Echelon spin bike before Christmas.  Merinda suggested it, much to my surprise, and even more surprising is how much I enjoy it.  I took some motivation from my sister in law who works out ~30 minutes per day, lost some weight, so I decided to follow her lead.  Since I had some dental surgery in December I was already eating less, not by choice but by circumstance, and that shrank my appetite and I had lost a little weight.  I was pretty upset over my weight, I had peaked up to 330 pounds and was having some issues as a result of it.  We have some plans for this year and I didn't want to be the fat guy who can't do anything. We had a cruise booked over New Years, and I'd decided to be mindful of what I ate, but to not be obsessing over food and fitness until after I got home.  I'd been riding the bike a little in december but the plan was to really start when we got home.  

Long story short, I started on the Echelon on 12/12/2022 and missed 2 weeks for vacation and the flu (no it wasn't covid the doctor tested me and I was flu-b positive). 

Goals:

• My starting weight was about 325 lbs.  I didn't do a "weigh-in" but I'd weighed at 330 at the doctors office last year.
• My goal is 240 lbs but this might change.  Merinda is worried I'll get too thin.
• The current exercise plan is have 30 minutes of exercise per day. 
• I usually ride five or six days a week and walk the other two days. 
• I want to be riding outdoors this fall.   It's too hot in Florida to ride in the summer.
• Note: I don't have monthly stats for January because echelon doesn't aggregate data like that, I started using Stava which aggregates the data nicely but didn't start until the end of January. 

February statistics: 

• Starting weight: 301.4 
• Ending weight: 287.0 
• Net loss: (14.4) 
• Total loss: (38.0) 

Exercise info: 

• Number of rides: 55 
• Time on rides: 14:10 
• Distance ridden: 245.7 miles 
• Number of walks: 7 
• Time walking: 4:40 
• Distance walking: 13.7 miles 

How do I feel? Overall I feel much better and a lot more energetic. I get up earlier in the morning, and seem to go to bed a little earlier, but that's to be expected. I don't have the back and leg pain I had when I was heavier. My clothing fits better, and some of it is already too big. Yes, it pains me that I bought a suit for a wedding that I will wear once, well maybe I'll try it on when I hit the year anniversary, but that is additional motivation and I have clothes that didn't fit before that I can wear again. I guess being a bit of a pack rat has some advantages. On the bike, and walking, I am noticably stronger and faster. I had my first top 10 finish in a class, I'm taking 20 and 30 minute classes and can almost always do all the out of seat parts. 

My goals for March: 

• Weigh 275 or less 
• Ride 300 miles 
• Complete a 45 minute spin class. Ideally I'd like to complete a 60 minute class but we'll see how that goes. 
• Do 100% of all standing activities in classes for the month 
• Walk 15 miles 
• Add swimming in for some cross training.  Our pool is still too cold, and the aquatic center is closed, but I might see about swimming in Clearwater

Final thoughts:

This was a bit longer than I planned, but I had a bit to say and I rambled on a bit.  I'll provide better and more concise updates as the month goes, and if I hit goals I will update them.  If you use strava or echelon feel free to add me.  Also, my aria scale is acting up and sometimes doesn't sync to the Internet unless I restart it.  I suspect it's because Fitbit/Google want us to buy a new one.  I probably won't buy an Aria because it doesn't have the best Apple integration so I'm looking for a good, reasonably priced, smart scale that integrates well with Apple health.   Yes, I have an Apple watch and I prefer it to the fitbit.

Talk soon... Cheers!

Spin classes

Not going to lie, I had no idea what a spin class was like. Holy fuck I feel ragged out but a crazy workout. And no, I don't have a Peleton, we bought an Echelon on sale at Costco for a fraction of what the Peleton cost. So far it's been a great investment.